This is not our defeat

reblogged with thanks to red and black leeds The results are in, and once again, the British electorate have voted in the party the rich and their friends in the media told them to. Despite pre-election predictions of hung parliaments, "progressive" coalitions, or minority governments, the Conservatives walk away from this election with a slender majority, having increased their share of seats in parliament to 330. Another five years of Tory government now seems assured. There are those on the left who are greeting this news with despair. Despite it’s history of betrayal and failure, every election season the British left lines up behind the Labour Party time and time again. This campaign was no exception. The trade unions, of course, backed Labour to the hilt. Even the left-wing nationalist SNP and the anti-austerity Green Party were touting themselves as eligible partners to a Labour government. Many on the radical left were trying to talk themselves into believing a Labour victory would bring meaningful social change just a fraction closer. Even for those of us who put no stock in parliamentary politics it’s easy to slip into the habit of rooting for the parliamentary opposition. Just the mere fact of them nominally opposing the repulsive Tory crooks who’ve been in power for the last five years made Miliband and his outfit instantly seem sympathetic. But the truth is these people have nothing to offer us and we know it. We’ve been down this road before, for 13 long years of Labour administered misery. This is the party that brought you tuition fees and the Iraq War. They are not friends to the working class. They never have been. As anarchists, we’re critical of voting and elections in general as a strategy for change. For a summary of the anarchist arguments against electoralism, it’s worth reading the recent series by Phil Dickens for libcom.org - amongst other things, the idea that we can get what we need by just voting for a different set of politicians to run everything fosters illusions in the very system we’re trying to oppose. As Phil puts it: parties can’t pull the state leftward, but mass social movements can force concessions from it. The former is a massive drain of time, energy and effort from the latter. Worse, it creates the illusion that the latter isn’t necessary since we can just vote ‘radically’ instead of all that inconvenient hard work of organising and fighting. No government, Labour or Tory, will offer us anything unless we fight for it. Left-wing electoralism, when it succeeds in capturing state power, encourages us to trust the state and in state officials, bureaucrats and politicians – instead of trusting each other, and our own collective ability to take action and change things. But the other side of this problem is that when left-wing parties fail, as the Labour party did catastrophically this time round, those who’ve invested so much, both emotionally and physically, in electoral success are faced with despair. We see friends and comrades who believed a Labour government would bring at least some relief from the horrors of Tory austerity now downhearted, defeated, at the point of giving up hope altogether. This is just another pitfall of the tried and tested and failed strategy of trying to vote things better. So to all of you out there who were disappointed with the result of Thursday’s ballot: you have our sympathies, but remember, Miliband’s loss is not ours. The Labour Party has failed you, but they would have failed you anyway. Your best chance to make things better isn’t some Oxford-educated millionaire with a red rosette – it’s ordinary people getting together to fight back. It’s your workmates, your neighbours. We’re still here. We’re not going away. Our struggle will go on, under this government, and the next one, and the one after that, until they have no governments left to throw at us. Until we win. jolasmo | 05/09/2015 at 12:49 | Categories: Blog | URL: http://wp.me/p59VzD-4b

Order and discipline from the tories, unpaid work or loose your benifits

So. Now we have it. Both major parties in the UK, Labour and Conservative have outlined their plans for young people and entitlement to social security. Increased conditionality, ever more punitive and sorely lacking in any empathy. Less carrot and more stick. Albeit, the Tories undoubtedly are wielding a bigger stick. A much bigger stick indeed. David Cameron announced that ‘What these young people need is work experience and the order and discipline of turning up for work each day…a Conservative government would require them to do daily community work from the very start of their claim, as well as searching for work.” Far from considering the changing nature of employment (particularly youth employment) the talk is, for youth scholars, wearily familiar. ‘Discipline’ is what they need – not jobs. Because young people want jobs. They don’t want compelled labour programs. They don’t want the drudgery that will be thrown them, making them feel like cattle. This will simply heighten anomie, leading to increased problems – probably increasing their distance from the labour market, not bringing them into it. The end game here will be that young people will simply end up removing themselves from the job ‘market’ altogether. Some will choose to engage with the workfare, some will inevitably turn to alternative sources of income and many will be shifted into poverty as they forego the humiliation of this ‘work’ and elect to do without social security. But perhaps this is the aim in any case. As Guy Standing notes in his book The Precariat, rather than instilling ‘discipline’, these forced labour programmes: …do the reverse, making many people sullen and resentful. And doing an enforced full-time job will prevent people from searching for a real job. Workfare schemes do not cut public spending either. They are expensive, involving high administrative costs and low-productivity ‘jobs’. Their main intention is rather to massage the level of unemployment down, not by creating jobs but by discouraging the unemployed from claiming benefits. And therein lies the rub. These programmes do not create jobs, they simply park people (young people) for a period of time. And worse, they can actually act as a deterrent for young people in the labour market. Research by Robin Simmons and colleagues found that: …engagement in poor work can act in synergy with real and imagined barriers to participation and curtail the desire to work. As we have seen, chronic churning between repeated low-level training courses and certain forms of paid and unpaid employment, often characterised by insecurity and exploitation, was the norm for those participating in our research. Whilst official discourses about building work experience are superficially seductive, we found that disillusion engendered by continued failure to secure employment of reasonable quality set in sooner or later, often with negative consequences for attitudes to employment. There has been a multitude of research conducted into the attitudes of young people towards work. All point in the same direction – young people want to work. They don’t require discipline. They require work. Meaningful work which offers fulfillment, security and a sense that they are contributing to society. Furthermore, research has shown that marginality is the story of the youth labour market, not exclusion. It is not the case that young people are out of work for sustained periods of time, but rather drift in and out of work as opportunities arise (part-time employment, short-term contracts, educational opportunities etc etc). This is not the consequence of the poor work attitudes of young people (which Cameron’s language is seeking to frame it as) but of a fragmented labour market which is hostile to the presence of (primariliy working-class) young people. This further negates the requirement for the language of ‘discipline’. Young people will seize opportunities if they are there. They are no different to the rest of us. So why are we picking on them? Neither the Conservatives or Labour seem to have the answer to this. Easier to punish, or discipline. Sooner or later this will reach older age groups too, if we don’t assist young people to resist this. But who is speaking up for young people?

Could UKIP run Tories close in Hertford and Stortford next may ?

Whilst I’ve been totally turned off by electoral politics and parties in general I do keep an eye on local politics and the moves and changes in our area. Even if a relatively minor area in terms of political significance our area of East Hertfordshire is one to watch I feel. Our current MP is Mark Prisk of the conservative party. Mark who took a while to getting elected failing twice in 92 and 97 eventually was elected in Hertford and Stortford. He was finally elected as the Conservative MP for the constituency of Hertford and Stortford in 2001. Since gaining his seat at Westminster, he has been marked for ministerial office in a future Tory government. He has been promoted from the backbenches to serve at various points as Shadow Financial Secretary, Shadow Minister for Economic Affairs, an opposition whip and Shadow Minister for Business and Enterprise. He is author of several pamphlets on urban design. Currently Mark Prisk and the Tories hold the seat In East Herts with a big majority of 15,437. I would imagine Mark will regain his seat next year but could be run close if UKIP put up a good campaign on the ground. This is a tory stronghold with tories in power in all of the town councils and county councils even if nearby bigger towns of Stevenage and Harlow both have labour councils they both have marginal seats where labour will be looking to take back in 2015. Looking at wider trends across the country and how UKIP are gaining ground on both labour and Tories in the North and the south but not in London yet interestingly I may cover why in a future post. But UKIP who will be fighting a by election in Rochester and Strood on November 20th due to the defection of Conservative MP Mark Reckless to UKIP may see the UKIP really start uping their game on to a new level. Anyone who thought UKIP would just be a flash in the pan may need to think again. Whilst a lot of UKIP voters will be voting them as a protest vote to kick the other major parties a lot are disaffected tories who feel the tories have gone soft on certain issues such as immigration which is a big policy area for UKIP and often makes up the backbone of their politics which also ties into their Eurosceptism . Recent by elections have seen UKIP run labour and the Tories close and even gaining their first MP in the name of Douglas Carswell in Claction earlier this month returning him as a MP with a big majority of 12,404 . Could UKIP do the same in similar areas in the coming elections ? I do think so. Running labour close in a labour stronghold shocked many who felt UKIP were just a threat to the Tories recent months have shown this isn’t always the case. In the months other by-election, Labour held on to Heywood and Middleton but UKIP slashed its majority to 617. Mr. Farage told BBC Breakfast UKIP could hold the balance of power after next year's general election. A worrying thought if ever there was one. So could UKIP run the Tories close in Hertford and Stortford next year? I dont see why not. Mark Prisk is a well known Tory and well known in the area there is not much you can say against him personally apart from he is a Tory and goes along with their thinking and disregard for the poor. I have emailed him before and always had a reply even if I often disagree with his views. UKIP last time out in 2010 in East Herts gained 1,716 votes which was poor but have seen their vote share rocket in recent by elections in comparison to their showings last time around. The political ground has changed and UKIP are feeling the benefits so far as the country slips further to the right. Any thought that the left would do well out of a downturn in the economy and peoples lives has long since been proved wrong in fact it very much has benifited the right in the UK anyway. As for UKIP in East Herts they seem to be on the ball in terms of tracking down the Tories and aiming fire at the local Tories and their plans for development which is promised to increase our population considerably in the coming decades. I do think there is a base for UKIP to build on in East Herts there has been a history of Eurosceptic parties and thinking in the area we even had a party calling themselves the referendum party who claimed to have 50 thousand members back in 1996 who gained 2,105 votes which for a new party back in 97 isn’t too bad given the norm for newly formed smaller parties. UKIP can do well in East Herts and the threat is very real. Those who detest their form of politics must be aware of them and take them on in a big way. A piece from the Hertfordshire Mercury our local paper talks on UKIP selecting its candidate to take on Mark Prisk next year I quote below http://www.hertfordshiremercury.co.uk/UKIP-selects-Hertford-Stortford-parliamentary/story-23035085-detail/story.html " L A teacher who vows to fight for sustainable development and a better life for people on minimum wage has been selected as a candidate for UKIP in next year’s election. Adrian Baker, of Wareside, will fight for the Hertford and Stortford parliamentary seat next May. He said: “I know this is a strong Conservative area, and that we have a fight on our hands, but I welcome that challenge – especially in these exciting times where the old, failing, two-party sy stem is collapsing. “The simple truth is that both the Conservative and Labour parties have let the people of East Herts down. “People are seeing through Cameron's false promises on Europe, and are fed up with his inability to control immigration which is leading to mass development of the Green Belt, no more so than within East Herts where more than 15,000 new homes are proposed to be built.” He praised UKIP’s commitment for everybody on the minimum wage to be lifted out of paying income tax. On local issues he said: On local issues Adrian said, “We have had a massive building programme foisted on East Herts with over 15,000 new houses planned. “Nobody is listening to residents’ concerns or considering the effects on local infrastructure. “Incumbent MP, Mark Prisk, who has recently taken up a second job advising a development company, has been silent whilst bulldozers are poised to dig up our green fields around Hertford, Ware, Sawbridgeworth and Bishop’s Stortford, and our villages and towns are going to lose their rural feel as more and more building takes place. “I'll fight against unsustainable development in our area, but with net migration of 250,000 people into the UK last year alone, the pressure on our Green Belt will remain whilst the Tory government has an open-door border policy. “Until we take back control of our borders, the pressures on housing will never go away.” UKIP’s East Herts District Council Election campaign manager, Jim Boodrie, said: “With his dedication, and knowledge of the area, Adrian is the right candidate not only to lead our parliamentary election campaign, but also to spearhead the election of UKIP members to the East Herts District Council next May”

UKIP on the rise in local elections, a swing to the right in the UK ? or not ?

The UK media has gone berserk in telling us the the anti-EU, anti-immigration, right-wing UK Independence Party (UKIP) had a huge surge from nowhere in its vote. All the talk was that UKIP was about to win the biggest share of the vote and seats in the European Parliament when the results come out on Monday. It was now a 'major threat' to the centre-right coalition government and could even replace Labour as the main opposition and so on...... Actually, the local election results do not bear out that conclusion at all. It was Labour that polled the biggest share of those who voted in these minor elections, albeit only 29%. The ruling Conservatives also polled more than UKIP at 25%. UKIP was third at 23-24%, a leap up from last time, but hardly a victory. Indeed, this 'Poujadist' party will have no more than one-tenth of the council seats won by the two main parties, Labour and Conservative. And nearly all UKIP's seats will be concentrated in rural areas, particularly the better-off south-east and east of England (Scotland and Wales did not vote and UKIP is non-existent there). Actually the real winners, as usual, were the NO-VOTE party. The turnout for these elections was not more than 40%, so most people eligible to vote did not bother. Translating the share of votes into shares of eligible voters, we find that the winners of these local elections, Labour, got no more than one in eight potential voters to support them and the ruling Conservatives managed only one in ten eligible to vote. The government has been crowing about the return of fast economic growth that the UK economy is now experiencing under its policies. And there was apparently more good news in the this week's retail sales figures, which showed a big surge. But it seems that the British electorate does not agree that all is rosy. And we can see why when the latest data continue to show that average real incomes are falling as inflation outstrips wage increases . Even now, Britain's real GDP has not yet returned to pre-crisis levels, and with employment in badly-paid jobs and self-employment rising, the overall productivity of British capitalism has declined. Indeed, Britons are working harder and longer for less money. UK business investment was up 8.7% in the first quarter of this year compared with a year ago. That sounds good - until you see that investment is still some 18% below where it was in 2008 and this is nominal terms. The latest data show that the top 10% of British households own 44% of all household wealth (to use Thomas Piketty's definition) - they are not feeling the depression, only the 'boom'. And it's their sentiments that the government expresses. The reality is that there is increasing disillusionment with the mainstream political parties as we shall see when the EU parliamentary elections are announced In the UK, the combined Conservative and Labour vote in general elections has fallen to 60% from 80-90% in the 1960s, while separatist and other parties have risen from nothing to 12%. In this little local election, the combined vote of the top two parties was 54%. Voter turnout has plummeted from 75% in the 1980s to about 60% now, as politicians become increasingly divorced from their voters. Back in the 1960s, as much as 15% of MPs were manual workers, now it is less than 5% while those MPs who have never had a proper job and are just 'career politicians' is now 15%. The rest had jobs in the 'professions' and business and finance etc, with many millionaires among them. The 'surge' of support for parties like UKIP is a frustrated expression of people despairing at the main parties of capitalist democracy ever doing anything to improve their lot or even stop it getting worse. We'll see that sentiment expressed in the EU election results on Monday. I’ll takea further look at the European elections next week. reblogged and thanks to michael roberts at http://thenextrecession.wordpress.com/2014/05/23/what-a-surge/

Why I won’t be voting this may

I have voted in the past and have even stood in an election myself but this year I feel no enthusiasm at all to go and vote at all. Let’s look at my options Tories. Well lets not even go there I’m so unlikely to vote Tory you may as well bet your mortgage on it they do not represent me and never have done. Lib dem, really? Seriously not worth bothering with, Tories in yellow ties. Labour. I was once a member of this party believe it or not and many working-class people will continue to vote labour till they are blue in the face. Fair enough what else is there in all honest? But if the only thing they have to offer come May and next years general election is well we’re not the Tories in name then don’t even bother. UKIP. Well the nastier more racist version of the Tories. Tories on steroids I heard them described as once quite apt I thought. TUSC and other left parties. Not worth bothering with in my opinion. I do not feel voting changes things and voting for a so called radical calling themselves a socialist or whatever may make you feel like you’ve done your bit but what can they really do inside a capitalist system riddled with ways of silencing any who try and change things from within. I have no intention of voting this year. It’s clearly something a lot of good people still look towards but for me you’re banging your head against a brick wall. People say power is with elected officials. It is not it’s with the capitalist as it always has been. Remember the old phrase if voting changed anything they’d make it illegal. It’s not so please draw your own conclusions. Best thing we can do is get organised in our own communities, workplace’s and lives. Join a trade union. Talk to your work mates or local neighbours. There is much to be angry about right now without a political election campaign to trouble people and divert good resources and time and money into. Let’s begin today by building solidarity and strength in our own actions. We do not need leaders to represent o us we can represent ourselves very well already without self appointed leaders looking to rise to power on the backs of the poorest in society. Say no and don’t vote this may.

The sad demise of the Royal Mail

So next week those who have brought shares and you have to have brought 750 pounds worth of them at least ill float on the stock exchange. This sees the end of an era for publically owned mail services. No longer will the Royal Mail be publically owned but owned and accountable only to its shareholders. The Royal Mail has delivered post and parcels for a long time now and as with a lot of things people wont realize what they had until it is gone much like the NHS which is to be privatized soon too with devastating effects. This is a disgrace and should never have been allowed to happen but it has. The last labour government tried before with peter Mandelson facing opposition yet this time it seems like it’s gone though straight away with nothing but a peep out of the unions. As for the Trade Unions whatever happened to those ballots over privatization all gone a bit quiet hasn’t it? The CWU the communication workers union who is headed up by labour fanatic Billy Hayes have lead numerous sell outs over the years including the one most recently in 2009 where a defeat for the workers was sold as a victory shamefully despite workers being willing to take further action. The CWU has form when it comes to diffusing members’ anger and selling disputes short. As with all unions, there will inevitably come a point when what counts as a victory for the officials will clash with the interests of the workers, and as long as the bureaucrats maintain control of the dispute they will get their way. So how can we fight privatisation if the likes of the CWU are n not willing to fightback as I hope won’t be the case of course. "Privatisation should be fought as it is always pushed as a way to benefit shareholders and private profit over workers and service users. But, as civil servants and public sector workers will be all too aware right now, a boss is a boss is a boss. Our struggles may force nationalisation, and this may be a short or long term benefit depending on the terms, but we don’t need this as a demand for it to be the outcome. “Public” ownership is no automatic panacea and it is no substitute for genuine workers’ self-management. That being said, how do we fight against privatisation? Strikes and other industrial action by the workers affected are obviously one of the best forms of action, but this doesn’t mean that lacking a unionised workforce – or with a union unwilling to fight – then the sell off is inevitable. Likewise, alongside solidarity on the picket lines, the wider class can utilise direct action as part of the fight. There are a number of forms this could take. The "I won't pay" movement in Greece is one example that can be deployed when what’s at stake is a service where fees are being introduced, or significantly hiked, as a result of private sector involvement. This can also galvanise an awful lot of people given how extra costs can impact particularly on those already struggling to make their income meet their outgoings. Another potential form of direct action is the kind of pickets that the anti-workfare campaign has used to force providers out of the government’s work for benefits schemes. After all, a sell off requires a buyer, and if we can find out who is bidding for the contract then a hit on their profits and customers turning away can potentially persuade them to pull out of the deal. There are also occupations and economic blockades. As with the threat of a service being shut down altogether, users taking it over in opposition can be a powerful show of defiance and cause the kind of disruption that can make the whole process too much of a headache. Likewise, since the person doing the selling is the government, hitting the economy as a whole by blocking roads (or bridges) can have a similar disruptive impact. None of these actions are on their own going to stop privatisation. Nor are they all going to be equally useful in every circumstance. But they should be seen as a starting point that we can build on and utilise where possible. When privatisation is threatened, whether the detrimental effect is purely for the workers facing it or for broader sections of the working class, we should fight it. But all the petitions in the world won’t force the state and the bosses to change their mind. They can safely ignore us too if all we do is March from point A to point B and listen to speeches. Don’t petition – organise! " With quotes and extracts from http://libcom.org/blog/how-do-we-fight-privatisation-20092013

Say no a snoopers charter defend our civil liberties

After the Woolwich terrorist attack the government and others including London Mayor Boris Johnson have revisited plans for a so called snoopers charter to track every email, website skype chat you make and so on and to make a record of this. All in the so called national interest. Now where have we heard this before? We must defend our civil liberties all be them quite limited after the last labour government had a right good go at them but what there is left must be defended and protected in any way we can. The Tories seem intent on getting this bill through parliament now and Ed Miliband and his merry men of capitalist supporters on the front bench’s of the labour party appear happy to support David Cameron in a clear sign of how a future labour government will play out protecting the interests of British capitalism of course as they always have done. The bill, allowing the monitoring of all UK citizens' internet use, was dropped after a split in the coalition. But Lord Howard said David Cameron had "to act in the national interest" following the Woolwich murder. Labour leader Ed Miliband has said that "if he [the PM] wants a communications bill, we'll help him get it through". Mr Miliband told the Commons earlier this month that if Mr Cameron was being forced to drop certain policies because of "people behind him" - his own backbenchers - then Labour would step in. 'Who's contacting who' The Communications Data Bill would have given police and security services access, without a warrant, to details of all online communication in the UK - such as the time, duration, originator and recipient, and the location of the device from which it was made. It would also give access to all Britons' web browsing history and details of messages sent on social media. The police would have to get a warrant from the home secretary to be able to access the actual content of conversations and messages Home Secretary Theresa May is very keen on giving the police and intelligence agencies more power to access details of online communications where necessary. There is no such thing as a trade union of former home secretaries. But on this issue, it sounds as though there is. Labour's Lord Reid and Alan Johnson and the Conservative Lord Howard all agree with her. In short, their argument is we have seen the classified files and the spooks need this power. Critics - including most Liberal Democrats - accuse them of going native and backing a "snoopers charter". As a socialist I always uphold the democratic right for all individuals to communicate and talk about whatever they like without a government or organisation snooping on their discussions it is hugely anti democratic and lays a dangerous settlement in my view. I mean how far do we go with this? We say ok to this and next everything we do, write or read is monitored. Is that really where we want to go?

RIP to Stephanie Bottrill A victim of the cruel bedroom tax

Sad news today of Stephanie Bottrill Then in the early hours of last Saturday Stephanie, 53, left her home for the last time, leaving her cat Joey behind as the front-door clicked shut. She crossed her road in Meriden Drive, Solihull, to drop one of her letters and her house keys through a neighbour’s letterbox. Then she walked 15 minutes through the sleeping estate to Junction 4 of the M6. And at 6.15am she walked straight into the path of a northbound lorry and was killed instantly. Stephanie Bottrill had become the first known suicide victim of the hated Bedroom Tax. In the letter to her son, Steven, 27, she had written: “Don’t blame yourself for me ending my life. The only people to blame are the Government.” Stephanie was tormented over having to find £20 a week to pay for the two under-occupied bedrooms she had been assessed for. Days before her death she told neighbours: “I can’t afford to live any more.” Solihull council Labour group leader David Jamieson, who knows the family well, said: “I’m absolutely appalled this poor lady has taken her own life because she was worried how she would pay the Bedroom Tax. “I hope the Government will take notice and reconsider this policy.” Steven Bottrill The police came to Steven’s door at 9.30 last Saturday morning. They were there with his sister Laura, 23, and he knew something terrible had happened. They told him his mum had taken her own life. He said: “It was a shock at first. You just ask why? The policeman told me she had left notes. I was on my own, looking after my little boy. “I just wanted to keep looking after him, to keep it all in. I told the police to keep the note. I was still getting my head round it.” So it was not until Sunday that Steven was ready to read the note. He said: “I couldn’t believe it. She said not to blame ourselves, it was the Government and what they were doing that caused her to do it. “She was fine before this Bedroom Tax. It was dreamt up in London, by people in offices and big houses. “They have no idea the effect it has on people like my mum.” On the Thursday before she died – when she wrote the farewell letters – Stephanie had phoned her son to say she was struggling to cope. He promised to get help and next day phoned her GP. Stephanie came home from the GP’s surgery with sleeping tablets. That Friday teatime, Steven came to see her after he finished work. He tried to reassure her, telling her everything would be OK. He says now he should have hugged her but he thought it might upset her. Stephanie had lived in her £320-a-month home for 18 years, but couldn’t cope with the extra £80 she had to find every month. She needed to downsize but nothing suitable was offered to her. And she was upset she would have to leave the home in which she raised her two children as a single mother. The well-kept back garden was Stephanie’s pride and joy. She had buried her favourite pet cats there and she liked to sit out there in the sun and remember them. Steven remembers they didn’t have much as they grew up. His mum would struggle to afford clothes and food but they were happy and always well-turned out. This shocking incident brins it home to you that the so called tough decisions politicians of all stripes claim to take has actual devastating effects on the people they have no connection with. The mirror does quote a labour cllr who could do more in my view by pledging to not evict tenants who can’t pay and reclassifying properties if they wanted to. Ed Miliband has already said labour will not reverse the bedroom tax so we cannot trust them either. All this adds to the fact that these cuts are hitting the worst off and are actually killing people in some cases. While no doubt the Tories will claim this is not linked the pressure and hardship put on Stephanie was too much for a person like that. No one should suffer for a crisis they did not cause. with extracts from todays daily mirror

Support TUSC this Thursday there is an alternative

This Thursday people do have a choice and someone to vote for now. The Trade Union and Socialist Coalition of which I’m standing for in Hertfordshire county council elections for Ware north providing a anti austerity message. We are standing in over 120 seats covering 5%. This may seem a small number but it’s a big step forward when you look at how many anti cuts candidates stood when these elections were last contested back when labour were still in power. It’s important to pose an alternative and provide an alternative for people to vote for. As Marxists we do not consider elections the be all and end all they are a platform we can use to reach workers we otherwise wouldn’t be able to. We do not take an absolute view on elections and do see them as the lowest form of class struggle but this doesn’t stop us using any platform we can get. We are clearly limited with media coverage and ability to get to people with our production of leaflets being limited by our resources. Despite all this I feel we’ve run good campaigns reaching new contacts and providing an alternative where previously there was none. We’ve come across many thinking UKIP are the answer we have won a few around from this position who were going to vote UKIP but will now not after knowing what they are all about. People may vote for UKIP or labour even as a protest votes to punish the Tories and lib dems. This doesn’t mean to say people have any great enthusiasm for labour or UKIP they are just the nearest lot to bash the Tories with. TUSC will not get a big vote or win much if at all but it’s important we do not leave the door open to the right in the form of UKIP who could become a danger in the future as capitalism fails to find a way out of its own contridictions parties like UKIP are far more dangerous than the BNP as they are seen as more credible and will whip up racial tensions and create divisions in society increasing social tensions. But do back TUSC this Thursday but more importantly join the fight for a new workers party. If you’re in a union put pressure on it to back TUSC and stop funding a Tory light labour party. There is an alternative. The money and the funds are out there if brought under democratic workers control. We may be small and our votes may be modest at this stage but give us a listen and see what we can achieve together as the most powerful force out there the labour movement fighting back. For more information on TUSC visit www.tusc.org.uk

Minimum wage up but still far short of a livable wage

Today comes the news of an increase in the national minimum wage. Adult minimum wage increases by 12p to £6.31; fewer than 21s by 5p to £5.03 and under 18s by 4p to £3.72 Whilst I welcome the increase its tiny compared to the cost of living costs for many in the UK. There was much talk of the government cutting or freezing the minimum wage so it is a surprise this increase but let’s not get too excited 12 p for working adults will hardly help cover that expensive rent or help you heat your house and feed your children Its an increase but not something we should cheer too loudly about. A national living wage or a liveable wage I like to call it as labour trumpet a living wage but it would be nowhere near enough. A liveable wage would keep in line with inflation and be linked to average earnings in the country meaning that work always paid. A tiny increase for workers in times of huge hardship for many is an absolute insult. What is labours response I wonder? Will they say this does not go far enough that they’d pledge to bring in a grunted proper living wage or will it be more hot air from the countries second pro capitalist party. No doubt the Tories will play this up and make out we should be grateful and a increase is always something to be pleased of but at this level life will be barely any different than it is now with rising costs of living not looking to come down anytime soon this is just another slap in the face of ordinary working class families. It’s clear we need a party who represents the struggles of working class people standing up for the voiceless. Giving workers hope and standing for a decent level of living for the 99%. Labour has shown itself to be unable to do this so we need a new party of the working class in my view. TUSC could be the start of such a party but at the present time it’s only an electoral vehicle we do need the trade unions to put their money where their mouth is and back the calls for a new party of workers.

Why I’m standing for TUSC

I initially wasn’t going to stand this year for elections in the county council but I am glad I have thrown my hat into the ring now. It hasn’t been easy for a blind person to stand in elections there is so many inaccessible forms to fill in and getting nominations is a challenge too I eventually managed this though with the help of my comrades who I thank hugely. I will be standing in the Tory rural strong hold of Ware north in East Hertfordshire. The initial policies I will be standing on are • Oppose all cuts to council jobs, services, pay and conditions - we reject the claim that 'some cuts' are necessary to our services. • Reject increases in council tax, rent and service charges to compensate for government cuts. • Vote against the privatisation of council jobs and services, or the transfer of council services to 'social enterprises' or 'arms-length' management organisations, which are first steps to privatisation. • Use all the legal powers available to councils, including powers to refer local NHS decisions, initiate referenda and organise public commissions and consultations, to oppose both the cuts and government polices which centrally impose the transfer of public services to private bodies. • When faced with government cuts to council funding, councils should refuse to implement the cuts. We will support councils which in the first instance use their reserves and prudential borrowing powers to avoid passing them on - while arguing that the best way to mobilise the mass campaign that is necessary to defeat the cuts is to set a budget that meets the needs of the local community and demands that the government makes up the shortfall. This is the basic TUSC programme it’s designed as a basic outline as candidates can add bits to it for their local campaigns and local issues which affect them in their area. As I’m standing in Ware North I stand also against local cuts handed down by the Tory lead Herts County Council which include cuts to street lighting at night which I’ve previously blogged about, the cuts to lollipop crossing workers putting children’s lives at risk when walking to and from school and cuts to budgets on the roads meaning we have some of the worst kept roads in the county with many pot holes on our counties roads. Its clear labour are no alternative and in Hertfordshire this is no different their record in local councils like Stevenage Borough Council highlights this where they have implemented the cuts passed on to them from the con-dem government. The Trade Union and Socialist Coalition do not accept any cuts are necessary and in fact even more investment is needed in our public services. There is poverty in Ware despite many thinking we are in a relatively well off area no doubt some are doing quite well but how long this will last as the financial crisis deepens by the month. In ware we have a food bank which serves around 200 people a week so anyone pretending Ware is well off is lying as many who use a food bank are actually in low paid work often unsocial hours that are not paid enough to live on. Hertfordshire County Council should look to pay all its employees a liveable wage not just a living wage which his a code for a increased minimum wage but a wage that workers can live on properly without the need for benefits or food banks. I do not expect to gain hugely from standing this may but by me standing it offers the people of Ware and beyond an alternative from the main cuts parties. TUSC will be contesting 125 seats this may up and down the country with a candidate for the Mayor of Doncaster too. If you wish to find out more check out www.tusc.org.uk

TUSC biggest challenge to labour from the left in years

This may the Trade Union Socialist Coalition will be fielding hopefully its biggest number of candidates in a local election across the country ever. This will mark a dramatic step forward in the TUSC name and profile. What this will also represent is the biggest challenge to labour from the left in probably a generation. Standing on a class basis of opposition to all cuts fielding anti cuts candidates with many from the Socialist party itself too shows that the labour boss’s never did finish off militant and we’re making a comeback on the electoral front. Whilst we do not expect to win or gain huge votes at all just by simply standing many candidates in such areas like Hertfordshire where I hope to be standing myself in my town of Ware will show that an alternative to the cuts is possible. We hope to begin to dent if not fully smash the lie that there is no alternative to the cuts and the cuts are inevitable. There is always an alternative an alternative of investment in public services we vitally need not cuts would be our priority. All TUSC candidates stand for an average wage of a skilled worker and would not benefit financially from being elected. We are true class fighters using elections as a platform to gain access to a wider layer of workers that we wouldn’t otherwise be able to reach. The pro capitalist parties of Labour, Tory and lib dem all stand for cuts of some speed or description even if they won’t be honest about it up front. We as TUSC are proud and clear to declare our opposition to all cuts and will be building links on the ground with workers in new areas spreading our influence and resistance to the cuts onslaught. All TUSC candidates pledge to vote against all cuts and any rises’ in council tax to offset cuts, we oppose all forms of privatisation even arms length out sourcing which is often the first step to privatisation. In and around the country there will be local issues we look to take up and fight on in our campaigns we can make these big areas of our material and propaganda. In Harlow for example we will make the closure of the Harlow Welfare rights centre which many struggling people relied on for benefit advice and support part of our campaign. These are just county council elections and in many ways the vote is not important if we do well then fair enough but we are laying down a marker building our forces on the ground for future struggles up ahead. If you wish to find out more about TUSC and what we stand for please visit www.tusc.org.uk

Save Lewisham hospital’s A and E, could be your hospital next!

Last Saturday saw one of the biggest local demonstrations in south London in protest to save the local A and E at Lewisham which is threatened with closure. Over 25 thousand marched on the day and from what I’ve gathered was a tremendous atmosphere with young and old on the demo. This was a real community demo. The scale of support for the campaign was shown by the presence of the local football team Millwall's bus at the closing rally. Such was size of the march that it had to move off about half an hour early so that everyone could join. Despite it causing traffic to come to a standstill, many drivers tooted their support for the protest. Among the many union banners were the National Shop Stewards Network and Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition. This was the second demo organised against recommendations in a paper authored by Special Administrator Matthew Kershaw who was commissioned by the Con-Dem government to do a hatchet job on NHS services in South London. It was in anticipation of 1 February when Kershaw will submit his plans to Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt for rubber-stamping. Petitions, letters and marches have been organised, but these alone will not save Lewisham Hospital. Today we hear that the A and E services at Lewisham are to be down graded. The A&E department at Lewisham hospital in south-east London is to be downgraded and made smaller as part of cost-cutting measures. Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt also said the maternity unit at Lewisham would be replaced with a midwife-led facility. The cuts aim to help tackle debts of £150m at the neighbouring South London Healthcare NHS Trust Jos Bell, a Save Lewisham Hospital campaigner, called the announcement "a complete travesty". She rejected Mr Hunt's estimate that journey times to other Ages in the area would only take one minute longer. Ms Bell, who collapsed with heart and respiratory failure in 2006, added: "I'm only alive because Lewisham is where it is." Lewisham's mayor, Steve Bullock, said: "The secretary of state is riding roughshod over the people of Lewisham. This is not the end of the matter. "I do not believe that the Trust Special Administrator had the statutory power to make recommendations about Lewisham Hospital and the secretary of state therefore has no power to implement them. "I will be talking to our lawyers and we will also of course need to talk to our colleagues at Lewisham Hospital in order to fully understand the implications of Mr Hunt's statement." SO on the demo given all this Socialist Party members on the demo raised the idea that our strategy must be based on the health trade unions and pressure on them to ballot their members for strike action to save the NHS, solidly backed by the community. A workers' occupation of Lewisham Hospital could be organised to stop equipment being removed and facilities run down. Over 2,500 Socialist Party leaflets calling for strike action to defend Lewisham A&E were taken by demonstrators. This attempt to attack jobs and services at Lewisham Hospital is not the first. During 2006 the then Labour government proposed the closure of A&E, maternity and paediatric services. Socialist Party former councillors Chris Flood and Ian Page launched a petition opposing the attacks to build up pressure on MPs and councillors. Chris Flood proposed a motion to the council for 'referring back' Labour's outrageous plans. Although Labour and Lib Dem councillors opposed this, pressure eventually forced the government to back down and the hospital was saved then. What’s clear is this is just the start and the battle to save Lewisham A and E will need a serious fightback including the workers if it is to succeed. Labours opportunist role in this has not gone unnoticed either their last governments role in PFI schemes up and down the country has been raised time after time in this campaign The hypocrisy must be exposed having Tories march on demo’s to save their local NHS when the national government is ripping it apart is a disgrace. But now this time round it are Labour councillors and MPs who are giving lip service to the campaign to oppose the closures, while at the same time pushing through £28 million of council cuts to jobs and services over the next three years. They are doing the Con-Dems' dirty work. Recognising the links between all the cuts to jobs and public services, one street cleaner clearing up after the demo proudly displayed a Socialist Party Save our NHS placard in his cart. At the end of the march, demonstrators were queuing up to sign the Socialist Party petition in defence of NHS services in south London. They recognised that we need to save all NHS services and not allow the campaign to be just about defending Lewisham A&E at the expense of other NHS services in south London. With thanks to Susanna Farley and Chris Newby For extracts from the socialist this week which can be read at http://www.socialistparty.org.uk/issue/750/16046/30-01-2013/nhs-workers-resist-cuts

Silence from the TUC demand action now!

You’d be forgiven for thinking the TUC never passed a motion at its conference last September motion 5 which committed the TUC to investigating the practicalities of a general strike. Yet we are in January now and so far the silence has been deafening from the TUC. We’ve lobbied them again with the NSSN and others in December yet the new general secretary of the TUC Francis o’grady who the media have spent time talking her up as this new female firebrand has not even mentioned the motion 5 and building for a general strike. What is their game? Well the TUC and the higher level bureaucracy in most trade unions bar a few honourable exceptions are largely drawn from a middle class petty bourgeois background where quite often they are on very lavish salaries and have done very little in the way of struggle, organising on the ground or anything that would get their hands dirty. It’s a disgrace that these are our so called leaders in the labour movement. But for me if these lot will not act and would rather wait for a labour gov which may or may not happen thousands of jobs will be lost, services will be decimated and the welfare state and NHS is being eroded under our nose. So I’d like to think if the TUC wont act and it looks increasingly likely that they wont that those unions willing to fight get together and name a day for co-ordinated strike action. All unions have issues they could ballot members on right now be that pay, privatisation, job cuts, working hours, conditions, pensions you name it could be one of many. It’s the co-ordination that is key finding an issue to co-ordinate ballots on should not be a problem it’s agreeing with other unions to go out on the same day. I think personally that day has got to be named sooner rather than later. We also need to use the general secretary election in Unite to put pressure on the union to be involved in any co-ordinated strike action taking place. Unite – Britain’s biggest trade union should not be pulling its punch’s now this shit is for real and real action and leadership is required. It is possible that the current crisis could be drawn out, similar to the depression in the 19th century from 1873 to 1896. But there is no "final crisis of capitalism". Capitalism can always find a way out, through the destruction of living standards, and ultimately by curtailing and possibly destroying the democratic rights and organisations of the working class. In this way, an unstable equilibrium can be established for a time. But as sure as night follows day, a new economic crisis will be prepared, as the history of capitalism itself has shown. So with the support of the NSSN and the socialist party trade unions and trade union members should be confident and bold in putting pressure on their unions to name the day and step up the action in the battle over austerity. We’ve only seen an estimated 20% of cuts and this feels bad enough how bad can things get? A low-wage economy alongside a mass and stagnant pool of unemployed, to be used as a weapon against those fortunate to have a low-paid job, is the future that is mapped out by the strategists of capitalism for the working class. At the same time, a reduced standard of living for the great majority of the population is all that is offered. Already, Britain has slipped down two places to sixth in the European league table of living standards. But this is just the beginning with Cameron and King promising more of the same with their predictions that 'austerity' will last for at least another decade. The TUC has been great in compiling research on the cuts and their affects this is all a little too little too late though but welcome all the same. The Trade Union Congress (TUC) has published research which shows government and media attacks on 'scroungers' are based on lies. On average members of the public think 41% of the welfare budget goes to the unemployed. This 'fact' is used to justify attacking the unemployed as scroungers. In fact the figure is 3%. And, with huge job cuts, any of the "hard-working taxpayers" of today could be denounced as the "work-shy scroungers" of tomorrow. Alongside the massive tax dodging of firms like Vodafone and Starbucks, the amount of benefit fraud is even more miniscule. The public has been led to believe it is 27% of the welfare budget. The figure is actually less than 1%. Compared to the legal and illegal expenses claims of MPs most benefit fraud is tiny. All this has not stopped the Tories of Westminster City Council from floating the idea of cutting benefit for people they deem too fat. And next week people they deem too thin or too tall no doubt. People in work are being asked to approve attacks on the unemployed because they 'get too much money'. However, one of the questions in the TUC survey was about the benefits entitlement of an unemployed couple with two children aged six and ten. The imagined figure was £147 a week, when £111 is the real figure they would be entitled to. But the amount that those surveyed thought the couple would actually need to live on be £202 a week (excluding housing costs). The old adage would seem to be true. Figures can't lie but liars can figure. The Daily Express contained headlines "a new ice age", "a cure for cancer" and "the economy is booming" in the same month. Why on earth believe it when they tell you 80% of benefit claimants are frauds? The TUC has done a good job in commissioning this research. Now what are they doing about that general strike they promised?

How I saw the TUSC conference this weekend

I attended the TUSC conference yesterday in London at berkbank university campus and the day was a very busy and full of debate from various shades on the left. Many who turned up were socialist party members showing our continuous support for TUSC sadly there wasn’t many SWP or other left groups a fair few independents though and that was good to see. What was probably the most significant delegation to the conference and this I feel was quite historic was the RMT union sent an official delegation from their NEC to visit the conference and report back what they heard. In many ways this single fact made this conference worth while. To have a big union of around 80 thousand members now officially backing and playing an active role within TUSC and having fully broken away from the labour party is huge. But what the RMT delegation made clear they will not hang around for forever and a day they demand more unions get involved in TUSC and put their weight behind a campaign for a new workers party which at this early stage TUSC can play a big part in. There is a on going discussion needed how to involve more unions in TUSC and how we can go about attracting them to our banner with more on the left now feeling totally fed up with Labour and their Tory light policies. Comrade after comrade stood up and made the point of labour being a dead vehicle for working people now with Ed ball’s speech at the TUC the other week confirming this. Significantly even Len Mckluskey general secretary of Unite Britins biggest trade union has said now we can’t wait forever for labour to come up wit pro working class policies and those they will judge labours next manifesto if it’s worth continuing to support them. Personally Len makes statements like this a lot and I have no reason to believe he is likely to break the labour link anytime soon. Even still it is significant he has to come out and say this due to the pressure from his members with their anger about labour. The conference was well attended with over 100 comrades in the room this was a big jump on the last few times we have been meeting and shows with the growing anger comes growing calls for action. We know now labour will not reverse any of the Tories cuts and would be cutting if in power too they would cut your jobs and services next week while the Tories cut it this week. So TUSC while fragile at this stage represents a coalition of forces on the left and in unions who recognise the need to from a political voice for the 99% and that fighting with one hand behind our back is not good enough for the size of the battles coming ahead. Much of what was discussed yesterday was non controversial but several comrades from smaller parties such as Socialist resistance no I’ve never heard of them either are making calls for TUSC to move towards a individual membership system with a one member one vote system. While this may sound democratic it actually isn’t as for example with the Socialist Alliance previously one group could block vote a situation and votes themselves as the leaders and you can’t do anything about it. I think its crucial TUSC keeps its federal coalition consensus approach for now. While we recognise the need one day to move to a more party based structure at this stage there is nothing which holds us back in operating as a force on the ground. TUSC branch’s have been set up in various places and there must be found room for them on the steering committee at some point but as for membership at this time I think TUSC is far too fragile and new for that. The need to gain far more trade union support and involvement is key before we even consider such other moves. TUSC has to be there on every protest every single issue campaign a big presence on October the 20th is key too and popularising the name and the brand is key making the point every time we are against all cuts unlike all the other parties out there. Even the greens cannot claim that one anymore since they made big cuts in Brighton. We have a unique opportunity to build TUSC in this next period with country council elections coming up we need to stand as widely as we possibly can. I’ve even put my name forward to be considered to be a candidate in my area to help. So any local issues people know of now do start to let me know. For the BBC to even mention us we need to stand a minimum of 380 odd candidates next year. I feel this is achievable but will be hard going. We must be putting out the call now to any trade unionist, anti cuts activist, community worker, unemployed worker, students and those we come across in the future months to stand for TUSC. TUSC is great as you are not locked in to a set programme we have basic demands which a programme you must agree to first but beyond that your campaign is your own to build and develop how you wish. We will be standing candidates in forthcoming by-elections in Manchester Central Bristol Mayoral election and still considering a candidate for Corby. These elections will give us an excellent chance to expose the pro cuts and pro austerity parties and build our base going into 2013. The chance we have is very eral failure to build a alternative now, a socialist alternative leaves the door open to the far right and the rise of UKIP is a warning to us all on the left there is much we can learn from the rise of UKIP but most of all we must lay down a marker now lay the base for future struggles and battles. TUSC as we heard yesterday is about now and is here to stay. It’s our chance to build it and shape it into that mass workers party if indeed workers wish to take it in that direction. We can’t rule out anything in this coming period but havingTUSC now we can at least provide hope and an alternative for the first time in many years.

Keep profiteers out of our NHS! Mass movement needed now!

High-profile NHS hospitals in England are to be encouraged by the government to set up profit-making branches abroad to help fund services in the UK. An agency will aim to link hospitals such as Great Ormond Street with foreign governments that want access to British-run health services. Investment would have to be drawn from hospitals' private UK work, but with profits ploughed back into the NHS. A patients' group said the move was a "distraction" at a time of "upheaval". The drive, building on an initiative first started under the Labour government, is set to be be launched by the Department of Health and UK Trade and Investment this autumn. The BBC understands the initiative is unlikely to involve regular district or general hospitals but would target world-renowned hospitals like children's hospital Great Ormond Street, the Royal Marsden and Guy's and St Thomas'. 'Benefit patients' It would mirror schemes such as that of Moorfields Eye Hospital in London, which in 2007 built a unit of the same name in Dubai. In 2010, Labour's Health Secretary Andy Burnham set up NHS Global to help the health service make the most of the global market for healthcare and the coalition now wants to build on t This is a continuation and a first sign of what the health and social care bill passed this year by the con-dem government is going to do to our health service. Quite clearly many capitalists here in Britain and around the globe see the NHS as a world institution and a huge opening for a big profiteering exercise here. Take no notice of labour either though they were the ones who brought in such ideas of a global NHS and Andy Burnham their shadow health secretary was the one who over saw this so we will take no support or lectures off labor they are up to their eyes in PFI and marketisation of the NHS. We must be aware of what is going on arm ourselves with the facts and join up local campaigns with a national campaign to save our NHS which truly is under threat now. If it wasn’t before it is now. Trade unions have been pathetic on this so far a national campaign linking up all unions’ workers, anti cuts groups, save NHS groups and anyone else who wishes to throw their weight behind saving this. But be under no illusion this is going to take a huge effort. As I tweeted on twitter last night it was mass working class pressure and action which won the NHS for the working class it’s going to take a similar mass pressure and militant action to win this back. This must be part of the NSSN’s calls for a 24 hour public + private general strike. It’s time to step up the fight now redouble our efforts to save the NHS and stop all the cuts and remove this government intent on taking back all the gains we’ve ever made.

Ireland, Household charge can be defeated, tax the rich not the poor!

Today in Ireland took place a massive national demonstration in the national sporting arena with up to 3000 people cramming in to hear speech’s and bands all encouraging ordinary Irish folk to refuse to pay the household charge. What a reaction this got I have been following developments all day and speech’s from our own TD Joe Higgins in Ireland getting a fantastic reception too. This can be the spark that lights this campaign and allows it to really take off I feel.

What is the background to this then you may ask?
The Irish government, as part of its crippling deal with the troika will soon introduce a new “household charge”, another financial burden on working families after an onslaught of austerity attacks linked to the IMF/EU plan. The Socialist Party (CWI in Ireland) pledges to organise a mass campaign of non-payment, along the lines of the mass movement which defeated water charges in the 1990s and the victorious poll tax struggle in Britain.
The government’s proposed Household Charge of €100 is the forerunner for water charges and a property tax on every home. A pensioner or low paid worker pays the same as a millionaire. How rotten! This new tax has absolutely nothing to do with improving council services – the proceeds go towards the bailout of wealthy gamblers and bankers, for which ordinary people are being bled dry.
Everyone knows the tax will start at €100 and rise relentlessly, if we let it. The Economic Social and Research Institute called for household taxes for years. Its leading economist, John Fitzgerald, has said this is only “the beginning” and that a home tax of €800 plus a water tax of €500 is needed.
Already, life is becoming intolerable with the Universal Social Charge, pay cuts, rising mortgage payments and even management fees on many home-owners.
In a remarkable U-turn on pre-election promises, Fine Gael and Labour are now fully committed to the EU/IMF/ECB package of bailing out bankers but austerity and cuts for us. By taking all of the money away from ordinary people, personal consumption has collapsed by €13 billion in 3 years, adding to unemployment. Austerity is what is causing the economic havoc throughout Europe. It will make the crisis much worse and guarantee bankruptcy.
This tax is not deducted at source and we can and must defeat it. This can only be done by building a grassroots campaign of non-payment in every area. The Socialist Party in Dublin West plan has been to work with the community to do just this. In the 1990s, the Socialist Party led the Anti Water Charges Federation which successfully defeated water charges then.
Protest in Northern Ireland
Building non-payment, challenging in the courts and political opposition forced the then FG/Labour government to abolish water charges. In particular, the by-election challenge of Joe Higgins in 1996 in Dublin West became a referendum on water tax and rocked the political establishment.
Minister Bruton has dismissed this charge as “only €100”. While this amount is of course a burden for many families, the figure will skyrocket beyond €1,000 quickly as the ‘troika’ has ordered other home taxes within two years. The government is testing the ground for heftier Property and Water Taxes. If they get this one bedded down, they will be more confident to proceed. If we build non-payment of the Household Charge from the start, it makes it very difficult to impose two new taxes.

The government will go all-out to try force people to pay. A monthly draconian fine and court has been threatened. Contrast this to the light-touch handling of the white-collar criminal millionaires who destroyed the economy! Not one banker or businessman has been brought to book. By building a powerful campaign of civil disobedience with roots in every area, solidarity can give confidence to householders to be united and maintain non-payment. Tens of thousands of people can’t be dragged through the courts.

Labour now stands with Fine Gael and Fianna Fail in supporting household and water charges – despite expensive media ads opposing them before the elections. Labour should be reminded of this cynical betrayal. Labour politicians who say they oppose the tax, but remain in a party pushing it through, can only be seen as opportunist. While Sinn Fein has said it opposes the household tax, it has unfortunately ruled out putting its resources behind supporting non-payment, which is the only way this rip-off can be defeated. This will no doubt disappoint many Sinn Fein voters.
The Socialist Party / United Left Alliance is the only party clearly putting forward a boycott and actively committed to building and being part of an independent, broad-based national campaign to defeat Household and Water Taxes. Our track record is second to none on this issue.

Despite the daily media propaganda, there is considerable untapped wealth in Ireland. The country is not broke. Ireland remains 6th out of 27 EU countries in financial wealth, but of course, this wealth is concentrated in a few hands. The Central Bank reported in May that there is €120 billion in Irish bank deposits – why could a wealth tax not be imposed on this rather than taking from households, from our education and health services? Massive natural gas and oil resources could also be explored for the benefit of Irish society, rather than for one or two multinationals.

Step up the pressure on the government, demand TUC set the next date for action

So as another big day draws to a end N30 will go down as a big day estimates of 3 million public sector workers out on strike on one day at the same time. Most schools were shut many council facilities were crippled and hospitals were badly affected too. Strikes were solid despite what David Cameron likes to say it was not a damp squib from where i was marching and standing shoulder to shoulder with ordinary working people facing an attack on their pensions to pay for the mistakes of the bankers.

I felt proud today to join this big day of action but be under no illusion this will have done nothing if we dont put pressure on the trade union leaders to call further days of action and further escalation if this government does not back down.

That does not look likely this is as i have said before out and out class war and the tories are acting on the behalf of the 1% making the rest of us, the 99% pay for the mess the bankers caused. They are intent on making ordinary workers pay driving down wages, benifits, public services, opportunities, education you name it it is all up for grabs.

Just yesterday we heard in the autumn review that the tories are off course in hitting their deficit reduction targets so you guessed it more austerity for the public sector and ordianry working people to suffer more, for longer than previously thought.

Well enough is enough quite frankly with the possibility of now 750 thousand public sector workers may loose their jobs its time the trades unions and the TUC took the bull by the horns and called a urgent meeting to decide the day or days as i wouldnt rule out any action as long as what we have said before in the socialist party and the NSSN that is it is on a mass scale and it is a escalation. be that another 24 hour strike or a 48 hour strike or rolling regional strikes something else will be needed to defeat this government over pensions and hopefully tumble them to the ground.

Today N30 would have shaken this incrediably weak government a series of strikes would harm their plans and would seriously damage their reputation. I dont think reputation comes into it with this government on a mission to make us ordinary people pay but it may play a factor in the eyes of their friends in the city of London.

So yes a great day of action march's strikes, pickets the lot but this cannot be the end we must demand more action from our union reps, union leaders and as a part of that continue the demands for a new workers party to speak and represent ordinary working peoples voices as Ed Miliband and his pathetic Labour party have ceased to stand for ordinary workers in failing to support todays and Junes strikes.

Well done all that took strike action too for possibily the first time ever you did yourselves well and hopefully will give the whole class confidence that it knows it can fight back and win if we stand together with our fellow workers.

The Liverpool 47, forgotten by many but not by militants

Whilst many last week would have been glag to see Ed Miliband attacking Militant in the 80's over their role in the city of Liverpool struggles and thought he was right to do so i do not agree. I think the moveemnt that was around at the time which provoked some of the most vicious slanders on militant members at the time has to be remembered. Many of the great labour movement moments in history are rmembered and used to inspire new workers today but the lies and the smears the right wing in the labour movement and the official labour party of today and since the 80's has meant many workers fear looking into the struggles of the Liverpool city council back then.

The mantra 'not going illegal' seems to be the catch-all excuse for implementing the most savage cuts in Liverpool's history. [the Liverpool 47 group and the Socialist Party - Eds.] have argued for a needs budget not an illegal budget. This means using every legal device to defend jobs and services - using council reserves, taking privatised services back in-house.

Such action would need to be linked to a mass anti-cuts campaign involving trade unions, community organisations and council workers on a clear policy of compelling the Con-Dem government to abandon its punitive policies, with an appeal to other local authorities to do the same.

Jobs, wages and services are being cut while the income of CEOs increased hugely last year; the culprits for the crisis, the bankers, continue to gorge themselves on obscene bonuses; Cameron's advisers say the NHS should be up for grabs to the private health companies.

This outrageous situation cries out for courageous leadership committed to defending workers and those least able to defend themselves.

As for the argument that the conditions for mass struggle don't exist: history shows that, where leadership is given, support will be forthcoming as the Liverpool 47 showed in the 80s, as did Tom Mann in 1911 in Poplar.

Liverpool city council's struggle in 1983-87 for more funding from the Thatcher government was an inspiration to workers,
AFTER 20 years of slashing jobs, of privatising and cutting services, Liverpool's ruling parties - New Labour and the Liberal Democrats, with almost identical free-market policies, have decided to inflict a catastrophe on the local authority workforce.

1,500 will lose their jobs, the already high number of families without a wage-earner will grow. Despite Labour council leader Joe Anderson's pledge to protect the poor, public services will suffer and already are suffering.

Labour is the majority party but a key component of Anderson's strategy to deal with the cuts is to form an alliance with the arch-proponents of privatisation and cuts, the Lib Dems.

In 1987 the House of Lords backed Thatcher's district auditor's decision to remove the 47 fighting Liverpool Labour councillors from office undemocratically i might add. Since then, the city council's workforce has been reduced from 30,000 to fewer than 10,000.

The spectacle of a Labour leader going into an alliance with the local Lib Dems, a party which is part of a national coalition with the millionaire Tory cabinet, shows catastrophic abdication of leadership by a Labour party which was elected by the city's working families to protect them from the Tory onslaught.

Council leader Joe Anderson detailed how the council intends to make £91 million of savings over the coming year. It aims to cut half its senior management posts, saving £4.5 million, and to reduce budgets for children's services and adult social care.

It 'hopes' it can reduce predicted job losses from 1,500 to about 1,200. Anderson claimed the council had tried to protect frontline services but the scale of the cuts meant that 'real pain' would be felt in some communities.

Funding for voluntary groups has been cut by £18 million, almost 50%. The council says savings in this area were necessary to protect 'life and death' essential services to the most vulnerable.

'There is no alternative' claims the Labour leader. But there is always an alternative to supine capitulation and that is to fight - to form a coalition with the organised labour movement and community organisations, instead of a coalition with the capitalist parties and their allies.

This fighting policy, following the example of the Liverpool 47 councillors, would show Cameron's Tories they have a battle on their hands. In 1983, the incoming Labour council inherited a catastrophic financial situation.

The outgoing Liberal-Tory alliance deliberately under-spent throughout the 1970s to try to maintain electoral support; in one year they actually cut household rates.

They wooed their natural Tory-voting base by increasing rents, terminating the house-building programme and shedding thousands of jobs, plus making cuts in other sectors.
Much like today where the chancellor has announced council tax will be frozen for another year further putting pressure on councils to put through cuts to compensate for the loss of extra council tax.

Liberal council leader Trevor Jones could claim he presided over the lowest rate increases in Liverpool's history and was knighted by Thatcher for services rendered.

An angry Liverpool working class kicked out this Liberal-Tory alliance and returned Labour to power in 1983 on a clear, fighting socialist programme. The brave 47 Liverpool Labour councillors refused to cut jobs and services and defied Thatcher, mobilising support from the council workforce and from local people.

They won an extra £60 million from the government in 1984 and gained six new nurseries, and five colleges. Over 5,000 council houses were built.

Time has not diminished the achievements of the 47, nor undermined the importance of the struggle. The record of the 47 remains stubbornly intact.

Today Joe Anderson, however, tells council workers that the 47 were responsible for Labour's decline in the city. That is a complete falsehood.

The 47 received magnificent support from the council workforce and the wider trade union movement and at the ballot box. If some leadership was shown in this present crisis then the council could win that support again.

Anderson and Co say: 'We have no choice.' But there is a choice. The mass movement built by the 47 did not drop from the sky.

It was developed with the Liverpool District Labour Party (DLP) hammering out a clear policy which included: opposition to cuts, no rent increases, cancelling redundancies, creating jobs, expanding social services, campaigning to retrieve the millions which the Thatcher government had cut from the city's grants, and linking this programme to the need for a socialist society.

This drew the local authority trade unions, the Labour Party Young Socialists, the women's organisations and others into the decision-making process through the DLP.

At that time the DLP democratically determined council policy and Labour councillors were constitutionally bound to carry it out! A 'trade union and labour movement organising committee' was created, representing all sections of the working class with the 47 providing the cutting edge.

This committee organised the mass rallies and demonstrations which were so important in the Liverpool campaign. This body also participated in the electoral campaign which delivered the highest Labour votes since 1945.

There were many high points of the campaign: one was on 7 March 1985, when a mini-general strike involving 30,000 council workers and 10,000 dockers, plus other sections of workers took place with a demonstration of some 50,000 marching through Liverpool opposing the Thatcher government's policies.

That mass campaign was born out of the social conditions in Liverpool, which had seen 65% of its industrial base collapse in the decade before the 47 were elected.

Mass participation in the movement was also the antidote to the hostile forces of capitalism: the Murdoch/Maxwell Press, ITV and the BBC, the local press, the pulpit, with Labour Party leader Neil Kinnock and the national trade union bureaucrats underpinning the establishment's crazed campaign against the 47.

Joe Anderson and other labour party councillors recent 'demonstration' against the cuts may confuse sections of the population for a while and temporarily deflect hostility away from him and his allies.

But as the cuts bite there will be greater focus on Labour's role locally, with a corresponding call for a fighting leadership basing themselves on the policy, programme and campaigning activity of the 47.


A strategy to beat the cuts
IN AN open letter last December, a group of the 47 suggested to Liverpool's present-day Labour leader Joe Anderson and his allies that they follow the example of the 1983-87 Militant-inspired council and set a 'needs budget'.

This would protect temporarily council workers' jobs and services provided or supported by the council. Joe Anderson's response was to tell us to live in 'the real world' and accept that nothing could be done other than for him to carry out the cuts while crying bucketfuls of tears! But our letter raised important questions such as a strategy to oppose the Con-Dem onslaught.

"The first step should be to use the council's budget reserve, reported in the Liverpool Echo as £80 million, to maintain current funding levels in areas which the Con-Dem alliance is cutting.

"This would buy time for more decisive measures to defeat the cuts. Then, as we did in 1983-87, you should work out how much is required to fund existing council services in 2011 and pass a budget in line with inflation.

"This would no doubt produce a shortfall in the council's income. The amount of the shortfall could be identified, say £50 million.

"A campaign could then be launched to oppose the cuts with the specific demand that £50 million be restored to Liverpool city council as a means of defending jobs and services.

"You could call for all local authorities to embrace the same strategy and for support from the local authority trade unions and the wider labour movement, in concert with community organisations which are planning to resist any cuts in their own localities.

"If Liverpool makes a courageous stand, this could act as a beacon to other local authorities and campaigning organisations to join the campaign. If a number of the main local authorities adopted this strategy of refusing to cut jobs and services to compensate for Tory cuts, backed up by a campaign of mass demonstrations and industrial action, the Tories would be compelled to retreat.

"We call on the Labour group to totally reject the cuts and to join, not with the Lib Dems, but with the trade union and labour movement in defending the mass of Liverpool's working people."


SO please dont let the inspiration and the spirit of the Liverpool 47 die. Dont listen to the lies. Do as i did and read up on the struggle myself independently of any influence and decided for myself the truth and what really went on. Adopting a marxist strategy on the cuts that all cuts should be opposed to defend workers and working class people is the only way to go in my view. There is no excuse for Labour councillors who if they wish to warrant the name Labour councillors not to follow this route of the 47.

TUSC calls for support of anti cuts candidates in GLA elections next year

This excellent letter which has been drawn up by comrades in the RMT and the FBU in a personal capacity is to help move the process on more towards TUSC or under another name as a union candidate standing against all cuts in next years GLA london elections. You can read it below and find out more about TUSC the trade union and socialist coalition at
www.tusc.org.uk

Dear Sister/Brother,

We believe that in next year’s Greater London Assembly elections there must be trade union and socialist candidates who oppose all the cuts being forced through by the Con-Dem government. We cannot support Labour’s policy that some cuts are necessary but should be implemented more slowly. We deplore Ed Miliband’s criticism of millions of trade union members who are ready to strike over pensions.

The recession is causing untold misery. Already four in ten children (650,000) in London live in poverty, a higher proportion than anywhere else in the UK. Unemployment in the city has passed 400,000 for the first time in 15 years. These cuts, whether implemented more quickly or more slowly, will have a devastating impact on the lives of the vast majority of people who live or work in London.

The most vulnerable will suffer terribly – older people, the disabled, the sick and young people. But almost everyone will be affected. Even those with relatively better-paid jobs now face a future of insecurity, with the attacks on pensions.

One in ten workers in London earns less than the poverty threshold. One in six is paid less than the £8.30 living wage. Last year, city bonuses totalled £14 billion.

A handful of millionaires and billionaires can afford their penthouses and palaces but housing for the vast majority of Londoners is an endless nightmare. House prices and rents continue to rise, forcing more and more young people to stay at home. Transport fares are due to rise by 7%.

Privatisation has put millions into the pockets of the company bosses whilst jobs, pay and conditions are attacked. Workers facing a pay freeze in the face of rising prices are forced further into debt or difficult decisions.

We cannot afford these cuts. Everything that makes life tolerable is being destroyed. We need an alternative policy - one that puts ordinary people before bankers’ bonuses and big business profits.

Following discussions involving the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition and representatives of our unions in London, we have decided to appeal for your help to ensure that there will be candidates we can support in next year’s GLA elections.

With the expenses scandal and attacks on working-class living standards, is it any wonder that only 26% of voters trust MPs. We want candidates people can trust; who will fight against all cuts and defend the interests of ordinary Londoners.

We ask for your support. Please print and sign this statement (opens as a pdf). We will be calling further meetings to plan our campaign and want you to get involved. We are stronger when we stand together. Together we can make an impact next May.

Yours in solidarity,

Steve Hedley - RMT London organiser

Ian Leahair - FBU executive member for London

John Reid - RMT Assistant regional secretary, London Transport

Ben Sprung - FBU regional organiser for London

(All in a personal capacity)