History
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Friday, 15 April 2005 |
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The media have just finished celebrating the 60th anniversary of the
end of the Second World War. We would like to remind our readers of an
important event that took place around the same time, the Neath
by-election on 15th May 1945. For the first time in Britain, a
Trotskyist party, the Revolutionary Communist Party, contested a
Parliamentary election. The seat was solid Labour, but the vote for the
RCP was significant. Even more significant was the way the party was
able to link up with the most advanced workers and youth. |
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Friday, 28 January 2005 |
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We republish this article on the referundum on the EEC Common Market,
written by Ted Grant in 1979. The article explains that the struggle
against a capitalist common market needs to be linked to the struggle
of changing society on socialist lines, as the struggle against the
European Constitution today must also be. |
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Friday, 28 January 2005 |
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We publish this article written by Ted Grant just before the general
election in Britian in 1979. The article demonstrates that the Tory
policies were doomed to failure because of the sickness of British
capitalism and that the reforms offered in the Labour Party programme
were unattainable on a capitalist basis. The only way to carry out
these reforms and take society forward was the nationalisation of the
means of production, and the creation of a planned economy under the
democratic control of the working class. |
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Monday, 08 March 2004 |
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The key role played by women in the 1984-1985 miners' strike has been an
inspiration to working class women everywhere. Many other issues affecting women
have yet to be fought. Cuts in education, housing, transport and health just to
name a few. Originally published in 1986. |
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By Phil Mitchinson
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Friday, 05 March 2004 |
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Twenty years ago on March 5, 1984 the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM)
embarked upon the most important class struggle in Britain since the general
strike of 1926. A ferocious battle ensued. Billions of pounds were spent by the
ruling class to crush the miners’ militancy. More than ten thousand miners
were arrested; two were killed on the picket lines and countless others injured.
Decades of so-called consensus were obliterated and the real and ugly face of
British capitalism was exposed for all to see.
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By Phil Mitchinson
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Friday, 05 March 2004 |
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An essential lesson to draw from the miners’ strike is the vital role of
leadership. The miners’ leaders stood head and shoulders above the majority of
British trade union leaders. The leaders of the NUM were a source of
inspiration. At the same time these leaders were inspired by the courage and
determination of the rank and file miners, of their wives and their communities.
Unfortunately courage alone is not enough to win such titanic battles. It must
be accompanied by correct tactics and strategy.
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Thursday, 04 March 2004 |
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An interview with Nigel Pearce, a member of the National Executive of the
National Union of Mineworkers and working miner. He explains how the strike
developed and the turning point that it represented for labour relations in
Britain. In spite of the defeat he says, "We were right to fight, we had a
duty to fight, and I'm proud to have fought, and I'm proud of all those I fought
alongside." |
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Monday, 26 January 2004 |
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On Saturday 24 January, the British TV channel, Channel Four, broadcast a
documentary about the miners’ strike. Anyone who tuned in looking for an
objective account of the strike was doomed to be disappointed. The purpose of
this documentary was not to clarify what happened but to blacken the memory of
the striking miners and mislead the present generation by a combination of lies,
falsifications and trivialisation. Against all the lies, distortion and venom,
the Marxists will defend the memory of this epic struggle and pass on the great
lessons to the new generation that is destined to carry on the fight to a
victorious conclusion. |
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Monday, 03 November 2003 |
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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. |
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Saturday, 01 November 2003 |
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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. |
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Friday, 19 April 2002 |
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The British working class has a history of swinging from industrial action to political action. This is as true today as it was in the 1930s. This article looks at the great struggles of 1929-31, when the polical leaders of the workers' parties failed to respond to the tasks required of them, leading to the defeat of the workers and the return to power of the Tories. |
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Tuesday, 02 April 2002 |
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This is the complete text of a pamphlet written by Ted Grant in May 1982. |
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By Phil Mitchinson
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Tuesday, 02 April 2002 |
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On March 30, 1982, in response to Argentina's deepening economic
crisis, and the repression of General Galtieri's military-police
dictatorship, the workers had taken to the streets of Buenos Aires. The
regime was staring overthrow in the face. It responded by starting a
war, one of the principal aims of which was to distract the attention
of the masses. In all wars the policy and analysis of every
organisation is put to the test. The analysis made by the Marxists, on
the other hand, remains as valid as when it was written. Unlike other
tendencies we can reproduce everything we wrote twenty years ago
without changing a single word.
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By Phil Mitchinson
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Tuesday, 01 May 2001 |
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75 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?
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