Elections Follow

THE ANTI Nazi League mobilised hundreds of people to oppose the BNP during the council elections.

JEAN-MARIE Le Pen's surprise success in the first round of the French presidential elections must be seen in a larger context. There is not simply the growth of the far right throughout Europe, but also a larger process of class polarisation that has been going on for at least the last decade.

MOST POLLS suggested that up to three quarters of registered voters would not take part in this week's local council elections. Socialist Worker went to press before the elections, but it would be remarkable if the turnout is not low.

LEFT WING candidates have made gains in elections for the national executive of the civil servants' PCS union. Scottish Socialist Party member Janice Godrich has been elected president and Steve Cawkwell vice-president.

WORKERS AT Manchester airport were due to strike during Thursday's elections as part of their continued fight against the imposition of new contracts. These mean up to 40 percent pay cuts, longer hours, less holidays and more shift work for 350 security workers.

"EARTHQUAKE"-that was how French newspapers reacted to Jean-Marie Le Pen's success in the presidential elections. He came second with more votes than Lionel Jospin, the equivalent of Tony Blair. Le Pen is a Nazi. He described the Holocaust and the murder of six million Jews as a mere "detail of history".

THE NAZI British National Party is hoping to repeat the success of Jean-Marie Le Pen. Local council elections take place on Thursday of next week. Anti-Nazis in the areas targeted by the BNP are stepping up their campaign. They are appealing for support from across Britain. That support needs to flood in to isolate the Nazis.

BURNLEY IN Lancashire faces the highest number of Nazi British National Party candidates of any town in the local elections on 2 May. The BNP is putting forward 13 candidates in 15 wards across Burnley. The Nazis hope to con working people into voting for them by presenting themselves as ordinary local campaigners. They aren't.

New Labour is having problems getting its campaign for the 2 May local elections up and running. "Going knocking on doors for the Labour Party is not a popular activity at the moment," said one Labour MP.

THE NAZI British National Party is standing 50 candidates in the local elections on 2 May. This is double the number of candidates it has ever stood before in a local election.

People across England will have a chance to say a resounding no to Tony Blair's pro-privatisation and pro-war policies at the local elections on 2 May. Hundreds of Socialist Alliance candidates are standing. They say, "Put people before profit," and want to take on the pro-business consensus accepted by the three major parties.

A major challenge faces every anti-fascist and anti-racist. Nazis from Nick Griffin's British National Party are desperate to secure a breakthrough in the local council elections on 2 May. They want to emulate their counterparts in Europe, where Nazis have won seats in council and European parliamentary elections.