Socialist Worker

---

Housing crisis shames Labour

Marilyn Boyle has been waiting 20 years for a transfer from her house. It’s been slowly subsiding into the garages underneath and, 17 years ago, when she was eight and a half months pregnant, Marilyn fell through the rotting kitchen floor.

---

International Comment Features Reviews What We Think Other

News

Labour’s assault on the colleges

Educational institutions run by unaccountable business interests and managerialists on spiralling wages. Is this a vision of the future of schools after New Labour’s neo-liberal "reforms" have been imposed?

Fears that Margaret Hodge’s BNP myths will help the Nazis

Almost all politicians and most of the media have totally misrepresented the prospects of the fascist British National Party (BNP) at the council elections in Barking & Dagenham. And by exaggerating the BNP’s hold, they have helped the fascists to spread their poison.

Three key issues face all Royal Mail workers

Royal Mail’s bosses have added pay to the issues that are causing confrontation with postal workers.

Planned Crown post office closures in north west London

The Post Office has announced that a further three Crown post offices will be taken over by franchises in the north west London area.

Council workers' action has an impact

Aberdeen Council workers voted last week to suspend further strike action in their dispute over equal pay.

Anger as lecturers' pay strike is called off

The strike by 25,000 further education lecturers that was due to take place on Tuesday and Wednesday of next week has been called off so the Natfhe lecturers’ union can enter talks with management.

Reports round-up

Military Families in Clydebank Protesters, Rose Gentle among them, leafleted Clydebank shopping centre this week against the British army launching a recruitment drive targeted at deprived areas. The protest, called by Military Families Against the War, was successful in closing the army recruitment stall and was well received by the vast majority of shoppers

Respect campaigns gather momentum

Respect is standing five council candidates across Birmingham. Salma Iqbal is standing alongside Salma Yaqoob and Lynne Hubbard in the south of the city.

A chance to change Newham for the better

Newham is at the centre of a political battle that has come to shape the growing opposition to New Labour and its "arrogance of power."

Rail unions’ pensions fight

Rail workers in four unions are preparing to ballot for a strike in defence of their pensions. Any strike would involve 80,000 workers and bring Britain’s rail network to a halt.

BBC final salary pension scheme

Workers at the BBC are mobilising against the corporation’s planned changes to its pensions scheme. This will mean thousands of staff working longer, paying more and receiving reduced benefits.

Local government

Agitation continues against the union leaders’ decision to call off the strikes in defence of the local government pension scheme.

Action and solidarity can save Peugeot jobs at Ryton

Shock, bitterness and anger spread across West Midlands at the news of the plan to close the Peugeot plant in Ryton, Coventry, in 2007. The closure would mean the loss of 2,300 jobs.

Biofuels: cure or a new threat?

With oil prices above $70 a barrel, could biofuels help to solve our energy crisis and reduce climate change at the same time? From George Bush to the European Union (EU), governments around the world seem to think so – and are beginning to subsidise the new biofuel revolution.

Health workers’ fury at NHS cuts

The anger among health workers over mounting job losses and creeping privatisation in the NHS has the potential to spill over into industrial action.

Up the tempo against job cuts in the DWP

Some 85,000 civil service workers in the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) are set to strike on Tuesday and Wednesday of next week over government attacks on jobs, services and conditions.

'We have to stand together to improve everyone’s life’

Carole Swords is one of Tower Hamlets’ leading housing campaigners. She is standing for Respect in Bow West along with Deeka Adan and Robin Hirsch.

Respect has solutions to housing problems

Some politicians say "there’s no alternative" because they can’t think of one. That’s what the establishment parties in Tower Hamlets say about housing.

Soldiers’ families: ‘We are angry’

Over 50 military families were set to lay a wreath at Downing Street on Wednesday of this week to show their anger at the war in Iraq and at Tony Blair’s refusal to meet with the families of soldiers killed in Iraq.

May day greetings to all our readers

The print edition of this week's paper carries pages of May Day greetings. This will be available to download for two or three months from the website in the PDF edition of the paper

Judge upholds Respect candidates nominations in Tower Hamlets

Three Respect candidates in Tower Hamlets, east London, won a court victory against the council today overturning a decision to exclude them from the ballot paper on technical grounds.

Appeal court overturns ruling on Tower Hamlets Respect candidates

The court of appeal has overturned yesterday's verdict which said that Respect candidates nominations in the St Katherine’s & Wapping ward of Tower Hamlets should be upheld.

---

International

---

Comment

Workers’ rights in France and Britain

Why are Britain and France so different? This question is back in the air. Trade union officials have been complaining that Britain’s flexible labour laws made it easier for Peugeot bosses to shut down their car plant at Ryton rather than any of its French counterparts.

---

Features

The fascist invasion of Abyssinia

Over 70 years ago the British government was rocked by what the historian AJP Taylor described as "the greatest explosion over foreign affairs for many years". This was caused when the Tory "national" government, led by Stanley Baldwin, was caught out lying about its stance towards fascist Italy’s war against the independent East African state of Abyssinia (now Ethiopia).

Malcolm X: A fighter enraged by the racism of the US

More than 40 years after his death, Malcolm X is as relevant as he was in the 1960s. He remains a revered figure of defiance against all forms of racist oppression, especially among young people.

Nepal: revolution at the crossroads

The popular uprising in the Himalayan kingdom of Nepal was celebrating a victory as Socialist Worker went to press on Tuesday of this week. The country had been paralysed for weeks by a general strike and popular movement against the hated and brutal regime of King Gyanendra.

James Connolly struck a blow against British imperialism

A few days from now is an anniversary no Socialist Worker reader should let pass unremembered. On 12 May 1916, the British Army executed the Irish revolutionary James Connolly.

---

Reviews

Metro Riots join line up to campaign against fascism with LMHR

Love Music Hate Racism (LMHR) is hosting a rally with music and speakers in Trafalgar Square, London, this Saturday. It aims to encourage young people to reject the fascist British National Party (BNP) at the May elections and celebrate Britain’s multi-racial, multi-faith society.

Reviews round-up

SixtyYorkshire Sculpture Park, West Bretton, WakefieldUntil 25 June<a href="http://www.ysp.co.uk" target = "_blank">www.ysp.co.uk</a> The Arts Council’s free exhibition to celebrate its 60th birthday brings together 60 sculptures from 1946 onwards.

---

What We Think

The US as global supercop

The US, reveals the Washington Post this week, is engaged in planning military operations in 20 countries across five continents as part of its "long war" against terror.

---

Other Categories

Letters

Letters

Who says?

"I’m the decider, and I decide what’s best. And what’s best is for Don Rumsfeld to remain as the secretary of defence."George Bush fends off mounting criticism by senior US military officers

Marxism 2006: a festival of resistance

For five days thousands will gather at this political festival to celebrate the global movement against war and injustice and debate a huge range of questions about the world.

Meetings, events, demonstrations and film showings

Meetings And Events

---