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Socialist Party news and analysis
£4 billion funding black hole: NHS hospitals may run out of money next year and be unable to pay their staff.
Socialist policies get results!
Seattle councillor Kshama Sawant re-elected: Following an electrifying and historic campaign Kshama Sawant, Seattle’s first socialist city council member, was re-elected on 3 November.
Government departments agree to hack budgets
Four essential government departments have signed up to cuts of around 30% over the next four years.
Tories open the door to further rises in tuition fees
Just two days after a free education student demonstration on 4 November took place in central London, the government is planning to remove the £9,000 tuition fee cap for top universities.
Fury as India’s leader Modi plans to visit Britain
Indian prime minister Narendra Modi, a religious sectarian responsible for brutal austerity, will visit Britain from 12 to 14 November.
Buyers queue overnight for ‘affordable’ London homes
The news broke recently that people were queuing overnight to buy studio flats in far-west London for £200,000. Very few Londoners will have blinked an eye. Because this grim scenario is becoming the norm.
School kids must walk hands behind backs says head
Students at one London primary school are being forced to march with their hands behind their backs.
It’s one world for the super-rich, and another one for the rest of us. Benefit sanctions versus corporate welfare.
Victoria Coren Mitchell calls for a “proper revolution” and Jeremy Corbyn backs Arsenal FC workers’ living wage campaign.
Socialist Party feature
Socialism 2015: Socialist ideas back on the agenda
Up to 1,000 working class fighters, socialists, trade union militants and young people discussed and debated, hammering out clarification on analysis and tussling with questions of tactics and tasks in 38 workshops and forums and in two massive rallies
International socialist news and analysis
Seattle’s political revolution continues: At the time of writing, 55.5% of voters (15,054) in Seattle’s District 3 have chosen Kshama Sawant of Socialist Alternative (US co-thinkers of the Socialist Party) to serve another four years on the city council.
UK trade props up Kazakh dictatorship
Featured letter – ‘British values’: Following the much-publicised and criticised recent visit of Chinese leader Xi Jinping, the British government is greeting Kazakhstan’s leader Nursultan Nazarbayev. He is a dictator in all but name.
Workplace news and analysis
Unions should keep independence to lead fight to defend Corbyn
The civil war in Labour took a further step into the open when Labour’s shadow defence spokesperson supported an outrageous attack on Jeremy Corbyn by a top general.
Clive Walder, a long-standing Socialist Party member in the CWU had an appeal against unfair dismissal rejected by British Telecom on 9 November, confirming his sacking after 38 years of service.
Hull council in aggressive attack on trade unions
Trade unionists representing the Hull council workforce tried to move a resolution condemning Labour councillors halving our facility time. The officers of the Labour Party branch ruled the resolution out of order, despite the fact that North Hull branch had discussed and passed the same resolution a week earlier!
Step up the fight for trade union rights
As we go to press, the Tories’ anti-trade union bill is having its third and final reading in the House of Commons. If it passes, it will then go to the House of Lords and could be law as early as January or even December.
Huge support for socialist in Northern Ireland union election
The last six weeks have seen one of the most high profile trade union elections in Northern Ireland for decades. The election was for general secretary of public sector union Nipsa, the largest union in Northern Ireland.
Workers dig in for fight over job threat
News that up to 290 JCB permanent shop floor workers could be made redundant was leaked to media sources on 4 November before the workers themselves were informed.
Short reports on some of the latest trade union struggles. College and uni lecturers lead the fightback.
Socialist Party comments and reviews
Can biomass energy be part of a socialist plan of production?
A reader criticised the idea of using ‘biomass’ as part of green, socialist energy production. We publish this letter, along with a reply.
Comment – Assassin’s Creed Syndicate: Numerous themes of revolution and mass struggles in recent entertainment show the politically volatile nature of the period we are living in.
Socialist Party reports and campaigns
Campaign for socialist nationalisation: Steelworkers are already on short time working and there is limited time. But still time exists for the unions to mobilise mass support from the working class to bring pressure on the Scottish government.
Jeremy Corbyn visits Leeds Uni
While the right to vote is important, what you do with it is more so. Corbyn understood this far more than the Blairite Labour Students group who invited him, and indeed made it the focus of his speech.
Southampton council: cutters or Corbynistas?
Southampton council meets on 18 November in the next round of council budget consultations. Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) supporters will be lobbying the council to defend jobs and services and back Jeremy Corbyn’s call to stop cuts.
Derby school support staff: fight against pay cuts continues
Derby school support staff face attacks on pay and conditions from the Labour council. Many staff stand to lose up to 25% of their pay. Some will lose even more.
Fight now on to save disabled respite centre
Gateshead’s Labour council plans the closure of Grove House, a respite centre for mentally and physically disabled children between eight and 18 years of age, among the most vulnerable members of society.
