The brutal murder of Labour MP Jo Cox has sent a wave of shock and revulsion through British society and shaken the country’s political establishment. Given the far-right background of her assailant, it is clear that the heightened atmosphere of xenophobia that has been propogated by right wing politicians and press has played an important role in this killing.
With a week to go before the referendum on Britain’s membership of the EU, Leave has leapt to a 7-point lead in a poll published by The Times on Monday. This sudden swing of support away from Remain has caused outright panic in Westminster and stock markets around the world.
A Jewish left-wing activist has been blocked from standing for a position on Labour’s National Executive Committee because – according to the Blairites – her involvement with Momentum taints her with anti-semitism. This is the latest episode in the cynical attempt by Labour’s right wing to use the issue of anti-semitism against the Left.
On Sunday 5th June, Momentum Youth and Students held its founding conference. The mood was very positive thanks to the fact that there was a real sense of the tide having turned. Socialism is now back on the agenda and this is enthusing large swathes of young people who are new to politics.
The recent actions of Philip Green – the billionaire retail tycoon – have been condemned from all sides of the political sphere; few of these condemnations, however, try to address the underlying problem. Richard Fuller, a Tory MP, called Mr Green the “unacceptable face of capitalism”. This is inaccurate: Philip Green is actually the true face of capitalism.
The Marxist Student-led Fair Pay for GTAs campaign has won a 20% pay increase for student teachers at King’s College London following an 18-month struggle with university bosses. The success of this campaign demonstrates the potential power of workers when united and organised around a militant strategy and socialist ideas.
Two sides of the same capitalist coin. That is the choice on offer to workers and youth in this Tory farce of a referendum. We say: No to the bosses’ EU! No to Tory Austerity Britain! Fight for a Socialist United States of Europe! The Corbyn-led Labour Party should mobilise a mass movement to get rid of Cameron and Osborne – and Boris, Gove, and IDS too – and offer the working class a genuine alternative to austerity.
Last August, thousands of Corbyn supporters were barred from voting in the Labour leadership election. Now the campaign against Corbyn’s supporters and allies has re-emerged, and a fresh wave of baseless expulsions and suspensions seems to be taking place, whose victims include a number of Socialist Appeal activists and supporters who have been expelled for “not supporting the aims and values of the Labour Party”.
Despite facing a barrage of attacks since his election as Labour leader last September, Jeremy Corbyn’s support amongst Labour members has not been dented. Indeed, according to the latest figures from YouGov opinion polls, Corbyn is even more popular with the rank-and-file of the Labour Party now than at the time of his election – much to the chagrin of the Blairites in the Parliamentary Labour Party.
In April, the new National Living Wage came into force. But this “Living Wage” is nothing of the sort. Instead, many employees are seeing very little increase, if any – losing with one hand what they gain with the other – as big business seeks to claw back profits at the expense of workers.
To the disappointment of Corbyn’s opponents both outside and inside the Labour Party, the recent election results in Wales – as in England – did not live up to their catastrophic forecasts. Nevertheless, as Sam Pritchard (Young Labour elected representative for Wales) notes, both Plaid Cymru and UKIP benefitted from the anti-establishment mood.
Ever since winning the election for the Labour leadership last September, Jeremy Corbyn has faced an onslaught of attacks by the mainstream media. This vitriolic coverage intensified in the run up to the recent elections. As a result, even the BBC is now rightly seen for being a tool and voice of the Establishment, as their mask of “neutrality” and “impartiality” rapidly slips.