The Socialist

The Socialist 12 May 2009

Fight all job cuts

Fight all job cuts


MPs live it up at our expense !


Sweep away the thieves and their system


Renationalise the railways

Sri Lanka's killing zone

Corus jobs slaughter - fight the closure

News in brief


Linamar sack Swansea trade union leader

A victory at Linamar would be a victory for all workers

Visteon workers discuss socialism


No2EU - Yes to Democracy campaign news

No to the EU gravy train


Youth Fight for Jobs Launch conference


Gaza: the nightmare continues

Imperialism sucked deeper into Afghan quagmire


Defending jobs and conditions at the Olympics site

Defending jobs and conditions at Fiddlers Ferry

Wales TUC: For trade union democracy and for trade union rights!

Socialist methods tested

Workplace news in brief

PCS conference: A fighting union that defends its members

NSSN - fight the bosses' offensive

NSSN Conference: Saturday 27 June


Defeating the poll tax


Save our schools Weston Favell, Northampton

Lewisham Bridge primary school

Threat of academies

 
 

the socialist - paper of the Socialist Party

In this week's issue:

The Socialist 12 May 2009, issue Fight all job cuts

spotFight all job cuts

Dave Nellist took only the average workers' wage while a socialist MP

Dave Nellist took only the average workers' wage while a socialist MP

Four million jobless by 2012. That's the stark prediction for the current 'free-market' recession by a group of former Bank of England economists. Rather than Gordon Brown's boast that 'Britain is well placed to weather the economic storm', research by the European Union said that almost a third of all jobs lost in Europe in the first three months of this year were lost in Britain, writes Dave Nellist, Socialist Party councillor and No2Eu - Yes to Democracy candidate in the forthcoming Euro elections.

Thieving MPs

spotMPs live it up at our expense !

Youth Fight for Jobs and NO2EU on the 'Put People First' demo, photo Paul Mattsson

Young people show their anger at the system, photo Paul Mattsson

"WE HANG the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office" - Aesop.
Ken Douglas passes judgement on the thieves in public office.
These politicians make you sick. They publicly attack people claiming unemployment and disability benefits - the poorest in society, while enriching themselves at our expense. And when they're caught red-handed they squeal that it is the 'system' that's to blame.

Socialist Party editorial

spotSweep away the thieves and their system

Editorial: 'Fish rot from the head first'. The stink arising from the outright corruption, outright thievery - to give it its proper name - from the 'public purse', by the overwhelming majority of 'dis-honourable members' of the House of Commons presents a nauseating spectacle...

Socialist Party news and analysis

spotRenationalise the railways

THE GOVERNMENT'S budget for Britain's rail system is facing chaos. First Great Western wants to walk away from a vital updating contract without footing the entire bill of £1.1 billion. Mark Pickersgill reports.

spotSri Lanka's killing zone

Sri Lankan speaker addresses Youth Fight for Jobs conference on the plight of the Tamil people, photo Paul Mattsson

Sri Lankan speaker addresses Youth Fight for Jobs conference on the plight of the Tamil people, photo Paul Mattsson

HUNDREDS OF Tamil civilians in Sri Lanka were killed last weekend as a result of heavy artillery shelling in the war zone - a few square kilometres of coastal strip containing around 100,000 Tamil civilians and LTTE guerrillas...

spotCorus jobs slaughter - fight the closure

NEWS THAT steel maker Corus is set to close its Redcar plant has sent shockwaves throughout Teesside, writes Elaine Brunskill.

spotNews in brief

Linamar and Visteon

spotLinamar sack Swansea trade union leader

Lobby of Unite London headquarters over the sacking of Rob Williams, Linamar convenor, photo Alison Hill

Lobby of Unite London headquarters over the sacking of Rob Williams, Linamar convenor, photo Alison Hill

Socialist Party member Rob Williams, trade union (Unite) convenor of the Linamar car parts plant in Swansea, was sacked on 6 May. This was in spite of a walkout by his fellow workers when he was first told he was being sacked, and the intervention of Unite leader Tony Woodley.

The campaign for Rob's reinstatement is continuing, with the union balloting for strike action. Rob Williams spoke to The Socialist.

spotA victory at Linamar would be a victory for all workers

spotVisteon workers discuss socialism

Socialist Party election campaign

spotNo2EU - Yes to Democracy campaign news

No2EU

No2EU

No2EU On Thursday 7 May the 'No2EU - Yes to Democracy' campaign declared its full slate of candidates for the 4 June European electon...

spotNo to the EU gravy train

Youth fight for jobs

spotYouth Fight for Jobs Launch conference

At Risk of Offending perform at Youth Fight for Jobs conference 2009, photo Paul Mattsson

At Risk of Offending perform at Youth Fight for Jobs conference 2009, photo Paul Mattsson

Building on the success of the excellent March for Jobs in April, the launch conference of Youth Fight for Jobs was held on Saturday 9 May in London. Reports of the rallies and workshops that took place throughout the day from young people who attended.

International socialist news and analysis

spotGaza: the nightmare continues

THREE MONTHS after Israel's war against Gaza that killed nearly 1,400 people, 314 of them children, and wounded thousands, conditions in the strip remain appalling and are worsening rapidly, writes Niall Mulholland, Committee for a Workers' International (CWI).

spotImperialism sucked deeper into Afghan quagmire

Socialist Party workplace news

spotDefending jobs and conditions at the Olympics site

Construction workers day of action at the Olympics site, photo Paul Mattsson

Construction workers day of action at the Olympics site, photo Paul Mattsson

Somewhere between 400-500 construction workers arrived in London for a day of action on 6 May. They gathered outside one of the main gates of the Olympic site to protest at the bosses' attempts to undermine...

spotDefending jobs and conditions at Fiddlers Ferry

spotWales TUC: For trade union democracy and for trade union rights!

This year's Wales TUC, meeting in Llandudno from 19-21 May, looks likely to be the last annual gathering of the conference, writes Alec Thraves, Swansea trades council delegate.

spotSocialist methods tested

spotWorkplace news in brief

spotPCS conference: A fighting union that defends its members

spotNSSN - fight the bosses' offensive

spotNSSN Conference: Saturday 27 June

Marxist analysis: history

spotDefeating the poll tax

Thatcher was defeated on the issue of the poll tax, photo Militant

Thatcher was defeated on the issue of the poll tax, photo Militant

Despite being "too young to remember the anti-poll tax battle", Bob Severn (The Socialist issue 578) rightly criticises the middle-class editors of a middle-class paper, the Independent, writes Rob Windsor, Socialist councillor and former anti-poll tax federation secretary, Coventry.

Education

spotSave our schools Weston Favell, Northampton

AT A public meeting in Weston Favell school, Northampton, 120 parents, students, staff and trade unionists discussed the proposal to change the state comprehensive into an academy...

spotLewisham Bridge primary school

spotThreat of academies