Class struggles on the rise

Last week, the Committee for a Workers’ International (CWI) held its annual Summer School, in Belgium. Report by Kevin Parslow from CWI Summer School, Belgium on the CWI website (link opens in another window)

Building new workers' parties and the tasks of socialists

Stand united, fight the cuts!

some 120,000 people staged one of Dublin's biggest protests in living memory over spending cuts, photo www.socialisme.be (CWI Belgium)

As Cameron and Clegg's government moves to dismantle public services, they could unleash a whirlwind of opposition as local public services anti-cuts alliances are formed and move into action.

TWO WEEKS - two meetings! The 'Hackney alliance to defend public services' has been formed. With 50 at each meeting from many unions and workplaces and community groups, a real buzz has developed to fight the cuts in Hackney.

Lessons of the cuts

Education workers must teach Tories a lesson

Fast news

Waltham Forest Labour councillors face opposition

Bristol anti-cuts lobby of minister

Coventry fights the cuts

Protest against Warwickshire fire service cuts

Union recommends BT pay deal

BT and the Communication Workers Union (CWU) have agreed a three year pay deal which will be recommended to the union's members in a ballot, writes Clive Walder, Birmingham, Black Country and Worcester branch CWU, personal capacity.

Stop the courts closures

Wales: No to fire service cuts

Strike action wins at Tube Lines

Swansea Linamar

Cuts blogger!

PCS: a strategy to stop the cuts

PCS on strike on budget day 2010, photo by Paul Mattsson

The PCS civil servants union's national executive committee (NEC) has met to discuss how to respond to the Tory/Liberal coalition government's cuts and privatisation programme, writes John McInally national vice-president Public and Commercial Services union (PCS), personal capacity.

TUC refuses national demo

Unite the struggle to defend pensions

Con-Dems propose denationalisation of NHS

Marching to defend the NHS

Using the cover of 'saving' money by reducing 'bureaucracy', the Con-Dem government is effectively proposing the wholesale privatisation of the National Health Service...

The Socialist Party needs you!

And you need the Socialist Party! If you agree with what you read in The Socialist please don't leave it at that, take the next step and join the Socialist Party, writes Hannah Sell, Socialist Party deputy general secretary.

More join the Socialist Party in Yorkshire

Funding the socialist fightback

Egypt: Thousands protest over brutal police killing

Egyptian workers protest

Spring wave of strikes and protests: Up to 5,000 angry demonstrators protested in Alexandria on Friday 25 June, after the brutal murder of a 28-year old man, 19 days earlier. Khaled Saeed was sitting in an internet café, writes David Johnson, on www.socialistworld.net, website of the committee for a workers' international, CWI

Harder work, longer hours... All part and parcel?

"ENOUGH IS enough" by Donna Summer and Barbara Striesand may not be the greatest song ever but the title illustrates the mindset of many a modern day worker, writes Martyn Yates.

A testing 'pudding' for councillors

Keep probation services public

RMT and NO2EU on the Put People First demonstration, photo Paul Mattsson

Mass action can stop cuts

No apology. No concern. No regret. Sitting comfortably and calmly in his Newsnight chair Michael Gove, education minister, had no qualms about claiming that cuts to frontline services are "unavoidable". Gove merely blamed the previous government. Now young people leaving university cannot get a decent job...

Build united action to stop the cuts

No to privatisation of services. Swansea Unison workers protest against cuts and privatisation in Wales , photo Socialist Party Wales

Government departments to prepare for cuts of 40%... civil servants' redundancy terms to be ripped up...housing benefit to be cut... plans to build new schools and hospitals to be scrapped...

What the Socialist Party says

How will George Osborne's budget affect families?

"It's class war, isn't it?" This was the view of a woman asked by the BBC what she thought of George Osborne's emergency budget, the day after it was announced, writes Eleanor Donne and Vicky Perin.

Housing benefit cuts - increasing homelessness

Cuts to disability benefits will increase misery

Con-Dem budget cuts: Hitting those on benefits hardest

Hitting those on benefits hardest: "Yes it is tough; but it is also fair". This was how Tory chancellor George Osborne described his emergency budget on 22 June 2010. In fact the plans of this government of millionaires represent an enormous...

Fight the savage cuts by Neath/Port Talbot council

LABOUR CONTROLLED Neath/Port Talbot council is threatening to sack its 7,000 strong workforce and re-employ them on worse terms and conditions in a brutal attempt to close a £24 million gap in its budget by 2014, writes Alec Thraves.

Defend Jobs at Linamar Swansea - pdf leaflet

Hull: Rallying against the austerity budget

'Godfather' turning in his grave

Organise against academies now!

photo Alison Hill

Defend state education: For their promoters, one of the selling points of the divisive and part-privatised academy schools programme is 'raised educational standards' writes Rob Spurr and Dave Carr.

NUS anti-cuts conference

Youth Fight for Jobs demo in Barking, East London, photo Paul Mattsson

Action needed: On 29 June, the National Union of Students (NUS) held a hastily organised conference to discuss the massive cuts looming in higher education...

Youth Fight for Jobs Protest!

Youth Fight for Jobs will be protesting outside the Department for Business Innovation and Skills against the brutal attacks that young people face and to demand real jobs and free education.

Saturday 21 August 4pm
Department for Business Innovation and Skills
1 Victoria Street, London SW1H 0ET
Call 07716 610893 for details

BNP forced to abandon its 'festival of hate'

THE RACIST British National Party (BNP) has been forced to call off its annual Red, White and Blue 'festival of hate' which usually takes place in Codnor, Derbyshire, writes Pete Watson,.

South Africa: 5,000 sacked miners on strike

Socialist Party councillor (Australia) speaks to strikers: ON SATURDAY 26 June I travelled with two comrades from South Africa's Democratic Socialist Movement (DSM, the Socialist Party's counterpart in South Africa) to a mass meeting they had called in Rustenburg, about two hours north west of Johannesburg, writes Steve Jolly,.

Kazakhstan: The fight goes on

News in brief

Limited new 'final' offer facing BA cabin crew

Although there are some guarantees on terms and conditions that were not in the last offer, the substantive issues that led to the strike have not been addressed, writes British Airways cabin crew began voting on 6 July on a new 'final' offer from the company. Despite the rhetoric of BA management the new offer seems to be similar to the old offer put forward prior to the last round of strikes..

PCS will fight new attack on redundancy pay

On 6 July Tory minister Francis Maude announced new legislation to attack civil service workers' redundancy pay, writes John McInally.

Unison by-election: fighting leadership needed

The public sector union Unison has announced the timetable for national executive (NEC) by-elections, including the local government male seat that was held by Socialist Party member Glenn Kelly...

Lindsey refinery fire death: inquiry needed

Shrewsbury Pickets march for justice

Workplace news in brief

Unite general secretary election:

support Len McCluskey: The general secretary election in Unite will take place between 25 October and 19 November this year...

Interview: Ken Clarke's prison plans

Genuine reform or further hypocrisy?: On 30 June Ken Clarke, the new justice secretary, made a speech addressing the problems of a soaring prison population...

Pride, prejudice, fightback and hypocrisy

PRIDE STARTED 40 years ago as a political demonstration for gay rights. London Pride 2010 on 3 July was a carnival, with politics only at the fringes. The gay establishment claim that lesbian, gay, bisexual...

A warm welcome at Summer Camp

I WENT to my first Socialist Party summer camp last year as a fairly new member. It was fantastic being in such a relaxed environment with everybody on the same political wavelength and with the same goals in mind, writes Katie Simpson, Cardiff East Socialist Party

Socialism 2010 Saturday 6 - Sunday 7 November

When the financial wizardry lost its magic

Steve Appleton reviews: Whoops! Why everyone owes everyone and no one can pay, by John Lanchester, published by Allen Lane, 2010, writes £20.

Mali's master of the ngoni

Only one choice... Fight back!

Government's swingeing cuts: Millionaire Tory leaders George Osborne and David Cameron are going to write to every public sector worker in the country to ask where the billions of pounds of public spending cuts should be made, writes Nancy Taaffe, Library worker.

Western strategy on Afghanistan in tatters

Youth Fight for jobs demonstrate against war, terror and racism

ANOTHER GRISLY milestone has been reached in Afghanistan: over 300 British soldiers have now died, since the war began in 2001. The average age of those killed is 22.

No such records are kept of civilian deaths in Afghanistan. It is estimated that thousands of Afghan civilians have been directly killed due to military action, including use of air strikes by the US forces, writes Niall Mulholland.

Youth Fight for Jobs marched against the G20 last year

From stimulus to austerity at dizzying speed

What we think: The G20 meeting in Toronto of the leaders of the main capitalist governments of the world demonstrated a complete incapacity to solve the huge problems that confront us, particularly those hardest hit - the poor and the working class - by the economic crisis...

Academies: Fight the Tories' offensive on state education

Cardiff parents beat education cuts in 2006

GOVERNMENT EDUCATION minister Michael Gove is determined to push through the Tory agenda of putting 'rocket-boosters' under the academies programme, writes Martin Powell-Davies, NUT national executive.

Opposing the slash and burn budget

Spending cuts increase deaths

'Get on your bike'

Fast news

Unison general secretary election: Prentis vote falls despite Con-Dem attacks

As reported in last week's Socialist, Unison general secretary Dave Prentis was re-elected to his position in the recent ballot, but with fewer votes than when he last stood in 2005, a Unison member writes.

Tube workers ballot for action

Thousands of jobcentre workers threatened with dole

Workplace news in brief

United for Education day of action 21 June

Protesting UCU staff at Manchester university, photo Dave Beale

On 21 June, United for Education, a joint campaign of various education workers' unions, held a day of action. This was in response to the fact that over £1 billion is being cut from the higher education budget over the next three years, thousands of jobs have already gone and many more are still at risk.

Students say no to rip-off graduation ceremony

No to cuts in EMA!

National Shop Stewards Network conference: An urgent call for united working class action

National Shop Stewards Network conference 2010, Marianthi Kypridou, of the Greek public sector union POE/YPPOT addresses conference , photo Socialist Party

The enormous onslaught of this Con-Dem government necessitates an urgent response from the organisations of the working class - in particular the trade unions, writes Judy Beishon.

France, Italy: Workers struggle against savage austerity cuts

Build for a Europe-wide 24-hour general strike on 29 September: WHILE THE Greek working class has engaged in its sixth general strike this year, the French and Italian labour movements have now also stepped into the battle against capitalist cuts in a decisive way, as Cédric Gérôme reports...

Australia: Gillard replaces Rudd but Labour's right wing policies remain

Trotsky admirer copies his idol

"ONE, TWO, three, four, five, we deserve to unionise!' sing the red pom-pommed cheerleaders outside the warehouse...

Challenging the global warming sceptics

Arctic Sea Ice Volume chart from PIOMAS

"The majority of the British public is still not convinced that climate change is caused by humans", the Guardian reported on 22 June, writes Pete Mason.

Stop budget attacks with mass action

No to pay and benefit cuts: The Tory/Lib Dem budget included a rise in VAT to 20%, a pay freeze for most public sector workers and the cutting and erosion of a number of key benefits - including housing benefit.

These vicious measures will hit millions of workers and the poorest people in society very hard, and there is much more to come, writes Judy Beishon.

Budget cuts hitting the poorest hardest

Young people: fight for your future!

Youth Fight For Jobs

The latest figures from the Office for National Statistics show that unemployment has risen by 23,000 since April. On average there are five benefit claimants for every one job vacancy throughout the UK. This is the grim reality of how ordinary people are being affected by the crisis, writes Mark Nicholson.

Youth speak for jobs at UCU union rally

Anti-EDL protest

Protesting at Iain's Dickensian Society

The role of the NSSN in the battle to defend public sector jobs and services

Bob Crow addresses NSSN conference 2007, pic: D Carr

National Shop Stewards Network: The CBI is calling on the government to introduce even more anti trade union laws. The bosses' union is demanding that in a strike ballot, 40% of all those in a workplace who are entitled to vote should have voted 'yes' for the vote to be carried. So this means that all those who don't bother voting are deemed to have voted 'no' to strike action.

Budget Day: workers' responses

Glenn Kelly, photo Alison Hill

'We will fight the bloodbath budget': AS A council workers' representative I sat awaiting our fate from part one of the Con-Dem government's bloodbath budget. Now it's time for us to send them a message, writes Glenn Kelly, Bromley UNISON.

Fightback to stop the cuts - public meetings

Refugee and Migrant Justice: Save this vital service!

Refugee and Migrant Justice (RMJ) has 11 offices nationally providing legal advice and representation to those seeking asylum in the UK, writes Eric Segal, Unite rep, RMJ.

Afghan war

Coventry rally against public sector cuts

Stop attacks on services for vulnerable in Nuneaton

Birmingham: Growing anger against cuts

Save South Leeds Pool

Why BP should be nationalised

Bloody Sunday: Innocent protesters murdered by the British army in 1972

Bloody Sunday Mural in Derry, Northern Ireland, photo by Jérôme Sautret

THE PUBLICATION of the Bloody Sunday inquiry report, known as the Saville inquiry, has brought to light, once again, the brutal lengths the British capitalist state is prepared to go in defence of its interests, writes Gary Mulcahy, Socialist Party, Belfast.

How deep is Britain's media crisis?

Feature The Independent and Independent on Sunday were sold in March to Russian billionaire Alexander Lebedev for just £1, a tycoon who similarly bought London's Evening Standard for the same price in 2009...

PCS union rejects 'inevitable' cuts

The Tory/Liberal coalition plans to make working people pay for the crisis created by their friends in the banking industry and big business, by launching an unprecedented assault on the public sector. This will be resolutely opposed by the Public and Commercial Services union (PCS), writes John McInally, national vice-president PCS, personal capacity.

Unison election: Over 42,000 votes for socialist candidate

Unison leadership: Lack of anti-cuts strategy

Fighting cuts in Nottingham: Save WAP day centre

Workplace news in brief

National Shrewsbury 24 Justice Campaign March

Ethnic conflict explodes in Kyrgyzstan

BARELY TWO months have passed since the April revolutionary events in Kyrgyzstan led to the overthrow of president Kurmanbek Bakiyev and the emergence of a 'provisional government' led by Roza Otunbayeva, writes Rob Jones, Moscow.

Donate to aid Greek socialists

No to privatisation of services

Millionaire ministers savage public services

Bloodbath Budget 22 June: Deeper cuts, faster cuts, tougher cuts. This is what Tory chancellor George Osborne promises in his 'austerity' budget, saying public debt is "worse than we thought"...

'Bloodbath budget' day protests and meetings

Comprehensive education under attack

Protest against academies in East London, photo Alison Hill

Tory Education Secretary, Michael Gove, is rushing an Academies Bill through parliament. Around 600 secondary and 2,000 primary schools found 'outstanding' by Ofsted are being invited to fast track to academy status. Gove hopes that eventually all schools will become academies. This spells disaster for comprehensive education.

Opposing 'Dickensian' academy schools in Waltham Forest

Come to the NSSN conference

Rob Williams withTony Woodley, photo Mike Gard

Prepare for the battles ahead: The fourth annual conference of the National Shop Stewards Network (NSSN) takes place in London on Saturday 26 June, writes Rob Williams (pictured left), Unite convenor, Linamar Swansea, personal capacity.

Unison local government conference: Delegates face huge struggles

Northern Rock throws workers on the dole

Wales Unison: Socialist Party member elected

Save the Big House

NHS Scotland - ConDemned to terminal decay

Southampton library staff strike to save jobs

Labour leadership contest dominated by right wing

Editorial: One issue will overwhelm all others in the coming years - the struggle against cuts in public services. In the first instance this struggle will involve demonstrations, strikes and community campaigns. However, the issue of political representation for workers and young people struggling against the cuts must also be an important aspect of the campaign...

BP's value plunges as oil spill worsens

Birds killed as a result of oil from the Exxon Valdez spill, photo Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council.

AN ESTIMATED 40,000 barrels (1.7 million gallons) of oil a day may have been gushing out from the BP leased Deepwater Horizon oil rig since it blew up and sank in the Gulf of Mexico on 20 April - a doubling of earlier estimates...

Willetts approves tuition fees hike

Bloody Sunday report appears 38 years late

IDS's 'anti-poverty drive' attacks the poorest!

High speed trains and high priced fares

Why we don't back the Queen's pay claim

Fast news

Diary dates

TUSC plans for future elections

TUSC Launch rally, London March 2010, photo Alison Hill

"THE Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) is not the answer for everything that we need to do as a movement to resist the austerity measures that will come from this Tory-Liberal government", said the RMT transport workers' union general secretary, Bob Crow, to a post-election meeting of TUSC candidates last week...

Tower Hamlets: Jobs, homes and services - not the racist EDL!

Youth Fight for Jobs, photo Sarah Mayo

A victory has been scored in East London as the racist and hooligan English Defence League (EDL) has called off its plan to "hit" Tower Hamlets on Sunday 20 June, writes Paula Mitchell and Naomi Byron.