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In the recent municipal elections in France the right wing did well, mainly at the expense of the Socialist Party, which pays a heavy price for carrying out draconian austerity measures at national level. Here we publish an article by Jérôme Métellus, a member of the Communist Party in Paris and also of the Editorial Board of La Riposte, the journal of the Marxist wing of the Communist Party.
A recent report shows that public trust in the police has been severely shaken by the long list of scandals that have been revealed in recent months. Ben Gliniecki comments on the remarkable frankness with which the establishment has admitted the loss of public confidence in the police. This reflects the weakness of the ruling class at a time when, more than ever, they require a strong state to attack workers taking action against austerity.
On 26th-27th March 2014, student unions organised a strike of university students across Spain in response to the austerity measures being implemented by the right-wing government against public education. We publish here a report by Arturo Rodriguez of the Oxford Marxist Society, who took part in the strike at the University of Alicante, which gives a background to the strike and a comparison to the situation in Britain.
Tonight sees the second debate between Nigel Farage and Nick Clegg, leaders of UKIP and the Liberal Democrats respectively, with a focus on the question of the European Union. Daniel Morley reviews the first debate between Farage and Clegg, hosted last week, and provides a Marxist analysis of, and socialist alternative to, the EU.
This academic year has seen significant steps forward for students fighting for the ideas of Marxism on their campuses. This has been reflected in the success of the founding conference of the Marxist Student Federation (MSF) in February 2014, and also in the campaigning and election of Marxists as student representatives in a number of universities.
Over the last weeks and months, concerns about energy have become more and more widespread in Britain, from the controversy surrounding fracking to the news about energy companies and the investigation into Britain’s “broken energy market”. There is increasing talk about the possibility of blackouts due to decades of chronic underinvestment. The question has to be asked: is Britain facing a serious energy crisis?
Earlier this year, students broke into the office of Adrian Smith, Vice-Chancellor of the University of London (UoL), stealing a collection of documents, two of which have revealed shocking information about the past years’ wave of privatisation within universities. Achille Marotta of the LSE Marxists reports on the “3Cosas” campaign by UoL outsourced cleaning staff, which provides a militant example of fighting against the effects of privatisation.
A year after it was first introduced, the Bedroom Tax has been revealed to be nothing more than a means of making working and poor people pay for a crisis they didn’t cause. The government had claimed the tax was meant to address the problem of chronic overcrowding by freeing up under-occupied homes but, as usual with the Tories, this is just a convenient excuse to cover up their real intentions.
Ofgem – the regulator for the British gas and electricity markets – this week called for an investigation into the “Big Six” energy firms regarding anti-competitive behaviour. The behaviour of these giant energy monopolies should not, however, come as a surprise. It is not simply the energy market, but rather the entire capitalist system, that is “broken”.
Hidden away in all the smoke being generated by the Tories about the economy is the grim reality that youth unemployment remains scandalously high in Britain today. Nearly a million youth are officially on the dole, about 19% of the total. Felix Lighter reports on the grim future for youth under capitalism.
The funeral of Stan Pearce, a Durham Miner for 44 years and a Militant supporter during the 1970s and 80s, took place yesterday, Wednesday 26th March 2014. Stan died on Saturday 16th March in hospital following a short illness. Steve Black reports on the celebration of the life of a militant and dedicated socialist.
Following on from the rolling regional strikes last year, today – Wednesday 26th March – saw thousands of schools across England and Wales close as members of Britain’s largest teaching union, the National Union of Teachers (NUT), took strike action in defence of wages, pensions, and conditions.