With the results of the Unison General Secretary election due on
Tuesday 22nd June, we reproduce here an article by Left candidate Paul
Holmes which was published on the front page of the United Left paper, issued during last week’s Unison conference:
Brian Cowen survived a confidence vote
in the Dail on Wednesday by 5 votes and the day after it was
announced that Enda Kenny had won a confidence vote sparked by
dissatisfaction on the FG front bench by a similar (supposedly secret)
margin. But why is it that the leaders of the two long established
bourgeois parties in the state have reached such an impasse at the same
time? The answer is clear the economy is in crisis and Labour has
overtaken FG in the polls.
Fred Weston, from the editorial board of
Marxist.com, spoke to a packed house at May Day Books in Minneapolis,
MN, USA on June 1st. Around 30 people came to hear Fred present a
Marxist analysis of the state of the Chinese economy and the future of
1/5th of humanity. We present here a video of Fred’s presentation and the
question and answer session, which covered topics as varied as the
difference between socialism and communism to an explanation of the
Asiatic mode of production.
The question of housing in Britain
today reveals much about the character of the crisis that permeates our
entire
society. Through the medium of housing we can see almost every problem
our
society faces – from inequality to out of control speculation, health
problems
to overcrowding, groaning infrastructures to gross regional imbalances
and
distortions. Dan Morley, in the first of a three part article, looks at the situation facing the housing market today.
In the first of a regular
column where we look at DVDs which may be of interest to socialists, we pick up
on a DVD reissue of the classic film, Battle of Algiers.
Alan Woods concludes his analysis of the unfolding crisis of capitalism
in Europe and how it is impacting on the organisations of the working
class.
Alan Woods continues his analysis of the crisis facing European capitalism and their institutions.
After months of build up, the World Cup is finally underway. As it
approaches the end of the first week, in what is a month-long bloated
competition, something has become rather clear. Hype is
everything.
Marxists in the US have just finished discussing and agreeing a new perspectives doument on the ongoing crisis of the system in America. Given the importance of what happens in the most powerful capitalist country on earth, we are reproducing that document for UK readers.
Last year a powerful movement erupted in
Iran that shook the hated
Islamic fundamentalist regime to its very foundations. All the
conditions were present for a successful revolutionary overthrow of the
regime. What was lacking, however, was the active participation of the
working class as an organised force and, most importantly, a conscious,
revolutionary leadership of the movement.
IRELAND: The
outcome of the ballots among the ICTU affiliated unions over the Croke
Park deal will be finally clear by next week when the SIPTU and IMPACT
ballot results are counted. A huge amount of pro deal propaganda has
been brought to bear on the membership of the public sector unions,
backed up by the trade union leadership who have been desperate to
present the deal as the saviour of the Irish working class.
Alan Docherty, a long standing Unison activist has been banned from holding office for two years by union officials in what is a clear attack on democracy in the union.