Richard Gingell, Black Country Socialist Party
In Dudley, on Thursday 18 May, the community was out in force to protest against the 30% cuts to the libraries and archives service, which would see libraries scaled down, or even closed entirely. The hit ‘saves’ £1.5 million over the next four years – less than 1% of the Tory-run council’s operating budget.
Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) supporters and Socialist Party members joined the 70-plus people at the protest outside the council chamber, organised by Dudley Unison branch. Also in attendance were Labour councillors, despite the then Labour-run council cutting the opening hours of multiple libraries in 2016.
Libraries provide a vital service to the education of our children, places for local community groups to meet, and warm spaces during the winter. Not to mention giving internet access to the millions of people that have had to surrender their broadband access to the ongoing cost-of-living crisis.
What we need is a socialist alternative and a new mass workers’ party to fight back against the cuts from central government, and to allow us to democratically decide how we run our communities rather than simply slashing them to ribbons. This has been done in the past, and funding can be won when communities refuse to accept cuts. Part of this fight is electing anti-austerity representatives, like those who stood for TUSC in the 4 May council elections in Dudley, and getting involved in building a political voice for workers in the Black Country and beyond.
