February 2009

Socialist
Appeal interviewed Antonio Recano, an engineering shop
steward, who works
in the
construction and maintenance of industrial plants, and works for one of the
companies operating within the Syracuse oil refinery. He sends a message. "

To the British workers
who, not because of any xenophobic or protectionist logic, continue their
battle in the whole country for wages and jobs, I wish to express my full
solidarity and explain that I agree with the aims that flow from our common condition.
I salute them, bringing greetings from all the Italian workers who are
presently struggling like them for jobs and wages."

Yesterday, some 80 or so construction
workers, many of them unemployed, gathered outside the head office of the TGWU
(Unite) in central London,
demanding action from the union. Many had been refused work at a
Nottinghamshire power station. The crowd was later addressed by Tony Woodley,
the joint general secretary of Unite, who recognised the just cause of those
demonstrating. “Casualisation is the curse of the construction industry as it
has been on the docks and elsewhere”, he said.

Nominations have closed for the
Unite-Amicus General Secretary election and the four candidates are Derek
Simpson, Jerry Hicks, Kevin Coyne and Paul Reuter. The fifth candidate who was
nominated, Laurence Faircloth, has withdrawn from the contest and is now
recommending support for Derek Simpson! Faircloth was selected last November at
a meeting of the Amicus Unity Gazette to be the official Broad Left candidate.

Socialist Appeal has produced a leaflet for today’s lobby of
construction workers outside the T&G (Unite) HQ in London. The
leaflet calls for Unite to call for an immediate national strike in
construction, to protect jobs, to extend and improve the NAECI
agreement to all construction projects. This leaflet should be downloaded and used at all construction protests.

The begining of this year marks the anniversaries of the Cuban and Iranian revolution, as well as the founding of the Communist International. The Stalinist degeneration of the Soviet Union, and subsequently the Communist International, undoubtedly had far-reaching effects on the outcome of revolutionary movements throughout the 20th century. Come to the Socialist Appeal Marxism Day School in central London on Saturday 14th February, where we will discuss the lessons of the past so as to better prepare for the battles of the future. Download the leaflet and help advertise the meeting.

It’s
only a week or two ago since we predicted that the current crisis in Ireland would
unleash a whole series of defensive struggles as the bosses attempt to make us
pay for their crisis. The fact is that, although the Irish economy is rapidly
heading towards the rocks and Brian Cowen and the bosses are sharpening their
knives for cuts in wages and redundancies, the Irish working class was
immeasurably strengthened during the years of the so called Celtic Tiger. As
the saying goes you can peel an onion skin by skin, but you can’t skin a tiger
claw by claw.

Strathclyde University has been occupied, following a
demonstration of about eighty students. The demonstration went around campus
before taking the decision to occupy the finance office in one of the main
parts of the University. Security was initially very heavy handed and there
were a few scuffles as this proceeded but things have now calmed down. The
students and security have come to an amicable arrangement, whilst negotiations
have begun with the Principal.

Israel has recently declared a unilateral ceasefire, bringing to an end
one of its bloodiest military incursions into the Gaza strip. As the
dust settles, the scale of the devastation becomes clear: over 1,300
Palestinians lie dead, with estimates of the number wounded topping
5000. Much of Gaza’s infrastructure lies in ruins, with power stations,
water networks and sewage systems destroyed; homes, mosques and even
schools have been reduced to rubble. According to the UN, the cost of
rebuilding Gaza could run into billions of dollars.