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What we think
Venezuela shows battle Corbyn would face
The Tories and the capitalist media are trying to conduct a scare campaign, rehearsing the shop-worn theme of ‘chaos’, linking Jeremy Corbyn to the current turmoil in Venezuela.
Socialist Party news and analysis
Striking back against poverty pay
What’s summer about? Sun, sea and… strike action! Fat cats and their Tory MP mates might be lounging on private beaches on private islands, but a big wave is going to hit them – a strike wave!
Rashan Charles death: End police racism and austerity
Coventry: march following racist police killing
Over 200 came to the launch meeting of the #Justice4Daz campaign, set up after Coventry man Darren Cumberbatch died on 19 July following “contact” with the police. Hundreds also joined a march in Nuneaton on 29 July.
Government’s tribunal fees defeat
Unison’s successful Supreme Court challenge to the government’s tribunal fees policy on 26 July is an important victory for workers and the trade union movement.
40% of England’s psychiatric wards are ‘unsafe’
Fight for mental health funding: Nearly half of England’s mental health units are out of date or unsafe according to healthcare regulator CQC. Thousands were “inadequate” or marked “requires improvement.”
Marx’s Capital at 150
Marx’s Capital at 150: an unequalled analysis
The Daily Mail reacted with predictable hysteria when, in May 2017, John McDonnell stated: “You can’t understand the capitalist system without reading Marx’s Das Kapital.” When asked to immediately condemn his shadow chancellor, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn refused to do so and correctly added that Marx was a “great economist.”
Socialist Party workplace news
Angry Birmingham bin workers enter fifth week of strike action
Birmingham bin workers, members of Unite the Union, feel angry that the Labour council has forced them into a fifth week of industrial action to defend jobs, pay and the safety-critical member of the bin wagon crew.
Barts strike: Keep up the pressure on Serco and the trust!
Steel workers at Rom Ltd strike for a pay rise
No pay rise for ten years! That’s why 18 steel fabricators in Sheffield are on strike
Coordinated action needed to break pay restraint
The misery of austerity for millions of workers is set to continue under the Tories. Chancellor Phillip Hammond has defended the 1% pay cap and claimed that public sector workers are overpaid
End poverty pay for sleep-in care workers
Since the NHS began outsourcing care services to private companies and charities, wages and conditions for carers, support workers and healthcare assistants have been squeezed.
RMT condemns Welsh government rail privatisation
Rail union RMT has condemned plans by the Welsh Labour government to further privatise the Welsh rail network
Socialist Party reports and campaigns
Young, angry and fighting back
Join the Young Socialists!: Despite the arrival of Siemen’s wind farm factory, unemployment and underemployment in Hull, particularly for young people, is unacceptably high
Young Socialists off to a flying start in Cardiff
Campaign fights closure of Chatsworth rehab ward
35 concerned patients, ex-patients and staff attended a passionate public meeting called by the Socialist Party on 3 August to discuss plans to fight the closure of the Chatsworth rehabilitation ward at Mansfield Community Hospital
Support for Socialist Party campaigns at biggest ever Leeds Pride
Socialist Party members joined an excellent Leeds Pride on 5 August. It was the biggest ever Pride parade in Leeds, with over 40,000 attending
Socialist Party members attended the tenth annual Northern Pride event on Saturday 22nd July to celebrate LGBT+ culture, history and societal diversity
Housing safety campaign kicks off in Coventry
Far-right thrown out of Newcastle
On 29 July Socialist Party members found out that remnants of the north east’s divided far-right organisations were planning a demonstration in Newcastle city centre
Colin John, a new member and retired trade union convenor, turns up regularly on our Saturday campaign stall in Swansea despite his mobility problems
International socialist news and analysis
Venezuela: Capitalist offensive sharpens after assembly elections
The escalating civil strife and economic crisis in Venezuela is being used by western governments and the establishment media as a stick to beat socialists with. However, as Marxists in Venezuela explain in the following article, the Maduro state bureaucracy is incapable of mobilising the working class to defeat the capitalist counterrevolution.
Workers’ struggles in Peru: eyewitness report
Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition
How much reserves have councils got?
New TUSC report shows potential for councils to end cuts: The Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) has launched a new report on the level of reserves held by Labour-led councils
Global finance
Global finance: Are those storm clouds ahead?
Is capitalism reproducing the same conditions that led to the 2007-08 financial crash? In two introductory articles, Ross Saunders looks at the rickety global financial order and Ian Groeber points to the recent Italian bank bailouts to show how the working class continues to pick up the tab for the capitalists’ failures.
Music review
Crunchy guitar and poignant dialogue in alt-rock homage to south Wales miners
Combining music, sampling, spoken word and audio clips, Public Service Broadcasting’s ‘Every Valley’ is a poignant, angry exploration of mining, pit closures and the legacy of industrial decline in south Wales