Railway workers strike in Austria Today the railworkers' union, GdE organised a 12-hour strike against the plans of the right-wing government to split the Austrian Railways into different units which has to be seen as a major step towards the privatisation of the railways.
Why we are launching the Labour Representation Committee Socialist Appeal's deputy editor, Rob Sewell, interviewed Mick Rix, the former general secretary of ASLEF and instigator of the new Labour Representation Committee, about his views and prospects of reclaiming the Labour Party.
[Ted Grant] The one weakness of the outstanding Scottish Marxist John Maclean John Maclean was undoubtedly a class fighter and Marxist, but he made one important mistake, and that was to succumb to the idea that a socialist revolution would be possible in Scotland, separate from the rest of Britain. Ted Grant briefly comments on why this was.
The Challenge to Blairism Strikes, demonstrations, political crises, Britain looks a lot different now than it did when Blair and co came to power. For us the task of the hour is to give active support to workers struggling to defend jobs and services and carry that fight over into the Labour Party, into a fight for socialist policies.
Greece: it is time for struggle! In the recent period Greece has been gripped by a wave of strikes involving ever wider layers.The PASOK government is facing more and more opposition as the effects of its austerity measures bite into the living standards of ordinary working people. This has opened up the prospect of the PASOK possibly losing the next general election.
T&G in UK and Ireland takes an international recruiting initiative In response to the way globalisation affects road transport workers the T&G in the UK and Ireland is launching a pilot project to recruit non-English speaking international drivers, whose pay and conditions are inferior to both EU and UK wages and conditions.
John Maclean - agitator, organiser, educator This month marks the 80th anniversary of the death of John Maclean. Maclean was an outstanding figure. He was Britain's most famous Marxist propagandist and revolutionary organiser. At great personal cost, he hailed the Bolshevik Revolution and fought hard to promote the world socialist revolution. The following article gives a glimpse of his life, commitment and contribution to the workers' movement.
Swiss railways manager defends centralised planning – Blair could learn something from him A recent interview in the British newspaper, The Times, with a Swiss rail manager underlines the disastrous effects of privatisation on the British rail system. He points out that “You have to have a central command and control”. Blair should listen.
Italian working class on the move again: One and a half million workers take to the streets during last week’s 4-hour general strike On Friday October 24, about ten million workers took part in the 4-hour general strike called by the trade union federations Cgil-Cisl-Uil in opposition to the Berlusconi government’s proposed counter-reform of the pension system. According to the trade union leaders, 1.5 million people participated in over 100 demonstrations throughout the whole of Italy.
Denmark: thousands of students take to the streets against cuts in education On September 10 thousands of Danish students took to the streets to demonstrate against the education policies of the conservative government, which is reducing the quality of education. The national secondary school students’ union (DGS), had called for a one-day strike against the cuts in secondary school education.
Overturn the expulsion of Galloway now! George Galloway, the Labour MP for Glasgow Kelvin, was yesterday expelled from the Labour Party by the three-member National Constitutional Committee, which is in reality a kangaroo court designed to simply rubber stamp whatever Blair wants. George Galloway took a clear stand against the war in Iraq. This is the reason why he was expelled. They had tried to remove him on the basis of falsified documents “found in Iraq”. As they were not able to remove him with these, they decided another road.
Alan Woods speaks in Petersburg In the last week of September, the editor of marxist.com, Alan Woods participated in a speaking tour organised by the supporters of the Russian Marxist tendency, the Rabochaya Demokratiya (Workers’ Democracy) group.
The revolutionary dialectic of Republicanism - An Open Letter to Irish Republicans The Irish Republican movement has been struggling for a united Ireland for decades. Today it is no nearer this objective than when it was founded. Marxists understand that a united Ireland can only be achieved on a socialist basis. So long as capitalism dominates Ireland there will be division and strife. Therefore it is time to take stock of the past of the Republican movement and to draw a balance sheet. Only by such means can we build the revolutionary movement urgently needed to prevent a further descent into sectarian chaos and achieve instead the historic task of overthrowing capitalism and constructing the 32 county Socialist Republic.
Pierre Broue and the Trotsky Project: "The youth must rediscover the writings of Trotsky" Pierre Broue is internationally renowned for his tireless work as a historian of the international revolutionary movement. His histories of the Bolshevik Party, the Communist International, the Spanish Revolution, and above all his recent Life of Trotsky have been widely admired. His latest book on the Left Opposition is yet another major contribution by this outstanding Trotskyist writer, who has dedicated his life to the fight for international socialism.
The role of the masses during the October 1993 Moscow rebellion Ten years ago this month in Moscow (on October 3 and 4) the “White House” (as the Russian Parliament building is known) was bombed, and hundreds of people were killed. This was the civil war between President Yeltsin and the Parliament (the Supreme Soviet of the Russian Federation). Today the Russian authorities prefer not to remember those events, not just because of the bloody nature of what happened, but also because what happened back in 1993 questioned the legitimacy of the present Russian system.
