John McDonnell's decision to stand
for the leadership of the Labour Party is undoubtedly welcomed by all trade
unionists: that is, by those who know he is standing! It is shameful is that
the union leaders have either ignored or deliberately sabotaged John's
campaign. A straw pole at TUC conference showed over 60% of those members asked
said they supported McDonnell.
Wellred
is proud to announce the republication of the 'Dialectics of Nature'.
Ever since Engels' arrival in London in 1870, he was keen to write a
comprehensive work on science and dialectical materialism. The notes
and studies for such a work make up the present volume, originally
published in 1925. It is an essential read for all those who want to
develop a deeper understanding of Marxist philosophy. Wellred is offering the book for a special price of £9.99 (list price £14.99).
Hayden Phillips' inquiry into political party funding which was leaked last
week aims to impose a cap of £50,000 on donations to political parties. Hidden
behind this proposal is an attempt to stop the trade unions funding the Labour
Party in a big way and thus break the influence of the labour movement as a
whole over the party.
The Stern Report highlights the problem of global warming linked to the high emissions of carbon. Stern tries to find a solution within capitalism, without understanding that capitalism is actually the problem. The unplanned, chaotic nature of the system, where all is based on immediate profit means no real solution can be found within it. The answer lies in planning and that can only be achieved under socialism.
While no money is available for spending on healthcare,
education, pensions, etc., billions of dollars are spent on building up massive
security systems. Each terror scare adds to the profit margins of the big
security companies. It is an indication of the sickness of the society we live
in.
Up went the Red Flag, or so it felt, when John McDonnell explained the major reforms he would implement if elected Labour´s leader. It was encouraging to also hear the militant stand against the war and privatization made by supporting speaker Gordon Munro, probably the only local Labour Councillor willing to publicly speak out against the Tory line of New Labour.
The minimum wage went up by 30p an hour on the 1st October. It now stands at £5.35 for anyone 22 and over. But it's as little as £3.30 if you are 16 or 17 and only rises to £4.45 when you hit 18, unless you are an apprentice of course (which means you can paid as little as £80 per week!). The TUC was holding out for £6 an hour. £6 is a bit better, but it goes nowhere near far enough to solve the problems of low paid workers.
The International Conference in Solidarity with the Lebanese Resistance against Imperialist aggression was held at the UNESCO Building in Beirut on November 16-19.
Comrade Lal Khan, who is the International Secretary of the Pakistan Trade Union Defence Campaign (PTUDC) and Editor of the Asian Marxist Review, had been officially invited to address the conference. Here we provide a summary of his speech, which, we hope, will be of great interest to our readers.
AMICUS members at Peterborough District hospital have voted unanimously to take strike action over the way their jobs have been banded under the new NHS pay scheme, Agenda for Change. They plan four one-day strikes, starting on Monday 27 November, combined with a ban on overtime and call-outs.
Milton Friedman died on 16 November aged 94 years. He was one of the foremost bourgeois economists of the 20th century. His reputation among the right-wing capitalist leaders, especially those who drove the policies of reaction and counter-revolution against the gains of the post-war labour movement in the 1980s was second to none.
Despite the bitter cold, hundreds of thousands once again filled the massive Zocalo Square in the Mexican capital on November 20th. They were there to participate in the ceremony of the swearing in of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO), of the left wing PRD, as the legitimate president of Mexico, in a clear act of rejection of the electoral fraud which robbed him of his victory in the July 2nd presidential elections.
With a resounding victory over its rival, Rafael Correa was elected president of the Republic of Ecuador in the elections on November 26. This represented a political earthquake.