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Link to this page: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/issue/1126/32224
From The Socialist newspaper, 24 March 2021
Why I am standing for TUSC
Working-class people need a voice in the council chamber
Birmingham bin workers on strike, supported by the Socialist newspaper, photo Corinthia Ward (Click to enlarge)
Eamonn Flynn, Birmingham South East Socialist Party
Working-class people need a voice in the council chamber. When the Labour Party was formed a hundred years ago, it did that job. It pulled together workers and fighting trade unionists, and gave them a voice. Not only a candidate to vote for at election time, but a movement to fight in their interests all year around.
For far too long now, the Labour Party and its candidates in council and parliamentary elections have failed to do this. In Birmingham, I have listened to councillors telling the public that there is nothing they can do to oppose cuts in council services and jobs. I would just like to see them try, as Labour councillors in the past did in Liverpool and Poplar.
If our existing councillors are not prepared to defend communities, they must step down and make way for someone that will. I think that if councillors took a stand and built a campaign to demand the funding required from the government to meet the needs of their communities, workers would stand with them in that fight, and that fight could be won.
That is why I will be standing as a TUSC candidate in May.
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Finance appeal
The coronavirus crisis has laid bare the class character of society in numerous ways. It is making clear to many that it is the working class that keeps society running, not the CEOs of major corporations.
The results of austerity have been graphically demonstrated as public services strain to cope with the crisis.
The government has now ripped up its 'austerity' mantra and turned to policies that not long ago were denounced as socialist. But after the corona crisis, it will try to make the working class pay for it, by trying to claw back what has been given.
- The Socialist Party's material is more vital than ever, so we can continue to report from workers who are fighting for better health and safety measures, against layoffs, for adequate staffing levels, etc.
- When the health crisis subsides, we must be ready for the stormy events ahead and the need to arm workers' movements with a socialist programme - one which puts the health and needs of humanity before the profits of a few.
Inevitably, during the crisis we have not been able to sell the Socialist and raise funds in the ways we normally would.
We therefore urgently appeal to all our viewers to donate to our Fighting Fund.
In The Socialist 24 March 2021:
Protest
Defying the anti-protest restrictions
Police attempt to silence mothers
NHS
Haringey: Hands off our GP practices
Elections
Battle for a fighting, anti-austerity Liverpool mayor
Help fund the Socialist Party's stand as part of TUSC
Fighting Sexual Harassment
Fighting sexual harassment and gender violence on campus
Paris Commune 150 Years
150th anniversary of the Paris Commune
2011 Pensions Strike
Lessons of the 2011 pensions strike: when workers showed their power
Workplace News
PCS elections: increased support for Broad Left Network
Engineering workers strike against 'fire and rehire' in Leicester
'Sleep-ins' ruling must lead to a huge campaign for social care workers' rights
Shrewsbury Pickets win: Convictions overturned
Sparks continue protests against deskilling
Beal High school strike as management refuse to negotiate over fair sick pay scheme
Preparing to organise workers in Enfield
Support victimised bus driver reps and Socialist Party members Declan and Moe
Goodlord workers continue all-out strike
Campaigns
Save John Carroll - fight is far from over!
Stop evictions and drop the debts
Online meeting - Ending violence against women, the socialist approach
Socialist Party regional conferences meet online
Readers' Opinion
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