a few weeks late i know but thought i'd republish the report from teh TUSC conference i attended written up by will. I hope it can help a few more people understand our aims and why we aer involved in TUSC and can hopefully get involved too.
The Conference morning session concentrated on the political context 12 months after the General Election, with Dave Nellist in the Chair. Hannah Sell (SP) argued that TUSC was establishing itself and had an important electoral role to play. Simon Hestor (SWP), the TUSC Agent in Tottenham, argued that socialists had an important role to play in the present capitalist crisis. TUSC could establish itself as a serious alternative. He was not sure TUSC should oppose Livingstone for Lord Mayor as he would be seen by the working class as the main opposition to Boris Johnson. John McInally (PCS Vice Pres) described how the PCS was balloting members on supporting anti cuts candidates. TUSC was a key element of the process that was unfolding, he argued.
A number of points were made from the floor, including:
■TUSC should contest all three aspects of the London elections – GLA, Constituency and Mayoral
■The mayoral elections enable political positions to be posted to every household via a booklet
■TUSC should build on what it has achieved so far
■It was important to campaign between elections, stressing the importance of fighting the cuts
■TUSC members should raise the issue of migrants rights in anti cuts committees, and support for migrants should be added to the TUSC policy statement
■London RMT members want to encourage left groups, TU branches and community groups to join them in building anti cuts electoral alternative that could become part of TUSC
■We need to involve service users more in the anti cuts movement
■We should move towards building a new Party and get national recognition
■The working class still votes Labour for class reasons
■The Murdoch crisis could yet force a general election
■Trade unions may want to stand candidates, not necessarily as TUSC
■We should aim to win seats despite the difficulties in doing that
■We need to grow and be open to others on the left
■Leicester Against the Cuts wrote to every candidate/party threatening to stand against any who would not oppose the cuts. They ended up standing 9 TUSC candidates as part of a broader coalition, and gained much publicity as a result.
■There is a need to expose Labour’s refusal to oppose cuts at Council level
The platform speakers summed up their positions and responded to the discussion.
The afternoon session was about building TUSC. Clive Heemskirk (SP) moved the Steering Committee proposals which reiterated the founding statement and that TUSC’s main aim was to provide an electoral title for orgaisations who wished to use it as part of a wider challenge. It went further by calling for a TUSC Conference before the end of 2011 to prepare for the 2012 Council Elections. It called for the Steering Committee to be enlarged to include a representative of independents through the TUSC Independent Socialist Network. The Steering Committee would also be able to include additional supporting political groups. It called for local TUSC Steering Committees to be established in areas TUSC would be standing candidates, and it stated clearly that these were interim arrangements and that discussions would continue on how best to organise TUSC as it developed, and this would be an agenda item at all future TUSC Conferences. Any prospective candidate would be asked to endorse TUSC’s Founding Statement and other relevant additional policy statements.
In motivating the proposals, Clive Heemskirk spoke of the need for a plan to develop TUSC. He argued for a wide electoral challenge. The national structure should remain federal, he argued, with individual trade unionists part of it as affiliation was not likely at present. TUSC was beginning to have an effect, with Milliband pulling out of the Durham Gala because Bob Crow had been invited to speak. He outlined why it was important for independent socialists to have a place on the Steering Committee. He concluded by saying TUSC was a work in progress, and at present it was particularly positive that the electoral title could be used by all socialists and anti cuts campaigners who agreed with the core policies. He was not opposed to the position being put forward by Rugby TUSC.
Pete McLaren moved the resolution from Rugby TUSC that Clive had referred to. It expressed satisfaction with TUSC’s performance in the Council elections, suggesting political foundations had been laid. Results showed there was support for socialist ideas, indicating TUSC had the potential to become a significant political force.
To build on these foundations, Rugby TUSC was suggesting that TUSC should campaign against all the attacks on the working class, including the cuts; that TUSC Branches should be built up and down the country; that candidates should be selected as part of preparing now for 2012; TUSC should work locally with anti cuts and community groups to provide a wide as possible challenge. The resolution concluded by suggesting TUSC should broaden out its structure at national level to welcome representation from local TUSC branches, trade union branches, political organisations and independents supportive of TUSC.
In motivation, Pete McLaren outlined what had been achieved in Rugby. TUSC had emerged out of Rugby Against the Cuts. This development was a result of Rugby Against the Cuts deciding to stand anti cuts candidates in all 16 wards where there was no anti cuts candidate. All retiring Councillors and prospective candidates were contacted, but none were prepared to sign the pledge against the cuts that was issued. A TUSC branch was set up, and seven candidates were selected. These included the Chair of Warwickshire FBU, the Rugby RMT Health & Safety Rep and the Warwickshire UNITE Youth Workers Secretary. In the event, Pete McLaren continued, TUSC averaged 7.2% across its 7 wards. Rugby TUSC candidate’s ratio to Labour votes was 1:4, compared to the TUSC national average of 1:10. Ten Media Releases had resulted in 12 press articles about TUSC, three radio interviews, two press letters about TUSC and two articles included on socialist blogs. There was now an active TUSC Branch with a contact list of 15 and plans laid for stalls and a Public Meeting. He then outlined the main points of the Rugby TUSC resolution, stressing that TUSC needed to build on the foundations it had laid – local branches should be set up, and they should campaign against the cuts and all attacks on the working class. TUSC should work within anti cuts committees. TUSC should also be built nationally and broaden its structures to welcome representatives of TUSC branches, TU branches, supportive political groups and independents, he argued. He concluded by stressing that the resolution did not suggest how groups and representatives could become a structural part of TUSC – this must be open for discussion. It could be a two tier structure – the SC much as now, and a National Council with reps directly elected from branches, organisations and the ISN – or it could be an enlarged SC with indirect elections – local branches elect two people to represent all branches; supportive TU branches elect two people to represent TU branches; political organisations elect two; ISN elects two, for example. He concluded by suggesting we use the TUSC Bulletin to debate the best method of achieving that level of representation.
Points made in the discussion included:
■Any organisation must be democratic, with the right to recall
■We must oppose all cuts
■The Labour Party was invisible on many anti cuts demonstrations
■We need to bring TUSC into daily struggles
■We need to stand as widely as possible and not worry about small votes
■We need to develop roots and build a national organisation with a national press strategy
■TUSC is a work in progress and its development will depend on objective circumstances
■There is a void on opposing the cuts that TUSC can fill – even the Green party, which is seen as anti cuts, has no actual strategy and, in Brighton, within the Anti Cuts Committee the Green party opposed TUSC’s ‘No Cuts’ position. Only one Green candidate supported an anti cuts pledge and, once elected, he withdrew his support!
■TUSC has huge potential. It can become professional and confident. The Bulletin already goes out to 1,500 supporters. There is more we could do to promote TUSC further – we should promote TUSC at every opportunity.
■We need to involve our supporters more
Clive Heemskirk replied to the debate. He agreed TUSC needed to develop structures, and he agreed with Pete McLaren’s motivation. Rugby was a model for others to follow, he suggested. We should stand widely. If there are TUs who want to stand candidates we should do our best to persuade them to stand as TUSC. He accepted we needed to use the national media. He again pointed at the success achieved in Rugby, and called on supporters to seize the opportunity.
Dave Nellist, from the chair, put both statements/motions to the vote. Both the Framework from the Steering Committee and the motion from Rugby were agreed without dissent as consultative/indicative votes dependent only on formal approval from the trade unions involved in the Steering Committee, in particular the RMT
Pete McLaren 18/07/11
subscribe to this blog:
Posts
All Comments
Showing posts with label councillors. Show all posts
Showing posts with label councillors. Show all posts
Monday, 1 August 2011
Tuesday, 10 May 2011
Some initial observations on TUSC in the local elections
The Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) stood 174 candidates in the local elections in England on 5 May 2011.
It’s always important to have a sense of proportion. When dealing with election results, it’s vital. It’s easy to exaggerate election results; to put a favourable gloss on them in order to bolster the morale of your supporters. Elections are brutal. You can’t argue with the results. But how we interpret them must include looking at them in context.
Overall the results are a good initial foray into the local elections. Given the difficulties that the socialist left has had working together to present candidates in elections over the last decade, it was a success to be able to put forward 174 candidates, representing the Socialist Party, the Socialist Workers’ Party and independent socialists and trade unionists, with the significant backing of RMT general secretary Bob Crow and other senior figures in that union. In addition the Walsall Democratic Labour Party stood under its own name but endorsed the TUSC programme.
TUSC was standing on an explicit ‘No Cuts’ platform. Whilst there is massive opposition to the cuts, as shown by the massive TUC demonstration on 26 March, there is still a large section of the population that believes that some cuts are necessary. That argument still has to be defeated.
Labour has undoubtedly benefited from the anti-Con-Dem coalition mood. The Lib-Dems were trounced because of the way they betrayed those who voted for them in last year’s general election. Those opposed to the cuts will have voted overwhelmingly for Labour, even though Labour is implementing the cuts at a local level. In most places, it has to be remembered, there were no ‘No Cuts’ candidates to vote for, even for the minority of people who, at this stage, would be prepared to cast their votes for a new, unknown party putting forward that position. In the face of the Con-Dem attacks on public services and the welfare state Labour is seen as a line of defence; as being better than the Tories.
At the moment, most voters think Labour is opposed to the cuts. Many do not realise that Labour in government would implement similar cuts, albeit more slowly. My own experience campaigning in Peckham was that most traditional Labour voters did not know that the Labour-run Southwark council had implemented £33 million cuts with a further £18 million cuts to follow next year. Others thought that there was no alternative to the cuts and that Labour would protect services better than the Tories. There was a section who weren’t going to vote for any party as ‘they’re all the same’. There was another group who were interested in what we had to say and we persuaded some of those to vote for us.
Over the next year, as the cuts begin to bite, the harsh reality of Labour cuts at local level will lead many Labour voters to question their loyalties. Whether they stop voting Labour and whether they cast their votes for socialists depends to a large degree upon what socialists do. The process of Labour voters breaking with Labour will be a slow and uneven process and socialists can only win the votes of those who do decide to break with Labour if they present an alternative for them to support.
In the limited number of wards where TUSC did present an alternative to the cuts programme supported by Labour, Lib Dems and Tories, the results were encouraging.
13 candidates polled over 10%, with three receiving over 30% and a fourth getting 28%. A further 31 candidates polled between 5% – 10%; 56 polled between 2.5% – 5%; 44 polled less than 2% but of those, only 5 got less than 1%.
We are commenting here on generally small votes and low percentages. That is to be expected for a party that has no real national or local profile. In most, if not all, areas where TUSC stood, the voters will not have heard of TUSC until the last few weeks before polling day. And most voters will have received only one or two leaflets. We do not have the forces, at this stage to do much more than this. In this context, some of the votes are quite good.
Clearly we need to address the issues of profile and publicity and find ways of raising our profile and inserting ourselves into the public eye.
Where TUSC candidates stood against a background of previous work, where there was a knowledge and recognition of what the candidate represented, some very good results were obtained.
It was extremely disappointing to lose sitting councillors Michael Lavallette in Preston, Ray Holmes in Bolsover and Pete Smith of the Walsall DLP but their votes were very good, winning 39.8%, 28.2% and 34% respectively. Rob Windsor, a former Socialist Party councillor in Coventry, polled 30.3% in his attempt to win back the seat he lost last year. Former councillors George Tapp in Salford and Jackie Grunsell in Kirklees won 16.1% and 14.8% respectively.
Elsewhere, Maxine Bowler polled 14% in Sheffield and Tom Woodcock polled 12% in Cambridge. Both have stood for election before and have built support in the local electorate. Other notable TUSC results include winning 7% of the vote in four wards in Carlisle and in two in Gateshead.
In Rugby TUSC stood in seven wards and polled an average of 7%, with high points of 16.2% and 12.1%. Candidates included the regional chair of the FBU and the secretary of Warwickshire Unite. They raised £2,000 in donations, including a personal donation of £500 from FBU general secretary Matt Wrack. There is now a local TUSC branch with links to local trade unions.
Where there has been consistent work, the results are better. The lesson is obvious. If socialists want to get better election results we need to stand regularly and campaign consistently in between elections. But even the lower votes polled by TUSC candidates confirm that there is a constituency for a working-class party putting forward socialist policies.
One point is obvious but is worth making. You can only get votes for your programme and party if you stand candidates. Otherwise, the people who might have voted for you will either vote for another party or won’t vote at all. A large number of people do not vote – 35% at the last general election. Many don’t think there’s anyone worth voting for.
If TUSC had been in a position to stand candidates in every ward in England its vote may have been small in percentage terms at this stage but the aggregate vote would have been significant. I do not have figures for the number of voters in these recent local elections but in last year’s general election just over 25 million people voted in English constituencies (65.5% turnout). An average vote of two percent would mean half a million votes. That’s not a bad place for a small socialist party to aim for. But it means developing the profile, resources and supporters to be able to stand candidates on a much wider basis than we were able to do on this occasion.
This will take a lot of patient hard work and determination but it is an achievable target. How quickly we get there depends on many factors, not least what happens in terms of class struggle over the next few years and how TUSC responds.
When we stand in elections, we prefer to win. Having elected representatives like Michael Lavallette and Dave Nellist is a great advantage to the socialist cause. Nobody like losing. But standing without winning is an inevitable but necessary part of the process of building support for socialist ideas. The more regularly we stand and the more widely we stand the greater the accumulated support will be. We have to stand to get votes.
In the context of the number of local elections contested on 5 May, 174 candidates is a very small number. But it is a start. The TUSC initiative has the
It’s always important to have a sense of proportion. When dealing with election results, it’s vital. It’s easy to exaggerate election results; to put a favourable gloss on them in order to bolster the morale of your supporters. Elections are brutal. You can’t argue with the results. But how we interpret them must include looking at them in context.
Overall the results are a good initial foray into the local elections. Given the difficulties that the socialist left has had working together to present candidates in elections over the last decade, it was a success to be able to put forward 174 candidates, representing the Socialist Party, the Socialist Workers’ Party and independent socialists and trade unionists, with the significant backing of RMT general secretary Bob Crow and other senior figures in that union. In addition the Walsall Democratic Labour Party stood under its own name but endorsed the TUSC programme.
TUSC was standing on an explicit ‘No Cuts’ platform. Whilst there is massive opposition to the cuts, as shown by the massive TUC demonstration on 26 March, there is still a large section of the population that believes that some cuts are necessary. That argument still has to be defeated.
Labour has undoubtedly benefited from the anti-Con-Dem coalition mood. The Lib-Dems were trounced because of the way they betrayed those who voted for them in last year’s general election. Those opposed to the cuts will have voted overwhelmingly for Labour, even though Labour is implementing the cuts at a local level. In most places, it has to be remembered, there were no ‘No Cuts’ candidates to vote for, even for the minority of people who, at this stage, would be prepared to cast their votes for a new, unknown party putting forward that position. In the face of the Con-Dem attacks on public services and the welfare state Labour is seen as a line of defence; as being better than the Tories.
At the moment, most voters think Labour is opposed to the cuts. Many do not realise that Labour in government would implement similar cuts, albeit more slowly. My own experience campaigning in Peckham was that most traditional Labour voters did not know that the Labour-run Southwark council had implemented £33 million cuts with a further £18 million cuts to follow next year. Others thought that there was no alternative to the cuts and that Labour would protect services better than the Tories. There was a section who weren’t going to vote for any party as ‘they’re all the same’. There was another group who were interested in what we had to say and we persuaded some of those to vote for us.
Over the next year, as the cuts begin to bite, the harsh reality of Labour cuts at local level will lead many Labour voters to question their loyalties. Whether they stop voting Labour and whether they cast their votes for socialists depends to a large degree upon what socialists do. The process of Labour voters breaking with Labour will be a slow and uneven process and socialists can only win the votes of those who do decide to break with Labour if they present an alternative for them to support.
In the limited number of wards where TUSC did present an alternative to the cuts programme supported by Labour, Lib Dems and Tories, the results were encouraging.
13 candidates polled over 10%, with three receiving over 30% and a fourth getting 28%. A further 31 candidates polled between 5% – 10%; 56 polled between 2.5% – 5%; 44 polled less than 2% but of those, only 5 got less than 1%.
We are commenting here on generally small votes and low percentages. That is to be expected for a party that has no real national or local profile. In most, if not all, areas where TUSC stood, the voters will not have heard of TUSC until the last few weeks before polling day. And most voters will have received only one or two leaflets. We do not have the forces, at this stage to do much more than this. In this context, some of the votes are quite good.
Clearly we need to address the issues of profile and publicity and find ways of raising our profile and inserting ourselves into the public eye.
Where TUSC candidates stood against a background of previous work, where there was a knowledge and recognition of what the candidate represented, some very good results were obtained.
It was extremely disappointing to lose sitting councillors Michael Lavallette in Preston, Ray Holmes in Bolsover and Pete Smith of the Walsall DLP but their votes were very good, winning 39.8%, 28.2% and 34% respectively. Rob Windsor, a former Socialist Party councillor in Coventry, polled 30.3% in his attempt to win back the seat he lost last year. Former councillors George Tapp in Salford and Jackie Grunsell in Kirklees won 16.1% and 14.8% respectively.
Elsewhere, Maxine Bowler polled 14% in Sheffield and Tom Woodcock polled 12% in Cambridge. Both have stood for election before and have built support in the local electorate. Other notable TUSC results include winning 7% of the vote in four wards in Carlisle and in two in Gateshead.
In Rugby TUSC stood in seven wards and polled an average of 7%, with high points of 16.2% and 12.1%. Candidates included the regional chair of the FBU and the secretary of Warwickshire Unite. They raised £2,000 in donations, including a personal donation of £500 from FBU general secretary Matt Wrack. There is now a local TUSC branch with links to local trade unions.
Where there has been consistent work, the results are better. The lesson is obvious. If socialists want to get better election results we need to stand regularly and campaign consistently in between elections. But even the lower votes polled by TUSC candidates confirm that there is a constituency for a working-class party putting forward socialist policies.
One point is obvious but is worth making. You can only get votes for your programme and party if you stand candidates. Otherwise, the people who might have voted for you will either vote for another party or won’t vote at all. A large number of people do not vote – 35% at the last general election. Many don’t think there’s anyone worth voting for.
If TUSC had been in a position to stand candidates in every ward in England its vote may have been small in percentage terms at this stage but the aggregate vote would have been significant. I do not have figures for the number of voters in these recent local elections but in last year’s general election just over 25 million people voted in English constituencies (65.5% turnout). An average vote of two percent would mean half a million votes. That’s not a bad place for a small socialist party to aim for. But it means developing the profile, resources and supporters to be able to stand candidates on a much wider basis than we were able to do on this occasion.
This will take a lot of patient hard work and determination but it is an achievable target. How quickly we get there depends on many factors, not least what happens in terms of class struggle over the next few years and how TUSC responds.
When we stand in elections, we prefer to win. Having elected representatives like Michael Lavallette and Dave Nellist is a great advantage to the socialist cause. Nobody like losing. But standing without winning is an inevitable but necessary part of the process of building support for socialist ideas. The more regularly we stand and the more widely we stand the greater the accumulated support will be. We have to stand to get votes.
In the context of the number of local elections contested on 5 May, 174 candidates is a very small number. But it is a start. The TUSC initiative has the
Thursday, 17 March 2011
Why i feel all MP's should only claim a average skilled workers wage
This is a socialist policy that i do strongly agree with that we feel all elected representitives who claim to represent the working class should only claim the average skilled labourers wage and no more expenses. It has only just died down but the expenses scandels are still there and leaving a big scar on the Westminster bubble which seems increasingly detached from the rest of reality.
ive. been looking at a article below which puts the case for all MP's to not gain all these expenses which has damaged the trust people have in them beyond repair i feel but if they only took a average workers wage the public would not see them as above them ain any way.
If any socialist from be it TUSC or any other anti cuts direction will always look to only claim the average workers wage and no more.
During the expenses scandel the SHEER arrogance of MPs is astounding. Caught like rabbits in a car's headlights, they still claim they did nothing wrong when they asked us to pay for everything from KitKats to clearing out the family moat! Some of them are now offering to pay back some money but only because of the outrage from ordinary workers.
The only thing more astounding than the arrogance is the excuses. Apparently, MPs have to be able to claim lavish expenses so they can get to work on time.
One MP, whose constituency is in Luton, had her second home in Southampton, so she could maintain her relationship with her partner. No doubt, low-paid women workers who often have to take up several different jobs to secure a decent wage will be sympathetic!
Women who clean offices in the morning, work as teaching assistants or in a school kitchen by day, then have another job in the evening will know all about not seeing their family and ensuring that they get to each job on time. Not for them though, the luxury of a second home and taxi fares at taxpayers' expense.
Even when they clearly acted against the rules, MPs' excuses are that they over-claimed as they were 'too busy' to check. The trade union members who I represent would have been disciplined and sacked if they had used such a lame defence if they had ever been found to have over-claimed.
Yet, while MPs are living it up, we're expected to tighten our belts to pay for the economic crisis. In Greenwich, where I am a trade union representative, the council's latest cuts proposals will mean that care managers, responsible for putting together care packages for the elderly, will lose up to £5,000 a year from their salary.
Mental health social workers are to lose £400 a month and the children's social work team based at the local Queen Elizabeth Hospital is to be disbanded despite all the concerns raised about child protection.
Parents, together with Unison and the Socialist Party, are continuing to fight the closure of Charlotte Turner School [see page 11]. The council insists on this closure despite a huge majority of people telling the council, via its consultation exercise, that the school must stay open.
We need real workers' representatives to stand up for workers. The politicians, the government and the councils are not listening. We need a voice for the working class.
As the recession grows deeper, more and more people will demand that politicians stand up for ordinary people. They will want a bailout for the workers, not the bankers.
No such alternative can be found in the great hydra-headed Labour/Tory/LibDem parliamentary monster, which worships capitalism and the millionaires. We need a new workers' party to stand up for the millions.
When this new party wins members of parliament, it will need to withstand the pressures from MPs who don't bother trying to get a better deal for workers. When MPs get lavish expenses for often imaginary second homes, what do they care if more and more people find it impossible to pay for their only one?
From 1983 to 1992, socialists Dave Nellist and the late Terry Fields and Pat Wall became MPs. They only accepted the average wage level of a skilled worker and the expenses needed to do their jobs, which were fully vetted by local trade unionists. All the rest was donated back to workers' causes locally, nationally and internationally.
I myself think this is a excellent positive policiy to have and shows that as socialists we will not lavish our career's and try to do over the class we represent. If i ever stood for election which i may do i too will only claim a average workers wage. People say it is not enough for the hard work MP's do. I dispute this prefusely as although MP's have big responsibilities i fail to see how their work deserves big wages and almost unlimited expenses paid for by the good old tax payer.
Sure their job may be challenging but is it more challenging than a nurses, soldier, firefighter or a social worker for example. I really dont think it is i would say there is a case for wages to be increased across the board with a eventual level of a living wage increasing year on year to represent inflation and growth.
But i fail to see how a MP deserves big expenses while average workers struggle to get by. SO the case for all elected representitives national or council or on a European level should always be rooted in the working class's and that means not claiming and putting yourself on a pedestall above the rest of the class your supposed to represent .
ive. been looking at a article below which puts the case for all MP's to not gain all these expenses which has damaged the trust people have in them beyond repair i feel but if they only took a average workers wage the public would not see them as above them ain any way.
If any socialist from be it TUSC or any other anti cuts direction will always look to only claim the average workers wage and no more.
During the expenses scandel the SHEER arrogance of MPs is astounding. Caught like rabbits in a car's headlights, they still claim they did nothing wrong when they asked us to pay for everything from KitKats to clearing out the family moat! Some of them are now offering to pay back some money but only because of the outrage from ordinary workers.
The only thing more astounding than the arrogance is the excuses. Apparently, MPs have to be able to claim lavish expenses so they can get to work on time.
One MP, whose constituency is in Luton, had her second home in Southampton, so she could maintain her relationship with her partner. No doubt, low-paid women workers who often have to take up several different jobs to secure a decent wage will be sympathetic!
Women who clean offices in the morning, work as teaching assistants or in a school kitchen by day, then have another job in the evening will know all about not seeing their family and ensuring that they get to each job on time. Not for them though, the luxury of a second home and taxi fares at taxpayers' expense.
Even when they clearly acted against the rules, MPs' excuses are that they over-claimed as they were 'too busy' to check. The trade union members who I represent would have been disciplined and sacked if they had used such a lame defence if they had ever been found to have over-claimed.
Yet, while MPs are living it up, we're expected to tighten our belts to pay for the economic crisis. In Greenwich, where I am a trade union representative, the council's latest cuts proposals will mean that care managers, responsible for putting together care packages for the elderly, will lose up to £5,000 a year from their salary.
Mental health social workers are to lose £400 a month and the children's social work team based at the local Queen Elizabeth Hospital is to be disbanded despite all the concerns raised about child protection.
Parents, together with Unison and the Socialist Party, are continuing to fight the closure of Charlotte Turner School [see page 11]. The council insists on this closure despite a huge majority of people telling the council, via its consultation exercise, that the school must stay open.
We need real workers' representatives to stand up for workers. The politicians, the government and the councils are not listening. We need a voice for the working class.
As the recession grows deeper, more and more people will demand that politicians stand up for ordinary people. They will want a bailout for the workers, not the bankers.
No such alternative can be found in the great hydra-headed Labour/Tory/LibDem parliamentary monster, which worships capitalism and the millionaires. We need a new workers' party to stand up for the millions.
When this new party wins members of parliament, it will need to withstand the pressures from MPs who don't bother trying to get a better deal for workers. When MPs get lavish expenses for often imaginary second homes, what do they care if more and more people find it impossible to pay for their only one?
From 1983 to 1992, socialists Dave Nellist and the late Terry Fields and Pat Wall became MPs. They only accepted the average wage level of a skilled worker and the expenses needed to do their jobs, which were fully vetted by local trade unionists. All the rest was donated back to workers' causes locally, nationally and internationally.
I myself think this is a excellent positive policiy to have and shows that as socialists we will not lavish our career's and try to do over the class we represent. If i ever stood for election which i may do i too will only claim a average workers wage. People say it is not enough for the hard work MP's do. I dispute this prefusely as although MP's have big responsibilities i fail to see how their work deserves big wages and almost unlimited expenses paid for by the good old tax payer.
Sure their job may be challenging but is it more challenging than a nurses, soldier, firefighter or a social worker for example. I really dont think it is i would say there is a case for wages to be increased across the board with a eventual level of a living wage increasing year on year to represent inflation and growth.
But i fail to see how a MP deserves big expenses while average workers struggle to get by. SO the case for all elected representitives national or council or on a European level should always be rooted in the working class's and that means not claiming and putting yourself on a pedestall above the rest of the class your supposed to represent .
Saturday, 5 March 2011
my 1st NSSN anti cuts demo
So today I have just returned from London and Lambeth where the NSSN, the national shop steward’s network made up of socialists and trade unionists.
Today the 5th of March a whole load of anti cuts protesters from various different unions, anti cuts campaigns and organisations came together to march on the labour party local council conference meeting at transport house the old TUC building ironically.
As you may or may not know I’m registered blind and my first big demo was a real experience so I thought I’d do a write up of my experiences from a blind activists perspective and how I saw the day.
So Myself and other comrades from Stevenage arrived just after 11 am at Lambeth north tube station and assembled together not far from the Imperial War museum as we set about signing the petition that was to be handed to Labour Party delegates attending the conference I believe everyone who attended signed the petition to urge labour councillors to vote against the cuts.
As we were waiting for clearance to start our march from the police we had the pleasure to listen to several excellent speakers before we took off.
Many good speakers, some with real stories and tails of struggles over the years. We heard from Martin Powell Davies of the NUT who is very active in his area of Lambeth not far from where this march was taking place. He reminded us of some great battles the left had won back in the 1920's in Poplar and in the 1980's with inspirational moves by militant lead Liverpool and Lambeth councils who were both labour at that time. Martin reminded us of the bravery of those councillors standing up to the Tories back then when it was the iron lady we were up against in Maggie Thatcher.
Today it is the condem government made up of the Tories and the liberal democrats who are enjoying taking on the working class it would seem with George Osborne and David Cameron making the ordinary working people of this country including the old, young, disabled, women, men, unemployed and many other areas of society to pay for the mess the bankers in this country caused.
Other speakers of note were Linda Taaf of the Socialist party who I had never heard speak before and thought she came across very well
Linda really got the crowd going several times and received big applause when she raised the statement that the Tories are coming for us, our jobs, our pensions, our benefits, our working conditions and then the phrase that will stick with me from the day was that what they don’t realise is that we are coming for them.
This line was repeated several times later in the rally and was an excellent point to make.
A special mention must go to full time socialist party employee and now NSSN organiser Rob Williams who I always enjoy listening to him and his views really deserves a lot of thanks and praise for help to organise today and keep everyone’s spirits high whilst on the march.
We had other speakers from the likes of RMT who are one of the more left wing unions going and have a strong record of ballot action when job losses are on the cards or working conditions are under threat. Some great points made here with a lot of emphasis on the big demo on the 26th of March we must all now look to build towards.
As for the march we got the go ahead to march at a little after 12 and we took off with a excellent set of drums leading the way who as I understand have been hired in also for the march 26th TUC demo in London with 3 times as many drummers, that should sound excellent I think.
The noise they gave off and the whistles and continuous chanting from up and down the strong march of what I’d estimate to be about 4 or 5 hundred maybe.
I'm a big football fan so love a good sing song and chant so some of the chants today lead by Rob Williams doing a top job on the megaphone really got the crowd going. Chants of no it’s no butt’s, don’t pass on Tory cuts and when they say cutback we say fight back really sent shivers down your spine to know that real working class ordinary people are finally finding their voice to these vicious cuts package.
I was guided along the whole route from a good friend who has his own work related troubles where he is set to be made redundant from Glaxo Smith Klein in Ware in Hertfordshire due to his so called "union activity" as they put it.
Every person on the march today had a reason to be there and to be fighting back against this horrible right wing government
But of course the real reason for us marching on the Labour local councillors conference was handing in a petition urging them to vote against the cuts and to not do the Tories dirty work for them
The march route took us up out of Lambeth up towards Southwark where the meeting was taking place at Transport house an old TUC building I do believe.
When we reached our destination we paused for breath as it was quite a long route I thought and I felt tired after I got home for sure.
We congregated in a small square just near where this labour conference of councillors was taking place where we heard more excellent speeches from Dave Nellist a socialist party councillor in his home town of Coventry. Dave who I follow on twitter @davenellist I’d been looking forward to hear speak for a long time really raised the assembled crowd’s spirits once again after a good march and put the blame for the financial crisis firmly in the hands of the greedy rich capitalist bankers who have drained this country bare. Dave also made a excellent point that forget any trade union strikes over the last few years the bankers have been on strike for a good while now refusing to lend money and spend and help the country out of this mess that they caused. I felt this was very relevant as there is money about and the bankers are sloshing around huge profits and bonus's to each other but we as ordinary working class people are seeing none of it. Only cuts to our public services to pay off the bankers mess.
Dave Nellist also highlighted some of the excellent work Uk Uncut have been carrying out over recent months in highlighting tax avoidance and evasion from big big corporations and banks. Dave said that Barclays bank and HSBC who are two of the worlds biggest banks who reported huge profits in the last year returning almost to pre banking crisis figures avoid paying tax like the plague they will employ hundreds of tax experts to find loop holes and financial experts to work out where they can get away with paying little or no tax to the British treasury. This is frankly disgusting in my opinion and is an absolute insult to the rest of us hard working citizens.
We heard further speeches from Rob Williams again giving us news that in Cardiff today 2000 people had marched on the Tories and liberal democrat spring conferences in the city to highlight how wrong these cuts are and how they should think again.
This was met by big applause too as Rob began to highlight major struggles happening around the world today from Egypt to Libya and even in the belly of the capitalist world America where trades unionists in the state of Wisconsin where they are putting up a excellent fight back against anti trade union laws their US government is trying to enforce. We will not be silenced came the crowd.
There was a call from one of the speakers to request a trades union worker involved in the protests and strikes in Wisconsin to be there on the March 26th demo in London and to speak to the crowd. This was a popular move and I do hope this can happen.
We were also pleased to have as a speaker a representative from the Right to Work campaign organised by the Socialist workers Party* SWP* who were given a platform to speak despite a lot of their members resigning from the National shops stewards network a few weeks back when the motion was passed to form a anti cuts organisation within the network. But I and many others were glad to see them back on board and having their views heard. They got a good reception and made some excellent points.
The right to work representative also gave us a run down of big protests his campaign are holding in the next few weeks including a big one against cuts to the NHS and the attacks on the excellent work our doctors and nurse's do in this country. That protest will be big I may see if I can go to that possibly.
He also flagged up a big protest in Trafalgar square on the day of the budget to remind George Osborne of his wrong doings and all the people his cuts are hurting. Hopefully this will attract a fair few too.
We also had a speaker from the socialist parties very own campaign- Youth Fight for Jobs. The speaker who is party of the youth and student movement raised some excellent points that the youth today do not know what the future holds for them. Highlighting again the importance of the student movement and the big 50 thousand plus demo's towards the end of 2010 in London as a result of the trebling of tuition fees.
In October of this year several Youth Fight for Jobs activists will be reanacting the famous Jarrow march from Jaro to London many years ago where 200 unemployed youth marched on London in protest to lack of job opportunities and poor working conditions.
The rally was ended with Linda Taaf and Rob Williams handing over the petition that we all signed at the start to urge labour councillors across the country that they do have a choice whether to stand with us and join the resistance to the coalition government or join with the government in voting for cuts.
As there is a choice and I and many others will be hoping that although many of the cuts have been shamefully voted through by many labour councillors across the nation the battle now begins to prevent them from implementing the cuts. That means we must fight for every library closure, every swimming pool closure, every youth connexions scheme, every job and everything that is being cut in the name of cutbacks.
The labour delegate did come out to greet the crowd to a few heckles I must say but I’m not sure what they can expect as currently many if not all Labour run councils are doing the Tories dirty work for them and voting through the cuts. But the delegate took the petition and snuck away quietly back to his members.
All in all a very good day and very enjoyable for me on a personal level. My first real big demo really touched my political senses and enlightened me to the fact there are many people out there, a growing number that share the same views and anger at this government and what it is doing and want to fight back.
It’s now all on to march 26th in London now. See you all there I do hope.
Today the 5th of March a whole load of anti cuts protesters from various different unions, anti cuts campaigns and organisations came together to march on the labour party local council conference meeting at transport house the old TUC building ironically.
As you may or may not know I’m registered blind and my first big demo was a real experience so I thought I’d do a write up of my experiences from a blind activists perspective and how I saw the day.
So Myself and other comrades from Stevenage arrived just after 11 am at Lambeth north tube station and assembled together not far from the Imperial War museum as we set about signing the petition that was to be handed to Labour Party delegates attending the conference I believe everyone who attended signed the petition to urge labour councillors to vote against the cuts.
As we were waiting for clearance to start our march from the police we had the pleasure to listen to several excellent speakers before we took off.
Many good speakers, some with real stories and tails of struggles over the years. We heard from Martin Powell Davies of the NUT who is very active in his area of Lambeth not far from where this march was taking place. He reminded us of some great battles the left had won back in the 1920's in Poplar and in the 1980's with inspirational moves by militant lead Liverpool and Lambeth councils who were both labour at that time. Martin reminded us of the bravery of those councillors standing up to the Tories back then when it was the iron lady we were up against in Maggie Thatcher.
Today it is the condem government made up of the Tories and the liberal democrats who are enjoying taking on the working class it would seem with George Osborne and David Cameron making the ordinary working people of this country including the old, young, disabled, women, men, unemployed and many other areas of society to pay for the mess the bankers in this country caused.
Other speakers of note were Linda Taaf of the Socialist party who I had never heard speak before and thought she came across very well
Linda really got the crowd going several times and received big applause when she raised the statement that the Tories are coming for us, our jobs, our pensions, our benefits, our working conditions and then the phrase that will stick with me from the day was that what they don’t realise is that we are coming for them.
This line was repeated several times later in the rally and was an excellent point to make.
A special mention must go to full time socialist party employee and now NSSN organiser Rob Williams who I always enjoy listening to him and his views really deserves a lot of thanks and praise for help to organise today and keep everyone’s spirits high whilst on the march.
We had other speakers from the likes of RMT who are one of the more left wing unions going and have a strong record of ballot action when job losses are on the cards or working conditions are under threat. Some great points made here with a lot of emphasis on the big demo on the 26th of March we must all now look to build towards.
As for the march we got the go ahead to march at a little after 12 and we took off with a excellent set of drums leading the way who as I understand have been hired in also for the march 26th TUC demo in London with 3 times as many drummers, that should sound excellent I think.
The noise they gave off and the whistles and continuous chanting from up and down the strong march of what I’d estimate to be about 4 or 5 hundred maybe.
I'm a big football fan so love a good sing song and chant so some of the chants today lead by Rob Williams doing a top job on the megaphone really got the crowd going. Chants of no it’s no butt’s, don’t pass on Tory cuts and when they say cutback we say fight back really sent shivers down your spine to know that real working class ordinary people are finally finding their voice to these vicious cuts package.
I was guided along the whole route from a good friend who has his own work related troubles where he is set to be made redundant from Glaxo Smith Klein in Ware in Hertfordshire due to his so called "union activity" as they put it.
Every person on the march today had a reason to be there and to be fighting back against this horrible right wing government
But of course the real reason for us marching on the Labour local councillors conference was handing in a petition urging them to vote against the cuts and to not do the Tories dirty work for them
The march route took us up out of Lambeth up towards Southwark where the meeting was taking place at Transport house an old TUC building I do believe.
When we reached our destination we paused for breath as it was quite a long route I thought and I felt tired after I got home for sure.
We congregated in a small square just near where this labour conference of councillors was taking place where we heard more excellent speeches from Dave Nellist a socialist party councillor in his home town of Coventry. Dave who I follow on twitter @davenellist I’d been looking forward to hear speak for a long time really raised the assembled crowd’s spirits once again after a good march and put the blame for the financial crisis firmly in the hands of the greedy rich capitalist bankers who have drained this country bare. Dave also made a excellent point that forget any trade union strikes over the last few years the bankers have been on strike for a good while now refusing to lend money and spend and help the country out of this mess that they caused. I felt this was very relevant as there is money about and the bankers are sloshing around huge profits and bonus's to each other but we as ordinary working class people are seeing none of it. Only cuts to our public services to pay off the bankers mess.
Dave Nellist also highlighted some of the excellent work Uk Uncut have been carrying out over recent months in highlighting tax avoidance and evasion from big big corporations and banks. Dave said that Barclays bank and HSBC who are two of the worlds biggest banks who reported huge profits in the last year returning almost to pre banking crisis figures avoid paying tax like the plague they will employ hundreds of tax experts to find loop holes and financial experts to work out where they can get away with paying little or no tax to the British treasury. This is frankly disgusting in my opinion and is an absolute insult to the rest of us hard working citizens.
We heard further speeches from Rob Williams again giving us news that in Cardiff today 2000 people had marched on the Tories and liberal democrat spring conferences in the city to highlight how wrong these cuts are and how they should think again.
This was met by big applause too as Rob began to highlight major struggles happening around the world today from Egypt to Libya and even in the belly of the capitalist world America where trades unionists in the state of Wisconsin where they are putting up a excellent fight back against anti trade union laws their US government is trying to enforce. We will not be silenced came the crowd.
There was a call from one of the speakers to request a trades union worker involved in the protests and strikes in Wisconsin to be there on the March 26th demo in London and to speak to the crowd. This was a popular move and I do hope this can happen.
We were also pleased to have as a speaker a representative from the Right to Work campaign organised by the Socialist workers Party* SWP* who were given a platform to speak despite a lot of their members resigning from the National shops stewards network a few weeks back when the motion was passed to form a anti cuts organisation within the network. But I and many others were glad to see them back on board and having their views heard. They got a good reception and made some excellent points.
The right to work representative also gave us a run down of big protests his campaign are holding in the next few weeks including a big one against cuts to the NHS and the attacks on the excellent work our doctors and nurse's do in this country. That protest will be big I may see if I can go to that possibly.
He also flagged up a big protest in Trafalgar square on the day of the budget to remind George Osborne of his wrong doings and all the people his cuts are hurting. Hopefully this will attract a fair few too.
We also had a speaker from the socialist parties very own campaign- Youth Fight for Jobs. The speaker who is party of the youth and student movement raised some excellent points that the youth today do not know what the future holds for them. Highlighting again the importance of the student movement and the big 50 thousand plus demo's towards the end of 2010 in London as a result of the trebling of tuition fees.
In October of this year several Youth Fight for Jobs activists will be reanacting the famous Jarrow march from Jaro to London many years ago where 200 unemployed youth marched on London in protest to lack of job opportunities and poor working conditions.
The rally was ended with Linda Taaf and Rob Williams handing over the petition that we all signed at the start to urge labour councillors across the country that they do have a choice whether to stand with us and join the resistance to the coalition government or join with the government in voting for cuts.
As there is a choice and I and many others will be hoping that although many of the cuts have been shamefully voted through by many labour councillors across the nation the battle now begins to prevent them from implementing the cuts. That means we must fight for every library closure, every swimming pool closure, every youth connexions scheme, every job and everything that is being cut in the name of cutbacks.
The labour delegate did come out to greet the crowd to a few heckles I must say but I’m not sure what they can expect as currently many if not all Labour run councils are doing the Tories dirty work for them and voting through the cuts. But the delegate took the petition and snuck away quietly back to his members.
All in all a very good day and very enjoyable for me on a personal level. My first real big demo really touched my political senses and enlightened me to the fact there are many people out there, a growing number that share the same views and anger at this government and what it is doing and want to fight back.
It’s now all on to march 26th in London now. See you all there I do hope.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)