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February 2006

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Scotland: SSP at the Crossroads

The Scottish Socialist Party (SSP) was seen for a period as a success story for anyone looking for an alternative to Labour. Now it is in decline. It is paying the price for abandoning a genuine socialist programme, making concessions both to nationalism and reformism.
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Scotland: Eye Witness Report WSF 2006 Caracas

PUBLIC MEETING: Tuesday 28th February @ 7.30pm, Posties Club, Brunswick Street (Off Leith Walk). Speaker: Rob Sewell, National Steering Committee of Hands Off Venezuela and Editorial Board of Socialist Appeal. All Welcome to a public debate about the Venezuelan Revolution and Socialism in the 21st Century and what it means for socialists here in Edinburgh. CONTACT US BY E-MAIL TO scotland [(at]) socialist.net or  to SA PO BOX 17299, EH12 1WS, Edinburgh

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Blairites rocked by election defeat in Scotland

Last week the Labour Party suffered a devastating defeat at the hands of the Liberals, losing half its votes in the Dunfermline and West Fife seat in Scotland. This is the first time Labour have lost a seat to the Liberals in Scotland since 1945! This is another symptom of the process taking place in Britain. Blair can no longer win elections. The scene is set for big changes.
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Blair in new attack on sick and disabled

While Blair continues to support his friend Bush in the war in Iraq, he is conducting another little war on the home front, this time against the sick and disabled! Up to a million workers who have been declared too sick to work now face the possibility of new and humiliating procedures aimed at forcing them back to work. This is a more silent, less obvious war, but a war nonetheless, a class war.
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The real centre ground

If you want to win elections you must aim at the centre ground. At least that is the official line. But what is the centre? The centre between what? The centre the media refer to, in reality is an extreme expression of the interests of the bosses. The latest attack on education is an example. It goes against the interests of the overwhelming majority of people in Britain, but no doubt the right wing of Labour and the Tories will meet in the “centre” and vote for it together.
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“Super Union” needs democracy

Preparations are going ahead for a merger of three big trade unions in Britain, Amicus, T&GWU and GMB. The bureaucracy is pressing heavily for this. It would potentially be a very powerful union, but past experiences have shown that mergers have tended to reduce the level of internal democracy. The left in Amicus gathered around the Amicus Unity Gazette are not opposed to the merger in principle but are demanding the rank and file have a last say through recall conferences and that they be allowed to decide on the key issue of the rule book.