Editorial note: The following is a full version of the shorter article we
published on 8 June on the British election.

Labour has won the elections with a majority of 167 seats at Westminster,
only
slightly down on last time when they won a landslide majority of
179 seats. On the face of it, it is an outstanding triumph for Tony
Blair. But these results do not adequately express the contradictory
nature of the mood in British society. The mood of the masses is
sceptical. The working class is disappointed and frustrated with
New Labour. Despite Labour’s landslide victory, the underlying
mood is extremely volatile.

On 7th June, the people of Britain will go to the polls to elect the next government. According
to all the polls Labour is set to gain a hefty majority over the Conservatives. The polls
show that Labour is now leading the Tories by a massive 28 points. Yet the election
campaign has been as dead as a Dodo, and the great majority show little interest and less
enthusiasm for either New Labour or the Tories. The general election turnout is likely to be
low – some have even predicted the lowest for over 100 years. The reason for this alleged
"voter apathy" is not hard to find.

In a matter of days a magnificent and largely spontaneous
movement of
truck drivers, farmers and cabbies has brought large parts of the
country
to a virtual standstill. This movement represents the biggest
national
unofficial strike action seen in Britain for decades. The ruling class
are
quaking in their boots.

We received a letter from Hong Kong in reply to our articles on GM foods.

Leon Trotsky spent the last decade of his life in a struggle to keep alive the genuine
method of Marxism in all fields. While on all sides Marxism was being distorted and
misused both by the Stalinists and the Social Democracy to justify their own betrayal of
the working class movement, Trotsky consistently put forward a revolutionary position on
all problems facing the workers.
One of the immediate dangers facing the international working class was the rise of
fascism and therefore this new phenomenon clearly needed to be understood.

This pamphlet is written by active RMT
and ASLEF union members who support the ideas of Socialist
Appeal. It describes the conditions facing rail workers in Britain
after years of privatisation
and provides a fighting alternative.