World Cup Fever Starts To Cool
After months of build up, the World Cup is finally underway. As it
approaches the end of the first week, in what is a month-long bloated
competition, something has become rather clear. Hype is
everything.
News and analysis
The latest news and analysis from The Communist, alongside reports of our activity. For Marxist theory and history, click here.
US Perspectives 2010 : The crisis at the heart of Capitalism
Marxists in the US have just finished discussing and agreeing a new perspectives doument on the ongoing crisis of the system in America. Given the importance of what happens in the most powerful capitalist country on earth, we are reproducing that document for UK readers.
Abbott gets on the ballot
Further to
our earlier report that John McDonnell has withdrawn as a candidate for
election as Labour leader, it has now been confirmed that Diane Abbott
has now secured
enough nominations to get on the ballot. She will be up against the two
Milibands,
Ed Balls and Andy Burnham.
John McDonnell: I’m withdrawing from Labour leadership race
The following statement has just been released by John McDonnell
concerning his campaign to be on the ballot paper for Labour leader.
Nominations close at lunchtime today with the party NEC meeting this
afternoon. We will comment further on this once the situation becomes
clearer later today.
LRC Meeting Gateshead Saturday 5th June – A great success!!
Last Saturday an excellent meeting of the Northern LRC was held in
Gateshead with John McDonnell, fighting to be on the ballot for the new
leader of the Labour Party, and Paul Holmes, candidate for GS of
Unison, amongst those in attendance. We reproduce here a report on the
meeting by Veronica Killen from the LRC
Abolish the Monarchy!
Those of us watching the political developments in the wake of the
election have seen a kaleidoscope of people passing by – Brown,
Cameron, Clegg and all their understrappers have all been very busy.
They all have one thing in common. They are interested in politics. But
at this crucial time their attention has been concentrated on an
unusual figure – the Queen. She’s unusual because she’s not interested
in politics at all. Her favourite paper is the ‘Racing Post’ and her
major interest is in horse racing
China: Honda workers resume work but give company a deadline to meet their demands
On Tuesday and Wednesday, June 1 and
2, most workers returned to work at the Honda plant in Foshan, China,
after strike action which had started on May 17. As www.marxist.com reported
earlier, the workers were fighting for substantial wage increases.
Cameron and Clegg’s Big Society
In
1987, Margaret Thatcher, the Conservative Prime Minister, declared in an
interview that, “there is no such thing as society.” It is therefore fairly ironic that 13 years later,
David Cameron, the new Conservative Prime Minister, has announced his plans to
create a ‘Big Society’ in Britain. Throughout the general election coverage,
Cameron had avoided mentioning any specifics on what was meant by his vision of
a Big Society, but now Cameron and his new best friend Nick Clegg, have
outlined what is in store for the country.
Unite leader wants to take back the Labour Party
Tony Woodley, joint general secretary of UNITE,
in a speech at the union’s conference in Manchester, declared his
determination
to “take the party back” for working people. This is a positive step but
it
needs to be made concrete.
Editorial: Ruling class prepares for confrontation
Britain is heading for a showdown. The British establishment is taking
stock of the situation. They are fully aware of the social crisis that
is unfolding. The illusions of class harmony have evaporated. They
consider that it is time that the working class learned its lesson that
capitalism cannot afford any reforms. Counter-reforms are on the order
of the day. The workers are therefore being sent to the school of the
coalition government whose programme is “red in tooth and claw”
austerity.
The Recession, Labour Productivity and the ‘Mole of Revolution’
It cannot be denied that the historic global crisis of
capitalism has not, in Britain and America, led to an immediate corresponding
rise in class struggle (unlike say in Greece). Does this rule out the class struggle in the long term?
No. But in order to understand why it has been delayed, it is necessary for
socialists to concretely analyse all the conditions of the class.
HOV Conference 2010: Photo Spread
Last Saturday’s HOV conference, held in London, was a great event. Here are some photo’s by HOV’s resident snapper, Will.