Britain

Family, friends and comrades of Phil Mitchinson gathered in Cardiff on Saturday 13th January for a memorial meeting.  We came together to celebrate his life that ended so tragically.

The capitalist system that flourished in the time of Dickens is still upon us, as are all of its ills and evils. Reminiscent of the popular festive tale A Christmas Carol, in 2006, over 150 years after Charles Dickens wrote the story reflecting the callousness of a society divided by class, we still find that ordinary working peoples everyday lives are subject to the whims of a minority of parasitic individuals. This has found expression most recently in the Farepak fiasco.

The minimum wage went up by 30p an hour on the 1st October. It now stands at £5.35 for anyone 22 and over. But it's as little as £3.30 if you are 16 or 17 and only rises to £4.45 when you hit 18, unless you are an apprentice of course (which means you can paid as little as £80 per week!). The TUC was holding out for £6 an hour. £6 is a bit better, but it goes nowhere near far enough to solve the problems of low paid workers. 

We have received more messages from all over the world. Phil was a
highly respected comrade and the messages reveal the warmth that many
comrades felt towards him.

The Editorial of November's Socialist Appeal examines the
staggering death toll in Iraq and the various 'exit strategies' being
considered by the imperialists desperate to extricate themselves from
the quagmire they have created.

Council
tenants in Stirling voted by a resounding 68%
against privatising the housing stock in a magnificent victory to keep council
housing out of the hands of profiteers. As this report is compiled,
Renfrewshire tenants have also voted "NO". Council tenants across the country are
sending a strong message to local authorities and the Scottish Executive – NO
TO THE PRIVATISATION OF COUNCIL HOUSING!

The Editorial of October's Socialist Appeal calls for meetings
to be organised to support John McDonnells' bid for the leadership of
the Labour Party as an important opportunity to raise socialist ideas
throughout the labour movement. In preparing for a struggle in the
Labour Party we must learn from the past. The most vital lesson is that
it is not sufficient to tinker with the
capitalist system. We will fight for any reform in the interests of the
working class. The central lesson of the whole of Labour history,
however, must be that not one of those reforms can endure if the
capitalist system remains intact.

On Thursday, September 14, around 80 people attended a meeting called
by Wandsworth Stop the War Coalition at the Baptist Church in Balham to
which Hands off Venezuela was invited to have a stall. The main
speaker of the evening was John McDonnell MP, who is standing for the
leadership of the Labour
Party once Blair quits. Next week we will be publishing an interview
with John McDonnnell, which features in the October edition of Socialist Appeal.

The Blair era is drawing to close not with a bang but with a great deal
of whimpering. The socialist candidate for the Labour leadership, John
McDonnell MP, compared the intrigues and back-stabbing campaigns of the
past week
to an episode of The Sopranos. Launching his leadership campaign the left-wing MP for Hayes and
Harlington is concentrating on politics, and on policies in the
interests of working class people. What is needed, he argues, is “a
national campaign for a radical break with the failed policies of new
Labour", adding that changing leaders would "not be enough to save
Labour at the next election".