The latest news and analysis from The Communist, alongside reports of our activity. For Marxist theory and history, click here.
Cuts, cuts and even more cuts. This is the
message now being shouted by the leaderships of the Tories, the
Liberal-Democrats and – disgracefully – Labour. Indeed they are all trying to
outdo each other in presenting ever more severe programmes of public spending
cutbacks as part of what has been called a ‘race to the bottom’ on the part of
the three parties.
Yesterday morning it was confirmed
that Mel Zelaya was in the capital of Honduras, Tegucigalpa. He made an appeal to
the people to come out to protect him. The masses responded by the tens
of thousands. The next few hours will be decisive. The balance of
forces is on the side of the masses. They can deal the last blow to the
coup regime and start the building of a new political regime based on
the organisation of the masses.
This Thursday 17th Sept will see a Day Of Action taking place in
support of the sacked Vestas workers. Meetings and rallies will be
taking place all around the country. 600 jobs have been lost at the Vestas
plant on the Isle Of Wight. Workers from the closed factory were at the
TUC in Liverpool this week and got a great reception. The demand
remains: nationalise the factory, keep the jobs.
The coup in Honduras and the stepping
up of a US military presence in Colombia are serious warnings to the
masses of Latin America. On top of this the present world economic
crisis is having an impact on the Venezuelan economy. All this is
posing very sharply the need for a turn to a genuine revolutionary
programme on the part of the Bolivarian movement.
During his election campaign,
President Barack Obama promised to be all things to all people. After
eight years of Bush and Cheney, Americans desperately wanted to believe
that real change was coming. In this statement from the Editorial Board of the US Marxist paper, Socialist Appeal, they ask – what change and who is benefiting?
In Will Hay’s classic farce ‘Oh, Mr Porter!’ the new stationmaster arrives to
be greeted at Buggleskelly ticket office with the words “Next train gone.” For thousands
of travelers on the modern day farce of London Midland network last Sunday it was a case of “No
trains coming.”
As
the consequences of the capitalist crisis continue to unfold before our eyes,
it is becoming clear just how much of an impact this recession is having on
education. The main focus of this article
is on just how much of an impact debt forced on parents is having on their
children’s education and therefore their future.
Hard on the heels of Donald Trump’s Aberdeen golf complex for
the rich and famous comes an even more exclusive playground, not for the rich,
poor things, but for the super-rich! According to a report in the Scotsman newspaper: ‘The Dall
Estate, on the shores of Loch Rannoch, is set to become a "mini
Monaco" in the heart of the Scottish countryside – a home from home for
billionaires, Russian oligarchs, heads of state, the international glitterati
and Hollywood and sporting superstars.’
With our own NHS once again under attack, not least from the Tories who see huge profits for their big business
chums in the private healthcare sector once they are back in office, many health workers have been
looking at the debate taking place in the USA over the future of their
healthcare system. Paul Poposky from In Defence Of Marxism takes a stateside look at how things are actually shaping up and whether Obama is delivering on his election promises.
It would seem that the force of the wind, which was blowing at more
than 60 km/hr in the Neuquén capital, was an omen of what was to come.
26 deputies supported the expropriation and this sealed the
declaration that the factory was of public interest and confirmed the transfer of
Cerámica Zanon to the Fasinpat cooperative.
Last Saturday, activists from around the country assembled in the Derbyshire town of Codner to protest at the presence in the area of the BNPs "Hate Fest." Here are two reports by supporters of Socialist Appeal who attended the protest.
During the summer much was made of Tory
leader David Cameron’s unfortunate use of the ‘T’ word during a radio
interview. One cartoonist later commentated that he would have got into more
trouble with the Tory hierarchy had he used a different four-letter word,
‘cuts.’ Cameron has gone out of his way not to give the impression that the
Tories will bring in massive public sector cuts should they win the next
general election. Indeed he has gone on
record as saying that the budgets for overseas aid and – more to the point –
the health service will be protected. Can we believe him? We think not.