|
By Alan Woods
|
|
Friday, 11 January 2008 |
As the New Year begins Alan Woods comments on the state of world
affairs, highlighting the impasse facing humanity, a direct consequence of
capitalism in its phase of senile decay. At the root of the present world
turmoil is private property of the means of production, a system based on greed
for profit. In the next period the workers of the world are faced with the task
of removing the system.
|
|
|
By Terry McPartlan
|
|
Friday, 11 January 2008 |
 The press have carried a number of stories over recent weeks about the
discovery of planets outside of our solar system. But what is the
reality behind these "new earths"? Are we about to "boldly go where no
one has gone before" or is it a bit more complicated than that?
|
|
|
By Ewan Gibbs
|
|
Thursday, 10 January 2008 |
 Students and staff at Edinburgh schools and nurseries have learned of
the chilling news that their places of learning and work places may be
under threat once again. The Edinburgh Evening News reported on the
thirtieth of October that Edinburgh Council intended to reopen a
consultation process that would look into the future of schools. It
also listed seventeen schools and nurseries that it expected to be
earmarked for the process.
|
|
|
By Bert Schouwenburg GMB London Region
|
|
Thursday, 10 January 2008 |
 We publish a response from the GMB to an article in the Guardian that implied multinational banana companies in Latin America supported the principle of free collective bargaining. It exposes the collaboration between union tops and companies such as Del Monte, who have carried out a campaign of intimidation against organised workers. The dominance of British supermarkets in the area is identified as a key element in this campaign.
|
|
|
By Adam Pal
|
|
Wednesday, 09 January 2008 |
We have just received this extremely important report from
the comrades in Pakistan. It indicates that the assassination of Benazir Bhutto
has had the effect of a catalyst that is impelling the masses onto the
revolutionary road. The situation is now beginning to resemble that of tsarist
Russia after Bloody Sunday in 1905. The Pakistan Marxists of The Struggle
are playing a leading role in the mass movement, as this report clearly shows.
|
|
|
By Rob Sewell
|
|
Wednesday, 09 January 2008 |
 The "Respect" party
was initially set up by the Socialist Workers Party and ex-Labour MP George Galloway. They were hoping to capitalise on the success
of the anti-war movement and offer a political alternative to New Labour. We
predicted at the time that this venture would end in failure. The whole of the last century has been littered with the
wreckage of sectarian groups hoping to replace the traditional organisations of
the working class.
|
|
|
By a BECTU member
|
|
Wednesday, 09 January 2008 |
 The Writers Guild of America strike continues in the US, winning
an important victory with the cancellation of the Golden Globe awards show through union solidarity. The strike shows that it is not only industrial workers who are able to organise effectively. How this strike unfolds will have implications for unions throughout the US.
|
|
|
By Mick Brooks
|
|
Tuesday, 08 January 2008 |
Supermarkets can sell cheaper than small independent shops
because they can buy cheaper. They use their bullying power over small farmers
and other producers. The Competition Commission has been deliberating for
eighteen months. They have decided that the four big supermarket chains
(Sainsbury's, Tesco, ASDA and Morrisons) that sell three quarters of all food
in the country offer us all plenty of 'choice'.
|
|
|
By Richard Vivian
|
|
Tuesday, 08 January 2008 |
 Tommy Sheridan
is facing yet another fight in his colourful career as Scotland's best known
socialist. He has been arrested on suspicion of perjury arising from his widely
publicised defamation case against the News of the World for which he was
awarded £200,000 damages.
|
|
|
By Ian Aylett
|
|
Monday, 07 January 2008 |
 Despite an
international conspiracy of silence, as we have reported over the past year
Egypt has seen a major upturn in the class struggle. Workers have shown
fantastic bravery and made enormous sacrifices. The working
class, especially the massive Egyptian workers movement, is the key to the
future of the Middle East, not the so-called war on terror or the blind alley of
Islamism.
|
|
|
By Rob Sewell
|
|
Monday, 07 January 2008 |
 Towards the end of last year we witnessed the collapse of another
attempt to create a party to the left of Labour. The RESPECT party,
which was founded in 2004, was the latest effort to establish an
electoral alternative to Labour. It succeeded in winning an MP, George
Galloway, as well as a few dozen councillors up and down the country. However, the
whole project soon went pear-shaped.
|
|
|
By Alan Woods
|
|
Friday, 04 January 2008 |
 We publish a talk by Alan Woods on the Marxist's attitude to individual terrorism, given at the Socialist Appeal day school in London late last year. Of particular relevance following the assasination of Benazir Bhutto in Pakistan recently, socialism must oppose acts of indiviual terrorism - 'liberals with bombs' - because of the reactionary role they play in the labour movement.
|
|
|
By Barbara Humphries
|
|
Friday, 04 January 2008 |
 Did Blair and his right wing policies make Labour
electable? The defeats of the 1980s led many activists to despair. The claim that dominance of the Party by the left was
responsible for the defeats needs careful scrutiny, as it is completely
at odds with the facts. Like all other aspects of history, the story of
the 1980s has been written by the so-called victors and what actually
happened needs to be investigated.
|
|
|
By David Brandon
|
|
Thursday, 03 January 2008 |
 When socialists today revisit past struggles and movements, we do not
do so for nostalgic or romantic reasons. There is a need to study
historical events in order to be aware of the battles of our ancestors;
to take pride in those struggles, but, most of all, to arm ourselves
with insight and examine the lessons. The Peasants Revolt of 1381-82
was a fight for social justice and the very first time that a large
section of English people fought for the idea that 'all men are equal'.
This demonstration of people power struck fear into the hearts of the
ruling class.
|
|
