Almost 3 months
after the mistaken decision of the Irish trade union leaders to call off the March 30th
strike action, the discussions around a recovery plan are still floundering.
The trade union leaders will have to show some progress at the ICTU conference
next month, so they need something concrete to report on. But, given the severe
economic crisis that the state is experiencing it seems unlikely that anything
substantial will emerge. However there is the possibility that some sort of
deal will be done. But, as we explained recently, it’s likely to have more
holes in it than a Swiss cheese.

In the first of two articles being posted to mark the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen events in China, Heiko Khoo looks at the significance of what happened for the workers of today

Today marks 20 years since the tragic
defeat of the movement of workers and students in Tienanmen Square. The
massarce (also known in China as the June 4 incident) remains a
sensitive subject for the Chinese officialdom. In the second of two articles being posted on the anniversary,  we are republishing an analysis by Rob
Lyon, first posted on www.marxist.com in 2004.