In this week's issue:

The Socialist 13 October 2009, issue The main parties say: ‘Work until you drop’

The main parties say: 'Work until you drop'

Dave Nellist (2nd left) and Bob Crow (right) campaigning for an electoral alternative to the three main parties, photo D Carr

Tory shadow chancellor George Osborne's plea for equality of sacrifice - "we're all in this together" - unravels when the real impact of his pension proposals becomes clear, writes Councillor Dave Nellist, Socialist Party, Coventry.
For working people, with only little or no access to a company pension, the state retirement pension is a wholly inadequate income - but it's one that Labour and Tories alike feel happy to steal.

Victory to postal workers

Postal workers demonstrate in London, photo Paul Mattsson

Defend jobs, no to increased workloads: In a national ballot, 76% of postal workers have voted to strike. This is whilst hundreds of local strikes continue throughout Britain, from the Isle of Wight to the highlands of Scotland, writes Bill Mullins.

The economy: Green shoots or scorched earth?

Editorial: "WE ARE in the midst of the worst recession most people alive have ever experienced, or will probably ever experience. It is already worse than the 1980s and it isn't over yet."

What would a Tory government be like?

Afghan conflict: Stop the war now

Young people protest against war and terrorism in Manchester 2006, photo Manchester Socialist Party

LAST WEEK'S announcement that US president Obama has been awarded the Nobel peace prize is astonishing considering his intentions to continue the war in Afghanistan, writes Steve Score.

Apprenticeships? Yes, but not at any price!

Attempts to divide the working class were ratcheted up a notch at the Conservative Party conference in Brighton last week, writes Sean Figg, Youth Fight for Jobs national organiser.

Manchester mobilises against fascists

AROUND 200 thugs of the far right English Defence League (EDL) came to Manchester last Saturday to stir up racial conflict in the city...

RAP victory in Walthamstow

Housing workers in 'sleep over'

Fast News

Fight the fire service cuts

South Yorkshire Fire Brigades Union FBU demonstration, photo Yorkshire Socialist Party

Firefighters across the country are facing a plethora of attacks on jobs, services, conditions and pay, writes Greg Maughan.

British Airways - What's really going on?

University staff forced to strike

Unison - opening door to minority rule

Socialist stands for NUT vice-president

Sri Lanka: Shut down the camps!

The Sri Lankan government's war on Tamil people's basic rights continues. Around 300,000 men, women and children remain incarcerated in camps under the most horrific conditions, months after the official...

Greece: Hated ND government booted out in general election

A 'dis-service' to Leon Trotsky

PETER TAAFFE, Socialist Party general secretary, reviews Robert Service's book Trotsky, a Biography.
THIS VERY thick book (600 pages) is very thin on honest political examination and analysis of the ideas of Leon Trotsky, the subject of Service's tome...