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Socialist Party news and analysis
Tories promise more pain… Kick out the ‘nasty party’!
There’s a whiff in the Birmingham air. The Tories met here in a state of panic. It’s all going wrong! The Con-Dem government faces humiliating failure
Strikers marching through London on 30 November 2011, photo Senan
Labour Party conference – not fighting austerity
Labour marries big business on the funds of the trade unions, cartoon by Suz
Arguing the case for a 24-hour general strike
The Birmingham, Black Country and Worcester branch of the Communication Workers Union (CWU) passed a motion at its committee urging the TUC to set the date for a one-day general strike
Birmingham Tory conference demo
‘Millions crying out for leadership and for an alternative’
Anti-austerity candidates selected for November contests
Health workers must fight attacks on jobs and pay
Call a 24-hour general strike to defend the NHS from the government’s cuts and privatisation monster: Hardly a day passes without reports of ward closures, casualty departments shutting, and more job losses in the National Health Service
Politicians line up to attack abortion rights
The hidden homeless – “Sofa surfing is my lot”
The Youth Fight for Jobs Austerity Games held in Hackney Marshes 24 July 2012 highlighted the plight of young people, photo Paul Mattsson
Who they are, What they Say and What they’ve done
54% Tory MPs went to fee paying schools
38% Tory MPs went to Oxbridge
27% Tory MPs have worked in finance (compared to 7% of the general population)…
Transport feature
Send the transport privatisers packing
Renationalise the railways: Take the whole rail system back into public ownership! That is the only logical conclusion from the fiasco over the franchise for the West Coast Main Line railway from London to Glasgow…
RMT protest July 2012, photo Paul Mattsson
International socialist news and analysis
Venezuela presidential election
Chavez comfortably secures victory over neoliberal right: Thousands flocked to Miraflores, the Presidential Palace in Caracas, to celebrate the victory of Hugo Chávez in Sunday’s (7 October) Presidential election, writes Tony Saunois in Caracas.
Hugo Chávez, president of Venezuela, salutes the US-backed opposition, on a visit to Britain, photo Paul Mattsson
Greece: escalating the action against austerity
Solidarity with workers fighting cuts in Europe: German chancellor Angela Merkel is expected in Greece on 9 October. She will be greeted by an increasing bitterness and anger
Greece: protests during general election 18 June 2012, photo RT free video
South Africa: ‘What are we doing about this government that is killing us?’
On 18 September, after six weeks of defiant strike action, Marikana platinum miners in Rustenburg, South Africa, won a significant 22% pay increase
The explosion of struggle of the working class onto the scene of history that undermined Apartheid , photo by Reflex
Socialist Party reports and campaigns
Why we’re marching on 20 October
The plebs are revolting on 20 October – that is how the millionaire government will see it. You could write their press releases in advance: ‘the protest is pointless, we will not change our policy’ writes Derek McMillan, Brighton Socialist Party
NSSN march to lobby of TUC, Brighton, 9.9.12, photo Sarah Mayo
More success for Socialist Students
20 Sociaist students activists marched round Sheffield city centre against tuition fees and to restore EMA, joined by NUT rep, photo Sheffield Socialist Students
Campaign Kazakhstan: A musical and political evening
Campaign Kazakhstan hosted a very impressive event in London on Tuesday 2 October. Its aim was to raise awareness and financial support for those who resist the attacks of the regime in Kazakhstan.
Cellorhymics in concert at the Campaign Kazakhstan event, London 2 October 2012, photo Keith Dickinson
Youth Fight for Jobs and Education fortnight of action 13-27 October
Dewsbury fights health service cuts
Huddersfield Socialist Party started running stalls and collecting signatures against privatisation of our NHS in May, write Paul and Dawn Wheelhouse.
Waltham Forest: Parents and staff unite against school sell-off
Sunderland anti-fascists stand up against divisive EDL
Socialist Party members took part in a counter-demo against far-right, racist groups, including the English Defence League (EDL), that were opposing the building of a new mosque in Millfield, Sunderland
Socialist Party workplace news
South Wales bus workers receive strong support for strike
Monday 1st October saw bus drivers and engineers in South Wales take strike action over pay despite their union recommending they refrain from doing so
Bus workers protest in July 2008, photo Paul Mattsson
Fighting the construction industry blacklist
Stop blacklisting on the Olympics: re-instate Frank Morris, photo Suzanne Beishon
Workplace nurseries saved in HMRC
Following a month of solid and well-organised campaigning, two workplace nurseries in the revenue and customs civil service department (HMRC) have been saved from closure
Leicester PCS strike action: workplace nurseries saved in HMRC through action by PCS members , photo Steve Score
Leeds solidarity with Crossrail battle
Mid Yorkshire Health admin staff ballot for strike
Marxism
TV review : Masters of Money – Karl Marx
Stephanie Flanders concluded her BBC TV series Masters of Money by looking at Karl Marx, “capitalism’s severest critic”. Often “refuted”, his ideas just won’t go away!
BBC Two: Masters of Money: BBC Economics Editor Stephanie Flanders examines one of the most revolutionary and controversial thinkers of all: Karl Marx
Reality has hit some commentators between the eyes and has forced them to partially recognise Marx’s analysis of the nature of capitalist crises which, he explained, were intrinsic to the system.