Solidarity 527, 4 December 2019

Support the rail strikes!

South Western Railway (SWR) workers began a month of strikes on 1 December. West Midlands Trains workers are also continuing strikes every Saturday until the end of the year. The workers are fighting to defend the role of the guard, resisting any erosion of the guard’s role towards “Driver Only Operation” (DOO), where trains could run without a second safety-critical member of staff on board, or where only the driver has ultimate responsibility for and oversight of dispatch from platforms and the opening and closing of train doors. As SWR prepared for the strikes, the Executive of the rail...

Trump blocked putting Harriet Tubman on the $20 note. This is why

I’m struck by how many (left-wing, engaged) people I know haven’t heard of 19th century slave turned anti-slavery activist Harriet Tubman . Hopefully Harriet , the new film about a crucial decade of Tubman’s life, will help right that. She was one of the most remarkable of many remarkable figures in a world-altering social and political upheaval, the civil war and revolution that destroyed slavery in the US. Though not a socialist, she is firmly in our broad tradition. Despite the dark subject matter of slavery, the makers have told Tubman’s story as a pretty easy to watch action-adventure...

Labour should tell the truth on Brexit

If you want to convince people, you have to argue what you believe to be true, and be seen to be convinced yourself. If your message is: "Tell us what you want to hear, and we'll play it back to you", you will be seen to be shifty and unreliable. And rightly so. Labour-aligned people who have back Leave should be treated with respect, and given honest arguments. They know that Labour has been pushed, bit by bit - by steady rank-and-file pressure on the reluctant leadership - into a de facto Remain position. Labour opposes the actual deals negotiated with the EU and supports a referendum which...

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