Archive for April 2017
3 April 2017
4 April 2017
Horrific attack on Croydon asylum seeker
Residents and workers in Croydon, south London, are horrified following the vicious attack on a teenage asylum seeker on 31 March.
4 April 2017
Union day of action slams benefit sanctions
Benefit sanctions punish people for being unemployed. That's why Unite Community - a trade union section for unemployed people - organised a national day of action against benefit sanctions on 30 March
5 April 2017
Support Len McCluskey and United Left candidates before ballot closes
The ballot in the Unite union general secretary and executive elections closes on 19 April with the Blairite challenger to Len McCluskey, Gerard Coyne, continuing to use the hated Sun newspaper to attack McCLuskey and Jeremy Corbyn
5 April 2017
PCS payday protests on 31 March were strongly supported across the country with thousands of members sending a clear message to the government
5 April 2017
Communities and health workers unite to...resist cruel NHS cuts
The Tories have already cut doctors, nurses, student nurses and 15,000 beds. Now the government intends a further £22 billion of cuts through its 'sustainability and transformation plans' (STPs).
5 April 2017
Far right humiliated in London - but trade unions must organise against racism and austerity
It was difficult to tell, peering through the massive police protection they require in order to show their faces in public. But it looked like a motley crew of not much more than 100 mustered for the 1 April Britain First/EDL march in central London.
5 April 2017
Fight Tories' callous cuts pushing 200,000 more kids into poverty
A raft of callous Tory measures starting on 6 April will push another 200,000 kids below the breadline, according to the Child Poverty Action Group.
5 April 2017
Labour group to discipline councillors for resisting Haringey gentrification scheme
For a council group which opposes cuts and privatisation: Ten Labour councillors in Haringey, north London, face disciplinary action after voting for further scrutiny of a gentrification scheme.
5 April 2017
May Day greetings final push: We're really pleased we achieved our regional target this year for May Day greetings from trade union bodies, student groups and local campaigns. If you haven't yet, you still can!
5 April 2017
It's one world for the super-rich, and another one for the rest of us including top bosses' wages, luxury goods and licence fees.
5 April 2017
What would a socialist food industry look like?
How to feed the world? That is a question that capitalism has never been able to solve, with one-third of the world's total population suffering malnutrition. Even in the economically advanced capitalist countries like Britain growing numbers are reliant on food banks.
5 April 2017
TUSC to challenge for the Merseyside 'metro-mayor'
The Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) is on the ballot paper for the inaugural election of the Liverpool City Region directly-elected mayor (the 'metro-mayor').
5 April 2017
Solid Picturehouse picket and protest
Around 30 striking workers and their supporters gathered outside Hackney Picturehouse on 31 March for a three-hour protest and picket. This marked the sixteenth strike organised by these workers since October 2016.
5 April 2017
Bromley library workers strike against privatisation
Unite union members working in Bromley libraries began the first of eight days of strike action on 1 April. The long-running dispute is in defence of the library service from privatisation.
5 April 2017
Homeless due to the housing crisis
A recent meeting of Waltham Forest Housing Action, set up by the local trades council, heard from several housing campaigns and people affected by the housing crisis. One was Claire Murphy, who told her story.
5 April 2017
Rents up 40% - can't pay, will stay!
'Keyworker' tenants of the housing association One Housing in Newham, east London, have been hit by a 40% price hike.
5 April 2017
Name and shame the worst behaviour by housing associations
Which association has the most overpaid chief executive? The worst record on maintenance? The poorest relationship with its staff? The recently formed Housing Associations Workers and Residents Network (HAWRN) has announced an 'alternative' housing awards ceremony.
5 April 2017
Turkey: Erdogan seeks sweeping dictatorial powers in referendum
If the 16 April constitutional referendum called by the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government results in a 'No' vote, it would constitute the beginning of the end of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's corrupt and polarising regime, which is based upon repression, chaos and fear.
5 April 2017
Fukushima nuclear disaster - a terrifying legacy
It is six years since the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan. On 11 March 2011 - '3/11' - a devastating earthquake and series of tsunamis destroyed the cooling systems at the Fukushima power plant, one of 50 nuclear plants in the earthquake prone country.
5 April 2017
On 31 March campaigners internationally, spearheaded by the CWI, demanded justice for former Total/G4S workers in Yemen. As the Socialist (see issue 941) has previously reported, these giant corporations have washed their hands of responsibility for their former workers' unpaid wages and compensation.
5 April 2017
Financial hardship facing millions of cancer sufferers
Finding out one has cancer is worrying enough. Treatment is often an ordeal. Facing financial hardship and insecurity as a result adds enormously to the anxiety many experience.
5 April 2017
Letters to the Socialist's editors including Unite elections, NHS, Star Trek, and Welsh trains.
5 April 2017
Courageous Ebola nurse Salomé Karwah dies
Salomé Karwah was an Ebola survivor who returned to the hospitals of Liberia to tend to the sick and dying during the epidemic of 2014. Now she has fallen victim to the appalling healthcare endured by ordinary people in Liberia as across most of West Africa.
5 April 2017
Gagged Jobstown defendants defiantly expose the Irish state
The 'Assembly for Justice' in Dublin was an inspiring display of working class solidarity with those facing trial for 'false imprisonment'
5 April 2017
Yorkshire marches to save the NHS
Placards from Huddersfield and Lincolnshire joined students, doctors and nurses in filling up Leeds on 1 April, writes Tanis Belsham-Wray, Leeds Socialist Party.
5 April 2017
Talk of Britain 'going to war' with Spain, EU politicians telling each other not to 'lose their cool' - can all seem surreal. The chaos shows that there is no cohesive approach to Brexit within the British or European ruling classes
5 April 2017
Walkout on three rail networks against driver-only operated trains
Further strike action across the country's rail network will take place on 8 April
5 April 2017
NHS worker to stand for mayor of Doncaster
Steve Williams will be standing as the TUSC candidate for Doncaster mayor in the May elections
8 April 2017
Victory! Health workers walk out against attack from boss
'We'll defend our rights' - was the message from 160 domestics
11 April 2017
11 April 2017
12 April 2017
Cuts leave schools unable to meet basic needs
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has proposed to fund free school meals for all primary school children by adding VAT tax on private education fees.
12 April 2017
Carlisle NHS privateers leave patients at risk
What kind of people would build a hospital children's ward with a firewall which stopped just above a false ceiling, allowing smoke and flames to spread? And keep these and other dangers hidden from the staff, patients and even management of the hospital?
12 April 2017
Last quarter's fighting fund target smashed, now make our voice heard in elections
Socialist Party members throughout England and Wales are out campaigning in support of Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) candidates standing in local and mayoral elections. We are appealing to all readers and supporters of the Socialist to make a donation to help support those candidates.
12 April 2017
Action against cuts at Solent University
Management at Solent University is rattled and failing to cover up its plans for extensive cuts and redundancies. Already staff in the UCU and Unison unions have voted 92% in favour of 'no confidence' in the vice-chancellor, who is paid £300,000 a year.
12 April 2017
Police officers face misconduct charges over attack on 'freedom ride'
Four police officers and one police community support officer are to face misconduct hearings relating to the 'freedom ride' protest by pensioners and disabled people on 23 June 2014.
12 April 2017
Newham socialists attend 'I, Daniel Blake' film night
Newham Community Cinema held a showing of Ken Loach's film 'I, Daniel Blake' on 8 April. On behalf of East London Socialist Party branch I was asked to introduce the film.
12 April 2017
Attacks ratchet-up Syrian conflict and fuel tensions between powers
Trump orders missile strikes against Shayrat air base: US president Donald Trump's decision to launch missile attacks against the Shayrat air base in Syria ratcheted up the long running conflict there and dangerously fuelled tensions between the US and Russia and Iran.
12 April 2017
Thousands left with 50p for rent - cap rents, not benefits
Tory caps on housing benefits have left thousands of families with only 50p a week for rent.
12 April 2017
King's College London Socialist Students held a 'wall of shame' at the university about the terrible conditions faced by students both in halls of residence and renting privately in London.
12 April 2017
Ireland: Bury the water charges
Simon Coveny, the Fine Gael Minister responsible for Water Charges in Ireland, endured a torrid time in the Dáil (Irish Parliament) on 6 April as Socialist Party member and Dublin South West TD (MP) Paul Murphy exposed his party's attempts to smuggle the iniquitous water charges in through the back door.
12 April 2017
It's one world for the super-rich, and another one for the rest of us including 'champagne buttons' and the 'tampon tax'.
12 April 2017
Car workers strike at BMW in defence of pensions
By a huge 93%, car workers at BMW, producing the Mini and Rolls-Royce, have voted to strike for eight days in defence of their final salary pension scheme.
12 April 2017
PCS election: Vote Democracy Alliance
The ballot for the 2017 national executive committee (NEC) election of civil servants' union PCS opens on 20 April and closes 11 May.
12 April 2017
50 PCS members walked out of the DWP administrative site at Annesley, Nottinghamshire for a lunchtime protest on 7 April.
12 April 2017
47,000 kids exposed to illegal toxic air
Fight for publicly owned green energy and transport: Thousands of kids across Britain are having their living conditions worsened and lives potentially shortened as they are exposed to illegal levels of air pollution.
12 April 2017
Doncaster: Socialist Steve's growing support
It's been a great first week for Steve Williams' Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) campaign for mayor.
12 April 2017
Derby teaching assistants accept offer to end pay dispute
Following negotiations and a ballot of Unison members the Derby teaching assistants' dispute ended on 5 April. The members voted nine-to-one to accept the offer from Derby council.
12 April 2017
Arts unions agree joint campaign work
Artists and culture workers have backed calls for no-cuts council budgets, and cross-union campaigns against poverty pay and under-representation of oppressed groups.
12 April 2017
Scrap the Tory 'rape clause' and all benefit attacks
Changes to child tax credits and the 'Universal Credit' benefit system will mean that people making a new claim from 6 April will have the number of children they can claim for capped at two. One exception to this is if the third child was born as a result of what the government calls "non-consensual conception."
12 April 2017
Solid strike across the rail network against unsafe driver-only operation
Train strikes brought large parts of the country to a standstill on 8 April. Train guards in the RMT union struck against driver-only operation (DOO) on Merseyrail which affected the Grand National horse race, on Northern Rail and again on Southern Rail, days before the franchise's boss doubled his pay.
12 April 2017
France: Groundswell of support for left candidate
Old political elite discredited: In the forthcoming French presidential election Jean-Luc Mélenchon is closing the gap on the three frontrunners.
12 April 2017
Livingstone, Labour and anti-Semitism
The continuing battle over Ken Livingstone's Labour Party membership has shown how the issue of anti-Semitism has become an important part of the party's internal struggle.
12 April 2017
Excellent Socialist Party trade union meeting
An excellent meeting of over 100 Socialist Party trade union members took place in London
12 April 2017
Schools are under the greatest threat for more than a generation and an equally powerful response is needed. In the next couple of months, the scale of the cuts will be evident
12 April 2017
Cardiff: Labour right rattled by anti-cuts TUSC
The 100% anti-cuts, socialist alternative presented by the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) has been welcomed on the doorstep by people who are desperate to see an end to austerity. But some figures on the Labour right are less enthusiastic that we're standing in the Welsh council elections.
12 April 2017
Stop press - NHS workers' snap walkout - full victory confirmed
Domestic staff at the Royal London Hospital have had their victory over privateer bosses' attacks on their breaks confirmed, writes Socialist Party reporters.
18 April 2017
Defeat the millionaires' Tory government
Jeremy Corbyn must fight the election with socialist policies: Theresa May's decision to call a general election reflects the government's weakness in the face of a rising tide of anger in Britain
19 April 2017
National Shop Stewards Network conference 2017
The 11th annual National Shop Stewards Network (NSSN) conference will be on Saturday 1 July 2017 from 11am in Conway Hall, 25 Red Lion Square, London WC1R 4RL
19 April 2017
Relaunch of socialistworld.net
The website of the Committee for a Workers' International (CWI) - the socialist international organisation to which the Socialist Party is affiliated - has undergone a makeover
19 April 2017
Energetic start to TUSC local election campaigning
Swansea TUSC activists are spreading their anti-austerity message
19 April 2017
Fightback against Royal Mail pension attack needed
This year's CWU conference takes place while Royal Mail attacks pensions
19 April 2017
Melenchon result shows potential for building a mass left force
French presidential election: Enthusiasm for Mélenchon and his anti-austerity programme was evident at his rally in Toulouse on 16 April
19 April 2017
900 carers quit a day - nationalise social care now
Over 900 carers quit every day last year in England
19 April 2017
Once again, self-styled 'man of the people' Kelvin MacKenzie is making the news with more anti-working class smears against the people of Liverpool
19 April 2017
Joint struggle can stop tuition fee interest hike
Millions of students and former students will be affected by an increase in interest rates on their student loans
19 April 2017
It's one world for the super-rich, and another one for the rest of us. Cutters get half a billion; care cut by £142 a person. £15 million payday for health secretary; 500 ambulances turned back from A&Es
19 April 2017
Protest is not a crime: back Jobstown Not Guilty
On 24 April the biggest political trial in Ireland for a generation will begin
19 April 2017
What kind of movement is needed to save our NHS?
The life and death struggle for the future of the NHS, against the onslaught of cuts and privatisation, has now entered a new phase.
19 April 2017
Trump escalates geopolitical tensions on Korean peninsula
Donald Trump's cruise missile attack on a Syrian airbase on 6 April, during a round of "beautiful chocolate cake" with China's president Xi Jinping, marks a reckless and dangerous escalation of tensions
19 April 2017
Turkey: constitutional referendum result a pyrrhic victory for Erdogan
Officially the 'Yes' side narrowly won with 51% of the vote, giving President Recep Erdogan dictatorial powers including the authority to dissolve parliament
19 April 2017
Workers sailing to victory on Woolwich ferry
Unite and GMB trade union members employed by Briggs Marine on the Woolwich Ferry have scored another win in their battle to improve conditions and fight bullying and harassment
19 April 2017
PCS ballot papers out: vote Democracy Alliance
PCS executive committee elections: It is vital that local reps act quickly to persuade members to vote for the Democracy Alliance slate
19 April 2017
Weapons workers continue pension strike
Picket lines surrounded entrances at the Atomic Weapons Establishment in Aldermaston and Burghfield on 10 April as Unite the Union members voted emphatically to continue their pension strike
19 April 2017
Mood for a fightback at education conferences
The main theme at the Easter conferences of the education unions NUT, ATL and NASUWT is one of a fightback taking place
19 April 2017
Picturehouse cinema strike spreads
Dulwich Picturehouse became the sixth site in the cinema chain to take strike action for the living wage on 15 April
19 April 2017
Mass movements, not 'fringe cultures', can win feminist change
Non-fiction review - 'Why I am not a feminist': We have seen and will see mass movements of women and men against capitalism and sexism. But sadly, in this book, Jessa Crispin seems to conclude that we are not up to the task
19 April 2017
Buses and buggies: a driver speaks
Reader's comment: Workers and poor people who use public transport shouldn't have to squabble with each other. Wheelchair users, parents with buggies and bus drivers are not enemies
19 April 2017
Do you have something to say? Letters to the Socialist's editors. Poverty is pricey; term-time trips; Blairites' Syria scandal.
19 April 2017
TUSC backs RMT Save Our Guards campaign, while local Labour Party blocks debate
The RMT transport workers' union has made a direct appeal to Steve Rotheram MP, the Labour candidate in the Mersyside 'metro-mayor' contest, to guarantee that there will be a second safety-critical crew member aboard every Merseyrail train
19 April 2017
Doncaster mayoral election: Socialist Steve campaign diary
... Rikki, who asked for more info on the TUSC website after getting a flyer, meets us to discuss getting involved - he's bringing two mates to the next Socialist Party meeting...
19 April 2017
TUSC council candidate vows never to go to the 'dark side'!
Surrey is one of the wealthiest counties. Yet apparently we cannot afford street lighting, adequate flood defences, school places, good roads, public transport, or safe levels of fire services
19 April 2017
Benefits workers oppose 'rape clause' and two-child limit
The prospect of explaining this inhumane process to women who have already experienced horrific trauma is unacceptable
21 April 2017
Len McCluskey re-election - a defeat for the right
The Socialist Party welcomes the re-election of Len McCluskey as General Secretary of Unite. His victory over Gerard Coyne is a defeat for the Tories and the capitalist establishment as well as the Blairites within Labour.
25 April 2017
A bold socialist campaign could get rid of the Tories
"The dividing lines in this election could not be clearer", declared Jeremy Corbyn. "It is the establishment that complains I don't play by the rules: by which they mean their rules."
25 April 2017
Peter Taaffe speaks in Birkenhead
Birkenhead born Peter Taaffe, general secretary of the Socialist Party, returned to his hometown on Monday 24th April to speak about the situation in Britain today and also his new book - 'From Militant to the Socialist Party'.
26 April 2017
200,000 empty homes - 250,000 homeless - end property speculation
Over 200,000 homes in England sat empty for at least six months last year, according to investment firm Property Partner's analysis of government figures
26 April 2017
Over 1,000 migrants have died trying to cross the Mediterranean so far this year, according to the United Nations
26 April 2017
A man with chronic health problems died after the hated 'work capability assessment' found him 'fit to work'
26 April 2017
Forest Hill School demonstration
200 staff and parents marched through the streets of Catford in support of Forest Hill School, Lewisham, south London on 22 April
26 April 2017
40% of GPs plan to quit - reverse all NHS cuts and sell-offs!
445 GPs quit in England in the last three months of 2016, according to NHS data. And two in five more plan on leaving their position, says a Department of Health-funded survey.
26 April 2017
Cuts, profit and bureaucracy lead to 50% rise in mental health deaths
Cuts are putting at least 11,000 mental health patients each year at greater risk of suicide because they are not promptly followed up after leaving in-patient care.
26 April 2017
Three leading staff members have already resigned from the Tory campaign team.
26 April 2017
Looking for an affordable home in east London? How about a caretaker's storeroom round the back of a poorhouse for £350,000?
26 April 2017
PCS Left Unity says get rid of the Tories!
Theresa May's calling of a snap general election on the pretext of needing a mandate on Brexit is a sham. However, the election campaign gives an opportunity to expose and oppose her government's austerity programme and to get rid of the Tories.
26 April 2017
Short reports on some of the latest trade union struggles including the CWU conference latest and a London security strike.
26 April 2017
Protests in solidarity with LGBT+ people facing persecution in Chechnya
Around 400 people gathered in Leeds on 22 April to rally in solidarity with LGBT+ people facing violence and imprisonment in Chechnya, Russia.
26 April 2017
East London tenants fight 40% rent hike
Tenants faced with a massive 40% rent hike by their housing association, One Housing, met on 24 April to pledge to fight it. The majority of the tenants, who live in West Ham, east London, are still paying the old rent via standing order and are campaigning for all tenants to do the same.
26 April 2017
Usdaw ADM 2017: Left challenge needed to end assault on retail jobs and conditions
In 2016 many changes were made within the big four supermarkets as they adapted to falling sales. The Coop, Sainsburys, Morrisons and Tesco all saw many store closures and thousands of jobs lost.
26 April 2017
Strikes can end nurses' poverty pay
Unions and Corbyn must lead NHS action: Three thousand nurses have been forced to take out payday loans, according to data received by the Sunday Mirror - and that's just in the last six months!
26 April 2017
Letters to the Socialist's editors including the general election, Militant in Liverpool, the Holocaust and football.
26 April 2017
TUSC's programme for jobs and services
Steve Williams, TUSC candidate for Doncaster mayor, sent his apologies to a Chamber of Commerce invitation
26 April 2017
BMW strikers determined to win pensions dispute
Workers at BMW's engine plant in Coleshill, Warwickshire, held the first of five separate 24-hour strikes
26 April 2017
How Blairism sank its claws into the Labour Party
2nd May, as well as being in the midst of preparations for the upcoming snap election, marks 20 years since another general election - the one in 1997 which brought Tony Blair and New Labour to power.
26 April 2017
The origins of May Day lie in the great struggles in America by working people for shorter working hours at the end of the 19th century, and the martyrdom of union leaders executed 130 years ago.
26 April 2017
The trial of seven anti-austerity protesters in Ireland runs concurrently to the UK election
26 April 2017
Health Campaigns Together meets to chart the way forward
The largest ever gathering of HCT took place on 22 April
26 April 2017
Mélenchon result shows potential for building a mass left force
French presidential election: Macron and Le Pen reach second round. Statement from Gauche Révolutionnaire, CWI in France.
30 April 2017
Support for socialist programme in Labour Liverpool rally
700 Jeremy Corbyn supporters packed St George's hall - the more radical the declaration, the louder the ovation
22 May Hackney & Islington Socialist Party: 10 years since the end of the war in Sri Lanka
23 May Wirral Socialist Party: How Teamsters made Minneapolis a union town
23 May East London Socialist Party: Socialist change to end climate change
23 May North London Socialist Party: End Israeli state slaughter
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