We publish here a letter from a mental health services worker in the NHS, who outlines the reality of what the Tory election victory, austerity and cuts, and the crisis of capitalism mean for the lives of ordinary people who rely on NHS services.
Alongside the shock of a Tory majority, the other big story of the General Election results was that of Labour’s collapse in Scotland to the SNP. With the Nationalists very nearly sweeping the board with 56 out of 59 seats, the result constitutes an earthquake that will transform politics in Scotland and Britain for years to come.
London Metropolitan University, even more than most institutions of higher education, has suffered brutally over the past five years of cuts. The election of a Tory majority to parliament is ominous for the future of this university. Trade union members are organising a fight back, with strike action taking place this Thursday, 21st May.
The coming to power of a new Tory government opens a new stormy chapter in Britain. The stage is set for a turbulent period ahead of instability and upheaval. Rob Sewell looks at the explosive situation that is developing in the wake of the election and in the context of the world capitalist crisis.
In this recording from the Bristol Marxist Society, one week after the election, Rob Sewell – editor of Socialist Appeal, analyses the results and looks at the perspectives ahead for Britain. The coming period will be one of uncertainty, turbulence, and upheaval, with revolutionary implications.
Over the last week since the general election, David Cameron has lost no time in announcing yet more reactionary laws. Emboldened by their parliamentary majority, and freed from the ballast of coalition with the Lib Dems, the Tories have rushed to introduce further measures to stick the knife in against the working class.
Yesterday, around 100 teachers and students attended a demonstration at Hackney Community College, organised by UCU members to mark the opening day of their ballot for strike action at FE colleges across the whole of London. Staff and students are fighting back against Tory attacks on education and jobs.
Before the dead body of Miliband’s Labour leadership was even cold, the Blairites were lining up to try and pull the party further to the right. As various contenders throw their hats into the ring of the leadership contest, the question must be asked: is a move towards the so-called political “centre-ground” really the panacea to all of Labour’s problems?
The elected independent mayor of Tower Hamlets, Lutfur Rahman, has been removed from office due to a court ruling over allegations of corruption. The fact that one unelected commissioner is able to overrule the votes of over 37,000 people reveals bourgeois democracy in all its impotence.
On Saturday 2nd May, up to 2,000 residents of Bedlington, Northumberland came together to make a “big noise” in protest at the declining state of their town in the face of job losses and Tory-ordered cuts. Protests like this in Bedlington are just the beginning of the fight against the Tories, their austerity, and the capitalist system they defend.
We publish here a letter from Ben Curry, a Socialist Appeal supporter in Leeds, who provides a concise explanation for how the Tories, despite all expectations, have managed to win the election and take power with a majority in parliament. As Ben writes, it is not ordinary workers and youth who are to blame for this outcome, but the leaders of the Labour movement.
With the heinous murder of Freddie Gray in Baltimore, USA, the #BlackLivesMatter movement came roaring back to life. These once-routine and largely unrecognized murders are now churning up powerful forces long dormant in the womb of society. John Peterson of Socialist Appeal USA comments on the increasingly radicalised mood in the United States.