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The Socialist issue 934

1 February 2017

No ban, no wall: Socialism or Trumpism

PDF | Audio | 2017 Back issues


The Socialist issue 934

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Socialist Party news and analysis

spotNo Ban, No Wall: Socialism not Trumpism

spotTide of opposition to Trump surges

At a maximum of 48 hours’ notice, rivers of people poured onto streets around Britain on 30 January to reject Trump’s racism. This followed the ‘women’s marches’ on 21 January when 100,000 demonstrated in London alone and thousands more elsewhere.


spotFight for our health service!

NHS nurse: why I’m joining the 4 March demo: We’re seeing almost daily headlines announcing the NHS is in crisis. From overstretched A&Es, to patients left on trolleys, to staff morale being at an all-time low – our NHS is at breaking point.

spotSuper-rich shareholders cause of pension deficits

Nationalise the banks and top corporations: Over half of Britain’s richest firms could immediately wipe out the deficit in their pension schemes if they were willing to prioritise former workers over investors.

spotBabies in poverty are twice as likely to die

Poor children in the UK are more than twice as likely to die while babies compared to their richer counterparts, particularly in their first month of life.

spotEnergy bill hikes con: nationalise them now!

Howlers are magical red letters which appear in the children’s stories of Harry Potter. When the characters open these letters they get screamed at by the letter in mid-air. If any letter howls at you, “I need to be nationalised!” as you open it, it’s the dreaded energy bill which arrives on the doormat at the end of a cold, cruel winter.

spotBlairite stitch-up in Stoke Central byelection

Gareth Snell, architect of council cuts by Newcastle-under-Lyme borough council, former bag-carrier for Tristram Hunt and backer of the right-wing’s Owen Smith in the second Labour leadership election has effectively been bureaucratically maneuvered into becoming the Labour candidate in the Stoke Central byelection.

spotManchester metro mayor: How will you fight cuts?

Andy Burnham, Blairite MP for Leigh, has been selected as the Labour Party candidate for Greater Manchester metropolitan mayor. The new position is part of an undemocratic devolution of powers – and austerity.

spotMillwall victory

What we think

spotEstablishment papers over Brexit chasms

Socialist Party workplace news

spotGovernment attack on DWP job centres and offices

As part of the Tory offensive against the public sector, the chancellor has announced a 20% reduction in Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) offices, and more jobcentres to share sites in local authority premises, to deliver 30% savings on estates costs. This fits in with the approaching end of the contract with the company which owns the DWP estate.

spotVote for Left Unity in the PCS elections

In December 2016 I was elected chair of PCS Left Unity, which is a rank-and-file organisation that brings together left activists in the union. It is open and democratically run. The Socialist Party has consistently recognised the importance of working with other left groups and independents, which is why we have always argued for the right to disagree on policy issues while standing for maximum unity in elections.

spotTrade Union Act: Strategy needed to defeat anti-union laws and lead the fightback

The Tories have confirmed that their anti-union laws, including new undemocratic industrial action ballot thresholds, will come into force on 1 March. John McInally, Socialist Party member and national vice-president of the civil servants’ union PCS (personal capacity) looks at how the Trade Union Congress (TUC) reacted to the trade union laws and what comes next.

spotVictory: removed Royal Mail workers reinstated

Members of the Communication Workers Union (CWU) Eastern 5 branch are celebrating a victory over Royal Mail in a battle over trade union solidarity.

spotStrike at ABMU Health Board

Hospital Sterilisation and Disinfection Unit workers at ABMU Health Board have taken strike action


spotWorkplace news in brief

Short reports on some of the latest trade union struggles including Woolwich ferry, tube and KCL strikes.

Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition

spotTUSC: To stand or not to stand?

The Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition debates election plans: The Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) met in conference on 28 January to discuss how it should operate in a political context shaped by Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership of the Labour Party

Socialist Party reports and campaigns

spotSupport your newspaper – help us get May Day greetings!

Help the Socialist get May Day greetings this year. Because to puncture Trump, and end the billionaires’ world austerity barrage, workers and young people need solidarity and socialist ideas.

spotWhy I joined: “Things have to change”

I look around at prices going up for everything and can’t understand how we can sustain this way of life for even the next ten years!

spotNewham council challenged over £1.8 million cut workers’ pay

One Newham council worker could lose £6,000 and lose his home if the £1.8 million cut to workers’ wages goes ahead. The all-Labour council, led by mayor Sir Robin Wales who earns £81,000 a year, had a whopping £161 million in general reserves in 2015-16.

spotLeicester: libraries fightback

Like other Labour-controlled local authorities, Leicester City Council is in the process of doing the Tories’ bidding by destroying our city’s public services.

spotBristol: Angry meeting discusses tasering of race relations man

Around 200 people crammed into a meeting in St Pauls, Bristol, on 28 January to discuss the horrendous tasering of a police race relations group member Judah Adunbi.

spotCumbria care home beds under threat

Cumbria county council has again published long discredited assertions to justify its attack on our care home system which will get rid of the majority of beds.

spotWallasey Labour ‘dispute’ escalates

The situation in Wallasey Constituency Labour Party (CLP) has continued to escalate. Labour Party members around the country were contacted by party officials to take part in Labour’s day of action for the NHS. This included Wallasey CLP, which has been suspended since July 2016.

spotSocialist Students: conference Saturday and Sunday, 11-12 February 2017

Socialist Students conference is now less than two weeks away. This promises to be a hugely exciting event. Socialist Students will be hosting Monica Caballero – the deputy general secretary of the Sindicato de Estudiantes (student union in Spain) and a leader of the mass movement against education attacks in Spain. The Sunday morning session will include a debate with Conservative Future.

Low pay, no way!

spotEnd poverty pay now… Get organised!

Over Christmas I worked gruelling hours in the retail sector, sometimes up to seven hours without any breaks. I did not dare refuse or complain as I was on a four-hour contract and I knew that I’d be put at the bottom of the list if a shift came up at short notice.

spotUK textile workers on £3 an hour!

The Guardian and BBC news have exposed garment manufacturers in Leicester employing thousands of workers on £3 an hour, less than half the minimum wage.

spotSlave labour at Sports Direct

International socialist news and analysis

spotBuild 100 days of resistance to Trump’s agenda!

One of the most reactionary, bigoted and predatory administrations in modern history has taken office. The Trump presidency, from the vicious tweets to the bizarre press conferences to the reactionary cabinet picks and executive orders, has millions of people understandably feeling they are in an unfolding nightmare.

spotTamil Nadu mass protests against state repression

In December 2016 it was reported that India had surpassed Britain to become the sixth largest economy in the world. However, India is one of the most unequal countries with the richest 1% holding 58% of overall wealth. For the poorest and those suffering oppression, life in India is brutal.

spotBangladesh: ‘Hartal’ protest against destructive power plant

A half-day hartal, or general stoppage, took place in Bangladesh on 26 January. It was part of an ongoing campaign of protests against the Rampal coal-fired power plant project which threatens the livelihoods of 50 million rural poor in this country.

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