Articles from the Socialist, issue 562
14 January 2009
War and occupation
Socialist Party editorial
British economy heads deeper into crisis
Vote for Robbie Segal
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Robbie Segal |
Tens of thousands of retail workers are being laid off. These workers are facing a bleak future, writes Robbie Segal, who is standing for president of Usdaw. Voting starts 19 January.
I am standing for election to become president of Usdaw because our union needs to be a fighting union. We should be building a mass campaign against job losses but also demanding a minimum wage of £8 an hour without exemptions. The union should be taking workers’ wages and conditions forward, not watching them go backwards.
Socialist Party youth and students
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ISR on the demonstration against war on Gaza, London, 10 Jan 2009, photo Sarah Mayo |
From ‘generation iPod’ to generation unemployed in a matter of months – the government and media’s portrayal of young people has changed dramatically as the credit crunch has unfolded, writes Ben Robinson, ISR national organiser.
Building ISR and Socialist Students in 2009
Fight for your future: what ISR campaigns for
Socialist Party campaigns
WHAT WILL be left when the Olympic games leaves town? That was the question debated by over a hundred people at Stratford Circus, east London, last week. Called by a loose coalition of interested groups…
Defend threatened Saudi Arabian trade unionist
Wirral: Marching to stop the cuts
Socialist Party feature
The NHS today – can it meet everyone’s health needs?
Desperately ill patients are being denied expensive drugs that could treat their conditions. Local NHS trusts claim they don’t have the money and that treating one person with a drug costing thousands…
Socialist Party workplace news
Conference: ‘The crisis in working class political representation’
GlaxoSmithKline: The fightback starts here
Tube cleaners protest against victimisation
Car industry in crisis national meeting
The National Shop Stewards Network is organising a meeting for car workers and those in ancillary industries:
Saturday 14 February 2009, 12-4pm,
The Birmingham and Midland Institute,
Margaret Street, Birmingham B3 3BS
Please encourage your union branch/workplace to sponsor this meeting and send delegates (£5 per delegate or visitor).
See also: www.shopstewards.net or PO Box 58262, London N1P 1ET.
International socialist news and analysis
“THIS IS not about a company that’s in trouble. This is about greed, corporate greed. They’re going to Poland because apparently they can make an extra 3%.”, writes Stephen Boyd, Cork.
Sri Lanka -: Vicious attacks on media and killing of newspaper editor
Bangladesh: Protesters denounce global mining corporation
Socialist Party review
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Che Guevara in military fatigues, 2 June 1959 |
The release of the first of Steven Soderbergh’s two-part biopic on Che Guevara coincides with the fiftieth anniversary of the Cuban revolution. It is attracting wide audiences of mainly young people. Given that many of those seeing the film are looking for an alternative to capitalism, Socialist Party branches are organising leafleting and book sales outside cinemas.
TONY SAUNOIS, secretary of the Committee for a Workers’ International, looks at how the film deals with the important political questions raised.
Socialist Party feature
Why Manchester rejected the congestion charge
BY A four-to-one margin, Greater Manchester residents have thrown out proposals threatening to bring in a “congestion charge” in return for some limited investment in public transport, writes Hugh Caffrey, Manchester.
