OCCUPY! The Factory Occupation Movement in Venezuela and London.
This Wednesday 13th May at Bolivar Hall in London
OCCUPY! The Factory Occupation Movement in Venezuela and London.
7.00pm start. Videos and Speakers. Admission Free.
The Bologna Process hits Glasgow
Students and education workers have taken action across Europe in recent months in response to the so called ‘Bologna Process’; a vicious attack on the provision of public education centred around privatising public institutions and stripping down staff numbers and facilities to a bare minimum. In response to this there have been large demonstrations and strikes of students and workers in Austria, Italy, Spain and France. In Britain there are now proposals for a huge funding cut back at London Metropolitan University and the selling off of Strathclyde University in Glasgow, amongst other attacks.
Swine flu: No panic, No indifference Calderon is responsible for the health crisis!
The mass panic which has gripped Britain and the rest of the world
arising from the ‘Swine Flu’ outbreak has occupied the media for nearly a
fortnight now. Schools have been shut and people are being urged to
wash their hands like crazy. However those who have contracted the flu
have described the symtoms as being like a ‘bad cold’ and all seem to
be recovering OK. Yet in Mexico – where the flu outbreak evidently
started – many have died. Why is this? Marxist.com ‘s Mexican correspondent has sent this report on who is really to blame.
Ireland: class struggle on the rise as the slump deepens
The Irish economy is predicted to crash this year. It’s set to contract by 9.2%. To put this into perspective, the growth rates during the years of the Celtic Tiger were about 6%. So these figures are the equivalent of turning the clock back economically by almost two years. The Economic and Social Research Unit are predicting unemployment will spiral to 17% next year. 300,000 jobs will disappear and living standards will fall to 15% lower than in 2007.
‘Bolshevism’ USA Edition Published
Socialist Appeal in the UK congratulates
our comrades in the USA on the publication of the
first US edition of Bolshevism: The Road to Revolution by Alan Woods.
This marks a great step forward for the forces of Marxism in the US and
we are sure this publication will be a great success. We reproduce inside the online blurb issued by the comrades.
What can you say? Part 2
What can you say to
your son when he asks "why is my life so sh*te?" All you can do listen and
sympathise.
"A. Father" on the frontline of life in capitalist Britain shows how he decided to do something about it!
Workers’ Rights Demo At Olympic Site
Here are some pictures from the construction workers’ demo held
early morning on May 6th at the Olympic site in Stratford, East London.
Later on workers assembled outside Parliament in order to lobby their
MPs.
Thatcher: the real legacy
The following letter from a Socialist Appeal reader was published in The Times
letters page for May 5th as part of a series of responses to an article
on Thatcher’s legacy in a previous issue of the newspaper. We are
reproducing it here for those who missed it.
The Limerick Soviet of 1919
In 1919, the workers of Limerick undertook a two-week long general strike, in which a strike committee or ‘soviet’ made steps to establish workers’ control. However, due to the betrayals of the reformist labour leaders and petty bourgeois nationalists, this inspiring episode proved to be short-lived.
Thatcher: decline and fall
In 1983 Labour lost the election by a landslide. This gave the right wing in the Party their opportunity to fight back. The New Labour cry that the 1983 Labour Manifesto was the “longest suicide note in history” is utter nonsense. If anything the manifesto was less radical than the 1974 manifesto. There was a huge amount of Tory luck in the 1983 general election, Thatcher had managed to pull off a military victory and the SDP traitors had divided the Labour vote.
Thatcher: Thirty Years On
"Where there is discord may we bring
harmony…" said Margaret Thatcher 30 years ago this May when she was
elected as British Prime Minister in 1979. Some politicians are remembered for
their achievements, in Aneurin Bevan’s case the founding of the NHS; others
like Tony Blair will be remembered as warmongers and traitors to the ideals of
the Labour movement. Meanwhile John Major will be remembered, if at all, for
his ineffectual personality and his blandness. But very few will have been
hated by working people with such intensity as Margaret Thatcher.