When David Cameron announced "The Big Society" (a name nicked from the
American President LBJ who used it in the ’60s) during the election,
most people laughed and assumed that would be the last we would hear of
it. Tory spokespeople said that they had no idea what it meant and one
Tory MP described it as "Bollocks." Indeed. However, now safely inside
Number 10, Cameron has brought up it up again.
Much is said in the news about the disastrous situation that now
exists in the Gulf of Mexico as a result of the Deepwater Horizon
explosion. An ecological disaster of gigantic proportions has been
created by the profit motive, which is what drives the BP executives.
However, were the company to be thoroughly unionised, with workers’
representatives controlling every level of safety, this disaster could
have been averted.
Today, July 20th, is the fourth anniversary of the death of Ted Grant, Marxist, Revolutionary, defender of the banner of Trotskyism. In the next few days we will be publishing the first volume of the collected writings of Ted Grant cover the period from 1938 to 1942.
The following motion was passed by Southwark unison at a special members
meeting to discuss how to fight the cuts in local government. We are
publishing it here as it represents a good template that can be used by
trade unionists elsewhere in drafting similiar resolutions.
The FIAT plant at Pomigliano d’Arco
(Naples) has become the centre of attention for all militant trade
unionists in Italy. The bosses are trying to implement new draconian
work conditions and in the process have used all kinds of bullying
methods. But they can push too far and the workers are reaching the
limit and preparing to fight back.
On Saturday 10th July, around
200 trade unionists, local residents, and health campaigners took to the
streets in opposition to plans to franchise the management of
Hinchingbrooke
Hospital in Huntingdon to the private sector. Protestors received
support along
the route of the march through the centre of Huntingdon chanting, “Hands
Off
Hinchingbrooke; Defend the NHS”.
This year marks the hundredth
anniversary of one of the great events in modern history. On November
20th of 1910 Francisco I. Madero denounced the electoral fraud
perpetrated by President Díaz and called for a national insurrection.
This marked the beginning of the Mexican Revolution. Today, the
conditions have matured for another revolution, this time with a mighty
proletariat at its head.
More than a century after the
formation of the Labour Party, the
party still remains rooted in the organised working class. Despite
everything, the results of the recent general election confirm the
ingrained support for Labour throughout the working class areas of
Britain.
Campaigners, trade unionists, and local
residents are set to take to the streets in Huntingdon this Saturday
10th July to
protest against plans to franchise the management of Hinchingbrooke
Hospital to
the private sector.
The draconian budget rolled out in June is only the first instalment in
a five year programme of austerity to be inflicted upon the British
people. The Tory-dominated government is telling us that the economy is
in a hole. This is true. They are softening us up for drastic cuts in
public spending, saying we can’t afford it and (in the words of
Thatcher) that there is no alternative. This is a lie.
We conclude Dan Morley’s three part study of the crisis inside UK housing.
The recent G20 summit in Toronto brought
to the surface all the
contradictions of global capitalism. Every capitalist nation wants to
climb out of the crisis at the expense of its competitors. Everyone is
calling for demand to be kept up, while at the same time applying cuts
in public spending at home. At the heart of this are the mountains of
debt that have accumulated everywhere.