Archive for October 2007
4 October 2007
Swansea meeting
SWANSEA TRADE Union Council public meeting.
Stop the bed closures, Stop the job cuts, Defend the NHS.
Dolphin Hotel, Swansea city centre.
Wednesday 10 October, 7.30pm.
4 October 2007
Stop the War Coalition (STWC) national demonstration
Stop the War Coalition (STWC) national demonstration
Monday 8 October
Assemble 1pm in Trafalgar Square
Although the demonstration route has not been agreed by the police, the STWC is planning to go ahead with it. See www.stopwar.org.uk for details.
4 October 2007
EU's anti-working class 'reforms'
Give us the right to reject...: BITTER DIVISIONS over the European Union (EU) continue to gnaw at the mainstream political parties... By Manny Thain
4 October 2007
"We've had the battle - now this is war!"
London postal strike: Postal workers in North and East London held a one-day strike on 29 September against the imposition of different start and finish times... By Naomi Byron
4 October 2007
Protests make bosses ditch closure plan
Gloucester Mail Centre: THE COMMUNICATION Workers Union (CWU) campaign to fight plans to close Gloucester Mail Centre has forced Royal Mail to abandon its proposal to move work from Gloucester to Swindon... By Chris Moore, Gloucestershire Socialist Party
4 October 2007
Tory party fears an autumn election
Editorial: The Tories were beaten 10-0 on the eve of their conference in a football match with the press...
4 October 2007
LORD GOLDSMITH, Blair's former attorney-general, has a new job at a US law firm on a salary of about £1 million a year. The government's former chief legal adviser 'advised' Blair that Britain should join Bush's imperialist war in Iraq in 2003...
4 October 2007
The governments's effective nationalisation of the deposits in the stricken Northern Rock bank and guarantee of deposits up to £35,000 in all banks, have not ended the financial turmoil... By Judy Beishon
4 October 2007
Iraq: end the occupation nightmare
THE LIVING nightmare of occupation and sectarian bloodshed continues without relent for the people in Iraq... By Greg Maughan
4 October 2007
Che Guevara - revolutionary fighter
Forty years after his death, flags, banners, portraits and the slogans of Che Guevara are carried on the mass demonstrations in the new revolt that is sweeping Latin America...
4 October 2007
Classroom assistants on strike
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Brown dashed from the TUC to meet the hated Margaret Thatcher |
4 October 2007
Anglesey: HUW JONES from People Against Wylfa B spoke to IAIN DALTON about how they are campaigning against the building of a new nuclear plant in North West Wales....
4 October 2007
Socialism 2007: Ideas for our future
For young people new to the ideas of socialism, Socialism 2007 will be an indispensable opportunity for you to gather new knowledge, new ideas and new hope that a socialist world is possible.... By Richie Clesham, Somerset Socialist Students
4 October 2007
Burma: Dictatorship under threat
BURMA'S MILITARY junta, through shootings, beatings and mass arrests has, for now, managed to quell weeks of pro-democracy protests...
4 October 2007
QPR buy-out - Reclaim the game!
AT LONG last Formula 1 moguls Flavio Briatore and Bernie Ecclestone have revealed what Queen's Park Rangers fans can expect from their takeover... By Jacqui Berry
4 October 2007
It's a free world, a film by Ken Loach
GOING TO the cinema is normally a pleasure but last Thursday was also a privilege as I attended and was asked to speak at the special preview of Ken Loach's new film, It's a free world... By Glenn Kelly, Unison national executive, (personal capacity)
4 October 2007
FANCY GOVERNING an 18th century New World colony for the queen of a fictional European country... By Lindsay Wheatcroft, Mansfield
4 October 2007
University is becoming an absolute rip off! £3,000 a year for top-up fees. £100 a week rent in many student halls. Brighton University is charging students...
4 October 2007
Supermarket price-fixing scandal
"WE REQUIRE you to work Christmas Day and Boxing Day this year. Other companies are doing it and we have to compete with them". "We need to extend our...
4 October 2007
Success! Double whammy for nursery campaign
Kirklees Council has performed its second u-turn in two weeks. Having planned to close three nurseries, it was forced to lift the axe hanging over Tiddlywinks... By Mike Forster Huddersfield Socialist Party
4 October 2007
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Demonstration against cuts in the NHS, 1 November 2006, photo Paul Mattsson |
4 October 2007
Local government pay offer: It's time for action
Once more workers in the public sector are finding themselves being forced to take action to hold back the rising tide of New Labour attacks... By Marc Glasscoe, branch secretary, Lincoln City Unison, personal capacity
4 October 2007
Remploy workers win partial victory
Remploy workers won a very important partial victory from the government at Labour Party conference... By Mariam Kamish
4 October 2007
Bolton: Bolton Council is attempting to cut holiday and sick pay for carers by removing the right to claim for 'sleep-ins', an essential part of many carers' duties and wages... By Robert Mitchell, Bolton Socialist Party
4 October 2007
National Shop Stewards Network makes plans
The latest meeting of the National Shop Stewards Network (NSSN) steering committee took place on 29 September against a growing tide of trade union action, particularly in the public sector... By Kevin Parslow, assistant secretary NSSN, personal capacity
4 October 2007
Support postal workers: decisive action can win
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Postal workers on strike in June 2007, photo Paul Mattsson |
11 October 2007
Gloucestershire shows determination
THE RESPONSE from CWU members in Gloucester to renewed strike action has been overwhelming...
11 October 2007
Marching in support of the Burslem 12
ON SATURDAY 6 October more than 100 postal workers and supporters marched two miles from Burslem delivery office, Stoke-on-Trent, to the city centre for a rally at Fountain Square...
11 October 2007
Anger at Leighton, Crozier and Brown
ACROSS TYNESIDE the strike was solid. One picket commented: "The strike is 100%. Nobody went in. We've got massive support from the public."
11 October 2007
Devon: SOCIALIST PARTY and Socialist Students members visited the picket line at the Mail Centre in Exeter twice, at midday and at midnight on Friday 5 October... By Jim Lowe, Devon Socialist Party
11 October 2007
Determination to continue the battle
Postal workers' strike rally: Around 700 postal workers attended the Communication Workers Union (CWU) national rally on Monday 8 October in London... By Jane James and Bill Mullins
11 October 2007
Brown's expedient election climb-down
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Gordon Brown and David Cameron play 'Snap' |
11 October 2007
Socialism 2007: Debates to sharpen your socialism
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Socialism 2006, photo Paul Mattsson |
11 October 2007
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Doctors demonstrate March 2007, photo Naomi Byron |
11 October 2007
Civil servants march against cuts and privatisation
Workers from three government departments are marching in London on 12 October against the outsourcing and privatisation of hundreds of jobs...
11 October 2007
Bolton Council is attempting to cut holiday and sick pay for carers by removing the right to claim for 'sleep-ins' (overnight shifts in care homes – an essential part of many carers' duties and wages)... By Robert Mitchell
11 October 2007
National Shop Stewards Network holds meetings around the country
The first meeting of the National Shop Stewards Network (NSSN) in Worcester took place on 8 October... By Pete McNally
11 October 2007
Darfur bloodshed fuelled by land and oil grab
A CONSTRUCTION boom fuelled by oil revenues is sweeping through Khartoum, the capital of Sudan... By Alison Hill
11 October 2007
Anti-war movement upholds right to protest
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Stop The War Coalition demonstration 8 October 2007, photo Paul Mattsson |
11 October 2007
Iraq occupation: Brown's token gesture
GORDON BROWN'S statement on Iraq, announcing a reduction of 1,000 serving British troops by Christmas (2,500 by spring 'depending on conditions'), will do little to appease anti-war campaigners and ordinary Iraqis.... By Simon Carter
11 October 2007
Burmese students join London march
AS PART of a day of protest in cities worldwide, thousands of Burmese students were among the marchers in London on 6 October, with red headbands and vociferous demands for an end to dictatorship in Burma... By Clare Doyle
11 October 2007
A CONSORTIUM of the three teaching unions, the GMB and Unison recently held a successful public meeting against the conversion of seven of Birmingham's secondary schools into academies... By Clive Walder, Birmingham Socialist Party
11 October 2007
Cuts kill - no reductions in the fire service!
AFTER THE usual sham of 'consultation', Devon and Somerset Fire Authority have decided to axe 25 jobs in the fire service in Devon, despite a budget surplus of £1 million.... By Jim Lowe, Devon Socialist Party
11 October 2007
FIFTY YEARS ago on 10 October 1957, Windscale nuclear plant in Cumbria, since renamed Sellafield, suffered a serious fire... By Roger Shrives
11 October 2007
NEARLY A tenth of all political donations for Britain's capitalist parties, amounting to £17.5 million, are made by 'non-domiciled super-rich' people...
11 October 2007
Retired and insolvent: DISPOSABLE INCOME, the amount of money a household has available to spend after all the must-pay bills – taxes, utility bills, food, transport, clothing, communication, TV licence fees, insurance and housing – has reached its...
11 October 2007
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Postal workers on strike in 2007, photo Socialist Party |
11 October 2007
1917 October Revolution: the working class took power
Russian revolution 90th anniversary: THE CAPITALIST media have made little comment on the 90th anniversary of the 1917 October Revolution in Russia. Peter Taaffe looks at the events of the October revolution in Russia 1917.
17 October 2007
The vultures are circling ever closer
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Vulture, cartoon Alan Hardman |
17 October 2007
Save our NHS: TEN THOUSAND people marched in Haywards Heath in rural Sussex on 13 October... By Derek McMillan
17 October 2007
SWANSEA TRADES Council and Swansea Unison Health branch held a successful public protest meeting over the local Trust's decision to close 86 beds and get rid of 750 health workers, almost half of them nursing staff.... By Alec Thraves Swansea Trades Union Council and Socialist Party
17 October 2007
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Postman Pat joins the CWU picket line in East London, photo Naomi Byron |
17 October 2007
Postal workers waiting to assess Royal Mail deal
Editorial: On Friday 12 October a deal between the Communication Workers' Union (CWU) leaders and Royal Mail was struck against a background of unofficial action in Scotland, Liverpool and East London...
17 October 2007
Solid unofficial action in East London
Postal workers in East London demonstrated their determination to fight to the finish in defence of their hard-won terms and conditions by taking unofficial action against unilateral imposition of new shift patterns... By Keith Pattenden
17 October 2007
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CWU poster during strike in Sheffield |
17 October 2007
'Save our Post Office' window posters are going up in many houses. Following a wave of post office closures two years ago, 180 closures are planned as... By Jon Dale, Bolsover
17 October 2007
Trade Union Freedom Bill: Banishing Thatcher's anti-union legacy?
For the last quarter of a century the labour movement has been shackled with what Tony Blair once boastfully described as the most restrictive laws governing trade unions in the western world...
17 October 2007
Working longer hours for less pay
National Union of Teachers: Figures released from the government show that primary teachers work 51.5 hours a week – up from 50.1 hours last year... By Linda Taaffe
17 October 2007
Students on trumped-up charges
Nigeria: THREE NIGERIAN student activists from Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ife Ife, are in jail on made-up charges including conspiracy to murder and attempted murder....
17 October 2007
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Students demonstrating in 2006, photo Dave Carr |
17 October 2007
Young workers and students need to get involved
National Shop Stewards Network: : "I work in the Pensions Department but I'll never receive one when I'm older" and "Treat us like the rest, temps have feelings too... By Tracy Edwards PCS national young members organiser, personal capacity
17 October 2007
"You've got to stick together"
Young trade unionists fight back: Debbie at Church Hill mail sorting office spoke to the socialist during the last Royal Mail strike about being a young member of the Communication Workers Union (CWU)....
17 October 2007
Stop the placement rip-off now!
Bosses are having a field day with free student labour. Young people studying on vocational courses are asked to complete a number of hours in a workplace... By Leonora Fawcett, Suffolk
17 October 2007
Workers' struggle and political instability sends Polish government into meltdown
THE POLISH government has imploded. The ruling Law and Justice Party has decided to end the long drawn out demise of its coalition. Elections are scheduled... By Karl Debbaut, Committee for a Workers' International (CWI)
17 October 2007
Australia: Liberals v Labour - no choice for working people in election
The 2007 Australian federal (general) election is expected to take place on 24 November...
17 October 2007
Workers' party debate: TONY BENN can still draw a crowd. Over 200 students packed into a recent Stop the War Society meeting at University College London to hear him speak. ... By Paula Mitchell
17 October 2007
Children's homes at risk of buy-outs
IT IS like a scene out of Oliver Twist. A big private equity firm (which are notorious for their high profits and cost-cutting attitudes) bought up a profit-seeking... By Keith Whitehead
17 October 2007
National Health Service Cutbacks and privatisation kill
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NHS demonstrations 3 March 2007, photo Paul Mattsson |
18 October 2007
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Rally for Socialism
17 November 2007, 6.30-9pm
Friends Meeting House, Euston Road, London NW1
Speakers include:
Brian Caton, general secretary POA
Mark Serwotka, general secretary PCS
Matt Wrack, general secretary FBU
Peter Taaffe, Socialist Party general secretary
Tickets £10/£5
Book online at www.socialism2007.net
or ring 020 8988 8768
18 October 2007
National NHS demo
Called by Unison
Stop cuts, closures and privatisation
Saturday 3 November, 11am
Assemble at Temple Place, Victoria Embankment, London WC2
18 October 2007
National Shop Stewards' Network meetings
National Shop Stewards' Network meetings
London & South East
Sunday 21 October 1-4pm
ULU, Malet Street near Euston station
Speakers include Brian Caton (POA), Rob Kelsall (GMB), Paul Jackson (RMT).
Wales conference
Sunday 28 October 12noon-4pm
Temple of Peace, Cathays Park, Cardiff
email [email protected] for more details.
West & East Midlands
Saturday 24 November
Scotland
Saturday 1 December 11am-5pm
Quality Central Hotel, Hope Street, Glasgow
Speakers include Bob Crow (RMT) and Janice Godrich (PCS)
18 October 2007
Fighting Royal Mail management's attacks
Royal Mail management have already shown how aggressively they are likely to try to implement any deal struck with the union at national level...
22 October 2007
Gordon Brown's honeymoon is over. His initial commanding lead in opinion polls fuelled speculation of a snap election. Now, the new prime minister trails...
22 October 2007
ITV2 - making a good deal out of women's bodies
Lois Austin comments on the heavily promoted ITV2 programme, 'Secret Diary of a Call Girl'....
24 October 2007
The working class in Britain is effectively disenfranchised. We have three establishment parties which all act in the interests of the super-rich. For...
25 October 2007
Do women still have the 'right to choose'?
Forty years after the 1967 Abortion Act: This month marks the 40th anniversary of the 1967 Abortion Act. The reform was won by women who, increasingly confident as they became active in the workplace,...
25 October 2007
Join the 3 November NHS demonstration
JOIN THE
3 NOVEMBER
NHS
DEMONSTRATION
Assemble 11am, Temple Place,
Victoria Embankment, London
25 October 2007
Striking Liverpool postal workers return to work
Postal workers in Merseyside voted to end their nine-day local strike at a mass meeting on 18 October... By Roy Farrar
25 October 2007
Trade Union Rights and Freedoms Bill: THE DAY before John McDonnell MP's "watered-down" trade union freedom bill got its reading in Parliament, hundreds of trade unionists from across Britain came to lobby their MPs... By Andrew Walton, Unison shop steward, personal capacity
25 October 2007
Huddersfield SOS: Class fighters' bold initiative
A RALLY last week publicly launched Huddersfield's Save Our Services (SOS) coalition and announced that this new united force will take to the political arena in the spring.... By Ian Slattery
25 October 2007
Public health not private wealth
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NHS demonstration March 3rd 2007, photo Paul Mattsson |
25 October 2007
NHS: What the Socialist Party says
Not one more penny of public money to go to big business profiteering out of the NHS...
25 October 2007
PROFITABLE PARTS of the National Health Service are, more and more, being parcelled up and sold off...
25 October 2007
Michael Moore's latest film 'Sicko' reviewed
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Michael Moore's latest film 'Sicko' |
25 October 2007
Turkey's invasion threat increases regional instability
BLOODY FIGHTING between Turkish troops and PKK Kurdish separatist guerrillas on the Turkey/Iraq border has enormously ratcheted-up tensions between the two countries...
25 October 2007
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25 October 2007
Release Saburi Akande Akinola, Taiwo Hassan Soweto and Olatunde Dairo now
Nigeria: Student leaders framed on murder charges: THREE STUDENT leaders of a major Nigerian university are being held in prison on trumped-up charges of conspiracy to murder...
25 October 2007
Pakistan: Suicide bombings at Bhutto rally
UP TO 150 people were killed and 600 injured when suicide bombers attacked Benazir Bhutto's procession, following her return to Pakistan from eight years of self-imposed exile on 18 October...
25 October 2007
France: Biggest public transport strike action since 1995
"REMEMBER THIS date: October 18, 2007. On this day, Nicolas Sarkozy's five year term will really begin", the conservative newspaper Le Figaro wrote... By Karl Debbaut, Committee for a Workers' International (CWI)
25 October 2007
Classroom assistants challenge the Stormont Assembly
Northern Ireland: A BATTLE is being fought between classroom assistants who support teachers in many Northern Ireland schools and their employers, the Education and Library Boards... By Padraig Mulholland, NIPSA branch 517
25 October 2007
Liberal Democrat leadership: Two candidates, one background, no answers
NOW THAT Ming Campbell has bowed to the inevitable, the Lib Dems are gearing themselves up for a leadership election... By Ken Douglas
25 October 2007
Who's to blame for teenage obesity?
Education Minister Ed Balls blames parents, teachers and "embarrassing" PE kits for the rise in teenage obesity.... By Bob Severn
25 October 2007
Glasgow: On strike for a fair deal
Workers in Glasgow's Learning Disability and Physical Disability day care services have been on indefinite strike action from 16 October... By Brian Smith, Unison social work services secretary
25 October 2007
Train drivers prepare for action
A period of relative quiet in the rail industry has ended, management plans to attack pensions and conditions are meeting resistance from train drivers.... By An Aslef member
25 October 2007
Fight Cadbury's factory closure
Keynsham: Workers at the Cadbury-Schweppes factory in Keynsham near Bristol have been left stunned by the appalling news that the entire plant will close by 2010 with the loss of 500 jobs... By Robin Clapp
25 October 2007
Teachers' union election – time to change!
Socialist Party member Martin Powell-Davies is standing for vice-president of the NUT...
25 October 2007
BBC threatens hundreds of jobs
After announcing a six-year plan to cut 2,500 jobs, BBC management have withdrawn plans to issue redundancy letters and have agreed to talks with the trade unions – NUJ, Bectu and Unite...
25 October 2007
Reject Royal Mail deal: Vote 'No' and reinstate the action
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Postman Pat joins the CWU picket line in East London, photo Naomi Byron |
30 October 2007
Respect in crisis - what lessons for socialists?
The transformation of Labour into a thoroughgoing party of big-business has left the working class effectively disenfranchised...
1 November 2007
Respect in crisis - what lessons for socialists?
The transformation of Labour into a thoroughgoing party of big-business has left the working class effectively disenfranchised...
1 November 2007
Countering the race to the bottom
Comment: Having been born (1958) and brought up in one of the most cosmopolitan areas of Britain, Crumpsall/Cheetham in Manchester, I have known from an early age never to judge a person by the colour of their skin, religion, spelling... By Colin Trousdale
1 November 2007
Targets take their toll on cleaners
A domestic team supervisor at an East Midlands hospital told the socialist what lies behind the headlines in today's NHS....
1 November 2007
Feature: NHS - Time to fight for a national strike
The health service is being attacked in a piecemeal way - one hospital forced to close wards here, community services cut there - but these attacks are part of the government's national policies, which need to be challenged ...
1 November 2007
Editorial: NHS campaigning - national strategy needed
There have been protests all over the country to defend the NHS. The latest, in Haywards Heath and Chichester, were both over 10,000 strong. This shows...
1 November 2007
CWU executive member calls for a 'no' vote
Royal Mail deal: Jane James interviewed Dave Warren, a member of the CWU's postal executive. Dave is the only member of the executive to speak out against the deal.
1 November 2007
Unison local government ballot result ignored
Unison's national joint committee voted by 24-3 on 29 October, not to go for industrial action over local government pay... By Bill Mullins
1 November 2007
System change to stop climate change
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Demonstration against climate change in 2005, photo Paul Mattsson |
1 November 2007
Countering the race to the bottom
comment: Having been born (1958) and brought up in one of the most cosmopolitan areas of Britain, Crumpsall/Cheetham in Manchester, I have known from an early age never to judge a person by the colour of their skin, religion, spelling... By Colin Trousdale, Manchester trade unionist
1 November 2007
Neil Cafferky spoke to Sadiq Abakar, an asylum seeker from Darfur, after a Save Sadiq protest against his deportation outside the UK Home Office.
1 November 2007
Nigeria: Day of action protest march in Osogbo
AS PART of the ongoing international campaign to free the detained student leaders from Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, the Democratic Socialist Movement (DSM) and Education Rights Campaign (ERC) organised a protes... By a correspondent in Nigeria
1 November 2007
Switzerland: Racism dominates election campaign
THE RESULTS of the recent general election in Switzerland reflect a highly polarised society, with the far-right Swiss People's Party (SVP) securing a 29% vote and 62 seats in the 200 seat assembly and the left-leaning Green... By Simon Carter
1 November 2007
Poland: Right-wing populist government defeated
'Terrible twins' suffer election defeat: POLAND'S RIGHT-wing populist government headed by Jaroslaw Kaczynski, twin brother of the Polish President, has been ousted following last Sunday's snap parliamentary elections... By Paul Newbery, CWI Poland
1 November 2007
Wales shop stewards' network conference
About 50 shop stewards and union reps from all over Wales gathered in Cardiff for the founding conference of the Wales Shop Stewards' Network... By Dave Reid
1 November 2007
London and South East regional conference
Over 70 trade unionists and activists gathered in London on 21 October to further build upon the recent successful national launch of the National Shop Stewards Network (NSSN)... By Annoesjka Valent, steering committee NSSN
1 November 2007
Bolton care workers' dispute: Workers' determination yields first signs of success
Since the beginning of October care workers in Bolton have been involved in industrial action to defend terms and conditions of employment which had supposedly been agreed on a national level.... By Robert Mitchell
1 November 2007
Vote Martin Powell-Davies for NUT vice president
Socialist Party member Martin Powell-Davies is standing for election as the teachers' union NUT vice-president....
1 November 2007
Journalists: Fight low pay and long hours
"Press freedom is the freedom of 200 rich people to express their opinion" one German conservative newspaper owner commented decades ago... By Christian Bunke
1 November 2007
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1 November 2007
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The PUSH NHS demonstration in 2006 called for a national demonstration, photo Sarah Sachs-Eldridge |


14 Apr Hackney & Islington Socialist Party: Lessons of the 1921 Poplar councillors' struggle
14 Apr Tyneside Socialist Party: Our TUSC against cuts electoral challenge
15 Apr Sheffield Socialist Party: When Liverpool beat Thatcher
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