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The 2014 national conference of the Trades Union Councils took place in Cardiff this year with approximately 100 delegates, visitors and guests present representing up to 24 County Associations. Steve Brown, Chair of Northumberland County Association of Trades Union Councils (personal capacity), reports.
The FIFA World Cup continues this week in Brazil, but with a very different atmosphere to what usually accompanies such an event, as the widespread protest movements and strikes taking place in the country clearly demonstrate. Here we publish an article by comrades of the Esquerda Marxista [Marxist Left] in Brazil, which highlights the enormous social and class contradictions that have surfaced around the tournament.
This year UNISON’s Local Government Conference, meeting in Brighton, is followed immediately by National Delegate Conference. This should represent a perfect platform to reach out to hundreds of thousands of members and show a lead in the struggle against low pay and austerity.
This year’s annual International Marxist School, hosted by Socialist Appeal, the International Marxist Tendency, and the UCLU Marxist Society, begins one week today on 20th June. Buy your ticket today and join us for this revolutionary weekend event!
On Tuesday, the militant Islamist group ISIS captured Mosul, one of the key cities in Northern Iraq and then proceeded South towards Baghdad, capturing several important cities on the way. Hundreds of thousands have already fled fearing their lives under the rule of this reactionary group. This spectre of barbarism rising on the horizon, is the direct result of the cynical adventures of American imperialism.
At 9am on Thursday 12th June, FBU members all over the country walked out on a 24-hour strike. This is the first of a number of actions, including strikes and action short of a strike, taking place over the next 10 days. Darrall Cozens, President of the Coventry TUC, reports on the latest action by firefighters against attacks on their pensions.
The World Cup events being held in 12 cities across Brazil are set to begin today. Half a million tourists are expected to flood into Brazil. However, instead of the expected celebrations and weeks of national rejoicing in a country long-known for its proud football traditions, there is an enormous tension within Brazilian society.
Conor Burns, a backbench Tory MP, has attacked the charity Oxfam for being too “political” its criticism of government austerity policies and the poverty they have created. Ben Gliniecki looks at the contradiction of charities, which on the one hand were to be a vital part of the Coalition’s “Big Society”, but which on the other hand are being pushed to draw radical conclusions due to the conditions in society.
UKIP-mania has swept Britain, or rather, its chattering classes. UKIP are being presented as a new “fourth force” in British politics. But, as Daniel Morley explains, Farage’s party are riddled with contradictions that will lead to its support falling as fast as it has risen.
The campaigning around the referendum on Scottish independence has now entered the final period with the vote only a few months away. Paul Cummings of the Edinburgh Marxists reports on the latest developments in what is turning out to be a tight contest.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, a relentless attack was waged by the bourgeois intellectuals and politicians against the ideas of Marxism and socialism. Lal Khan comments how now, with the world living through a seemingly endless crisis, the spectre of Marxism is back to haunt the capitalists.
From the FIFA World Cup to the Olympic Games: under capitalism, today’s mega-sporting events have become vehicles for the profits of giant multinationals. Ray Physick analyses the situation of sport under capitalism and looks back at history at the alternatives provided by the international labour movement.