Socialist Worker 2554 2017-05-16 15:19:35.0
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Labour manifesto that breaks from its past helps lift Jeremy Corbyn's support
Jeremy Corbyn?s message is exciting people and gaining support for Labour (Pic: Neil Terry) The Labour Party?s election manifesto has lifted activists and underlined that it?s worth fighting to get the Tories out and Jeremy Corbyn in. It offers a break from Tory austerity?and the austerity-lite approach of recent Labour leaders. The manifesto matches the tone of Corbyn?s campaign speeches?with talk of ?re-writing the rules of a rigged system?. It opens with a promise to deliver a ?fairer, more prosperous society for the many, not just the few.? Labour has pledged to plough billions of pounds into education and the NHS and to scrap tuition fees. It promises to raise the minimum wage to at least ?10 an hour by 2020, repeal the Trade Union Act and end attacks on benefit claimants. And there are plans to ban fracking, and to renationalise Royal Mail, the water system and, over a period of years, the rail industry. There would be a state-controlled energy supplier in each region to compete with the privatised firms. The programme would be funded by higher taxation on big business and people on more than ?80,000 a year. Labour says it would raise ?19.4 billion a year from corporation tax and ?6.5 billion through cracking down on tax avoidance. In addition it would raise ?1.3 billion through an ?excessive pay tax?. Launching the manifesto in Bradford, Corbyn said it was ?a manifesto to transform the 21st century. ?This manifesto is a draft for a better future. It?s a blueprint of what Britain could be.? One Labour supporter speaking at the event said they had been ?waiting for 30 years for something like this that I can fight for?. Corbyn?s manifesto is the most radical that the Labour Party has had in years. That?s why the right hated it?and set out to sabotage it from the start. Corbyn still has the support of hundreds of thousands of Labour Party members. But the right dominate Labour?s top hierarchy?and used their power to force through important changes. Two Labour MPs, Frank Field and Ben Bradshaw have said they will campaign under their own manifestos. And within hours of the manifesto being leaked?before the official document had even been published?the leader of the Welsh Labour party disowned it. The right pressured Corbyn to compromise over nuclear weapons last year. So the manifesto has no call to get rid of Trident or to leave the Nato alliance?despite Corbyn?s longstanding opposition to them. There are other examples: Freedom of movement The right, reportedly led by shadow Brexit minister Keir Starmer, forced Labour to promise to end freedom of movement. In other words, they want Labour to promise more immigration controls. A draft of the manifesto, leaked last week, didn?t mention freedom of movement. It spoke out against and said the ?Conservative government has scapegoated migrants?. The published manifesto does not attack the Tories over migration. It now says ?Labour will not scapegoat migrants nor blame them for economic failures.? But it also promises ?fair rules and reasonable management of migration,? and adds that ?Freedom of movement will end when we leave the European Union.? War and imperialism The draft manifesto said Labour would "end support for aggressive wars of intervention". This has been changed to "unilateral aggressive wars of intervention," which means Labour could?still support wars if backed by the UN. References to the damage caused by Labour?s previous wars have been removed or toned down. And the manifesto now pledges that Labour will take, ?all lawful action necessary to counter and confront? Isis and extremism. On top of this, the draft promised a ?major review of the Prevent programme.? It rightly said that ?Some feel they have been unfairly targeted and singled out because of some failings in Prevent,? which is the least you can say about a programme used by cops to target and spy on Muslims. Now the manifesto said it would asses Prevent?s ?potential to alienate minority communities?. But it also wants to ?address the government?s failure to take any effective new measures against a growing problem of extreme or violent radicalisation.? Scotland The draft manifesto had already committed Labour to opposing a second Scottish Independence referendum. But that wasn?t far enough for some in Labour?s meeting to approve the draft, which Scottish Labour's Kezia Dugdale attended. Now the manifesto says independence is ?unwanted and unnecessary, and we will campaign tirelessly to ensure Scotland remains part of the UK." Abortion rights The draft said Labour would legislate to extend the 1967 Act to Northern Ireland. Now it says it will 'work with the assembly' to try and change the law, However, there were also some positive changes. There are now promises to tackle domestic abuse and violence against women. The manifesto also says Labour will tackle ?institutional biases? in the police that mean black and Asian men are more likely to be stopped and searched. And there?s a clearer commitment not to ?waste money on inefficient free schools and the Conservatives? grammar schools vanity project?. Labour will ?oppose any attempt to force schools to become academies.? But most changes also show the scale of opposition Corbyn still faces from the right in his own party. Labour has to go all out on its radical promises to beat the Tories on 8 June. Labour?s right want to hold it back. Corbyn?s left wing manifesto points to an alternative for Labour that could help it beat the Tories. Concessions to the right can only make it weaker. A huge crowd greets the Labour battlebus arriving in Leeds on Monday (Pic: Neil Terry) Rallies hear call against society for the Rich List Jeremy Corbyn has kept up his tour of rallies for supporters, holding several of them mainly in Yorkshire last week. The Labour leader visited Leeds and Hebden Bridge in West Yorkshire on Monday. In Hebden Bridge he spoke to an outdoor overflow meeting of those who could not get in to a packed town hall. Some could not even get near that. It followed visits to Sheffield, Morley and York last week. Anti-fracking activist Kim Hunter was at the York rally last Wednesday. ?The thousand-plus crowd was young and enthusiastic, chanting ?Corbyn, Corbyn, Corbyn,? and ?Tories Out, Corbyn in!? at every pause in his speech,? she told Socialist Worker. ?Corbyn got the best response when he talked about a fair solution to the housing crisis and creating a society that is not in thrall to the people on the Sunday Times Rich List.? She added, ?Many people contrasted Corbyn?s open air rally with the way May sneaked into town to talk to the Tory faithful the previous day. ?They won?t let her get away with that when she comes back on 2 June for Question Time.? Right wing MPs hatch plots Right wing Labour MPs are already plotting their moves against Corbyn and the rest of Labour?s left after the general election. The right wing Telegraph and Sunday Times newspapers have both reported that as many as 100 saboteur Labour MPs could break away from Labour. Meanwhile other MPs are preparing to force Corbyn out if he doesn?t resign, or replace him with a right winger if he does. Right wing Labour MP Jess Phillips is gearing up for fresh infighting inside Labour. She said, ?We?ve got a fight on our hands. He isn?t going to go is he?? The right?s defeatism, sabotage and plotting are a disgrace. Laura Jane said, "Education should be a lifelong opportunity." ?If Labour renationalises the attacks have to stop? Labour supporters and activists have reacted to the manifesto. Jayne Linney, a disabled person on Pip disability benefit told Socialist Worker, ?I was really impressed with Labour?s pledges, especially on disability. The Tories don?t really have a leg to stand on in comparison.? Laura Jane, a secondary school teacher in Leeds was glad of Labour?s plans for a National Education Service. She said, ?The Labour Party are the only ones that are going to put money into education. ?They believe in education from primary school right through life. That?s right?education should be a lifelong opportunity.? And Fleur Patten, a sixth form college teacher and Labour Party member in Cambridge said, ?It?s good Labour will scrap tuition fees too. I helped two students from deprived homes apply for university last week. ?But both of them have told me they want to withdraw and look for work instead because they are worried about the debt.? Oxford postal worker Paul Garraway welcomed the promise to renationalise Royal Mail. ?In Royal Mail they?re attacking our pensions, our pay and our conditions,? he said. ?All this has happened since privatisation. If Labour renationalise, that has to stop.? ?

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EIS Fela national college strike goes from strength to strength
Strikers protest outside BBC Scotland's offices over the mainstream media blackout (Pic: EIS Fela Honour the Deal) A major industrial battle is raging in Scotland that the mainstream press has largely ignored for two weeks. Today, Thursday, thousands of college lecturers held their fourth national walkout in a fortnight. Coverage has been so bad that in Glasgow over 100 strikers from several colleges protested outside BBC Scotland headquarters chanting ?BBC, tell the truth!? In over two decades there have been just five national college strikes in Scotland, four in the past fortnight and one last year. The silence from the press is astonishing. Bigger picket lines were reported today across the 20 colleges involved in the dispute over bosses? refusal to honour a deal signed with over 4,600 EIS Fela union members 14 months ago. Lecturers? organisation is growing in strength. One Glasgow Clyde College striker told Socialist Worker, ?It's really important to hold branch meetings to build the pickets and the strikes. Seeing the branch meeting packed out definitely gave us more confidence to fight.? Organised Students are also starting to get organised. Cheryl has set up a student solidarity Facebook group to back the strikes. She told Socialist Worker, ?We know the lecturers care about students. We?re trying to encourage students to get involved, support the lecturers and join the picket lines. ?During the next strike we plan to organise a ?students support the lecturers? rally in Glasgow. We ask all students to come out and get them telt. If the deal is honoured we get our lecturers back.? Strikers? anger is now being directed at Scottish National Party (SNP) politicians? refusal to intervene. ?The silence from the education minister and the further education minister is unsustainable. We are not going away,? EIS Fela rep Angela told Socialist Worker. She added, ?If we have to strike again next week we will, in bigger numbers, and call on our political representatives to use their power to get employers to honour the deal they made.? Fife College strikers took their message today to the Dunfermline office of Shirley-Anne Somerville, the SNP minister responsible for further education. The Motherwell and Wishaw SNP constituency office received a visit from strikers in Lanarkshire. An SNP councillor and office manager outside the Motherwell and Wishaw constituency office (Pic: NCL EIS Fela) In Edinburgh they protested outside Bute House, the official residence of the first minister and SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon. She has claimed that if the government has to intervene it would mean the failure of national bargaining. Bargaining She and her ministers are missing the key point?national bargaining is already failing. That?s why they face a series of escalating walkouts in further education. Sturgeon?s deputy party leader Angus Robertson took time out from his bid to stop the Tories taking his Westminster seat to visit the picket line at Moray College in the north east. Strikers urged him to speak out that the strike was not about them wanting a 9 percent pay rise or better holidays, ?this is about harmonisation which the Scottish government said it is committed to?. Robertson told strikers, ?I?ll be happy to underline that point today.? He has yet do so publicly, but made sure to tweet a picture of himself at the picket line on the #honourthedeal message thread. If politicians want to take credit for supporting picket lines then they should use their influence to back lecturers defending further education from bosses trying to undermine it. The Glasgow Clyde College striker said, ?People are really angry. Management are just so cynical. It's not just that they don't care about us. They don't care about the students either. ?This is a very important battle. We can't back down here. If we don't win, the management will come after us for more cuts. Victory is crucial.? Thanks to everyone who sent in reports and pictures
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SNP-linked lobbyists batting for Scotland's college bosses to beat strike
Strikers at a rally in Glasgow earlier this month (Pic: Duncan Brown) A secretive and influential firm of lobbyists with close links to the Scottish National Party (SNP) is working on behalf of bosses? group Colleges Scotland. Charlotte Street Partners (CSP) are ?earning their big fee? by keeping a wave of strikes against their client out of the press. This was the claim made last Sunday by Lothians MSP Neil Findlay. A major industrial battle is raging in Scotland that the media has largely ignored for two weeks. CSP?s client Colleges Scotland is refusing to honour a deal it made with the EIS Fela union 14 months ago. Findlay?s claims raise serious questions about the ?470,000 a year Colleges Scotland gets to implement national bargaining from Scottish Funding Council. The council is a public body of the Scottish government. It also turns the spotlight on the shadowy firm?s links with the SNP. CSP managing partner is former SNP MSP Andrew Wilson?still working at a senior level for the party. Former SNP spin doctor Kevin Pringle also works for CSP. Today, Tuesday, college lecturers staged their fifth national walkout since 27 April and were set to strike again on Wednesday. They plan to escalate to a three-day strike next week. Eileen, the EIS Fela branch secretary at New College Lanarkshire, told Socialist Worker, ?This action is seriously hitting further education?. She said the employers? attitude was making workers ?very angry?, as is the misreporting of their dispute in the press. Coverage has been so bad that in Glasgow last Thursday over 100 strikers from several colleges protested outside BBC Scotland headquarters chanting ?Tell the truth!? The protest at BBC Scotland last week (Pic: EIS FELA Honour The Deal) Talks with Colleges Scotland once again produced only demands from bosses that lecturers accept cuts?compromising the quality of further education. Bosses are demanding the union accepts the cuts to preparation time before they will honour a pay deal agreed last year. But lecturers? organisation is growing in strength. One Glasgow Clyde College striker told Socialist Worker, ?It?s really important to hold branch meetings to build the pickets and the strikes. ?Seeing the branch meeting packed out definitely gave us more confidence to fight.? Lecturers were boosted by the news last week that their 55,000-strong EIS union was stepping up its backing with a new strike fund. Students are also getting organised. Cheryl has set up a student solidarity Facebook group to back the strikes. She told Socialist Worker, ?We know the lecturers care about students. ?We?re trying to encourage students to get involved, support the lecturers and join the picket lines. If the deal is honoured we get our lecturers back.? Students plan to rally in Glasgow on Wednesday to back their lecturers. Anger Strikers? anger is now rightly being directed at the SNP?s refusal to intervene. ?The silence from the education minister and the further education minister is unsustainable. ?We are not going away,? EIS Fela rep Angela told Socialist Worker. Last Thursday?s strike saw workers protest at local SNP MSPs? offices and the official residence of SNP first minister Nicola Sturgeon. With this kind of mood for action politicians campaigning for the general election could be in for a rough time on the campaign trail. Sturgeon has urged bosses to ?go the extra mile? to get a settlement. But she also claimed that if the government has to intervene it would mean the failure of national bargaining. Sturgeon is missing the key point?national bargaining is already failing. That?s why they face a series of escalating walkouts in further education. The Glasgow Clyde striker said, ?People are really angry. Management are just so cynical. It?s not just that they don?t care about us. ?They don?t care about the students either. This is a very important battle. We can?t back down here. If we don?t win, the management will come after us for more cuts. Victory is crucial.? Messages of support to: jgkellyeis@live.co.uk Sign the petition at www.eis.org.uk Fighting fund bank account details at bit.ly/2qT0RnU UCU London region and Unite the Resistance are co-hosting a meeting for solidarity with EIS strikers. Friday 19 May, 6.30pm, upstairs at The Cheshire Cheese pub, 5 Little Essex St, London WC2R 3LD.? EIS Fela will be holding a lobby in George Square, Glasgow on Saturday 20 May from 1pm until approximately 2pm
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Letters: It?s a fraud to say Tories did nothing wrong on expenses
Tory party organisers spent over the allowed amount for campaigning in the 2015 election, including bussing activists out to rural constituencies (Pic: Nic Goulding/flikr) I suspect few readers of this newspaper will have been surprised at the decision of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) last week. It decided not to prosecute Tory officials or candidates arising from an investigation into Tory party election expenses during the 2015 general election. It didn?t take Theresa May long to conjure up the line that the Tories had been vindicated and no one in the party had done anything wrong. Unfortunately for her that is not what the CPS said. What the CPS actually said was that while there was ?evidence to suggest that returns may have been inaccurate there was not enough evidence that individuals acted ?knowingly or dishonestly??. The CPS is required to consider whether there is a better than 50-50 chance of a conviction. Saying there is not enough evidence is far from clearing the Tories of wrong-doing. May also claimed the Tories ?had always reported expenditure according to the rules?. Fine But if that was the case, why did the Electoral Commission fine the party ?70,000 earlier this year following a report into its national election expenses? Whatever views people may have about just how ?democratic? our system really is in Britain, the rules about election expenses are there for a reason. The whole point is to prevent a wealthy party from gaining an unfair advantage from high spending on publicity which another party could not match. The Tories bussed huge numbers of volunteers into 29 key marginal constituencies in the last ten days of the 2015 campaign. Since the Tories ended up with a majority of 12 seats after the election it is clear that what the party did may well have swung the election in their favour. Mark George Manchester Let?s vote to end fees What the Tories have done to education?from tripling tuition fees to cutting school and college funding?has had a drastically damaging effect. I?ve had to prepare for my college running out of paper and not being able to buy more. I worked two jobs at the beginning of my AS Level year. My plan is to go to university. All the advice I?ve been given is ?make sure you don?t earn over ?21,000 and you?ll be fine!? Scrapping tuition fees is possible?if we redirect money away from things like Trident nuclear missiles to services that help people. I?m really encouraged by the Labour manifesto. All students who want an education without a ton of debt should join me in supporting Corbyn. Andriana Sotiris North London Just the job for the rich Theresa May told the BBC?s One Show last week that for her and her husband Philip, ?There?s boy jobs and girl jobs.? This is reinforcing sexism. Philip May works for investment fund Capital Group. It has a large stake in companies such as Starbucks and Amazon that have been accused of corporate tax avoidance. I wonder if helping the rich avoid tax is a ?boy job? or a ?girl job??or just a gender-neutral ?Tory job?? Sasha Simic East London Fox hunting shows true colours of cruel poshos Theresa May said last week that she was in favour of repealing the fox hunting ban. Poshos embark on a bloodthirsty day out (Pic: Owain Davies/Wikimedia) Fox hunting is hugely unpopular. Polls suggest 84 percent of people are against it. Most people recognise the class divide in fox hunting. It is a blood sport for the rich. Tories and their friends revel in killing animals while working class people struggle to get by in the face of cuts. The fox hunting debate shows the Tories in their true colours?heartless, bloodthirsty and barbaric. Working class people don?t want to see the destruction of their environment or to see animals being killed mercilessly for an upper class sport. Fox hunting is an issue socialists need to see in the way most people do. It?s an issue of class division?and something to stand firmly against. Alex Claxton-Mayer Colchester Be fair to our ?exemplary socialist? MP Your attack on the Green Party (Socialist Worker online, 9 May) was inaccurate and damagingly divisive among socialists who campaign alongside local Greens. The key task for socialists in this general election is advocating a vote for Jeremy Corbyn?s Labour. Electoral pacts with forces to the right of Corbyn would undermine resistance to austerity. Yet that is not what is at stake in every constituency. The Green Party is not a class-based left alternative to Labour. But some Greens are socialists to the left of the Labour machine. Brighton Pavilion has in Caroline Lucas an MP with a track record of socialist politics, and policies we support. Her backing has made a huge difference in local campaigns. She has defended the NHS, stood with anti-fascists and been arrested on an anti-fracking demonstration. Lucas has joined picket lines, including those of the bin workers fighting against the then Green-run council. It is one thing to advocate a Labour vote because of Corbyn rather than a Green vote. It is quite another to mount an attack on an exemplary socialist who is in a position to win a seat. Stephen McLean and Tom Hickey Brighton The traditions of the police I read with interest your report on a stop and search by Thames Valley Police. The grand old traditions of the British police that brought the riots continue. Noel Halifax On Facebook Greens aren?t radical or left Green Party political shifts make me fear that it is a party not for me. I remember the radicalism of the West German Green Party decades ago. This version is not the same animal. Timothy Beighton On Facebook Austerity cuts mean murder every suicide provoked by austerity is blood on the government?s hands. Pushing someone to suicide is murder. Stephanie King On Twitter Ignorance is no excuse The Tories say they didn?t know election fraud is illegal because they were told it?s not? They don?t know much then, do they? @w_nicht On Twitter No Marx for the revolution You say ?there?s a lot to be learnt from reading Karl Marx? (Socialist Worker, 10 May). If Marx were alive today he would?ve wondered why capitalism hasn?t already dug its own grave. @mrshadyshadow On Twitter Pathetic BBC propaganda You report that ?Theresa May can?t hide from questions and protests? (Socialist Worker online, 9 May). That?s why the windows were covered for her pathetic performance on the BBC?s One Show. The BBC is just a state-funded propaganda channel now. @moranrisin On Twitter
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Strike at Arriva depots against rail bosses? lack of care
Workers at Arriva depots, which provide traincare for Arriva trains and others, are set to walk out over pay (Pic: EDDIE/Flickr creative commons) Workers at train maintenance company Arriva Traincare were set to walk out over the bosses? latest pay offer on Friday. The RMT union members work at the firm?s five depots in Bristol, Cambridge, Crewe, Eastleigh and Gateshead. The union said it had been ?made clear to the union?s negotiating team that the company was not prepared to enter into pay negotiations with RMT?. Bosses claim that this year?s pay award ?has been accepted following positive negotiations with Unite?our recognised trade union?. But Arriva Traincare directly employs 200 staff, and 90 RMT members were eligible to vote in the union?s ballot which delivered a 96 percent vote to strike. RMT general secretary Mick Cash said, ?RMT members delivered a massive yes vote for action. ?The company should wake up and take notice of the anger amongst their workforce over the pay issue. ?Our members are entitled to be represented by the union that they are members of. ?This is so we can get on with our job and negotiate decent pay and conditions on their behalf.?
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Tories deserve to be evicted for empty housing pledge
Fighting against the Tories' Housing Bill?(Pic: Socialist Worker) Tory ministers took to the airwaves to announce their new housing policy yesterday, Sunday, in a patronising attempt to win over working class voters. Few details were given, and those that were showed little has changed when it comes to the Tories? vision of housing. Defence minister Michael Fallon said that no additional funding would be made available over the measly ?1.4 billion that has already been set aside. That amount is already earmarked for funding three different Tory schemes?shared ownership, ?affordable? rents and rent-to-buy. An unspecified amount of the money left after those schemes have been funded will go to building houses to rent for 10 to 15 years. After that they ?will be sold to a private owner, landlord, or institutional investor,? according to a Tory press release. "It's a very attractive policy that will give people a real alternative to waiting and waiting and waiting to get into a council house or flat of their choice," said Fallon on the Andrew Marr show. But when pushed about the number of homes the policy would provide, former Tory housing minister Brandon Lewis said, ?I?m not going to give you a fixed number." ?The fact that the Tories are trying to appeal to people over housing shows the depth of the crisis,? Eileen Short, chair of Defend Council Housing, told Socialist Worker. Alarm The Tories' more specific proposals should set alarm bells ringing for tenants, residents and campaigners. Fallon talked about how he wants to ?strike new deals with the most ambitious councils and housing associations" for access to the small pot of cash. What compromises will councils make for the money? Compulsory purchase orders, which allow councils to force people out of their homes to make way for redevelopments, are to be ?reformed?. That could make it even easier for councils to kick people out of their homes. The Housing and Planning Act, most of which is stalled for the time being, redefines what ?brownfield? land means to include estates and other publicly-owned land. The Tories want to loosen the restrictions for building on brownfield sites. If the Tories are re-elected they?ll feel confident to dust off the Act and begin to implement it. Alternatives The Tories are vulnerable because of their disgraceful record on housing. But Labour needs to put forward clear alternatives. ?People see the housing policies?in Labour?s leaked manifesto as the party re-committing itself to council house building,? said Eileen. Labour?s leaked manifesto says the party will build ?100,000 council and housing association homes a year for genuinely affordable rent or sale.? But housing associations are behaving increasingly like private developers and some are at the heart of the most vicious redevelopment projects. Housing associations are included in the vague category of ?social? housing. ?Anger at the state of housing is why people have welcomed Labour?s commitments,? said Eileen. ?That makes it all the more important that campaigners and tenants resist backsliding on those commitments and push beyond them for concrete proposals for a mass council house building programme.? Facts on housing 43 percent increase in homelessness since 2010 One in three Tory MPs in 2017 were private landlords ?1,745 a year increase in average rent since 2010 The Axe the Housing Act campaign?is?holding a demonstration in Parliament Square at 5pm on Thursday 25 May to push council housing to the top of the agenda in the election.
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Prix Pictet at V&A - powerful and socially-engaged
Foliage encroaching on blinds (Pic: Saskia Groneberg) This small exhibition is rich in powerful, innovative examples of socially-engaged photography. This year?s theme is ?space?, prompting several photographers to look at migration and borders. The prize winner is Richard Mosse, with photos of refugee camps in Moria and Idomeni in Greece also featured in his Incoming installation at the Barbican centre. Taken at long distance through a heat-sensitive military camera, they examine the hostile gaze of the border regime as much as the refugees themselves. Sergey Ponomarev gets up much closer, with dynamic portraits of refugees leaning out of boats or clinging onto trains. They celebrate their agency while lamenting their plight. Munem Wasif explores the no-man?s-land created by the border between India and Bangladesh. Palestine Another highlight is Pavel Wolberg?s collection of protests and barricades from Palestine and Ukraine. Several artists look at our relationship with the built environment. Benny Lam?s ceiling-eye photos of Hong Kong home interiors look at housing and poverty. Michael Wolf?s portraits of Japanese commuters, Beate Guetschow?s bleak composite landscapes and Saskia Groneberg?s almost abstract close-ups of office plants emphasise our alienation from our surroundings. Sohei Nishino?s diorama maps do the opposite, building a picture of a whole city from the point of view of someone walking around it. But perhaps the most original work is Mandy Barker?s microscope polemic against pollution. She uses plastic microbeads gathered from beaches to recreate the plankton they are poisoning. Prix Pictet 2017, Porter Gallery, Victoria & Albert Museum, London SW7 2RL. Free entry, until 28 May. bit.ly/2rm0Fyz ? Some of the cast of Rent Strike! (Pic: Fatima Uygun) Rent Strike! In 1915 the men of Britain were marching to their slaughter in Europe. British industry was geared up for the war effort attracting tens of thousands of people into Glasgow. Private landlords exploited the situation and overcharged for slum housing. The draconian Defence of the Realm Act made it illegal for workers to strike or threaten the war effort. Rent Strike! is a musical set among the shipyards and tenements of Glasgow. It tells the inspiring story of how working class women overcame sectarian divisions and organised themselves to fight back against the exploitative landlords and won historic housing reforms. And not just for people in Glasgow but for the whole of Britain, boosting the formation of the Independent Labour Party and spawning the movement for social housing. Directed by Fatima Uygun. Govanhill Baths, Glasgow, 16-20 May. Tickets available from brownpapertickets.com
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Accelerate action over BMW attacks
BMW workers on the picket line (Pic: Geoff Brown) Car workers struck at four plants around Britain on Tuesday to stop BMW Group bosses? closure of their pension scheme. Strikes hit Mini plants in Cowley (Oxford) and Swindon, Rolls-Royce in Goodwood, Sussex, and the BMW engine plant in Hams Hall, near Birmingham. It was the Unite union members? first coordinated strike across all four sites, and another was planned on Thursday this week. There was a great mood on the picket line in Cowley, where the strike brought production to a standstill. In lively discussions a few strikers, particularly older workers who had taken part in the struggles of the 1970s, argued for tactics beyond those the union is proposing. Cutbacks One striker told Socialist Worker that the pension closure was ?the tip of the iceberg? after years of cutbacks for workers. John said, ?I?ve got 14 years until I retire if it?s at 60. If we lose the scheme I may have to work until 67.? Philip added, ?I?m due to retire next year so I won?t be affected, but I?m striking on principle and in solidarity with my workmates.? BMW made ?6 billion profit last year and gave ?2 billion to shareholders?yet it insists it needs to cut thousands of pounds from workers? retirement income. After Thursday?s coordinated strike, another is planned at Cowley and Swindon on Sunday and at Goodwood and Hams Hall on Wednesday of next week. The scheme is scheduled to close the following week. The BMW workers are showing it?s possible to resist the pensions onslaught. Trade unionists should show support?and Unite should call more action. Send messages of support at unitetheunion.org/campaigning/bmw-pension-robbers/
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Labour can win - if it comes out fighting
Jeremy Corbyn meets enthusiastic supporters in Sheffield (Pic: Neil Terry) Can Jeremy Corbyn lead the Labour Party to victory in the general election? The opinion polls, never to be relied upon, show some interesting shifts. Labour has been polling in some recent polls at 31 to 32 percent, a higher vote than the 30.4 percent Labour achieved under Ed Miliband in 2015. Miliband secured more votes in England than Tony Blair in 2005 and Gordon Brown in 2010. So Corbyn is on course to win more Labour votes south of the border than Labour has had in the last three general elections. But the polls also show the Tories far ahead, mainly due to the collapse of Ukip. Anger However, whenever Theresa May is forced to meet ordinary people instead of party staffers, she comes face to face with the deep-seated anger at austerity. Cathy Mohan summed up how many people feel when she confronted May on disability benefit cuts in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, on Monday. ?The fat cats keep all the money and us lot get nothing,? she said. That?s why Corbyn?s pledges to squeeze the fat cats and take back our public services are popular. Two polls last week showed overwhelming support for left wing policies in Labour?s manifesto ?such as rail renationalisation. These sorts of radical policies have boosted Labour members and supporters, and have the potential to inspire voters. But elections aren?t simply won through barrages of press releases, or even on the doorstep. The wider mood in society matters, and Corbyn needs to continue to shape it. Working class people have been shafted by politicians in the pocket of big business. Theresa May wants to pull their anger in a right wing direction and scapegoat migrants. But a campaign of mass rallies and mobilisations, led by Corbyn, could pull that anger to the left. Launching Labour?s campaign, he declared ?I don?t play by their rules and a Labour government won?t by their rules.? Radical He was absolutely right?now he needs to stick to it. One phrase from Tuesday?s manifesto launch was that Labour would be ?radical and responsible?. But moderation is the enemy. Corbyn needs to go for broke. We saw a glimpse of what?s needed in Leeds, where thousands joined a Labour rally on Monday. Reminiscent of the Labour leadership rallies, it was young, angry and showed that a number of people have been radicalised. If Corbyn announced a programme of mass rallies across Britain and advertised them widely, it could shift the political situation. They could be linked to local campaigns against school funding cuts or protests for the NHS. Such an insurgent campaign could boost Corbyn?s support?and strengthen the movement to take the fight to the Tories.
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Labour right haven?t a hope - or a clue
Jeremy Corbyn at Labour's manifesto launch (Pic: Neil Terry) The press denunciations of Labour?s leaked draft manifesto have been predictable. ?Corbyn?s misguided bid to turn the clock back,? spluttered the Financial Times, ?Corbyn?s fantasy land?, the Mail. The Telegraph?s Simon Heffer ranted, ?Labour?s plans would literally and morally bankrupt our country.? There?s been plenty of the same from the supposed centre left. One Labour MP told the Financial Times, ?It?s old-style tax-and-spend, the kind of thing that went out of fashion when I was a child.? But the Guardian?s Polly Toynbee was more subtle, describing the draft as ?a treasure trove of things that should be done, undoing those things that should never have been done and promising much that could make this country infinitely better for almost everyone?. The problem, Toynbee goes on to argue, is that Jeremy Corbyn, because of his ?lifetime of backbench rebellion?, can?t persuade voters to back this manifesto. ?The long-term danger?, she concludes, ?is that good policies in this manifesto will wrongly go down in history as ?rejected? by voters?when all they will have rejected was Corbyn.? There?s a contradiction in this argument. The policies in this manifesto include plenty of measures?for example, reversing the privatisation of rail and energy?that were studiously avoided by the New Labour governments of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. But Toynbee strenuously defended these governments against criticisms from the left. Embracing the neoliberalism pioneered by Margaret Thatcher was at the heart of the New Labour project. It?s inconceivable that the likes of Yvette Cooper or Dan Jarvis?two of the Blairite clones touted as potential replacements of Corbyn?could have come up with the sort of manifesto that Toynbee is praising. Leadership Whatever its limitations from a socialist perspective, only a leadership like that of Corbyn and his shadow chancellor, John McDonnell, who fought against Thatcher and Blair, could have produced it. New Labour was based on the idea that you could reconcile neoliberalism and the social-democratic objective of reducing poverty and inequality. This idea died on 15 September 2008, when the collapse of Lehman Brothers marked the biggest financial crash for nearly a century. Not only did the crash destroy Brown?s premiership, but it unleashed a new era of austerity as neoliberal capitalism tried to save itself by slashing jobs, wages, and services. Crisis and austerity have generated an enormous backlash, as voters hit out at the elites who have impoverished them. The biggest beneficiaries have been the racist and populist right. Corbyn, along with Bernie Sanders in the US, is one of the few politicians of the reformist left to try to offer an alternative that can tap into the justified anger against the establishment and turn it against the system. Denouncing The old centre left have no comprehension of any of this. It is they who stick to old formulas such as denouncing ?tax-and-spend?. They sing the praises of Blair for winning three elections when he is nothing but a discredited war criminal who has spent the past decade feathering his own nest. The centre left have seized on Emmanuel Macron?s election as French president as a sign that the ?populist? tide is beginning to recede. Lionel Barber, editor of the Financial Times, tweeted, ?Macron wins by landslide, the centre holds in Europe, a defeat for nationalist xenophobia.? It?s not hard to win a landslide if you?re running alone against a noxious fascist. As soon as he won, Macron was confronted with a public refusal by German chancellor Angela Merkel to contemplate any relaxation of the austerity that reigns in the eurozone. The suffering that Europe?s austerity regime causes will generate new revolts. The only question is who will lead them. Will it be the racist right and the fascists or the radical left? Anyone who seeks to develop a challenge from the left will have to face the kind of vilification directed at Corbyn. But somewhere?as there was briefly in Greece two years ago?there will be a breakthrough for the radical left. Why not here and now?
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Bus workers begin ballots in defence of their unions
Bus drivers at London bus firm Tower Transit could strike (Pic: Guy Smallman) Over 400 workers across Stagecoach South West buses are balloting for strikes over the victimisation and sacking of a RMT union branch official. The majority of the RMT members are based in Exeter with others in Exmouth and Sidmouth. As well as drivers, the ballot includes engineers, clerks, cleaners and controllers. The RMT said it has ?repeatedly refuted the serious allegations levelled at our member by company bosses?. The union said management ?have chosen to ignore the facts? and its sacking of the official is ?grossly unfair and wholly disproportionate?. The union is urging a yes vote in the ballot that closes on the 18 May. Unite union members working for north west London bus firm Tower Transit are balloting to strike in defence of their union rep this week, Socialist Worker understands. This is not the first dispute bus workers have had with Tower Transit bosses. It is likely there could be a high vote for action.
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Fujitsu strikers refuse to give in to IT bosses
On the picket line in Manchester last week (Pic: Geoff Brown) Workers at IT services firm Fujitsu struck on Thursday and Friday of last week in a continuing dispute over a raft of cutbacks. The Unite union members were set to hold talks with management as Socialist Worker went to press. With Fujitsu making 1,800 workers redundant, strikers want guarantees over job security as well as addressing demands over pay, pensions and union recognition. Kevin Davies, senior workplace rep at Fujitsu Manchester, told Socialist Worker, ?People are holding up well through a long dispute. ?The numbers on the picket line and taking action are fairly constant, which is surprising as many of those who were taking action have been made redundant. ?We?re seeing new faces taking action and on the picket lines because they can see how they will be affected.? Dispute The dispute has so far involved 14 strike days, with five more already planned including Thursday and Friday of this week. It involves sites in Blackpool, Basingstoke, Birmingham, Bracknell, Crewe, Edinburgh, London, Manchester, Stevenage, Wakefield and Warrington. Workers and supporters have also held protests at the offices of Fujitsu clients. Kevin said, ?We know from talking to managers that this is having an impact. Anything that affects sales upsets senior management.? Fujitsu provides outsourced IT services to big brands and to government departments. For Kevin, the cyber-attack that hit the NHS?was a wake-up call. ?If you go and make experienced workers redundant, there is a risk to security as well as to service delivery,? he warned. For details of pickets, to send messages of support and to donate to the strike fund go to bit.ly/2oYsHPv
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Protests pile pressure on South African president and miners in Ukraine fight back
Economic Freedom Fighters members marching to the Constitutional Court on Monday?(Pic: @EFFSouthAfrica) South Africa?s president Jacob Zuma was facing a vote of no confidence in parliament this week?just as protests surged in areas around the largest city Johannesburg. Zuma is under pressure because of allegations of systematic corruption in his African National Congress government. He is opposed both by wide sections of workers and the poor and elements of big business. But it?s clear that workers could take the lead over the issue. Zuma was forced to make an embarrassing exit from the podium at the Cosatu union federation?s May Day rally in Bloemfontein. He was greeted with chants of ?Zuma must go? and ?Zuma must fall?. Engulfed Meanwhile, widespread protests over the lack of housing, electricity and services last week engulfed the townships to the south of Johannesburg. Residents of Finetown, for example, blocked all entrances and exits in the area with rocks and burning tyres. Protesting residents also managed to block traffic on one of the nearby main highways, but were beaten back by a large police contingent with stun grenades and rubber bullets. This follows protests in the neighbouring suburbs of Ennerdale, Eldorado Park, Lenasia South and Kliptown. Vuyo Kamba, a community leader who was one of the organisers of the protest, told GroundUp news, ?As the youth we need land. ?We tried speaking to our councillor but we have not made progress. ?We can?t be sharing a space with our grandparents and parents.? Miners dig in for higher pay in Ukraine Some 400 miners in the Kryvy Rih Iron Ore Combine in Ukraine occupied four pits in a fight for higher pay last week. The NPGU union members are fighting for ?1,000 a month. Bosses include powerful oligarchs Rinat Akhmetov and Igor Kolomoisky. The miners? fight shows the potential power of Ukrainian workers. It is a small but important antidote in a country where politics is dominated by rival nationalisms and the ongoing civil war with pro-Russian separatists. But the NPGU leadership has liberal illusions in the European Union and the ?market? as an alternative to the status quo. For these struggles to succeed, workers must assert their independence from both the pro-Western and pro-Russian sections of the ruling class
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Tories will face no charges over election expenses claims
Tory party organisers spent over the allowed amount for campaigning in the 2015 election, including bussing activists out to rural constituencies (Pic: Nic Goulding/flikr) The Tories have survived a potential crisis that could have tipped their election campaign into chaos. Yesterday, Wednesday, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) announced that after a police investigation into Conservative Party candidates? expenditure during the 2015 general election campaign, ?no criminal charges have been authorised?. Around 30 MPs and activists were investigated by 14 police forces. CPS head of special crime Nick Vamos said, ?Although there is evidence to suggest the returns may have been inaccurate, there is insufficient evidence to prove to the criminal standard that any candidate or agent was dishonest.? The timing is very helpful for the Tories. It enabled them to say they had been cleared just as the nominations were closing to stand as an MP. Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn said he was ?interested and surprised? by the decision. Barefaced Theresa May came up with the barefaced lie that, ?Candidates did nothing wrong. It?s very important and I repeat that?I have said it many times?candidates did nothing wrong.? What happened? During the last general election the Tories? ?Battlebus2015? took party activists to key marginal seats. A Channel 4 investigation showed that the travel, accommodation and subsistence costs of those activists had been classified as national party expenditure rather than local expenditure. This meant it was kept off the expenses of the candidates who the activists were helping. Earlier this year the Electoral Commission, which governs the expenditure of national political parties, reported on the Tories? spending at the general election and some other elections in 2014. It found that the Tories had failed to declare a complete statement of their spending, both by wrongly declaring local expenditure as national and by leaving out certain expenditure?including ?63,487 on the Battlebus. It found unreasonable uncooperative conduct by the Party and noted ?the significant uncertainty for voters as to whether the party complied with its duties significantly?. The Tories were fined a record ?70,000. The police and the CPS then had to look at the actions of individuals to see if they should be taken to court. Cheating It?s easy to imagine how much a blow to the Tories? image it would have been if some of their MPs went into the election with charges hanging over them of cheating. But this did not happen. As the Secret Barrister website puts it, ?The CPS formed the view that, as the candidates and their agents had been assured by Conservative Party HQ that the Battlebus expenditure was legitimately part of the national campaign, it would be very difficult to prove that the candidates or agents acted dishonestly.? But that?s not an end to it. There is a lesser charge of failing to deliver a true return. Here, says the Secret Barrister, ?the CPS concluded,perhaps charitably, that for the same reason it was not in the public interest to charge any of the agents or candidates with that offence.? Charitable indeed. It?s a stark contrast to the way people on benefits face crushing sanctions for minor financial reporting mistakes. And a solicitor told Socialist Worker, ?It reeks of hypocrisy that Tower Hamlets mayor Lutfur Rahman was thrown out of office for electoral fraud two years ago but the Tories are able to get away with this behaviour.?
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Deepening divisions in the ruling class over Trump's sacking of James Comey
James Comey, FBI director?was sacked by Donald Trump (Pic: NBC news) The sacking of FBI secret police director James Comey by Donald Trump has exposed the deep divisions at the top of US society. The Republican Party has descended into almost open warfare. Rumours abound of an impending purge of some of Trump?s closest advisers, including white supremacist Stephen Bannon. Speculation is flying about the reasons behind Comey?s firing. The FBI was investigating potential Russian influence on the Trump election campaign. Comey reportedly refused to pledge ?loyalty? to Trump at a private dinner, which the president claims to have secretly recorded. Dismissal Any number of these or other factors could be behind Trump?s dismissal of Comey. US attorney general Jeff Sessions personally intervened to recommend Comey?s firing. Sessions publicly declared he would remove himself from any involvement with the investigations into Trump?s presidential election campaign. Comey was heading up the investigation. Comey was heading up the investigations into Trump's election campaign?(Pic: Gage Skidmore) Former attorney general Sally Yates announced last week that she had informed the Trump administration of general Mike Flynn?s potential Russian links 18 days before he was dismissed. Anonymous representatives of the US government leaked details of Flynn?s potential Russian links to reporters in February. It is another example of a widening gulf that?s dividing the US ruling class. Meanwhile, the Democratic Party is refusing to mount a principled opposition to Trump?s vicious attacks on working class people. The party leadership wants to focus on potential Russian involvement in the presidential election?or anything else that can excuse Hillary Clinton?s right wing campaign. Coup New York Times liberal columnist Thomas Freidman even speculated about the desirability of a military coup against Trump. Comey has been held up as a liberal defender of the US constitution. But the FBI has a bloody history?Comey recently avoided investigating the spike in police violence that triggered the Black Lives Matter movement. A study carried out by the Pew Research Centre earlier this month showed that trust in the US government is at an all-time low. Just 20 percent of people ?trust the government to do what?s right always or most of the time.? Trump?s approval ratings are currently around 40 percent below the average for any president since 1945. That points to a huge amount of anger in US society, which has been articulated with millions of people protesting since he took office. The Democratic Party leadership would rather blame anyone but themselves for their failure in the face of Trump. That means the only option left for ordinary people is to push forward the movement on the streets and in their workplaces. ?
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Big crowds flock to hear Jeremy Corbyn in Yorkshire
A gallery of photographs as crowds greeted the Labour leader in Morley, Sheffield and Leeds
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West London teachers fight academies
On the picket line at Dormers Wells school (Pic: Stefan Simms) Dormers Wells High School teachers in Southall, west London, struck last week against their school being turned into an academy. Many passers-by offered their support. Support staff came out with breakfast for those on picket duty. At the strike rally there were very strong commitments by teachers, parents and governors to widen and deepen the campaign?and to win. Meanwhile, teachers at Khalsa Primary have voted 94 percent yes to strike against actions of the governing body.
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Three Girls - A harrowing view of how system treats survivors of abuse
Ruby (Liv Hill), Holly (Molly Windsor), Amber (Ria Zmitrowicz) (Pic: BBC/Ewen Spencer) Socialist Worker readers should watch BBC drama Three Girls, which airs this week. It?s based on the true story of three teenagers at the heart of a child sexual exploitation scandal in Rochdale, north west England. At first it seems to denigrate ordinary people. Holly (Molly Windsor), is interviewed by police after smashing a kebab shop counter. Her dad asks her to talk so the cops can ?stop wasting their time on teenage idiots?. The mother of Amber and Ruby, two other victims, also first appears as a working class stereotype?coarse, angry, hard. But over the series these impressions are shown to be completely wrong. It is probably a comment on why it?s important to look below the surface, something the authorities failed to do. The drama gets into the abuse very quickly. This can make it harder to understand and to get across the terror the girls would have endured. Damage But it?s a strength that the drama focuses more on the deep damage abuse leaves behind and how the authorities treat victims. The second episode shows a depressed Holly relying on drink. She suffers flashbacks, has a strained relationship with her parents and finds it hard to connect with her baby. Amber acts tough, but is clearly traumatised and fears her former abusers. Ruby, the youngest, doesn?t think she was abused. For her, getting free food and alcohol in a dingy room above a takeaway was the ?best time? of her life. It says a lot about how meaningless life feels for so many young working class people. The abuse isn?t explained. We see Asian men abusing white girls, which reflects this particular court case. Nazir Afzal of the Crown Prosecution Service tells Asian people at a community meeting that most sex offenders are white. But he adds that most offenders of ?on-street grooming? are ?British Pakistani men acting together??a claim that is disputed. Asian people rightly asking why they should be held responsible for the actions of a minority get their say too. But the drama is mixed on how it treats race. Holly first reported that she?d been raped in 2008. But lawyers decided no one would believe her in a courtroom. Greater Manchester Police (GMP) returned to the case 15 months later after coming under investigation. The bitter reaction of the women and their parents is powerful. There?s a worry that the show will rehabilitate the cops, showing them securing the successful convictions of nine men in 2012. Failed In fact the drama shows that girls are still being failed. It points to the reams of evidence of abuse still not followed up by GMP. It highlights that Sara (Maxine Peake), the sexual health worker who flagged up abuse, was made redundant soon after the court case. And Amber never had her day in court. Instead the cops named her as a defendant, treating her as a perpetrator, so they could still refer to her evidence. It?s a hard-hitting, bleak picture of how the system treats people who suffer abuse, despite a few high-profile convictions. But it?s not hopeless. It shows that people who have suffered abuse are not simply victims. It treats the survivors with dignity and hears their story?something many cops and social workers never did. Three Girls is a three-part BBC drama. It begins on BBC1 on Tuesday 16 May, 9pm and available to watch online at bbc.co.uk/iplayer
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Labour's manifesto is a shift to the left. It's no time for compromises with the right.
Jeremy Corbyn out campaigning in Morley, West Yorkshire, on Wednesday?(Pic: Neil Terry) Forget the media and right wing denunciations, there are some excellent promises in the Labour Party?s draft election manifesto. In?the manifesto Labour promises to scrap tuition fees, and plough billions of pounds into education and the NHS. It promises to raise the minimum wage to ?10 an hour and end attacks on benefits claimants. And there are plans to ban fracking and renationalise the rail industry and Royal Mail. The final version of the manifesto was agreed by a meeting of Labour?s broader leadership yesterday, Thursday. But a draft of the manifesto was leaked to a number of national newspapers on Wednesday night. The draft opens with a promise to deliver a ?Fairer, more prosperous society for the many, not just the few.? Its tone matches that of leader Jeremy Corbyn?s campaign speeches?it talks of ?re-writing the rules of a rigged system?. So there are plans, already announced, to tax the richest in society and give more funding to public services. Homelessness ?Too many cuts have fallen on those with least ? and we have seen child poverty rise to over 4 million, homelessness rise, and the queues grow at food banks. This cannot continue,? the manifesto says. It adds that ?the highest 5% of earners will be asked to contribute more in tax to help fund our public services that have suffered at the hands of seven years of Tory austerity.? And it promises to raise corporation tax too. In a similar vein, Labour?s manifesto promises to target big energy companies with a price cap ?to ensure that the average dual fuel household energy bill remains below ?1,000 per year?. And Labour promises to roll back attacks on workers? rights by repealing the Trade Union Act and scrapping employment tribunal fees. On war and military intervention, the manifesto shows a huge break from the dark days of Tony Blair?s invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan. Labour promises to ?end support for aggressive wars of intervention. ?The lessons of the past, including those from the Chilcot Inquiry, show us why our response to the questions of global peace and security must be different.? Corbyn in Morley (Pic: Neil Terry) The document criticises Israel for settlement building in the Palestinian West Bank, and says a Labour government would support recognition for Palestine at the United Nations. And it makes good promises on tackling oppression of women and LGBT+ people. Labour, it says, will defend the right to abortion and extend it to Northern Ireland. It will also update equality laws to protect trans people, and put crimes against LGBT+ people on a par with racially aggravated offences. Sections of the media have described the document as Labour?s ?most left wing manifesto since 1983?. Yet much of it wouldn?t have seemed out of place under Labour?s previous leader Ed Miliband. And the manifesto is at pains to appear acceptable to the party?s right, as well as big business. Its opening sections deal mainly with how Labour will ?make Britain a better place to do business?. Although the manifesto emphasises spending and investment, it promises to ?eliminate the current budget deficit within five years?. Similar promises were the backbone of previous Tory chancellor George Osborne?s years of austerity and cuts. Struggle Labour reassures bosses that it will keep corporation tax ?among the lowest of the major economies?. And alongside a National Investment Bank, it promises a fund to help businesses that ?may struggle with the higher real living wage?. The manifesto appears to accept that Britain will leave the European Union (EU). But it suggests that Labour will try to ensure as little change as possible take place through leaving. Promises to protect the rights of workers and EU nationals already living in Britain are very welcome. But the manifesto also wants to ?build a close new relationship with the EU, and keep ?the benefits of the single market?, which encourages privatisation. On the question of Scottish independence, the manifesto says clearly, ?Labour opposes a second Scottish independence referendum and will campaign tirelessly to ensure that the desire to remain a part of the UK is respected.? This disastrous approach will never reverse the party?s rapid decline in Scotland, which began when Labour lined up with the Tories to defend the union in 2014. There are also some very worrying concessions to the right. Labour is committed to renewing Trident nuclear weapons?despite Corbyn?s longstanding opposition to them. The manifesto only weakly adds that ?any prime minister should be extremely cautious about ordering the use of weapons of mass destruction?. And although the manifesto promises to abolish income thresholds that stop the families of migrant workers coming to Britain, it suggests new arrivals won?t be allowed to claim benefits. Even then, there are clearly those on the Labour right trying to sabotage their own party?s manifesto just to attack Corbyn. Leaked Within hours of the manifesto being leaked?before the official document had even been published?the leader of the Welsh Labour party disowned it. Welsh Labour leader Carwyn Jones (Pic: National Assembly for Wales/flikr) Welsh first minister Carwyn Jones said that ?Welsh Labour will be publishing its own distinct manifesto, building on the success of our five pledges for Wales.? The leak of the manifesto itself seemed to be an attempt by the right to undermine Corbyn?s election campaign. An anonymous ?source from the right of the party? attacked the manifesto in the Mirror newspaper. ?All it amounts to is a load of freebies for every special interest group,? they said. ?It?s all concern for the ?feckless poor? and nothing for the hard-working majority?. Corbyn was expected to face resistance from the right wing in yesterday?s meeting. He will be under pressure to make more concessions to keep the right on side and make the party seem united. Delegates from the GMB union in particular were?likely to oppose plans to suspend arms sales to Saudi Arabia and ban fracking. Many on the Labour right will also be unhappy that the manifesto doesn?t promise to end freedom of movement for EU nationals. But Corbyn?s left wing manifesto points to an alternative for Labour that could help it beat the Tories. It must be part of a bold and insurgent campaign based on resistance to racism, austerity and war that focusses on mass rallies and mobilisations. Giving in to the right can only make it weaker.
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Reports round-up: Protest against Chagos deportation
Chagossians protest against immigration laws (Pic: Guy Smallman) Chagossians protested against a possible deportation outside a tribunal hearing centre in central London on Tuesday. The Chagossians were forcibly removed from their homes on the Chagos Islands in the Indian Ocean by the British government in 1966. Harold Wilson?s Labour government cleared the islands to make room for a US military base. Chagossians have lived in exile in Mauritius and Britain ever since?many of them in poverty. But immigration rules mean Chagossians in Britain can still be deported and detained. Walkouts to shatter miserly pay offer Manufacturing workers at Sierra Windows in Paignton, Devon, are set to launch their fourth of five planned 48 hour strikes on Thursday. The Unite union members have rejected a 1.5 percent pay offer and the imposition of new shift patterns. Workers at DB Glass in Newton Abbot, Devon, began balloting last week for strikes over the same issue. Both firms are part of the group Specialist Building Products. Anti-war protest at Downing Street Stop the War protesters outside Downing Street (Pic: Guy Smallman) The Stop the War coalition outside Downing Street last Wednesday as Nato?s secretary general Jens Stoltenberg met Theresa May. They were discussing Donald Trump?s suggestion of sending more British troops to join the occupation of Afghanistan. Let?s humiliate the Nazis in Liverpool Unite Against Fascism (UAF) has called counter-protests against fascist groups on Saturday 3 June. The racist English Defence League (EDL) has threatened to protest in Liverpool. UAF has called a protest outside Liverpool Lime Street railway station from 12 noon. Nazi group Britain First had also planned to march in Birmingham on the same day. But it was humiliatingly forced to ?postpone? its protest after fuhrers Paul Golding and Jayda Fransen were arrested on suspicion of inciting racial hatred. Go to uaf.org.uk for Liverpool protest details
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EHRC strikers resist the onslaught on public sector jobs
EHRC workers on the picket line in Glasgow Workers at the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) are fighting sackings brought on by Tory budget cuts. EHRC workers in Glasgow began a five-day strike on Monday?the start of a nationwide wave of action after Tories slashed EHRC?s budget by 25 percent. ?The strike has been good so far,? one picket told Socialist Worker. ?We?ve had 100 percent of our members out in Glasgow and we?ve had lots of support from other branches.? Further walkouts are planned in London, Cardiff and Manchester. EHRC sacked eight workers in February?a microcosm of the widespread job cuts that are gutting the public sector. EHRC, which enforces equality and human rights laws, has had its funding cut by 70 percent since 2010. Strikers say the cuts make it harder for them to help victims of discrimination and human rights abuse. Members of the PCS union have been fighting the latest cuts since November?and a number of those sacked are union reps. They received their compulsory redundancy notices by email while out on strike. Bosses have refused to reinstate the sacked workers despite vacancies. ?They hired a recruitment agency to fill 47 posts,? the striker said. ?Our members should be redeployed or given training to fill those positions. But management are being intransigent and it seems the redundancies are targeted.? EHRC workers in London are set to strike from Monday to Friday of next week, followed by Cardiff from 29 May-2 June and Manchester from 5 June-9 June. Send messages of support to londonbargaining@pcs.org.uk. Donate to the fighting fund at bit.ly/2msNH1X Protest after Ministry of Justice sacks union?rep Activists in the PCS union are calling for urgent solidarity for a victimised union rep in the civil service. PCS rep Bob Simm was sacked from his job at the Ministry of Justice?s Office of the Public Guardian (OPG) in Birmingham on attendance charges. PCS said he was sacked after a period of absence relating to disability. It added, ?He is not the first member to have been unfairly dismissed under this punitive policy.? Bob is appealing and PCS is considering taking the case to employment tribunal. His supporters were set to protest outside the OPG office in Birmingham this Thursday. Join the protest from 1pm at The Axis Building, B1 1TF Left gains in union election Results of elections to the PCS national executive committee (NEC) were released last Thursday. The PCS Democracy Alliance, which includes the Left Unity group, increased its NEC majority by two. Socialist Worker, whose supporters are part of Left Unity, was backing Democracy Alliance candidates. Socialist Workers Party member Marianne Owens topped the ballot with 7,284 votes.
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Will Hamas repeat Fatah?s mistakes by ceding ground to Israel?
The word "Hamas" sprayed on a wall (Pic: Wikimedia Commons/Soman) It?s nearly 50 years since Israel occupied Palestine?s West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem. But Palestinian leaders seem further away than ever from getting Israel to leave. Palestinian Authority (PA) president Mahmoud Abbas showered Donald Trump with flattery at a meeting earlier this month. Trump offered nothing except ?mediation? in possible future negotiations. But years of negotiations have brought only humiliation for the PA. The ?peace process? was never about giving Palestinians their freedom, but cementing US and Israeli control. Abbas's party Fatah was promised a Palestinian state in an agreement signed with Israel in 1993. In return it had to agree to end and repress the Palestinian resistance. Israel has no intention of ever allowing a Palestinian state, but has used the peace process to steal even more Palestinian land through settlement building. Now, more than 20 years after signing the deal, Fatah is in crisis and Abbas is hugely unpopular. He has also attacked Fatah?s main rival Hamas, which governs Gaza. That?s because unlike Fatah, Hamas had refused to sign up to the concessions demanded by peace process. But now there are signs that Hamas? position is weakening. Earlier this month Hamas leaders launched a new document of ?General Principles and Policies?. Hamas rightly abandoned the antisemitic rhetoric of its founding charter. It stuck to the key demands for the right of Palestinian refugees to return and a Palestinian capital in Jerusalem. Yet despite formally refusing to recognise the Israeli state, Hamas accepted the possibility of a Palestinian state existing alongside Israel. Agreeing to such a ?two-state? solution means accepting that Israel has a right to the Palestinian land it seized at its founding in 1948. Dominated It also means signing up to a deal that in practice would leave Palestine dominated by Israel. Hamas faces the same problems as Fatah before it. Israel has one the world?s most powerful militaries because it has always been backed by Western imperialism. Any fight against Israel that doesn?t also take on imperialism across the Middle East can only get so far. Ten years of siege have taken their toll on Hamas and the defeat of the Egyptian Revolution and Arab Spring of 2011 has left it isolated. But the Egyptian Revolution still points to an alternative. At its height, ordinary Egyptians forced their government to alleviate Gaza?s siege. Those revolutions also raised the prospect of unity and renewed struggle against Israel among Palestinians. Palestinians in the West Bank still resist the occupation. There is currently a hunger strike of more than 1,000 Palestinians locked in Israeli prisons. Large demonstrations and strikes have clashed with Israeli forces. Much of this was called by the Fatah leadership seeking to maintain its own control. But the struggle on the ground involves many Palestinians outside of Fatah?s ranks?and has the possibility of bursting out into a revolt beyond Fatah?s control.
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Royal College of Nursing announces a "summer of protest" over public sector pay cap
Huge protests have shown the mood to fight for the NHS (Pic: Socialist Worker) The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) has said it will stage a ?summer of protest? over the Tories? miserly 1 percent pay cap. Their warning to the government came as nurses in the RCN overwhelmingly said they wanted to be balloted for industrial action. In the online consultation some 97 percent rejected the 1 percent pay offer?and 78 percent said they would be willing to walk out. Some 91 percent said they would support industrial action short of a strike Around 52,000 of the RCN?s 270,000 members took part in the consultation. This is a sign of the growing anger among health workers after years of being hammered by the Tories? attacks on the NHS. Michael Brown, chairman of the RCN Council, said, ?Our members have given us the very clear message that they can't and won't take any more. ?If we don't stand up now, how can we guarantee our members future safety and wellbeing?? RCN said it would hold a formal ballot or industrial action if the ?next government? does not scrap the cap. The result came as the RCN published new research highlighting the dangerous understaffing in the NHS. There are 40,000 fewer nurses in England than is needed. In hospitals some 11 percent of nursing posts are unfilled?among mental health nurses the figure is higher still at 14.2 percent. That?s because poverty pay, rocketing workloads and the government's hostility to migrants are pushing nurses and other health workers out of the NHS. Suffered This is one reason why it is important that Labour has pledged to lift the 1 percent pay cap if it wins the general election on 8 June. But nurses have suffered a 14 pay cut in real terms the Tories imposed the cap in 2010. This means simply lifting the cap will not be enough?and it will take a serious fight to win a real pay rise. The Unison union?s leadership is arguing for local regrading disputes in each of its 12 regions as a substitute for national action. But the RCN result could put pressure on it to take the fight forward over the pay cap. Karen Reissmann is a mental health nurse in Bolton who sits on the Unison's health service group executive. ?Health workers will feel really heartened by someone standing up and saying it?s wrong,? she told Socialist Worker in a personal capacity. ?I don?t think Unison realise how angry nurses and other health workers are, and?not just about pay. Year on year you are being paid less, but you?re having to work twice as hard, running around and feel you?re letting patients down. ?The RCN result shows that there is a mood to fight if people think you?re serious about leading it. ?In light of this I think Unison should review their decision?.
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Nigel Farage is hounded by protesters as anti-racists take on the ?politics of fear?
Stand Up To Racism protesters in Eastleigh (Pic: Jon Woods) Former Ukip leader Nigel Farage had to face a Stand Up To Racism (SUTR) protest on his visit to Eastleigh in Hampshire on Sunday. SUTR activists had a busy week across Britain campaigning to keep racism out of the election. A day of action on Wednesday saw stalls on high streets and selfies with SUTR materials in workplaces. All delegates at the FBU union conference in Blackpool took part. In Cambridge so did election candidates for Labour, the Green Party and Lib Dems. Saturday saw SUTR regional summits in Sheffield and Manchester. Rapper Zara Sykes and Basil Gabbidon from reggae band Steel Pulse fired up the Manchester summit. Asylum seeker Henrietta gave a moving description of her experiences of racism. Muslim woman who disrupted Ukip?s election launch says, ?Take on the racists? ? Read More Paula Barker, convenor of the Unison union north west region, urged campaigners to ?go out and combat the politics of fear?. Speakers in Sheffield included Moazzam Begg, Mohammed Taj and Natalie Bennett. Rotherham Labour councillor Brian Steele called for making the election ?about the NHS, not immigration?. Pride Agbor spoke about his fight against deportation. A delegation from SUTR also took part in a hundreds-strong protest outside Yarl?s Wood immigration detention centre. Elsewhere SUTR groups held street stalls. SUTR had a stall at the Mela festival in Bethnal Green, east London, on Sunday. Another day of action is planned on Friday. Contact info@standuptoracism.org.uk to order leaflets in bulk.
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Universities threaten massive job cuts
Lecturers preparing to strike against the closure of Crewe campus (Pic: Manchester Metropolitan University UCU) Thousands of jobs are under threat at universities across Britain?and there are signs of resistance. Workers at Manchester Metropolitan University are due to strike on Wednesday and Thursday of next week. Bosses want to close the Crewe campus of the university, putting 160 academic staff and others at risk. They have refused to rule out compulsory redundancies. Some 79 percent of UCU union members who voted backed strikes. Meanwhile over 300 staff at the University of Manchester gathered last week at a meeting called by the UCU union to discuss fighting back against a threat to 926 jobs. This includes 171 lecturers and support staff jobs in biology, languages, arts, medicine and business. Other areas hit are administration and catering. Management blames lack of funds, but the university?s financial statement revealed it had reserves totalling ?1.5 billion, including ?430 million in readily available cash. Defeat for government over higher education bill should encourage resistance ? Read More Reps from the Unite and NUT unions and the student union joined the meeting to show solidarity. The meeting ended with an impromptu demonstration outside the university management?s offices. Students chanted ?No ifs, no buts, no education cuts.? The university says it needs to ?create financial headroom? because of ?increased financial, political and sector uncertainty?. But UCU general secretary Sally Hunt said, ?We believe the university is using recent government policy changes and Brexit as an excuse to make short-term cuts that will cause long-term damage.? A slew of universities are going down the same road (see below). The timing of the job cuts announcement means that, under the Tories? new anti-union laws, it is hard for workers to hold strike ballots and to take sustained action before the end of the term. But that should not stop urgent discussion on how to organise resistance such as marking boycotts or strikes to disrupt autumn registration. UCU leaders must encourage and coordinate resistance across all the threatened universities. As workers prepare to fight cuts at two Manchester universities, similar disputes loom around England, Scotland and Wales Aberystwyth University bosses have written to all members of staff with a request for voluntary redundancies according to the Unison union. Unison added that ?up to 150 jobs? are at risk as the university aims to save ?11 million over the next two years. Southampton Solent University has announced that 62 jobs are at risk. University of South Wales has been consulting with staff on making 139 redundancies across all four of its faculties and support departments in Cardiff, Treforest and Newport campuses. Unison branch secretary Dan Beard said workers ?have had years of constant restructures, redundancies and uncertainty. Caerleon campus was closed last year.? Beard slammed ?the increasing practice of retaining and recruiting highly paid management staff?. He added, ?The union will robustly defend our members? interests.? Sunderland University lecturers and staff have been warned compulsory job cuts may be required to deal with falling student numbers. An e-mail from chief operating officer Steve Knight and deputy vice-chancellor Professor Michael Young has been sent to staff, inviting applications for voluntary severance. Heriot-Watt University which has campuses in Edinburgh, Galashiels and Orkney announced in March that it wanted to axe around 100 jobs to save ?4.25 million.
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In the Tories? target towns, there?s still hope for Labour
People in Luton have felt the effects of ?Tory cuts?(Pic: Socialist Worker) Luton has suffered under Tory rule. Despite that, the party is hoping to take the town from the Labour Party in the general election. Both the Luton South and Luton North constituencies are on the Tories? hit list of top 100 seats to win. But there's every reason to think Labour can win. People in the Bedfordshire town are angry about how austerity is wrecking their lives. Lisa told Socialist Worker, ?There?s been a lot of changes in education. The teaching assistants?have been cut. ?My son who?s autistic relies on the TAs so now he?s going to suffer.? Jackie, another Luton resident, asked, ?What are they doing about the NHS?? ?My husband had an appointment at the hospital in June,? she explained to Socialist Worker. ?It was then cancelled twice and now the earliest they can do is November this year. ?It?s to do with cataracts?he needs it done because he drives for work.? Disillusionment There?s plenty of anger, but disillusionment dominates many people?s understanding of politics. ?None of the people running stand out,? said Jackie. ?MPs don?t seem to serve the general population.? ?They work for themselves and they?re all affiliated to different companies. How did George Osborne get those jobs after he stopped being chancellor? That?s because he already had them.? Luton was hit hard by Tory policies in the 1980s, with the gradual loss of jobs in its once large automotive industry. Some 37,000 people worked at Vauxhall?s Griffin plant in the 1960s. The workforce now stands at just 900. The unemployment rate in Luton is officially 10.3 percent?that?s higher than England?s 8.2 percent. Tom, a pensioner, remembers when ?it used to be a good town. ?You had jobs with Vauxhall but not so much any more,? he told Socialist Worker. ?There are no opportunities for younger people?I wouldn?t want to stay here.? This sort of anger is what fuelled support for Brexit in Luton, which voted by 56 percent to Leave the European Union (EU) last June. Some people said they are backing Theresa May because she was in favour of Brexit. But if Labour can pull this mood to the left, it can beat?the Tories. While many of Labour?s policies would benefit working class people in Luton, many do not see an alternative on offer. Lisa said she would ?like someone who?s looking out for education?, but didn?t think anyone was. Tom added, ?Politicians like Jeremy Corbyn say that they?re going to make it better for people, but it?s all talk, talk, talk. ?The fact they don?t change things has to be addressed.? This deep distrust of politicians and Labour isn?t down to Corbyn, but has been built up by years of betrayals. Imran, a Labour supporter from Luton, told Socialist Worker, ?It?s been hard being in the Labour Party during the last few years. But things are looking up, because I think there?s the germs of leadership in Jeremy Corbyn.? Manifesto At the Unite union offices regional officers Richard and Jeff were excited by Corbyn?s policies that were in the leaked manifesto. Unite union officers Jeff and Richard (Pic: Socialist Worker) ?During the last election I went around canvassing and people said there isn?t a cigarette paper between the parties,? Richard told Socialist Worker. ?Now you couldn?t have more differences between them.? Jeff added, ?Two years ago during the last election I was a workplace rep. I found it really difficult going round asking people to vote Labour, because it was all austerity-lite. I wish I had these policies back then.? Putting out radical policies can help Labour. But to shift the experience of years of betrayal and decline in towns such as Luton, it will take convincing people that change is possible. It will also take more than getting out on the doorstep to do this. Richard said, ?Jeremy Corbyn came to Luton about a year ago and spoke at the university with lots of people. If he came again and spoke in St George?s Square, I?m sure it would be packed to the rafters.? Not in the bag for anyone The Tories have drawn up a list of constituencies to target in the general election. Both Luton North and Luton South are on the list. The statistics below show that the Tories have their work cut out. If Labour puts out a positive message then it can push them back. Luton north Labour MP Kelvin Hopkins Labour majority in 2015 of 9,504 or 22.3 percent Labour vote of 22,243 in 2015 3 percent increase on 2010 Tory vote of 12,739 or 29.9 percent in 2015 Leave vote in EU referendum 56.29 percent Luton South Labour MP Gavin Shuker Labour majority in 2015 of 5,711 or 13.5 percent Labour vote of 18,660 in 2015 9.3 percent increase on 2010 Tory vote of 12,949 or 30.7 percent in 2015 Leave vote in EU referendum 53.07 percent
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Barnet?s Tory council retreats from selloffs
Workers have been fighting privatisation at Barnet Council since 2015 (Pic: Socialist Worker) Anti-cuts campaigners in Barnet were celebrating a breakthrough after the Tory-run north London council decided to keep its waste, recycling and street cleaning services in-house. The decision last Thursday not to privatise ?street scene? services has boosted activists. John Burgess and Helen Davies, secretary and chair of the Barnet branch of the Unison union, spoke to Socialist Worker (pc). John said the decision ?marks the end? of a wave of outsourcing announced in 2015. He said the threat to children?s centres, family and adult social work, and street scene services have ?all gone away?. Just three months ago street scene workers were gearing up to strike against privatisation. The Tory council has pushed the idea that local authorities should not run services, but commission private firms to do so. Stacked Helen said, ?We?ve had everything stacked against us, but we?ve worked hard with the trades council and Barnet Alliance for Public Services. ?We kept the pressure up and didn?t back off.? There have been several waves of outsourcing, each met with strikes. Helen said solidarity from other trade unionists during those strikes ?helped massively?. ?The commissioning council?s arguments have been exposed,? she said. John said that more money was being spent on agency staff and consultants than the council promised. ?They spent ?7.7 million on agencies and consultants in 2011 before the outsourcing. ?This year it was just under ?20 million on agencies and consultants.? He added, ?Our next task is to tackle the contractors.? John argued that while it?s ?not the end of our battle? it is a lesson to ?keep believing and keep organising?.
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Will only downtrodden workers fight back?
Russian troops marching in 1917 War and hunger sparked the Russian Revolution in 1917, but will only such desperate conditions lead to a revolution? After the Russian Revolution the Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin described the conditions necessary for such an upheaval to take place. ?It is only when the ?lower classes? do not want to live in the old way and the ?upper classes? cannot carry on in the old way that the revolution can triumph,? he wrote. In Russia these conditions developed in the context of the First World War. The combination of mass killings on the front line and hardship at home caused a political crisis for the ruling class. A woman worker summed up the situation during a food riot in 1916. ?They are slaughtering our husbands and our sons in the war and at home they want to starve us to death,? she said. This intensified the anger over the total lack of democracy. Sailors Mutiny wracked the armed forces. The February revolution saw a revolt by sailors at the Kronstadt naval base against their officers. Later the peasant-based army saw mass desertions and refusals to fight. But it?s not true that workers were passive before the war. The years leading up to it saw huge struggles. As revolutionary Leon Trotsky wrote, ?In July 1914, while the diplomats were driving the last nail into the cross designed for the crucifixion of Europe, Petrograd was boiling like a revolutionary cauldron.? The declaration of war choked off the development of a revolutionary movement. The number of strikes dropped rapidly when Russia entered the war. Marxist historian SA Smith shows that in ?1915 there were 1,928 strikes. And in January-February 1917 there were 718 strikes involving 548,300 workers.? These figures were dwarfed by those for 1905. But this was only temporary. Soon strikes returned?on a higher and more political level than in 1914. War, hunger and demands for political change came together explosively. Not all workers opposed the war, but many did. War reveals the reality of class relations in the most bitter and brutal way. But that does not mean it is necessary for a revolution to take place. The 2011 Egyptian Revolution, the Iranian Revolution of 1979 and others did not take place directly during wars. Nor is it true that the more starving and desperate workers are, the more likely they are to revolt. The most appalling conditions and experiences can lead to passivity and resignation, not insurrection. Militant During the First World War the most militant workers tended to be the most skilled and better paid, and they were also less likely to be sent to the front. Elsewhere in Europe some of the most determined strikes during and after the war were led by the metalworkers in Germany and Italy. The danger for revolutionaries is to say that there are specific conditions which must be met before a revolution is possible. That would lead to looking at the world in a simplistic and dogmatic way. The job of revolutionaries is to find the key arguments that can gain traction with the workers and spur them on to fight for their own interests. This is part of a series of weekly articles on the Russian Revolution. Read our coverage at tinyurl.com/sw1917
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Sacked for wanting wages - the reality of workers? rights under the Tories
"BBB doesn't pay me" - workers protest in Shoreditch Eleven workers fired by swanky restaurant Beach Blanket Babylon (BBB) in Shoreditch, east London, have been holding nightly protests outside it since management sacked them last week. Workers grew tired of bosses withholding their pay. The Tories grant workers the right to remain exploited ? Read More When they confronted a manager about it they were fired with no notice. Shoreditch BBB manager Tim rang one worker up after the protests had begun to harangue him, ?What?s your problem? Well, shut up then.? Workers? payslips and bank statements seen by Socialist Worker show that pay slips were being issued before workers were paid. ?I never received my money the same day as my payslip,? said Mido. ?When the third payslip comes we would only just be getting money from the first one. ?They?d pay me a couple of hundred here and there, and ?300 when I told them I needed to pay rent.? When the workers challenged senior manager Gillian Anderson-Price, she patronised them, in a recording heard by Socialist Worker. Anderson-Price said, ?I know you don?t understand it.? Mido also told Socialist Worker that the service charge doesn?t go to workers and he was never paid sick pay. Meanwhile, BBB?s owner Robert Newmark lives in an opulent mansion in Hampstead. The Tories preside over the behaviour of bosses like Newmark?and must answer to the workers they keep in poverty. Pay squeeze set to tighten Bosses are set to continue their squeeze on working class people?s living standards with the worst average pay deals in three years, a new survey suggests. A survey of more than 1,000 firms by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development and employment agency Adecco was published on Monday. It found that businesses expect average pay rises of 1 percent this year?down from 1.5 percent three months ago. With inflation now at 2.7 percent, this would mean a real terms pay cut of nearly 2 percent.
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Theresa May grants workers the right to remain exploited
Theresa May thinks the Tories can blusteringly patronise their way to victory (Pic: Number 10/Flickr) The Tory manifesto set to be released this week will continue attacks on the whole working class. Theresa May?s claim on Monday that it will be?the ?greatest extension of rights and protections? for workers ?by any Conservative government in history? is a transparent sham. In the bosses? Financial Times (FT) newspaper she said the Tories will be the ?unashamed voice of ordinary working people??at the same time as ?an evangelist for the entrepreneurs?. May will ?enhance workers? rights? by legislating so that workers can take time off if their child dies, and request unpaid leave for training or to care for a family member. Most workers will be unable to afford long periods of unpaid time off work. Those in need of care should be able to get it from the NHS?and local councils, not forced to rely on the goodwill of relatives.?But social care funding was slashed by ?4.6 billion under the last Tory government. Burden The burden of such care falls disproportionately on women, who could face yet more discrimination in the workplace as a result. The Tories will ?ensure that there is representation for workers on company boards?. If this meant putting a token worker in the boardroom it would be little enough. Sacked for wanting wages?the reality of workers? rights under the Tories ? Read More But the FT reassured its readers that ?listed companies will not have to appoint a workers? representative directly to their board?. Instead they could ?designate a non-executive director? to advocate on behalf of the employees they are exploiting. The Tories will not ban zero hours contracts. They will not push for a ?10 an hour minimum wage, but stick with their phoney National Living Wage ?to the advantages of employers?. May?s commitment to workers? rights means ?preventing pointless red tape and keeping corporation tax low??a gift to the bosses. It also means sticking with the increased fees to take your boss to an employment tribunal, which has seen a 70 percent drop in cases since it was introduced in 2013. And of course there?s the draconian Trade Union Act that May voted for and the Tory government rammed through in an attempt to curtail workers? right to strike. TUC general secretary Frances O?Grady shamefully missed the point, hailing May?s ?promising set of commitments?. A dispute at one London restaurant shows the reality of working life under the Tories?and May wants to roll it back even further. The only way to defend and improve workers? rights is to fight the Tories?by voting them out on 8 June and by taking action ourselves to resist their attacks. Councillors slammed for?vile racist tweets Two Tory councillors were in hot water last week over disgusting racist outbursts on social media that exposed some of the bigotry at the heart of the nasty party. Nick Harrington was suspended from the Conservatives on Warwick District Council after tweeting on Saturday night that Ireland ?can keep your f?king gypsies?. Newly elected Stirling councillor Robert Davies came under fire for tweets implying that black people are cannibals who carry spears. There are no cuts for the war machine While the rest of us face cuts, the Tories are splurging on fighter planes, warships and tanks. They promise not only to keep military spending at 2 percent of national income, but also to increase it by 0.5 percent above inflation every year. Defence secretary Michael Fallon called himself ?passionate about defence? and boasted about building aircraft carriers. What we say ?The fat cats keep the money and us lot get nothing! I want my Disability Living Allowance to come back. I can?t live on ?100 a month. They just took it all away from me.? Cathy, a benefit claimant with learning disabilities who confronted Theresa May in Abingdon Market ?If the Tories get another term, there will be no NHS as we know it. We have to lift the pay freeze and stop privatisation? Junior doctor Niki Fitzgerald ?It?s wrong to restrict immigration. It is scapegoating and it divides the working class, helping the bosses to attack our pay and conditions? Migrant worker Rafel Sanchis-Palop ?The Tories treated our members across the civil service with contempt by cutting more than 110,000 jobs and closing hundreds of offices? PCS union leader Mark Serwotka on the Tories? claim to be defending workers? rights
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Manchester housing workers walk out for equal pay
The strikers are maintenance workers for social housing in Manchester such as these (Pic: Alex Pepperhill/Flickr creative commons) Around 200 social housing maintenance workers rallied outside Manchester Town Hall on Monday. The Unite union members were striking for pay parity with other housing workers employed by private contractor Mears. Unite steward Billy Sinclair told the strikers, ?This is our day?they?ve shit on us for eleven long years and they?re denying responsibility. ?We want our money and we want this sorted fast.? Unite officer Andy Fisher pledged the union?s ?100 percent support? for the strikers. Activists take on demolition plans Housing campaigners in Haringey, north London, are set to hold a protest on 20 June on Turnpike Lane against the council?s disastrous plans to demolish seven estates in the borough. The redevelopment project is being planned jointly with the property developer Lendlease through a special purpose vehicle, the Haringey Development Vehicle. If the plans aren?t stopped, thousands of people will be forced out of their homes and could be forced out of London. For more information on the campaign go to stophdv.com
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As college lecturers stage fifth national walkout SNP minister sides with bosses
The man who doesn't like strikes, SNP education minister John Swinney (Pic: Scottish Government/Flickr) Scottish National Party (SNP) education minister John Swinney came down on the side of college bosses in the Scottish parliament today, Tuesday, as lecturers held their fifth national walkout. In a statement to MSPs on the wave of walkouts that have hit Scotland?s colleges, Swinney called on the EIS Fela trade union to suspend the strikes. But he did not make a similar call on the employers to honour the deal they signed with the union last year. It was a clear indication of the attitude of SNP ministers to the dispute. According to Swinney the lecturers? escalation of their strikes next week is ?not acceptable?. Swinney was ?not prepared to consider? intervening himself, repeating the tired line that it would mean the end of national bargaining. Threat Like his boss first minister Nicola Sturgeon he ignores the fact that it is already failing and that many college bosses want the threat to their privileged positions to fail. Edinburgh College lecturers in the public gallery were ?very disappointed?, their union branch secretary Penny told Socialist Worker. Earlier they had visited the SNP head office to deliver an open letter but Penny said, ?They wouldn?t even open the door.? It appears lecturers can expect no real help from the SNP. The education minister?a man who boasted about crossing a picket line in 2011 during the mass strike against the Tories? attack on pensions? will have to be forced to intervene. When over 2 million trade unionists were striking against working longer to pay more and get less in retirement Swinney said, ?I don?t support the strike action?and I?ve already crossed a picket line." The SNP?s message today was that the union needs to compromise more. Angela, an EIS Fela rep, told Socialist Worker, ?We?ve put up with so much already, we?ve nothing more to give, there?s no more compromises to be made.? Strikes are getting stronger and more determined to not let the opportunity for equal pay and conditions pass (Pic: AyrCol_EISFELA) The return to national bargaining, promised by the SNP six years ago, was part of a wholesale restructuring of the sector to disguise implementing austerity. There may be shiny new buildings but the cuts to student numbers, staff and funding has had a huge impact. Glasgow Kelvin College union branch secretary Paula agreed. ?People are at their wits end from the workloads. What?s making everybody angry is that the people against what we?re doing have no idea what the job is.? This fuels the anger and it?s why lecturers? walkouts have grown in strength. The strike is about honouring a deal. But lecturers are also right to argue that the cuts to preparation time demanded by the bosses matter for students and staff. And the MSPs who encouraged the story being fed to the press by spin doctors about ungrateful or greedy lecturers should hang their heads in shame. Lecturers need backing, solidarity and donations to their strike fund. Bosses want to put them back in their box after suffering a bloody nose last year?they don?t want the lesson to be learned that strikes work. If you back the lecturers and want to defend quality further education for students you should join the union?s protest in Glasgow this Saturday and visit their picket lines tomorrow and next week. Messages of support to: jgkellyeis@live.co.uk and pennygower1@gmail.com Sign the petition at www.eis.org.uk Fighting fund bank account details at bit.ly/2qT0RnU UCU London region and Unite the Resistance are co-hosting a meeting for solidarity with EIS strikers. Friday 19 May, 6.30pm, upstairs at The Cheshire Cheese pub, 5 Little Essex St, London WC2R 3LD.? EIS Fela protest on Saturday 20 May in George Square, Glasgow, from 1pm bit.ly/2rngYuX
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Adults in the room - the inside story on Greece's bailout blackmail
Protesters in Greece during the general strike against pension cuts in February 2016 Picture: Workers Solidarity (Pic: Workers Solidarity) Workers across Greece were set to walk out in a general strike on Wednesday?against more austerity that a radical left government was elected to end two years ago. Adults in the Room, a new book by the then finance minister, Yanis Varoufakis, seeks to explain how it failed. The institutions of the European Union (EU) used ?bailouts? of Greece to extort devastating cuts, privatisations and attacks on workers? rights. Varoufakis was brought into the world of shadowy meetings where unaccountable bureaucrats overturn the policies of elected governments and ruin countless lives. After failing to change them, he turned whistleblower and exposed them. Along the way, his book also unwittingly exposes the limitations of his own strategy for taking them on. Varoufakis lays bare the hypocrisy of a bailout regime presented as a generous ?rescue? of the Greeks. French and German banks lent money to Greek banks that then went bust after the 2008-9 financial crisis. The EU and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) handed the Greek government a bill it couldn?t pay. Bankrupt Greece was granted the biggest loan in history?on condition of brutal austerity that shrank its economy. Unusual This ?cruel and unusual punishment,? Varoufakis writes, ?effectively condemned Greece to a modern version of the Dickensian debtors? prison.? Yanis Varoufakis (Pic: Marc Lozano/flikr) A second bailout was needed to pay off the first, and by 2015 the question of a third bailout was looming. Ordinary people in Greece fought hard and elected radical left party Syriza to break that cycle. Varoufakis wanted to convince the creditors that it was in their interest too. Crush Greece and you?ll never get your money back, he argued. Help us now, and eventually you will. To Varoufakis?s horror, Europe?s alphabet soup of supposedly economic organisations refused to discuss economics. He was prepared for a hostile reception. Instead ?they denied the very existence of the pieces of paper I had placed before them.? Europe?s most powerful officials protested that their hands were tied by rules beyond their control. This was European Central Bank (ECB) head Mario Draghi?s excuse for dismissing solutions to Greece?s dilemma. Yet it didn?t stop him closing the Greek banks on the eve of a key referendum. Unelected At centre stage is the eurogroup?a body with no official existence, informally bringing together elected finance ministers. Yet its meetings are introduced by unelected officials, their decisions ?presented as a natural, apolitical consequence of bureaucratic constraints?. Dealing with this regime of ?creditors who don?t want their money back? reads like a Franz Kafka novel. They bitterly opposed rehiring sacked cleaners, even though Varoufakis cancelled out the cost by selling his ministry?s luxury cars. Greece experienced collectively the same treatment that Britain?s poor receive when they claim their benefits at job centres, where they must consent to their humiliation by espousing ?affirmation? phrases such as ?My only limitations are the ones I set for myself.? Yanis Varoufakis They blocked funding from China and overturned Varoufakis?s scheme to chase rich tax dodgers. German finance minister Wolfgang Schauble insisted, ?Elections cannot be allowed to change economic policy?. Varoufakis retorted, then why bother having them? With government money running out, Varoufakis presented eurozone bailout fund chief Klaus Regling with a dilemma. Should the government default on much-needed pensions and benefits or a debt payment to the IMF? ?For Klaus it was a no-brainer. ?You must never, ever default to the IMF. Suspend all pension payments instead.?? Varoufakis recognises that their bloody-minded hostility to the ?Greek spring? is about more than Greece. The aim is to make Greece an example to ?discipline? other countries into Greek-style austerity. Like the debtors? prisons to which he compares the bailout, the point is to terrorise the rest. Surrendered After Syriza leader and prime minister Alexis Tsipras surrendered, the Greek parliament had to approve a statement saying that it requested the new attacks. Varoufakis writes, ?Greece experienced collectively the same treatment that Britain?s poor receive when they claim their benefits at job centres, where they must consent to their humiliation by espousing ?affirmation? phrases such as ?My only limitations are the ones I set for myself.?? Workers on strike in 2016 (Pic: Workers Solidarity) For Varoufakis, such cruel arrogance by the ?liberal establishment? is to blame for its recent polling defeats. His account is particularly damning for social democrats, the Labour-type parties that promise reforms for the working class then govern for its enemies. Italian finance minister Pier Carlo Padoan urged Varoufakis to do as he did?pacify Schauble by rolling back workers? rights despite the political cost. French finance minister Michel Sapin agreed with Varoufakis in private but never in public or practice. It?s these betrayals, not left wingers such as Jeremy Corbyn, that explain ?the general Waterloo now facing European social democracy?. Syriza was meant to change all that. But Varoufakis? account makes its failure unsurprising. In the book Tsipris constantly appears more interested in balancing agendas than finding a coherent plan. He made fatal compromises with his enemies, and haggled futilely over the content of the EU?s plan rather than addressing the power that allows them to dictate it. An exasperated Varoufakis compares this to ?trying to fend off a shark by pouring blood in the sea?. At times Syriza comes across as positively cynical. Party chiefs told Varoufakis its pre-election ?Thessaloniki programme? of reforms was never meant to be carried out. When the government called a referendum on the EU?s proposals, their aim was to lose to justify their surrender?instead austerity was rejected. But Varoufakis has a lot of sympathy for Tsipras. The two of them were ?in office but not in power?. Every left government finds the key structures of the state and the economy in the hands of its enemies. Antagonists Varoufakis sees his antagonists as playing a Shakespearean tragedy?led to their doom by a fatal flaw. He never stops believing in a solution that will work for everyone. He sees himself as fighting for ?common sense? against ?continental-scale irrationality?. But capitalism cannot get out of crisis without making the working class pay. EU austerity is based on the interests of the ruling class. Varoufakis? own plan, never implemented, involved using a deterrent to defy the creditors? blackmail. That?s certainly better than Tsipras?s U-turn. But in his own way Varoufakis was?and still is?just as trapped by the logic of trying to ?fix? capitalism on its own terms. Trying to win over Britain?s Tory chancellor George Osborne stopped Varoufakis encouraging resistance to Osborne?s austerity. Encouraging a Chinese firm to buy up state ports and railways cut him off from dockers striking against privatisation. He repeatedly ruled out imposing capital controls as against the spirit of the eurozone. This was as misguided as his recent campaigning against Brexit. The referendum brought a reminder of the strength of the Greek working class. Workers defied expectations and delivered a tremendous vote against austerity. FURTHER READING @Bookmarks ?14.99 Varoufakis writes that at the rally for a ?no? vote, ?the crowd?s energy exploded?. ?A sea of five hundred thousand bodies? became ?a single body of people who had simply had enough?. One man told him ?Resistance is NEVER futile?, as ?distinct struggles? came together in ?one gigantic celebration?. But Varoufakis cannot see the potential in that collective defiance to defeat the loan sharks and the system they enforce. Working class strength is central to the ongoing Greek debt standoff. Varoufakis?s opponents have a plan to crush working class strength. Despite noble intentions, his reformist vision of change fatally squanders this. The only real solution is to use working class power for revolutionary change.
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Who?s pulling the strings?
Even to the most casual observer it?s clear that the bulk of the British media is out to get Jeremy Corbyn. Every week there are newspaper front pages devoted to smearing him. Headlines such as ?The evil monster haunting Corbyn?s past?, ?Jeremy Corbyn will be cheered by racists and terrorists? and ?Jeremy Corbyn insult to our heroes? scream out from both broadsheets and tabloids. The BBC is little better. So far during this election campaign its reporters have travelled the length and breadth of Britain rooting out former Labour voters who intend to vote Tory. That takes a lot of work and resources which apparently aren?t available to find the people who are furious with Tory policies and enthused by Corbyn. Senior BBC journalist Nick Robinson (Pic: Flickr/Bob Bob) Shadow energy minister Barry Gardiner accused the BBC of ?fake news? last week. Even right wing journalist Nick Robinson acknowledged bias at the BBC against Corbyn in 2015. In contrast Theresa May is given repeated opportunities to push her agenda. So it?s no wonder that some 50,000 people signed a petition accusing the media, and specifically the BBC, of anti-Corbyn bias. Part of the explanation is simple. The people who own media corporations, commission stories, edit newspapers and present TV bulletins have a vested interest in a divided, elitist society. A 2006 report by the Sutton Trust found that 54 percent of the top 100 journalists had been privately educated?up from 49 percent two decades earlier. In contrast just 7 percent of the general population is privately educated. We?re told that we live in a society where hard work and talent can get anyone to the top. But more often than not most people are barred from getting near the corridors of power without the ?right? family and school connections. BBC political correspondent Eleanor Garnier was called to ask Theresa May a question at an event where most journalists had to submit theirs in advance last week. It probably didn?t hurt that her cousin Mark Garnier and her father Edward Garnier are both Tory MPs. The media vs Jeremy Corbyn ? Read More The BBC?s chair David Clementi is the grandson of a former governor of Hong Kong. He was educated at the private Winchester College, Oxford University then Harvard Business School, and was previously chair of finance firms Virgin Money and World First. Nick Robinson also went to private school then Oxford before founding Macclesfield Young Conservatives. He was then chair of the Oxford University Conservative Association. And whatever their background, anyone who gets to the top of the media becomes part of a well-paid elite with no interest in rocking the boat. The BBC?s senior management wage bill stood at ?47 million in 2016, with 98 managers on ?150,000 or more. Its top journalists aren?t on much less. Daily Mail newspaper editor Paul Dacre rakes in more than ?2 million including perks most years. David Pemsel, boss of Guardian Media Group (GMG) which publishes the Guardian and Observer, scrapes by on his ?600,000 salary. So it?s hardly surprising that Corbyn?s policy to increase income tax for those earning over ?80,000 got a frosty reception. Individuals with a stake in the system work for organisations with an even bigger stake in the system. The BBC relies on some ?1 billion of government funding annually. It?s no coincidence that it tends to take the side of whichever party is in office. The private media is largely owned by billionaires?and much of its revenue comes from selling advertising space to other billionaires. A journalist or editor who sets themselves at odds with the billionaires? agenda will have a harder time than those who lick their boots. This underlines the need for a revolutionary newspaper such as Socialist Worker. It unashamedly takes the side of workers and the oppressed over apologising or cheerleading for the rich. But the establishment media doesn?t create the imbalance in society. It reflects it. Newspapers need to sell copies and TV programmes need to attract viewers. That limits how far they can afford to offend their audiences. To an extent they always have to adapt to the ideas in broader society. These are contested, but on an uneven playing field. In a world where rivalries between states are settled by wars and untold resources are poured into armies and weapons, the idea of peace can seem unrealistic. People are pitted into competition with each other to find jobs, homes and university places. So it seems more natural to see greed as human nature, and solidarity as utopian. At work we have to do what the bosses tell us. This makes us seem powerless. Meanwhile the rich seem to be doing something right, as more and more wealth is concentrated in their hands. So the idea of challenging their rule seems risky and radical. How ideas change through struggle ? Read More In general, as the revolutionary Karl Marx argued in 1845, the way in which a society is run at a given time comes to seem like the default. Those who rule it seem like they were destined to do so. ?The ideas of the ruling class are in every epoch the ruling ideas,? he wrote. In other words, ?the class which is the ruling material force of society, is at the same time its ruling intellectual force.? But in reality societies do change, and those who are exploited do have power to hit back at their exploiters. This creates a space for new ideas to get a hearing. The Iraq War is an example of this. Much of the media?particularly liberal journalists close to New Labour?bought into the lies used to justify the invasion. But millions of people didn?t, and the movement against the war came to include the biggest protests in British history so far. The media, particularly those publications with a mass audience, couldn?t ignore this. The Mirror ended up producing placards for anti-war marches and the BBC provoked a confrontation with the government over its ?dodgy dossier?. An attempt to create an alternative to the rule of the rich will meet with entrenched hostility from the establishment?including the media elite. But protests, strikes and other forms of collective struggle can cut the ground out from under them. Murdoch offers sacrifices in order to make Sky-high profits Media baron Murdoch (Pic: David Shankbone) Media baron Rupert Murdoch likes to present himself as a kingmaker in British politics. Tony Gallagher, the editor of the Murdoch-owned newspaper The Sun, reportedly texted a Guardian newspaper journalist on the day of the EU referendum result. ?So much for the waning power of the print media,? he boasted. But if Murdoch really had such a tight grip, Britain would look a lot different than it does. For one, The Sun in Scotland would not have run a campaign to Remain in the EU. It did so largely because the newspaper couldn?t afford to cut off its circulation there. The Sun knows how to back a winner and then take credit for their win. But it?s wrong to take its boasts at face value. At the moment the giant is under pressure. Murdoch?s 21st Century Fox wants to buy up 61 percent of Sky in a deal worth ?11.7 billion. The firm currently controls 37 percent. In order to do this it has been forced to make compromises to demonstrate its responsibility as a broadcaster. And between the phone hacking scandal and the Hillsborough justice campaign, The Sun?s credibility has been badly damaged. This is why it fired infamous former editor Kelvin MacKenzie as a columnist. He compared footballer Ross Barkley, whose grandfather was born in Nigeria, to a gorilla. It?s vile, but so is most of what MacKenzie writes?why fire him now? In the US Murdoch has ditched Fox news anchor Bill O?Reilly after repeated accusations of sexual assault from many women who have worked with him. Murdoch effectively offered both ?personalities? up as sacrifices. One of O?Reilly?s victims is set to give evidence to the media regulator Ofcom?s investigation into Fox?s bid to take over Sky. Sticking the knife into Corbyn During Corbyn?s first leadership bid, two thirds of opinion pieces and 57 percent of news reports cast him in a negative light, researchers at the LSE university found. Not one mainstream newspaper referred to him positively a majority of the time. Once he became leader, a survey by Media Reform showed that the amount of negative mentions rose to 60 percent. Just 13 percent of mentions were positive. Despite this onslaught Corbyn won, twice, and tens of thousands flocked to Labour to support him.
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Education fights can beat the cuts
Part of the 2,000-strong march in Lancaster (Pic: Audrey Glover) A huge march through Lancaster last Saturday showed the fury at a Tory schools funding cuts plan?and potential to build resistance to it. Some 2,000 people joined the Lancaster protest against the Tories? so-called fair funding formula, which will snatch ?3 billion from schools every year by 2020. Teachers, parents and school children all marched together, with children carrying placards they had made themselves at the start of the march. Audrey Glover, a teacher and NUT union member in Lancaster, said it was the biggest demonstration the city had seen in years. ?We knew the march was going to be huge?but it was so much bigger than expected,? she told Socialist Worker. Balloons ?We?d been leafleting in the town centre for a month in the run up to the march?teachers and parents together with stalls and balloons. ?Parents had also been taking leaflets to other schools, so it was a real grassroots campaign?. Four more protests against education funding cuts were set to take place this weekend?in Bristol, Leamington, Manchester and Sheffield. And in London protesters plan to gather at Old Palace Yard on Thursday of this week. Huw is involved in building the Bristol protest. ?Our campaign is full of people who?ve never been involved in anything political before,? he told Socialist Worker. ?We had 20,000 leaflets for the demo and they?ve gone. I?ve never been in a campaign when so many people have wanted to be actively involved.? Parents, teachers and students meet in Southmead (Pic: Huw Williams) In Manchester campaigners are encouraging each school to send a delegation to the protest. Parent Jazz helped to set up the campaign group in Bristol. ?Lots of people have offered to leaflet and be points of contact for their schools,? she told Socialist Worker. Jazz also explained what?s at stake. ?The cuts are already having a huge impact,? she said. ?Music lessons have been cut. School trips have been cut. Activities have been cancelled. The school has had to fundraise to raise money for things they shouldn?t have to fundraise for.? Rocks The Tories are on the rocks over their school cuts. There is widespread opposition from ordinary people, while several Tory MPs have threatened to vote against them. But we shouldn?t settle for some fudge that still steals money from children. The money?s there for education. As Victoria, a parent campaigning in Cheshire, put it, ?It?s not fair. There?s lots of money being spent on things like Trident and HS2.? Parents across England have set up campaigns and found that people flocked to them. And while it?s good that Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has promised to put more money into schools if elected, activity by ordinary people is key. If the Tories don?t back off, campaign groups and the unions should turn up the heat. National demonstrations and strikes by school workers can beat the Tories.
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Birmingham protest to take on the anti-abortion bigots
Protesters for abortion rights last year (Pic: Guy Smallman) Abortion rights campaigners are planning a mass demonstration against the ?March for Life? in Birmingham this Saturday. Anti-abortion campaigner Lila Rose is set to come to Birmingham (Pic: Live Action/Wikicommons) The ?March for Life? brings together a motley crew of anti-abortion bigots, who organise their protest and festival annually in the West Midlands city. While they have faced opposition, they have been boosted by sexist bigot Donald Trump becoming US president. Bridget Parsons from Birmingham told Socialist Worker, ?The attacks on women?s rights are going to increase, especially if Theresa May gets back in. ?There have been three meetings organising for the demonstration, thousands of leaflets have been printed and have gone out this week. ?The university and different areas of Birmingham have been covered and we?re also going to leaflet the Jeremy Corbyn meeting on Saturday morning.? Momentum There is a sense of momentum behind the protest, which is supported by Abortion Rights among other groups. The Women?s March Against Trump group has organised a coach from London. Activists from the local Abortion Rights group in Cardiff and Nottingham also plan to join the demonstration. The protest in Birmingham has to be a mass show of support for a woman?s right to choose. The March for Life organisers are flying in Lila Rose, founder of anti-abortion group Live Action, from the US. Rose has led a high profile smear campaign of the Planned Parenthood charity. This included posing as a distraught 15 year old in order to make a propaganda film from inside an abortion clinic in 2009. Boosted by Trump?s new attacks on a woman?s right to choose, the likes of Rose want to spread their bigoted message to Britain. But the majority of people are not on their side and have been won to supporting a woman?s right to choose. Choose October will mark the fiftieth anniversary of the passage of the Abortion Act of 1967, which gave women a limited right to abortion. Ever since it was passed, there have been repeated attempts to undermine it. But these have been beaten back by abortion rights campaigners. They are determined to stop a return to the era when women were denied their rights and forced into unsafe abortions. As the right gears up for more attacks, it will take more mass campaigning to defend a woman?s right to choose?and fighting for free abortion on demand. The pro-choice demonstration this Saturday can strengthen this fight. Bridget said, ?There hasn?t been an Abortion Rights group in Birmingham in the last couple of years. ?But now we have a local group, so we can get more organised.? It is also an opportunity to build support for opposing Trump when he comes to Britain in October to spread his sexism and bigotry. Women?s March Against Trumpism, Saturday 20 May, 12 noon Victoria Square, Birmingham bit.ly/2qmUjRc
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NHS computer crisis: why we should blame the Tories
IT staff and other 'backroom' staff are crucial to the NHS (Pic: NHS careers) Hospitals across England are preparing for a weekend of chaos because of Tory cuts and a dangerous weapon developed by the US.? A shock cyber-attack, using ?ransomware? software, has blocked access to computer files at over?40 NHS organisations. It means key services are not working, and documents such as patient records made unavailable in England and Scotland. Malicious hackers are demanding money to decrypt the computers.. This was part of a global attack affecting?organisations from FedEx to the Russian central bank.? Who has been affected?? Health workers were unable to do routine jobs and patients were sent home as operations were cancelled. Doctors and nurses could not access data such as?blood test results, and appointment bookings and X rays were down.? Theresa May has tried to deflect blame by pointing out it?s ?part of a wider international attack?. But this takes place in the context of Tory cuts. As Gareth, a clerk working in the health service, told Socialist Worker, ?Everything is on a knife edge in the NHS?and that?s because services are being run down.? ?The Tories always talk about how they?re only making cuts to ?back-room staff, as if ?front line? and ?back room? staff don?t work together.? ?In my hospital there are hardly any IT safeguards because of the cuts they have made.?? In November 2016 the average amount being spent by trusts on cyber security was ?23,403. Seven trusts were found not to spend anything on cyber security, with many others not being able to identify how much they spent. ? Tory Ben Gummer (left) is the head of the Government Digital Service (Pic: Government Digital Service) Why was the NHS left open to attack? ?? Tory minister Ben Gummer warned last November that ?large quantities of sensitive data? within the NHS were at risk.? Wrapped in a virtual Union Jack, Gummer postured about Britain?s need to bolster its defences in the face of new threats. ?The government has a clear responsibility to ensure its own systems are cyber secure,? he said. ? But the Government Digital Service (GDS), set up by David Cameron, had already refused to renew a ?5.5 million support deal for Windows XP in 2015.? Gummer, a junior health minister under Cameron, is now in charge of the GDS.? The Tories knew the risks of not renewing the deal with Microsoft.? The Cabinet Office and Department of Health wrote to NHS bosses in April 2014. It read, ?It is imperative your organisation understands the risk placed on it should the decision be not to take out a new deal.? Barts Health NHS Trust in east London, the largest trust in Britain, suffered a ?ransomware? attack this January.? North Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Trusts had to shut down its IT system in October 2016 after suffering an attack. It took place few days before Gummer?s speech on bolstering Britain?s cyber defences.? Who is behind the attack? Right wingers and paranoid liberals quickly blamed Russia, claiming this cyber attack was further proof of president Vladimir Putin ?interfering? in Western democracy. The Telegraph newspaper claimed it was ?possibly in retaliation for America?s attack on Syria?.? In reality, no one knows if there is official Russian involvement, but the link to the US?s sprawling security apparatus is undeniable.? The US National Security Agency (NSA) developed this ?cyber weapon? to launch attacks on rival imperialist countries and terrorist groups? computers. The software gives wide-ranging access to computers using the Microsoft windows operating system.? A hacking group, known as ?The Shadow Broker?, claimed they took the software from NSA last month. The hackers, who said their motives are financial not political, then dumped it on a public website and put it up for auction. No one has claimed responsibility for the attack.?? ? .
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Forest Hill strikers battle on as Plumstead Manor strike wins
Teachers, parents and pupils together at Forest Hill on Tuesday (Pic: Socialist Worker) Strikers formed a noisy picket line at Forest Hill School in south east London today, Tuesday. It was the NUT union members? eighth walkout in a struggle to stop cuts. Strikers chanted, ?Not our deficit?it?s our school, don?t mess with it,? and, ?No ifs, no buts, no Forest Hill cuts.? The school management has drawn up a ?1.3 million cuts package with Lewisham council. One teacher told Socialist Worker, ?What I love about Forest Hill School is that we are a family. ?We go above and beyond because we care about the children. I wonder if we?ll be able to do that if the cuts go ahead.? NUT rep Joe said, ?They have no idea what it?s like to work in a school. We know the time it takes to produce creative lessons. We don?t want to go back to the days when kids just sat with a textbook and answered questions.? The cuts would mean fewer support staff, a reduced curriculum and cuts to enrichment activities. The number of teaching assistants (TAs) has already been slashed. ?When I started here four years ago I would have a TA in every year seven class,? said striker Kirby. ?I don?t have any now. ?It?s very time consuming to prepare to teach children with different needs. And in the classroom my time is divided?I can?t be there for every child.? Retreat Pickets were heartened by news of a victory at nearby Plumstead Manor School in Greenwich. Three days of strikes by NUT and GMB union members have forced management to retreat on planned cuts. Some 34 posts were at risk to deal with a deficit, but nearly half have now been saved. There will be no compulsory redundancies. And Greenwich council has agreed to extend the time in which the school?s debt has to be repaid from five to seven years. It has also increased a grant to the school. The NUT said workers had won a ?significant victory?. Forest Hill strikers, and parents who came to show solidarity with them, said this showed Lewisham council could intervene to stop the cuts. The NUT said workers had won a ?significant victory? Joe said, ?The council just seems to see us as a nuisance. They don?t seem proud of their schools, or to see any value in what we do. ?I think the council wants to wash its hands of schools and go for academisation.? Parent Alice added, ?The cuts are outrageous. The council should step in and extend the loan. They can renegotiate the debt?other councils have done it.? Strikers are determined to defend education, but the council?s refusal to talk to them is hard for some. Workers plan further strikes but were meeting today to discuss their next steps as students begin exams. Workers urgently need solidarity and support from other trade unionists and parents. And if other unions joined the fight it would pile more pressure on the council. Kirby said, ?I?ve often thought about whether I should leave the school, but I don?t want to leave. I want to stay and fight. We can?t stop now.? Send messages of support to membsec@lewisham.nut.org.uk
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Unaffordable bosses - why we need to tax the rich
A protester at the Occupy Wall Street site in New York (Pic: Tmothy Krause/flikr) Whenever an argument is put for reform that could benefit millions of working class people, right wing commentators tell us it is unaffordable or idealistic. During this election campaign we will no doubt hear bosses howl about ?Labour?s magic money tree?. Money magically appearing for doing nothing is an idea they know very well. The wealth they control is created off the back of the workers? labour that they exploit. It is not the corporate directors who produce the things our society needs?it is the working class they sneer at. The richest have done very well out of the Tories? austerity lie. We are not ?all in it together?. They are in it for themselves and have happily watched our living standards plummet since the economic crisis began. Meanwhile their bank balances have soared. In 2009 the richest 1,000 people in Britain hoarded ?258 billion between them?their loot is now ?658 billion. The bosses? magic money tree increased by ?226 million a day last year alone. We can go much further than Labour?s modest promises to increase taxes on corporations and the wealthiest individuals. The money is there to abolish the need for food banks, give everyone a decent home and job?and the care they need. We just have to tax the rich.
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Video of alleged police assault brings the racists out of the woodwork
A screenshot from the video of the stop and search A video of three people allegedly being assaulted by police in High Wycombe on Friday 5 May after the stop and search of a vehicle has now received 135,000 views. Socialist Worker shared a video of the arrests. Now it has been shared 12,500 times. Up to 19 local residents are now considering submitting a complaint to the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) following their treatment by the police. Zia Ullah from the Justice for Paps campaign group spoke to Socialist Worker. ?People just came out of their houses to see what was going on, then the police started shoving them around and treating them like criminals,? he said. The three people arrested were charged with public order offences after the police became involved. Yet none of the charges relate to the stop and search of the vehicle the three were travelling in. Police deny wrongdoing. Zia told Socialist Worker that racist trolls have been attracted to the comments section under the video. Known serving police officers have also commented on it. ?We got a screenshot of a lecturer from the north west of England making racist comments,? said Zia. ?Back in February at the college there was a flare up of racist incidents.? This shows the importance of fighting racism whenever it rears its ugly head. For details go to Justice4Paps on Facebook and justice4paps.wordpress.com
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London School of Economics cleaners strike for equality
On strike for dignity and proper treatment (Pic: Shiri Shalmy) Outsourced cleaners at the London School of Economics (LSE) struck yesterday, Thursday, in their battle for the same pay and conditions as similar directly-employed workers. Over 60 people came out for an early morning protest to give the picketing a flying start. ?The protest this morning went well,? striker Mildred told Socialist Worker. ?This strike is bigger than the last one because more people can see through the management?s lies.? The workers are part of the United Voices of the World (UVW) union. They have faced down management threats and derisory offers put forward in an attempt to get them to call of the action. The cleaners currently get the statutory minimum sick pay, maternity and paternity pay. A deal was put forward?and rejected?just before the strike. It had emerged after talks between LSE management, the Unison union and Noonan, the firm cleaning is outsourced to. Although UVW represents more workers, LSE chooses to negotiate with Unison. Holiday The proposed deal was the third offered and included 20 days of sick pay at full pay and another 20 at half pay. It would also see workers get 31 days holiday, an increase of three days from the statutory minimum. ?A lot of the cleaners are looking at the negotiations as a joke,? UVW general secretary Petros Elia told Socialist Worker. ?If they want to negotiate about sick pay, we should be talking in terms of months, not days.? The LSE has attempted to cast itself in the role of a reasonable intermediary between a militant union and an intransigent outsourcer. But it has known about the cleaners? concerns from day one. The decisive factor has been the strength of the campaign, which was kicked off by a big meeting last August. ?Our numbers are increasing,? cleaner Kinkena told Socialist Worker. ?They used to say we were in the minority, well we?re not any more. ?They are playing games with us. They knew what we were asking for months ago. Now they come each week with a revised offer. They?re just trying to buy time.? Students at the university are supporting the workers by organising breakfasts at 8am when most of them finish their shifts. They hold fortnightly Justice for Cleaners student group meetings. ?The biggest thing that grew the campaign was the strike in March,? Anash Coker told Socialist Worker. ?There?s not much of a campus feeling here so having a lively picket line brought people in.? ?We?ll keep striking until we get a proper offer,? said Kinkena. ?And we want it now, not in two years time.? The next strike is scheduled for Thursday, 17 May.? Strike fund at?www.uvwunion.org.uk/justiceforlsecleaners/
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