Imperialism backfires on the bosses
Arms factory worker
Many on the ‘left’ and in the trade unions who fight for Palestine insist that workers in the arms industry cannot be allies in the struggle against imperialism.
But late last year in my workplace, a mechanical engineering firm, workers have already taken action! Three fellow workers discretely altered the programming of the weapons in order to bypass functionality tests.
This caused immediate failure upon use, to create a non-life threatening backfire, disabling the weapons until repair. Since the ceasefire in Gaza, discussions have not ceased on the workshop floor.
Many hate management for the intensified workflow, and their continued support and profiteering by supplying to the Israeli war machine. As one of our main programmers said, “It’s those wankers in the office that send our work to blow up children, all for 3-4 percent better prices!”.
Revolutionaries insist that all workers need to unite in the fight against imperialism.
“I’m re-elected and without your vote!”
Will Gedling, Manchester
“Badly misjudged” is how suspended health minister Andrew Gwynne has described his comments in a WhatsApp group after repeatedly wishing the death of constituents, alongside his sexists and racist remarks about his parliamentary colleagues.
After hoping one constituent was “mowed down” by a truck, he also advised a councillor to reply to a 72-year-old woman – who had written to them about bin collections – to reply with: “Dear resident, Fuck your bins. I’m re-elected and without your vote. Screw you. PS: Hopefully you’ll have croaked it by the all-outs.”
These comments show the contempt the right-wing Labour Party leadership has for the working-class. Likewise, the anti-semitism the Labour right wing have been ‘combatting’ has been found in their camp with Gwynne describing the psychologist Marshall Rosenberg’s name as “too militaristic and too Jewish… Is he in Mossad?”
The key to understanding this is that, with the waves of pro-business rhetoric which they lavish onto any capitalist that comes within a mile, they have taken on the capitalists’ same contempt and (lack of) morality.
Unfortunately for Gwynne, and the whole corrupt clique he is part of, history will have the last laugh as they are “mowed down” by the feet of the working class on the move.
Almost Infamous
Nick Hallsworth, Manchester
Northern burger chain Almost Famous has served up a turd sandwich to nearly 140 workers in Manchester, Leeds, and Liverpool, who found out in the public press that they had been suddenly and unceremoniously sacked – and left with £200k in unpaid wages!
The owners’ statement blamed rising costs and lower spending, leading the business “with tearful eyes” and “broken-hearted” into liquidation.
Apparently this heartfelt feeling did not extend towards paying their staff the unpaid wages. The chain even failed to notify the workers personally or in due time, workers continued to work their shifts and only later found out via press or social media.
The owners meanwhile have opened up a copycat burger restaurant round the corner in Manchester with plans to start a new North West chain. Apparently, all the financial pressures and hardships can exclusively fall on the workers while the bosses can rebrand themselves.
Unite Hospitality have taken up the campaign to redress this scandal. We need energetic union organising across the retail/hospitality sector, and joined-up, militant action.
We say, open the bosses’ books, and use their assets and wealth to pay the workers! Let’s bin the capitalists and put the sector under workers’ control!
SEND provision on a cliff edge
Learning Support Assistant, Leeds
The SEND system is in crisis due to decades of austerity. Backlogs for Education, Health, and Care Plans (EHCPs) are surging, threatening the entire system.
EHCPs are crucial for children with special needs to access necessary support, including additional staff, resources, or specialist school placements. However, the process, meant to take three to four months, now leaves some children waiting up to two years. Until an EHCP is granted, they remain in unsuitable educational settings.
Local councils are heavily indebted and special education funding is among the first to be cut. Parents spend hours navigating the EHCP process, making endless calls and even taking councils to court to secure provision.
This has led to the absurdity of cash-strapped councils spending over £100m fighting EHCP tribunal cases, winning just 136 out of more than 10,000 – a success rate of only 1.2 percent.
Children unable to attend school while awaiting EHCPs create financial strain on families. Parents, often mothers, must quit jobs to provide care and home education.
If the student remains in school, teachers face overcrowded classrooms and inadequate resources, as additional support cannot be arranged without an EHCP, nonetheless 90 percent of schools have cut support staff due to financial pressures.
Some children rely on one or two schools in their area that can meet their needs, but these schools also face financial strain. Queensway Primary in Yeadon, Leeds, where 50 percent of students have SEND, is under threat of closure due to budget cuts. Parents, carers, and staff are protesting, but Leeds City Council cites financial unsustainability.
The children suffer most of all. Many struggle in mainstream schools without proper support, leading to burnout, depression, self-harm, and even suicidal tendencies.
The crisis stems from the marketisation of education. Councils, forced to cut costs, turn to the private sector for funding. Academy trusts prioritise financial viability, making providing SEND provisions an unattractive investment.
Capitalism continues to prioritise profit over vulnerable children, creating a generation suffering due to financial constraints. The money exists to fund proper education, but control over education should be in the hands of the working class, not the invisible hand of the market.
Read between the lines
Reema Malhotra, NHS Doctor
If you listen closely, you’ll hear the sound of Labour patting themselves on the back. Amidst war and economic slump they have proudly announced they have delivered an additional two million NHS appointments since taking office.
This will obviously be a great relief to patients who have been waiting months for these appointments. But hold the applause! How was this achieved?
Through private sector deals and cash incentives to the trusts who cut waiting times (most likely by squeezing their dwindling workforce).
Scratch under the surface and you see Labour’s true program for the NHS: more privatisation and minor funding boosts, while cutting elsewhere and exploiting workers.
While Labour continues to polish the proverbial turd, health workers are crushed by a workload of more and sicker patients, pay deal betrayals and looming burnout.
We can’t get excited over flashy headlines when the NHS is deeply, deeply sick.
Saving pennies on pens
Rayla, Norwich
Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital (NNUH) has introduced spending cuts after finding themselves ‘off target’ from their financial plan, missing a huge £11m. Therefore, hospital management decided to remove ‘non-essential’ items such as pens from their order catalogue.
These are the last in a series of cost-cutting measures taken by NNUH. Since December, staff vacancies have been subject to ‘stronger controls’, leaving temporary workers who would usually fill in for those vacancies without shifts.
Now, workers are questioning why these ‘non-essential’ basics are being cut, while the management team sits on large salaries. But the blame lies squarely with the Private Finance Initiative (PFI) for the hole in finances
Used by the Blair government to get private investment for the construction of NNUH, the company that paid for the construction, Octagon, has been sapping away a nauseating £40m to £60m each year from the hospital, for usage and maintenance fees.
The most egregious part is that Octagon subcontracts the work of maintaining the hospital; playing no role other than raking in huge profits from a hospital seriously unable to provide adequate care.
Companies like Octagon serve no purpose other than lining investors’ pockets. Only a socialist planned economy can rebuild our hospitals and our NHS.
Wealth at expense of health
Phil, FE teacher, Leicester
Recently a work colleague was suddenly diagnosed with an acute brain tumour. Surgery at the NHS had saved her immediate life, but for any kind of recovery she required £250,000.
Within ten days her Gofundme page raised £9,420 from 122 donations – equivalent to roughly a days’ pay each, but still only 4 percent of the total required.
I was so angry about the injustice of the situation. Yet this is the daily reality for thousands of people worldwide. It’s no wonder Americans celebrated the murder of health insurance denying CEO Brian Thompson.
Meanwhile, the latest Oxfam report on inequality states that the wealth of the world’s billionaires each increased by $2m per day on average, enough to pay for more than six of the treatments my colleague requires.
They conclude, “The global economic system is broken”. We would add that the broken system should not be fixed but torn down entirely!
