Let’s get a million on streets then a 24 hr gen strike

October the 20th is hard to gauge opinion. In many ways you could argue it could be the biggest demonstration this country has ever seen but I do not get the same feeling that there was last year on march 26th. In some areas of the country unions are building very well for the demo in other areas there is absolutely nothing at all. So until the day it’s very hard to tell if it will be big or not. We have to be aware to the fact that it could suddenly take off and many from even outside the trade unions could come down on the day after all there is 15 million who live in and around London who could in theory come on the demonstration. Even if as we suspect it isn’t as big as people are saying it will still be big in the hundreds of thousands of people voicing their opposition to the con-dem government and austerity policies which are the hall mark of this government and capitalism too. The TUC demonstration will see the working class return to mass struggle for the first time since the summer and we will despite everything will be building for the biggest turn out and putting in place the means to get our slogans across. This year we will be using the mass demonstration to promote the slogan of a 24 hour general strike of the public and private sectors. The TUC voted for this at their conference a few weeks back and will now have to consider the practicalities. This will mean nothing if we sit back and let them get on with it. Putting the idea out there in the labour movement winning workers to the idea we can start to gain support for the next step should be mass co-ordinate strike action following the 20th Clearly the TUC bureaucrats will want us to just march and then go home but we want this demonstration to be just the start of sustained co-ordinate action on the industrial front including communities, workplaces, universities, anti cuts groups and the unions. We have the power to bring this government down and to end austerity but we must prepare for what happens next. The socialist party and the NSSN will have a big presence on the demonstration having many stalls and our own stage an alternative to the TUC main stage in Hyde Park. Just like last year we will not be marching for a parade up and down but looking to win workers to an alternative to join with us to change society and join the fight back. A mass demonstration will not be enough, our calls for a 24 hour general strike will not be enough but it’s a start, a start which has been needed for some time. Workers need confidence to fight back and we aim to inject them with that confidence. If the demonstration isn’t so big doing not let the TUC say to us workers are not prepared to fight. We know this is not true but the TUC wish to defuse the movement by marching us into the ground. We will march but let this not be the end in itself. The TUC must not shirk its responsibility now millions of workers futures are on the line if it cowers now we could see a huge defeat putting us back decades in the struggle. So see you all in London join the socialist party and get involved in the NSSN. March for an alternative Strike together for change! Prepare for an explosive autumn of struggle.