Socialist Appeal 162 out now!

162-coversmall.jpg A new issue of Socialist Appeal is out. Read more about it or get your copy now before it is too late.
 

Economy in crisis

Profits, crisis and credit crunch: can 1929 happen again?

Where is the working class going? (part 1) Print E-mail
By Terry McPartlan   
Wednesday, 14 May 2008
work-or-riot.jpgThe class struggle arises from the conditions of life of human beings. It's a struggle of living forces; there are complicated and complicating factors. Different industries have different conditions; there are different traditions of struggle, different forms of organisation, different political conditions over time and different leaders.
 
UNISON rejects pay restraint Print E-mail
By UNISON Socialist Appeal Supporters   
Wednesday, 14 May 2008
unison.jpgThe UNISON Local Government Service Group Executive has voted to reject the employers’ 2.45% pay offer. The outcome of the consultative ballot was 45% to accept and 55% for rejection. The issue will now go to the Industrial Action Committee with a proposed timetable of a ballot beginning 27th May and strike action to commence on 8th July.
 
Arms expenditure and the 'Permanent Arms Economy' Print E-mail
By Mick Brooks in 1989, Revised 2007   
Wednesday, 14 May 2008
b2-stealth-bomber.jpg Arms spending is vast. In 2008 global arms spending will be a record £561 billion. This is seventeen times as much as the world spends on famine relief (£32 billion). Obviously spending so much money has its effect on the world economy. A central plank of the theory of the Socialist Workers’ Party is the theory of the permanent arms economy. Mick Brooks looks at the view of classical Marxism on arms spending and assesses the SWP’s theory.
 
Audio File: 1968 - Year of Revolution (part 1) Print E-mail
By Fred Weston   
Tuesday, 13 May 2008
1968-day-school.jpgForty years ago the world was experiencing upheaval on a world scale that hadn't been seen for a generation. In the US opposition to the war in Vietnam gathered momentum, as it did in Britain. In Pakistan revolution was on the order of the day, and in Czechoslovakia we saw the Prague spring and Soviet Invasion. In May there was the glorious rising of the French working class, that saw 10 million workers down tools in a general strike.
 
The Tolpuddle Martyrs: trade unions and the state Print E-mail
By David Brandon   
Tuesday, 13 May 2008

tolpuddle-martyrs-1.jpg

A name etched into the collective consciousness of the labour and trade union movement is that of the 'Tolpuddle Martyrs', a case which clearly demonstrated that the State is not a neutral instrument, but the means by which the ruling class will use peaceful means by preference and violence if necessary in order to maintain its power. So who were the Tolpuddle Martyrs, what did they do and what lessons do they have for socialists in the twenty-first century?

 
Crisis - is Britain immune? Print E-mail
By Eric Hollies   
Monday, 12 May 2008
britanniaimmune.jpgThere's an old saying that, 'When the USA sneezes, we all catch cold.' Alistair Darling and Gordon Brown know that the USA is already in recession. They know that the financial crisis is causing the hatches to be battened down all over the world. But, they say, Britain is immune. They've even commissioned a Treasury report to try to prove it. Don't believe them. The chill winds of economic crisis are coming our way. The parallels between the US, which is already in the mire, and the UK are stark.
 
Jacqui the Child Catcher Print E-mail
By Anthony Healy   
Monday, 12 May 2008
jsmith-childcatcher.jpgThe latest attempt to criminalise young people by "framing and shaming" them and "filming and repeatedly stopping identified persistent offenders on problem estates" owes more to the Child Catcher in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang than it does to evidence based practice. But what are the real reasons that "Youth Disorder" takes place and what works?
 
Referendum on independence for Scotland – where do we stand? Print E-mail
By Scottish Socialist Appeal Supporters   
Thursday, 08 May 2008
scots.jpg Wendy Alexander, leader of the Labour Party in Scotland has declared that the SNP Government should “bring on” a referendum on independence and has gone as far as to not rule out a bill calling for a poll earlier than the Nationalist administration’s proposed date of 2010. This has resulted in the issue of Scottish independence making a large impact on the national media for the first time since the SNP’s victory in the Scottish Parliament elections in May of last year. It has also unleashed a potential Pandora’s Box that is threatening to divide the Labour leadership in Scotland from the national leadership.
 
British Library Staff Vote to Accept Pay Offer Print E-mail
By Michael Docherty   
Thursday, 08 May 2008
library_1.jpgStaff at the British Library (BL) have voted to accept a 3 year pay offer that is significantly below the cost of living. The trade unions (PCS & Prospect) finally received an offer from BL management after a delay of 9 months, due entirely to management's decision to postpone all pay talks until the outcome of the government's Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR).
 
Riots all over world as food prices soar Print E-mail
By Andy Viner   
Thursday, 08 May 2008
food-riots-bengal.jpgFood prices have gone up worldwide by 75% since 2005. Since Gordon Brown became prime minister (not that long ago) milk prices have gone up by 17%, eggs by 28% and bread by 34% in this country. Other items have shown even sharper increases. There's no sign of any letup. In the same way as we seem to have seen the end of cheap oil, this could be the last of cheap food.
 
Defend a woman's right to choose Print E-mail
By Rachel Heemskerk   
Wednesday, 07 May 2008
pro-choice.jpgThe 27th April marked the 40th anniversary of the coming into force of the 1967 Abortion Act that led to the saving of thousands of women’s lives. The Act allowed women in England, Wales and Scotland access to safe abortion on the NHS in a government approved hospital when 2 doctors agreed to the procedure within the first 24 weeks of pregnancy. We must not turn the clock back by criminalising women who find themselves in the position of needing an abortion. We must join the lobby of parliament today to protect the right to choose and not allow religious bigotry to put women back to the unsafe abortions of the pre 1967 Abortion Act where thousands of women put their health and even their lives in danger.
 
Local election results: New Labour trounced and the Sects go down the pan Print E-mail
By Rob Sewell   
Wednesday, 07 May 2008
peoples-front-of-judea.jpgFollowing on from the disastrous election results of New Labour last Thursday, those left groupings who were hoping to capitalise on Labour's difficulties also found themselves in a mess. As Ted Grant explained, the working class always ignore the sects and in times of struggle always turn towards their traditional organisations.
 
The housing tsunami Print E-mail
By Michael Roberts   
Wednesday, 07 May 2008
tsunami.jpgBritain’s second-largest bank, the Royal Bank of Scotland, which owns NatWest and has recently bought Holland’s largest bank ABN-Amro, has announced that it lost £4bn in the last three months as a result of the world’s great credit crunch. RBS says that it must write off £5bn in loans and debt securities that it had on its books as worthless. And it now must ask existing shareholders to stump up more money – as much as £10bn – to buy new shares in the bank so it does not go bust.
 
New Labour meltdown Print E-mail
By Socialist Appeal   
Tuesday, 06 May 2008
raiders.jpgThe Tory victories in the local elections on May 1st mean that the Conservatives will almost certainly go on to win the next general election and form the next government. Theoretically the Labour leadership could turn the situation round, but they seem incapable of changing their disastrous course. New Labour is in meltdown.
 
Islands of Prosperity? Print E-mail
By Socialist Appeal Reporters   
Tuesday, 06 May 2008
 
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Forthcoming Events

Wed, May 21st, @6:00pm - 08:00PM
London: Film Screening -
Sat, May 24th, @11:00am - 04:30PM
London: Beyond the Market Economy - socialist solutions for the economic crisis

Audio

tianamen_square_1989small.jpgThe Marxist conception of History

The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggle. That is all written history. For the majority of human history man did not live in a class society. But with the development of technique came the production of a surplus of wealth over and above the means of subsistence. This produced a flourish of art, science and philosophy as part of the population was freed for the first time from the toil of everyday labour. Mick Brooks talks on the application of Marxist philosophy to the development of society.

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