Yestersday’s NUS/UCU demo in London against attacks on further education
attracted over 50,000 mainly students, who came in their numbers from
all over the country. Many of these were young people demonstrating for
the first time ever. It will not be the last. As the attacks start to
bite, more and more youth will come into activity and draw the political
conclusions.
If anyone still
had any illusions that “we are all in this together”, the Browne Report
and the
Comprehensive Spending Review quickly shattered them. By their actions
this
Coalition has shown it is a government of the rich, by the rich, for the
rich.
Running simultaneously and arguably as crucial as the election for
Unite’s General Secretary itself is the BA dispute and a proposal to
‘settle’ it. 12 months ago British Airways cabin crew on an 80% turn
out, voted by a brilliant 92% to take strike action to defend their hard
won terms and conditions. The dispute started as a result of the
imposition and erosion of ‘Terms and Conditions’ but has been diverted
by British Airways and is now being defined by staff travel and the
disciplinary process. But with scores of cabin crew suspended and a
dozen sacked, the proposed ‘deal’ is already unravelling.
Here is the latest from the Jerry Hicks campaign with just 8 posting days left to get those ballots in to elect Jerry as the new GS of Unite.
As we look towards this Wednesday’s march of students in London, here is a report from the Irish Marxist site Fightback on how students in Ireland are fighting back against the cuts.
In the recent midterm elections, the
Republicans made a dramatic comeback after their electoral routing just
two years ago. They gained several governorships, seats in the Senate,
and took full control of the US House of Representatives. How was this
possible?
On a sunny Saturday afternoon in
Manchester, around 70 people gathered in the Friends’ Meeting House to debate
how best to fight the onslaught of cuts this Tory government is about to
unleash.
The release of the movie “Made in Dagenham” was eagerly
anticipated by many trade unionists only to disappoint. The light hearted
interpretation of this major piece of working class history has the same style
and approach as adopted for the “Billy Elliott” interpretation of the Miners Strike
or “The Full Monty” to the hardships of unemployment under Thatcher.
We conclude our series of articles on the Russian revolution of 1917
with an item first published online in 2007 to mark the 90th anniversary
itself. It is being reproduced here and in the current issue of
Socialist Appeal in a revised form.
As part of our build up to the 93rd anniversary of the Russian
Revolution of Nov 1917, we reproduce the second of two extracts from
Lenin’s widow Krupskaya’s book ‘Reminiscences of Lenin." Dealing wth the
October events and the build up to the revolution itself, this account
provides a marvelous picture of the unfolding struggle.
Whenever any serious strike action took place during the
tenure of the last Labour government, not least if it involved public sector
workers, the bosses’ press and the TV news channels would start going on about
a new “winter of discontent.” Almost invariably the same 1978/9 footage of
rubbish pilling up in Leicester Square would be shown and assorted Tory MPs
would rattle on about how Labour couldn’t control the unions and how different
things would be if they were in power.
Well they are in power now and what are we seeing?
As part of our build up to the 93rd anniversary of the Russian
Revolution of Nov 1917, we reproduce the first of two extracts from Lenin’s widow Krupskaya’s book
‘Reminiscences of Lenin." Dealing wth the October events and the build
up to the revolution itself, this account provides a marvelous picture
of the unfolding struggle.