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Editorial: Ruling class prepares for confrontation

Britain is heading for a showdown. The British establishment is taking
stock of the situation. They are fully aware of the social crisis that
is unfolding. The illusions of class harmony have evaporated. They
consider that it is time that the working class learned its lesson that
capitalism cannot afford any reforms. Counter-reforms are on the order
of the day. The workers are therefore being sent to the school of the
coalition government whose programme is “red in tooth and claw”
austerity.

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1972 Miners’ Strike: Tories Thrashed

After the Second World War the advanced capitalist world went through a prolonged period of boom, rising working class living standards and relative class peace. By 1970 it was clear that the boom was coming to an end. The ruling class saw the need to confront the working class and drive down living standards in order to restore their profits. Their chosen instrument in Britain was the Tory government under Heath, elected in 1970.

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A new stage in the crisis of capitalism (part one)

After talk of the so called "credit crunch" gave way to optimistic
comments about the "green shoots" in the economy, events in Greece
caught the bourgeois commentators unaware. Now the world economy has
once again been plunged into chaos and uncertainty as the governments
of Europe try to contain the fall-out from the near-default of Greece
and it is the workers who will be presented with the bill.

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The Recession, Labour Productivity and the ‘Mole of Revolution’

It cannot be denied that the historic global crisis of
capitalism has not, in Britain and America, led to an immediate corresponding
rise in class struggle (unlike say in Greece). Does this rule out the class struggle in the long term?
No. But in order to understand why it has been delayed, it is necessary for
socialists to concretely analyse all the conditions of the class.

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Copyright – keeping ideas under lock and key

Copyright is in crisis. Photocopying, scanning, audio and video
recording, computers and now the internet have all made it increasingly
difficult for the owners of copyright to enforce their rights. There
has been a renewed effort, such as the Digital Economy Bill, to restore
the balance of power in favour of big business, but levies and legal
penalties only serve to patch holes in an already leaky system. The
flaw lies not in the technology, or in piracy or file-sharing, as
corporations would have us believe, but in the very notion of copyright.

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Unions back John!

The Labour Representation Committee (LRC) has
issued the following press release outlining union support for John
McDonnell to be on the ballot for Labour leader.

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Ireland: The beginnings of a protest movement?

Under
heavy Gardaí surveillance, including a helicopter, a crowd of over 1500
filled up Molesworth St, opposite the Dáil’s gates on the 18th
May. It was the second protest, after the 11th of May, organised by the
Right to Work Campaign (RWC) sponsored by the union UNITE and the
support of all the left groups with presence in Dublin, including SF.
There were also two banners of the Labour party, although this party is
not officially supporting the protest.

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‘Unite behind John McDonnell’

With Labour Party officials now having been forced by pressure
from below into extending the time period for MPs to nominate for the
position of Labour leader, the campaign to get John McDonnell onto the
ballot has been given a new impetus. As part of this Jerry
Hicks, the left candidate for the position of Unite General Secretary,
has issued a press release giving support to John:

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