Not quite instant bestseller. Japanese author Takiji Kobayashi wrote The Crab Ship (described as the Japanese equivalent of the Ragged Trousered Philanthopists) in 1929. Since then it’s sold a steady 5,000 a year. Now it’s taken off, because, "Young people…see themselves and today’s situation in the novel. " 79 years on it has just sold half a million copies. Unfortunately Takiji won’t be counting his royalties. He was tortured to death by the secret police in 1933.
Members of Prospect union in the Science Museum group have been on strike over wages, with minimum hourly rates falling significantly below the real living wage whilst directors’ salaries have grown substantially. Socialist Appeal pledges solidarity!
Are the terms ‘socialism’ and ‘communism’ interchangeable? Thomas Soud from the Warwick Marxists sets out to answer this question.
Running simultaneously and arguably as crucial as the election for
Unite’s General Secretary itself is the BA dispute and a proposal to
‘settle’ it. 12 months ago British Airways cabin crew on an 80% turn
out, voted by a brilliant 92% to take strike action to defend their hard
won terms and conditions. The dispute started as a result of the
imposition and erosion of ‘Terms and Conditions’ but has been diverted
by British Airways and is now being defined by staff travel and the
disciplinary process. But with scores of cabin crew suspended and a
dozen sacked, the proposed ‘deal’ is already unravelling.