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As reported in the current issue of Socialist Appeal, over 250,000
members of the Civil Service union PCS will be taking strike action
tomorrow, Monday 8th and Tuesday 9th March. As
workers come out in defence of the Civil Service Compensation Scheme
which the governments wants to water down, job centres, law courts,
government offices and so on will be shut.

UNISON Socialist Appeal Supporters have been active in the
campaign to achieve 25 nominations for Paul and their have been some
notable successes. The campaign is hotting up now as was shown by the
fact that members from several branches attended the Elect Paul Holmes
Public Meeting in Newcastle.

UNISON Socialist Appeal Supporters have been active in the
campaign to achieve 25 nominations for Paul and their have been some
notable successes. The campaign is hotting up now as was shown by the
fact that members from several branches attended the Elect Paul Holmes
Public Meeting in Newcastle.

This interview with Paul Holmes (who is seeking support to stand for Unison General Secretary in the forthcoming election for that position)  by Dave Semple is reprinted from the Though Cowards Flinch
Blog, which carries some very interesting material. We are extremely
pleased that Dave has agreed to let us reprint this article, which we
have posted in full.

This interview with Paul Holmes (who is seeking support to stand for Unison General Secretary in the forthcoming election for that position)  by Dave Semple is reprinted from the Though Cowards Flinch
Blog, which carries some very interesting material. We are extremely
pleased that Dave has agreed to let us reprint this article, which we
have posted in full.

The death of former Labour leader Michael Foot has brought him many
accolades from his friends in the labour movement, and also, with some
hypocrisy,  from some of his political enemies amongst the Tories.
Michael Foot was on the left of the Labour Party. Having come from a
Liberal family, he spent his whole political life in the Party and was
committed to causes such as the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. Even
in his nineties, he was seen addressing anti-war demonstrations against
the war in Iraq – a war unfortunately pursued by a Labour Prime
Minister.

The death of former Labour leader Michael Foot has brought him many
accolades from his friends in the labour movement, and also, with some
hypocrisy,  from some of his political enemies amongst the Tories.
Michael Foot was on the left of the Labour Party. Having come from a
Liberal family, he spent his whole political life in the Party and was
committed to causes such as the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. Even
in his nineties, he was seen addressing anti-war demonstrations against
the war in Iraq – a war unfortunately pursued by a Labour Prime
Minister.

An estimated 5,000 people marched through the streets of Islington last Saturday with one intention: To ‘Save Our Whittington’ from plans to close the Accident and Emergency department and maternity ward at the Archway hospital.

Ireland: While
many active trade unionists across the country will be pleased to hear
that IMPACT and SIPTU among others are planning to escalate the wave of
partial actions across the public sector, and that they will be pushing
for escalation at the ICTU meeting on March 8^th; at the same
time they will be acutely aware of the need to demonstrate to their
members that the action is having an affect on the government.

PCS have just announced a YES vote for industrial action over the proposed changes to the Civil Service Compensation Scheme. The date of March 8th and 9th has been pencilled in for action by over 270,000 civil servants.What’s this all about? We explain the issues and what needs to be done.

We are publishing here a speech given by Phil Mitchinson at
the 2005 International Marxist school in Barcelona. Dealing with the
history of the centuries old struggle for freedom in Ireland, and the
part played in that history by republicanism and socialism, as well as
the political developments that have led to the current impasse. Phil,
who died tragically in 2006 at the age of 38 would have celebrated his
42nd Birthday on 25th February.

We are pleased to publish a report we have received on the recent
annual meeting of the Campaign for Labour Party Democracy (CLPD) held in
London. The CLPD was formed in 1973 as a ‘soft’ left pressure group inside the
Labour Party, concentrating mainly on organisational issues.