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Socialist Party news and analysis
‘We’ve had enough’ – All strike together!
The government has announced a stock market flotation of the majority of Royal Mail within nine months, with the rest to follow. This is the biggest potential privatisation since the dark days of Thatcher. It threatens a national service which has been in public ownership for 479 years.
NSSN lobby of the TUC general council meeting in April 2013, demanding they name the day for a 24-hour general strike, photo Paul Mattsson
Urgent – trade unions must build a political voice for the working class
“If others want to stick around and be insulted by those whose only interest is our money and not our ideas then that’s a matter for them.” RMT general secretary Bob Crow made it clear that the Labour leadership’s attack on the unions, and Unite in particular, should be a defining moment for working class political representation
London Firefighters demonstrate against the closure of Bow firestation , photo by N Byron
Fire cuts, pay cuts, pension cuts, job cuts
BBC website points out how Socialist Party member Dave Nellist only took a worker’s wage when he was an MP from 1983 until 1992
G4S tagging scandal: another failure of privatisation
International socialist news and analysis
USA: Zimmerman, Trayvon and racism
It’s the system that’s guilty!: How many more Trayvons will be killed and how many more Zimmermans will walk free before something is done? The following is based on a leaflet and article by US supporters of the CWI and gives the background to the trial and its likely repercussions
‘Black July’ – Sri Lanka 1983 and the beginning of civil war
Socialist Party feature
Under capitalism the stereotypical representations of women which abound in the media, advertising and general culture have their roots in the rise of class society, wrote Christine Thomas in her book ‘It doesn’t have to be like this: women and the struggle for socialism’
Stop Victim Blaming – slut walk London September 2012, photo by Paul Mattsson
Socialist Party review
The story of the Tolpuddle Martyrs
Theatre review: “Our play, set in 1834, follows George and Betsy Loveless’ extraordinary story. He was a Methodist minister and leader of the six Dorset farm labourers tried, convicted and condemned to harsh transportation
The 2011 Tolpuddle Martyrs festival saw a record 10,000 people celebrate the victory of the early trade union movement , photo Rob Emery
Socialist Party workplace news
Lecturers in Wales expose working conditions
A Welsh Further Education college has hit the local headlines because of a story about a lecturer who has to deliver pizzas to make ends meet
UCU strikers on a picket line in Swansea on 10 May 2012 public sector workers strike , photo Socialist Party Wales
Fight Royal Mail privatisation!
Bankers’ snouts in the trough: Some of the investment banks being used by the government for the privatisation of Royal Mail are the very banks that created the global financial meltdown, writes a Royal Mail worker.
Socialist Party reports and campaigns
A week-long strike by GMB workers in the Cityclean depot was the background to a tightly fought Hanover and Elm Grove ward byelection
Widespread support for the Brighton bin workers shown on some bins in the area, photo Support Brighton Council workers Facebook page
Bedroom tax non-payment soars in Scotland: Stop evictions
The majority of Scottish councils have reported a significant increase in rent arrears since the bedroom tax – a housing benefit cut for under occupancy of ‘spare bedrooms’ – was introduced in April, writes Matt Dobson, Socialist Party Scotland.
Councils: Don’t do the Con-Dems’ dirty work!
Theo Blackwell calls anti-bedroom tax campaigners “irresponsible” for our “no evictions” call. He accuses protesters of “being more interested in attacking Labour-led councils trying to help people
‘Sick Of Your Boss?’ week of action reports
Sick of Your Boss week of action targetting Primark – protest in Leytonstone, photo by Nancy Taaffe
Durham Miners’ Gala shows mood for new party
From the platform of the Durham Miners’ Gala Davie Hopper, general secretary of the Durham Miners’ Association, mentioned this was the first time in 115 years there hadn’t been a Labour MP speaking
Campaigning against anti-LGBT bullying in schools
Lincolnshire – save our libraries
Events, meetings, paper summer schedule, fundraising …
Readers’ comments
Desperate poverty drives some people to desperate acts. The Hull Daily Mail reports that 40% more people seem to be stealing food for personal consumption in Hull than last year, writes Mike Whale.