When things get bad the ruling class has been known – if all else fails –
to turn on its own "for the greater good." With all the anger
continuing to boil up over the cuts and the role of the bankers, the
government decided it was time for a sacrificial lamb to come forward.
So this week "Fred the Shred" – Fred Goodwin – got his knighthood taken
away from him. The former head of RBS was told that he was being
punished for helping to bring down the world financial markets.
One year after the revolutionary
overthrow of Ben Ali, Tunisia faces a wave of strikes, regional
uprisings, sit-ins and protests of all sorts. For hundreds of thousands
of Tunisian workers and youth who bravely defied the bullets of the
dictatorship to get jobs and dignity nothing has fundamentally changed.
It is not ruled out that if the
democratic facade of imperialism creates a crisis that threatens to
unravel the economic system, the imperialist bosses would not hesitate
to revert back to military dictatorship.
Over the last year Greece has rarely
been out of the news across Europe. With headlines such as “Greek
tragedy”, “Corruption in every corner” and “Greece’s lazy workers”, the
capitalist media have painted the Greek people as first amongst the
so-called P.I.G.I.’S. (Portugal, Italy, Greece, Ireland and Spain) of
Europe. It’s one-time international image as a sunny, friendly place has
been replaced by one of greed, corruption and chaos. This is part of
the ruling class campaign to blame the crisis of capitalism on the Greek
people, and tells us nothing of the hardships they have to endure
The Syrian revolution has entered a
higher stage in the last few weeks. The number and size of
demonstrations have reach record numbers, towns are falling under the
control of defecting soldiers- including areas surrounding the
capital of Damascus and embryonic forms of popular power are appearing in the form of popular councils.
William of Orange allied himself to
two popes: Pope Innocent XI (1676/89) and Pope Alexander VIII (1689/91).
These two Popes were more than happy to support William III in his
fight against the Catholic James II, and he was equally happy to support
them in their war against France’s Louis XIV.
When the Irish Catholic priest Fr. Hugh O’Donnell decided it was time to
build a Catholic church in Belfast he had a problem: it costs a lot of
money to build a church. The Catholic population of Belfast was too
small and too poor to provide enough money, so if he had to rely on the
Catholics alone it would take forever. He had to seek help elsewhere. So
he asked the Protestants of Belfast to help him out. As you do.
In what could turn out to be a significant turn of events,
Unite general secretary Len McCluskey fired an angry broadside last week at
Labour leader Ed Miliband, taking issue with Miliband’s recent support for a
public-sector pay-freeze. After twenty years of uncritical support by
trade-union leaders for the right-wing Labour leadership, such a missive is
certainly welcome. It has also helped reopen the debate about the relationship
between the Labour Party and the trade unions.
The following is a motion written and
proposed by Adam Booth, Labour Party member and secretary of the
Cambridge Marxist Discussion Group. The resolution was written in
response to comments made recently by Ed Miliband and Ed Balls, the
leader of the Labour Party and Shadow Chancellor respectively, who have
outlined that the Labour Party cannot promise to reverse any of the
Coalition’s cuts if Labour is elected in the next election.
The recent remark by Ed Balls, the shadow chancellor, that the Labour
party should join a Lib-Lab coalition, is another dangerous attempt to
push the party to the right
The Coalition of millionaires is continuing with its onslaught against
working people. Billions of pounds have been slashed from public
spending, destroying essential services, cutting pay and conditions and
throwing tens of thousands of workers on to the dole.
In response to pressure from the bosses’ press and Blairites, Labour leader, Ed Milliband has come out in favour of the government’s line on cuts and pay. Rob Sewell responds.