Socialist Worker

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Super rich double their wealth under the Tories - Make them pay for the crisis

The number of billionaires living in Britain has risen to more than 100 for the first time.

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International Comment Features Reviews What We Think Other

News

Vote TUSC for the alternative in local elections

Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) candidates and their supporters have been out campaigning in over 500 council wards across Britain. 

News in brief round-up

Gove grabs millions for free schools | Cleaners join a protest for jobs | Ukip tweet led to police ‘visit’ | More services face deep cuts

Doncaster Care UK strikers bring their message to bosses HQ in London

Care UK’s owners, private equity firm Bridgepoint Capital, received a visit to their London offices this morning by angry striking care workers from Doncaster.

Cinema bosses snub film director Ken Loach over Ritzy strike support

The Picturehouse cinema chain has refused to host a benefit showing of award winning film director Ken Loach’s latest film because he supports strikers in the chain’s Ritzy cinema

Lecturers at Lambeth College plan all-out strike after principal clamps down

Workers at Lambeth College in south London are preparing for an all-out strike against hated contracts imposed by bosses.

South Yorkshire Labour councils buckling over Freedom Ride protests

Up to 150 people joined an angry protest at Barnsley rail station on Monday of this week to demand free train travel for older people.

Police protect EDL thugs on march in Rotherham

Around 250 anti-fascists stood up to a national mobilisation of the racist English Defence League (EDL) in Rotherham on Saturday of last week.

Walkout in Wigan over council cuts

More than 300 workers at Wigan’s Labour-run council are set to walk out on Thursday of this week over a cut to their essential car users’ allowance.

EDF workers strike after bosses refuse to pay up

Around 500 Unite union members at energy firm EDF struck over pay on Tuesday and Thursday of last week.

St Helier Hospital protest demands an end to NHS cuts

Parents with buggies were joined by campaigners of all ages for a noisy procession through the local area to highlight NHS cuts. Young people from the nearby skate park also joined in.

Hundreds march in Exeter to celebrate Pride

Hundreds of people marched through the centre of Exeter in Devon last Saturday to celebrate the city’s biggest ever pride event. Up to 2,000 people attended festivities through the day.

Mass strike could bring out a million in a hot July

Public sector union leaders hint at coordinated action to take on the Tories, reports Sadie Robinson

Land Registry selloff plan leaked as staff prepare for strike

Over 3,000 PCS union members at the 14 offices of the Land Registry (LR) were set to strike on Wednesday and Thursday of this week.

Garston call centre workers set to walk out over job losses

Workers at the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) call centre in Garston, south Liverpool, were set to strike on Friday of this week.

A merger between PCS and Unite is no substitute for a fightback

The PCS union’s national conference meets in Brighton next week at a vital time for the union.

Socialists elected to PCS national executive

Elections to the PCS union’s national executive ended on Thursday of last week.

First ever walkout hits TfL as workers strike over pay and pensions

More than 1,000 workers struck at Transport for London (TfL) on Friday of last week against attacks on their pay and pensions.

First Great Western forced to end zero hours contracts

Workers in the RMT union have forced concessions from First Great Western train bosses. They are to end zero hours contracts and pay a living wage to agency and contract staff working in catering and cleaning.

Northern Rail management 'cover up' strike impact

Northern Rail workers were coerced into cutting corners to try and cover up the impact of maintenance drivers’ industrial action, the RMT union has said.

Defend RMT rep Mark Harding as he faces court

The campaign to defend London Underground RMT rep Mark Harding is calling for support for Mark as he faces court.

University staff day of action against casualisation and zero hours contracts

UCU union members took part in a day of action against casualisation and zero hours contracts on Wednesday of last week.

Workers defend suspended rep Bryan Kennedy

Unite union members leafletted the staff conference of One Housing Group in Hammersmith, west London, on Friday of last week.

Occupational therapists plan a strike over bullying

Occupational therapists at Greenwich council in south east London have voted unanimously for strikes over an alleged “bullying culture”.

Rank and file electricians call day of action over attacks

A national rank and file electricians’ meeting took place in Liverpool last Saturday.

Kent meeting on the miners’ strike

Hundreds of people packed into a meeting in Aylesham, Kent, last Saturday to commemorate the 1984-85 miners’ strike.

Disabled people protest at ILF cut

Disabled people and supporters protested outside the Department for Work and Pensions in London on Monday of this week.

Protesters take on the fracking firms

Campaigners protested outside the Fracking industry’s Shale Gas World Forum in Birmingham on Tuesday of this week.

Protesters demand an end to fuel poverty

Shareholders at Centrica—the firm that owns British Gas—were met by a barrage of protests on Monday of this week.

Value, price and profit in the works of Marx

Einde O’Callaghan from the Marxists Internet Archive responds to demands they remove works by Marx and Engels from the website.

Roving pickets ramp up the pressure as Doncaster Care UK strike enters second week

Doncaster Care UK workers are in their second week of a 14-day strike against savage attacks on their pay and conditions by bosses. 

Nigel Farage gets flustered after anti-racist protests target Ukip

Angry crowds have rattled the right wing populist, report Judith Orr and Annette Mackin

Immigration detention centre inmates demand ‘a life with dignity’

Protests took place at at least four immigration detention centres last week. 

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International

Court coup removes Thai prime minister

Thai prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra was overthrown last week on a legal technicality. Yingluck is the sister of former populist Thai prime minister Taksin Shinawatra.

Political crisis after Turkish mining disaster

 The number of miners still missing after the disaster in Turkey remains unknown. So far 283 miners have died and the number continues to rise. The government has said that 147 are still in the mine. But even these tragic figures do not add up. That leaves 288 miners unaccounted for, given that the total number of workers in the mine is said to have been 787.

Which way now for South Africa after the ANC’s election win?

With the ongoing miners’ strike and anger at the Marikana inquiry the ANC’s win is no return to ‘normality’, writes Charlie Kimber in South Africa

South African government tries to turn Marikana massacre inquiry into a whitewash

Two outrageous decisions threaten to make the official inquiry into the 2012 Marikana massacre into a whitewash.

Votes make secession more likely in eastern Ukraine

Two Ukrainian provinces voted for independence in a referendum last weekend. 

Global protests as US fast food workers supersize their strike

The biggest fast food workers’ strike so far is set to hit the US on Thursday of this week. Solidarity protests will take place in over 30 countries in a global day of action to demand union recognition, better pay and respect at work.

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Comment

Syria's revolution had too many enemies

The surrender of Homs, the “capital of the revolution”, marks a moment of bitter defeat in Syria writes Simon Assaf

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Features

Piketty's theory of capital - strengths and weaknesses

Thomas Piketty’s new economics book Capital in the 21st Century has become a bestseller. Alex Callinicos, author of the forthcoming Deciphering Capital, examines why

How we're driving Nazi Nick Griffin out of the north west of England

Activists across the north west of England have been campaigning to stop Nazi Nick Griffin being re-elected as an MEP in the European elections on 22 May. Annette Mackin travelled around the region speaking to people about the campaign and how to stop the fascists

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Reviews

Comics Unmasked: Drawing the battle lines in a fun fight with authority

The British Library exhibition Comics Unmasked: Art and Anarchy calls for Britain’s tradition of comics to be taken seriously, writes Annette Mackin

Everybody Down: Kate Tempest's intimate and lyrical portrait of working class life

Kate Tempest’s new album Everybody Down is about real life.

Which Side Are You On? Concert celebrates Pete Seeger's life and activism

Jimmy Ross and Finlay Allison are joined by fiddler Gillian Frame and singer songwriter Penny Stone in a new expanded version of their tribute to the left wing folk legend Pete Seeger.

Chris Marker, A Grin Without a Cat: First retrospective of influential French filmmaker

This is the first retrospective of the influential French filmmaker Chris Marker in Britain. It features five installations of his films, including the philosophical travelogue Sans Soleil (Sunless).

BP ‘Oil Vikings’ invade British museum

The crowds at the British Museum were in for a surprise last month, as pillaging Vikings took over—adorned with BP logos.

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What We Think

Labour's problem is bigger than Ed Miliband

The Tories are hated, so how have Labour managed to fall behind them in the polls?

Global warming is tipping us into catastrophe

New studies suggest the West Antarctic ice sheet is now doomed to collapse, which will raise sea levels by at least 4 metres

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Other Categories

Letters

Including letters on why South Africa needs an alternative to the ANC, standing up to Ukip's racism, demands to build social housing, racist scares over Halal meat and racism in football.

Time to tell media racists to pluck off after foul campaign

Leading on the latest so-called Muslim plot to threaten the BRITISH way of life that is hiding in restaurants and supermarkets, according to racist news stories.

Poverty in Nigeria fuels Boko Haram—and force will not stop it

Baba Aye of the Socialist Workers League in Nigeria explains the roots of the Islamist group Boko Haram and says military action against it is bound to fail

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