24 reasons for a 24 hour general strike

Below I will describe 24 reasons as to why we need a 24 hour general strike to bring down this gov or at least start the fightback to doing so. So without any further waiting1 1.. the carving up of the welfare state by this con-dem government. The biggest cuts we’ve sen to welfare for a generation. 2. The privatisation and the passing of the health and social care bill meaning an end to the NHS as we knew it. 3. The trebling o tuition fees, enough to rile any young person today university tuition fees now are on average 9K a year. 4. Slashing of EMA for young people to stay on and get an education. 5. Over 1 million young people are now unemployed no thanks to this government of Tory millionaires. 6. The criminal slave labour workfare scheme making young people work for nothing to get their benefits. 7. 5 million officially on the housing waiting list and very few truly affordable council homes. 8. While the poor get poorer the rich get richer every week. Gap of weather between the very rich and very poor widening under this gov unlike any other gov . 9. The continued use of ATOS by this government assessing disabled people driving many to suicide due to the stress of it all. 10. Public sector pensions cut we’ll now be working longer, paying more and getting less for it. 11. cutting of housing benefit to those under the age of 25 making it near on impossible for young people to find home of their own let alone afford one. 12. new food banks are opening up every week in Britain, this is not widely reported but is a absolute disgrace, Not that they are opening to help those in need but the fact that we are one of the richest nations in the world and still yet have food banks. 13. Rising unemployment and those who are under employed in total that figure looks more around the 6 million mark a shocking statistic whatever way you look at it. 14. A slash and burn culture on our employment rights. Tories wish to be able to sack us on the spot to improve competitiveness in the private sector. This is all about driving down wages, terms and conditions. 15. Pay day loan sharks. Wonga, the pay-day loan company, saw its profits almost treble last year to £45.8 million. The number of people seeking a loan from Wonga to bridge the gap between stagnant wages and rocketing bills and food prices, has quadrupled. With an interest rate of 4,214% APR, Wonga and companies like it trap people in a poverty cycle for years. 16. A massive plan to privatise almost everything that moves. Including our NHS, police, Ambulance services, local council services, Bus’s, trains you name it al to their rich mates in the private sector to make a nice quick buck out of. 17. The news international and Murdoch scandals phone hacking and the closeness of politicians to the media and the police is beyond comprehension. Corruption goes deep at the heart of the establishment in Britain. 18. Only an estimated 15% of the cuts have been made making another 85% still to come a fight back is needed now to stop the cuts in their tracks before the rest rain down on us. 19. The Libor fixing rate affecting millions of workers 20. Government-instigated hate campaigns against the disabled and unemployed 21. Banks laundering drug money 22. Still billions being wasted on pointless wars in Afghanistan where our troops are being needlessly killed and for what? British imperialism. Troops out now. 23. PCS estimate 120 billion pounds goes evaded every ear by big business and corporations this could pay for most if not all of the deficit in one fail swoop, Tax the rich or take their wealth off them for good. 24. Together we can win. If we stand together fight together fight every cut up and down the land we can win. But we must have an alternative and that alternative must be a fight to end capitalism for good replacing it with democratic socialism. Of course there are far more reasons for a general strike like the disgusting closing and treatment of the Remply workers and the attacks on education by Michael Gove such as Free schools, academies and the changing of the GCSE marking which are all fair enough reasons to strike against this gov. The need for a serious and determined resistance is clear - which is why the historic vote by the TUC to pass the POA prison officer union's motion is so important. It called for "coordinated action where possible with far reaching campaigns including the consideration and practicalities of a general strike". This offers us a way to take on the Con-Dem cuts. The Socialist, a weekly paper of the Socialist Party, is 100% committed to backing and building the campaign to make this happen. We back the likes of Bob Crow, Mark Serwotka and others who have called on the TUC to now name the date for as soon as possible after the 20 October demo.

Britain’s housing crisis deepens urgent socialist policies needed

As we hear every week now reports of the deeding housing crisis in this country we hear of young people sofa surfing, sheds with beds horror stories and many many more homeless people than ever before. All the mainstream political parties make noises about this crisis but none have any solutions to the crisis at all. Under the last labour government fewer homes were built and even fewer affordable homes were built and yet they today lecture us on housing, pretty hypocritical. More than 1.6 million people aged 20-40 are still living with their parents because they cannot afford their own home, a report suggests. More than 5,000 people were surveyed by YouGov for housing charity Shelter. Campbell Robb, chief executive of Shelter, said: "These figures paint a vivid picture of 20- and 30-somethings in arrested development." In May the Office for National Statistics said 2.9 million people aged 20-34 were living with their parents. But some of those may have been living at home for cultural, medical or other reasons. According to the survey of 5,379 people, 41% do not believe their children will ever be able to save up for a deposit to get on the housing ladder. Yet I'm faced with a choice between living with my parents in my mid-thirties, and paying rents I can barely afford while somehow finding a huge deposit for a mortgage.” End Quote Dan Montefusco Of those living at home, 59% said it was harder to develop new relationships because of their domestic situation. Mr Robb said the housing crisis was "putting the brakes" on young people's aspirations. He said: "Our chronic lack of homes that young people can genuinely afford to rent or buy is at the root of the problem. "There's no doubt that young people are grateful to be able to live with mum and dad to save money, but we have to question whether it's acceptable that this is becoming the norm for people to live at home into their mid-30s - when we know that they are desperate to be independent and make their own way in the world." Mr Robb added: "As rents soar and deposits become even further out of reach, the government needs to look seriously at how it can meet these young people halfway, and make housing more affordable so that this generation and the next can get on in life." The survey suggested 35% of adults had been forced to move back in with their parents while nearly a quarter said their relationship with their parents had deteriorated as a result. Dan Montefusco, 35, from London, said: "For my parents' generation, it seemed possible to get on the housing ladder and see a steady progression in front of you: a career, a comfortable home that they could afford, a family. "Yet I'm faced with a choice between living with my parents in my mid-30s, and paying rents I can barely afford while somehow finding a huge deposit for a mortgage. "I've had to move back in with my parents a few times when I struggled to pay rent or find somewhere to live." What we need is a real socialist solution to this crisis removing the market and the private sector entirely. What we need is not nice words from tired out capitalist politicians we need a real change in society where homes are built for peoples needs not for profit. We should remove the profit motive from housing for good. A first step for this would be a cap on private sector rents and un do the cap on benefits until enough housing is built which by taking the wealth off of the rich we can afford the rich and big business is sitting on a estimated 800 billion even just a fraction of that could be used to build genuine affordable homes for young and old to live in a comfortable, safe and decent home for life with no worry of rents which cost the world or any threat of loosing your home. A home is a basic human right we should fight for that and dump the market for good. Capitalism cannot meet people’s needs so a socialist plan for the economy and the 99% is needed. And soon! With extracts from the bbc

Why socialist students is an important component of fighting austerity

I have been really encouraged by the positive reports of the socialist student’s societies being set up and refounded across the UK. As a member of the socialist party I feel we haven’t paid nearly enough attention to student politics in the past. All that is starting to change though and I’m really pleased to hear such positive moves from new comrades coming on board and long standing ones paying more attention to such work. It’s no wonder we are finding a really strong support for our ideas on campus’s up and down the lands. I’m pretty sure we could have had a bigger student activist section of our party if we’d done the ground work in the previous decade just gone. Sadly work has been mainly focused on trade union battles, electoral challenges and the anti war movement. Student work and youth work more generally is a key component of any revolutionary party and I am glad to see the socialist party now taking this aspect of our work far more seriously than possibly in the past. Not belittling comrade’s work but it seems to now be stepping up a gear at long last. A concerted effort to reach out for those disenfranchised students who are facing the new £9,000 tuition fees for the first time and the rising cots of student living will create a groundswell of anger which we can match with our key demands we have as a party and societies up and down the land. Students need a voice since the lib dems who promised not to raise tuition fees broke their promises so catastrophically students have been looking for an alternative ever since. We as socialists should be looking to bridge that gap in consciousness and to linking up struggles including linking to the workers movement including joining the October 20th TUC demonstration in London and helping students join calls for a 24 hour general strike popularised by the National Shops Stewards network who lobbied the TUC on the 9th of September in Brighton. We are entering if we haven’t already a explosive period of class struggle which students who first showed us the way back in 2010 can play a key role in the struggle. We have had a good reception on freshers stalls in universities across the UK. At well-attended meetings we have discussed topics ranging from economics and theory to how we can take the lead in campaigns across campus such as Rape Is No Joke and the TUC demo on 20 October. Recently two Spanish members volunteered to lead a discussion on the situation in Spain laying the foundations for Socialist Students to launch a solidarity campaign for young people across Europe fighting back against government austerity. It is always key to link our struggles in this country to those around the globe Socialist students meetings where international topics have been discussed including the successful Quebec students strike of earlier this year and the huge battle of the South African miners will inspire many. Having an internationalist theme keeps our struggles linked to the wider battle to change the world to end capitalism and bring about a democratic socialist society which will benefit all not just the 1%. Clearly we will be facing many difficult questions by new attendees on stalls and socialist student meetings which are why the party and the youth department must support socialist students and new societies in particular to feel supported and linked in to the wider movement and the party. Most of all we must be starting to gear students and new recruits towards the 21st November NUS national day of action and mobilising as many students as we can. Contacting local Student unions and student bodies to gain support and transport is a must. Socialist students will be doing all it can to make the turnout for that day as big and as militant as possible. With socialist demands at the front of any action. Clearly the student movements leadership is still not up to leading a serious fight back against fees and cuts to education and youth services we must also while fighting our own local campus issues link this with the need to transform the leadership of the student movement with fighting left leaders who are prepared to take the battle on and win. Students makeup a big size of people in this country they must not be ignored their anger must be channelled in a constructive way into linking with the labour movement in removing capitalism the root of all exploitation from society once and for all.

Chavez victory reelection must mean a break with capitalism

With Hugo Chavez winning a historical 4th election in Venezuela’s recent election workers of the world are rightly upbeat about the prospect ahead. But as we have always warned in the CWI that if you do not look to take on capitalism and put an end to it it will find a way back. Despite Chavez’s radical rhetoric little has changed in terms of the economy since he first gained power. Of course there have been big concessions to the working class and the poor but this cannot be described as one left wing labour MP stated on twitter a socialist revolution. Capitalism still exists in Venezuela and will do for as long as Chavez fails to break with capitalism for good opening the way to spreading the revolution across Latin America. This piece below by Tony Saunois, who is one the International Secretariat of the CWI reports from Caracas Thousands flocked to Miraflores, the Presidential Palace in Caracas, Sunday night (October 7) to celebrate the victory of Hugo Chavez in Sunday’s presidential election. In scenes reminiscent of the defeat of the right-wing coup in 2002, soldiers from the presidential guard waved flags from the roof top of the palace while other soldiers joined workers, youth, the unemployed and others who came to the city centre to celebrate the defeat of the right-wing candidate, Henrique Capriles. The victory of Chavez, his fifth electoral victory since 1998, has inflicted yet another defeat on Venezuela’s right wing and is welcomed by the CWI and its Venezuelan section, Socialismo Revolucionario, together with workers and socialists internationally. A victory of the right wing would have resulted in an attack on the Venezuelan working class, a rolling back of the reform programme and a political offensive by the ruling class nationally and internationally, celebrating another defeat for ‘socialism’. A massive turnout of over 80% – up from 75% in 2006 – the highest in decades, reflected the political and class polarisation which continues to grip Venezuelan society. With over 98% of the votes counted, Chavez had won 8,133,952, 55.25%, compared to 6,498,527, 44.14%, for wealthy businessman Capriles. Chávez won in 20 of Venezuela’s 24 federal states. If he completes this mandate for another six years, Chávez will have been in power for two decades in total. He will become the longest serving Venezuelan President since Juan Vincente Gomez who ruled from 1908 until 1935! The difference is that Chávez has been elected with mass support, as opposed to the dictatorship of Gomez. Capitalist politicians and leaders of the former workers’ parties in Europe and other continents must look with envy at Chávez’s continued electoral victories and ability to mobilise millions of supporters. Certainly, no other political leader in recent elections has had the ability to repeatedly attract millions to election rallies or be greeted by such crowds celebrating his victory. Right-wing campaign’s populist character This election campaign has been presented in Venezuela as ‘historic’, one that will determine the future of the country and as a choice between ‘two distinct models’. However, such a choice was not reflected in Chávez arguing during the campaign for a clear socialist programme to break with capitalism. Neither did he advocate such an alternative in his address to the crowd which greeted him outside Miraflores. The election campaign reflected important aspects and new features of the struggle that have unfolded in Venezuela during the last fourteen years following Chávez’s first victory. One of the most significant features of the election was the character of the right-wing campaign. The effect of the policies and struggles of the last fourteen years has left powerful support for radical social policies and, to an extent, the general idea of ‘socialism’, which is now deep in the popular political consciousness. Reflecting the radicalised left political consciousness that is now dominant in Venezuelan society, Capriles was compelled to present his programme in a populist manner that masked his real right-wing neo-liberal agenda. This represents a significant change in the strategy of the right wing. Capriles’s propaganda and speeches attempted to address the plight of the poor and promised to defend a welfare state. He argued he would not dismantle all the ‘missions’, the reform programme introduced by Chávez in health and education. He called for the defence of ‘independent’ trade unions and tried to win the support of public sector workers by promising to end the obligatory attendance at Chávez rallies and protests, which is a major source of discontent. Capriles energetically crisscrossed the country – attempting to portray himself as a ‘radical’ new youthful figure as opposed to the older ‘tired’ figure of Chávez in order to win the youth vote. He had some success in this. The real programme of the right was to be found buried in its material where it argued for reduced state intervention and an increased role for private investment in the economy. In the failed 2002 coup, Capriles was implicated in the right-wing assault on the Cuban embassy. Had the right wing secured a victory in this election, a Capriles government would have attempted to roll back the reform programmes of the Chávez governments and introduce more neo-liberal measures. This change in the right wing’s propaganda is a reflection of the real balance of political forces at this stage. Capriles was compelled to rein in the extreme right. To have unleashed the forces of the far right or to have argued explicitly for more right-wing neo-liberal policies would only have resulted in a bigger defeat for Capriles. A serious warning Despite the welcome victory of Chávez the voting in this election is also a warning, from which important lessons need to be drawn in order to prevent a possible future right-wing victory. While Chávez’s percentage of the total vote fell by 7.6 percentage points compared to the last election in 2006, Capriles increased the right’s share by 7.2 percentage points. On an increased turnout Chávez increased his actual vote by 824,872, but Capriles increased the vote of the right by 2,206,061. This represents a serious warning. Apart from the referendum on constitutional reform in 2007, this was the lowest percentage vote for Chávez in any election. The right has been increasing its vote at each election, reflecting a creeping, slow-motion counter-revolution. But support for radical left policies remains dominant at this stage and the masses, including some sections who this time voted for the right, are opposed to any attempt to revert back to the old order that existed prior to Chávez coming to power. However, the failure to break with capitalism and introduce a genuine socialist programme with democratic control and management by the working class and all those exploited by capitalism, is allowing the right to exploit the growing discontent and frustration due to the worsening social conditions, corruption and inefficiency that accompanies the growing Chávista bureaucracy and the government’s top-down bureaucratic approach, which the CWI has consistently warned about and opposed. The largest percentage of the vote ever won so far by Chávez was in the 2006 election when he took 62% of the vote. Significantly, this was also Chávez’s most radical campaign when the question of ‘socialism’ was dominant and to the fore in the campaign. At that time, there was a revolutionary development following the defeated right-wing coup attempt and 2002-03 bosses’ lockout. However, since that victory, rather than advancing through the introduction of a programme to break with capitalism and introduce a real system of democratic workers’ control and management, the revolutionary process has stalled and been in retreat. The government has increasingly collaborated with the ruling class and sought to reach agreement with it; hence its policy of ‘national reconciliation’ and agreements struck with the employers’ federation. This, together with the emergence of those who have grown rich on the backs of the Chávez movement – the ‘boli-bourgeoisie’ – inevitably resulted in growing discontent and protests against the government. Reforms & despair in the poorest barrios Moreover, the response of the government to the global economic capitalist crisis which began in 2007 has not been to drive forward with a programme to break with capitalism but to move in the opposite direction and seek to appease it by moving to the right. Increased tax concessions since then have been given to multinational companies. The national oil company PDVSA, which has financed the ‘missions’ reform programme has cut its budget to them by nearly 30%. There has also been increased repression against workers and others who have taken strike action in recent years. Workers in the public sector are subject to the Law of Security Defence of the Nation. This allows for the banning of strikes and even protests in the public sector. The state police in the city of Barcelona killed two workers’ leaders at the Mitsubishi car factory; the governor of this state is a Chávista. Workers at Toyota suffered the same fate. Despite the popular reform policies of the ‘missions’, which have aided millions in their health, education and other programmes, catastrophic social conditions remain in the poorest ‘barrios’ and show little sign of improving. These have been the breeding ground for a dramatic rise in crime, brutal violence and kidnappings to extract money from the families of victims. Venezuela has one of the highest murder rates in the world: the government’s official figure was 19,000 deaths in 2011. This is almost certainly an under-estimate of the scale of this slaughter. Venezuela is currently one of the most violent countries in the world. In one predominantly wealthy district near Caracas, El Hatillo, 70 kidnappings have occurred so far this year! The experience of CWI members is typical. One CWI member living in a barrio arrived at a meeting the day before the election to tell of the shooting of his brother-in-law the night before. Another told of the shooting of their landlord. Others speak of work colleagues being kidnapped. Another spoke of withdrawing money from a bank for work, only to be robbed five minutes later by armed youth on a motorcycle who had been texted of the cash withdrawal by bank clerks, who then take a cut of the money. Such attacks make the lives of the poor and the middle class a state of almost permanent anxiety and even fear. The housing situation remains desperate especially in the poorest barrios. The government, in the run-up to the election, launched a rushed housing programme, claiming to have built over 200,000 new dwellings. Many people question these figures. Many who saw their shacks washed away by heavy rain in 2010 remain in refuges. Here, conditions can be so bad that even massacres of the occupants have taken place by other occupants or the drug cartels which operate in the barrios. Yet what is being constructed are in reality new ghettos: tiny apartments in blocks with no facilities, built on any piece of empty land or land that has been expropriated. One new development is isolated with one road in and one road out at least an hour’s drive away from the nearest metro. Corruption, lack of democratic planning and control and inadequate building techniques have often meant cracks have appeared in the blocks even before they are occupied! These conditions are the potential breeding ground for armed gangs of young people driven into violent robberies and kidnappings in order to survive. They are also the breeding ground of discontent, which the right wing can build upon or could lead to demoralisation and apathy towards the government. This is already developing and was evident in the campaign. Minimal reference to socialism The Chávez campaign during this election was to the right of the campaign fought in 2006. It was shortly after this that Chávez proposed the launch of the PSUV (United Socialist Party of Venezuela) as a ‘revolutionary party’. Chávez made references to Trotsky, the permanent revolution and the transitional programme. He spoke of building a ‘fifth international’ of ‘left parties’. But in this election, none of that was evident. Reference to socialism was minimal until the last week of the campaign. Instead, the main slogan of Chávez was “Chávez the heart of the fatherland”. It assumed a very nationalistic character with promises to develop the ‘fatherland’. The election was highly personalised in both camps. While the main avenues of Caracas were full at the closing rally, it was noticeable that the placards simply featured Chávez and the ‘Fatherland’ with no political content. Absent were the banners of the PSUV or the trade unions. Many workers wore shirts from the companies they worked for and often said they were there because they were ‘obliged’ to by their employers. While many enthusiastically rallied to Chávez as their only hope and fearing the right, some were simply mobilised around chanting for ‘Chávez and fatherland’, with no content. These features reflect the lack of an independent organised political force of the workers and the poor, which the CWI has commented on in previous articles. This, and the bureaucratic top-down approach of the government, has seriously weakened the movement right from its earliest period, something of which the CWI has consistently warned. This top-down approach was again reflected during the election campaign. On two occasions when Chávez spoke in mass meetings in states, some chanted “Chávez yes, but not ...” referring to the imposed Chávista candidates for the forthcoming state elections in December. Chávez responded by saying if the imposed candidates were rejected then they also must reject Chávez! The lack of a democratic independent workers’ movement is one of the biggest weaknesses and greatest dangers. It has already allowed the right wing to make gains and advances. If the working class, youth and poor do build a democratic independent organised force, the threat of the right and advance of the counter-revolution will grow. It cannot be ruled out that the right wing will make gains in December’s regional elections given the rottenness of some of the Chávista candidates. Unfortunately, following his victory, Chávez, when speaking to his supporters, gave no indication of taking steps to overthrow capitalism. He offered dialogue and debate to the opposition. “We are all brothers of the fatherland,” he thundered after praising the opposition for accepting the result. He spoke of building one united Venezuela. Both sides towards the end of the campaign emphasised this same point. As the polls closed, there was a barrage of television propaganda from both sides appealing for peace, unity and reconciliation. Both Chávez and Capriles urged ‘calm’ and ‘tranquillity’, evidently fearing that polarisation could result in clashes and some kind of social explosion. ‘Mixed economy’ or break with capitalism? As Chávez greeted the crowd after his victory, he made two passing references to socialism. However, these were drowned in pronouncements of “Viva Bolivar! Viva La Patria! Viva Venezuela!” During the campaign he argued that the ‘socialism’ of the Soviet Union had failed and a new type is needed in the 21st century. But this was not a rejection of the former totalitarian Stalinist regime that masqueraded as socialism, in favour of advocating a programme of workers’ democracy. Chávez’s policies illustrate that what he means by this ‘new type’ is a ‘mixed economy’ combining capitalism with state intervention and reforms. The reforms which the CWI supported are now being rolled back and cut. They could only be maintained and strengthened on the basis of breaking with capitalism and introducing a democratic socialist plan of the economy. Capriles is clearly biding his time and now intends to consolidate his base following the election campaign. Chávez is set to continue with his policies of conciliation and working with those sections of the ruling class which are prepared to collaborate with him. Such a policy will increasingly bring his government into collision with workers and the poor. Social discontent will increase. It is urgent that an independent democratic socialist workers’ movement is built with a programme to break with capitalism. If this is not done, then alongside growing social disintegration and alienation will develop the threat from the right. The deepening global capitalist economic crisis will have a heavy impact on Venezuela. A significant fall in the price of oil, Venezuela’s main export worth $60 billion last year, would threaten to undermine Chávez’s policies. It cannot be excluded that Chávez could be driven back towards the left and introduce more radical measures that encroach on capitalism. However, this is far from certain and would not, on their own, represent a socialist transformation. To break with capitalism and build a real democratic socialist alternative still needs the urgent construction of an independent, democratic and politically conscious workers’ socialist movement. With extracts taken from http://www.socialistworld.net/doc/5985?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

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

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

Miliband and labour offer no alternative for workers, time for a new workers party

This week we have been drowned in clips and interviews and speech’s room the labour party conference. What has felt more like a rock concert with big pyrotechnics and backing tracks its all felt a very hollow affair. No wonder workers do not turn to the lab our party conference like they once did to see the NEC put under pressure and sometimes turned over by the left. It just doesn’t happen anymore. A fully staged event with few opportunities for debates and what is debated on is strictly chosen by the leadership to not embarrass the party at all in anyway and even if motion is passed in favour of workers it is either forgotten about or heavily watered down. So I ask you what is the point of the labour party conference or of labour at all anymore? With anger rising against the government coalition's austerity programme, Labour is riding high in the opinion polls. But there certainly isn't any enthusiasm for Labour leader Ed Miliband as a future prime minister. In fact he has a lower personal approval rating than Tory leader David Cameron! His speech at the Labour Party conference was seen as chance to re-launch his "vision". He has been praised for his confident delivery but beyond his ability to memorise a speech and which school he went to, what have we learnt about Ed Miliband? More importantly for those drowning in Con-Dem cuts and privatisation, what would a Labour government do differently? Certainly those hoping for any new ideas will have been disappointed. The main theme of the speech - 'One Nation' - was the rehashing of an old idea, and an old Tory idea at that. In fact it was first raised by Tory leader Benjamin Disraeli 140 years ago. Miliband considers him a One Nation politician and he made sure we knew, using the phrase 46 times in his speech! He was forced to reflect the worries of ordinary people, the millions of us who can't find work or are struggling to make ends meet. He correctly said that the system doesn't work for them. But the idea of 'One Nation' cannot square the opposing interests of workers trying to improve their pay and bosses who are trying to cut it. We live under capitalism, a system where society is divided up in to classes. Rarely is this more obvious than now when the super-rich are continuing to rake it in while working class people are expected to pay for their crisis. With four out of five ministers in this government being millionaires it is clear who they represent. Bosses are getting cuts to their tax and to health and safety regulations, we're getting cuts to our pay, jobs and services. Unfortunately, what little concrete proposals there were in Miliband's speech made clear that fundamentally Labour will continue with the same agenda. Listening to other speeches at the conference confirms this. Labour's only alternative to austerity is slightly slower austerity. In many local councils Labour councillors are already implementing huge cuts. They are another party of big business. The 'One Nation' rhetoric is simply a way of masking their true intent, as the claim "we're all in it together" or the idea of the 'Big Society' were for Cameron. Dave Prentis, general secretary of Labour-affiliated trade union Unison, although a Labour supporter was forced to concede that the speech "offered little hope to the millions of low-paid public service workers ... who are going through massive pay cuts, their jobs threatened and their services privatised." In fact Miliband did offer them something: "Tough settlements for the public services and that will make life harder for those who use them and harder for those who work in them." Ed Miliband was elected Labour leader two years ago, largely by the votes of trade unionists. Many hoped that he would lead a return to 'Old Labour'. This hasn't happened. Now members of Labour-affiliated unions should be asking why their money is still going to a party that doesn't represent them. We were right to point this out at the time when Ed was elected that Ed was not red ed but a continuation of New labour if not in name but in practise. Very little has changed inside labour the left are weaker than ever and some still think the party can be reclaimed. Amazingly some are following the celebrity cult culture which the labour left cling on to with the appearance of the young squeaky clean Owen Jones who who writes a column for the bourgeois press in the name of the Independent newspaper. To be fair a lot of what Jones writes is very good his book Chav’s is not bad but he still believes Labour can be reclaimed from within. He has no strategy for this and constantly points to the unions to use their union links more well Owen does this not mean that the unions need to be transformed first before all this. Union tops especially the right wing union leaders are quite happy to play the status quo and sound radical joining with Jones on panels such as CLASS Owens’s new left think tank with very limited demands it has to be said. Owen is very good at telling us what is wrong with the system but rarely offers any alternative despite calling himself a socialist. A socialist doesn’t just say what they are against they put forward an alternative. TUSC can be that political alternative and socialism is the system we need to replace capitalism with. We desperately need a party that will stand up for working-class and middle-class people. The Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC), supported by the RMT transport union and a number of leading trade unionists in other unions is an important step towards such a party. TUSC candidates will stand in the Manchester Central by-election and the Bristol mayoral election in November on a clear programme of implacable opposition to all cuts. Workers don't need pious speeches about how hard things are, they need support when they fight back. TUSC supporters are proud to stand on picket lines with workers defending their standards of living. There's no attempt to hide whose interests we stand for - it is the 99%. With extracts taken from http://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/15380/04-10-2012/miliband-placates-big-business-by-promising-more-tough-settlements-for-public-services

How struggle can pay, power to the South African miners

Our thoughts and solidarity remain with the brave South African miners brutally killed during the strikes and protests. They will not be forgotten. After six weeks of defiant strike action in the teeth of violent attacks by police acting on behalf of the mining bosses, when over 40 miners were killed, the Marikana platinum miners have won a significant 22% pay increase and a R2,000 payment for loss of earnings from mine owners, Lonmin. Members of the Democratic Socialist Movement (the Socialist Party's counterpart in South Africa) have played an important role in the miners' struggle, in particular, through the adoption of the demand for an industry-wide general strike. South African capitalists are fuming in the news media, complaining that the pay concession will lead to "contagion" throughout the rest of the mining industry. The following statement was issued by Rustenburg Joint Strike Coordinating Committee on 19 September: "The Rustenburg Joint Strike Coordinating Committee sees the settlement between the Lonmin management and strike committee as an important victory not just for the Lonmin workers but for the general strike without which the employer would not have come to the table. "We are inspired to continue the fight in the mines which continue to resist our united action. Lonmin's agreement to a 22% adjustment to wages, which means Rock Drill Operators' basic wages are up to R11, 078, plus a one-off "bonus" of R2, 000, constitutes a victory on its own when workers across the economy have been forced to accept effective wage cuts through below-inflation increases. But most important is the fact that the Lonmin bosses had to recognize the workers' power to organize themselves independently of them and their stooges. The framework of negotiations above the heads and behind the backs of us has been torn down. The concession that has been won has come at a very high price - 44 dead, many more injured, arrested, tortured and harassed. The settlement can never make up for the loss of the comrades who were murdered by the government in defense of the mining bosses or hide the true colours of the state that were exposed with the massacre on 16 August - the first state of emergency since the apartheid days. The only way we can begin to give them justice is by moving the struggle they spearheaded onto a higher level - we cannot continue dying fighting for crumbs. We therefore remain determined to spread the Rustenburg-wide general strike in demand of a R12, 500 living wages. The strike is growing stronger in nearly all Rustenburg mine operations - Anglo Platinum, the world's biggest platinum producer, Impala Platinum (second biggest), Samancor and Xstrata workers have now been joined in strike action by the workers of Royal Bafokeng's Rasimune mine as well as by organized communities. A very small minority of workers was back at the shafts Anglo tried to reopen [18 September]. We call on workers and communities across the country to join us and take the struggle for a better life into their own hands. We continue to be shot at, harassed and intimidated by the police and army that have been sent to Rustenburg. Yesterday, several striking Anglo workers were shot with rubber bullets, without provocation, by police. We urge Cosatu [Confederation of South African Trade Unions] delegates at their ongoing national congress to remember that 'an injury to one is an injury to all', to support our action unconditionally and to call a general strike for a R12, 500 living wage and for an end to the shooting of workers. We also call on workers and communities from throughout the country to join us in a march to Union Buildings, Pretoria on Saturday 29 September to demand justice for the comrades killed, national living wage of R12,500, the ending of the state of emergency, for a workers' and communities' independent investigation into the Marikana massacre, the re-employment of all workers unfairly dismissed from the mines, nationalization of the mines under democratic control of workers and communities, to allow for decent housing, clean running water, electricity, sanitation, roads and quality education and work for all." I’ve donated to the South African miners appeal any funds we can help their struggle out with would be greatly appreciated. In solidarity. ________________________________________ Socialism 2012 A leading trade union activist and Democratic Socialist Movement member from Rustenburg, South Africa, will be speaking at Socialism 2012 in London (3rd & 4th November 2012) on the miners' general strike and the political tasks facing the South African working class.