We publish here a foreword – written by Socialist Appeal supporter and Chair of Portsmouth Momentum, Sion Reynolds – to the “Needs Budget” presented to Portsmouth City Council this week by Portsmouth Against the Cuts Together (PACT). Labour councillors need to lead the fightback against austerity and refuse to carry out Tory cuts.
In the first round of the recent French regional elections, the right-wing nationalist party, the National Front (FN), came out as the largest party. This is a reflection of the contradictions in this period, and the failure of the Left to provide a genuine alternative. We publish here an initial analysis by the French Marxist journal, Révolution.
HMRC has recently announced that they will be reducing the number of offices from the current 170 sites (already slashed from 900 in 2006) to just 13 sites, with four Specialist offices around the country, by 2021. Martin Page, PCS rep in Leicester (personal capacity), reports on the latest Tory attacks on the public sector.
Late into the night in Venezuela on 6th December, the counter-revolutionary opposition MUD had won 99 seats to the Bolivarian PSUV’s 46, with another 22 remaining to be allocated. This is a serious setback; it is our duty to analyse the reasons and explain the likely consequences.
Everyone was on the edge of their seats, braced for terrible news from Oldham. The media was full of prophecies of doom for Corbyn, predicting that Labour would suffer at the hands of UKIP in last week’s by-election. In the end, the complete opposite occurred, providing a massive vindication of Corbyn and his leadership of the Labour Party.
We publish here of an analysis of the Corbyn movement by Alan Woods, originally written in early November 2015 for the In Defence of Marxism magazine. In part one, Alan discusses the international context and the astonishing rise of Corbyn to the position of Labour leader – a political earthquake that has transformed Britain and shaken the Establishment.
As David Cameron beat the war drum and Members of Parliament debated whether to commence airstrikes in Syria, Alan Woods – editor of www.marxist.com – discusses the Tory lies about the war, and looks at the scandalous behaviour of the Blairites towards Corbyn and their support for Cameron on the question of bombing.
Following nearly eleven hours of heated parliamentary debate, Cameron secured a big parliamentary majority for the bombing of Syria. He was aided in this by the Blairites within the Labour Party. In the process, the question of military intervention in Syria has served to bring all the contradictions in society to the fore.
Venezuelans will go to the polls on Sunday 6th December to elect deputies to the National Assembly. A combination of factors have made this one of the most difficult challenges the Bolivarian Revolution has faced in the 17 years since President Chávez was first elected in 1998. Either the revolution is completed, or it will be defeated.
The downing of a Russian jet in Syria by the Turkish military was clearly a provocation on the part of the Turkish president Erdogan. His aim was to stop an alliance being formed between Russia and the West in Syria. He has achieved the opposite with Turkey now more isolated and the major world powers coming closer to each other.
In February 2015, Young Labour will be hosting its annual national conference and electing a new national committee. Several Socialist Appeal supporters are standing, with the aim of bringing the Corbyn revolution and a socialist programme into Young Labour.
Parliament will once again be voting on whether to take the country to war in the Middle East. Cameron is leading the charge; but after a retreat by Corbyn, right-wing Labour MPs will now have a free hand to support the Tory leader. The Blairites’ enthusiasm for yet another imperialist adventure, however, may well be their demise.