Articles from the Socialist, issue 535
28 May 2008
Build A New Workers’ Party
Crewe and Nantwich ‘no-win’ by-election: Why New Labour lost
I told my union: “We need a new workers’ party”
Westminster parties are remote from life
Campaign for a new workers’ party: conference 2008
Campaign for a new workers’ party: conference 2008
Sunday 29 June 10am – 5pm.
South Camden Community School, Charrington Street, London NW1.
(nearest Rail/Tube stations – Kings Cross/St Pancras, Euston, Mornington Crescent)
Speakers include Bob Crow, RMT general secretary
MPs’ expensive expenses
Socialist Party campaigns
Over four million low-paid workers felt some relief when Gordon Brown was forced into his tax u-turn, writes Judy Beishon.
Exeter bomb explosion: Workers’ unity needed against terrorism, war and deprivation
Socialist Party women
Women welcome abortion rights victory: Now fight to extend rights
1,000 people joined a lively Abortion Rights Campaign protest opposite Parliament , photo Leah Jones and Anna Engelhardt |
THE VARIOUS attempts to restrict rights to abortion, via amendments to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology bill, ended in defeat on 20 May as MPs voted to keep the status quo, writes Eleanor Donne.
Youth and crime
Home secretary: “Tough on crime”…but not the causes
Home secretary Jacqui Smith has urged police forces to harass ‘badly behaved’ young people, writes Matt Dobson, Socialist Students national organiser.
‘Youth justice’: repressive measures do not work
Socialist Party feature
‘Counter-terrorism’ legislation threatens our democratic rights
Postal workers trampled on the anti-trade union laws |
Feature: The government’s proposal to extend the period the police can hold suspects without charge to 42 days, will be presented to parliament in the next few weeks. ANNA LUCAS explains that, far from being a step in the right direction, these new laws, and other ‘anti-crime’ measures over recent years, amount to a major and unjustified attack on our democratic rights.
International socialist analysis
South Africa: Attacks on refugees and migrants reveal capitalism’s barbaric underbelly
THE WAVE of xenophobic pogroms which have swept through the squatter camps adjoining black townships around Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town, has so far claimed more than 50 lives and has left over 80,000 homeless. Weizmann Hamilton, of the Democratic Socialist Movement (CWI, South Africa) reports on the current crisis and the issues underlying it.
Socialist Party review
The Wire – Reviewed by Michael Wrack
When The Wire first started it could easily have been mistaken for just another ‘cop show’, and a particularly slow, dialogue-driven one at that…
Socialist Party workplace news
PCS conference: More battles ahead on pay and jobs
PCS workers on strike, photo Paul Mattsson |
This year’s conference of the civil service union PCS was a resounding success, writes Bill Mullins, Socialist Party industrial organiser.
Usdaw general secretary election: Members want democratic debate