Forty years ago the world was experiencing upheaval on a world scale
that hadn’t been seen for a generation. In the US opposition to the war
in Vietnam gathered momentum, as it did in Britain. In Pakistan
revolution was on the order of the day, and in Czechoslovakia we saw
the Prague spring and Soviet Invasion. In May there was the glorious
rising of the French working class, that saw 10 million workers down
tools in a general strike.
Marxism is the memory box of the class, but more than that it is a
means to an end, a weapon in the hands of the working class. We don’t
stand aside and carp like the sectarians, but play a role in the
movement and try to develop the struggles that take place. This is
precisely the approach that Marx advocated in the ‘Communist Manifesto’
160 years ago.
On the 14th May 1948 the state of Israel was proclaimed independent. The
immediate results were an outbreak of killings and the creation of huge
numbers of Israeli and Palestinian refugees. Palestinians refer to it as
the naqba (catastrophe). Luke Wilson explains how Israel has become a
bulwark of imperialism, what it has meant for the politics of the Middle
East, for Israeli Jews and Palestinians, and how the creation of Israel
has perpetuated anti-semitism elsewhere.
Union
busting is as old as trade unions themselves. Ever since workers started to
form their own organisations back in the 18th century to fight for
decent working conditions, employers have tried to break them. In the old days
workers would be beaten, imprisoned, and sometimes killed for participating in
trade union activities. Better working conditions meant less profits for the
boss, and a harsh hand was dealt to keep the rich ruling minority firmly in charge.
The UNISON Local Government Service Group Executive
has voted to reject the employers’ 2.45% pay offer. The outcome of the
consultative ballot was 45% to accept and 55% for rejection. The issue will now
go to the Industrial Action Committee with a proposed timetable of a ballot
beginning 27th May and strike action to commence on 8th July.
The class struggle arises from the conditions of life of human beings.
It’s a struggle of living forces; there are complicated and
complicating factors. Different industries have different conditions;
there are different traditions of struggle, different forms of
organisation, different political conditions over time and different
leaders.
A name etched into the collective consciousness of the labour and trade
union movement is that of the ‘Tolpuddle Martyrs’, a case which clearly demonstrated that the State is
not a neutral instrument, but the means by which the ruling class will
use peaceful means by preference and violence if necessary in order to
maintain its power. So who were the Tolpuddle Martyrs,
what did they do and what lessons do they have for socialists in the
twenty-first century?
Forty years ago the world was experiencing upheaval on a world scale that hadn’t been seen for a generation. In the US opposition to the war in Vietnam gathered momentum, as it did in Britain. In Pakistan revolution was on the order of the day, and in Czechoslovakia we saw the Prague spring and Soviet Invasion. In May there was the glorious rising of the French working class, that saw 10 million workers down tools in a general strike.
There’s an old saying that, ‘When the USA sneezes, we all catch
cold.’ Alistair Darling and Gordon Brown know that the USA is already
in recession. They know that the financial crisis is causing the
hatches to be battened down all over the world. But, they say, Britain
is immune. They’ve even commissioned a Treasury report to try to prove
it. Don’t believe them. The chill winds of economic crisis are
coming our way. The parallels between the US, which is already in the
mire, and the UK are stark.
The latest attempt
to criminalise young people by "framing and shaming" them and
"filming and repeatedly stopping identified persistent offenders on
problem estates" owes more to the Child Catcher in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
than it does to evidence based practice. But what are the real reasons that "Youth Disorder" takes
place and what works?
In looking back at
the Good Friday Agreement, Gerry Ruddy points out that it has served to
stabilise British rule in the North as Sinn Fein has been absorbed into the
establishment. In this situation he stresses the need for republican socialists
to focus on working class and socialist policies.
Wendy Alexander, leader of the Labour Party in Scotland has
declared that the SNP Government should “bring on” a referendum on independence
and has gone as far as to not rule out a bill calling for a poll earlier than
the Nationalist administration’s proposed date of 2010. This has resulted in
the issue of Scottish independence making a large impact on the national media
for the first time since the SNP’s victory in the Scottish Parliament elections
in May of last year. It has also unleashed a potential Pandora’s Box that is
threatening to divide the Labour leadership in Scotland from the national
leadership.