For the last few days Prime Minister Cameron has been full
of himself. Having exercised the veto in Europe, he has been receiving fulsome
praise from ultra-right wing Tories and the gutter press for “standing up to
Europe.” On Wednesday the real world returned with the announcement of shocking
new unemployment figures.
For
the NZ Labour Party the 2011 general election defeat was the worst since
1928. The main factor for this was the historic low turnout as many
workers stayed at home and were not enthused enough by the right-wing
leadership of the Labour Party to go out and vote. The turn out was down
from (what was considered then a low turnout) 79.46% at the 2008
general election to 73.83%. This was the lowest turnout since 1878!
The constant excuse of Cameron and the government for
attacking public sector pensions is that workers in the private sector do not
have access to final salary pensions but have to rely instead on the
fluctuations of the money markets to provide the pension funds with enough
income to give to its members a miserly pension. But it was not so long ago
that the majority of private sector workers had the opportunity to enrol in
final salary schemes. It was only after 1998 that schemes started to close to
new members so that today only 15% of private sector workers are covered by
final salary schemes.
Another
variation on the demand to “tax the rich” is the call for a tax on
financial transactions, otherwise known as a “Financial Transactions
Tax” (FTT), “Tobin Tax” (after the Nobel economics laureate, James
Tobin, who first proposed the idea in 1972), or “Robin Hood Tax” (i.e.
taking from the rich and giving to the poor).
The present
economic crisis has been described in various ways by mainstream
commentators. All manner of “solutions” have been posed, both by the
bourgeois politicians and economists, and by the reformist leaderships
of the working class. What these commentators and representatives cannot
admit is that this crisis will not be solved by this or that reform.
Society is living through a crisis of capitalism and the choice facing
mankind is simple: socialism or barbarism
Well if ever there is a place in England that isn’t
revolutionary or willing for workers action you might think it would be Bury St
Edmunds – or so you might think. Bury is a town that is typically seen as
bourgeoisie and reactionary with quaint villages surrounding it which keep to
themselves. The 30th however saw something that has not
entered the consciousness of the people of Bury (after discussion with locals)
ever. By this of course I’m talking about the mass strike action. As the UNISON rep for West Suffolk College I was able to
draw upon my own reflections of the day and discuss with others why this was
necessary.
The parliamentary elections in Russia
on Sunday, December 4, were seen as a popularity test of Prime Minister
Vladimir Putin, who is running for the presidency in March. The result
was a blow to Putin, registering a sharp fall in support for his United
Russia party. According to the official results, which are undoubtedly
rigged, United Russia obtained just under half of valid votes cast,
which gives it a very small majority in the State Duma.
Europe’s economic crisis is being
transformed by the day into a deep political crisis. Italy and Greece
both have new governments – governments of “national unity”, pledged to
solve the economic and financial crisis that has rocked Europe to its
foundations. What are these so-called technocratic governments and what
do they represent?
There were unprecedented scenes in Birmingham on N30 after the
Tory-Lib-Dem coalition that runs Birmingham City Council tried to ban
the planned TUC protest march.
While between 2 and 3 million struck in Britain, in the North of Ireland about
200,000 people took part in the Public Sector strike action on 30th
November. Schools and civil service offices were shut, as were job
centres and council services. Rail and bus services were non-existent.
Union members held marches, pickets, and rallies throughout the country
over the issue of pensions. The main rally took place in Belfast city
centre, where around 15,000 gathered and several thousands spread
over Craigavon, Omagh, Armagh, Ballymena, Derry and other towns.
A solid number of
students including the QM Marxists joined staff from the UCU
and Unison in solidarity with their struggle against pension
reforms. From as early as 7am, students gathered at the main
gate to help set up picket lines. All entrances to campus
were covered. Students played a significant role in boosting
the strength of the pickets, and helped effectively close
off several of the main entrances.
On
the day it turned out to be the biggest trade union demonstration in
Coventry since the 1970s. They came in their hundreds from all parts of
the city and from all public sector trade unions as well as from trade
unions that were not on strike that day – the FBU was well represented.
By the time of the rally at the end of the march through Coventry city
centre some 2,500 trade unionists and their families were crammed into
the area known as Speakers Corner opposite the Council building.