[Audio] The Miners' Strike At the University of East Anglia recently Rob Sewell of the Socialist Appeal gave a talk on the Miners strike in Britain 1984-5. The strike was a culmination of the inevitable build up of tension between the ruling and working class. In the post-war period the decline of British imperialism had occured. The Tories of the 1980s were a rabid reaction to that phenomenon, determined to destroy the organised labour movement by taking on its most militant section, the National Union of Miners.
Ireland: Trade unionism and Republican Socialism We are publishing here an interesting piece on the Irish trade unions by Peter Black, an active member of the TGWU (now fused with Amicus to form “Unite”) and the Irish Republican Socialist Party. Trade union membership is growing in Ireland, as is the militancy of the working class and Socialist Republicans, in the tradition of James Connolly, can play an important role in providing the militant leadership the Irish workers deserve.
Massive workers’ rally in Slovenia – threat of a general strike to come On Saturday, November 17, a massive demonstration of 70,000 workers and youth took place in Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia. The workers are fed up with low wages, high prices, cuts in services and privatisation. They have had a taste of capitalism and clearly don’t like it.
Ireland: Dublin Bus Workers’ Strike - their story Last week an important dispute flared up at the Dublin Bus company over new work schedules. Although the strike was called off today, the present article, written last week, gives an idea of the militant mood that exists among Dublin's bus workers.
Phil Mitchinson: “We will finish what he began” One year ago today comrade Phil Mitchinson died tragically of a heart attack. He was without doubt a very talented comrade who devoted his time to editing the Socialist Appeal and helping to build our tendency in Britain and internationally. Here Rob Sewell remembers Phil and the role he played.
Join the Party! – Hundreds celebrate 90th anniversary of Russian Revolution in Vienna On Saturday the "Der Funke" Marxist tendency organised a big event with Trotsky's grandson, Esteban Volkov, as special guest, to commemorate and celebrate the 90th anniversary of the 1917 Russian Revolution. Around 200 people came to listen to the speeches in defence of "Red October" and between 400-500 celebrated all night long at the party that was organised after the meeting.
France: Attacks on pensions: a decisive battle Sarkozy is consciously provoking some of the big battalions of the French labour movement. His strategy is clear: take on the strong sections of the class and, counting on the weak trade union leaders, smash them in order to prepare the ground for an all-out attack on the rest of the class. The stakes are high. With a bold, militant leadership the workers could win.
Ireland: Basque Marxist speaks at meetings of socialist republicans A Basque Marxist was on a speaking tour of the North of Ireland at the end of October. He spoke to audiences in Belfast, Strabane and Derry mainly composed of republican socialists, but not only. There was keen interest in seeing how the experience of the Basque situation could be applied to the North of Ireland, and vice versa. We make available here a report, originally published in The Plough, the journal of the Irish Republican Socialist Party.
Early elections in Denmark By all appearances the right-wing government couldn't have picked a worse time to call an election. However, if one looks at the situation more closely, one can see that things will only get worse in the future for them.
90th Anniversary of the Russian Revolution: Esteban Volkov and Alan Woods speak in Copenhagen Over 200 people packed the Workers' Museum in Copenhagen last night, leaving standing room only, in order to hear Esteban Volkov and Alan Woods speak on the 90th anniversary of the Russian Revolution. Esteban Volkov, the grandson of Leon Trotsky, and also last living witness to his assassination, spoke in the city where Trotsky made his final public speech in 1932.
Esteban Volkov, Trotsky’s grandson, interviewed by the Nyhedsavisen In the build up to today's big meeting in Copenhagen, one of the most important newspapers in Denmark, Nyhedsavisen, a paper with a circulation of 532.000, carries an interview with Esteban Volkov in today's edition on page 33 (in Danish).
The ‘Spirit of Petrograd’? The 1918 and 1919 Police Strikes in Britain Marxists have always maintained that at some stage the intensity of the class struggle affects even the “armed bodies of men” of the bourgeois state. Such an example was the police strike in Britain at the end of the First World War. In the late summer of 1918 the sight of 12,000 furious Metropolitan constables marching on Whitehall sparked panic among ruling circles in Britain. Under the leadership of the National Union of Police and Prison Officers, militantly class-conscious policemen conspired to overturn their role as the subservient body of the State.
Big event in Copenhagen to commemorate The Russian Revolution and Trotsky’s speech On Wednesday the 7th of November a big meeting organised by the Danish Marxist tendency, Socialistisk Standpunkt, will take place in Copenhagen to celebrate the 90th anniversary of the Russian Revolution. However, 2007 marks another anniversary, and one with special importance for Denmark. It is 75 years since Leon Trotsky held his last public speech in November 1932, which was held at a huge meeting in Copenhagen, where Trotsky was invited by the Social-Democratic Students Association.
Ireland: Stormont Executive’s new budget – nice for the bosses but what’s in it for workers? Last week the Executive in the North of Ireland presented its budget. It has been presented as a budget that will create jobs, improve services and reduce poverty. A closer look reveals tax concessions and incentives for the bosses and cuts in jobs and social spending and increased taxation for the workers. They are preparing social turmoil in the future.
Saudi state visit to Britain underlines double standards of ruling classes of the world King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia is occupying the headlines of many newspapers with his comments that Britain failed to act on intelligence that could have prevented the 7/7 London bombings. Beyond the response of the bourgeois media, what is the real relationship between the West and Saudi Arabia?
