As a step towards building a mass party of the working class

TUSC campaigners in Worcester 2015, photo Mark Davies

TUSC campaigners in Worcester 2015, photo Mark Davies   (Click to enlarge: opens in new window)

Calvin Fowler, Worcester Socialist Party

Worcester council is Tory run, and its underfunding of services has been appalling. Also, over the last few years we have seen our hospital, The Worcestershire, in the headlines. It has not been reaching acceptable levels of care, not due to the hard-working NHS staff, but the crippling PFI debt and underfunding. This in turn has led to low staff morale, ward closures, and outpatient services being stopped.

In 2019, the Tory council proposed to shut two community libraries due to lack of funds. So a ‘Save Our Libraries’ group was set up with local residents and members of the Worcestershire Socialist Party. We organised public meetings, a rally and a protest. It was well-publicised and well-attended. This mobilisation of the working class led to the money suddenly being found by the council, and the libraries staying open.

In Worcester, like in other towns and cities, the pandemic has seen shops closing and smaller shops being unable to pay the super-high rents and business rates.

Where I work there are five of us. Three of us, myself included, have been furloughed since last March. 80% of your wages isn’t a government hand out – it’s a pay cut!

Austerity

The austerity following the 2007-08 banking crash, where the establishment politicians showed that they would rather bail out their mates in the banks than help the working class, has meant poorer living conditions for all workers and has snowballed ever since.

The mood in Worcester is one of anger at the injustice. The Labour Party at local and national level is not a party for the working class, but merely a second eleven for capitalism. We need a new mass workers’ party. I am standing as part of the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition in Worcester as a step towards building one.