The world’s stock markets have fallen by over 10% in a matter of weeks. Some markets have not seen such falls since 1929. The Royal Bank of Scotland, Rob Sewell – editor of Socialist Appeal – reports, have warned that 2016 will be a “cataclysmic year”.
We publish here a document by the Marxist Student Federation (MSF), which is a brief outline of the ideas and tasks of the MSF for the year ahead. This document will be discussed and voted on at the national conference of the MSF, taking place in SOAS university, London, on Saturday 13th February 2016.
Following the first day of strike action by junior doctors last week, we spoke to Dr Yannis Gourtsoyannis (of the BMA’s Junior Doctors Committee National Executive) about the medics’ dispute and the ongoing fight to defend the NHS. Although the strike planned for next week has been cancelled, the junior doctors’ struggle continues.
The recent execution of Al-Nimr, a Shia cleric leader, by the Saudis highlights the crisis facing the regime. The economy is in a fragile state as the price of oil falls and money is hemorrhaged on regional wars and adventures. Increased repression indicates a fear of the rulers about an impending movement from below.
The Tories laughably claim that the NHS is “safe in our hands”. At the same time, there are vested interests at the top of government with links to private healthcare firms. Cameron and co.’s attacks on doctors and cuts to the NHS demonstrate the rottenness of the Tories and the capitalist system that they defend.
The December 20th elections in Spain produced an extremely fragmented congress in which no single party emerged with an overall majority. The regime is at an impasse. But the European capitalists are insisting on a “stable government” in Spain, which they need to push through further austerity and attacks.
The Corbyn movement that began last summer represented the beginning of a political revolution inside the Labour Party. But this transformation is not yet complete. Corbyn has weathered the storm of attacks from the Tory press and the Blairites, emerging stronger in his position as leader; but Labour’s civil war is far from over.
Last week saw the first strike by junior doctors in four decades, as thousands of healthcare professionals took action against the attacks on their terms and conditions. The popularly-supported struggle is set to continue next week, as medics carry on the fight against the Tories and their attempts to dismantle the NHS. Dr Tomasz Pierscionek reports.
The United Nations is often held up as an international instrument for world peace and prosperity. The reality of the UN falls far short of this noble image. In fact, as Daniel Morley explains, the UN is a forum for the horse-trading of the major capitalist powers; a convenient cover for their imperialist designs.
Thousands of families across the UK have had their homes and livelihoods ruined by devastating floods this winter. Such scenes are becoming almost an annually recurring nightmare in Britain. As a result, ordinary people’s anger has rightly fallen on the Tories, whose senseless austerity cuts have exacerbated this disaster.
With the recent debates in Parliament about the bombing of Syria, as well as the upcoming EU referendum and the waves of protest internationally, the question of what a socialist foreign policy could look like are high on the agenda. What kind of policies should a Corbyn-led Labour Party be putting forward?
We now have the greatest housing crisis since the war; but that crisis is welcomed and is being deliberately engineered by the Tories for one simple reason: the greater the crisis, the greater the profits. Pete Gilman of the Islington South Labour Party (personal capacity) looks at the Tories’ attacks on council housing.