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By Michael Docherty
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Thursday, 08 May 2008 |
 Staff 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).
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By Andy Viner
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Thursday, 08 May 2008 |
 Food 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.
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By Rachel Heemskerk
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Wednesday, 07 May 2008 |
 The 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.
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By Rob Sewell
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Wednesday, 07 May 2008 |
 Following 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.
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By Michael Roberts
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Wednesday, 07 May 2008 |
 Britain’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.
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By Socialist Appeal
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Tuesday, 06 May 2008 |
 The 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.
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By Socialist Appeal Reporters
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Tuesday, 06 May 2008 |
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By Rob Sewell
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Friday, 02 May 2008 |
Lenin is probably the most slandered individual of the 20th century. As
leader of the Russian Revolution of 1917, he has been attacked by
bourgeois academics, Tory, Labour and Liberal politicians as well as
Establishment figures internationally. His ideas have been distorted
and twisted. His actions have been vilified. So what did Lenin
really stand for? And are his ideas still relevant today?
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By Will Roche
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Friday, 02 May 2008 |
 A
thousand people gathered in London on Thursday’s 2008 May Day to march through
the streets of the capital in celebration of International Workers' Day. In
light of recent and threatening developments in Bolivia, different campaigns came together
to organise a joint meeting after the demonstration. The
energy and enthusiasm of the meeting boldly reflected the impact that Latin
American revolutions are having on people here in Britain demonstrating that the May Day spirit
is very much alive and kicking.
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By Heiko Khoo
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Friday, 02 May 2008 |
 On 4th May 1919 Chinese people marched to end backwardness in China and
humiliation by the imperialist powers. They were led by Chen Duxiu. Chen realised that the modernisation of China could only be carried out by
the working class and founded the Chinese Communist Party in 1921. For a
hundred years the Chinese have engeged on the long and tortuous march to
modernisation.
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By Rob Lyon
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Thursday, 01 May 2008 |
Present-day economic
conditions demand that the working class fight back. The interests of the
ruling class and the working class are irreconcilable. The bourgeois are
screaming, "more cuts, more cuts" and the workers shout back
"Enough is enough". The stage has been set for a "Hot
Spring" in Europe.
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By Socialist Appeal
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Thursday, 01 May 2008 |
Socialist Appeal 162 is out now!
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By Socialist Appeal
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Thursday, 01 May 2008 |
 “While many are worrying about filling their gas tanks, many
others around the world are struggling to fill their stomachs,” says Robert Zoellick, head of the World Bank. We are
confronted with actual starvation. He warns that the present food crisis will
give us “seven lost years.” It means “lost learning potential for
children...stunted intellectual and physical growth.” His colleague at the IMF,
Dominique Strauss Kahn, concurs. He foresees that “hundreds of thousands of
people will be starving.”
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By Darrall Cozens, UCU, Coventry Labour Party
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Wednesday, 30 April 2008 |
 On Thursday April 24th teachers, lecturers and
public sector workers staged a one-day strike. Teachers were out on official strike
for the first time for 21 years. They were joined by Further Education (FE)
lecturers organised in UCU and public sector workers from the PCS union who are
faced with a government imposed 2% pay rise limit. At last workers in the
public sector were taking organised, coordinated and united strike action
against pay offers that represent a cut in their standard of living.
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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.
