While the leaders and lieutenants of capital
continue their assault on the pay, conditions and jobs of workers everywhere,
strikes have broken out sporadically across the UK,
including in transport. As was the case with the bus drivers of Essex and
Greater Manchester, in August the workers of GoNortheast in Washington in the
North-East of England also walked out of pay talks after rejecting a pitiful
offer of just 2% over 18 months.
On 17 May 1649, three soldiers were executed on Oliver Cromwell’s orders in Burford churchyard, Oxfordshire, England. They were the leaders of 300 men who belonged to the movement known as the Levellers. They had decided to fight against Cromwell who they considered was betraying the ideals of what the “Civil War”, i.e. the English Revolution, had been about.
Venezuela: The PSUV congress has now been called
and Marxists will fight shoulder to shoulder with left-wing
delegates for a genuine socialist programme in the struggle against
bureaucracy and against the right-wing in the party.
Matt Wells reports on the formation of an LRC group in Cambridge, in the build up to the annual conference of LRC in London in November
First there were three, the sun having not yet shown its face, in the
pitch black darkness of the autumn morning it was only the neon of the street
lights that reflected off the red high visibility jackets of the picketing
Royal Mail workers. Eddie Kacar reports on the mood at EDO in Whitechapel in the heart of the East End of London
IMPACT
members have voted 86% to 14% for strike action on a 69% ballot. This
is a huge change from the position in March where a similar vote
resulted in a 65% Yes vote on a 53% turnout. The vote in March fell
just short of the 2/3 barrier that union rules lay down as the minimum
threshold for official action to be sanctioned.
This
marks a dramatic shift over the past 7 months. But that’s hardly a
surprise given the imposition of the levy, the slash and burn budget
and the threats of cuts and redundancies and the general economic chaos
and political crisis that threatens public sector workers.
As previously reported, on 21st October Steve Acheson
appeared at the Royal Courts of Justice in the Strand, central London. He was there because Scottish and
Southern Energy, the owners of Fiddlers Ferry power station, were seeking an
injunction against him under the Prevention of Terrorism Act!
Comrade Bill Landles is 85 on October 26th. By
coincidence, in the old Russian calendar that is also
the date of Trotsky’s 130th birthday and the
anniversary of the Russian revolution. This is highly
appropriate because Bill has devoted the whole of his
thinking life to the cause of the October Revolution
and the ideas of Lenin and Trotsky.HAPPY BIRTHDAY BILL!
Here are some more reports and interviews from CWU picket lines around the country as the strike enters the second day. More action has been announced for next week – things are hotting up!
It might have started out as a strategy, but the ICTU leadership’s
profound belief that they can wrest some concessions out of Cowen and
Lenihan would be better described as an illusion or perhaps a death
wish. We’ve pointed out many times that in a slump social partnership
is like the partnership between a cat and a mouse. But at least in Tom
and Jerry the mouse was a master of tactics.
As the first wave of the national post strike action enters its second day,
those on the picket lines around the country remain determined to win
their fight. Here is a first of a series of reports and interviews from various picket lines.
Postal workers are out on a national two-day strike over management
plans in effect to destroy the Royal Mail. Picket lines are being
staged at sites up and down the country. The bosses, backed by Lord
Mandelson, who is looking to hit back at the union over his failed
attempt to privatise the mail, have refused to negioate. The time has
come for workers to show their strength