London Metropolitan University, even more than most institutions of higher education, has suffered brutally over the past five years of cuts. The election of a Tory majority to parliament is ominous for the future of this university. Trade union members are organising a fight back, with strike action taking place this Thursday, 21st May.
The coming to power of a new Tory government opens a new stormy chapter in Britain. The stage is set for a turbulent period ahead of instability and upheaval. Rob Sewell looks at the explosive situation that is developing in the wake of the election and in the context of the world capitalist crisis.
In this recording from the Bristol Marxist Society, one week after the election, Rob Sewell – editor of Socialist Appeal, analyses the results and looks at the perspectives ahead for Britain. The coming period will be one of uncertainty, turbulence, and upheaval, with revolutionary implications.
Over the last week since the general election, David Cameron has lost no time in announcing yet more reactionary laws. Emboldened by their parliamentary majority, and freed from the ballast of coalition with the Lib Dems, the Tories have rushed to introduce further measures to stick the knife in against the working class.
Yesterday, around 100 teachers and students attended a demonstration at Hackney Community College, organised by UCU members to mark the opening day of their ballot for strike action at FE colleges across the whole of London. Staff and students are fighting back against Tory attacks on education and jobs.
Before the dead body of Miliband’s Labour leadership was even cold, the Blairites were lining up to try and pull the party further to the right. As various contenders throw their hats into the ring of the leadership contest, the question must be asked: is a move towards the so-called political “centre-ground” really the panacea to all of Labour’s problems?
The elected independent mayor of Tower Hamlets, Lutfur Rahman, has been removed from office due to a court ruling over allegations of corruption. The fact that one unelected commissioner is able to overrule the votes of over 37,000 people reveals bourgeois democracy in all its impotence.
On Saturday 2nd May, up to 2,000 residents of Bedlington, Northumberland came together to make a “big noise” in protest at the declining state of their town in the face of job losses and Tory-ordered cuts. Protests like this in Bedlington are just the beginning of the fight against the Tories, their austerity, and the capitalist system they defend.
We publish here a letter from Ben Curry, a Socialist Appeal supporter in Leeds, who provides a concise explanation for how the Tories, despite all expectations, have managed to win the election and take power with a majority in parliament. As Ben writes, it is not ordinary workers and youth who are to blame for this outcome, but the leaders of the Labour movement.
With the heinous murder of Freddie Gray in Baltimore, USA, the #BlackLivesMatter movement came roaring back to life. These once-routine and largely unrecognized murders are now churning up powerful forces long dormant in the womb of society. John Peterson of Socialist Appeal USA comments on the increasingly radicalised mood in the United States.
For a layer of radicalised, working class youth, the result of the general election has shattered illusions in bourgeois, parliamentary democracy and intensified their fury against the whole rotten system. This was demonstrated by the thousands who gathered in London at short notice on Saturday 9th May, determined to fight this latest Tory government from day one.
Today, big business and the fat cats of the City of London are celebrating the victory of their friends in the Tory Party. Working people, in contrast, will be despairing at the thought of years of further attacks. The responsibility for Labour’s defeat lies with the right-wing policies of the leadership. Britain is set for a turbulent period ahead of crisis and struggle.