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Whoever was responsible for today’s terrorist attacks in Central London
showed no mercy to the innocent victims of their actions. Such
activities are utterly repugnant to anybody who defends the cause of
socialism and the working class. This kind of action serves only to
bolster the forces of reaction. It must be condemned outright.
House price increases are slowing down in Britain. In June in London
prices actually fell. This is the beginning of the end of the house
price bubble and it will be very painful for many families who have
borrowed on the basis of the increased equity in their property. It
will have a knock-on effect on the whole economy as spending is already
slowing.
The
establishment of the Premier League in Britain, a renaming of the old
First Division, in the early 1990s opened up a period of naked
commercial exploitation of football. The new league exists to maximise
the profits and commercial potential of the richest clubs at the
expense of the rest. Central to this are clubs like Manchester United,
the world’s richest club which has now been virtually bought up by US
tycoon Malcolm Glazier, who has grabbed control of over 75% of the
club’s shares.
As a postscript to British Perspectives 2005 (What is happening in Britain)
Phil Mitchinson analyses the results of the recent general election in
the context of mounting insecurity in the British economy, politics and
society as a whole. Labour won the election with the smallest share of
the vote of any victorious party in history. With the government's
majority severely reduced how much longer can Blair last? 'New' Labour
has set off on a collision course with its own backbenches and with the
trade unions and the working class.
This resolution was unanimously passed by the Central London Branch of
the National Union of Journalists in a meeting held on May 12.
The state of the world economy, the USA, China, the disastrous war in
Iraq, all have a direct effect on the situation in Britain. Some may
find a contradiction in the fact that although Blair is very unpopular
he will almost certainly win the elections. The fact is that there is
no alternative. The workers of Britain have not forgotten what the
Tories did when they were in power. But the undercurrents are already
discernable and these will sooner or later come to the surface.
The media have just finished celebrating the 60th anniversary of the
end of the Second World War. We would like to remind our readers of an
important event that took place around the same time, the Neath
by-election on 15th May 1945. For the first time in Britain, a
Trotskyist party, the Revolutionary Communist Party, contested a
Parliamentary election. The seat was solid Labour, but the vote for the
RCP was significant. Even more significant was the way the party was
able to link up with the most advanced workers and youth.
From the main squares of US cities to the streets of Istanbul, from
London to Sydney, demonstrators came out in support of the Iraqi people
and in rejection of the two year long imperialist occupation.
The London Hands off Venezuela campaign held an excellent meeting at
the Walkers of Whitehall pub just off Trafalgar Square after the
anti-war demonstration on March 19, 2005. Hands off Venezuela had a
stall at the demonstration that attracted a lot of attention, where
DVDs, pamphlets and leaflets were distributed on the revolutionary
events in Venezuela.
We republish this article on the referundum on the EEC Common Market, written by Ted Grant in 1979. The article explains that the struggle against a capitalist common market needs to be linked to the struggle of changing society on socialist lines, as the struggle against the European Constitution today must also be.
We publish this article written by Ted Grant just before the general
election in Britian in 1979. The article demonstrates that the Tory
policies were doomed to failure because of the sickness of British
capitalism and that the reforms offered in the Labour Party programme
were unattainable on a capitalist basis. The only way to carry out
these reforms and take society forward was the nationalisation of the
means of production, and the creation of a planned economy under the
democratic control of the working class.
A remarkable document written by a Republican Socialist, Ta Power, while in gaol in Ireland in the mid-Eighties. The significance of the conclusions drawn by this young thinker and fighter, who made a careful study of Marxism whilst imprisoned, will not be lost on our readers. Above all the demand that politics and ideology must play the central role in the struggle for national liberation and socialism, in the building of a revolutionary party of the working class, will come as a surprise to many, especially knowing the period and the circumstances in which this document was written. With an introduction by Gerry Ruddy.