Brian Cowen survived a confidence vote
in the Dail on Wednesday by 5 votes and the day after it was
announced that Enda Kenny had won a confidence vote sparked by
dissatisfaction on the FG front bench by a similar (supposedly secret)
margin. But why is it that the leaders of the two long established
bourgeois parties in the state have reached such an impasse at the same
time? The answer is clear the economy is in crisis and Labour has
overtaken FG in the polls.
 

Fred Weston, from the editorial board of
Marxist.com, spoke to a packed house at May Day Books in Minneapolis,
MN, USA on June 1st. Around 30 people came to hear Fred present a
Marxist analysis of the state of the Chinese economy and the future of
1/5th of humanity. We present here a video of Fred’s presentation and the
question and answer session, which covered topics as varied as the
difference between socialism and communism to an explanation of the
Asiatic mode of production.

Last year a powerful movement erupted in
Iran that shook the hated
Islamic fundamentalist regime to its very foundations. All the
conditions were present for a successful revolutionary overthrow of the
regime. What was lacking, however, was the active participation of the
working class as an organised force and, most importantly, a conscious,
revolutionary leadership of the movement.

IRELAND: The
outcome of the ballots  among the ICTU affiliated unions over the Croke
Park deal will be finally clear by next week when the SIPTU and IMPACT
ballot results are counted. A huge amount of pro deal propaganda has
been brought to bear on the membership of the public sector unions,
backed up by the trade union leadership who have been desperate to
present the deal as the saviour of the Irish working class.  

Alan Docherty, a long standing Unison activist has been banned from holding office for two years by union officials in what is a clear attack on democracy in the union.

Next week’s conference of the public sector union Unison will be the most important for decades given the severity of the cuts being promised by the new government. Many of Unison’s members are low paid or part time and will be hit hard by a government keen to cut costs to bail out the bosses crisis.

Unison Conference Meeting:

"Which way forward for Unison?"

Thurs 17th June 5.30pm start

Royal Exeter Hotel, Bournemouth.