Last Saturday’s special meeting of the United Left – the
broad left grouping in the two-million strong UNITE union – ended in a split
after supporters of left-winger Jerry Hicks were excluded on spurious grounds.
The reason for the meeting was to choose the left’s candidate to run for
General Secretary in 2010.
During his election campaign,
President Barack Obama promised to be all things to all people. After
eight years of Bush and Cheney, Americans desperately wanted to believe
that real change was coming. In this statement from the Editorial Board of the US Marxist paper, Socialist Appeal, they ask – what change and who is benefiting?
In Will Hay’s classic farce ‘Oh, Mr Porter!’ the new stationmaster arrives to
be greeted at Buggleskelly ticket office with the words “Next train gone.” For thousands
of travelers on the modern day farce of London Midland network last Sunday it was a case of “No
trains coming.”
As
the consequences of the capitalist crisis continue to unfold before our eyes,
it is becoming clear just how much of an impact this recession is having on
education. The main focus of this article
is on just how much of an impact debt forced on parents is having on their
children’s education and therefore their future.
We are republishing this appeal from
Syrian left-wing activists which has been widely circulated and first
appeared on www.marxist.com. The appeal calls for clarification of the
whereabouts of
several left-wing activists who have disappeared over the last months
and the release of all those imprisoned. We encourage our readers to
support their appeal and write letters of protest.
Refuse workers in Leeds are taking action in response to an
appalling attack on their wages and conditions – the sort of thing we
may well see more of as public sector workers are forced to pay for the
bank bail-outs. Socialist Appeal supporters in the region have produced
a leaflet in support of the workers, the text of which we are reproducing on this site.
The capitalist system is passing through its deepest crisis since
the 1930s and the Great Depression. The apologists of capitalism –
including those in the labour movement – had completely ruled out such
a scenario In the main article from this month’s issue of Socialist Appeal, Rob Sewell looks at the background to the crisis.
Hard on the heels of Donald Trump’s Aberdeen golf complex for
the rich and famous comes an even more exclusive playground, not for the rich,
poor things, but for the super-rich! According to a report in the Scotsman newspaper: ‘The Dall
Estate, on the shores of Loch Rannoch, is set to become a "mini
Monaco" in the heart of the Scottish countryside – a home from home for
billionaires, Russian oligarchs, heads of state, the international glitterati
and Hollywood and sporting superstars.’
September 3rd: 70 years ago today the United Kingdom declared war on fascist Germany, so marking the start of World War Two. In an article written at the time, Ted Grant summarised what was now in store for the masses of Europe and beyond: ‘Millions, tens of millions, will be killed in the insane
slaughter, whole cities and countries will be devastated,…
Famine and disease will sweep over all Europe. The flower of European
manhood will be exterminating one another. And for what?’ To mark this anniversary we are reproducing Ted’s article from 1939 in full.
With our own NHS once again under attack, not least from the Tories who see huge profits for their big business
chums in the private healthcare sector once they are back in office, many health workers have been
looking at the debate taking place in the USA over the future of their
healthcare system. Paul Poposky from In Defence Of Marxism takes a stateside look at how things are actually shaping up and whether Obama is delivering on his election promises.
Postal
workers are
under attack. A national strike ballot of CWU members has been called
with the result due on the 23rd
September. Socialist Appeal looks at the latest situation and explains why a YES vote is needed from postal workers.
With the new format tabloid style Socialist Appeal still in the post,
we are already getting some feedback from readers and sellers around
the country… and beyond.