Let’s strike together

There are a growing number of reasons for workers to take strike action in the UK. Be it in the Royal Mail with the serious threat of privatisation or teachers facing performance related pay or even council staff facing cuts to jobs and pay and let’s not forget the 1% public sector pay freeze too. There are many reasons why a 24 hour general strike could be right for many. It is time to start to rebuild the coalition of the willing much like in November of 2011 where we had nearly 3 millin workers taking strike action we need to co ordinate ballots again and build for a national day of action in the autumn I feel. 'Cut, cut, cut' go the Con-Dems as they attack pay, welfare, jobs, services and pensions. No wonder the mood for action against the government's austerity agenda is growing. Teachers in the NUT and NASUWT unions have called a rolling programme of strikes, culminating in a national strike in the autumn. Lecturers in the UCU are consulting about strike action over pay. CWU members are preparing to fight the privatisation of Royal Mail. PCS civil service union members are discussing further action to defend pay, jobs and working conditions. FBU members are balloting over pensions. Unison members in Scottish local authorities are balloting on pay. All workers have a reason to strike - let's do it together. Come to the lobby of the TUC to demand a 24-hour general strike. The Con-Dem government has announced a stock market floatation of the majority of Royal Mail within nine months, with the rest to follow at a later date. This is the biggest potential privatisation since the dark days of Thatcher. It threatens a national service which has been in public ownership for 479 years. It puts the universal service under threat, almost certainly means higher postage rates, and is a major threat to postal workers' jobs and working conditions. In its recent consultative ballot CWU members voted by 96% in opposition to privatisation on a 74% turnout. The union must now capture this mood. The CWU has announced that it will have no choice but to proceed with an industrial action ballot if it can't get a watertight agreement on protection of its existing national agreements. This is a fight which will decide what type of postal service we will have. One to serve the needs of the people or one to serve the needs of greedy investors only looking for a profit. Time for united action now! The CWU should call for all the unions under attack to build united action. There is no time to waste. A 24-hour general strike would be a serious blow to all the government's cuts and privatisation plans. Gary Clark, assistant branch secretary, Scotland No.2 branch CWU Teachers will build on the success of recent strike action in the North West, with 90% of schools closed or partly closed. Further action has been called by the NUT and NASUWT. In the week commencing 30 September there will be strikes in the Eastern, East Midlands, West Midlands, Yorkshire and Humberside regions and in some of Wales. In the week commencing 14 October there will be strikes in the North East, London, South East, South West regions and in the rest of Wales. And there will be a one-day national strike before the end of the autumn term. "NUT and NASUWT members have every reason to build the strongest possible action to defend our pay, conditions and education. However, we are not the only unions looking to oppose attacks on our livelihoods and our services. Instead of striking separately, wouldn't it be better for unions to strike together and have the biggest possible impact?" Martin Powell-Davies, member of the NUT executive Lobby the TUC conference - For a 24-hour general strike! Bournemouth, 8 September 2013 12.30-3pm, Hardy Suite, Hermitage Hotel, Exeter Road (opposite Bournemouth International Centre) National Shop Stewards Network (NSSN) rally followed by a lobby of Congress. Speakers include: RMT general secretary Bob Crow, PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka and POA general secretary Steve Gillan. Transport details email info@shopstewards.net For more information and a model resolution on the lobby see: www.shopstewards.net

7th Annual NSSN Conference: Building the rank and file, planning the way forward

From http://shopstewards.net/2013/06/7th-annual-nssn-conference-building-the-rank-and-file-planning-the-way-forward/?fb_source=pubv1 There may well have been a pause in struggle on the part of some trade union leaders, but there has been no pause in the struggle for ordinary trade unionists and campaigners. This was the key point made by Linda Taaffe, Secretary of the National Shop Stewards Network (NSSN) in her opening address to the NSSN’s seventh annual conference this Saturday. The NSSN conference successfully brought together the key activists from these struggles in a packed hall at the Camden Centre. Among the many topics for discussion and debate was the task of ending the ‘pause’ in struggle at the top of the trade union movement and making the demand of a 24 hour general strike a reality. This discussion was given practical form by the action plan introduced by NSSN Chair Rob Williams and passed unanimously by the delegates present. The key points of the action plan were an NSSN rally at the TUC Congress at Bournemouth on September 8th followed by a lobby of Congress. In the run up to the Congress NSSN supporters were encouraged to pass motions in support of a 24 hour general strike in their shop stewards committees, union branches, anti-cuts group and trades councils. Each region of the NSSN was encouraged to hold regional meetings to build for the lobby of the TUC and popularize the call for a general strike. Finally the action plan pledged to energetically build the TUC demonstration outside the Tory Party Conference in Manchester on September 29th and organise an NSSN contingent on it which will march behind a banner calling for a 24 hour general strike. In moving the action plan, Rob Williams said it was a scandal that almost 12 months on from the TUC congress voting for the Prison Officers Association (POA) motion calling on the TUC to consider the practicalities of a General Strike, precious little action in that direction had occurred. In his speech Rob made clear that the NSSN supports all tactics in the struggle but the NSSN was unapologetic in its view that mass strike action led by the trade unions must be central in defeating the austerity drive of the government and the employers. In this way the mass organisations of the workers movement could draw behind them all of those whose lives have been ripped apart by cuts. In Brazil and Turkey the entry of ordinary people into struggle had shifted society to the left in those countries. This was a glimpse, he said, of the effect a 24 hour General strike could have in this country. Working people would feel their collective power and have their sights risen to what is possible when a mass movement confronts an intransigent government. The theme of the general strike was addressed by many of the platform speakers and by activists making contributions from the floor. John Reid, London Regional Secretary of the Rail, Maritime and Transport Union (RMT) brought fraternal greeting from his union. He told the audience that the RMT conference reaffirmed its support for the NSSN and for the idea of a General Strike. Steve Gillan, General Secretary of the POA and mover of the general strike motion at the TUC Congress pointed out that his union had taken more industrial action in the 19 years since their trade union rights were stripped from them by the then Tory government than in the previous 70 years. The willingness of the POA to defy anti-trade union laws in defence of their members is an example to other trade union leaders hesitating to throw their full support behind the general strike call. Donald McDougall, secretary of the Unite Honda branch in Swindon added his support to the campaign for a general strike in a short but powerful speech from the floor. Martin Powell-Davies, from the National Union of Teachers (NUT) national executive reported on the success of the joint strike action by teachers in the north-west on 27th June. Teachers from the NUT and NASUWT took strike action in 22 Local Authorities. This was an excellent start, Martin said, but he insisted it must be the beginning of wider action. The strike in the north-west suffered a complete media black out. A national strike by teachers would not be so easy for the media to ignore, he said. Martin ended his contribution with a point that applies to teachers and the general strike equally; “We need to be out together to win” The need for national action was made clear by Communication Workers Union General Secretary Billy Hayes. To big applause he informed conference 96% of his members had voted to oppose privatisation of Royal Mail. A vote to pursue a pay offer got 99% in favour. Billy remarked on the ‘coincidence’ that three days after the vote Royal Mail management approached the CWU to open up talks on a pay offer! The CWU now has a number of live industrial disputes around issue of privatisation. Chris Baugh, Assistant General Secretary of the Public and Commercial Services union (PCS) reviewed the course of industrial struggle since November 30th 2011. Commenting on the decision of the GMB and Unison to settle the pensions dispute he said it was, at best, a terrible tactical decision or at worst a deliberate attempt to knock the stuffing out of the November 30th action. PCS has been forced to soldier on alone in the interim. Chris pointed out that a variety of trade unions are preparing action in the autumn. To big applause he declared that all unions taking action should get in a room together and begin planning a coordinated response to austerity. The conference did not solely discuss the general strike though. There was also a wide range of speakers fresh from local industrial disputes or community campaigns. Michael Ologun, Unite shop steward from the Equinox Housing group related his workmates struggle against 25% cuts, including strike action. In a sober but positive balance sheet of the strike Michael made the point that their action had won a deferral of the cuts. Michael pointed out this action was in the context of a workplace that had been largely unorganised not too long ago. Using their success in organising in the workplace and standing up to management, Michael urged the conference to get active in their workplace, telling them; “You can make a difference”. Paddy Brennan, convenor at the Honda factory in Swindon brought greetings from his workplace. In his speech he thanked the NSSN for their support during his successful campaign against victimisation at the plant. Steve North, branch secretary of Salford Unison (like all members of that union, speaking in a personal capacity) asked conference to support upcoming industrial action by Future Directions staff in Rochdale over cuts to pay and terms and conditions. He also read out a message of support from Gearge Tapp. George is a longstanding supporter of the NSSN who was a steward at last year’s conference. For many years George has campaigned tirelessly against blacklisting in the building industry. During this campaigning George was hit by a car in a hit and run incident on a picket line and seriously injured. George’s long term recovery prevented him from attending this year’s conference but he was keen to ensure he had a presence in spirit at the conference. Supporters of the NSSN wish George a speedy recovery and a return to his vital role in the struggle against blacklisting. In a moving personal account Hannah Roche related the harsh conditions facing young workers in call centres Helen Pattison from the Youth Fight for Jobs initiative ‘Sick of Your Boss’ reported on the campaigns work in organising young people in the retail sector in cooperation with Unite. The conference had a distinctly international feel to it. The closing plenary had a speaker from the radical French trade union federation SUD. However it was events in Turkey that were at the centre of discussion at the conference. NSSN supporters Steve Hedley, Assistant General Secretary of the RMT and Martin Powell-Davies visited Taksim Square as solidarity delegates from their respective unions. In a commission chaired by Martin Powell-Davies, Steve Hedley gave an eye witness account of the brutal crackdown on protestors in Taksim and Gezi Park on 12th June. He was joined by Oktay Sahbaz from the Turkish and Kurdish group Day-Mer. Oktay also spoke at the conference closing plenary. Day-Mer has been one of the key organisers of the almost daily solidarity protests in London with the movement in Turkey. Oktay thanked the NSSN for their support and participation in those protests. Oktay gave a brief history of developments in Turkey that led up to the explosion in popular protest. In a wide ranging speech Oktay emphasised that the movement has helped to break down divisions between Turks, Kurds, Alevi’s and other minorities. Of particular importance has been a new sense of solidarity between ordinary Turkish workers and Kurdish people through their shared experience of state brutality. The recent shooting of Kurdish demonstrators has triggered an unprecedented wave of solidarity and protests in Turkish cities. The Bedroom Tax has provoked one of the biggest grass roots campaigns since the coming to power of the coalition. NSSN supporters have thrown themselves into organising anti-bedroom tax campaigns across the country. A special session on fighting the tax was well attended. Tommy Sheridan from the Scottish Anti-Bedroom Tax campaign gave a powerful speech on the inspiring work of the campaign north of the border. In his opening remarks Tommy articulated the feelings of many working class people on the bedroom tax, which explains opposition to the tax goes far beyond those affected. “I am not personally affected by the bedroom tax but I am offended by the bedroom tax”. Tommy condemned the hypocrisy of politicians who make the very poorest in society homeless while they live in tax payer funded mansions! To a standing ovation Tommy pledged that the campaign in Scotland would meet any threat to evict people with “a wall of human solidarity”. State harassment has been a feature of life for labour movement activists as long as the movement has existed. This has been underlined this year with revelations of state collusion with blacklisting and police infiltration of labour movement organisations. Chris Baugh reminded conference that the state is very well aware of the importance of shop stewards and activists in defending the working class. It is the reason, he said why the state spends so much time harassing and spying on them. This point was underlined by Lois Austin in her speech at the closing plenary. Lois is the former chair of Youth Against Racism in Europe, an organisation that played a key role in driving the BNP out of Tower Hamlets and fighting for justice for Steven Lawrence in the early 90’s. So effective was YRE that it attracted the attention of the security forces and was targeted by police spy Peter Francis. In her speech Lois rejected the idea that this was the work of ‘a few bad apples’. Spying on peaceful political organisations was state policy. She called for a wide ranging inquiry that included those who had been spied upon. If that was not forthcoming from the state, Lois said, those effected should look to set up their own inquiry. In contrast to other gatherings of activists the discussion at the NSSN conference was not just about organising the opposition to austerity, important as that is. There was also a number of important contributions on the alternative. Padraig Mulholland, President of the Northern Ireland Public Services Alliance (NIPSA) brought fraternal greetings from the NIPSA General Council. In his speech he said NIPSA was producing educational material for its members exploring the causes of the economic crisis. A central part of this material will explain that crisis is an organic part of the capitalist system. Steve Gillan responded to the governments plans to build a super prison by declaring; “Rather than spend £200 million on building a new super prison in Wales I’d rather see £200 million spent on helping to keep people out of prison” A perfect illustration of the different approach of the labour movement to that of the government and employers. A number of speakers explained that attacks on the conditions of working people were inevitable under capitalism. The struggle in the workplaces and the communities against day to day attacks are important but it must also include a political expression and a socialist alternative. This was a theme of the conference from the outset as John Reid reported that the RMT conference affirmed that it would use all its resources to campaign for the replacement of the capitalist system with a democratic socialist system. By the end of the conference delegates went away armed with the ideas and tactics to change our movement in order to change our society.

Last call out for the NSSN conference this sat in London; join the fightback against the cuts !

This Saturday following hot on the heels of the so called people’s assembly last Saturday militant anti cuts and trade unionists converge on London again to call for an end of talking and a demand for a start of action. Whilst we heard big speech after big speech on Saturday at the people’s assembly workers will be wondering waht happens next. The National Shops Stewards Network conference the 7th annual event to be held since its formation meets at a crucial time for workers facing attack after attack on their pay and conditions. It can be an excellent chance to hear from rank-and-file workers and anti cuts candidates fighting back in their workplaces and their communities too. Sharing stories and tactics of how we can fight back can boost other workers confidence to know that we are not just fighting alone and we can win. Why we're going to the NSSN conference: Coventry communications workers With thanks to Lenny Shail Seven delegates will be heading down to the National Shop Stewards Network (NSSN) conference from the two CWU branches in Coventry. Workers in Royal Mail, the post office, BT and other companies in the communications industry are facing unprecedented battles: against privatisation, bullying, sell-offs, sackings, union busting and performance management. At a Coventry CWU branch meeting of around 50 members there was unanimous anger at the union's telecommunications executive's recommendation of accepting BT's below-inflation pay offer and refusal to immediately take action against performance management. At car park meetings at the local postal depots, postal workers are demanding industrial action now to defeat privatisation of Royal Mail. Local NSSN supporters in these workplaces and branches have been key to organising such meetings, putting forward a correct programme and strategy and linking the need for action with the need for a 24-hour general strike against austerity. The continuing strikes in the Crown post offices has shown that action can force the employer to back down and that the public supports them. Workers in O2 were balloted for strike action to stop outsourcing to Capita, while workers in Virgin Media, Sky, Vodaphone and others continue to defy the union-busting tactics of management. The NSSN, particularly its conference on the 29 June, is key to building support for these day-to-day battles. ________________________________________ The 7th annual conference of the NSSN will take place on 29 June, 11am - 5pm in the Camden Centre, Judd Street, London WC1H 9JE The NSSN was initiated by the RMT transport union in 2006. Seven national unions - RMT, PCS, CWU, NUM, POA, NUJ, and BFAWU - are either affiliated to the NSSN or officially support it as well as many union branches, shop stewards' committees and trades councils. The conference will include main sessions on resisting the cuts and fighting the bedroom tax but also workshops on defending the NHS, organising in the workplace, housing, organising the unorganised, fighting blacklisting, Turkey, etc. It's open to everyone in the trade unions and community campaigners. Speakers include union general secretaries: Mark Serwotka, PCS, Billy Hayes, CWU and Steve Gillan, POA and Tommy Sheridan, Scottish Anti-Bedroom Tax Federation chair For more information contact: info@shopstewards.net www.shopstewards.net

A people’s assembly, how about a workers assembly?

This weekend sees the people’s assembly’s national centre piece in Westminster hall. While all forms of getting together of anti austerity advocates is to be welcome I am left wondering about this mass gathering of the great and the good. I think we should be rightly wary of such an event and should not be afraid to raise our criticisms already. We may be told oh well it hasn’t happened yet don’t write it off just yet well I’m sorry we on the left have history with those who are involved and are backing this latest campaign. The Socialist Party's standpoint on fighting the cuts has been well received by many rank and file trade unionists, anti-cuts campaigners and others. Among its key elements are the need to oppose all cuts, call on anti-cuts councillors to refuse to vote for cuts, for trade unions to disaffiliate from the Labour Party; and especially for immediate preparation for coordinated national trade union action - in particular the naming of a date for a one-day general strike. The People's Assembly (PA) has received considerable funding from major trade unions, including Unite, and has attracted an audience to its regional launch meetings. The Socialist Party welcomes any forum of workers and anti-cuts activists that gives an opportunity for debate on how to take the struggle forward, so we participate in the PAs. However, they will only play a useful role if they allow democratic debate, and crucially, add their voice to those who want the trade unions to lead a serious struggle against austerity. Otherwise the PA rallies will be used as a fig-leaf by some trade union leaders to avoid their responsibility to name the day for a 24-hour general strike against the cuts. The NSSN has asked if it can have a speaker at the 22 June PA in London - to raise the campaign for a 24-hour general strike - and has offered the PA a speaker at the NSSN 29 June conference, but has not yet had a response. Nor should the genuine desire for unity among anti-cuts activists be used as an excuse to uncritically welcome people who vote for cuts onto PA platforms. Unfortunately, it's not unusual at these events for councillors who have imposed cuts at local level to be given an uncriticised platform. For example a platform speaker, Jack Scott, who was welcomed to a People's Assembly in Sheffield by its organisers last month, was the Labour council cabinet member responsible for waste management who oversaw cuts and even a strike-breaking operation against the city's recycling workers last year. Around 30 GMB members took 30 days of strike action against council cuts and a privatised waste management service that was drastically reducing their working hours and therefore their pay. Labour, Green and other councillors who pass on the Con-Dem cuts argue that it's not 'realistic' to refuse to implement every cut. Not only is it realistic - the money exists in society and more can be raised - but it's very divisive to accept some cuts, however reluctantly, and not others. Among those who put this position are defenders of the idea that after the next general election a Labour government can be pushed by its trade union affiliates to use a lighter hand with the cuts axe. Yet not only should no cuts be made, but the Labour leaders have asserted that they will uphold and continue with the present torrent of them. Those who fail to warn that Labour will be little different to the Tories are dangerously playing into the hands of Ukip. Instead of lessening Labour's cuts, right-wing union leaders of Labour affiliates such as Paul Kenny of the GMB and Dave Prentis of Unison are complicit in Labour's attacks on the working class. Demonstrations and rallies The big turnouts at some of the PA and other anti-cuts rallies and demonstrations reflect a growing desire of many people to hear an alternative to austerity and to combat it, as markedly did the massive - over half a million - 26 March 2011 TUC demonstration against spending cuts. Large events can give participants a boost by their size, but this will be combined with disappointment if the proposals from the platforms fall short of what's needed to mobilise a mass anti-austerity 'army' with a programme and strength that can decisively defeat the government's attacks. The actions being put to the 22 June assembly are: A day of civil disobedience and direct action, a day of coordinated local demonstrations, and an autumn union-backed national demonstration. These can be useful steps in contributing to the building of the anti-cuts movement but are not enough in themselves to turn the government back. Strike against cuts! The 2002-3 anti-war movement organised local actions, big rallies and a two million-strong demonstration, but those events were not enough to stop the war on Iraq, as the Socialist Party warned at the time. We argued that only through the millions in the trade unions threatening and seriously preparing for industrial action, could Blair's war plan be stopped. Many speakers at the PAs express support for strikes that have taken place and for the idea of more, which is welcome, but unfortunately it is usually without emphasising the immediate necessity of rapid preparation for national coordinated action across the public and private sector. This isn't surprising when, for example, among the leading supporters of the PA is the same right-wing Unison leadership that poured cold water on the idea of Unison members striking against a derisory 1% pay increase. The issue of democracy is crucial in the anti-cuts movement if it is to be able to challenge and overcome obstacles and arrive at unity in its direction and action. Yet in advance of the 22 June PA there is no invitation for anyone to stand for election to its leadership and the proposals being put forward can't be amended until next year. At a number of the regional PAs, supporters of the Socialist Party's ideas have been undemocratically denied a chance to speak. During PA and other anti-cuts events the Socialist Party will continue to support the right of all organisations to express their views and distribute their material. But we also call for the maximum possible unity around a clear programme of refusing to accept any cuts, of councillors refusing to implement them, and of building the momentum for determined industrial action, as the central planks of defeating austerity. We urge all those who want to build unity on this basis to attend the NSSN conference taking place at the Camden Centre in London on 29 June National Shop Stewards Network conference 29 June, 11am to 5pm Camden Centre, Judd St, London WC1H 9JE www.shopstewards.net Socialist Party news and analysis Cuts can be bea Extracts from this week’s main article in this week’s socialist http://www.socialistparty.org.uk/issue/770/16906/19-06-2013/cuts-can-be-beaten

Rebuilding the trade unions

When you mention trade unions to Joe public you’re either met with abuse or complete bemusement. Far fewer people are part of a union these days and we have to ask why. Of course the deindustrialisation played its part with far less manual labour jobs being about the highest density of union membership is in the public sector where you’re in the minority if you’re not in a union. It’s interesting to find out why this is. I think a lot of peoples jobs now are not seen as jobs for life and quite often you’re in and out of a job so joining a union even if you knew about what union is for you may not join simply as you don’t have the time or the funds to do so. I think unions must change and look to reach out to these workers. But as socialists I do think we could be doing more too. Instead of calling for 24 hour general strikes which may be the right thing at some point but doesn’t look likely anytime soon with the current leadership of our unions. I’d suggest focusing on rebuilding the trade union movement from the bottom up. For example we could be on the work gates at the start and end of the working day looking to recruit to the union explaining the benefits and that we are stronger together. This will not only boost the union membership but will also show we ourselves are serious about rebuilding the unions too. If we are actively getting involved in recruiting instead of raising slogans like a 24 hour general strike when some workers are not even involved in a union it’s difficult to link the two together. It’s quite a jump for some workers new to the movement. Not that many don’t want to fight back but we must be patient with some who may be coming into unions for the first time. I don’t see why we cannot have a due pronged attack with a rank and file level trying to raise the agitating and propaganda at a bottom up level and also having that appeal putting demands on the union leadership to struggle to improve things for the members. A 24 hour general strike with further action is totally necessary but the more I hear the slogan I do wonder if it’s being pitched in the right way. Are we explaining what we men when we say it? I think many are scared off by the slogan in some ways as they automatically think of a all out general strike which the last one in 1926 led to a huge defeat so workers are naturally wary of such terms. I think we must be explicit in explaining what we mean and what generalising all the fight backs would mean for the struggle we face. I do think we need a new rank and file movement the NSSN which we participate within is good but is not a proper rank and file body. It does support rank and file workers don’t get me wrong but it doesn’t at this point have representation in all unions with a commanding influence as yet. Workers do not see the NSSN as a genuie rank and file movement as yet maybe they will but certainly it’s a factor in the movement but not yet a decisive one. So far its been used by the socialist party and other leading union officials to put pressuer on the TUC. This can be one role of a organisation like the NSSN but it could also be building ral links in the bodies of theseunions generalising struggle linking disputes together and lending solidarity. In this day and age of workers being divided it must be for bodies like the NSSN to draw workers closer together from different sectors and try to destroy barriers tat are put up to divide us and look for common struggles to link workers together. Solidarity is key here too. Of course having a union which fights for you is member lead and does what it’s supposed to will have better success in recruiting to its union but even not so good unions can still recruit. Even during a time when most unions have abandoned the idea of struggle and some have even a no strike agreement with the labour party to save them any embarrassment before the next general election some unions have still seen a growth in membership. I know Unison has had a recruitment drive with television adverts and a big push in the media too which has given them a boost. Every so often this is necessary even for a right wing lead union like unison as the bureaucracy at the top fears a declining membership for its own selfish reasons as the members pay their highly inflated salaries so a falling membership is in their interests even if just to cement their own comfy positions at the top. There is positive news though out last week. The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills [BIS] says union membership in the private sector increased by 63,000 in 2012 to 2.6m, after falling sharply – by 450,000 – between 2007 and 2010. The proportion of female employees who were in a trade union was around 29% in 2012, compared with 23% for male employees. This marks a significant gender shift. In 1995, 35% of male workers were union members and 30% of female workers were in a trade union. The annual BIS report says in total around 6.5m people were trade union members in 2012, which is up by 59,000 from 2011. According to the report, the proportion of employees who were trade union members was highest among Black or Black British ethnic groups at 28% in 2012, compared with 26% for all employees. Officials say the rise in trade union membership follows four consecutive annual falls in membership of more than 100,000 following a period of broad stability between 1995 and 2007. The report also notes that the economic downturn has had an uneven effect on membership. The BIS says union membership levels have kept pace with an overall increase in the numbers of UK employees between 2011 and 2012, because the number of private sector employees who were members increased faster than the numbers who were non-members. Union members continue to enjoy a wage “premium”, according to the BIS. Of every £10,000 earned by a non-union member in the public sector, on average a union member earned around £1,690 more in 2012 and an additional £430 in the private sector. In the public sector, union membership levels were broadly stable in 2012, after falling sharply by 186,000 in 2011. A long-term decline in private sector membership had been blamed on the loss of jobs and union members in the UK manufacturing industry, where membership is now around one third of the level in the mid 1990s. In addition, around 0.5m members have gone from the construction, finance, transportation and storage industries. Historically, large proportions of workers in these sectors had been union members. The report also notes that the average age of union members is rising. About 36% of trade union member employees were aged over 50 in 2012, compared with 22% in 1995. People working in professional occupations were more likely to be trade union members last year than employees in other occupations. The BIS says employees in the professional occupations account for 49% of all union members, although only for 20% of all employees in the UK worked in this sector. With reference to union news Uk and the office for national statistics

The real meaning of May Day

A press release from the National Shop Stewards Network (NSSN) Millions of workers around the world will be marking May Day today (1st May) and over the next few days. The media and the mainstream politicians will attempt to gloss over the real meaning of this holiday. But it will be a celebration of the struggle of workers and ordinary poor people through the ages for a decent life. The NSSN believes that this 2013 International Workers' Day must be more than a memorial. NSSN national chair Rob Williams said: "The first May Day in 1886 was the first general strike in the USA, called to fight for an eight hour day. "The bosses' reprisals saw four of the workers' leaders executed. May Day isn't some quaint holiday but a celebration of the struggle undertaken by working people for the basic necessities, none of which were given willingly by the employers or their governments. "In that sense, nothing much seems to have changed, with the huge Con-Dem austerity offensive which is attacking the poor, the sick and the unemployed - young and old. "For those in work, more is being demanded for less. 60% of those being affected by the cuts to welfare are working and there are 1 million workers claiming housing benefit - a figure that's doubled. 40% of the civil servants administering the new Universal Credit will be claiming it! The NSSN will be attending the countless May Day rallies to call on the TUC and the unions to name the date for a 24 hour general strike" At last week's TUC General Council meeting, lobbied by the NSSN (video-nssn-lobby-of-the-tuc/) it seems that the TUC agreed to organise a meeting of all unions currently engaged in strikes and those planning ballots. With 250,000 civil servants from the PCS taking action plus some 700,000 teachers about to recommence their dispute plus innumerable other smaller disputes currently taking place, this could be significant. Also, the government has made its final pay offer to millions of council workers confirming its 1% pay cap - effectively a 2% pay cut in real terms. The NSSN believes there is a basis for joint strike action on a similar scale to that of 30th November 2011, when up to two million public sector workers went on strike to defend their pensions. The NSSN was initiated by the RMT in 2006 and is holding its 7th annual conference in London on 29th June 2013. Speakers include PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka and the leaders of the CWU and the POA. Email - info@shopstewards.net Website - www.shopstewards.net Phone Rob Williams on 07816134690

TUC- the Useless congress

This week the NSSN lobbied the TUC general council and again made the appeal for a 24 hour general strike which would be the start of rolling action not simply that and nothing else which is what some ultra left’s think we are calling for. It would only be a start. But given that at the most the TUC would call a one day of controlled militancy with a very top down approach are our attempts to lobby this bureaucratic body really having an affect? No doubt more know about the ideas of a 24 hour general strike now it is still largely misunderstood I think and many rank-and-file union members are still unaware of the in’sand out’s of what it would actually mean. I still don’t feel we have explained what it would mean very well despite a number of comrades best efforts. We are simply to small to gain that amount of influence within work places. We do some excellent work but I do think we are missing a trick by only appealing to union tops and most of which are right wing union leaders very few are left union leaders those that are do a good job but are still wedded to the bureaucracy despite their best rhetoric. The simple truth is that the TUC is there deliberately as a block on workers taking action I can see this very clearly so I can fully understand comrades frustration when lobbying some very well to do union leaders. In my view it should be the rank-and-file we should be looking to win over to build and support action from below to go beyond the structures of the TUC if need be. Only by forcing action will union leaders take note if you’re simply appealing for them to lift their tiny finger a slight bit it may happen but asking them to take subsequent follow up action would be even harder. Their answer will be we’ve gone out on strike once and we did not win so we can’t win. Much like on November the 30th many union tops will say we went on strike and the government didn’t back down. Well no they didn’t as many of you sold out and thought it was more about damage limitation than actually trying to win. The old saying if you don’t fight you can’t win but if you do fight at least you got a chance to win is very apt today. I don’t think we should have one strategy of simply lobbying the TUC every few months its clear its not having much affect at all despite my part the socialist party thinking it is I see very little evidence for this. I do think we have the tendency to talk up a situation being better than it is sometimes I think its sub continues that we’d like to think we’re far stronger than we actually are. This is not very Marxist as we are always told to tell things how they are and if we are not very strong we should recognise that fact. Then if you recognise where you are you can then start to build from there not from where you’d like to be. Union density especially in the private sector is terrible and calling for a general strike when most of the population are not in a union may draw more towards you but could also alienate many too if we’re not careful. The way this is posed is very important. Considering only 6 million out of a working population of millions more could create more divisions than unity if it is not carefully explained and won over the best layer of workers who can bring their colleagues along with the on any action. I don’t think lobbying the TUC is a total dead end it can be a good propaganda tool to bring militant workers towards us but many will soon come to see the difficulties I feel as I have done now. I will always support our actions but have now realised their limitations and difficulties. The fact is the TUC is not a vehicle for struggle like it once may well have been the TUC takes in militant workers and tries to pay them off into comfortable positions of bureaucracy where they are watered down and restrained from action. It takes a strong vanguard with an organised cadre of militants to gain any affect. At present our rank-and-file movements are far too weak to call any action on our own at this stage. Deepening our links and our influence in unions should be our priority winning positions but also gaining influence among the rank-and file should be key to rebuilding the trade union movement. I meet many young people especially who do not even know what a trade union actually is and often believe the views of the capitalist media that all unions do is go on strike and disrupt things. Well that is just one side of them and knowing the actual background is just not there for many. It’s our job to re educate the class to popularise the ideas of struggle once again. Explain what unions can do for you and how you can fight within them for change. Unlike the labour party unions can be reclaimed for their members as the all be it limited democratic structures in some unions do still exist today. This will not be a short term fix and there will be moves forward and backwards in the struggle but winning back our unions is key. Working outside the TUC structures must not be ruled out either the working class when blocked off on one route can take any number of other routes to fightback we should not dismiss this if it happens but look to be there when they do move and look to arm workers with ideas of socialism and what is needed at each stage. Workers will come to their own conclusions no doubt so a calm patient tone is always necessary. But certainly I can fully understand many workers dis-trust and even anger at the TUC and its representatives it’s been a long time since they have represented workers. For us to appeal to that can feel very disheartening but it’s a means to an end not an end in itself which is why I haven’t completed written it off. We will have to see if from under pressure any action is called the pressure is building from below no doubt and union leaders may have to act to let the steam off from below. But this can be done in many ways. One thing is for certain workers are waking up slowly and will look for their traditional structures at first if they are not there or not working for them several options will present themselves. We must support them all the way if we are to win influence and ultimately change society towards a socialist society.

Growing need for a 24 hour general strike

As the cuts deepen the need for a 24 hour general strike becomes clearer and clearer all the time. The socialist party and the NSSN’s calls for this seemed abstract at the time but are now gaining an echo. With unions such as Unite coming on board taking up the calls this could really take off. With one of the biggest trade unions in the UK calling for such actions the calls really gain extra weight and carry far more influence than before. The beginning of this month marks a step change in Con-Dem attacks on all workers. Class war has been ratcheted up, with the charge cynically led by Iain Duncan Smith (IDS) on £134,000 a year and living in a rent-free mansion. New Coalition welfare rules will see the poorest face swingeing cuts; the disabled penalised even more; and to top it all, cuts to housing benefit for the “crime” of having a so-called spare bedroom will kick in. If they get away with all this then the next step looks like being the freezing, or even cutting, of the minimum wage. Meetings and protests have been getting off the ground all over the country like Hull, Swansea, Leeds and elsewhere. It feels a bit like the early days of the anti-poll tax campaign. Reminiscent also of the poll tax struggle, the biggest protest so far has taken place in Scotland, where last Saturday 5000 marched in Glasgow, and a further 2000 in Edinburgh demanding “Bin the bedroom tax”. The fighting spirit of all the angry demonstrators was not in any doubt. But we have to ask – where is the fighting spirit of the leaders of our most powerful defence organisations the trade unions? What plans are they making? We have heard media reports of churches and voluntary bodies coming out against the changes, pleading the case not to penalise the poor. We have heard Labour front benchers criticise the changes, but at the same time remain welded to free market policies and steadfastly refuse to commit to reversing Tory cuts if they come to power. In a meeting at the end of the Glasgow demo Rob Williams Chair of NSSN got a huge cheer when he demanded that the trade union leaders start organising now for a 24-hour general strike where everyone, both in the public and private sector can join together with community campaigners, the unemployed, students, disabled and pensioners in a day of mass action to demand these changes are immediately withdrawn. The government have done so many U-turns on various issues we have almost stopped counting! They could be beaten on this. The anti-poll tax struggle played a significant role in melting the iron lady Margaret Thatcher. The TUC and millions of workers could crumple these paper tigers Cameron and Clegg. The TUC general council will be discussing the general strike at its next meeting on Wednesday 24th April. NSSN has called a lobby outside Congress House from 8.30am onwards, Great Russell Street, London WC1B 3LS. We urge as many as possible to be there. (LINDA Taaffe NSSN National Sec )

Mass trade union response to austerity needed to channel anger

There is the real danger of peoples anger which is growing by the day in Britain to spill out in unconstructive ways including riots and other counter productive expressions. We do not condone riots as socialists but they could become all too real again if peoples anger at the cuts mass privatisation and hefty austerity is not opposed in a positive constructive avenue. The Socialist Party has consistently called for the unions to organise and coordinate strike action, including a 24-hour general strike against austerity. This is urgent. Even more than the two million-strong N30 strike in November 2011, effectively a one-day public sector general strike, this type of action would get huge support across the public and private sectors. The N30 strike rallies and demonstrations were massive but since then people's anger against Con-Dem cuts, including in the NHS and now the hated Bedroom Tax, has only increased. There is huge potential to build support for generalised strike action among the wider working class, large sections of the middle class and especially the youth. Measures are needed to help precarious workers facing intimidation to unionise. Youth Fight for Jobs has begun this work with its Sick of Your Boss initiative showing the potential for trade unions to reach out to unorganised workers. A 24-hour general strike would be a mighty demonstration of the power of the trade unions and their appeal would grow enormously. But since N30 there has been no follow-up national coordinated action by the unions although there were numerous local and sectional disputes, securing a number of victories such as that of the sparks against the construction companies' vicious attempt to slash a third of their pay. PCS members have organised group action in many government departments, often securing significant concessions or even outright victories, such as preventing compulsory redundancies in the DWP. However, millions of other workers will be asking, 'What about me?' By April 2014, all public sector workers will be paying increased pension contributions, another pay cut on the back of a five-year pay freeze or below inflation pay rises. Tory minister Pickles has just imposed a 1% pay rise on millions of council workers - a 2% pay cut in real terms - with strings! Teachers are facing attacks on all fronts - on pay, through academisation and on workload. In September 2012 the National Shop Stewards Network (NSSN) brought 1,000 union activists to Brighton to lobby TUC Congress in support of the POA motion that called for the "practicalities of a general strike" to be considered. The TUC General Council of union leaders is meeting on 24 April to discuss each union's submissions on this after it was passed. The anti-trade union laws present a certain obstacle - as they have done in southern Europe. But as has been shown in Greece, Spain, Italy, etc, the ability of the government and employers to use the anti-union laws depends on the concrete balance of forces. When prison officers, who have no legal right to strike, organised action on 10 May 2012, the government did not dare to use the law against the POA, as they knew it would escalate the struggle. As the Socialist party has said, if the TUC was to name the day for a general strike, and then make it clear to the government that if any unions or workers were threatened for participating in the strike the TUC would immediately call another 24-hour general strike, the anti-trade union laws could be pushed aside, losing their power to hobble the trade union movement. The left unions won the vote at a recent TUC executive to get the left legal experts Keith Ewing and John Hendy to the April General Council to explain their opinion on how a general strike could be legal. We welcome this discussion - but there is already the potential to build mass joint action. This could start in the public sector on pay, privatisation, redundancies, etc, and then the appeal could go out to workers in the private sector to ballot on the innumerable grievances that face them. For example, the CWU facing planned privatisation of the Royal Mail and the RMT and the other rail unions have the prospect of the devastating McNulty Report. The NSSN is calling for a lobby of the 24 April TUC General Council meeting. It will demand that the trade union leaders do not just consider the general strike submissions but name the date. But the union leaders don't need to wait for that meeting; they should already be discussing coordinating ballots and action for late June. PCS is following up the recent 20 March budget day strike with a half-day stoppage on 5 April - the final day of the tax year. As PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka outlined at a TUC pre-budget rally, this will herald a series of group and departmental actions of various durations, in the build-up to a likely one-day strike on 26 June, when Osborne sets out the next phase of the cuts in his Comprehensive Spending Review. Since then the NUT and NASUWT teaching unions have announced regional strikes, starting with the North West on 27 June. This should be turned into a national strike, coordinated with the PCS, who have appealed to other unions to strike with them. Activists will not be content to sit and wait while the TUC deliberates and living standards are eroded. It was pressure from below that forced the trade union leaders to vote for the POA motion and even greater pressure must be applied to force them into taking the much-needed action. Branches and workplace meetings should pass resolutions urging their union leaderships to take up the call from the PCS for serious discussion among the left unions' leaders. Those unions should go to the April General Council with the confidence and knowledge that their members and the rank and file of other unions will not be satisfied with anything less than a strike date. Some on the left, with the financial backing of Unite, are pushing the People's Assembly on 22 June as a vehicle to resist austerity, organised a week before the NSSN's 7th annual conference. The Socialist Party and the NSSN will use every opportunity and platform to put pressure on the union leaders to call decisive action. But there is a danger that this event, which will give an uncritical stage to Labour and Green politicians as well as the union leaders, could be a talking shop, helping to kick the idea of mass strike action even further into the long grass. There is no alternative but mobilisation around a serious strategy to coordinate and escalate action by the most powerful organisation in British society, the labour movement. The trade union leaders should not hand leadership of the anti-cuts movement to an unaccountable, unrepresentative nebulous People's Assembly but organise action themselves. A 24-hour general strike could transform the situation. The Con-Dems have had some success in their pernicious attempts at division: young against old, low-paid workers against unemployed, etc. Coordinated action by even a section of the 6.5 million workers in the unions would make the case for united struggle and undermine the Con-Dems' divide and rule tactics. It would instil confidence in the anti-cuts campaigns and it would show this hated and despised government that they cannot get away with destroying our lives. This will be the key issue for discussion at the NSSN conference on 29 June because it is the key question facing the working class. What is needed now is a real 'Workers Assembly' - a 24-hour general strike at the end of June, which can mobilise mass demonstrations in every town and city - a movement of millions to force this government back and open up the way to a victory against the cuts. With extracts from this week’s editorial of the socialist http://www.socialistparty.org.uk/issue/757/16343/20-03-2013/trade-unions-must-lead-anti-cuts-fightback

Triple an austeri austerity austerity!

No matter what we are told of a plan B plans for growth the underlying fact remains that for us the 99% it is austerity all the way now this is the new norm some have said. For the Tories they have over seen a huge transfer of wealth from the poorest in society to the rich. Austerity for the ruling class is working. Some smaller capitalists have gone out of business but to them this is the free market that is the rules of the market if you cant drive your workers wages down quickly enough you will become uncompetitive the rule goes. The rules of the market are brutal and its cut throat economics where the fittest and the toughest survive. Workers rights what workers rights they are a block on profits to the boss’s so no wonder they are under attack. Economic commentators debate the likelihood of a triple-dip recession but the reality is that there has been no real return to growth. Prolonged stagnation - 'bumping along the bottom' - is the best scenario on offer. Moody's long-anticipated downgrading of the British government's credit rating will form the backdrop to this year's budget. It is a graphic illustration that - as we warned - Con-Dem austerity has made the economic crisis worse. Not that we have faith in Moody's or the other capitalist ratings agencies - these are the same companies that happily gave the sub-prime mortgage companies an AAA rating! But the Con-Dems worship at the altar of the finance markets. From day one this government has justified austerity by the necessity of keeping the Credit Ratings Agencies happy. The rest of us can go to hell in a handcart. Before the 2010 general election Osborne made maintaining Britain's AAA credit rating one of eight benchmarks by which to judge whether a Conservative government is delivering. The wheels are coming off the Con-Dem coalition - it could fall at any time, particularly if faced with a mass movement of the working class. Osborne will continue to attempt to blame the previous government and the economic disaster in the eurozone but in reality he and his cuts-coalition have no solutions - other than making us suffer and that is the key to understanding this. It’s never been about paying off our debts getting the deficit down austerity is code for transferring huge wealth to the rich. Privatisation on a mass scale always the policies of the right wing are now seen as easier to get away with due to the crisis of capitalism we are living through. They are able to justify these privatisations as part of the need to get the deficit down this could not be further from the case. All of this is creating burning anger among the working class - but also wide sections of the middle class - as our living standards plummet. As the Bank of England's chief economist, Spencer Dale, noted: "The harsh but inescapable reality is that households and families are worse off - much worse off." But while most of us tighten our belts a few households and families are gorging on a feast of riches. The Sunday Times rich list reached record highs in 2012. The combined wealth of Britain's richest 1,000 people swelled by almost 5% to £414 billion, reaching the highest amount ever recorded by the 24-year old survey. The TUC is currently considering submissions from the unions on the question of a general strike. The latest episode in the crisis makes it clearer than ever - the TUC must urgently set the date for a 24-hour general strike against austerity. This would be the most effective way of channelling the burning anger into a movement capable of kicking out this hated government. While a tiny minority increase their wealth at the expense of the majority, for the rest of us there is no end in sight to the economic crisis. Britain only maintained its AAA rating for as long as it did because, to the world's financial markets, sterling appeared a safer bet than the eurozone. But sterling has been falling since the start of 2013. In other words in the last months the financiers have felt that Britain was a riskier prospect than the euro, despite there being more than 50% youth unemployment and profound political instability in a whole swathe of the eurozone. There are no safe havens for world capitalism. British capitalism, and therefore the working class, faces a bleak future. Five years into the economic crisis, UK gross domestic product (GDP) is still 12-15% below the pre-crisis trend. It's been estimated that one in six high street shops is lying empty, with 20 stores closing every day. Such is the lack of jobs that 1,700 people applied for eight 'Barista' jobs at one Costa Coffee branch. Osborne is under pressure from sections of the capitalist class to increase state investment in infrastructure, and he may make some proposals in the budget. Even if this is the case, Osborne has made it clear that this will be combined with continued austerity for the majority. New Labour is deriding Osborne for the economic crisis and calling for a change of direction, a 'Plan B', but has no real alternative. Writing in the Independent (25 February 2013), Owen Jones hopefully declared that: "Labour does have the outlines of an alternative". Jones quotes Ed Balls when he stood for the Labour leadership and asked Labour Party members to imagine if the 1945 Labour government had "decided that the first priority was to reduce the debts built up in the war, there would be no NHS, no rebuilt railways and housing, no welfare state." Jones, however, is forced to mournfully comment: "if only he [Ed Balls] had stuck unrelentingly to this script." The labour movement needs its own mass party - which the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition TUSC, is working to lay the foundations for - campaigning for a 'Plan S' for socialism. What would such a programme include? Take one issue - the growing housing crisis. Homelessness has increased by 26% over the last two years and is set to increase further. While housing benefit is cut, the cost of housing is rocketing. House prices have gone up 40 times since 1971 whereas prices in general have gone up tenfold. One in 12 families is now on waiting lists for social housing, the complete absence of which, combined with deregulation, is allowing private sector landlords to increase rents. The private rented sector has increased by 86% in three years. Rents have risen by an average of 37% since 2007. Younger people are faced with a future of shared accommodation, living with their parents, or sofa-surfing, with some ending up sleeping on the streets. Even the right-wing IEA think-tank drew the conclusion that a mass house-building programme could almost halve the £21 billion that is spent on housing benefits and mortgage relief. However, their means to achieve this end was to get rid of even the current minimal planning regulation in order to allow the construction companies to chuck up jerry-built substandard housing. A socialist solution would be to implement a mass council house-building programme - creating high-quality, affordable, secure, environmentally-friendly housing - for all those who need it. This would solve the housing crisis and provide secure, well-paid work for the many tens of thousands of unemployed construction workers. Such a policy would not only stop at housing but also be used to build the schools, hospitals, libraries, care homes and other necessary facilities and utilities to service the population. How can such a policy be paid for? We favour massively increasing taxes on the super-rich. However, this can lead to the capitalists taking production abroad, as the hysterical reaction of a section of the French capitalists to François Hollande's puny taxation proposals indicate. Attempts to secure even minimal reforms, never mind a substantial reformist programme to change the lives of working people, come up against the inherent limits of capitalism, the system based upon production for profit and not social need. Does this mean we should retreat? No! But it poses the need to go further with the demand for nationalisation, under democratic workers' control and management, of the banks and the summits of the financial system together with the big monopolies that dominate the great majority of the economy. Compensation could be paid to those capable of proving their need for it. Among other measures a socialist programme would also require control of all foreign trade, through democratic nationalisation of all incomings and outgoings, in order to prevent sabotage as big business will attempt to move its resources abroad. In short, in place of Osborne's 'plan A' we do not need a minimalist 'plan B', but a bold 'plan S' for socialism. With extracts from this weeks editorial of the socialist http://www.socialistparty.org.uk/issue/754/16222/27-02-2013/austerity-anger-action

Britain to loose its prestigious triple a credit rating, austerity has failed

As we learn today that Britain is to loose its prestigious triple A credit rating this can only be reported as a humiliating turn of events for the chancellor George Osborne. Osborne banked his whole economic policy on maintaining this triple a credit rating now it looks to be crumbling under his nose surely it leaves the Tories and their economic plans in tatters and the coalition in a huge crisis. Moody's credit rating Cut 'shows UK economic policy failure' On Friday, Moody's became the first agency to cut the UK from its highest AAA rating to Aa1. In announcing the ratings cut, Moody's cited the "challenges that subdued medium-term growth prospects pose to the government's fiscal consolidation programme, which will now extend well into the next parliament". It added that the UK's huge debts were unlikely to reverse until 2016. This is a huge condemnation of the Tories economic policy for ministers like Danny Alexander to shrug it off like credit rating agencies do not matter is laughable as it was only last year they were all talking up how proud they were to still have their credit rating at a maximum status. It seems that just like the polls you support them when they support your policy and reject them as nonsense when they appear to be speaking against you. But this could be hugely serious for Britain from a capitalist perspective with borrowing bound to be more expensive for the government on the bond market now it’s lost its prestigious credit rating. However the Tories wish to dress this up it is a failure of mamouth proportions even on their own standards. Only a socialist solution to the crisis will solve the underlying issues. No tweaking of the capitalist system now will solve the under lying issues this is not a cyclical crisis which we can just recover from this is a fundamental crisis of capitalism and only a system change to a democratic planned socialist system will do. Its time to ramp up the pressure on this gov by continuing to build for a 24 hour general strike and force them out whilst building TUSC a working class socialist alternative to the madness of the market.

24 hour general strike in Britain not going away

The TUC have tried to dust the fact they voted to consider the practicalities of a general strike at last year’s TUC conference in Brighton. But the socialist party and the NSSN will not let this be hidden away and workers will increasingly be looking for action. If workers do not find a route to channelling their anger down constructive routes via the labour movement we cannot rule out the possibility of further wildcat actions like the Sparks last year and similar events to South Africa where workers take action outside of their official union ranks. In the short term, the most pressing issue is the campaign for a 24-hour general strike. There is a glaring need for decisive action against austerity and the attempts to undermine union strength by slashing trade unionists’ facility time. The trade union movement needs to put the defense of union rights at the heart of the struggle against austerity, making clear to workers – in propaganda and, more importantly, deed – the essential role of the unions in defending their pay and living conditions. If the government manages to force through the attacks on facility time it will weaken the trade union movement in the short term. In the longer term, however, it could rebound on the government as new, younger, more militant fighters develop in workplaces across the country. In 2012 we already saw more militant methods being adopted by sections of workers, particularly in the private sector. The mass picket lines of the London bus workers were combined with blockades against those bus companies that had obtained a court injunction against the strike action. Crown saw three unofficial 24-hour walkouts and electricians won major concessions via unofficial demonstrations and blockades which, in turn, put pressure on UNITE to act officially. A new generation will tend to adopt these kinds of methods as they see that they cannot let themselves be hemmed in by the law if they are to stand up to the employers. Of course, even a 24-hour general strike against austerity would not be guaranteed to force the government to retreat, never mind to precipitate a general election, unless it was linked to a serious strategy for further action. Nonetheless, unlike Southern Europe, Britain has not had even a warning general strike for over 80 years, and it would have a gigantic effect on boosting the confidence of the working class and its sense of its own power, while it would terrify the capitalists. Millions of unorganised workers would be attracted to the trade unions. The right-wing leaders of the TUC will do all they can to prevent a 24-hour general strike taking place – it frightens them as much as it does the capitalist class! In 1972, the last time the TUC was forced to set the date for a 24-hour general strike, it was the strikes developing from below which forced them into reluctant action. Today the anger and bitterness of workers is as great, if not greater. The working class, however, lacks confidence in its capacity to win. It is not aware of its own power. At the same time, the trade union structures remain relatively empty. While there is widespread support for the idea of a general strike – over 80% in one Guardian survey – At this stage it does not occur to the majority of trade union members to attend their branch meeting to demand such action. Instead the current trade union leaders are seen by many workers as, like relatives, perhaps infuriating but unchangeable. But this outlook is not permanent. In 2011 we saw the working class enter the field of battle for the first time in years, with mass demonstrations, strikes and picket lines. On the basis of experience workers will fight to force their union leaders to act or, if they can’t, to push them aside. The potential for genuine trade union broad lefts, involving fresh layers of workers, is likely to grow in the next period. The right-wing leadership of the TUC holds up the anti-trade union laws as a means to avoid action. Socialists are not in favour of taking unnecessary risks with union funds. But workers are facing the biggest attack on their living standards since the 1930s. To fail to lead a serious struggle in defense of workers’ rights would be far more damaging to the trade union movement than anything the law courts could deliver. And it is possible to go a long way towards a general strike even within the straitjacket of the anti-union laws. If the TUC was to name the day for a 24-hour general strike against austerity, and to use all of its power to mobilise workers, it would get a huge response. All unions with live ballots could plan to strike on the named day. Other groups of workers inspired by the call would want to ballot over the real issues in their workplace, which would also allow them to take part in the general strike. Without doubt other workers not currently in unions would flock to take part. Whether the government or employers could use the law – either against those who had not balloted or to invalidate ballots – would depend on the balance of forces. Faced with the threat of a popular general strike, with a clear threat to immediately strike again if any workers or trade unions were victimised, the anti-union laws would be worthless. The limits to how far the employers can use the anti-trade union laws are shown by the situation in UNITE. Since Len McCluskey became general secretary not a single group of workers has received a ‘letter of repudiation’ from the union for unlawful action. Yet the government and employers have not dared to threaten UNITE with sequestration. Nor has the POA been threatened for its action in defiance of the law last May. Many European countries have seen general strikes, despite also having varying degrees of repressive anti-trade union laws and restrictions. These have been swept away by the struggle. So do not let the TUC get away with silence on the matter keep up the pressure on your unions, in branches and in trades councils. A 24 hour general strike would be a great first step to generalising the attacks and giving workers confidence that they can fight and win.

Lull before the storm

Perspectives for 2013 Extracts from a statement on Britain agreed at the Socialist Party (CWI in England & Wales)National Committee on 19 January. AS 2013 BEGINS many commentators have suggested that 2012 was a ‘groundhog year’. "British politics has got a bit stuck", declared Andrew Rawnsley (Observer, 30 December). While this was true on the surface, in reality society, and particularly the working class, underwent profound changes which will accelerate in the coming year. In 2012 the majority of the working class, and wide sections of the middle class, suffered a battering. An avalanche landed on our heads, including benefit cuts, dramatic cuts in local services, hospital closures, the attack on pensions, the headlong rush to turn schools into academies. This is, however, only about 20% of the government’s planned cuts. At the same time, a majority of households saw a marked fall in their income. The Bank of England’s chief economist, Spencer Dale, noted: "The harsh but inescapable reality is that households and families are worse off – much worse off". Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures show that average wages rose by an annual rate of 1.7% compared to an official inflation rate of 2.7%, meaning a real-term fall of 1% in the last year. This comes on top of years of belt tightening. The Bank of England estimates that the pay packet of the average worker is now worth 15% less than it was in the pre-crisis period. No wonder that Christmas spending was down. Increasing numbers of people cannot afford the necessities. Three new food banks open every week and the numbers using them over Christmas doubled. Since the recession began people are buying 20% less fruit and vegetables, and far less milk, bread and fish. The Children’s Society reports that 72% of teachers have pupils who not only skipped breakfast but had no lunch or the means to pay for one. Cases of rickets, previously considered a disease of a long-gone Dickensian past, have increased fourfold. The government has had two stated aims for the misery it is imposing: eliminating the deficit and maintaining Britain’s AAA status. Neither will be achieved. Chancellor George Osborne is being forced to endlessly move back the target date for eliminating the deficit, now to 2018. All three major credit ratings agencies have given official warnings that Britain can expect to be stripped of its AAA rating. The 2012 budget, particularly the cut in the top rate of income tax, was a tipping point in how the majority, including most of the middle class, perceived the government. It is now widely seen as a government of the rich. Rawnsley summed up the mood with ‘one of 2012’s best political jokes’: "Why did 80,000 people boo Osborne at the Paralympics? Because that’s the maximum capacity of the stadium". At the same time, the conspicuous consumption of the ruling elite is creating a burning rage. The 2012 Sunday Times rich list revealed that the combined wealth of Britain’s richest 1,000 people swelled by almost 5% to £414 billion, the highest amount ever recorded by the 24-year-old survey. That the growing class anger was not fully given voice in 2012 was primarily the result of the failures of the leadership of the trade union movement. Consequently, the latest round in the war against austerity was another defeat for the working class. It was huge pressure from below, channelled by the National Shop Stewards Network (NSSN), in alliance with the RMT, PCS and the Prison Officers’ Association (POA) unions, which led to the TUC congress taking the historic decision to back the POA resolution ‘to consider a general strike’. Afraid of appearing conservative to their own membership, even the right-wing leadership of UNISON backed the motion, while openly admitting that they did not really support it. Since then, thanks primarily to the general secretaries of UNITE and the RMT, Len McCluskey and Bob Crow, attempts by the TUC leadership to rule out a general strike have been blocked and unions are being consulted on the possibilities of a general strike. At this stage, however, only the PCS has concrete plans to ballot for strike action and to call for other unions to coordinate their action alongside them. It is likely to take further pressure to force wider coordinated action. A 24-hour general strike is still firmly on the agenda but could be delayed for longer than many expect because of right-wing union leaders dragging their feet. As the last two years have shown, the working class will find the means to fight back despite the faults of its leadership. The question is whether that struggle is organised into a powerful force or will be inchoate and disorganised due to lack of leadership. Lack of leadership can also lead to struggles developing on a sectional or local level without the workers involved, in the short term, necessarily understanding the need for making common cause with other sections of the working class or not being able to find a route to do so. The government has succeeded temporarily in increasing the divisions in the working class, particularly between workers and the unemployed. There is also potential for other divisions to grow, including between the old and young and the public and private sectors. Nonetheless, Britain has entered a protracted period of class struggles, as the working class attempts to resist endless austerity. This flows from the continuation of the economic crisis, the worst British capitalism has faced in at least 80 years. Economy in crisis FIVE YEARS INTO the crisis, UK gross domestic product (GDP) is still 12-15% below the pre-crisis trend. Mervyn King, retiring governor of the Bank of England, has predicted a decade or more of economic misery. British capitalism is in a dead end, its best scenario being to keep ‘bumping along the bottom’ as it has since the autumn of 2010. Britain has become a new Japan, with its lost decades of stagnation, except that the Japanese crisis took place against the background of growth in the world economy; Britain today is one of many Japans in a stagnant, crisis-ridden world. Larry Elliot wrote (The Guardian, 30 November): "Japan ended up with a zombie economy in which zombie banks were lending to zombie companies. Worryingly, the UK is showing signs of heading in the same direction. One in twelve companies are able to repay only the interest on their debts". Britain is paying the price for its refusal to invest in industry over decades. The weakness of British capitalism is summed up in the ‘mysterious’, dramatic fall in productivity figures since the crisis began. In the private sector, productivity per hour worked fell an incredible 4% in the first nine months of last year. UK productivity has long lagged behind other advanced capitalist countries, as British capitalism has relied on cheap labour rather than investing in developing technology. During the crisis investment has fallen to record lows, with £750 billion sitting idle. The productivity gap is the biggest since 1990, with UK workers 20% less productive than the G7 average. Economists have deduced that the latest fall in productivity is largely as a result of the crisis in the finance sector, which drove UK economic growth during the last boom, as it "adjusts from the unsustainable business models of the last decade" (Financial Times, March 2012). In other words, Britain’s previous productivity figures were artificially high because they were based on the massive bubbles in the finance sector which dominates the British economy. The small decrease in unemployment figures at the end of last year will not last. In any case, the real numbers are disguised by the huge levels of under-employment, which has increased by at least one million since the crisis began to a massive 8.1 million. This includes workers who have been kept on by employers on reduced hours, in the hope that the crisis will be short. Many of these will be laid off in the next period. This part-time army is made up predominantly of millions of workers trying to exist on a few hours of casual work every week. This is now a permanent feature. Karl Marx’s conception of a ‘reserve army of labour’, designed to keep wages down because there is always someone desperate enough to work for less, has been recreated. There is a burning need for the trade union movement to organise the part-time casual workforce. The disastrous effect of government austerity in exacerbating the economic crisis has even led the IMF to call on Osborne to switch to ‘Plan B’. David Cameron and Osborne have rejected this, saying they are adopting ‘Plan A+’: continued austerity and measures to ‘assist business’. It is not excluded, however, that the protracted crisis could force the government, under pressure from business particularly the construction companies, to carry out increased investment into infrastructure. Nonetheless, this would be combined with further savage public-sector cuts. Former Tory chair, Lord Ashcroft, let the cat out of the bag when he blogged that the odds were stacked against his party winning the general election, and that New Labour leader, Ed Miliband, "ought to be able to put together 40% of the vote without getting out of bed". Knowing that they stand little chance of winning, the Tories are attempting a scorched earth policy, knowing that Labour in power would not reverse their policies. In doing so, they have the support of short-sighted British capitalism. The CBI continues to "stand shoulder to shoulder" with the government on austerity. Clearly, there is an ideological element to the government’s cuts and privatisation programme. Recently released papers show that, 30 years ago, the Thatcher government considered almost every policy that is being implemented by the Con-Dem coalition in the name of ‘austerity’. Margaret Thatcher, however, did not dare to go so far. But Miliband’s ‘one nation’ Labour would not have pursued a fundamentally different policy. Miliband defends capitalism which sees the road to increasing profits to be over the living conditions of the working class, particularly by driving down the ‘social wage’ – benefits, pensions, the NHS, etc – despite the fact that this will further shrink the UK market. At the same time, the capitalists are clamouring for the further privatisation of public services to find profitable fields of investment. One section of the ruling class, voiced by King, has been pushing for even harsher austerity, arguing that the Tories are too worried about electoral popularity! King has talked in brutal terms about the Japanisation of the UK economy, saying that ‘deeper readjustment’ is needed. The Financial Times (13 November) summed it up: "Bank of England insiders fear that the recession did not generate sufficient destruction to enable the creation of more productive companies in the upswing… At the heart of the new thinking lies the remarkably low mortgage repossessions and corporate liquidations in this downturn". King argues that not enough outmoded value has been destroyed in the recession to create the basis for new investment, leading to a new upswing with a higher rate of profit. He is making a call for more companies to close, more people to be thrown out of their jobs and homes so that, trampling on our misery, capitalism might find a new stability. In attempting to carry this out, however, British capitalism would face powerful resistance by the working class. John Maynard Keynes himself said that his theories were designed to ‘avoid revolution’, and the capitalist class could be forced to move in a Keynesian direction under the huge impact of the workers’ struggles against austerity that are coming. Concessions would be given, which the capitalists would attempt to take back at a later stage if the working class had not yet succeeded in taking power. The working class faces a weak, divided government, ultimately reflecting the capitalists’ inability to find any way out of the crisis and, flowing from that, the increasingly weak social base for the capitalist institutions in Britain. All of the capitalist parties, including Labour, are inherently unstable, with internal tensions which could become splits later on. Politicians lead in unpopularity polls, but trust in the capitalist media, church, the police and even the BBC has been markedly undermined as scandal after scandal has revealed their feet of clay. The Leveson phone-hacking inquiry, for all the timidity of the final report, has exposed the corrupt relationships between different sections of the capitalist state. The renewed attempt to popularise the royal family, via ‘Kate and Will’, is partly a conscious attempt to strengthen the social reserves of the capitalist state. The queen attending cabinet is a deliberate politicisation of the monarchy’s role. The government’s weakness will not prevent it stepping up its assault on the working class, unless it is stopped by the working class. The cuts experienced so far, devastating as they have been, are small beer compared to what is coming in 2013. The need to generalise the struggle, through a 24-hour general strike against austerity in the first instance, is absolutely clear. In the meantime, we could see explosions on a multiplicity of issues. Where the organisations of the working class fail to give movements an organised cohesive form we are likely to see inchoate rebellions, including further riots, perhaps even on a bigger scale than the summer of 2011. Socialists do not condone rioting, which gives the capitalists a whip to strengthen repression, as well as damaging working-class communities and small businesses, but we understand why they are inevitable if a generation of youth are left with no future. We could also see social protests and movements including the kinds of raids on supermarkets and occupations of empty properties that are starting to take place in other European countries. Public-sector flashpoints THE PUBLIC SECTOR was previously a relative haven of job security. No more. Over one million public-sector jobs will have gone if the latest round of cuts is implemented. Already, 7,000 nurses’ jobs have gone as the NHS faces the worst spending squeeze in its history. After two years of austerity, the money hospitals will receive for treatment in 2013 is a 4% cut in real terms. The next year is going to see a series of hospital cuts and closures. In London seven out of 32 A&E departments are already marked for closure by 2020. The remainder will have to cover an extra 120,000 people on average. The chief executive of the Health Federation, Mike Farrar, declared that the public must accept "the closure of many hospital units and live healthier lives if they want the NHS to survive". The public show no signs of doing any such thing! In November around 10,000 demonstrated in the pouring rain against the closure of Lewisham Hospital’s A&E department. Many more such demonstrations could take place in 2013. Alongside cuts public services are facing wholesale privatisation. Education secretary Michael Gove is leading a mad dash to academies, which were first initiated by New Labour. More than half of secondary schools and many primary schools are now academies or have plans to convert. Gove’s latest assault, demanding that head teachers dock the pay of teachers who take part in industrial action, shows his vitriolic determination to smash effective trade union organisation in schools and move to performance-related pay. However, it was demonstrated at the end of 2012, by the successful strike at Stratford Academy in East London against a head teacher doing what Gove had demanded, that teachers will respond to the whip of counter revolution, and can win the support of a majority of parents and pupils. What is needed is to mobilise for a similarly resolute campaign of strike action at national level. It is not yet clear that the National Union of Teachers’ leadership is prepared to do this, as it appears to be hesitating in the face of the onslaught on its members’ rights. If the teachers’ unions do not fight back their ability to organise effective action will be in jeopardy. But the government could overreach and provoke a reaction from below. Lack of enthusiasm for Labour ON THE NHS Labour is 30 points ahead in opinion polls, and is generally ‘more trusted’ to run public services. However, it is not lost on workers that most of the policies now being sledge-hammered through originate in New Labour’s period in office. It is the Private Finance Initiative that is directly responsible for a number of hospitals going bankrupt. Labour has promised to repeal the Health and Social Care Act, although Miliband was reluctant even to commit to this, but has made no promise to reverse the wholesale privatisation of the NHS. The lack of enthusiasm for Labour was demonstrated in the 2012 parliamentary by-elections. Labour won them, but the turnout in Manchester Central was the lowest ever in peacetime, at 18%. Even Corby, which was a battle between Tory and Labour, could only summon 44%. In every election a majority, and a big majority of the working class, did not vote. It will be different in a general election. Larger numbers of workers will turn out ‘holding their noses’ to get rid of the Con-Dems, but this does not represent positive support for Labour, and will not automatically take place on a big enough scale to guarantee a majority Labour government. It is not only a question of what Labour did in government, but what Labour local authorities are doing now. In total, local authority spending has been cut by 29.7%. This is leading to the annihilation of countless essential services. Recognising the horror these cuts will bring, leaders of three Labour councils – Newcastle, Liverpool and Sheffield – wrote a joint statement over Christmas begging the government to change tack because "forces of social unrest are starting to smoulder". The possibility that they should mobilise and organise those forces into a mass campaign against the cuts is utterly foreign to them. On the contrary, they were really begging the government to rescue them from the social unrest they can feel developing underneath them. The pro-capitalist character of New Labour can be summed up by the tiny number of councillors who have so far refused to vote for cuts. The Southampton Two have been summarily expelled from the Labour Party for this, but their stand has received enthusiastic support from workers. Southampton UNITE and UNISON trade union branches have, under pressure from their members, pledged support for the councillors’ stand. UNITE has also backed them nationally. Its general secretary, Len McCluskey, has pledged that UNITE will demand that Labour does not stand against the Southampton Two or any other councillors who have taken the same principled position. Battles against the coming round of local authority cuts are inevitable. In 2010 the leadership of UNISON, the biggest local authority union, avoided sanctioning many ballots for strike action by arguing that anger should be channelled into the national campaign in defence of pensions. This will not work so easily again. We have to demand national action on pay, linked to building for a 24-hour general strike. Equally important is the fight for local action in defence of pay, conditions and services. We also have to be prepared for more widespread community campaigns, including occupations, than have taken place up until now. The Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) has played an important role in providing a banner under which anti-cuts and trade union candidates can stand. It has begun to popularise the idea that it is possible to have anti-cuts councillors, which had a real effect for example on the struggle in Southampton. The growing trade union support for TUSC, particularly the RMT’s unanimous support at its last AGM, gives it potentially far more social weight than any of the previous attempts to build a new electoral formation in this era. Nonetheless, it is still at an early, fragile stage. Electorally it has not yet made a qualitative breakthrough. However, we have to be prepared for the possibility of the anti-cuts struggle leading to much wider support for workers taking the fight against cuts to the electoral plane. While it may be under a Labour government that decisive steps towards a new mass workers’ party take place, we cannot preclude earlier electoral breakthroughs. 24-hour general strike ELECTIONS ARE ONE facet of the struggle against cuts. In the short term, the most pressing issue is the campaign for a 24-hour general strike. There is a glaring need for decisive action against austerity and the attempts to undermine union strength by slashing trade unionists’ facility time. The trade union movement needs to put the defence of union rights at the heart of the struggle against austerity, making clear to workers – in propaganda and, more importantly, deed – the essential role of the unions in defending their pay and living conditions. If the government manages to force through the attacks on facility time it will weaken the trade union movement in the short term. In the longer term, however, it could rebound on the government as new, younger, more militant fighters develop in workplaces across the country. In 2012 we already saw more militant methods being adopted by sections of workers, particularly in the private sector. The mass picket lines of the London bus workers were combined with blockades against those bus companies that had obtained a court injunction against the strike action. Crown saw three unofficial 24-hour walkouts and electricians won major concessions via unofficial demonstrations and blockades which, in turn, put pressure on UNITE to act officially. A new generation will tend to adopt these kinds of methods as they see that they cannot let themselves be hemmed in by the law if they are to stand up to the employers. Of course, even a 24-hour general strike against austerity would not be guaranteed to force the government to retreat, never mind to precipitate a general election, unless it was linked to a serious strategy for further action. Nonetheless, unlike Southern Europe, Britain has not had even a warning general strike for over 80 years, and it would have a gigantic effect on boosting the confidence of the working class and its sense of its own power, while it would terrify the capitalists. Millions of unorganised workers would be attracted to the trade unions. The right-wing leaders of the TUC will do all they can to prevent a 24-hour general strike taking place – it frightens them as much as it does the capitalist class! In 1972, the last time the TUC was forced to set the date for a 24-hour general strike, it was the strikes developing from below which forced them into reluctant action. Today the anger and bitterness of workers is as great, if not greater. The working class, however, lacks confidence in its capacity to win. It is not aware of its own power. At the same time, the trade union structures remain relatively empty. While there is widespread support for the idea of a general strike – over 80% in one Guardian survey – at this stage it does not occur to the majority of trade union members to attend their branch meeting to demand such action. Instead the current trade union leaders are seen by many workers as, like relatives, perhaps infuriating but unchangeable. But this outlook is not permanent. In 2011 we saw the working class enter the field of battle for the first time in years, with mass demonstrations, strikes and picket lines. On the basis of experience workers will fight to force their union leaders to act or, if they can’t, to push them aside. The potential for genuine trade union broad lefts, involving fresh layers of workers, is likely to grow in the next period. The right-wing leadership of the TUC holds up the anti-trade union laws as a means to avoid action. Socialists are not in favour of taking unnecessary risks with union funds. But workers are facing the biggest attack on their living standards since the 1930s. To fail to lead a serious struggle in defence of workers’ rights would be far more damaging to the trade union movement than anything the law courts could deliver. And it is possible to go a long way towards a general strike even within the straitjacket of the anti-union laws. If the TUC was to name the day for a 24-hour general strike against austerity, and to use all of its power to mobilise workers, it would get a huge response. All unions with live ballots could plan to strike on the named day. Other groups of workers inspired by the call would want to ballot over the real issues in their workplace, which would also allow them to take part in the general strike. Without doubt other workers not currently in unions would flock to take part. Whether the government or employers could use the law – either against those who had not balloted or to invalidate ballots – would depend on the balance of forces. Faced with the threat of a popular general strike, with a clear threat to immediately strike again if any workers or trade unions were victimised, the anti-union laws would be worthless. The limits to how far the employers can use the anti-trade union laws are shown by the situation in UNITE. Since Len McCluskey became general secretary not a single group of workers has received a ‘letter of repudiation’ from the union for unlawful action. Yet the government and employers have not dared to threaten UNITE with sequestration. Nor has the POA been threatened for its action in defiance of the law last May. Many European countries have seen general strikes, despite also having varying degrees of repressive anti-trade union laws and restrictions. These have been swept away by the struggle. Prospects for the Con-Dems IT IS STILL an open question whether this government will last its full term. But it may not be the cuts which act as the immediate trigger for a collapse of the coalition. There is a whole number of possibilities. Europe has once again become a nightmare for the leadership of the Tory party. John Major’s ‘bastards’ are back with a vengeance! Desperate to appease the Tory right, and also to cut across the growing electoral support for UK Independence Party, Cameron and Osborne are ‘talking tough’ on Europe. Osborne has gone further than Thatcher ever did, threatening UK withdrawal from the EU. His statement, however, horrified the majority of the British capitalist class, including representatives of finance capitalism. The president of the CBI, along with the chairman of the London Stock Exchange and others, wrote an open letter warning that the dominant powers in the EU – Germany and France – are extremely unlikely to accept Cameron’s attempt at renegotiation. The British capitalists fear that in that situation, having played the nationalist card, the government would end up holding an in/out referendum which could result in Britain’s exit from the EU. This would have negative effects for British capitalism. Companies would be less likely to set up in Britain, and the City of London’s global position as a centre of finance would be eroded. It is also a very dangerous situation for the eurozone as it could deepen the divisions within it. Not only German chancellor, Angela Merkel, but now representatives of the US government are trying to make Cameron back-pedal. Cameron’s fear of a split in the Tory party makes it extremely difficult for him to simply retreat. This issue can escalate further. It will drive the Lib Dems wild. In the main, the ‘Orange Book’ Lib Dems chose their party over the Tories only because of its pro-European stance. In the event of a collapse of the government, the Tories could play the nationalist card to try and win the general election. In recent opinion polls, 51% of people want to leave the EU compared to 40% who want to stay. This is a dramatic shift. While it can swing back under the impact of a campaign, it is a clear sign of how events could develop. In such a situation, the labour movement and the working class must have an answer which poses issues from a class point of view, in particular to cut across the dangers of nationalism. The current position of the leadership of the TUC, that the capitalist EU’s ‘social Europe’ is a progressive force, is increasingly ludicrous against the background of the nightmare facing workers in the countries of ‘the periphery’. Socialists argue for the trade union movement to campaign for a referendum, but on the issues of our choosing: the class questions which are at the heart of the neoliberal project of the ‘modern’ EU. This would be a referendum to oppose the EU’s Lisbon treaty agenda of privatisation, cuts in wages, etc. We need to reassert total opposition to the bosses’ club of the EU. We must come together, not in a narrow nationalist fashion but in solidarity with the workers’ movement across Europe. At the same time, the need for a confederation of democratic socialist states must be brought to the fore. Next general election WHENEVER THE ELECTION comes it is most likely that Labour will come to power, either with a majority or as part of a coalition with all or a section of the Lib Dems. Miliband would prefer the latter in the hope the Lib Dems would act as a cover for a Labour government’s pro-capitalist policies. However, like Tony Blair before him, he might lead Labour to a majority despite himself. Labour has no answer to the burning problems facing working-class people. The failure of a new Labour government could pave the way for an even more right-wing Tory government at a later stage. Nonetheless, the building of a new mass workers’ party would also be firmly on the agenda. Work done before the general election to campaign for a serious electoral force to the left of Labour is vital preparation for the development of a mass party of the working class. On the basis of socialists’ intervention and their own experience workers will draw the conclusion that ‘we need our own party’. Consciousness in Britain lags well behind the objective reality of 21st century capitalism. However, workers’ illusions are progressively being stripped away. Many who previously hoped that the crisis was temporary are beginning to understand that this is the ‘new normal’. While all kinds of divisions remain within the working class – between benefit claimants and others, young and old, migrant and non-migrant, public and private sector – there is a growing unity in a burning hatred of the tiny elite at the top of society. There is not yet a mass socialist, never mind Marxist, consciousness but there is a growing minority of workers and young people who are looking for an alternative. An anti-capitalist outlook is becoming widespread. Struggles can develop, possibly very suddenly, on a qualitatively higher level than anything which has taken place over recent years. Capitalism is putting every gain won by previous generations into jeopardy. There is no possibility of the working class meekly accepting this. On the contrary, we will see ferocious opposition. On the basis of experience the working class will draw the conclusion that the only alternative to capitalist misery is socialism and the democratic planning of society’s resources.