Council Election Defeat: How Much Longer Can Blair Survive? Labour suffered a heavy defeat in England's local council elections, but Blair is desperately clinging on to office for now. In an attempt to cover up Labour's losses and to shore up his support Blair quickly moved to sack several high ranking ministers and promote loyal supporters. What Blair has installed is a Final Days administration. It is a bunker cabinet. Blair is finished and so is Blairism. These elections illustrate a growing class polarisation taking place in British society.
British Shop Workers Vote to Support Venezuela! In Blackpool over the May Day Bank holiday, the British shop workers’ union USDAW, representing some 330,000 workers, passed a resolution unanimously supporting the Venezuelan Revolution and affiliating to the Hands Off Venezuela Campaign.
British Perspectives 2006 “The British working class is entering a period when it requires the greatest belief in its mission and its strength. To gain this there is no need for any stimulants like religion or idealist morality. It is necessary and sufficient that the British proletariat understands the position of its country in relation to the position of the whole world, that it has become clear about the rottenness of the ruling classes and that it has thrown out of its way the careerists, quacks and those bourgeois sceptics who imagine themselves to be socialists only because they from time to time vomit in the atmosphere of rotting bourgeois society.” (Leon Trotsky, Writings on Britain, Volume...
Denmark: Expulsions of Marxists from SUF rejected! The Marxist tendency in the Danish labour movement, that publishes the journal Socialistisk Standpunkt, recently came under attack. An attempt was mounted to expel its supporters from the Socialist Youth Front (SUF), an attempt which failed. It reveals the growing influence of the Marxists in Denmark.
Britain: "We have to show that Peugeot cannot walk over its workforce" The workers at the Peugeot plant in Ryton (near Coventry) risk losing their jobs and livelihood. Darrall Cozens reports on the latest situation after interviewing John Cummins, Deputy Convenor from Amicus, about the trade union plans to keep the plant open.
May Day in Denmark The Marxists successfully intervened in May Day, selling political material and celebrating the publication of The Revolution Betrayedin Danish as well as the new internet archive of Marxist classics in Danish, www.marxister.dk
Hands Off Venezuela at May Day rally in London Hands Off Venezuela made a very good intervention in May Day. At the beginning of the march in Clerkenwell, a large stall was set up behind a massive HOV banner selling literature and t-shirts. The new HOV magazine was on sale throughout the demonstration.
Britain 1926 General Strike: On the Verge of Revolution Eighty years ago an earthquake shook the very foundations of British capitalism. In the greatest display of militant power in its history, the British working class moved into action in the General Strike of 1926. For 9 days, from May 3, not a wheel turned nor a light shone without the permission of the working class. In such a moment, with such power, surely it ought to have been possible to have transformed society? How can such a position have ended in defeat? (by Phil Mitchinson, originally published in May 2001)
The General Strike of 1926: 80 years on what are the lessons? On the 80th anniversary of the 1926 general strike in Britain we look at what led to it and why it eventually was defeated. In spite of the tremendous militancy of the British working class, the top leaders of the trade union movement proved to be only too willing to compromise and get the workers back to work.
London May Day 2006 – Rally needs to be followed by action to defend jobs and the NHS This year’s rally was bigger than usual with thousands of workers taking part from many different unions, but there was a contradiction between some of the moderate speeches of the leaders and the real problems faced by the workers facing the onslaught of the bosses.
May Day in Greece – small but militant rallies Held shortly after the Greek trade union leaders have signed a disappointing agreement with the bosses, this year’s rallies were small but the workers and youth present expressed a militant mood.
Britain: Fight to save the NHS Like vultures waiting for an animal to die before ripping it to pieces, private “investors” are watching as Blair destroys the National Health Service preparing the ground for more and more privatisation. The grandparents of today’s British workers struggled for a fully funded free healthcare system. Now we have to struggle to win it all back.
Britain: NHS, a Life and Death Struggle Tony Blair has been pushing the line that the National Health Service has never had it so good. He lives on another planet obviously. Anyone who uses the NHS or works for it knows that a systematic attack on the very concept of free healthcare is taking place.
May Day 2006 in Austria There is a strong May Day tradition in Austria. This tradition was continued this year as thousands came out to demonstrations across Austria amidst a growing scandal in the trade unions. The movement was determined to show its unity against the attacks of the right wing and there was a thirst for political ideas in the face of great events in Latin America and France.
The Netherlands calls for a left-wing socialist programme The recent local elections in the Netherlands revealed a significant shift to the left taking place in Dutch society. This confirms what we said in the past, that the temporary rise of the Fortuyn list would be followed by an equally sharp shift to the left. The Netherlands is not immune from the developing class struggle on a world level.
