Britain: support Jaguar workers: Coventry demo report Thousands of workers gathered in Coventry (UK) at the end of November to protest against the closure of the Jaguar plant in Brown’s Lane with a projected loss of 1150 jobs. From the December issue of Socialist Appeal.
Bosses put Irish postal workers with their backs to the wall The ongoing conflict between the management of An Post (the Irish state run postal services) and the Communication Worker’s Union (CWU) may end up with 1,450 workers losing their jobs, the reduction of workers’ incomes, and the subcontracting of deliveries of mail in rural areas, if the CWU doesn’t stand up against these attacks.
Social unrest in Germany - only the tip of the iceberg Germany has entered a new period of unrest and instability as the Schröder government is pursuing attack after attack - on the welfare state, the working class, the unemployed, the poor, the sick, old age pensioners. This is against the interests of the working class, the majority of the population and especially those who secured a narrow re-election of chancellor Gerhard Schröder's coalition just 14 months ago.
Scottish Socialist Party in deep crisis The Scottish Socialist Party, once heralded by many on the left as the most successful socialist experiment in recent times, is in the process of tearing itself apart after sacking its founder and leader Tommy Sheridan as the party’s convener. Officially he is now simply a “backbencher”.
British MPs condemn murder of Venezuelan prosecutor Danilo Anderson The left wing Labour MP John McDonnell has tabled an Early Day Motion condemning the murder of Danilo Anderson, the Venezuelan prosecutor investigating the April 2002 military coup against president Chavez.
Naomi Klein speaks to an audience of anti-war activists in London In her usual style Naomi Klein provided many interesting facts, but failed to reach any concrete conclusions of how we can or whether it is actually necessary to abolish capitalism. In essence she would like another kind of capitalism, a more humane capitalism, which of course is utterly utopian.
Marxists and the conflict in the Ukraine: Both sides are reactionary! Fight for workers' alternative The conflict in the Ukraine is being presented by the Western media as one of democracy versus authoritarianism. In reality it is a struggle between two capitalist camps, one that favours closer links to Russia, the other that wants closer links with Western imperialism. Neither of them offer a solution to the problems of the Ukrainian workers.
The Netherlands: The end of the “polder” model Up until recently the Netherlands had served as a model of social and racial harmony to the rest of the world, a country to emulate or to learn from. This has radically changed with rapid shifts in the fortunes of the main political parties and, more importantly, huge mobilisations of the Dutch working class. Erik Demeester explains how and why.
XII National Congress of the Spanish Students' Union On November 12, 13 and 14, the XII National Congress of the Spanish Students’ Union took place in Madrid. There were 130 students present from all over the country. The Congress was extremely useful in strengthening the organization and there were lively debates which allowed the Union to ideologically arm themselves to face the events that will take place in the next period.
Fifteen years after the Berlin Wall was opened: How the East was Won Fifteen years ago on November 9th 1989, the Berlin Wall fell. Within a year East and West Germany were reunited. But unification was carried out on a capitalist basis. Thus it was a counterrevolution. But the movement in the East did not start with that aim in mind, far from it! The early movement had many elements of the political revolution, i.e. a movement against the bureaucracy and for genuine socialism. Here we provide an analysis and also material produced by the Marxists in East Germany at the time.
Russian politics after Beslan – something brewing down below In the aftermath of the Beslan massacre President Putin has used the pretext of the fight against terrorism to abolish the direct election of national deputies and regional governors. He has also introduced other measures which are an attempt to gain tight control over the state apparatus. But he is doing this as a growing disillusionments spreads among the Russian masses. At the moment this remains below the surface, but it must emerge in one form or another at some point.
Britain: PCS challenge government attack Following the announcement of an unprecedented offensive by the government on its own employees in the civil service the PCS (Public and Commercial Services Union) is mobilising its entire membership to take the government head on.
Britain: Civil servants strike to defend jobs and services The Blair government is putting the lessons it has learned in Iraq to good use in attacking workers at home. They have unleashed a campaign of shock and awe against their own workers in the civil service.
Opel has a future – in the hands of the workers The German comrades of Der Funke issued a leaflet that was given out at the Opel factory in Bochum explaining the need for common ownership of the factories. Read the leaflet in English.
Wildcat strike at the Bochum Opel plant (Germany) - Six days that shook General Motors The wildcat strike at the Opel plant in Bochum, Germany lasted for six days. It reflected the growing militant mood of the German workers. The situation at Opel also highlights the serious difficulties German capitalism is facing. And yet suddenly after six days the workers voted to go back to work. What was behind this decision? Hans-Gerd Öfinger explains how the trade union officialdom did everything in their power to bring the strike to an end.
