More than 600 workers at Rosyth naval dockyard in Fife walked out in a
wildcat strike on June 21 over an attack on their pensions. The
former Royal navy base was privatised in 1987 under Thatcher’s Tories and is
now owned by Babcock International. The situation as it stands means workers
who paid into the company pension scheme can expect on average a reduction
of around £60-£70 a week on the expected return.
The most astonishing piece of news to have been
greeted with relative apathy by the bourgeois press this week has to be the
rumour that Tony Blair could be serving as a Middle East envoy. When the ruling class becomes this divorced from reality, what they might do next is anyones guess.
Alan Woods was recently interviewed by the Humania del Sur magazine, published by the Universidad
de Los Andes, in Mérida, Venezuela. They asked him his opinions about the Bolivarian revolution
unfolding in Venezuela
today, touching on questions such as freedom of the media, the stage the
revolution is at, and the need to complete the revolution.
Monday was a red letter day for the Hands Off Venezuela
campaign. Amicus/Unity, the second biggest union in Britain, voted practically
unanimously to affiliate to the HOV campaign.
This represents a great step forward for the campaign in the trade union
field.
This document is a statement on Britain, an analysis which was agreed
unanimously at the national conference of Socialist Appeal in April.
The statement constitutes an analysis of the deepening social,
political and economic crisis of British capitalism. This perspective
applies the method of Marxism to these developments, seeking to uncover
the trends and processes within, and serves as a guide to action for
all those workers and youth who want to struggle for a socialist
transformation of society.
In this section we deal with the question of the Blair government, the increasing abstentions of the working class, and the growing discontent affecting all sections. It also deals with the Conservative party, the natural party of the ruling class, which has shifted to the “centre” ground and won back
a layer that voted Liberal Democrat. Their hope is that Labour voters will stay
at home and traditional Tory voters will turn out to vote. On this basis they hope to win the next election, but that remains to be seen. Amongst other questions this section deals with the developments unfolding in Scotland and Wales.
EIS Delegates at the Scottish teachers annual conference in Perth successfully passed a motion calling for the banning of army recruitment units in Scottish schools. This matter must now be placed firmly on the political agenda at the Scottish Parliament, the Executive having responsibility for education.
Condoleezza Rice, the US Secretary of State last week launched another frontal attack against the Venezuelan Revolution by criticising Venezuelan government’s decision not to renew the broadcast license of RCTV, the television channel that was involved up to its neck in the Washington-backed coup of April 2002.
How the West Was Stolen, by Hopalong Harry Whittaker, is a rip-roaring
polemic from an old gunslinger and former UCATT shop steward now living
south of the river, but hailing originally from Glasagae way. We hope
readers enjoy the gallop as he ranges from historical polemic to cinephile
opinionation.
While GDP in Britain is supposed
to be the fifth largest in the world, the division of this wealth is extremely
unequal.
What growth has taken place has mainly been by increased exploitation of
workers. The market principle of profit comes before education and health. Yet British capitalism’s share of world exports has continually decreased. Now young Asians are portrayed in
the media as potential terrorists, in the same way as the miners were portrayed
as the "enemies within".
A recent poll of Labour Party members, published
in the Sunday Times shows why the New Labour clique around Gordon Brown were determined to keep
left challenger John McDonnell off the ballot paper.
Thanks
to the sabotage of some 300-odd members of the Parliamentary Labour Party,
ordinary Labour Party members and affiliates, who were expecting a leadership
election, ended up with no election and a "one member, no vote" imposed
candidate. The task now is to strengthen the left in preparation for future
battles.