There has been much talk recently about how things are improving. But if you take a look beneath the surface, the underlying picture is one of continuing crisis and austerity. Rather than accepting the Tory cuts, the Labour leaders must put forward a socialist alternative.
After months of uninterrupted work, supporters of the International Marxist Tendency and Socialist Appeal, in collaboration with Hands off Venezuela and the Solidarity with Bolivia campaigns, launched the first one-day conference of its kind in Edinburgh on the 9th of June. “La Revolucion” tackled the different movements against the capitalist system across several countries, and made a special emphasis on the international nature of the crisis and class struggle.
Despite the dismal record of the Coalition, Labour are not surging ahead in the polls. At root, this is because of the absence of a clear alternative from the Labour leadership. Many Labour councillors in local areas, despite the best of intentions, have ended up carrying out “dented shield” policies – i.e. carrying out Tory cuts. Austerity is the only option available under capitalism. Labour councillors must lead the fight for socialist policies.
On Saturday 8th of June, a rally was organised in Trafalgar Square by the Turkish community of London in solidarity with the revolutionary process that is currently taking place in Turkey. This was part of a series of smaller rallies that were called every day this past week. Comrades from Socialist Appeal have participated throughout the week.
The magnificent movement of the workers and youth of Turkey is an inspiration to the whole world. It has turned into a tidal wave of mass protests against the vicious and reactionary Erdogan regime, and has acquired insurrectionary dimensions.Alan Woods, Marxist author, editor of www.marxist.com, and leading member of the International Marxist Tendency, will speak on the tremendous mass movement in Turkey at a meeting in London on Tuesday 11th June.
On Saturday, 1st of June the facist Scottish Defence League (SDL) held a static protest outside the parliament in Edinburgh in response to the killing of Drummer Lee Rigby in London. Corrie Knight of the Edinburgh Marxists reports on the SDL’s arrival in Edinburgh.
On Tuesday 4th June, around 1000 people rallied in Trafalgur Square, London, in solidarity with the movement in Turkey. The majority were from London’s huge Turkish community, with hundreds of Turkish youth present. They gave the protest an explicitly Communist and revolutionary message, with hundreds of red flags and revolutionary chanting.
Two major UK charities, Church Action on Poverty and Oxfam, recently published a report entitled ‘Walking the Breadline: the scandal of food poverty in 21st century Britain’. The report says that the last five years of violent cuts by the UK government have led to “destitution, hardship and hunger on a large scale”.
“A strain of collective madness has descended over the Conservative party in recent days…” states an editorial in the Financial Times. The split within the Tory Party has turned into a chasm and is a stark reflection of the deepening crisis of British capitalism. The wind always blows the tops of the trees first, stated Trotsky. In the past, the British establishment boasted of having the most successful conservative party in Europe. Not any more. Rob Sewell looks at the increasing political tensions within the Tories.
Public opinion in Britain and throughout the world was horrified by the murder of a soldier on the streets of Woolwich in South London. The gruesome images of a young man with bloodied hands, brandishing a kitchen knife and haranguing passers-by shook the entire nation to its foundations. Alan Woods analyses these recent shocking events and the possible ramifications for the labour movement.
The violent murder of a serviceman in Woolwich has left the local community in shock. This action will no doubt heighten tensions on the streets of the United Kingdom. No amount of increased state security apparatus can protect against such violent horrors, which ultimately reflect the wider horror that is capitalism – a system of seemingly permanent chaos and crisis.
It is commonplace for the coalition government’s attacks on the welfare state and working-class living standards to be described as “ideological.” This is nowhere more so than for those policies being pursued by the current Secretary of State for Education, Michael Gove. Is it really the case that his policies are just ideological? Or is there something more material behind his manoeuvres? Sion Reynolds of the NASUWT in Portsmouth (personal capacity) examines the wider attacks to education.