THE
SICKENING video images showing British soldiers kicking and beating
unarmed Iraqi teenagers in 2004 and new images of abused Iraqi prisoners
at the US-run Abu Ghraib prison in 2003, will come as little surprise to
those in the anti-Iraq war movement.
Muslims protest. Photo Marc Vallee
It is also one reason why a majority of Iraqis in surveys consistently say the US-led occupation is doing more harm than good and that they support an immediate military withdrawal.
Bush and Blair claim to be liberating Iraqis, introducing democracy and rebuilding the shattered economy. In reality, Iraqis are living in fear of attacks from coalition forces, sectarian clashes and insurgents. An estimated 100,000 Iraqis have been killed since the start of the war in March 2003.
There is mass unemployment and poverty. Oil production and electricity supplies remain below their pre-war levels. Much of the country's infrastructure remains unrepaired with the majority of reconstruction aid paying for 'security' and billions being siphoned off by corrupt officials.
A report of the United States Inspector for Iraq Reconstruction found widespread "fraud, incompetence and confusion" in the American occupation's handling of billions of dollars of Iraqi government money and American funds given for reconstruction.
And then there is profiteering by US corporations like Haliburton (formerly headed by US Vice-President and crack shot Dick Cheney!) creaming much of the remainder.
And now it seems the US administration is preparing to pull the plug on Iraqi reconstruction aid.
But what about democracy? "Results from the parliamentary election last month show the country is dividing between the Shia, Sunni and Kurdish regions.
"Religious fundamentalists now have the upper hand... The election marks the final shipwreck of American and British hopes of establishing a pro-Western secular democracy in a united Iraq." (The Independent, 21/12/05)
Moreover, Bush and Co. talk about spreading democracy throughout the Middle East. Yet they continue to support reactionary regimes such as in Saudi Arabia and Egypt and according to the International Herald Tribune: "The US and Israel are discussing a strategy aimed at destabilising a new Hamas government in the Palestinian Authority," (14/2/06) by starving the PA of funds.
This monumental failure of imperialism is undermining the standing of George Bush's administration and dovetailing with an increasing US public opposition to his pro-rich, pro-corporate domestic policies. In Britain, Blair's travails are in part due to his perceived lies over going to war and his support for Bush's military adventure.
The campaign to end the imperialist occupation of Iraq and to work with those genuine working-class Iraqis and organisations for a socialist solution to the Iraq quagmire must be stepped up in 2006.
The rally was called by a number of Muslim organisations with the support of the Mayor of London and other organisations. Muslim speakers spoke alongside Christians, anti-war Labour MP Jeremy Corbyn, Liberal Democrat MP Sarah Teather and Respect's George Galloway.
While the rally had a strong religious flavour, some non-religious participants clearly came because they saw the publication of the cartoons of Muhammad as yet another provocation and insult aimed at immigrant and non-Christian minorities.
The organisers, anxious to distance themselves from the sectarian slogans used at the small 3 February protest, assumed almost authoritarian control over the demo. No home-made banners or hand-written additions to the official placards were allowed. This extended to a few stewards threatening to call the police to stop the distribution of a Socialist Party leaflet, something which other stewards prevented.
While some participants pointedly refused to even take the Socialist Party leaflet, saying that they were not socialists, many other took and read this reprint of last week's editorial in the socialist.
What does capitalism mean to young people? More than ever it compels us to fight back if we want any kind of future. We are the first generation since World War Two to be facing a worse life than our parents. And the frustration and anger at this situation is taking its toll both in Britain and internationally.
France was wracked by riots against unemployment, poverty and the racism of the French state at the end of last year. Sadly, one young woman in London has taken her life under the pressure of student debt. To avoid more lives being wrecked we have to fight for an alternative.
Oxfam claim that the Make Poverty History (MPH) campaign mobilised a generation of politically active young people. But it's the conditions we live in that are forcing us to become politically active and to try to understand why things are the way they are. MPH has changed nothing - we need to know how we can change things.
Liz Leaver, Oxfam's youth co-ordinator says "More young people than ever want to take action, and are now looking for the best way to get involved." The best way to get involved is through ISR and Socialist Students. We try and fight back, through the campaigns we initiate and are involved in.
Lambeth Socialist Students has played a key role in initiating a canteen boycott involving students across four campuses and gaining 1,500 signatures on a petition demanding affordable healthy food. In Exeter, when Socialist Students announced their plans to launch a campaign against the arms trade at Exeter University the management crumbled straight away! In Cardiff, we have been recruiting young workers to the trade unions by explaining that by standing together we can achieve much more.
At the ISR and Socialist Students conference there will be a speaker from Bolivia on the fight-back against privatisation of the water, an anti-fascist student activist from Belgium, the convenor of the PCS youth section (personal capacity) and an eye-witness report from the World Social Forum and the revolution in Venezuela.
Most importantly, there will be time for us all to exchange ideas and experiences, to vote on our campaigning priorities for the next year and to plan how to take the struggle forward.
This week we will be stepping up the campaigning in the run-up to the conference. We will be making sure that everyone we know who is fed up with the way the world is knows that they can come along and get involved.
In Bath, we've met college students who want to join us in the fight to stop the sell-off of the NHS. In Reading, we will be 'guerrilla' leafleting young workers in low-paid work places with the Know Your Rights at Work cards. In Plymouth, where the BNP have been putting up posters, we have been meeting up with young people who want to make sure there is a clear socialist alternative in the city.
New members of Leyton ISR, Emily and Edith say "ISR is the way forward, for freedom of speech, to say what you feel. They are the only ones who listen to your views and actually try to make the world a better place for young people".
Annual conference
Saturday 4 March, 10am-5pm,
Conway Hall, Red Lion Square, London WC1
OVER 100 people assembled for the Hands Off Hackney Schools campaign meeting on 8 February. They were showing their opposition to the new education White Paper (see editorial page 2) and to Hackney being used as a test ground for academy schools.
Haggerston girls' school parent Judy Beishon explained how Haggerston school was first threatened with the choice of becoming an academy, foundation or mixed-sex school.
Parents, teachers, support staff and students overwhelmingly opposed all three proposals, so the first two were dropped. But a 'Hands off Haggerston' campaign was still running against a change to mixed-sex status which parents oppose.
Hackney Learning Trust's arguments are flawed, Judy said, especially their claim that most parents want mixed-sex academies instead of the present variety of community schools.
Suzanne Beishon from Hackney International Socialist Resistance (ISR) spoke of the action pupils had taken throughout the campaign, which ISR helped to organise. Suzanne said students were poorly treated and not consulted. They planned two further protests for when the decisions on Homerton's closure and Haggerston's future are made.
Ricky Jones of Hackney Unison said the Mossbourne academy school already set up in the borough puts middle-class families from outside Hackney before working-class children living next door. Twenty students had applied from local estates but only one got in!
Former Labour MP and left leader Tony Benn had spoken earlier. He may have hoped that the Labour Party can be reclaimed but the White Paper again shows the need for a new workers' party that represents ordinary people and not millionaires.
UNISON MEMBERS in Hackney libraries took half-day strike action on 7 February over weekend working conditions. "The strike had a big effect with over 75% of staff taking part in the action" said Hackney UNISON chair Brian Debus.
Employers want to go back on their agreement with UNISON in 2003. This includes a pay cut by removing Saturday enhanced pay and forcing people to work at weekends at the weekday pay rate.
Library workers now plan to continue action by working strictly to job descriptions and not moving site to fill in for sick leave or other absences.
YET ANOTHER threatened 'backbench revolt' on identity (ID) cards by Labour MPs fizzled out on 13 February after some minor concessions swayed most 'rebels'.
ID cards could now be issued within three years. They won't be compulsory until 2013 but anybody renewing their passport from 2009 will get a full 'biometric' passport combined with an ID card and their details will be recorded on a national identity database.
This backdoor legislation has been labelled 'creeping compulsion', although new legislation will need to be approved before the scheme is made compulsory,
Government ministers claim these cards are essential to beat terrorism but civil rights campaigners Liberty point out that they are not a "magic bullet against fraudsters and terrorists." New York had ID cards before the 9/11 attacks in 2001, Madrid had them before the bomb attack on the rail system in March 2004.
And the cost could be enormous - the government estimate that full biometric passport/ ID cards will cost £93 for a five-year card compared to the present £51 for a ten-year passport but the fee has yet to be set and the true cost may be hidden in extra charges. When the card becomes compulsory, there will be fines for failing to have a card or for forgetting to tell the authorities if your circumstances change.
People fear these cards will not only be used to increase harassment of such groups as ethnic minorities but also to try to ration access to services such as education and health. Meanwhile private companies will make fortunes out of Europe's largest public-sector computer project, estimated officially to cost £5.8 billion.
Socialists will keep up the campaign against the threat of ID cards and fight for abolition of the legislation.
OIL GIANT British Petroleum (BP) made £11 billion in annual profits in 2005, 25% up on the year before. But that record-breaking surplus would become an £18 billion loss if you start calculating the firm's damage to the environment, says Britain's Treasury!
BP operations are responsible for 6% of the total world output of greenhouse gas emissions. The Treasury worked out that paying these costs - £29 billion in environmental charges - would totally wipe out BP's profits.
As reported last week, Coventry Socialist Party councillor Dave Nellist was invited onto a nationwide radio show to comment on BP's rival Shell who made nearly £13 million profit during 2005.
The oil giants' windfall, Dave pointed out, was made on the back of record fuel prices caused by such factors as global greenhouse gas emissions and wars and insecurity. Now, the Treasury figures back his claims up.
Dave Nellist proposed bringing Shell, BP and other globally exploiting and polluting energy companies into democratic public ownership so society could plan its energy needs. Unfortunately, the Treasury (proprietor Gordon 'Privatiser' Brown) is not likely to agree with Dave's solution to the problem!
A SOCIALIST Students member at Exeter University, JIM THOMPSON, recently started a campaign against the University's investment in the arms trade. Already angered by the recent closure of the Chemistry and Music departments, students were further disillusioned to learn that their place of learning was financing the arms industry!
Exeter Students Union then took up the campaign and arranged a meeting with the University's Executive. Shortly afterwards, the University released a press statement agreeing to meet with their financial advisers and to end investment in arms-producing companies.
Jim Thompson reports: "Now Exeter Socialist Students have held another meeting to re-launch the campaign. Although they were defeated by the student campaign in November, the university authorities have still not sold off all their shares.
"We also discovered that Exeter University Staff Pension Benefits scheme was investing in companies which were involved in arms production and trading.
"At our meeting, Tim Street from Campaign Against the Arms Trade (CAAT) outlined how Britain's arms industry had flourished under New Labour, with Tony Blair acting like a glorified travelling salesperson.
"The meeting ended on a high note, when the Vice-President of the Guild (our student union) said that after further discussions and under pressure from campaigns such as ours, the university were in the process of selling all the BAE and Rolls Royce Shares.
"However the battle is not yet won. We want the pension scheme to invest 'ethically' straight away. Secondly our campaign must hold the universities' new moves for 'ethical investment' to account - students and staff should have a say where their fees and pensions are being invested."
RECENTLY STUDENTS across Britain have been outraged to hear that their universities and colleges have been funding the arms trade. Universities such as Cambridge, Liverpool and Leeds are investing in companies such as BAE Systems and Rolls Royce that produce weapons used in the imperialist invasion and subsequent occupation of Iraq.
Although such companies may also produce products which are not used in conflict, the universities are well aware what they are investing in. BAE is Britain's largest arms manufacturer and the company is currently being investigated over claims that it funded Chile's former military dictator and mass-murderer, Augusto Pinochet.
Many students were surprised by this discovery. However the Socialist Party and Socialist Students have been pointing out that the creeping privatisation of universities would inevitably lead to such 'unethical investment'.
The government has been implementing a policy which means universities are no different to businesses, with shareholders and full-scale private investment. The outcome of this is a lower quality of services and a rise in the price of university, not just in fees, but also in accommodation, canteen, library and IT services.
Private businesses have been invited into the universities to provide "sponsorship" which gives unelected, unseen shareholders a deadly grasp over education.
As part of this commercialisation of education, university bureaucrats have invested in companies to make even more money, and university staff and students will not see a penny of it. This investment is done purely on profitability grounds with no thought of 'ethically investing'.
While the arms trade may be a new investment to the universities, it is an old and thriving business, and a trade based purely on the business of killing and repression. Capitalist governments may offer excuses, saying that these arms are used to protect freedom and democracy, but in fact they are being used by the British government in the imperialist invasion of Iraq.
BAE produces the American Bradley Fighting Vehicle and the British Challenger II tank, while Rolls-Royce produces engines and power systems for the Eurofighter and the Harrier jump-jet fighter, all of which have been used in Iraq for repressing the population and stealing oil by the barrel-load.
These companies also sell arms to such repressive regimes as Saudi Arabia, Israel and Turkey. Britain is the world's second biggest weapons dealer and the New Labour government spends millions of pounds a year subsidising the weapons companies.
When Blair, Brown and Co. say they don't have enough money to provide adequate pensions, better education facilities or for the NHS, they are showing their true, ruthless capitalist colours.
The Campaign Against the Arms Trade (CAAT) group recently uncovered the fact that since New Labour came to power, Britain has supplied the Indonesian regime with £323 million worth of military material, that's 83% of all Indonesia's weapon imports.
Britain has long been an arms supplier to Indonesian governments, especially supporting the regime of former military dictator General Suharto. British-built weapons were responsible for the mass killings and repressions of thousands in East Timor, Ache and West Papua.
This is not an isolated case. Britain's arms trade thrives on war and fighting, selling weapons to countries engaged in serious conflict such as Angola, Colombia, Russia and Sierra Leone. The arms trade frequently sells to both Pakistan and India, helping to build tension in the region with no thought of the consequences for the masses in the sub-continent.
Campaigns against "unethical" companies may present some kind of step forward but, in the long run, they provide no real alternative for the world-wide poor and working class. Under capitalism, all trade is unethical, because it relies upon the exploitation of workers' labour, labour which is used to line the pockets of the rich, while the workers are only paid a small fraction of the company's profits.
We must unite with others who call for the end of the arms trade, but this must be backed up by the demand for a socialist world that can replace capitalism. The arms trade is the foulest, most grotesque form of capitalism - these companies will sell their weapons to anyone as long as they get a 'fair price', i.e. make big profits.
In a world which is run precisely for such profits and not for the people's needs, the arms trade companies gain most at the expense of people's lives.
The companies, and the fat cats who control them, prove that capitalism cannot be transformed or made a nicer system. As long as capitalism remains, the working class and poor throughout the world will be exploited, and the arms trade is just one of the many ways the capitalist class exploits us.
Many people argue that Britain's arms industry produces a wealth of jobs for British workers. But in a socialist society those valuable skills that workers possess - together with the advanced machinery in the factories - would be put to use ethically.
We don't want to see thousands of workers losing their jobs, so while the arms industry must be stopped, the factories should be democratically run by the workers and put to use by manufacturing socially useful goods, which could be used to help the world's working class and poor, instead of exploiting and oppressing on a massive scale.
The arms trade will not end until the world sees the end of capitalism. Only under a society which is planned, and run for the good of the oppressed layers of the world, can global industry be put to decent, ethical use. Being anti-arms trade isn't enough. A socialist alternative is essential if we are going end this disgusting profit-driven trade.
HAITIANS WENT to the polls on 8 February for the first vote since the populist president Jean Bertrand Aristide was overthrown in a US-backed coup, two years ago.
Initial results indicated Renˇ Preval, a former ally of Aristide, on 60%, would become president, with Charles Henry Baker, a wealthy garment factory owner, and the candidate of the rich elite, coming third with only 6.1%.
However, on 14 February, electoral officials claimed that Preval only had 48.7% and that a second round run-off was likely on 19 March. This announcement immediately provoked widespread protests by tens of thousands of Preval supporters, who suspect right wing, pro-elite, pro-US forces are behind poll-rigging.
The impoverished protesters paralysed the capital, Port-au-Prince, to which UN 'peace-keepers' responded with gunfire, reportedly killing one young Preval supporter.
The 'interim government' has now blocked publication of the results "until an inquiry into fraud allegations is completed".
Local TV showed hundreds of burnt ballot papers on a city rubbish dump, many marked in favour of Renˇ Preval. His supporters again took to the streets to denounce the fraud.
Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, with a life expectancy of only 51 years. 65% of the population living below the poverty line and adult literacy rates are at a mere 52%. For decades, the country has been plagued by poverty, joblessness and military dictatorships.
Jean Bertrand Aristide, a popular priest working in the slum areas of Port-au-Prince, was president twice during the 1990 and early 2000s and pledged to tackle poverty and to bring about social justice.
But Aristide's support lessened as he failed to make any real change to poverty conditions. His populist gestures meant little while conditions in shanty towns worsened.
But still the ruling elite could not stomach Aristide's popular base. The reactionary opposition mounted an uprising in 2004, with the Bush administration's support, and overthrew Aristide.
US marines and several thousand United Nations troops, including forces sent by the supposedly 'left' government of Lula, in Brazil, have since occupied the country. They are there primarily to safeguard the interests of the ruling elite, capitalism and US imperialism, while earning the hatred of many of the poor.
Under US/UN control, conditions in Haiti have only worsened. Lawlessness and kidnappings are rife and factories have shut down due to a lack of foreign investment.
The huge social gap between the poor Creole-speaking black majority, that make up 95% of the population, and the French-speaking mulattos, 1% of whom own nearly half the country's wealth, remains unaddressed.
For several years, Haiti has been wracked by violence and gang rule in the slums.
Preval's presidency will not bring the social justice that the poor desperately yearn. Even before taking office, Preval put distance between Aristide and himself. He told the BBC that if elected he would allow Aristide to return from exile in South Africa, but that he "will not tolerate the violent groups that pledge him allegiance".
Although the US ambassador to Haiti, Tim Carney, said before the elections that a Preval victory was not "problematic", the White House will be very wary of a one-time Aristide ally becoming president.
The wealthy Haitian elite fear Preval's victory even more. If they try to block Preval from becoming president, widespread protests will erupt. Both UN and US troops could be used to shoot down more of the very people they were supposedly sent to Haiti to 'liberate'.
If the US and elite give way and allow Preval to take office, they may later decide he is beyond their control and too pro-poor.
In this situation, the reactionary opposition will try to destabilise and overthrow Preval, replacing him with another brutal, pro-US regime. At the same time, Preval will not satisfy the needs of the poor and working class with mere populism.
Only the masses of Haiti, with the working class playing the leading role, can find a way out of the endless poverty, joblessness, violence, coups and dictatorships.
A mass socialist alternative has to be constructed in opposition to the tiny rich elite that live in mansions on the top of the hill in Port-au-Prince, while the majority - impoverished, jobless, illiterate and hungry - lives in shantytowns at the bottom.
A socialist alternative would fight for real fundamental change, making an appeal to the working class and poor across the Caribbean and the whole Americas.
Lasting democratic rights and rising living standards can only be guaranteed if desperately poor Haiti is part of a regional socialist federation of states.
PETER
TAAFFE, Socialist Party general secretary, set the scene for the
conference, outlining the state of the world economy and how this
impacts on Britain. Some see China as the key to long-term economic
growth, yet it is also a source of instability.
Peter Taaffe, Socialist Party general secretary. Photo Marc Vallee
The US is burdened with huge trade and budget deficits, bankrolled mainly by Asian economies. Although this imbalanced growth could continue even for a few years, an economic crisis could be triggered by a number of events, including political and social unrest.
Despite Gordon Brown's claim that the British economy is bucking the trend, in reality, it mirrors that of the US: attacks on the working class and growth based on housing bubble-backed household debt.
In the civil service, workers face a regime of bullying and intimidation by management, reflected in anger over pension, pay and job cuts. The education bill represents the destruction of gains won by the working class over decades. The idea that future generations will be better off than those before is dead - under capitalism, at least.
Tony Blair is on the ropes, the latest blow being the by-election thrashing in Dunfermline while Brown is trying to out-Blair Blair.
As the RMT conference on political representation for the working class showed, not even left-wing Labour MPs believe that New Labour can be 'reclaimed'. Given all this, the campaign for a new workers' party - initiated by the Socialist Party - is of great importance. The conference on 19 March is an important further step towards that goal.
Rob
Williams (Swansea Socialist Party and Visteon Ford T&G convenor,
pictured left) denounced the US-led wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. There
is also a class war against US workers. Ford bosses are implementing
massive job cuts and trying to slash wages from $28 an hour to $9. The
Visteon Ford components factory in Swansea is under threat of closure.
Mary Jackson (Doncaster) detailed what the £1 trillion household debt in Britain really means. One man overwhelmed by debt intended killing his wife with a hammer as she slept, before killing himself. Last year there were 60,000 court hearings for house repossessions.
Alec Thraves (Swansea) said that the enlargement of the European Union to incorporate Central and Eastern European states has brought in around 300,000 workers over the last two years. This has enormously boosted profits for the bosses.
However, the potential for divisions in the working class as a 'race to the bottom' in workers' pay and conditions ensues is a real danger. The examples of the Gama workers in the Irish Republic - where exploitation was exposed by the Socialist Party - and Irish Ferries show that it is possible to unite workers.
Glenn Kelly (Hackney) raised the possibility of over a million public-sector workers taking action over pensions. An MP for 20 years gets a pension of £28,000 a year. A council worker who has worked for the same time gets on average £3,800, while many women council workers receive a paltry £1,600!
Steve Score (Leicester) commented on the anti-Islamic cartoons and how they have increased anger in Muslim communities, already under siege by the media, political establishment and far-right groups. The publication of the cartoons by a right-wing newspaper in Denmark was a deliberate provocation against Muslim people. The Socialist Party condemns such racist provocation. At the same time, we defend the right to criticise religion and religious leaders.
Roger Davey (Bristol) spoke on National Health Service cuts and campaigns against them in Wiltshire. Private companies are raking in the money through PFI, drug companies swallow up 14% of the NHS budget, and hospital trusts hand over millions of tax-payers' money in huge salaries to directors, a layer of mismanagement which did not exist before the creation of a NHS 'market'.
Bennie Talbot (Bristol) drew attention to environmental catastrophe and a Taff Vale Socialist Party member pointed out the dangers of nuclear power, which is being pushed by New Labour.
Replying to the discussion Lynn Walsh, editor of Socialism Today, reiterated that growth in the world economy is dependent on continued consumer spending in the US and investment into China
It is possible that the economy could continue to crawl forward for a few years, but it could hit a severe crisis much quicker than many realise. We have to be prepared for all events. There is no shortage of anger or desire to fight against attacks. What is lacking, is a mass alternative giving direction to this frustration.
The campaign for a new mass workers' party is an important part of the struggle. And the Socialist Party is alone in counterposing a clear alternative to the brutal, profit system: a democratically planned economy, a socialist society.
The slogan of International Socialist Resistance/Socialist Students
conference of 'Fight for your future' is a reality. Education cuts,
tuition fees and privatisation are aimed at churning out obedient units
for the benefit of business. Students are being driven into poverty.
It gets worse when they have to get a job, if they can get one - the current growth in unemployment is concentrated in the 18-25 age group. They are faced with poverty pay and savage attacks on rights at work.
By taking the lead on the most important issues, we can get our ideas across to young people and we have the potential to reach a broader audience.
The importance of being able to put a coherent analysis of capitalism, a fighting programme and a socialist alternative can't be underestimated.
Zena
Awad, Socialist Students national organiser, (pictured left) reported on
how Socialist Students had become the main socialist force on many
campuses, with societies set up in 49 universities and over 1,000
students signed up during the freshers' fairs.
Speakers who came into the discussion gave examples of the campaigns which they are involved in. Rob MacDonald, Lambeth college, reported on the successful canteen boycott (see the socialist issue 425), which has now begun to spread to other colleges. Lindsay Wheatcroft, Nottingham Trent University, announced that he had just been elected as a delegate to NUS conference after campaigning on the issue of public transport costs.
Glyn Matthews, Cardiff, said that when he spoke at the last conference he had done so as a new member, one of the "Iraq generation". Now he and others like him were leading the youth work. He described how in one week he had recruited 24 young workers to his union, the shop workers' union USDAW, on the basis of fighting against lower pay for young workers.
Sarah Mayo, from the PCS youth section, described how the Socialist Party and ISR were building a name for themselves among young activists in the PCS, with the Know Your Rights campaign. A speaker from the campaign addressed the recent PCS youth conference (see the socialist issue 424) and the PCS youth co-ordinator will be speaking at ISR conference in a personal capacity. Young people need to join a union to fight for better conditions, at the same time they can help transform it.
Rachelann Flinn, Liverpool, said that the Socialist Party had been in the forefront of the anti-racist protests following the murder of Anthony Walker. They had established Socialist Student societies at both Liverpool and John Moores universities. But she stressed the importance of finding ways of reaching young people who aren't in full-time education and are alienated by low pay and unemployment. This was backed up by Jacqui Berry, Kent, who detailed the government's attacks on youth with measures like ASBOs.
Tom Penman, Leicester, said that they were developing a new ISR group in Leicester. One school student they came across wanted to set up a group in his school, took five copies of the socialist to sell and sold them all!
Frankie Langland, West Suffolk college, reported on the pioneering work she is carrying out for ISR in the Eastern region and how she is well known amongst school students as the local organiser.
Monique Hirst described how the young members of Huddersfield branch were developing themselves politically by having discussion groups on subjects such as Marxist economics and the role of women in society. She stressed the importance of making the discussions interesting and fun.
Summing up, Hannah Sell, said it showed how well Socialist Students and ISR had developed and how the generation of young people radicalised and propelled into action by the invasion of Iraq were transforming the Socialist Party.
BILL
MULLINS (left) introduced the discussion on trade unions and workplace
work by explaining how the days lost through strike action had dropped
to a low level in 2005 - 142,000 days lost in the first eleven months,
compared to 904,000 days lost in 2004.But Socialist Party members have been involved in important work in the trade unions and workplaces which will bear fruit when the level of activity increases, as it inevitably will.
We are already producing material for particular workplaces, like the Red Line bulletin aimed at London Underground workers. And we produce many national bulletins and leaflets, like those on pensions and the battle for jobs within the Department for Work and Pensions.
The Gate Gourmet dispute graphically illustrates features facing many workers - very low pay, the malicious use of migrant labour to drive wages down even further and the anti-union laws. But even with all that, had there been experienced socialists in that workplace at the beginning the outcome could have been very different.
In many workplaces our members are looked upon by workers as the people who can solve their problems. Our members are missionaries for the Socialist Party in the workplaces.
Tom Baldwin from Bristol spoke in the discussion about temporary and agency staff. The TUC estimate there are at least 600,000 workers in this category, who are twice as likely to be from an ethnic minority and the majority are under 30. They have reduced rights over issues like unfair dismissal, sick pay, holiday pay and health and safety.
The bosses would like to use them as strike breakers and a way of dividing the workforce. ISR and Socialist Students should discuss doing campaigning activity outside employment agencies.
Katrine Williams from Wales reported on the mood of anger amongst civil servants, particularly in the Department for Work and Pensions. Workers there are being attacked by management, using the attendance management procedures to sack people, whilst people in need of benefits are being ignored. But management have underestimated this mood and were shocked by the support for the recent strike. Now there is a need to prepare for the two-day strike in March.
Greg Maughan from Newcastle made the point that the PCS has a fighting leadership at national level but that it is also important to build the leadership at a local level. The recent strike of magistrates' court staff showed that these workers were looking for a combative leadership at all levels.
James Kerr from London explained how he had been involved with trying to unionise students - both those who, like most students, have to work to finance their studies and to recruit student teachers and others on specific job-orientated courses into the appropriate unions. But it was important that the union officials don't just see this as an opportunity for publicity, by organising gigs etc, but actually campaign to recruit students on trade union issues like improving pay and working conditions.
Sean Figg from Brighton spoke about unionising workers in the retail industry. This can be quite hard because of the lack of a trade union consciousness. Some people join the Socialist Party first before joining the union. But this will change through using the Campaign for a New Workers' Party.
When Ken Smith summed up the debate he reported that more material is being produced to aid the work in the trade unions, including a new book on the 1926 general strike.
The pressure is building up in the workplaces, which the trade union leaders will find it hard to restrain. The Campaign for a New Workers Party is in the process of unearthing and developing a new generation of militants.
From
the formation of the early workers' organisations in the nineteenth
century, particularly the general unions, workers often elected
socialists as their leaders. And indeed this still applies today.
Hannah Sell, Socialist Party national secretary. Photo Marc Vallee
In many areas and trade unions, Socialist Party members have been elected into leadership positions. And in the formation of any new workers' party, we will argue for a socialist programme.
The Socialist Party has been arguing for the formation of a new mass workers' party in Britain since 1995. We have already had a big influence on the campaign, as shown by the warm response to our ideas at the conference organised by the RMT on political representation.
Our position and track record on the question of the accountability of public representatives has been particularly important in distinguishing ourselves from organisations like Respect.
The declaration for a new workers' party that we have initiated is receiving a good response and many workers have signed, particularly PCS members on their picket lines. Nine members of the NATFHE executive have also signed.
Fiona Pashazadeh reported on the success of the campaign to get workers to sign the CNWP declaration.
Socialist Party branches are getting a good response from visiting workplaces, stewards and convenors and using the local press to publicise local launch meetings. The next priority is to mobilise for the conference on 19 March.
Tony Mulhearn from Liverpool summed up the campaign by saying that it should be one of "sober audacity". The way we will succeed where others fail is because of our method of approach - notably with a political programme attractive to workers and young people and our policy of the need for public representatives to live on the average wage of a skilled worker.
Joe Higgins, a Socialist Party TD (MP) from southern Ireland, gave an inspiring report of the campaigns he and the Socialist Party in Ireland had been involved with around migrant workers. The Gama and Irish Ferries campaigns show that vital role that elected socialist representatives can play.
Socialist Party councillor Dave Nellist commented that there are not really three establishment parties in Britain, more one party with three wings. There's an urgent need to take the campaign for a new party to all workplaces and to organise fringe meetings at all the forthcoming trade union conferences.
Philip Stott, a visitor from CWI Scotland, commented on the effect the formation of a new mass party in England and Wales would have on Scotland.
Tony Saunois made some important points about developments in Brazil, where the formation of PSOL has prevented thousands of workers going out of political activity as a result of the crisis and degeneration of the PT. There is now a ferocious battle for the political direction of PSOL, in which the Socialist Party's sister party in Brazil is playing a vital role.
Clive Heemskerk summed up the discussion by underlining the degeneration of the Labour Party - citing the declining vote for the left candidates for the national executive.
He went over the targets for the 19 March conference and for increasing the number of signatures on the declaration.
Introducing the national conference session on building the Socialist Party, Judy Beishon, said that the party has a unity and sense of direction. It is clear that the active members have confidence and determination to take the party forward.
Looking
back, Socialism 2005 can be seen as a turning point where we began to
see the results of the influence we have in the workers' movement, as
shown by the 23 Socialist Party members who are on the executives of the
trade unions. We could also look back at the brilliant youth contingents
on both anti-war demos and the G8 demo in Edinburgh.
At the same time, there is the campaigning work that branches are leading in their own areas, featured every week in the pages of the socialist.
We show in practise the correctness of our ideas but on their own they are not enough, without a way of getting them across. A target of 700 new members in 2006 has been put to the conference with the aim of opening up a discussion about how we maximise the opportunities for new members to join the party.
We should aim to ask everyone from day one if they want to join and let them decide when they are ready. We must ensure that the discussion we have sets out clearly the nature of the Socialist Party, our ideas and the rights and responsibilities of membership. The aim is for every new member to feel that it is their party and they can play a part in building it.
Then there has to be a programme of discussions on the basic political ideas, every member should have a role in the branch and we must keep in regular contact with everyone who joins.
Moving the resolution on Black and Asian work, Zena Awad, emphasised the importance of branches paying particular attention to this area of work.
Magnus Werin, moved the Tower Hamlets branch resolution on ensuring that we use easily understandable language in meetings and discussions.
Alex Gounelas, Cardiff, told how the branch was concentrating on developing the new members who had joined from the anti-war movement. Every member in their branch has responsibility for contacting people who have shown an interest in joining. They put aside one night every week to do this.
Matthew Dobson, Swansea, warned that we must balance all the campaigning work that we do with building the Socialist Party.
Phil Clarke, reported from the rapidly growing south-east region on the success of their campaigning work in giving confidence to their young members. The branch is involved or leading campaigns against privatisation of council housing, fighting NHS cuts, and against the occupation of Iraq.
They also stood a candidate in the general election. He emphasised the importance of finance and resources, which would enable the region to employ more full-time organisers.
Neil Cafferky, Lambeth branch, spoke of their involvement in the Jean Charles de Menezes campaign and how they were instrumental in the calling of a feeder march from Stockwell tube to the 24 September anti-war demo. He underlined the effectiveness of having smaller discussion groups to build the confidence of young members.
Colin Wray said how the Sheffield branch had now divided into two branches to ensure that new members could participate in discussions and play a role.
Ian Slattery, Huddersfield, described how they had built an effective campaigning branch in 18 months that was now leading the massive NHS campaign there.
Summing up the discussion, Jane James highlighted the number of young members who had spoken who were now branch secretaries and are building their own branches.
Branches are experiencing the dilemmas that arise from growth. Campaigns help to establish the profile and reputation of the branch, which, in turn, will draw people towards us. At the same time branches have to constantly monitor recruitment, ensuring that we don't let people who want to become members slip through the net.
She ended by quoting new member David Walter from Hackney who had spoken about how glad he was to be part of the struggle. There are many people who feel the same way but time is not limitless.
A CRUCIAL organisational session on increasing the weekly sales of the socialist was introduced by the paper's editor, Christine Thomas.
Christine emphasised the central role of the socialist in building the Socialist Party even in the age of the internet and electronic publishing.
Recently returned from attending the World Social Forum in Venezuela (where our international organisation -the CWI - is doing pioneering work building a new section), Christine explained that the first task there is to weld together our small forces by producing a paper. That's because a party paper can act as a organiser and educator as well as promoting our political programme to a wider audience.
However, despite the beginnings of a more favourable political period for the ideas of socialism in England and Wales, the Socialist Party branches aren't fully realising this potential in terms of sales of the socialist. Therefore, we have to reinstate our paper as central to our activity.
In the discussion that followed, Dave Warren from Swansea explained how the socialist was central to the party's mobilisation in support of the workers in the Irish Ferries dispute. Having pushed the trade union movement for a solidarity demo at Pembroke dock, the Socialist Party took the issue to the local community, setting up regular stalls for a couple of weeks in the town. In the first week 116 copies were sold and 130 in the second week.
Alistair Tice from Sheffield explained the importance of branches conducting regular workplace sales. By targeting the workers at civil service office over many months with the socialist, the branch has built up an average weekly sale of eight papers. But this activity has also paid off in building the party by recruiting a PCS union shop steward and getting many workers' signatures in support of our declaration for a new workers' party.
Mandy Marfleet from Stoke branch - which consistently has high paid sales - explained that this was achieved through two public campaigning stalls each week and regular door-to-door sales on housing estates.
Bob Severn, national sales manager, said party branches should develop organisers for our paper not only to ensure proper financial accounting of the paid sales but to help increase the socialist's profile in our public activity.
Summing up, Executive Committee member Lois Austin said that the prospect of industrial action by public-sector workers over defending pensions and fighting cuts in health and in other services, meant that there is the immediate potential for massively boosting our sales.
Delegates agreed targets for new subscriptions and higher paid sales. Party members can obtain these details from their regional secretary.
THE FINAL session of the Socialist party's 2006 Conference was an inspirational report from Tony Saunois on the progress of the work of the Committee for a Workers' International (CWI - the socialist international organisation to which the Socialist Party is affiliated).
In the limited time available Tony recounted the enormous international solidarity work and some of the many political initiatives taken by the CWI and its sections in the last 12 months or so.
Not least has been the campaigns in the aftermath of the devastating Asian tsunami and the earthquake centred in Pakistan and Kashmir. (The latter killing members of the CWI.)
The financial support and worldwide trade union support obtained by the CWI's campaigning work helped our sections in Sri Lanka and Pakistan/Kashmir to carry out limited relief work and the rebuilding of the affected labour movements.
These sections have also waged political campaigns highlighting the failure of imperialism and the local ruling classes to bring aid and social justice to the disasters' victims.
This work has marked us out from all other groups on the left. Only recently, CWI members organised a trade union meeting in Pakistan occupied Kashmir of 150 trade unionists.
In Sri Lanka, the political work in the tsunami aftermath has been translated into increased support among the country's workers and poor for the CWI's United Socialist Party - now the leading electoral force on the left.
In other parts of the world CWI sections, using flexible tactics, have been pivotal in advancing new working-class political formations. This is the case in Brazil with the new P-SOL party, the WASG in Germany, and a new workers' party initiative in Belgium.
Alongside reforming the wider workers' political movement has been the dual task of building our own revolutionary socialist parties.
In Greece, the CWI section has experienced rapid growth in the last two years, expanding beyond Athens to found branches in other Greek cities.
In Salonika, at the annual demo to commemorate students killed under the Greek Colonels' regime, the CWI had the largest contingent of the non-parliamentary left. We have also rebuilt a section of the CWI in Cyprus.
Supplementing Tony's report, Andy Bentley from Stoke gave a report on the recent World Social Forum in Venezuela and the pioneering political work of the CWI in that important south American country.
Ravie Chandren from Sheffield briefly explained developments in Malaysia and the discussions and debates between the CWI and the Malaysian Socialist Party.
Many other areas of the world were touched upon by Tony Saunois and these sections' reports to the International Executive Committee meeting in December 2005 can be read on: www.socialistworld.net
Click
here to read the documents presented to conference
THE NEW Labour government has plans to get people off incapacity benefit. They claim that "it's healthier to work than be sat at home with nothing to do". Of course it is, but if you can't work why should you be harassed to get a job, which you're physically incapable of doing, for hours every day?
Incapacity benefit is £76 per week. Tony Blair earns over £3,500 per week. A full-time job at the minimum wage is only £180 but that's still better than the miserly sum this government condemns a 'long-term' disabled person to live on.
There have already been vicious attacks on incapacity benefit. Your GP used to decide if you were fit for work, but the government thought that was no good. Doctors may have spent years at medical school but apparently can't decide if a patient is too ill to work or just lazy.
The government have introduced a 'Fitness for work' test. Can you put a hat on your head without help and bend and touch your knees? These and other tests have nothing to do with whether or not someone can work.
I remember when South Yorkshire had a thriving industrial base. Three steelworks, countless mines, wool mills, factories, offices - all within travelling distance of my home town. But heavy work takes a heavy toll on health and well-being.
Most of the middle-aged men in my area are worn out. Many are wracked with arthritis or breathing difficulties, made worse through the stress of living on the pittance called 'benefit'. No-one wants to have to manage on benefits, but there is no option. The mind is willing but the body is wrecked.
If the government has its way and suddenly everyone is fit, where are the jobs? There are some agency jobs on minimum wage but only 16 or 18 hours and the 'dole' considers that to be full time. How can anyone live on £80 a week?
The attacks on incapacity benefit are being waged because after 12 months of sickness, claimants move on to long-term incapacity, in recognition that any money left over from working life will have been spent. But long-term sick and disabled people then get a slightly increased benefit of about £20 a week.
This government seems to be saying that no-one (no ordinary worker without private health insurance and a fat pension on early retirement that is) could be too ill to work. They must be living on a different planet.
Workers generally have to rely on the NHS with overstretched GPs, where you wait months to see a specialist. The government is saying that if you survive working-class life don't expect us to pay you any benefit because we want to save money. What for? To wage more wars? To give more tax cuts to their business friends? It makes no sense to me!
WE LIVE in the fifth richest country in the world. Why then can't we afford to pay people who have worn themselves out working to build our economy a decent amount of money to live, not in luxury but in relative comfort?
This latest initiative is intended to get a million people off incapacity benefit, another million 50-59-year-olds off Job Seekers Allowance (JSA) and 800,000 single mums back to work. There are presently 1.5 million on JSA and 800,000 job vacancies - what happens to the two million claimants who are to be forced in to jobs that don't exist?
The government plans include regular 'back-to-work' interviews and tests, ill and severely disabled people will be forced to attend JobCentres. If they refuse or cannot manage to get there, their benefit will be cut.
Doctors are to be offered cash incentives to get people off long-term sick - it used to be called bribery but now it's a 'legitimate government incentive'!
What we need is massive job creation. To build enough houses so there aren't hundreds of thousands of homeless, to create decent leisure facilities that we can all afford to enjoy, to build up the manufacturing base that has been destroyed.
We need workers to receive a decent wage for their contribution to building a society that benefits us all, instead of the privileged few at the top. In other words we need to build a socialist alternative to this corrupt system.
What we think
EVER SINCE the controversial Education White Paper was issued in the autumn, speculation has grown that the government could be forced to retreat from their plans to privatise and fragment education. But it's becoming clear that anyone relying on Labour backbenchers to mount a serious fight will be disappointed.
Blair's desire to dismantle the comprehensive system, the core of Labour education policy over decades, certainly provoked unrest amongst Labour MPs. Over 90 of them signed up to a critical statement calling for "consensus". Even Neil Kinnock, the former Party leader heavily responsible for directing Labour along its rightward path, was forced to voice his concerns.
Of course, a genuinely comprehensive system has never been achieved. Britain's divided society has always been replicated in a system that includes private schools alongside state schools of differing status, some still selecting pupils either openly or by stealth.
A lack of adequate resources has also made it even harder for schools supporting working-class communities to counteract the additional challenges facing many pupils.
But, despite both Tory and Labour initiatives to increase "diversity", most schools are still part of an elected local authority that oversees the provision of school places and admissions policies. All that could change if Blair gets his way.
New Labour's neo-liberal ideology pictures free-market competition as the future for local services. That's why the White Paper proposed a deregulated market of independent state-funded schools competing for the pupils that will boost their status and position in school league tables. Schools will be allowed to expand at the expense of their neighbouring rivals. Working-class families will be the losers.
Business and faith groups will be given the power to take over and run Trust schools, building on the existing Academies scheme. This already means, for example, the government spending over £20 million building the King's Academy in Middlesbrough so that its evangelical sponsor, Sir Peter Vardy, can impose a curriculum "consistent with Biblical teaching".
Under pressure, embattled Education Secretary, Ruth Kelly, has had to write to MPs setting out "concessions". In response, most of the "rebels" now seem ready to fall into line. It seems likely that Blair and Kelly will shortly be able to steer an Education Bill through Parliament without the embarrassment of having to rely on Tory support.
Yet Kelly's published letter reveals how little has been conceded in reality. "I remain committed to all the freedoms for foundation and trust schools that we set out in the White Paper - schools owning and controlling their own buildings, employing their own staff and setting their admissions arrangements".
She bluntly states that "we are already finding considerable interest from potential trust supporters". It seems the big business vultures are already circling, waiting for their opportunity. What clearer message could there be about who Labour now represents?
Kelly stresses a continuing role for local authorities to placate the fears of Blairite councillors and officials worried about their future careers. But their chief task will simply be to service the market, rather than to plan and control local education. The mantra of councils being "a commissioner, rather than provider, of schools" remains.
School staff will not be so fortunate. Unions need to make clear to their members that the Education Bill won't only fragment schools. New Labour will also use these changes to break up national pay and conditions. School-by-school bargaining, already imposed during the recent introduction of "Teaching and Learning Responsibility" (TLR) payments for teachers, will become the norm.
In some schools, trade union action has succeeded in stopping pay cuts through TLRs. The united strength of public-sector unions will also be vital to withstand New Labour's attacks on public services. Even if the Education Bill is passed into law, strike action, backed by bold community campaigns, must be organised to prevent the privatisation and fragmentation of education.
But those trade unionists will also need a political voice. The White Paper confirms that New Labour has long abandoned the educational principles it defended in the past. The building of a new mass workers' party, filled out and strengthened by those fighting for a decent education and for all our public services, can provide the mighty challenge that Labour's faint-hearted "rebels" can never deliver.
THE DUNFERMLINE and West Fife by-election on 9 February was a major defeat for New Labour. The Liberal-Democrats overturned an 11,000 Labour majority in a solidly working-class constituency - with a big ex-mining community that had formerly elected Communist Willie Gallacher as MP and in a constituency where Tony Blair's heir-apparent Gordon Brown lives.
The Lib Dems won with a 16% swing from Labour whose vote fell from 47% in May 2005 to 31% this time around on a 49% turnout. New Labour ministers try to explain this debacle as a result of "local issues."
These "local issues" included a factory closure costing 700 jobs, the threatened transfer of hospital services from Dunfermline and the possible increase in the cost of tolls over the Forth Road Bridge to Edinburgh.
Ironically these last two issues are devolved to the Scottish parliament where the Lib Dems are in coalition with New Labour. As part of the Scottish Executive they have overseen a wholesale attack on local health provision in Scotland. This didn't stop their candidate from cynically coming out against hospital cuts.
It was primarily intense anger at their pro-business, pro-war and anti-working class policies, and particularly the hatred of Blair, at the heart of the government's crushing defeat.
In the absence of a mass working-class alternative another big-business party, the Lib Dems, are increasingly seen as a vehicle for anti-government protest in Scotland.
This is the first time since World War Two that Labour have lost a seat to the Lib Dems in a Scottish by-election. However, at last year's general election the Lib Dems increased their support significantly in Glasgow, Edinburgh and across the central belt of Scotland.
In the past the semi-radical Scottish National Party (SNP) have been the main beneficiaries of anti-government protest in Scotland. But their move to the neo-liberal right, and particularly the softening of the mood around the national question, has set the SNP back significantly in the last few years.
As election analyst John Curtice commented: "It is the worst SNP result in a by-election since 1982 on the change in share of the votes. The SNP's potential as the natural repository for protest votes is now undermined."
THE SCOTTISH Socialist Party (SSP) suffered a very bad result. Despite the candidate being the well-respected left-wing former Dundee Labour MP and MSP John McAllion, the SSP vote fell compared to May 2005 to 1.5% from 1.6%.
The SSP vote across Scotland last May was 1.9%, a fall from 3.1% in the 2001 general election - a 40% drop in the national vote. This result poses urgent challenges for the SSP. There are as yet no signs that the party is recovering public support from the crisis following Tommy Sheridan's resignation as party convenor in November 2004.
Even more seriously, the SSP leadership have made a turn towards left nationalism, playing down a socialist and class programme, while launching a cross-party campaign for independence with the pro-business SNP and the Greens. This move, when support for independence has fallen in the last few years, could further impede a possible recovery for the SSP.
The CWI platform in the SSP is putting forward an alternative programme that would see the party prioritising issues immediately affecting working-class people - pensions, job cuts and the bosses' offensive against the working class - while at all times linking these struggle to the need to fight for a socialist Scotland as part as the struggle for socialism internationally.
JEREMY SANDFORD'S drama, Cathy Come Home, about a young family who slide into homelessness and poverty was a defining moment in 1960s television, demonstrating how far drama could influence the political agenda.
BBC1 screened it in 1966, within the regular Wednesday Play slot, as a 'drama-documentary' concerning homelessness and its effect upon families, directed by Ken Loach. It has subsequently been released on DVD.
The success of Cathy Come Home established Loach as a politically committed filmmaker standing apart from the commercial mainstream. Only a few years after Harold Macmillan pompously declared to the British nation: "You've never had it so good", Loach chokes the government by ramming these words down its throat.
While the nation was basking in the glory of England's 1966 World Cup success, 4,000 kids were being separated from their families and bundled into care because their parents were homeless.
The play follows young lovers Cathy and Reg from the optimism of their early married days through a spiral of misfortune that follows Reg's accident at work, leading to eviction and separation.
The film culminates in what remains one of television's most memorable scenes - a hysterical Cathy has her children forcibly taken away by Social Services.
The controversy generated by Cathy Come Home led to public outrage at the state of housing in Britain. Its impact was unprecedented, eliciting widespread censure and enquiries in the Houses of Parliament.
In the same month it was broadcast, the housing charity Shelter was launched.
The programme has become a British TV classic, regularly referred to by critics and researchers as well as by programme-makers themselves. This is partly due to the quality of the script, direction and acting, but also the way the film mixed dramatic with documentary material and showed the power of television in highlighting social problems.
It just goes to show that for tens of thousands, the 1960s were a distant cry from sex, drugs and rock'n'roll.
Source: Shelter
THE GOVERNMENT'S housing renewal programme has come under fire for spending £168 million on private consultants - enough money to renovate 8,000 homes, after the housing market renewal scheme was set up in 2002 to deal with empty and derelict housing in nine areas.
Alan Holdway, Stoke-on-Trent
Almost 7,000 homes are currently empty across North Staffordshire, with one in 10 homes currently unoccupied in central areas. Renew North Staffordshire - the group charged with overseeing the £2.3 billion regeneration of housing stock in Stoke-on-Trent and Newcastle - said plans developed for the region were supported by residents.
Yet the scheme focused on demolition rather than renovation, when a lot of these areas could do with doing up and a lot of good houses just need a bit of modernising. A new report from the Save Britain's Heritage conservation group strongly condemns the regeneration scheme. The report also criticises John Prescott for allowing developers, consultants, and social landlords to benefit at the expense of residents.
Homelessness in 2006
Today, constant cuts and sell-offs of housing and housing services are still creating a catastrophe for some of Britain's most vulnerable people. One young father in Manchester told the socialist about his family's experience.
THREE YEARS ago, me and my partner went to the town hall Homeless Families office, to get accommodation for ourselves and our child. The council said they couldn't help us and we had to go to Direct Access (DA) - a hostel and service for homeless men, who sent us back to the town hall!
Eventually the town hall said we were on the register and it would be four weeks to get a property. After four weeks they said we'd been knocked off the register because they'd had "no contact with us" - even though they'd got the phone numbers for the hostels we'd been separated into. We were split up into men and women's hostels, so we couldn't even claim family benefit.
Hostels for women all seem to be Catholic-run. The men's hostels I've stayed in have been council or Christian-run. After two-four days, if you're not there every night before curfew they kick you out and say you're not homeless any more. The first hostel I was in had no control over the residents, I was terrorised and nothing was done about it.
The second one was OK, as was the third until a new manager came in and it all went downhill, with staff losing their jobs and residents losing places. The last Catholic hostel my girlfriend stayed in locked her in and wouldn't let her see me. They even took our three-week child off her, saying she was "too gentle"!
After knocking us off the register, the council said we'd have to reapply for a homelessness assessment. We had the assessment and the council said again it'd be four weeks before we got a property. After less than four weeks, I phoned Homeless Families - they said we weren't on the list and didn't know why we were ringing up! They told us to go back to DA because the council couldn't help us...
From DA to the town hall and back again. The council said they didn't have to do anything more, they didn't show us the housing newsletters that would have given us details of accommodation we could apply for.
They promised to put us on housing association (HA) lists but never did - by law they're supposed to give us a list of HAs but never did.
We went in every Friday for two years, every time we got told a different story and just got passed back and to, back and to. The only person who tried to help us was sacked!
Why is it like this? There were different staff every day, temps, there's just not enough staff to do the job properly. There's not enough council houses to put people in so they fob you off every time and try to kick you away.
The weaker they think you are, the more they try to get rid of you. We need a better service for homeless people. We need less people turned away with the council just saying, "you made yourself intentionally homeless," whether or not that's the case.
FEBRUARY
IS Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) History Month. The idea
comes from Black History Month as a way to redress the lack of
acknowledgement of the history of LGBT people in society, schools,
colleges and education as a whole. School’s Out! the LGBT education
campaigning group, started things off in 1994 – at that stage, as a
grassroots campaign.
Today, LGBT History Month is backed by the Metropolitan Police, CPS, Department of Health, TUC, Amnesty International and even Transport for London. The main aim is to "break down the legacy of silence" that surrounds the history and struggle of LGBT people.
It is important to know the true history of the fight for LGBT liberation as a way to better defend ourselves in the future. This was sharply marked by the homophobic attack by the fascist British National Party (BNP) on LGBT History Month on its website. The BNP calls on parents to protest against "unwholesome 'alternative life-style' propaganda" and "unhealthy and unwanted social-engineering indoctrination exercises". The BNP goes on to say that it is time to return to the teaching of "traditional and time proven Christian standards of morality".
The fight for LGBT liberation and for a socialist future has a long and proud history. There is not room to cover all that history in this article, but a look at the impact of the Bolshevik revolution in Russian of 1917 and the German revolution of 1918 on the movements for homosexual liberation show that history.
"Protest
in 2005 outside the Iranian Embassy in London about the brutal public
execution of two gay teenagers for the so-called 'crime' of
homosexuality."
Photo: Alex Christie.
In Bolshevik Russia all penal restrictions on homosexual activities were removed. For a period in the 1920s, the Soviet moral code was seen as an enlightened model for the rest of the world. The rights of homosexuals were, to a degree, affirmed and protected. The Bolshevik Gregorii Batkis described the attitudes of the new, socialist society in 1923:
"The present sexual legislation in the Soviet Union is the work of the October revolution. This revolution is important not only as a political phenomenon which secures the political role of the working class, but also for the revolutions which evolving from it reach out into all areas of life... [Soviet legislation] declares the absolute non-involvement of state and society in sexual relations, provided they harm no one and infringe upon no one's interests... Homosexuality, sodomy and various other forms of sexual gratification set forth in European legislation as offences against public morality are treated by Soviet legislation exactly as is so called 'natural' intercourse."
With the counter revolution under the leadership of Stalin, in March 1934, homosexuality once again became a criminal offence and the Communist (Stalinist) movements of the rest of the world soon followed suit in labeling homosexuality "unsocialist". Stalin denounced homosexuality as the product of the "decadence in the bourgeois sector of society", and even a "fascist perversion"!
In 1918, the German Communist Party taking its lead from the successful revolution in Russia in 1917, argued for complete equality for lesbians and gays. The famous gay rights campaigner, Hirschfeld, recognised the radicalising effect of the revolution: "The events of the year 1918 have doubtless had a certain effect on the liberation struggle of homosexuals... For beyond the groups of humane and just scientists, homosexual organisations have arisen... and have taken up the struggle for their fellows."
After the defeat of the Germen revolution, which had given Hirschfeld and others the chance to put gay rights on the political map, the growing gay movement moved back, basing itself on the belief that, "The liberation of homosexuals can only be the work of homosexuals themselves" within a capitalist framework – like so many LGBT rights groups today.
Hirschfeld was a courageous person who suffered for his outspoken views. He was badly beaten up in 1920, attacked and left for dead with a fractured skull in 1921, and shot at during a lecture in 1923. He died in 1935. Yet, in all his years of campaigning, he never achieved his goal of law reform, let alone wider liberation for gay people.
The defeat of the German revolution tragically left the gay movement unable to defend itself against the fascist nightmare years later, which ended with tens of thousands of gays being murdered in concentration camps alongside Jews, socialists and communists.
Prejudice is an intrinsic part of the capitalist system. Capitalist ideology is advanced to justify the privileged existence of an elite at the expense of the majority and thrives on the inequalities in society which it creates.
In contrast, a socialist society, with democratic working-class control and management of industry and society's resources, would promote unity and co-operation. Under these conditions, prejudice would begin to evaporate and personal relationships would be freed from the restrictions imposed by capitalism.
A strategy to achieve lasting LGBT liberation depends on linking the day-to-day battles against anti-gay and anti-transgender discrimination to the struggle to rebuild a mass movement for socialism and achieve a socialist society.
We need to take the arguments for LGBT liberation and the fight against capitalism into the trade unions, workplaces, schools, colleges and youth clubs, into communities and voluntary organisations to rally support behind the call for genuine equality that could stop homophobia.
Knowing our history is a start. The point is to doing something with that knowledge and that is to fight for a socialist society which is the only way we can achieve real and lasting LGBT liberation.
The Socialist Party LGBT Group and Socialist Students will be holding a number of meetings on LGBT History.
Contact us for more info at [email protected], or visit our website: www.socialistparty.org.uk/liberation/index.html
HUNDREDS OF striking Belfast postal workers attended a city centre rally on 14 February, organised by Belfast trades council. Royal Mail has been paralysed by a magnificent show of solidarity by postal workers across Belfast, fighting back against bullying and harassment by Royal Mail management
What sparked the strike was provocative and unjust disciplinary action taken against two CWU reps in North Belfast. This is part of a long campaign of harassment and bullying from tyrannical bosses, stretching over two years. Postal workers took unofficial action last September and February in similar circumstances.
The level of support in the community was expressed in dramatic fashion when over 350 postal workers left a rally in Transport House in Belfast on 7 February and marched up the Shankill Road, across the 'peaceline' at Lanark Way and down the Falls Road. The communities of the Shankill Road, Springfield Road and the Falls Road came out along the route to show their support to their postal workers, Catholic and Protestant.
Politicians from the right-wing sectarian parties spoke at the peaceline about the need for the dispute to be resolved. Not surprisingly, none of them took part in the full march! The Socialist Party was the only political party with a banner on the march and our slogan 'For Workers' Unity' was applauded along the route.
The intimidation by management has enraged the workers. One of the union reps had been keeping a record of management harassment against postal workers in a diary. Management searched a drawer containing his personal belongings, removed the diary and photocopied the material. They then accused him of bullying and intimidating other workers!
In response, the North Belfast section staged a walk-out. When news arrived at the South Belfast and West Belfast sections, they walked out in solidarity. On 4 February, the bulk of workers at the Mallusk sorting office joined the strike.
This shut down distribution of all mail across Northern Ireland and has enormously strengthened the strike. In response, Royal Mail have flown 50 managers from England to scab on the strike and are being put up in the luxurious Hilton Hotel for their treachery.
Royal Mail had refused to negotiate with the CWU until workers returned to work, but were forced into negotiations after Mallusk was shut down. Since then, Royal Mail have taken a hard-line, resulting in talks breaking down with CWU national officials.
The national leadership of the CWU have done everything they can to get the workers to return to work but are facing a determined workforce and a determined management.
Management has placed impossible conditions on workers returning to work which break past agreements and health and safety regulations. Each of the branch officials has been personally targeted. They received a letter at their homes during the night threatening them with legal action if they took part in the strike.
The Irish Congress of Trade Unions has offered to mediate future negotiations. Incredibly, the BBC came into possession of a GMB letter which is being used to undermine the strike. The letter attacks the strike by claiming it was for 'spurious reasons' and that the strike had become 'deeply sinister'. In Northern Ireland the word 'sinister' has become associated with paramilitary involvement.
The CWU is calling for an 'independent' review of management/employee industrial relations. Royal Mail has refused to discuss this, yet they have agreed similar 'independent' reviews in England.
It is clear that Royal Mail senior management are trying to take on the union in Northern Ireland to prepare for privatisation.
Unfortunately, there has been poor communication between union reps, causing confusion amongst workers about the issues involved. In order to strengthen the strike and spread it to new areas, reps from the affected areas in Belfast need to visit all areas to explain the issues and why this strike has to be won.
An appeal should also be made to the wider trade union movement for solidarity action, especially the raising of cash to go towards a strike fund. The real issues behind the strike need to be clearly explained to other workers.
Instinctively, many working-class people understand that low-paid postal workers would not easily go on unofficial strike action. Support groups involving postal workers, trade unionists, socialists, community activists and young people should be formed in order to carry out solidarity work in the communities and workplaces and to raise money for a strike fund.
To send messages of solidarity to the striking postal workers, email the Socialist Party ([email protected]) in Belfast who will send them directly to the workers on the picket line.
ON 7 February, council workers in Tower Hamlets, east London went on strike. They walked out because of a new sickness procedure that the New Labour-dominated council imposed last September. The strike is a first step to force the council to throw out this draconian policy.
The policy sees the implementation of a 'trigger point' system - which means if workers are sick for three days in six months or five days in one year, they must report every day of any subsequent absence to 'First Assist'. First Assist, based in Croydon, is a call centre where they ask you why you're sick, what you are doing about it and when you will be back at work. There are only a couple of qualified occupational health nurses on site.
Not only do staff have to ring the call centre, in addition to calling their manager, on every day off sick, but also those on long-term sick leave have to do the same. The calls cost 10p per minute.
Some workers have had their sick pay stopped and the council has threatened to take any excess, not correctly reported leave, off annual leave (although as yet, they have not been able to implement this).
The council introduced this policy to try to live up to the government's unrealistic targets for local government. In Tower Hamlets there is a higher then average absence rate but rather then look at the reason why, the council prefers to bully its workers into coming to work when they are sick.
Tower Hamlets is one of the poorest boroughs in the UK. Is it any wonder that this impacts on the staff - many of whom live in the borough?
There was a 75% 'yes' vote for the strike. It was a success, with two of the council flagship 'Ideas Stores' and many other council buildings closing, including the Housing Benefits office. There were pickets on most major council buildings.
The council has contacted UNISON to open up discussions.
To make this campaign a success there must be unity of all the unions that represent local government workers. The GMB must listen to its members and ballot for strike action. The campaign must be broadened out into the community and increase the action.
UNISON's affiliation to New Labour also needs to be raised. This dispute is a perfect example of the need for a new party to represent the working class.
AN UNRELENTING series of attacks on jobs in Sheffield and the subsequent cuts in services has led to a growing willingness of workers and community groups to voice their anger. Socialist Party members in PCS have called a Sheffield march for jobs and services, with the support of the trades council.
This demonstration can act as a rallying point for trade unionists and campaigners fighting back against the many attacks on workers' living standards.
The civil service is a major employer in the city. Job cuts - of a third of all DfES staff, and 30,000 Department for Work and Pensions staff nationally and massive cuts in the Learning and Skills Council, are all having a severe impact.
In the private sector, Finnish steel company Outo Kumpu are closing a plant in Sheffield with the loss of 700 jobs. This is the latest example of the loss of the traditional manufacturing base. This is leading to cuts in workers' wages, in the "race to the bottom".
But there is opposition to these attacks. There is an ongoing campaign for decent bus services and we are preparing to defend the NHS, as the local Trust has declared a £16 million deficit. Join us on the demo.
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What the Socialist Party stands for
The Socialist Party fights for socialism – a democratic society run for the needs of all and not the profits of a few. We also oppose every cut, fighting in our day-to-day campaigning for every possible improvement for working class people.
The organised working class has the potential power to stop the cuts and transform society.
As capitalism dominates the globe, the struggle for genuine socialism must be international.
The Socialist Party is part of the Committee for a Workers' International (CWI), a socialist international that organises in many countries.
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http://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/5017