march 26 2011 a look back, TUC vacated struggle for now

2 years ago today we were on the embankment in London lining up to march against the cuts the first major demonstration since the con-dems came to power. There was great noise and expectation that this could be the start of a mass fight back by the unions and the working class as a result. Yet today looking back 2 years on we’re left wondering what was it all for? Hearing big grand speeches from union leader after union leader we need to go further one march is not enough one day strike action is not enough yet barring November the 30th 2011 was a big march up a hill and back again. The TUC disgracefully has still not responded to the consultation on the consideration of a general strike agreed at last year’s TUC congress in September which the NSSN lobbied. I hear today unison one of the biggest public sector unions has the lowest days lost to strike action in its history at this present time one strike and one strike ballot live at present apparently. That for me sums up the trade union leadership absolute capitulation to the cuts a willingness to rush into negotiations before fighting. November the 30th sell out by right wing trade union leaders set our movement back a huge way from a point we were at a weak point anyway before. Thinking back to march 26th 2011 I was full of optimism I’d just joined the socialist party and felt the working class was awakening again to take on this vicious undemocratic government yet we’re in this big lull at the moment waiting and intervening where we can waiting to see which way the class turns . But I can’t help feeling March 26 and the following year was a big disappointment and an opportunity lost. The following year in October of 2012 there was far less on the demonstration a “future that works” was the title not march for the alternative this time and from a demonstration of 500 k plus in 2011 was probably less than half of that who c amen on October the 20th. No doubt disillusioned and disheartened by the continued sell outs of union leaders and a failure to take the struggle on. While labour politicians used both platforms to spout their too far and too fast line rightly miliband got booed on the last demo. No pro cuts MP should be invited from now on in my view it disarms us. We will again be lobbying the TUC with the NSSN this April on the 24th when the general council meets again. We cannot let these bureaucrats off the hook. If it has to be we will go it alone PCS has already shown it is prepared to fight even if no other unions are alongside them. This is far from ideal and PCS must be supported with solidarity and other unions joining the action next time. The Tories are out for unions like the PCS so they need our solidarity and what better way than to get other unions to join the action. Unity is strength in this case. March 26th will live long in the memory for me one of my first big demonstrations and inspirational in some ways yet it could have been so much more. We must remember that going forward learn from our setbacks so we do not make the same mistakes again.

Marching together on Oct 20 but we must then strike together!

Its little over 5 weeks till the TUC’s mass demonstration on October the 20th. I personally feel a little deflated about it all and a sense of we’ve been here before and we have last year on March the 26th. Another march can raise confidence but this time it feels like the TUC is marching us into the ground and turning us away from any industrial action. This should be fought against all of the way. We need mass industrial action now and after the demonstration. The socialist party and the NSSN will be using Oct 20 as a springboard to press for further action this autumn on fighting austerity. Not a week or even a day now goes by without a new announcement on a new cut or attack on the poorest in society. But it doesn’t have to be this way. They can be stopped! On 30 November last year (N30) over two million public sector workers took strike action to defend their pensions. If this had been escalated, a total victory could have been won, probably terminally damaging Cameron's coalition. Since then, groups of workers in the private sector - the construction electricians, the bus drivers for example - have also shown a huge determination to fight back. Scandalously, though, union leaders such as Unison's Dave Prentis broke up that N30 strike alliance. They signed up to the outline of an agreement that still means most workers will pay more and work longer to get a lower pension. N30, however, gave us a glimpse of the trade union movement's power. The NSSN welcomes the demonstration that the TUC is calling against austerity on 20 October. We will do all we can to get a million on the streets of London, Glasgow and Belfast. But we don't think that this alone will be enough to stop this government of the rich. We have lobbied the TUC to call on the unions to follow up this march with a 24-hour general strike of the public and the private sector back on September the 9th in Brighton and will be raising loudly and proudly on the October 20th demonstration for the TUC to name the day now for mass scale co-ordinated strike action. Austerity is a sanitised expression for what is an unremitting class war on our people. The aim is to achieve, on the basis of the cuts and privatisation programme, the biggest transfer of wealth and power in many generations. At its core is a 'race to the bottom' that is ripping the heart out of our communities. It means the driving down of wage levels, massive job cuts, the destruction of the welfare state and the NHS and the public services that provide the basis of a civilised existence for working people. This unprecedented assault can only proceed because of the poisonous political consensus that exists among the major parties - shamefully including Labour - that says there is no alternative to the market and the barbaric proposition that the acquisition of obscene wealth and profit by a tiny unaccountable elite comes before the needs of millions. Those millions are crying out for an alternative. They watch in fear and disgust as one outrage follows another: We now have an opportunity to send out a message of hope - loud and clear - that we intend to harness the full strength of our movement and class to stop the austerity programme in its tracks. The 20 October [TUC demonstration] must be more than another protest march - it must be the platform on which we build coordinated action on the widest possible front across both the public and private sector. Every union here has a legitimate dispute on pay, pensions, jobs, privatisation or a related issue. So, let's hear no nonsense about the difficulties or legalities of organising coordinated action. Let's not fixate about the 'scary words', general strike. Let us rather sit down together and agree a date for joint action and wider campaigning across the trade union movement as soon as practicably possible after 20 October. A 24-hour strike as a start to an effective programme of coordinated industrial action and wider campaigning would irrevocably shift the balance of forces in our favour. How many times must it be said - campaigning works and action gets results. We have recently won thousands of jobs in the civil service by organising action. The attacks are increasing, not abating. Millions are waiting for a lead to fight back. Let's provide that lead. With extracts taken from www.socialistparty.org.uk Articles from issue 733 and 734 of the socialist

March 26th a year on, where is the anti cuts movement heading?

A year ago today we were heading to London from all over the country to descend on what we’d hoped to be one of the biggest predominantly working class demonstrations for many years. We were not disappointed an estimated 750,000 working class people and anti cut protesters out on the streets of London. Almost as many who are set to lose their jobs in the public sector due to the con-dem government cuts agenda.

A year on this feels a very long time ago this demonstration I thought I’d look at what has happened since then and the fight back that has or has not ensued.

To even get a national demonstration was incredibly hard work the good comrades at the NSSN were up in Manchester the September before demanding and lobbying the TUC to call a mass national demonstration. They were eventually dragged kicking and screaming to call one. It just goes to show what can be achieved when the TUC lift their little finger.

But the day itself was fantastic many great moments and speech’s and lots of calls to arms. One of the best and well received speech’s came from the PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka who proclaimed today we have marched together tomorrow we must strike together.

This was one of the main messages to come out of the day I felt where we go from here. The NSSN and the socialist party made a terrific intervention on that day giving out thousands of leaflets and selling almost as many papers. A special edition was printed for that day giving a very agitation message to workers picking up our paper for the first time that these cuts can be defeated if we take the right choices.

As we have seen over the last year possibly some of those choices haven’t been taken and a reluctance to fight on the behalf of some in our movement has held us back.

The socialist party has been impeccable in its stance against all cuts be them carried out by Tories, lib dems or labour councils. This has not been widely taken up with some on the left still till this day defending labour councils who pass on Tory cuts unfortunately.


One man who was on the march last year Ed Miliband has himself confirmed that any future labour government will not reverse any of the Tory cuts and instead add a further pay freeze to public sector pay as a bonus. Some anti cuts mood ay?

SO we cannot put our faith in the labour party they have shown themselves to be defenders of the capitalist system and a defender of cuts. This is not acceptable in the anti cuts movement and should not be in the labour movement either. The disgraceful selling out of trade union leaders over the pension dispute in the public sector is evidence of this treachery and a fear of upsetting a labour party who seem to want to curb the unions even further still by weakening their link even further.

March 26th 2011 will go down in history as one of the biggest working class demonstrations ever but unfortunately the response since then has been slow in coming and hard work. November the 30th last year was huge and very impressive but bigger and more concerted efforts by the trade unions is needed. I am not sure whether another national demonstration like March 26th would be beneficial. Certainly for the NHS it could be vital to raise people’s morale that the NHS can be saved. On the question of cuts I think workers are turning to other means including standing in local elections. TUSC again as I have blogged about on here countless times will be standing widely once again hoping to catch the mood of workers when they shift in consciousness.
There is an alternative out there and TUSC offers this in the London GLA elections and right across the country. If you don’t have a TUSC candidate standing in your area why not join in and stand yourself. If you are against all cuts and privatisation and agree with our basic programme you can stand for TUSC too in the coming may 3rd elections.

National demonstrations are good but not enough in their own we pointed this out at the time industrial action on a co-ordinated determined level is needed. We have started that and the working class has re emerged onto the battle scene but far more is needed and I am sure as this period develops we will see more strikes, occupations and demonstrations. Will it be enough to bring this government down.....? Only time will tell

2011, A year in revolt

So as we draw to the end of 2011 a year in which many firsts happened be that the fantastic uprisings in the arab world to the amazing co-ordinated public sector industrial action or the fantastic occupy movement which has touched every continent on the planet this year.

At the start of 2011 we thought to ourselves that capitalism was entering a new period of decline on top of the already depression like downturn since 1974 where the ordinary workers have seen their wages fall and living standards stagnate at best and fall at worst.

But for myself 2011 has been a turning point in my political life. I came into the year not knowing waht to expect but leave the year fully realising how big this situation is and our task is greater than ever. I joined the socialist party of England and Wales part of the CWI- committee for workers international in Febuary properly and have not looked back since.

As some of you may know i was in the Labour party briefly and left as soon as i realised what they were all about, or not about as the case is. I have been criticised for leaving labour and aiming fire at them but in my view i feel vindicated in my decision to leave. As i have previously posted on this blog labour do not oppose all the cuts and think the cuts go "too far and too fast" not to mention the cuts are happening at all that is by the by to them and a issue they have accepted the need for "somecuts". Which i flatly refute and that was the crux of why i left labour. I wanted to change them but saw no democratic structure and any organised socialist body within labour to increase pressure on the leadership. For a completely undemocratic structure you will not get far however optimistic you are. So i chose to leave.

I do not regret my decision at all and have been involved in some excellent campaigns with the socialsit party against cuts, privatisation, job cuts, wage cuts, youth unemployment and so so much more.

The socialist party is a fighting revolutionary organisation with a aim and a set of real solid values in marxism which i have come to embrace as a guidline to my political development.

As the socialist party looks to the thoughts and ideas of Karl Marx and Leon Trotsky but not religiously of course we look to apply these graet revolutionary thinkers to todays struggles they have shown me from reading their material that you have to live the struggle to be able to understand other peoples struggles and how to put forward socialist ideas that can and will appeal to the mass's.

But as for 2011, its been a big year and many will have been drawn into the struggle. Maybe not all that many are joining revolutinary organisations such as the socialist party as yet but this is due to the lack of class contiousness and peoples inability to formulate a alternative or to link the failiures of capitalism to a need for an alternative and then what that alternative is. In time i firmly believe that organisations like ourselves will be a beacon for working class people to come to to find out our ideas and what would we do. We would welcome this and engage in a discussion and a debate on the way forward.

As marxists we always take a class perspective on every situation and in 2011 we have needed this more than ever. In 2012 we will need this tool even more i feel with the class struggle intensifying even more and people becoming more and more poloarised in their views and political opinions.

I have been on some big demonstrations myself this year from the amazing turnout of up to three quarters ofa millin trade unionists on the streets of London on March 26th which i extensively blogged about on this blog here. To the amazing co-ordinated strikes by three quarters of a million public sector workers on June the 30th which i feel was the start of the workers fight back for real but many will identify November the 30th of this where a fantastic turnout of up to 2 million public sector workers walked out in defence of their pensions and for future generations pensions. I was in Hertford on the day and what is normally a quiet conservative backwater of a town was full of trade unionists determined not to let this con-dem government railroad over their pensions and what is in affect differed wages.

Since then we have seen certain union leaders looking to sell out workers but this will i am sure be met with resistance and i am hopeful in the new year of further escalated action in terms of strikes and demonstrations. This is a battle we can and must win for the good of all workers and i believe we can win.

But 2011 will be remembered for other huge uprisings in the arab world where Egypt and Tunisia were the two nations to first fight back after decades of brutal dictatorship. The rest of the world looked on in amazement as dictator after dictator was crumbled to the ground by ordinary peoples pressure and demonstration. Since then the amazing over throwing of dictators has slowed and had the sting taken out of it for various reasons non least the western imperialist intervention in Libya and the brutal crack down on Syrian anti government demonstrators too. But no doubt there has been a shift in opinion and a complete condemnation of the Iraq war that these dictators can be removed without a huge los of civilian life like was the case with the American and British invasion of Iraq and Afgahanistan .

Lets also not forget the wonderful idea of teh occupation movement in which hundreds if not thousands of towns and cities

This in responce of course to the global economic crisis and the thought of the ruling class putting all of the burden on to ordinary working people and the poor to pay for a crisis they did not create.

This has been the case all across the world largely where capitalist leaders have locked their nations in to a deep program of austerity including cuts to public services that the working class's will use the most, tax hikes, further privatisation and a increase in their vicious neo-liberal policies.

I have made the point before on here that people say to me ooh the nasty tories are back and such things as oh they dont know what they are doing they are incompetent . But believe me this may be the case up to a point but this is about far more than that. You only have to look across Europe to tell this as Spain, Italy and Greece with imposed technocratic leaders now all in place to push through austerity.

But is this working or having any effect ? yes it is having an afeffect on the poorest and the most in need but it is certainly not working. Ireland and Greece where deep austerity measures were meant to be the benchmark for others to follow have resulted in huge unemployment and huge suffering on behalf of those who as i say didnt cause this crisis.

Those who caused the crisis , those who run capitalism. Not the governments so much although they did play their part in bailing out the rotten bankers who had gambled away billins if not trillions speculating using our money and failed spectacularly causing the governments of the Uk and othrs to step in and save the banks but this was the crucial point in which private debt from the banks then became what is known now as "sovereign
debt"
and now the governments of all fashions be them social democratic or right wing are being forced to put through these cuts on behalf of the markets who are the true rulers of society as we do ultimatly live in a capitalist society. It is the market who call the shots unfortunatly and governments simply react to them to keep them happy.

But although governments are pushing through cuts like there is no tommorrow the markets are still sulking and would appear little will do to help them recover right now. But governments will not let up on their drive for cuts in living standards of the ordinary working class.

So as we go into 2012 i feel it is more nessesary than ever before for us to create new mass workers parties to get into some position of influeincing things to popularise the ideas that aausterity is not needed and that it is actually making things worse if not better.

We need to be saying we need jobs not cuts. Investment in industry and affordable homes not higher rents and cuts in housing benifits to the poor. At the end of the day it is the working class who create the wealth not the rich they only ruthelessly cream off the wealth from what we produce. So they want to keep us working and competing against each other for jobs and wages to craete further division as waht the ruling class fears most is workers organising and fighting back.

The odd organisation they dont mind but when workers organise in a huge mass way there is very little stopping them carrying out and forcing throuhg what they want. We need to get back to a position of power like that where what the working class says gets done where we have the power to bring the capitalists to their knees and grovelling before we start demanding a better standard of life for the many not just the few.

I see 2012 being a big year as the class struggle intensifys but we must be ready and ready to put our best foot forward. Trade union leaders at the top of our movement will not be allowed to flinch if they do they will be gone. We need real leadership and if it is not forthcoming we will organise ourselves as rank-and-file.

So you thought 2011 was big i really do feel 2012 will be even bigger!

The worst is yet to come

I thought i'd share a excellent article which featured in socialism today a monthly publication of more in depth look at articles from our party. I foundt his a interesting read and shows we have not seen the start of this crisis barely and it is bound to get a lot worse before getting better.


The following article is by Lynn Walsh a good comrade in the labour and trade union movement for many years now.

Lynn Walsh, Editor of Socialism Today

The Con-Dem chancellor, George Osborne, claims his budget (24 March) is the "most pro-growth budget for a generation". But the British economy is barely crawling along, and the budget will do nothing to promote growth.

The government previously predicted 2.3% growth of gross domestic product (GDP - value of the total output of goods and services) for 2011. Now, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) forecasts meagre growth of 1.7% of GDP for 2011. Even that may prove to be optimistic given the scale of spending cuts and tax increases.

Consumer spending, which has been the locomotive of the British economy over recent years, is falling. This is the chilling effect of job losses, escalating prices, and fear of what is to come. The former boss of Asda supermarket, Andy Bond, warns that worse is yet to come. "You’re kidding yourself if you think the worst is over and we’ve had a consumer recession - it’s ahead of us." The bosses of big supermarkets and high street stores, like Dixons and Mothercare, are warning of reduced sales and company profits.

"The economy," comments the Financial Times (6 April), "has been much weaker over the past six months than almost any economist expected." It was "practically stagnant over the past two quarters even before the impact of higher inflation and deeper spending cuts, according to a respected economics research group [National Institute of Economic and Social Research]."

As bad as they are, the Con-Dem cuts have so far merely been nibbling at public services: "The deeper cuts will bite with increased severity over the coming years." (Financial Times editorial, 25 March) Osborne’s fraudulent ’expansionary austerity’ is going to be austerity, austerity, austerity.

Squeezed incomes
Living standards have already been severely hit by inflation and squeezed wages. Prices are rising by 5.1% a year, according to the RPI (retail prices index, which includes housing costs).

At the same time, wages are only increasing by 2%, which means a 3% fall in real (inflation-adjusted) wages. Every 1% fall in real wages means a loss of £250 a year. This has resulted in the first fall in disposable income for over three decades, and there is likely to be a further fall in 2011.

The BBC Panorama programme recently carried out a survey of actual take-home pay (BBC News, 28 March). This showed that, on average, workers are taking home £1,088 less a year than two years ago. Their real pay has fallen by 5% since the beginning of 2009, which was half way through the recession.

The sharpest drop in real pay was in the construction industry, where it was £99 a month less. In the public sector, average pay was £45 a month less, while in the retail sector it was £41 a month less.

Privatising debt
One of the most alarming predictions for the next few years is for a huge rise in household debt. The Con-Dem government is aiming to cut public debt by £43 billion. At the same time, the OBR estimates that private-household debt (including mortgages and credit card debt) will rise by a staggering £245 billion. With increased unemployment, squeezed wages, higher prices and taxes, people will borrow more simply to survive.

In effect, this is the privatisation of the state debt, a huge share of which came from the nationalisation of bank losses. Now, spending cuts and tax increases will push millions deeper into debt, throwing a huge burden onto working class families.

By 2015, according to the OBR, debt as a percentage of household income will increase from the current 160% to 175%. In hard figures, this means a rise from an average of £58,000 debt to £66,291 by 2015.

Petrol tax
Faced with explosive public anger over the soaring price of petrol and diesel, Osborne cut fuel duty by 1p a litre and postponed a further 3p rise until January 2012. Undoubtedly, the government fears the possibility of another fuel price protest on the lines of September 2000, when lorry drivers and farmers blockaded oil refineries and jammed motorways. At that time, protests were encouraged by the Tory opposition, but new protests would now pose a threat to the Con-Dem government.

However, the 20% VAT on fuel will remain, and pump prices will no doubt continue to rise as a result of the rise in world oil prices, due to the crisis in the Middle East and North Africa.

To pay for the fuel duty cut, Osborne has raised taxes on oil production. The windfall profits tax on UK oil and gas production will increase from 20% to 32%, which is expected to bring in an additional £2 billion. Despite their increased profits from the 35% increase in oil prices over the last five months, the oil companies are screaming about this very limited tax increase, peanuts to these giant corporations. Malcolm Webb, chief executive of Oil and Gas UK, said: "This change in the tax regime will decrease investment, increase imports and drive UK jobs to other areas of the world."

This is a barely disguised threat of a ’strike of capital’ if the government increases its tax on oil production. They are unlikely to carry this out, at this time, however, because of the immensely profitable reserves that remain in the North Sea, especially given the fact that oil has now risen to around $120 a barrel.

Nevertheless, it is an indication of the likely reaction of big business, like the banks, to the threat of a ’Robin Hood tax’ proposed by the TUC. Without measures to take control of big business and mobilise mass support for such measures, big business will attempt to sabotage any such steps through withholding investment, etc.

Heading for disaster
The Con-Dem government’s leading economic policy guru, Oliver Letwin, has revealed the private discussions of Con-Dem ministers. "Leading up to the recent budget, we took the view collectively in cabinet that we faced an immediate national crisis in the form of less growth and jobs than we needed." (The Guardian, 31 March) Nothing in Osborne’s budget will overcome this crisis, which will deepen in the coming months.

In response to the budget’s supposedly pro-growth measures, the ’independent’ OBR concluded: "We do not believe there is sufficiently strong evidence to justify changing our trend growth assumption in light of policy measures announced in budget 2011."

It is predicting a mere 1.7% growth in GDP for 2011. At the same time, unemployment is projected to continue to an appalling 2.52 million or 8.2% of the workforce. This includes over a million unemployed young people.

The Con-Dem government’s aim is to reduce the government’s budget deficit to near zero by 2014-15. This is an unrealistic objective even from the point of view of big business and their system - and is likely to prove counter-productive. It is a doctrinaire policy dictated by the interests of the big banks and wealthy speculators, who manipulate bond markets in search of speculative profits.

Wiping out the budget deficit depends on faster economic growth, which is why Osborne continually claims he is promoting "expansionary austerity" through pro-growth measures.

His budget, however, did not impress the financial markets that much. The rating agency, Moodys, which assesses the credit status of borrowers, including governments, warned that "slower growth combined with weaker-than-expected fiscal consolidation could cause the UK’s debt metrics to deteriorate to a point that would be inconsistent with a AAA rating."

Near zero growth or even a new recession would mean even higher unemployment and reduced tax revenues. The Con-Dems’ savage austerity policy could then result in an increase in the deficit, the worst of all worlds.

The so-called ’expansionary austerity’ cannot provide a way out for sickly British capitalism. The crisis referred to by Letwin can only deepen. The Con-Dem government has already been shaken by mass opposition, especially the mighty 26 March TUC demonstration in London. It has been forced to partially reverse the abolition of education maintenance allowance, and to announce a ’natural break’ on the savaging of the NHS through accelerated privatisation.

The 26 March demonstration was only a beginning. It should be the prelude to further action, especially coordinated public sector strikes against cuts, a massive weekday demonstration, and a 24-hour general strike.

Black Wednesday budget
There are 44 changes in tax and benefits in Osborne’s budget. With such a complex tax/benefit system it is very hard to calculate their exact effect. But one thing is certain: most of the changes will cut the incomes of working-class families. The government’s claim that everyone - apart from the rich - will benefit is completely false.

One organisation, Credit Action, calculates that, on average, the changes will reduce household income by at least £200 a year. The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) reckons that the average family income is expected to still be lower in 2013 than it was in 2008, making it the biggest five-year drop for more than 40 years. The IFS also calculates that the typical pensioner household has seen its real annual income fall by 2.4% (£456) since 2008.

However, these estimates come before further price rises, job losses, squeezed pay levels, and benefit cuts. The Centre for Economic and Business Research reckons the higher cost of living in 2011 will mean that the average family will be £910 worse off this year - the tightest squeeze on finances since 1921.

This year’s budget, moreover, is a supplement to last year’s horrendous Con-Dem spending review which spelt out £81 billion cuts and £33 billion tax raises by 2013.

The basic personal tax allowance (the threshold below which no income tax is paid) is to rise by £1,000 to £7,475, which means around 500,000 workers will not pay income tax.

This small gain, however, will be wiped out for many by the loss of services through cuts and reduced benefits. In particular, changes in tax credits and a freezing of child allowances will mean a sharp cut for working parents.

•Many middle class families will be squeezed by the lowering of the threshold for the higher (40%) tax rate from £37,401 to £35,000, which will mean around 750,000 workers paying significantly more tax (as well as higher national insurance contributions). Osborne tried to provide some populist window dressing through a number of taxes aimed at big business and the wealthy.
•The levy on windfall bank profits (heavily subsidised by state support during the crisis) is being marginally increased. North Sea oil companies will have to pay another £2 billion on their soaring profits.
•There will be a tax on passengers in private jets, and the stamp duty on the purchase of houses over £1 million will be raised to 5%. At the same time, however, there are concessions on stamp duty for developers and landlords buying multiple properties.
•The fee paid by wealthy overseas visitors to register as ’non-doms’ will be raised to £50,000, but they will continue to enjoy the privilege of paying no UK tax on their offshore profits.
•In the small print of the budget, there is a whole series of tax allowances for big business. Big companies will be able to offset against tax investments in enterprise zones, research and development, and many forms of new capital investment.
•Above all, corporation tax, currently 28%, has been cut by 2% with the promise of further cuts to 23% in three years’ time.
•Osborne has also promised that the 50% top rate of tax on those earning over £150,000 will be reduced in the future. This highlights an important aspect of the Con-Dems’ policy. Many of the current taxes levied on big business and the wealthy minority are regarded as temporary, to be reduced in the future. On the other hand, the cuts in public spending, with the massive loss of services and public sector jobs, are regarded as part of the permanent reduction of the public sector - in other words, a permanent blow to the living standards and well-being of many millions of workers.

striking for the alternative

So as we all walked away from march 26th in London coming up for two months ago now we were all wondering what next for the anti cuts movement. As i have blogged on here before i do feel that strike action has got to be the next course of action.

But it is the way it is framed which will be crucial to winning the battle on cuts.

Making sure we dont frame it in a way that will splinter the anti cuts movement at all and keeping maximimum unity in the class is key.

I dont buy this call that many on the left call for that we should all unite on the left. I feel those who do are missing the point slightly. I feel that class unity is far more important right now. As socialists we look to raise class contiousness wherever we can.
After 13 years of the harshest trade union laws not being even tried to be reversed by a right wing labour government we have little room to move today.
But trade union action on pay and job loss's will be crucial to putting up a resistance to the cuts i feel.

Many on the left accuse the socialist party of being secterian and divisive. Of course we refute these claims. We see things in a clear marxist perspective with elements of what Trotsky said too. We dont feel that individaul action will enhance the labour movement in any shape or form. We raelise that people do want to see action and fast but we should be careful to not jump into the wrong decisions which will set us back possibly permantly in this movement against cuts.

Only this weekend a few individuals who call themselves left attended the rally against debt march in London where only a pitiful 200 or so protesters turned out to protest about our debt crisis and how more action should be took to tackle the debt which in other words would mean more cuts at a faster pace.

So some on the left attending this march as a counter protest would help the anti cuts movement how exactly ?

it is just egotistical liberal left types who just want to be given some coloumn inch's in next weeks papers no doubt and will ultimatly achieve nothing.

Also we must be careful who we work with as at the moment many people still beleive labour are against the cuts. We must point out that this is blatent hypocrisy from the labour party as all across the country all of their councils this year have voted through the cuts at a local level. When they in the labour party claim to be socialist and against the cuts lets just remind them of these small but important facts. Lets also remind them how many cuts their party was committed too if it had been elected.

Lets not be under any illusions from anyone in the labour party left or right that they would be carrying out cuts just as savage and as brutal as the tories right now all be it at a slower less deeper pace. Like that would be felt in the working class communities across the country.

The fact is that labour are not the right people to lead this movement and we should be wary of working with them i feel.

But it is also up to people to decide for themselves we cannot tell them waht to think of course but we feel building a independant anti cuts message reaching millions of working class people will be music to many peoples ears.

This should start now after all elections are out of the way with building for strike action within the public sector. This is looking increasingly likley to be June the 30th this year. Where already several unions have committed to co-ordinated strike action on job cuts and pension reforms. We must rally around these unionsa nd put pressure on other public sector unions such as Unison and GMB to call on its members to ballot for strike action on or around that key date for the next stage in the anti cuts movement.

Just like with the RMT workers we must stand side by side with any members of the trades unions taking strike action as a injury to one is a injury to us all we will do well to remember that i feel.

SO as Mark Serwotka rightly pointed out on march 26th. We havea ll marched together today and that is good but now we must use our strength and strike together for our futures!

Workers united, we'll never be defeated

So as the chants went on March 26th by many workers as we marched through the centre of London and the west end. Workers united, we'll never be defeated. I even heardt his being sung in spanish too from a group of latin americans against teh cuts. Much international solidarity was there on the big TUC march. But this chat that kept coming from the protesters rung true with me. It is a quote from Karl Marx and his famous commonist menefesto and is still true to this day. Workers have nothing to loose but their chains they must break free.

I think the only way we are going to stop the cuts and defeat this government is by keeping united as a working class. I know lots of people on the internet call for left unity i dont believe that is ever going to be possible with the left so fragmented but certainly class unity is possible i feel. The way the tories are using the media to focus on these cuts as a private sector vs public sector scenario is trying to set workers against eachother. It is a very clever old tactic that does seem to work to a degree. The old rule of divide and conquer is what the ruling class's like to use to disperse any anti feeling springing up within the workers.

The stories in the media of gold plated pensions in the public sector and the media highlighting how the public sector have apparently had it easy for years and trying to draw comparisons with the private sector at the same time. It is very unfair i feel and it is designed to draw divisions in our ranks.

The role of trade unins is important here to draw the gap between public and private sector workers together. As at the end of the day we aer all fighting the same cause against the same managers and the same ruling class. Whether you are a private sector worker or a public sector worker there is no doubt in my mind our jobs are all under threat. The government and their drive for cuts are coming for all of us. So to keep together in these times supporting others in teh work place when they feel they'd like to take industrial action and make a stand. Lets not leave anyone in this movement behind and feeling isolated.

The tories are dead scared of the power and the numbers of the trades unions. Even though we are still at 7 million when they do organise like last saturday showed we can be a force for anyone.

Why else do we think the tories have been planning for months for scab's and strike breakers to be brought in in the even t of mass strikes from the unions. They have been after this battle for a long long time.

I feel it is creaping up on us but the movement must not splinter and divide we must keep united if we can. The idea for a one day general strike as long as its not phrased like that and 4 or more unions i'd suggest the ones outside of the TUC wil be first to act as they have more freedom we must support their every action. These are peoples jobs here on the line and the cuts are going to affect us all.

Divided we can easily be picked off by the tories and their masters the city financees but united we can not be brought down easily.

As chris Baugh assistant general secretary of PCS who spoke at our anti cuts meeting last night rightly predicted that we imagine that the tories will be looking to make a example of a union who tries some major strike action so we must be careful to always support any union and its members wanting to take strike action. In this country we have some of the most dreconian anti trade union laws in Europe even tony blair said this under new labour. He wanted rid of the unions from the labour party and his party to become a little like the democrats in america are like. Thankfully this hasnt happened as yet but there is still a big anti union feeling from the right of the labour party amoungst blairites and the like.

So as we prepare for the summer and teh cuts starting to bite as we enter the new financial year we must stand with our comrades in teh trade unions and their members wanting to take action to defend their jobs, pensions and rights. Lets not be divided as a divided working class is easily defeated. Lets learn the lessons of the pasta nd keep united as a movement.

The positivity to come out of the TUC march 26th demo and what to do next

SO throughout today i have been hearing piece after piece on the news about how this so called violence ruined the TUC march and hi-jacked it and all the rest of it. As i said i think the only people to hijack the march wre labour and Ed miliband trying to turn it into a slow cuts march and a general vote for the labour party message helped hugely by the TUC. But as a socialist i found the demo huge and a very positive thing. Throughout this week people who were on the march will go home to their home areas and tell their fellow friends, workmates and family of waht relaly went on there. Hopefully people will be ablet o breakthrough the biased coverage the mainstream news sources are putting out.

I wanted tto say how big this demo was and it felt so exhilariting to me and i hope it did to many others too. The BBC and TUC initally estimated half a million on the march on the day but later have downscaled it i am not sure why this is. I imagine to downplay the reaction and to stop any unrest in the movement. The TUC's leadership will think they have done their work and have let off steam from working peoplea nd can go back to the day to day stuff of running a big Union.

Wrong. From now on the mood across the country has changed, We may not notice it yet but it has changed the mood of the working class has changed. With the trades unions mobilising hundreds of thousands of workers to the streets of London for one day shows what can be achieved . So i wanted to reiterate the positive message this demo sent outa nd still does to me. The violence will soon be forgotton about in a months time and this demo which i still think was up nearer the 3 quarters of a million mark than half a million will live long in the memory of the working class. But this cannot be the end we need to carry on building resistance to the cuts and building pressure on the TUC and the unions to ballot for co-ordinated strike action. On the day our party gave out leaflets in support of a one day public sector genearl strike this was warmly welcomed and hopefully comrades in the various unions can ramp up pressure for this to become reality. I really think this can happen as anger about the cuts deepens as we head into the summer.

People have told me a general strike is illegal. I've talked to various people and have found out it is not. If done correctly with each union finding a issue and i'm sure they wont be short of a few ballots its members for strike action on the same day this can become a reality i'm sure of it. Mass workers resistance must be our way forward taking teh movement with us. In the socialist party we dont believe in individual based action this does not serve the greater struggle as a whole we firmly believe in the role of trade unions and the action they can take. As several union speakers said on the day we have all marched in our hundreds of thousands today just imagine if we all took strike action together on one day what we can achieve. We can stop these cuts i know we can we just need to build the support in and outside trade unions and in our communities ensuring we take everyone with us.

I think there would also be the unity there from private sector workers to also take strike action in solidarity with public sector workers. At the end of the day we are all workers and all have to sell our labour the tories may like to try and divide us and try and set us against eachother but aat the end of the day we are all one big mass working class ready to fight back against these unfair policies the tories are introducing.

So i really do think we should remember the positive parts of the demo and try to force the narrative that the violence is not representitive of the whole movement and the anti cuts movement and we are still moving forward not standing still.

Lets keep organising and building and fighting back against the cuts for ordinary working peoples sake, those who did not cause this financial crisis.

26th march TUC protest how i saw it

So as i've been blogging about for months now the 26th of March has come and gonea nd to be honest i'm not sure waht i feel now to be honest. a sense of deflation, relief or confidence that we can now go on and defeat the cuts. I guess a mixture of feelings really.

What started off as a good day i awoke early to be picked up by a fellow comrade we headed to Stevenage to catch the 10 am train to London already he train was packed out. Announcements on the platform of a big demonstration in London today and London was to be avoided added nervous anticipation to myself really.

I myself have not been on many protests this being my second big one after March 5th lobbbying Labour party councillors to vote against the cuts.

But today was different a lot different we arrived at Charing Cross station and moved towards the Embankment where the feeder protests were forming. We had a long long wait to join any march let alone the main TUC demo of the day.

Today was bigger than i could even expect police estimates say about 700,000 possibly more. This was huge really really big i cannot stress that nearly enough. Our comrades from the Stevenage socialist party congragated on the Embankment and held the Stevenage trades council banner aloft in solidarity.

We marched or should i say shuffled forward pace by pace
It took our little crowd of comrades 2 and a bit hours to even get on the main march in the first place. My legs were even aching even by this point. Later on the march really got going a lot more and as we walked up towards parliament square and Trafalgur square the march rally got going. I did enjoy walking past Downing Strett and giving a huge boo down it and telling David Cameron what i thought of him. In normal everyday circumstances you cuold not do that but on a march like today it was fair game. I wont repeat what i shouted on here but it was far from complimentary about his idea of cuts to the disabled.

There was a terrific atmosphere on the whole of the march with so many from all over the country there today. We met so many from various different trade unions by that Unite, RMT, FBU, Unison, PCS, UCU, CWU, ASLEF, NUT and many many more smaller ones too. The day was huge i thought i was blown away by the sheer scale of the event. As we passed through various parts of London we gota rael sense of the anger and betrayel of our political system over years and years of taking us all for granted. There were splinter marchs organised by UK Uncut which i have previously blogged about on here and their excellent work of highlighting tax evaders such as Phillip Green. Today they did some excelent work occupying many shops in Oxford street who's establishment doesnt pay its total share of tax. They also orchestrated organised sit in's in big well known banks to highlight that the bankers must pay for this mess not the ordinary working class.

All these messages from today sent out a big message to the tories and the lib dems in this sham government of ours to sit up and listen to the real big society.

One thing i did find quite hard to accept was the fact so many Labour party councillors who had weeks ago just voted through big savage spending cuts in their local councils marching today against the cuts. How hypocritical can you get ? a few weeks back voting for the cuts weeks later marching against the very cuts you have just voted for. Totally shameful i think. Another thing which bugged me was none other than the Labour party leader Ed miliband who got up on stage in Hyde Park to speak to protesters. I personally find this insulting as he called to people he stands with us. Like hell he does from his middle class background and not being anti cuts at all. How dare he say to us he knows how we feel. He and his party support cuts all be it at a slower less deeper rate, yet they are still cuts all the same. As we chanted today there is no such thing as a fair cut. We are against all cuts as the socialist party. No cuts to the working class, who i firmly believe did not cause this financial crisis and should not be made to pay for the mistakes of the capitalist political class and bankers.

Sadly i didnt get to see any of the speechs from today but i will later revisit them i hope wehn videos appaer on you tube. I do hope to cover them in greater detail in further blogposts in the future.

The BBC's coverage as what you'd expect from a capitalist media source was highlighting the actions of groups like UK uncut who were occupying shopsa nd banks rather than focusing on the main march which was very peaceful i might add. As i write this i cant be sure but when i last checked there were still supposed protesters in Trafalgur square being kettled by police and setting things on fire and causing mayhem from all sounds of it. Whilst loud and militant protest is good in our eyes as socialists i persoanlly dont believe attacking the police for a game of cat and mouse ultimatly achieves much. As a further thought i really dont think this sort of action we have seen late into the night in Trafalgur square does not help the anti cuts movement at all and i would put the actions down largely to anarchist groups intent on causing troublea nd ruining the peaceful party planned in Trafalgur square for the evening which i saw no problem in.

A few weeks ago i had seen tweets and messages from John Mcdonald a Labour party MP who is apparently a socialist calling for mass camping in trafalguar square and turning it in to a mini Tahrir square just like what we have seen in Cairo in Egypt in the last few months. Really i never saw this idea being big and the police were always going to take issue with this kind of tactic who prefer people return home. I like the sentiment but not sure the UK is really at the stage of a Egypt style revolution yet.

As i say i am sure to revisit today the 26th of March over the next few weeks in this blog with hopefully comments a and analysis from others who were also there on the day so this is just a first few thoughts on today really.

Many socialist party leaflets were handed outa nd the main theme of them was calling for a one day mass public sector general strike. I myself am hugely in favour of thisa nd will do all i can to support such action to be taken as what i have said earlier on twitter today cannot be the end . People who have never protested in their life may well have come along today and loved every minute of it. Yes i did too but i'm also very aware that protests just like the against the war demo back in the last decade was totally ignored by Tony blair who railroded us into a illegal war which i hasent to add we will never forget or forgive for that.

So thera re big limitations to large scale protests of this nature we aer well aware of that. But as as socialists we believe that todays demo must be followed with serious industrial action now. We must now start the campaign fora one day general public sector strike to try to defend workers jobs, pensions and rights. This cannot be the one day we say we've donea ll we can and let the cuts happen, Further resistance is needed and we in our local communities and areas need to come together now in class unity to defend our public services, jobs and ultimatly our welfare state.

So my message to you all tonight is lets not let this be the end, let this march today be the start of something big. Something that will change the face of our struggel for good. Lets keep on fighting for fairness.

How the western intervention in Libya could swell the numbers for march 26th TUC demo

In a survey of British people only 35 % of the public currently support the western military interventions in Libya. That figure i expect to fall considerably as this imperialistic mission drags on for weeks into months possibly.

But i really do think this all may have a big affect on this saturdays march in London where a estimated minimum of quarter of a million plus will be marching fagainst the cuts this retchid government of ours are trying to force through. They say the cuts are unavoidable and there is no alternative, we say they are wrong and they need to make the bankers pay not the working class - ordinary people.

I really think when people open their eyes to the fact we are spending hundreds of thousands on expensive bombs and missiles that no average ordinary people benifit from they only serve to halt a revolution in the arab world which risks the western influence and more importantly to the capitalist nations that big three letter word Oil.
When ordinary working class people the disabled, students and pensioners are being told we cannot afford these vital services and support networks yet they see our beloved government bombinb the shit out of a country which can barely defend itself with a load of out of date Weapons that are nothing compared to American, British and French planes, bombs and technology. It is not a fair fight and it must be opposed i feel.

I think as this unessesary conflict continues, not unessesary that we dont need to see the removal of Gadaffi but the removal of him by his own people in a popular uprising situation would be our preference rather than bombing for peace as the west loves to describe it. I've never heard so much rubbish how does dropping bombs on a country and its people and lets be honest given the best bombing technology in the world today bombs and missiles can still go off course and hit civilian targets as we all well know.

So i think this obsurdity that we can afford bombs and missiles for wars abroad yet we cannot afford to basically look after our own people it will anger people. I know it angers me a hell of a lot. The hypocrisy is astounding and we must highlight this on saturday too.

Where i see the anti cuts movement heading

SO as i've blogged about previously about the speed and advance of the anti cuts movement and how it is still yet to really get going i'd say i thought i'd look at how i see the movement progressing or not.

The TUC demonstration on 26 March will mark a turning point. At last year’s TUC conference it was the National Shop Stewards Network (NSSN), in a move initiated by Socialist Party members, which organised a lobby demanding that the TUC call a national demonstration. The demonstration is only taking place belatedly, when many tens of thousands of jobs have already gone. Nonetheless, it will raise the confidence of the hundreds of thousands of workers who take part, and the millions who watch it on TV. It will demonstrate palpably to all those living in fear for their jobs that they are not alone and that a fight-back is possible. A demonstration, however, is only a starting point.

Unfortunately, the majority of national trade union leaders do not see the possibility of defeating the cuts, in many cases even accepting the argument of New Labour that cuts are necessary, but need to take place more slowly. Therefore, they see their role as no more than organising token resistance and trying to ameliorate the worst effects of the cuts. The strategy put forward at the TUC demonstration is likely to centre on voting Labour in the local elections five weeks later. Even though many of those demonstrating on 26 March will vote Labour in May, in order to punish the ConDems, this ‘strategy’ will rightly be seen as a capitulation given the appalling scale of cuts already being implemented by Labour councils just as much as by Liberal and Tory ones.


The movement as i say has been slow to really get going and the splits are already emerging i think.

Our starting point has to be opposition to all cuts in jobs and services. This slogan is essential if real unity of the anti-cuts movement is to be achieved. To accept some cuts is to allow the movement to be divided between service users and workers, public- and private-sector workers, benefit claimants and pensioners etc.

The anti-cuts movement will inevitably be multi-faceted given the huge scope of the cuts. The student movement, which led the way so magnificently before Christmas, will remain an important part of the struggle. Already Manchester swimming pool users are threatening to occupy their local pool to prevent it closing. Many similar campaigns will develop. Rent strikes will also be on the cards. A mighty struggle to defend the NHS is required. A movement of benefit claimants is urgently needed, as the vicious cuts literally drive those worst effected to despair. According to the Disability Alliance, nearly one in ten of those claiming the threatened Disability Living Allowance say that losing the benefit may make "life not worth living".

All of these movements and more are essential and inevitable, but to maximise their effectiveness they need to be linked to the enormous potential power of the organised working class in the trade unions. The trade union movement needs to demonstrate that by allying itself clearly with all of those struggling to defend their benefits and services. If the trade unions were to lead a determined struggle against the cuts they would be able to win the active support of many millions more who are not currently organised in the trade unions. Such would be the popular support for such a movement it would be possible to sweep the anti-trade union laws aside.


OUR CENTRAL DEMAND on 26 March will be for a one-day public-sector strike, as a step towards a 24-hour general strike. There is widespread support among public-sector trade unionists for a co-ordinated public-sector strike. At a recent 250-strong Hackney Unison AGM there was a unanimous vote for a one-day public-sector strike. A motion calling for Hackney council to set a needs budget was also carried overwhelmingly. In Scotland, despite the leadership of Unison twice attempting to push through a rotten deal, the Scottish Council has twice stuck to its guns in demanding militant action. In the wake of 26 March, even the most right-wing trade union leaders could be forced to support co-ordinated strike action as a result of the enormous pressure building up from their membership.

Socialists have to support every step towards a public-sector general strike. We are campaigning for those trade unions planning national ballots, both on pensions and cuts, to co-ordinate their strike action and then to appeal to other unions to join them. Such action, even if it was only a partial public-sector general strike in the first instance, would scare the government and tremendously lift the confidence of the working class, preparing the ground for an escalation of the struggle.


To demand co-ordinated action, however, does not mean arguing that workers whose jobs and conditions are under threat should wait for other sections of the working class before taking action. As is being tragically demonstrated in many parts of local government, only speedy and determined action can prevent devastating cuts. If such an approach is taken, council workers fighting in even just one local authority can win victories. At the start of this year, Kirklees Unison, by threatening strike action, was able to force the council to retreat from compulsory redundancies and from reducing redundancy pay and some other measures. This was not a complete victory, but the concessions were won only by threatening militant action and opposing all cuts. The leaderships of many other Unison branches seem to be trying to prevent compulsory redundancies simply by pleading. Contrast Kirklees’ fighting stance to the statement by the Manchester Unison branch which, in the face of devastation, does not say it will fight the cuts but only offers to "assist members during this extremely difficult process".



Strike action needs to be linked to political action. At the moment, Labour is complacent that, despite carrying out government cuts, it will reap the electoral rewards from the government’s unpopularity. The anti-cuts movement urgently needs to discuss standing as many anti-cuts candidates as possible in May’s elections. They should be encouraged to stand under the banner of the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC), the electoral coalition involving militant trade unionists like Bob Crow alongside the Socialist Party and others, which has an important role to play in co-ordinating this.


I think that the actions of labour councillors and labour Mp's will become clearer by the week as this onslaught from the government continues. It will become clear pretty quickly who's side they are really on. Be it side with the mass resistance and fight all cuts including any cuts they would have made or join with the tories in the safety of the Westminster bubble which seems detached from the rest of reality.

BUT DOES THIS mean that socialists should never call for support for Labour or Green candidates? No. On the contrary, we would enthusiastically build support for the stand of any council that was prepared to fight. At the same time, we do not create illusions that this is likely. The number of Labour councillors who have pledged to defy the cuts can be counted on the fingers of one hand. Not a single Labour council has even considered doing so. This contrasts sharply with the situation in the 1980s when Labour was at base a workers’ party, even though it had a leadership that acted in the interests of the capitalists. When it came to the crunch in the 1980s only the Militant-led Liverpool city council, alongside Lambeth, was prepared to defy the government. Another 18 Labour councils, however, at least pledged to do so, before betraying the struggle at a later stage. Today, even John McDonnell MP, who does support councils defying the government, has made the point that Labour councillors are, in general, among the most right-wing section of the Labour Party, not least because of the salaries they now receive.

The vast majority of Green councillors also rule out voting against cuts. For example, Samir Jeeraj of the Green Party was a platform speaker at the November conference of the Coalition of Resistance (CoR), in the workshop on ‘what should political representatives do?’ He argued that "many of the tools used by radical councils in the 1980s are no longer available to councillors". Therefore, it is no longer possible to take the ‘Liverpool and Lambeth road’. Bill Randall, the convenor of the Green group on Brighton city council (the largest group of Green councillors in the country), stated clearly: "We can’t stop the cuts, but we believe the blow can be softened by adopting an open-book approach involving councillors, staff, trade unions, the third sector, the business community and services users to find ways to deal with the grievous cuts inflicted upon our city by the government. We urge other parties on the council to join us in negotiating the best possible outcome for the city in these very difficult circumstances". This is identical to the position put by New Labour.

However, most councils have time to prepare before taking this road. By using their reserves and borrowing powers to avoid making cuts, councils can gain time to build a mass movement in their support. Manchester city council, for example, is estimated to have £100 million in reserves. To strengthen such a stand – and this answers the lie that there is ‘nothing Labour can do’ – Ed Miliband could promise that an incoming Labour government would write off all local authority debts incurred from avoiding cuts.



SOME LABOUR COUNCILLORS’ groups, not yet in power, may stand on a platform that comes closer to opposition to cuts than those of Labour councils. Many will have their pledges tested very quickly when they are swept to power in May. In Hull, to give one example, the leader of the Labour group spoke at a 450-strong local anti-cuts rally and pledged to demand the return of the £80 million that has been cut from the council grant by central government, to oppose compulsory redundancies, and bring at least some privatised services back in house. The idea of introducing a local Educational Maintenance Allowance (EMA) has also been mooted.

The anti-cuts movement in Hull has managed to exert huge pressure on the Labour group. It now needs to draw up an anti-cuts programme and demands that the Labour group stands on it in May’s elections. If the whole Labour group does not adopt it, then individual councillors should be asked to give explicit guarantees to support the whole anti-cuts programme and, if not, to specify which they will support and why they do not support others. Verbal pledges from councillors in anti-cuts meetings, when they are feeling the heat of local workers’ anger, are one thing but are not enough. Concrete, written pledges are required. Any anti-cuts programme needs to include opposition to all cuts in services, jobs, pay and conditions. Given the scale of the cut in the funds Hull receives from central government, any pledge short of this will, in reality, mean devastating cuts.

Potentially, a promise not to carry out compulsory redundancies could mean merely using this as a bargaining chip in order to extract agreements to major cuts in pay and conditions – as Barnsley council has done, for example. Polly Toynbee has shamefully held up Barnsley council as a good example, but for local authority workers in Barnsley it is a council of axe men and women. Nor has accepting cuts in pay and conditions avoided compulsory redundancies. Determined to do the government’s bidding and ‘balance the books’, the council has still had to make some compulsory redundancies.

It is necessary for Labour groups which say they oppose cuts to understand that it is only by coming into conflict with the government, and building a movement to defeat it, that it will be possible to avoid cuts. It may be possible to set a ‘balanced budget’ initially without making cuts – by spending reserves and using borrowing powers, and the local anti-cuts campaign should make proposals on this. But this would only be to gain time in order to prepared for the inevitable conflict with the government at a later stage.
THESE KINDS OF concrete discussions between anti-cuts organisations and Labour and Green candidates will enable workers to see clearly who really opposes cuts. It is a completely different approach to that taken by the leadership of Right to Work (RtW) and CoR who have uncritically built up New Labour and Green councillors as leaders of the movement, without a word of criticism of them for failing to actually oppose the cuts. Such an approach is to prepare the movement for betrayals and defeats.

There is a clear comparison here with the movement against the Iraq war. The leaderships of both CoR and RtW led the Stop the War Coalition (STWC). Against the objections of the Socialist Party representatives on the STWC committee, the Socialist Workers Party and its allies bulldozed the decision through the committee to allow a platform to the Liberal Democrats – without any public criticisms of them – before hundreds of thousands at the massive anti-war demonstration in London in February 2003.

They also refused to allow any speaker on behalf of a socialist organisation. This burnished the ‘anti-war’ credentials of Charles Kennedy and the Lib-Dems. Undoubtedly, this helped to build up their ‘radical’ image, particularly amongst young people. Today, Nick Clegg boasts of his anti-war stance then, while enthusiastically embracing Osborne’s axe today as well as the continued occupation of Afghanistan! To repeat the same mistake in the anti-cuts movement would have even more serious consequences. That this is a real danger is demonstrated by a RtW advert for a lobby of Manchester Labour council, which is making 2,000 workers redundant. The advert declared: "We want to show the Con-Dem government that we will stand with our councillors in opposing the cuts" – without a mention of the fact that the councillors are the ones voting through the cuts!

The reason given for this is that ‘the broadest and most united possible’ anti-cuts movement is needed to beat the government. This is complete misunderstanding. It is wrong to imagine, in Manchester for example, that the road to involving more local authority workers and service users in the anti-cuts movement is to have the councillors who are decimating services in the leadership of the movement. Without doubt, workers rightly lay the primary blame for the cuts at the feet of the Con-Dem government. But this does not mean that they consider the Labour councils carrying out cuts to be blameless.

We favour united local anti-cuts campaigns, but not to the extent of involving people who are voting through cuts and who inevitably demand that the campaign does not lay any blame at their feet. We have already the example in Coventry of Labour councillors threatening to set up an alternative campaign to Coventry Against the Cuts if it did not desist from its plans to lobby the Labour council for voting through £101 million worth of cuts.

This does not mean that we expect local anti-campaigns to be ‘chemically pure’. There are bound to be workers who are attracted to the local anti-campaigns, seeing them as the best fighters, but do not see the possibility of opposing all cuts at this stage. Such workers are welcome in the struggle. However, this is a different issue to giving a platform to councillors who are implementing cuts. In the anti-poll tax struggle the activists included people of many different political persuasions, including Tory voters. All who supported mass non-payment were welcome. Councillors jailing non-payers were not.

Socialists have a vital role to play in the anti-cuts movement. Potentially, our role, together with the best workers, could make the difference between the success and failure of the movement. At the same time, there will be greater opportunities to win workers to socialism and to Marxism than has been the case for many decades. Undoubtedly, there is an ideological element in the Tories’ messianic drive to destroy public services. In essence, however, the cuts arise from the concrete position that capitalism finds itself at the current time. Across Europe, capitalist governments, regardless of their political stripe, are carrying out similar savage attacks on public spending. Governments can certainly be forced to retreat by mass struggle, but the only way to permanently end the attacks on public services is to end capitalism. In Britain, the Con-Dems could be thrown out of office, but they would be replaced by a Labour government that would also try and continue to cut, albeit at a slightly slower pace. It is essential that socialists are not just the best fighters against the cuts but also link the fight against the cuts to the need to build mass independent workers’ parties with a clear socialist programme.







So as the struggle continues we must be wary of rogues looking to take the movement in a different direction that will suit them best. We must not allow the labour party to hi-jack the movement for their own political gains. That would be wrong and it would be not only betraying the movement it would also be betraying the public who once swept along by new labours anti cuts moto will soon be betrayed when new labour regain power and start implimenting their own cuts. That is a very dangerous position to get in to so we must be careful who we join with.

All in all i see the movement as slowly gathering pace as we head towards 26th of March but it is waht happens in the weeks, months and ultimatly years after that date which will show what legacy this movement will have in history. Whetehr we push forward for general strike action or sit back thinking our work here is done. We must not get complacent as any concession we do win off the government you can be sure something else will be being taken away from us behind our backs. That is the nature of capitalists they are driven by greed. Even to the extent of taking it from those who are the poorest in society and those who need the support most.

Lets keep our eye on the ball at all times during this struggle and be sure to make our stance clear that we are no to all cuts, Labour, tory or lib dem cuts. They are all the same when you are working class i'm afraid.

Why are we not getting more angry about the cuts ?

I personally believe we have yet to see the full force of the cuts program from teh tories. We have seen budgets being passed up and down the country in local council chambers by Labour, liberal and tory councillors. All in it together. But as i was returning from the anti cuts protest at the weekend in London urging Labour councillors to join the resistance and vote against cuts i thought to myself this is a very slow burning movement.

Many in the movement are now building up and preparing for march 26 in London where the TUC are holding a march against public sector cuts. I am hoping the confidence that march can give us and the movement will be electrifying. Not in many years have we seen the trades unions in this country rise up and march in big numbers. Even during the poll tax protestsa nd march's in London trades unions never got involved. SO it will be interesting how the TUC respond to the pressure to act. It took a big effort from the likes of the NSSn i'm involved with to force the TUC into action. Argueably we could havea nd should have had something before christmas riding on the momentom that the student movemt and protests have built up.

FOr myself attending march 26th i will be marching against all public sector cuts not just cuts that are too far and too fast as Ed miliband likes to eral off liek a broken record. The working class wont accept cuts from labour either but they dont seem to realise this that labours cuts were estimated to be further than Maggie Tatcher went in the 80's. They would have been equally as devastating to the public sector and jobs and livliehoods as a result.

So why are we not getting more angry ab out all these cuts ?

I personally think just like with TUSC's decision not to stand in teh recent Barnsley central bi-election on a anti cuts banner was right not to as it is a little premature i think the cuts have just been voted on. Its when they are started to be implimented the real anger will come i believe .

Likewise when John Mcdonald called for people attending march 26th that we must ask ourselves do we go home that night or not. urging people to bring their sleeping bags and camp at parliament. I think John is a good socialist and i quite like him but seriously john i think yuor jumping the gun a little with those calls. I think its all a bit premature.

TUC estimates at present upwards of 200,000 people who will be attending the march already 600 coaches have been booked out with over two weeks to go to the march. Numbers on the day could be unpredictable as it really does depend on the weather, people in and around Londons desire to mobilise and get out there to join it and also the publicity it gets. I would hope we could get half a million out any more will be a big bonus i'd say.


But i do think as we progress through this year the anger towards cuts and a anti cuts - no to all cuts narrative will grow and grow. Labour i'm afraid will be left in the dark as their idea of lesser cuts and not as fast will fall on deaf ears as the anti cuts movement grows and labels them same as the tories for being pro cuts.

The public want to see a real alternative to cuts. If any party stood out today and said no more cuts, no to cuts and we have another way they will rocket in popularity i can assure you. Alot of people still are getting by and coping but when the real cuts start to b bite i really think the movement will take off in a b ig way.

The question is are the trades unions and TUC and labour crucially ready for teh anger coming their way when people/workers are calling for action. I mean industrial action.

It seems clear to me that alot of people n the march on the 26th will be there to help labour get re-elected rather than fighting against the cuts. So i do think labour may gain from this movement in a opputunistic way sadly. I just hope people can see them for waht they are that they are also for cuts. Just not as fast or as far apparently.
I think if labour appear to be being over taken by thea nti cuts movement they may try and stiffle it or risk being totally washed over and anger of non action against the cuts may come back to bite them.

Interesting few months ahead with a lot to prepare and build for. This is just the start and we must have a plan of action co-ordinated action to take after the 26th. I think it is looking increasingly likely that will be in teh forms of strikes. But lets not rule out other forms of protest and resistance.

What UK Uncut have been doing must continue and grow highlighting teh role of the banks in all this whilst individual groups should look to occupy council buildings and make them councils for the people. Preventing these cuts being implimented. Its militant but it is what it is going to take i'm afraid as the anger grows.

The alternative march TUC 26th of march should be accessable

As many of you who read this blog know i am disabled being visually impaired and as this little piece below outlines we are under heavy attack from this horribly right wing coalition governemnt trying to take apart the welfar state in the name of deficit reduction. It is a complete lie and is an political ideaology so please read this piece below i had forwarded to me today about making this TUC march in central london on the 26th of March accessable to all concerned.

the TUC have agreed to all coaches dropping people off at Wembley on March 26th. For anyone on a low income this will add £8 to the cost of getting to central London, there are also a number of access issues not only for anyone with a mobility impairment. I am sure for those with MH or ND or visual impairments having to crush onto a very limited range of transport with up to 2 million other people will present a problem too.

Please contact bbarber@tuc.org.uk and complain about TUC agreeing to people, especially disabled people, being dumped at Wembley in this way.

here is DPAC's email fyi
Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC) believe it is imperative that disabled and older people are afforded the opportunity to support the TUC ‘March for the Alternative’ demonstration on 26 March in central London. At the latest count it was found that disabled people were facing fourteen separate attacks against our lives and living standards as a result of the Coalition government’s policies. What we are witnessing is our human rights, supposedly guaranteed under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Disabled People, being violated by regressive and draconian cuts to benefit and care funding. Increasing numbers of disabled people are being driven to contemplate suicide; with others actually going the whole way. Members of our community are living in daily terror that they will become further scapegoated, demonised and subjected to hate crime violence.

Against this backdrop DPAC demand the right to be fully included in this march and rally as our non-disabled peers would take for granted. As it currently stand the initial planning for the March is creating unnecessary disabling barriers which will both exclude and marginalise disabled people’s ability to participate. So far however the TUC have not responded to any requests from us for support for accessible transport to attend the march and now we have been told that the TUC have agreed (for anyone who can access coaches) that the coach dropping off point will be at Wembley or some other outlying part of London.

As I am sure you are aware the London underground system is one of the least accessible in the world, only one wheelchair is allowed on each bus at any one time, and disabled people cannot afford to pay extra travel costs from an outlying suburb to reach the centre of London. To agree to this as a dropping off point will therefore exclude us from exercising our right to protest.

It is possible to park in central London without bringing London to a grinding halt. When 2 million marched against the invasion of Iraq in 2003, coaches were parked all around Hyde Park and there were no major problems with people arriving or departing from this historic demonstration. Further we are certain that there must be at least 500 or more tourist coaches entering London on any day which does not seem to cause any traffic problems at all.

We have also asked TUC to organise with the police for us to have a static protest in central London for those unable to march but so far have had no response regarding this. We were able to do this very successfully with forward planning at the Tory Party conference protest in Birmingham.

Further we would wish to be kept updated with details of where the march will be going so that we can check its accessibility for our members with a range of impairments.

Both disabled Trade Unionists and other disabled people who attended The People’s Convention last Saturday asked conference to support a motion that the TUC march would be fully inclusive to all disabled people and that all of the required reasonable adjustments would be put in place by yourselves to fully include all of us.

We are willing to work with you to ensure that our full inclusion can be achieved and to assist you in any way practicable. We look forward to your response which we will pass onto our members.

Why the student movement isnt dead

Reading Sunny hundles pice on liberal conspiracy http://liberalconspiracy.org/2011/02/08/why-the-student-movement-in-england-is-essentially-dead/ you'd be forgiven the youth and students have given up the fight. Maybe that's waht some want ? to say i told you so i dont know.

But i do not feel this movement is dead at all. Yes it has faced some big blows by the abolishment of EMA going throug hand trebling of tuitian fees. But there are still lots of fight and battles ahead. We will do well to remember the poll tax got pushed back even once it was made law so there is always hope where there is a will for the fight.

I personally feel the trades unions need to invigerate the students and bring them on board. Of course the NUS will not do anything now. They are too focused on electing its next careerist leader. Aaron Porter who has betrayed his members and all students by failing to act and even he admitted dithering about when it comes to actingg. He simply must go he has failed and nedds replacing by someone with a stronger will and mind for the battles ahead.

With the opporaching demo on march 26th in London called by the TUC. Students must be at the fore front of this demo. Whilst non students attended the demo's for tuitian fees likewise students should show solidarity to come on the mass march 26th demo.

Students and young people as we well know do not enjoy sitting in endless meetings and dull discussions like us. They want to get out there and do something. TO feel apart of something.

The way we can do this is by involving them in local campaigns. If a local anti cuts group have a lobby of their local council when the budget is being set locally. Why not invite a load of students along allow them to shout and chant at the councillors let them vent their anger locally too. We discussed this last night. Linking up anti cuts movement and student one. It can bbe doen just needs some thinking about. The NSSN anti cuts body needs to incorperate students too and if any local anti cuts unions are set up. One is being set up locally to me in Stevenage for example i feel rightly so that a youth/student should be on its committee stearing the direction of the campaign locally and organising for big mass demo's nationally. Young people should have a big say in where this movement goes as ultimatly they will be the ones benifiting from it if we are successful.

This is the fight of our lives. To save public services and often peoples lives if crucial support is cut to disabled and mentally ill people in this country.

Students must not be left out of any movement or decision. But they do need to be active and feel involved. If their own union wont do this, NUS, then the wider trades union movement should bring them on board and teach them the ways.

The student movement is not dead it just needs a injection of belief and c onfidence which to be honest we all need. This will come wit ha successful TUC demo on march 26th. This demo could really shake the government if big and loud enough. we hope to have hundreds of thousands and maybe millions on the streets of London that day. Put the fear of god into those con-dems. Make them realise ordinary working people will not just stand by and watch their public services get destroyed. If we dont stand and fight now, we never will and the tories will clean up.

It is crucial that the TUC demo on march 26 has a message. I believe strongly that a threat to government of mass co-ordinated strike action should be seriously threatening to teh government. We have to mean it though. We cant go with empty threats and pull out wimpering back home. We have got to be serious about this. Start by threatening a full one day mass general strike in the public sector then if cuts carry on escalate the pressure with further cleverly orchestrated strike action.

This will get the tories and probably even Ed miliband running around panicing. Thinking oh god what are we going to do. Lets condem this strike before its even happened and call it irresponsible for wanting to protect working peoples jobs. Oh no we cant have that can we.

I can see Ed miliband being trapped if this happens as he will not know where to turn. Condem the strikes and sell out his own movement backed by unions who voted him in. Or join with us working people and stand for his principles. Whilst getting a hammering in the national press. I think its about time we stopped listening to what the media out there are saying and do waht's right aand protect workers jobs and lives.


The students will play a big part in all of this i feel lets get them involved and active more.

disabled people join TUC march against the cuts, march 26th, join us

please pass on this information to others



DISABLED PEOPLE AGAINST CUTS



Join us to protest on March 26th, London.



The main TUC march will assemble at Victoria Embankment, 11am to march to a rally in Hyde Park. We are still finalising arrangements of where we can meet beforehand and about a static protest for those unable to march to Hyde Park.



Disabled people are facing continuing attacks against their lives, living standards and basic human rights to live independently from almost every conceivable quarter and it is time for us to fight back against these cuts. Many disabled people are living in fear on a daily basis not knowing when or if their benefits and care funding will be slashed and whether they will be left to rot in their own homes without the support they need to live any sort of meaningful life.



These savage spending cuts damage not only our lives, but our public services, and threaten economic recovery. They're dangerous, unfair and unnecessary.



There are fair alternatives - a Robin Hood tax on the banks, end tax evasion, policies for jobs and green growth, scrap Trident replacement.

We're going to march to tell the government we demand “Rights not Charity” and to show we are not easy victims of their cuts even though they may think we are.



For information about transport to the march (some trains may be accessible) go to www.righttowork.org Transport information will be regularly updated here.



To join our events page

http://www.facebook.com/#!/event.php?eid=122497767819841&index=1



For more information email linda_burnip@yahoo.co.uk , ( underscore) 0771 492 7533, or mail@dpac.uk.net