Archive for February 2018

7 February 2018

Fighting sexism: Positive discrimination - yea or neigh?

Featured letter: It's 100 years since women in Britain won, through militant struggle, limited adult suffrage

7 February 2018

The Socialist Party is being evicted - we need you!

Building fund finance appeal launched: At the beginning of autumn last year the Socialist Party received a notice to quit our national centre by the end of summer 2018

7 February 2018

Yorkshire Socialist Party regional conference

Growth in support and big donations to building fund: The 4 February regional conference of Yorkshire Socialist Party was a tremendous success. Over 50 delegates attended and there was an optimistic mood, which reflected both the growth in support for the

7 February 2018

NHS day of action: all around the country

Reports from the 3 February NHS demos around the country.

7 February 2018

Tragic death exposes criminal understaffing of NHS

After the tragic death of a six-year-old child, Jack Adcock, a doctor and nurse have been removed from their professional registers and given two-year suspended prison sentences for manslaughter.

7 February 2018

York socialists head resistance to NHS outsourcing

There has been a consistent campaign in York to resist secret plans by the local NHS trust to establish a limited liability company at York Hospital.

7 February 2018

Trump v NHS

Donald Trump has claimed the 3 February march to save the NHS shows public healthcare doesn't work.

7 February 2018

Capita in crisis: bring all outsourcers back in-house

Shares in outsourcing giant Capita have collapsed following the company's profit warning to shareholders. This follows shortly after its competitor Carillion sank into liquidation, and underlines further the fragile state of British capitalism.

7 February 2018

90 feared dead after migrant boat capsizes

I, being a refugee from Sri Lanka, a victim of civil war, find it disheartening when I read the news about 90 migrants thought dead after a boat capsized off the coast of Libya.

7 February 2018

Haringey: now's our chance for a no-cuts council

Right-wing pro-mega-privatisation Labour councillors deselected. Arch-Blairite council leader resigned. Major privatisation and gentrification project derailed.

7 February 2018

Striking back against academies in Newham

It's been months since teachers at Avenue Primary school in Newham, east London, uncovered plans for the school to become an academy.

7 February 2018

Sudan: Mohamed Satti released - global solidarity campaign gets results!

Committee for a Workers' International (CWI) Sudanese comrade Mohammed Satti (Hamudi) was released from jail on 2 February.

7 February 2018

Protesters denounce oppressive Sri Lankan regime

On 4 February hundreds of Tamil youth attended a protest on Sri Lanka's 70th 'Independence Day' outside the Sri Lankan High Commission in London.

7 February 2018

Corbyn's left must seize the advantage in Labour's civil war

Headlines scream about a hard-left takeover of the Labour Party. No wonder. Under Tony Blair, big business found a safe political alternative to the Tories. How they must now long for the return of pro-capitalist, pro-austerity Labour as they watch the Tories' divisions

7 February 2018

GCSE grading game stresses out students - even more than before!

The government has implemented new GCSE rules and with them stress, and with them fear, and with them anxiety.

7 February 2018

Bernie's book shows need for workers' party

Non-fiction: Our Revolution: This book 'Our Revolution' by Bernie Sanders is a bestseller which charts his campaign for the Democratic nomination. He is scrupulous in making it clear it was grassroots activists that made this possible.

7 February 2018

Darkest Hour: Not the usual flattery of brutal Tory Churchill

Watching Gary Oldman as Churchill in 'Darkest Hour' at the Tyneside Cinema, I felt quite emotional. I was angry - if it was left to the Tories in 1940 they would have surrendered to Hitler.

7 February 2018

The Socialist inbox

Letters to the Socialist's editors including NHS beds, Kurdish liberation, sprinklers, Blairites and the 'S' word.

7 February 2018

May's silence is a green light for Chinese repression

PM's visit to China puts business rights before human rights: Theresa May avoided irking her hosts with talk of human rights or the attacks on democratic rights in Hong Kong.

7 February 2018

DLR cleaners and security staff strike

Following a strike on New Year's Eve, RMT members working on the Docklands Light Railway (DLR) in London went on strike on 1 and 2 February to force their employer, the outsourcing privateer ISS, to come back to the negotiating table

7 February 2018

Donate to the Socialist Party

7 February 2018

NHS - build the fightback

Tens of thousands in London and dozens or hundreds on each of more than 50 other events around the country boldly protested in defence of our NHS.

7 February 2018

Scene set for TUSC conference electoral debate

Last autumn the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) launched a survey of Labour councillors to see if they would back Jeremy Corbyn's anti-austerity stand when setting 2018-19 council budgets and, in those councils going to the polls this year, in the 2018 local elections

7 February 2018

'Occupy to save the town square'

Residents and workers in Walthamstow, east London, are preparing action to stop a 'monster block' phoney regeneration scheme

7 February 2018

Royal Mail forced back under threat of action

The CWU executive committee has agreed a national agreement with Royal Mail Group (RMG) which will now go to members to vote on. Overall, it represents a major climb-down by management and should be viewed as a victory against them.

7 February 2018

Unison national women's conference

This year's Unison national women's conference (NWC) in Liverpool last week saw Socialist Party members playing a key role in initiating and organising the first 'Unison Action' fringe meeting to be held at a self-organised group conference.

8 February 2018

Teachers strike again as anti-academy pressure mounts

Teachers hit back at privatisation with another solid strike

14 February 2018

We can win the fight for the NHS

The situation isn't all doom and gloom. Movements can be, and are being, built around the country to save hospitals

14 February 2018

Stop press: victory - campaign saves NHS rehab ward

The campaign to save the Chatsworth rehab ward in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, has won

14 February 2018

McDonnell says Labour would put services 'irreversibly' in workers' hands

Only mass mobilisation can prevent capitalist sabotage and guarantee workers' democracy: Fight for public ownership under democratic workers' control and management, with compensation to owners only on the basis of proven need

14 February 2018

Rent doubles in a decade: cap rents, build council homes!

A stunning new report reveals the total rent paid in the UK has doubled to £51 billion since 2007

14 February 2018

What we saw: Tory-Blairite EU love-in

Tory and Blairite MPs could combine to rescue big business

14 February 2018

Cape Town drought

No to profiteering from water crisis! Cape Town is facing its worst drought in almost 100 years

14 February 2018

Brazil: Lula conviction confirmed

Unity in struggle against Temer's attacks - build a new socialist alternative: The objective of this second conviction of Lula - frontrunner in all opinion polls - is to eliminate him from the 2018 presidential elections

14 February 2018

Big political strike against Finnish government's attack on unemployed

Across the country, not only transport workers but construction and manufacturing unions were on strike, with a tenth of Finland's workers - 200,000 - downing tools

14 February 2018

France: rallies in support of oppressed Kurdish people

Turkey's President Erdogan is intent on smashing the aspirations of the Kurdish people for a homeland

14 February 2018

Sadiq Khan's bus drivers' London licence doesn't go far enough

Labour's Sadiq Khan spoke to London bus workers when he stood for London mayor and promised to deliver strikers' pay demands - but we are still waiting

14 February 2018

Woolwich Crossrail walkouts to demand promised bonuses

76 electricians on the Woolwich Crossrail construction site have been taking industrial action because Balfour Beatty has ceased paying the vital 'finishing bonus'

14 February 2018

Threat of action defeats pay cut at Surrey council

Organising works, we won and all members have received their full backdated pay

14 February 2018

Staines fire services saved

After a prolonged battle with Surrey council, the campaign to protect fire services in Staines has forced an important retreat

14 February 2018

Carlisle debate - socialism or social democracy?

Only a programme of nationalising the banks and top monopolies would allow a Corbyn-led Labour government to carry through serious improvements for the working class

14 February 2018

Enjoyable and successful Cardiff Refugee Rights gig

"I was deeply moved by the huge support that we received"

14 February 2018

I'm now a 'manager' and I can barely manage!

I work in a well-known high street chain and I was promoted a little while ago and thought to myself "finally, things might get a bit easier!" How foolish I was!

14 February 2018

In Windsor none of us want to see homeless people on the street

Royal wedding homeless clearance: The Tory leader of the council, Simon Dudley, decided the police needed to get rid of homeless people using the Vagrancy Act of 1824

14 February 2018

Building support for Corbyn's anti-cuts policies in the local elections

TUSC conference 2018: If there is no fight, it means extinction for indispensable services and jobs. The Tories' planned cuts exceed three-quarters of councils' core funding

14 February 2018

Oxfam scandal: we need democratic aid and working class solidarity

For democratic control over aid and emergency assistance - through elected committees of workers, land labourers and poor people

14 February 2018

Uni strike: coordinate public sector fightback

The Socialist Party gives full backing to UCU members striking against plans to scrap their 'defined benefit' pensions

14 February 2018

Haringey protests HDV - but Labour fails to kill it off completely

Labour councillors passed a resolution postponing any decision on the Blairite privatisation scheme

14 February 2018

Czechoslovakia 1968: 'Prague Spring' challenges Stalinism

Frustrated workers and youth took the removal of their hardline Stalinist president as the cue

14 February 2018

Tamil youth march for justice

Brigadier Priyankara Fernando's cut-throat threat to peaceful protesters outside the Sri Lankan High Commission caused massive outrage

15 February 2018

TUSC statement on sentencing of Derby TUSC agent

Chris Fernandez, the local election agent for eight Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) candidates at the 2016 council elections in Derby, after a two-and-a-half week trial has been sentenced to 15 months imprisonment for charges of electoral fraud

16 February 2018

No fudge with the right wing

Haringey council has been in the eye of the storm following the resignation of its Blairite leader.

19 February 2018

Building the campaign against clearances of the working class

Where are Jeremy Corbyn's representatives in Waltham Forest's Labour council? - campaigners will be asking

19 February 2018

Usdaw victory - Socialist Party member Amy Murphy wins presidential election

The many Usdaw members and shop workers who expressed support for Tesco worker Amy and her policies will be delighted by this massive step forward.

20 February 2018

After 80 strike days Mears workers achieve victory

Workers agreed to an average pay rise of 22% and parity of pay across the workforce and in line with others in Manchester

21 February 2018

Tories raid £1bn from NHS facilities budget - unions must act

For the last four years the government has been delving into the NHS maintenance budget to fund everyday running of services

21 February 2018

Blairite mayor faces open election after democratic 'irregularities' - fight for a no-cuts mayor

Hated Newham mayor Robin Wales, the Labour right-winger who's held onto power for 23 years, is finally facing an open election

21 February 2018

Like rats from a sinking Ukip

Ukip has shed its fifth leader since the 2016 EU referendum

21 February 2018

Newham academies strike continues with three schools to strike together

This is Avenue School's longest strike yet - three days - as the campaign to save Newham schools from 'academy' status heats up

21 February 2018

Chatsworth ward victory shows we can save our NHS

The Chatsworth rehabilitation unit has been saved from closure

21 February 2018

Northern Ireland talks process paralysed

Theresa May's claim that an agreement would be "up and running very soon" humiliatingly came to nothing

21 February 2018

Bosses divided - university pension strikes can win!

Essex vice-chancellor Anthony Forster became the eighth to speak out against devastating cuts to staff pensions

21 February 2018

How can students and young people fight the Tories?

Prime Minister Theresa May has proposed cutting tuition fees for some students - who are clamouring to get involved in the fight on any issue they think they can win

21 February 2018

Leicester Uni makes Tory fee tripler David Willetts chancellor - sack Willetts!

During his time in government, Willetts was a key orchestrator in raising tuition fees from £3,000 to £9,000

21 February 2018

Facebook sides with state repression - reinstate the Tamil Solidarity page

This is an attack on freedom of speech

21 February 2018

South Africa: Ramaphosa is a safe pair of hands for capitalism

ANC president Zuma ousted: Inside two months following his election as ANC leader at the party's December conference, Cyril Ramaphosa has realised his ambition to become the country's president

21 February 2018

Russia: Ali Feruz, journalist and human rights activist, freed from jail

This is, without doubt, a victory for the Hands Off Ali campaign and all who supported him

21 February 2018

Northants council crisis - protesters demand an end to cuts and privatisation

The council has issued a 'Section 114 notice' banning all new expenditure other than on statutory services

21 February 2018

Victory: Pontllanfraith leisure centre saved

Campaigners in Pontllanfraith have forced Caerphilly Council to back down on plans to close the leisure centre

21 February 2018

Save Salford nurseries!

Labour MP Rebecca Long-Bailey, mayor Paul Dennett and a few councillors tried to persuade the crowd they could be trusted to fight to save the nurseries, but were unable to convince them

21 February 2018

Labour councillors push through savage cuts in Kirklees budget

Every single Labour councillor in Kirklees, Yorkshire, has voted through over £29 million of cuts - with promises of more to come

21 February 2018

May Day, May Day! Celebrate solidarity!

No, we're not in distress! But we do want to celebrate May Day, and we want to see a paper full of May Day greetings that proudly reflects the hard work of our members and workers' solidarity

21 February 2018

Bradford protests against kids' service cuts

Socialist Party members joined a protest in Bradford in response to £13 million of cuts to prevention and early help child services

21 February 2018

Successful Socialist Party Wales conference sets tone for the year ahead

The recent earthquake in South Wales pales in comparison with the shifts in the political landscape described at the Socialist Party Wales conference

21 February 2018

Tremendous determination on show at West Midlands conference

With 71 in attendance from eleven branches or groups, a fantastic West Midlands Socialist Party conference took place on 17 February in Birmingham

21 February 2018

Lively discussion at East Midlands Socialist Party conference

The Socialist Party East Midlands conference detailed tasks ahead but also the lessons of the successful Glenfield and Chatsworth NHS campaigns - led by Socialist Party members

21 February 2018

Nottingham hospital black alert

The continuing winter crisis in our hospitals has resulted in black alert status being declared at a Nottingham hospital for a whole week

21 February 2018

Cardiff Refugee Rights gig success

Cardiff hosted a successful gig and art auction, organised by Young Socialists in conjunction with the Refugee Rights Campaign

21 February 2018

Outrageous sentence for TUSC agent in 'misleading electors' court case

This is part of the Tories' moves against democratic rights, including electoral rights, as a response to the accumulating rage at their never-ending austerity agenda

21 February 2018

German engineering strike puts shorter week on agenda - but could have won more

The bigger question of a shorter working week with no loss in pay is even more valid in today's world of rapid technological change

21 February 2018

The Socialist inbox

Do you have something to say? Letters to the Socialist's editors. Stock market plunge; rights for racehorses

23 February 2018

Lecturers strike around country in defence of pensions

UCU members in 61 universities have started their 14 days of strike action

26 February 2018

Tory Brexit divisions, Corbyn's opportunity

The workers' movement must maintain an independent class opposition to a Tory Brexit, 'soft', 'hard' or 'no deal'. But that is not the position of the Blairite defenders of capitalism within the Labour Party.

26 February 2018

Groundswell of opposition to high-rise development

Walthamstow Saturday market square was buzzing, as around 600 angry demonstrators came together

28 February 2018

Save Our Square occupation: "This land is our land!"

Hundreds signed up to join the Save Our Square campaign in Waltham Forest, east London, on the day

28 February 2018

Mary Jackson: funeral and memorial meeting

150 people attended Mary's funeral, including a delegation from transport union RMT, reflecting the enormous love and respect she was held in by family, friends and comrades

28 February 2018

Socialist Students conference highlights successful work

Over 100 students attended the annual Socialist Students conference, which highlighted the successes of Socialist Students' work and the growth in the popularity of socialist ideas

28 February 2018

200 years of Marxism meeting

How relevant Marx's ideas are in 2018 - 200 years after he was born and 170 years since the publication of the Communist Manifesto

28 February 2018

Three major West Wales hospitals could close

Corbyn and unions must fight Labour right: Until now, Welsh Labour has denied there is a crisis in the Welsh NHS

28 February 2018

Corbyn didn't collaborate with Stalinism - but with Trotskyists against it

Sun 'commie spy' smear: Jeremy Corbyn stands accused of collaborating with Czechoslovak Stalinism - but his backing of a Trotskyist call for workers' democracy shows the opposite

28 February 2018

Gorbachev: Accidental architect of world change

Mikhail Gorbachev, the Soviet Union's last leader, left a truly historical legacy. Aiming to reform bureaucratic rule he helped unleash forces that led to the collapse of Stalinism

28 February 2018

Stormzy is right to slam Tories for Grenfell

For an independent working class inquiry: Stormzy reminded the world that what happened wasn't just a freak accident - it was a predicted consequence of profiteering

28 February 2018

KFC delivery crisis: make the bosses pay, not the workers!

The headlines make light of the frustrations of regulars missing out on fried chicken - but there is a serious side for workers

28 February 2018

Resist the Tory war on women

International Women's Day - 8 March 2018: We fight for a world free of inequality and sexism

28 February 2018

Workers strike back!

Coordinate the struggles: Faced with a fresh series of attacks from the Tories and their friends in big business, workers are striking back up and down the country

28 February 2018

University bosses rocked - strikes can save staff pensions!

"University chiefs split as strikes cause chaos" read the front page of the Times - after just two days of our planned 14-day strike programme!

28 February 2018

Unite victory in EDF meter workers' union recognition fight

The successful battle for the trade union recognition of EDF Energy workers transferred to Morrison Data Services has been hailed as a key victory by general union Unite

28 February 2018

Corbynism shows 'Clause IV' still relevant a hundred years on

A reestablishment of a version of the lost "socialist clause" in Labour's constitution would help the process of transformation, if it was a serious programme rather than an empty symbol

28 February 2018

United States: young people demand change after latest mass shooting

Parkland school massacre: Socialists support some limitations on access to guns as a public health measure. However, this will clearly not solve the problems of poverty, inequality and alienation that underlie violence

28 February 2018

'Anti-austerity' Bristol Labour passes £34 million cuts budget

A legal no-cuts budget has even been urged on the mayor by the elected bodies of his own party - yet he still parrots lies about 'illegality' and claims to be powerless in the face of cuts

28 February 2018

Newham: teaching workers and parents determined to halt academies

The mood at the rally against academisation was electric as 90 people from three striking schools crammed in after being on the picket lines

28 February 2018

Building fund appeal: Behind the scenes at the Socialist Party office

Why do we need a national centre? Let me take you on a tour of the Socialist Party office

28 February 2018

Union-led campaign beats Blairite attacks on homeless

We shamed the council into withdrawing the attack - which apparently were all 'just a mistake' anyway - but they should be ashamed

28 February 2018

Belper hospital threatened

Campaigners to save threatened Babington Hospital protested on 23 February at an NHS clinical commissioning group meeting in Derby

28 February 2018

Selling the Socialist in Stoke

People are amazingly generous, especially when you consider Stoke is an area where the manufacturing industry has been destroyed over the last 30 years, first the pits, then the pottery and steel industry

28 February 2018

What's behind the surge in eating disorders?

Many will have been shocked by recent NHS figures showing the doubling over the last six years of hospitalisations due to life-threatening eating disorders

28 February 2018

The Socialist inbox

Do you have something to say? Letters to the Socialist's editors. Blairite councillors attack homeless; universal credit protest; tide is turning on anti-cuts fights

28 February 2018

Socialist anti-war exhibition opens in Kingston

Socialist artist Peter Robson's exhibition 'Unobtania' comes to south London this month, examining the horrors of the wars waged to defend the bosses' profit system

28 February 2018

Corbyn's customs union dividing line: now stand firm for pro-worker Brexit

Editorial of the Socialist: In essence, Corbyn sought to oppose the present pro-capitalist EU Customs Union with the idea of one that would be in the interests of working people