Archive for January 2018
1 January 2018
The capitalist press regales us daily with a blizzard of facts which unconsciously indict their profit-driven system and their callous political representatives, the Tory government of Theresa May.
3 January 2018
Widening wealth gap, increase in poverty...make the fat cats pay
Don't put the party poppers away just yet. There's one last thing to celebrate. Fat Cat Thursday! Well, it's not exactly a celebration if you're working class. In fact its only the super-rich who actually enjoy the event.
3 January 2018
Heart unit rescued by campaigning saves baby with pioneering surgery
The heroic victory was vindicated straight away.
3 January 2018
Thousands live in tents and sheds - seize empty homes
Over 60,000 homes in England and Wales have been vacant for more than two years. At the same time, 9,100 people live in tents. And in London alone around 9,000 'beds in sheds' fill secret slums.
3 January 2018
NHS in winter crisis as Branson creams off £1bn
The NHS winter crisis has become an established part of the calendar, both predictable and predicted.
3 January 2018
Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition conference
Saturday 10 February: Main session: 'Building support for Jeremy Corbyn's anti-cuts policies in the 2018 local elections - should socialist anti-austerity candidates stand in May?'
3 January 2018
Equal sick pay rights for staff at Charlton Park Academy
After months of action including six days of strikes at Charlton Park Academy in south east London, members of general union GMB and the National Education Union (NEU) have gained a well-deserved victory.
3 January 2018
Mobilise against rip-off executive pay
Higher education: In the new year honours, five 'fat cat' current and former vice-chancellors were rewarded for their 'services to education'
3 January 2018
Rail: fares up, bosses' pay up - delays and cancellations up
Nationalise rail now!: Rail companies are ringing in the new year by inflicting yet more misery on long-suffering commuters.
3 January 2018
At the North Yorkshire Fire Authority meeting on 13 December, the decision was taken unanimously to reverse the decision made three years ago to reduce crewing of 'tactical response vehicles' (TRVs) to just three firefighters.
3 January 2018
Following successful pay protests in November at Leeds City College further education unions UCU and Unison decided to keep the momentum going in December and planned repeat action
3 January 2018
Bradford protest against children's service cuts
Demonstrators gathered ahead of Bradford council's monthly meeting to protest proposals in the consultation of an 'early help service', part of the children's services directorate of the council.
3 January 2018
Catalan elections: PP humiliated
Movement mobilises once more for the Catalan republic: The Catalan election on 21 December was a massive defeat for the Spanish nationalist 'bloc of article 155' - the imposition of direct rule in Catalonia - and an even bigger blow to this bloc's main force, the right-wing People's Party (PP) of prime minister Mariano Rajoy.
3 January 2018
Tory prescription for mental illness: stress and bureaucracy
As an individual with mental health issues, it has been my misfortune to experience directly just how capitalist society, Britain 2017, treats such people. I can't imagine that my experience is particularly unique.
3 January 2018
Letters to the Socialist's editors including pensions, benefits and Palestine.
3 January 2018
UCU members balloting for action on pension cuts
Anger is approaching boiling point at plans to do away with guaranteed benefits
4 January 2018
Strike against driver-only operation on five rail networks
Train guards are taking strike action in defence of railway safety
8 January 2018
RMT rail members buoyed by coordinated action
RMT members across five train companies are striking
10 January 2018
Teacher recruitment falls by a third - cut workload, not funding
Teachers throughout the country reacted with shock to the news that the number applying to train as teachers has dropped by 33%, according to Ucas figures. This is the fifth year the government has failed to meet its recruitment targets, and the largest drop for many years.
10 January 2018
Newham academy strikes spread to Cumberland school
"Why would we want more privatisation?!" This is how the National Education Union (NEU) rep at Cumberland school in Newham, East London, closed the picket line meeting to stop the school becoming an academy.
10 January 2018
Hoxton: "Stop this unwanted development"
'We don't want luxury tower blocks built in Hoxton' was the verdict of every contributor in a public meeting called by the 'Save Britannia Leisure Centre' campaign in east London.
10 January 2018
Closure of Nottingham unit shows dismantling of NHS
Nottinghamshire Healthcare Trust is planning to shut down a unit for people suffering from serious alcohol and drug addiction issues.
10 January 2018
Letters to the Socialist's editors including bailiffs, billionaires and snow.
10 January 2018
Bigot Toby Young quits - now scrap the new uni regulator driving privatisation
Bigoted Tory journalist Toby Young has resigned from the board of the government's new universities regulator, the Office for Students (OfS).
10 January 2018
Sweden: School strike against deportations
Before the seasonal holidays began in Sweden, an historic strike against the deportation of refugees was organised. On 12 December, at 12noon, school students across the country - from Boden in the north to Ystad in the south - took part.
10 January 2018
2017 was the best fighting fund total this century!
In the last three months of 2017 Socialist Party members raised over £40,000 for the first time in the 21st century!
10 January 2018
Socialist sales highest in years as mistrust in capitalist media hits record levels
More people bought the Socialist in 2017 than 2016, and 2016 beat 2015 too. Well done to all the sellers of the Socialist for achieving this.
10 January 2018
Art can help expose sexual harassment
Photography: No Fear: I've been trying to capture experiences - of the endemic, systematic sexual harassment and assault of women - in a photography project titled No Fear.
10 January 2018
Debate: should tower blocks form part of socialist housing policy?
In the wake of the Grenfell Tower atrocity, Salford Socialist Party began discussing whether there is a role for tower blocks in a socialist housing policy. There were differing views so we organised a debate.
10 January 2018
10 January 2018
Sustained mass movement needed to stop Tories wrecking our NHS
The winter NHS crisis has provoked fury from patients and health workers alike, with many taking to social media to share candid photos of the situation.
10 January 2018
Amy Murphy for Usdaw president - vote for a fighting and democratic union
Elections for the new president of Usdaw, the shop and distribution workers' union, take place from 15 January with Socialist Party member Amy Murphy running to give the union a fighting leadership.
10 January 2018
Cabinet chaos as shambolic reshuffle underlines Theresa May's impotence
There was more excitement in the media before May's cabinet reshuffle than among working class people. And in the event, the reaction of workers turned out to be more realistic.
10 January 2018
Strike wins biggest pay rise in ten years
Strike action in two areas has won McDonald's workers across the UK a significant rise.
10 January 2018
Movement challenges Iranian regime
Sudden large scale nationwide protests have shaken Iran. Sections of the population have shown utter defiance of the regime. Young people in particular, facing unemployment estimated at between 25% and 40%, have been to the fore.
12 January 2018
Mini-strike wave continues and intensifies
The new year hasn't put an end to the disputes taking place across Manchester
12 January 2018
Outrage against 'monster block' plan
140 people crammed into a Waltham Forest Trades Council Housing Action Network meeting
15 January 2018
Carillion crisis: demand action to save jobs and services
Tens of thousands of Carillion employees fear for their jobs and pensions after the company announced liquidation - it must be taken into public ownership
16 January 2018
Birmingham home care staff will be striking on 20 February against their employer - a Labour council
17 January 2018
Southern Socialist Party conference
Since 2015 referendums and elections have gone the wrong way for the Tories and the ruling class
17 January 2018
We must fight all council cuts!
There are many council budget-setting meetings during January and February that are slashing millions more pounds off vital services - and many of these councils are run by Labour
17 January 2018
NHS crisis: under pressure from all angles - end cuts and sell-offs!
"Staff are desperate for change" says a nurse. "They were literally overrun" says an A&E patient. But strikes and mass campaigning can save our NHS.
17 January 2018
Ferrybridge: Workers down tools over unpaid wages
Construction workers on the Ferrybridge multi-fuel project in West Yorkshire stopped work on 12 January because workers' reported that wages had not been paid into their bank accounts
17 January 2018
Victory! Trump's UK visit cancelled by fear of protests
Both Trump and Theresa May feared the visit would spark mass demonstrations against his racist and bigoted views and policy agenda
17 January 2018
Corbyn's Labour needs 100% anti-cuts strategy and fight for democracy
Left NEC victories, Williamson resignation, council tax debate... What strategy can defeat Tory and Blairite austerity?
17 January 2018
Tunisia: explosion of protests against government austerity
Hundreds detained in indiscriminate arrests: The explosion of protests against the new Finance Act has again put into perspective the liberal commentators' fairytale about Tunisia's 'successful democratic transition'
17 January 2018
Stop repression in Hong Kong and China
'Article 23' would make it a criminal offence to oppose the Chinese dictatorship, and could outlaw socialists in Hong Kong
17 January 2018
RMT strikes against driver-only operation continue
"Everyone passing understands that this strike is about rail safety"
17 January 2018
Hackney school cleaners strike
Unite the Union members working in six schools in Hackney will be striking to defend wages and year-round contracts
17 January 2018
PCS union 2018 elections - nominate the left slate for a continued fighting leadership
PCS members can nominate candidates for the national executive committee at their branch annual general meeting in February or March - the Socialist Party supports the Democracy Alliance
17 January 2018
Woolwich ferry workers vote to strike against job and pay cuts; vote Amy Murphy for a fighting democratic Usdaw union president
17 January 2018
No to the Woolwich monster block
If Greenwich council and property developers get their way Woolwich's skyline will soon be unrecognisable
17 January 2018
Undercover policing legal challenge
The government has failed to inquire into undercover policing operations in Scotland
17 January 2018
Heating scandal on east London estate
The heating and hot water supply to 200 residents on the private Barking Riverside estate in east London was threatened by asset strippers in the middle of winter
17 January 2018
Lobby pushes Liverpool council to oppose privatisation
Around 70 people lobbied Liverpool council to protest against 'accountable care organisation' privatisation proposals
17 January 2018
Packed Newham meeting against academies
If a new round of pro-academy Blairite councillors are selected, then campaigners may feel there is no choice but to stand against them in May
17 January 2018
Socialist Party women's meeting brings together members to share experiences
A great opportunity for socialist women from all over the country to share views and experiences, build political confidence and explore issues of particular relevance to women
17 January 2018
Opinion: foster care is work - carers deserve workers' rights
Many foster carers cannot maintain a day job if they have a challenging young person to care for, and so rely wholly on their council allowance
17 January 2018
Opinion: British imperialism can take no credit in fight against Isis
Even if we ignore the "collateral damage," British imperialism's role in Iraq can hardly be considered positive
17 January 2018
Theatre: 'Young Marx' shows growth in great platform for his ideas
If any work of art has a progressive impact on political attitudes and understanding, it's done a good thing
19 January 2018
Carillion and the construction industry
The following letter by Socialist Party member and construction worker Jimmy Tyson was published in the Liverpool Echo earlier this week
22 January 2018
Longstanding Doncaster Socialist Party member Mary Jackson was a working class fighter and an eternal optimist in a socialist future
22 January 2018
Over 1,000 women, of all ages and backgrounds but mainly many young women, defied the cold, the rain and the snow and joined this event.
22 January 2018
Protesters were arrested by the Sudanese state last week, as part of a brutal response to the wave of protests against skyrocketing prices and austerity.
24 January 2018
PCS executive agrees next steps in pay campaign
On 31 January PCS members from across the UK civil service will participate in pay day protests over public sector pay restraint which has seen a 20% cut in wages since 2010. These protests come on the back of our fantastic consultative ballot result.
24 January 2018
May's "war on plastic" still puts profits before the planet
A rapidly growing mountain of plastic waste is polluting the world's land and oceans
24 January 2018
News in brief including segregated playgrounds, benefit cuts and oil worker wages.
24 January 2018
Brum care workers protest council attacks
Picketers and their supporters demonstrated outside Birmingham council house on 20 January. Socialist Party and Socialist Students members joined over 100 people gathered at Victoria square to stand up to the latest council attacks against the homecare workers.
24 January 2018
Amy Murphy Usdaw campaign meeting
Reps and activists from five Usdaw branches came to a public meeting in Leeds held to promote the election campaign of Broad Left candidate for Usdaw president, and Socialist Party member, Amy Murphy on 17 January.
24 January 2018
Ballots against Bromley privatisers
Controversial outsourcing Bromley council faces strike action by workers at two of its contractors that could hit libraries and care services.
24 January 2018
Gentrification scourge hits Kent
So-called 'gentrification' is on its way to parts of north Kent that are being packaged as the 'Thames Gateway'.
24 January 2018
Kirklees council opens consultation of library services
For the third year running, Kirklees council is looking to make cuts to its library services. A further £1.9 million is to be cut from the library services budget for 2018-19.
24 January 2018
Southampton: Pay rise for uni boss, job losses for lecturers
Universities in England have become a microcosm of capitalism. At Southampton University the vice-chancellor has awarded himself a pay rise to £424,000, while at the same time making plans to sack over 50 lecturers.
24 January 2018
Letters to the editors of the Socialist including one NHS worker forced out of the health service and tower block health and safety concerns in Belfast
24 January 2018
Universal credit: set up to fail
Only a few days after the roll-out of the Tories' new 'universal credit' benefits system, the working poor, disabled and most vulnerable in our society are already suffering.
24 January 2018
Welsh NHS crisis - we cannot go on like this
We cannot go on like this. That is the substance of a letter from A&E consultants to the Welsh government to draw attention to the huge crisis in Welsh hospitals this winter.
24 January 2018
£2m to remove Grenfell-type cladding: residents to get bill
No charges to residents! Cladding off now!: Residents in the 'Citiscape' housing complex in Croydon, south London, have learnt that tests revealed the cladding on their block poses the same fire hazard as Grenfell Tower.
24 January 2018
Punishment of Tamimi family awakens wave of international solidarity
Israel/Palestine: Sixteen-year-old Ahed Tamimi and her 21-year-old cousin, Nur Tamimi, were arrested during a military raid on their house in the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh on the night of 19 December.
24 January 2018
Defend Louise Harrison - save Yorkshire women's services!
Louise Harrison, now ex-staff member of South Yorkshire Women's Aid, was dismissed from her job on 19 January by a trustee vote of three to one not to renew her contract.
24 January 2018
Victory against government's war on eastern European homeless
For the past year and a half the Tory government has been waging a war against European Economic Area (EEA) nationals, including locking up those citizens en masse, without charge and indefinitely. Not in the mainstream news? Of course not, those affected were largely from eastern Europe and were homeless.
24 January 2018
Obituary: Maureen Mulhearn 1945-2018
It is with great sorrow that we report the death of Maureen Mulhearn, lifelong partner of Tony Mulhearn
24 January 2018
Turn Carillion crisis into movement against privatisation and capitalism
Outsourcing, PFI, privatisation, as in Carillion, is 'reverse socialism'. It is nothing other than a highly efficient wealth transfusion system. We need a movement to kick out these profiteers from public services
24 January 2018
Playing fields rescued from Blairites
Labour-run Leeds council appears to have retreated in the face of mass community opposition
24 January 2018
Vietnam War: 50 years since the Tet Offensive
On 30 January 1968 the NLF and the People's Army of Vietnam launched the Tet Offensive against US and allied troops
24 January 2018
Many of us are terrified of coming down with one of the many viruses hitting Britain this winter. Or there is dread at the possibility of joining the people stuck in queues of ambulances
24 January 2018
Lecturers vote for strikes against pension cuts
88% of University and College Union (UCU) members in 68 universities have voted for national strikes on a 58% turnout.
24 January 2018
Carillion crisis exposes PFI chaos
Letters to the editors: short comments on the Carillion crisis
25 January 2018
For workplace trade union organisation against sexual harassment
The scandal over the President's Club charity dinner shows that behind closed doors the rich and powerful feel as entitled to women's bodies as ever.
25 January 2018
Southampton Socialist Party: Solidarity with the revolt of workers and youth in Iran
Mass revolts across Iran in protest at price increases and government corruption raised demands for the end of the regime, writes Room 1101 at the Avenue Campus, Highfield Road, Southampton SO17 1BF.
26 January 2018
Cammell Lairds strikers demand improved pay and conditions
Shipbuilding workers in the GMB and Unite are striking
26 January 2018
Labour's NEC intervenes in Haringey project - but the battle isn't over
The Blairite council leaders could use their dying days to sign a 20-year HDV deal with developers
30 January 2018
Labour civil war re-erupts over Haringey regeneration project
Every attempt by the Labour Party membership to exert democratic control over MPs and councillors is met with howls of outrage by the capitalist class.
31 January 2018
Majority of kids poor in some areas
In parts of London and Greater Manchester you are now more likely to grow up poor than not
31 January 2018
A demonstration called by the transport union RMT took place outside Liverpool Town Hall ahead of a meeting of Merseyrail stakeholders on 25 January to show the incredible public support in favour of keeping the guards on Merseyrail trains
31 January 2018
For mass resistance!: Last month the Turkish state began a fresh military assault on Kurdish areas in Syria. Kurds and supporters demonstrated against the war in London on 27 January
31 January 2018
Heroic health workers and valiant community campaigns have already proven that when we fight, we can win. The ideas and work of the Socialist Party have been a key component in this struggle.
But it's not just about ideas. Socialist Party members have been on the front line of the fightback, turning ideas into action. Help us beat the Tory and Blairite NHS wreckers. Join the Socialists.
31 January 2018
Northern health campaigns conference discusses the fightback
Around 150 delegates crowded into the first and very successful Health Campaigns Together northern conference held in Leeds on 20 January.
31 January 2018
8,000 strong petition opposes closure of Sheffield health services
Socialist Party members took part as over 8,000 signatures on petitions were presented by Sheffield Save Our NHS, Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition and Labour Party members against the proposed closure of the minor injuries unit at Hallamshire hospital and the walk-in centre in Sheffield to a meeting of the clinical commissioning group (CCG).
31 January 2018
Labour NHS rally reveals horrors but offers no way forward
A rally in Central Hall, Westminster, on 25 January brought home the horrors of what is happening to the NHS, after 70 years of its treasured existence.
31 January 2018
Leicester Socialist Party hosted a determined public meeting on 27 January to discuss how to build a fightback against the escalating attacks on our NHS.
31 January 2018
Presidents Club sexism scandal: what you thought
What you thought about the President's Club sexism scandal.
31 January 2018
100 years since women won the vote
It is 100 years since the first women in the UK won the right to vote in parliamentary elections. It took years of struggle and the largest mobilisation of women in Britain's history to achieve this partial victory.
31 January 2018
Local government workers' reps reject 2% pay offer
The fight for coordinated strike action to win fair pay for public sector workers took a step closer on 23 January when the elected Unison national committee for local government workers voted to recommend rejection of the 2% pay offer to its 600,000 members.
31 January 2018
Tory infighting escalates - workers' action can oust them
Media reports suggest that around 40 Tory MPs have submitted letters calling for a no-confidence vote in Theresa May. If that reaches 48, the vote would be triggered and could lead to a leadership contest.
31 January 2018
Failing academy chain strips school assets - end academisation!
In businesses when cuts are made, they sell off their facilities and equipment in the interest of maintaining profits. Now that's what's happening with our schools.
31 January 2018
Capitalists fear for their system at Davos
Representatives of the world's ruling class again gathered for the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum at the Davos mountain resort in Switzerland.
31 January 2018
Fat cat vice chancellors schooled by Brum students
Students at the University of Birmingham lambasted their fat cat vice chancellor (VC) David Eastwood during his 'Question Time' event on 25 January. The room was filled with students rightfully angered by Eastwood's role at the university.
31 January 2018
Confident London Socialist Party conference discusses key issues
The London Socialist Party conference on 28 January was the scene of confident discussion, reports of excellent achievements across the city and focused plans for our next steps.
31 January 2018
Your newspaper fights with you: help fund it with May Day greetings
The Socialist is the newspaper that stands with you in your fight. May Day greetings help fund it. Help us get them in.
31 January 2018
Bristol anti-cuts campaigners debate alternatives to the cuts
Bristol and District Anti-Cuts Alliance (Badaca) hosted a public debate at Unite the Union's Bristol office on 24 January.
31 January 2018
Vienna: 50,000 march against racism and austerity
They came in their tens of thousands to protest against the new far-right coalition government formed by the conservative Austrian People's Party (ÖVP) and the far-right Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ).
31 January 2018
Trump as Nixon: urgent questions about press freedom and the state
Film: The Post: In 1971 US casualties in Vietnam were running at 500 a week, and opposition to the war was reaching boiling point.
31 January 2018
For a series that cricket fans look forward to for months, this year's Ashes was something of a disappointment - on the English side, at least. We lost 4-0, and were only saved from a 5-0 whitewash by a lifeless pitch ensuring a draw.
31 January 2018
Supermarket's slash jobs - union fightback needed
Two of so-called 'Big Four' supermarkets - Tesco and Sainsbury's - have announced job losses running into the thousands.
31 January 2018
NHS: use the 3 February protests as a launch pad for a mass movement
Thousands will be marching and protesting in London and across the UK in response to the crisis that has escalated in hospitals over the winter.
31 January 2018
Unite members employed by OCS working in Hackney schools have won a fantastic victory
31 January 2018
31 January 2018
University workers' walkout for decent pensions
UCU members in 61 universities will be taking strike action in February and March
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