More than a few ‘commentators’ on the defacto cuts announced on
Thursday by UK Chancellor Darling, as part of the plan to make the public
sector pay for the banks’ bailout, sought to praise the ruthless cuts
announced on the same day in Ireland. The message is clear so far as
these characters are concerned – we need to cut and cut hard. We reproduce a statement issued by the Irish Marxists on the day the cuts were made public.
With the news this week of the100th death this year of a British soldier in
Afghanistan, this imperialist adventure will once again dominate the
news. In a article published in the current issue of Socialist Appeal
published at the end of November, Rob Sewell looks at the latest
situation and its background.
Many of us know that the origins of Christianity have nothing to do with silent nights or wise men. So what are its true origins? John Pickard looks at the reality of how this religion came about.
Land Registry have sacked PCS Rep Jane Brooke. Jane is based at Weymouth
Land Registry and it appears her only offence was to make an industrial
injury complaint against Land Registry.
Surveillance
was conducted on six members of staff at the Weymouth Office. A campaign meeting has been organised by SW PCS for this Friday.
Supporters of Socialist Appeal in Glasgow joined
Greek students in a picket of the Greek Consulate to mark the one year
anniversary of the police murder of Alexandros Grigoropoulos in Athens.
The murder set off a revolt of working class youth throughout Greece
that was met with huge police repression.
The talks between the government and
ICTU have collapsed following pressure from the FF back benches. Apparently
they had been pressured from “the private sector” to oppose plans for unpaid
leave proposed by the union leaderships. Make no bones about it. What this
really means is that the Irish bourgeoisie and the multinationals are putting
on the pressure and demanding that the public sector takes huge cuts. It raises
the temperature in what is already a charged situation. If the Irish Congress
of Trade Unions had a fighting Socialist leadership; Ireland would be on the
brink of a general strike. But that is far from the case.
The Ryan and Murphy
reports have exposed the extent of the abuse carried out against children by
Catholic priests in the Dublin Diocese between 1975 and 2004. It is also clear
that such abuses have occurred in practically all parishes of the Roman
Catholic Church in the whole island. Physical and sexual abuses also occurred
in industrial schools, orphanages, and the “Magdalene laundries run by orders
of nuns. It’s not our intention to
dwell on the detail of the investigations, but we feel that it is important to
look at the political and social ramifications of the reports.
Just one year ago, in the midst of the meltdown on Wall Street,
millions of Americans, many of whom had never voted before, came out
for Barack Obama, energized by his message of hope and change. His
victory marked a turning point in U.S. politics, a clear rejection of
Bush’s blatantly anti-worker and imperialist policies. The streets
overflowed with joy and the promise of a new era. Around the world,
cries of “yes we can!” could be heard as a collective sigh of relief
swept the planet. The Bush years were over! Surely things would now get
better! But what is the reality?
The TUC has worked out that the richest folk in the land get
subsidised massively in their old age by the rest of us. No change
there, then. £37bn is set aside by the Treasury as tax relief for
pension funds. This tax break is, of course, worth much more to those
on the higher rate of income tax. They get their hands on 60% of the
£37bn. Of this sum, nearly £10bn is grabbed by the top 1% of the
population, people on more than £150,000 a year.
This article originally appeared in "The Red Plough," an
independent Email journal of Republican Marxist opinion. It takes a
clear position against the arguments of the capitalist press around the
strikes on the 24th of November. In particular it deals with the
question of "the national interest". The bosses are always keen to try
and mask the class nature of society and here Gerry Ruddy points out
the contradictions in their arguments and offers a class alternative.
Thursday’s planned public sector strike has
been suspended after the government and the union leaders announced that a
breakthrough had been made. The "agreement" means that some of the
cost of wages would be offset by the workers taking "unpaid leave".
As we pointed out on more than one occasion recently, the political and
economic situation in the state is such that any agreement that has been
reached on the basis of "social partnership" will inevitably mean cuts
in worker’s wages and increased work load and pressure on already stretched
services. Effectively it means that the public sector is being put on short
time.
Socialist Appeal issue number 180 (December 2009) is now out and ready to order.
Click here to order your copy or click on the heading to read more.