Solidarity 115 19 July 2007

Debate: No support for Fatah

No support for Fatah THE recent article by Sean Matgamna on the AWL website, “The only way to be for the Palestinians, or the Israelis, is to be for two states”, and the editorial in Solidarity 3/114, “Hamas victory is a tragedy for Palestine”, were right to reject the left’s predictable rallying behind the clerical fascist Hamas band in the aftermath of its war against Fatah. However, in both cases the comrades were too ready to give credit to bourgeois political forces which might defeat Hamas, rather than positing an independent working-class perspective uniting workers against the conflict...

Comrade Roy Webb (6 October 1949 – 15 June 2007)

Former AWL member and long-standing sympathiser, Roy Webb, has died following a short illness.Roy had lived with multiple sclerosis and had been very seriously disabled by the condition for many years. But he never allowed the physical problems MS caused him to stop his campaigning activity. I remember seeing him outside a Sinn Fein meeting at the Friends Meeting House, Euston, having driven himself to the rally. He had real difficulty getting out of the car, never mind getting along the road and into the venue, but was determined to continue political activity. Roy’s funeral, in Honor Oak...

Stop Brown’s assault on Labour conference

By Gerry Bates Shortly after his “election” as Labour leader, Gordon Brown announced a consultation on reform of the Labour Party’s structure, entitled Extending and Renewing Party Democracy. As we have come to expect from the Blairites, this Orwellian title represents the exact opposite of what the document actually aims to do. While Brown trumpets his plans for minor democratic reforms to Britain’s parliamentary system, he is also seeking to abolish one of the last vestiges of democracy in the Labour Party by removing the right of Constituency Labour Parties and affiliated unions to...

The Tolpuddle Festival

By Mark Osborn The TUC-organised festival which celebrates a key struggle in the fight for trade union rights in Britain took place over the weekend of 14-15 July in the Dorset village of Tolpuddle. In 1829 and 1830 low wages, appalling conditions and unemployment, bad winters and poor harvests fuelled a great explosion of working-class anger, resulting, in November 1830, in riots led by the mythical “Captain Swing”. Throughout England 600 rioters were imprisoned, 500 sentenced to transportation and 19 executed. The six Tolpuddle Martyrs were all farm labourers, paid 9 shillings a week. Their...

For a working-class LGBT movement

By Tom Unterrainer The concept and practice of international solidarity, one of the cornerstones of socialism, is under attack from within the ranks of the labour movement. This disease is particularly visible in the context of Middle East politics. Year on year, conference after conference, motions are submitted that denounce the crimes of western imperialism — indisputable, barbaric acts — but say little, often nothing, of the struggles of socialists, trade unionists and democrats in countries like Iran and Iraq. Likewise, the struggles of groups oppressed by these same theocratic regimes...

A not so rosy life

Rosalind Robson reviews La Vie en Rose Edith Piaf’s “rags-to-riches” life story is familiar to many. The urchin who sung for centimes on the streets of Paris after the First World War. The girl who was in the power of a pimp when, by chance, she met an impresario who put her on the stage. The woman who became France’s most popular singer… ever. Why would anyone in these cynical times choose to tell the story of this queen of old-fashioned sentimental caberet songs? Songs such as La Vie en Rose, written by Piaf, which contains the line “My heartbeats tell me we belong to each other and I see...

The greatest proletarian novel?

Steve Cohen’s series on great socialist novels continues with “Living” by Henry Green Living was written in 1929. Christopher Isherwood described it as “the best proletarian novel ever written”. Typically Green – honest, ironic, deprecating – is reported to have replied “the workers in my factory thought it rotten. It was my very good friend Christopher Isherwood used that phrase … and I don’t know that he ever worked in a factory.” When Green talked about the “factory” he was referring to the Birmingham engineering firm of H. Pontifex and Sons Ltd. The factory manufactured plumbing supplies...

Postal dispute: TNT’s mercenary manoeuvres

By Robin Sivapalan Dutch company TNT are shamelessly capitalising on the strike action to step up their plans to expand operations into the ‘last-mile’ section of the postal service. The outcome of TNT’s mercenary manoeuvring, whose success would signal another significant break-up of Royal Mail, will depend on the action or inaction on the part of Brown’s new government and the union movement. Currently, rivals to the Royal Mail compete in the collection, sorting and distribution sections of the mail network but Royal Mail workers are used by all companies, to deliver 99% of letters on the...

Metronet goes under

By a tube worker As we go to press it appears that Metronet, the London Underground “Infraco” is going into administration. The Public Private Partnership Arbiter has indicated that he will not agree to the company’s demand that London Underground pay for its incompetence, and LUL will “only” have to pay Metronet an additional £121 million rather than the £551 million it had asked for. That’s not a one-off, that’s the four-weekly Infrastructure Service Charge. The prospect of administration presents immediate concerns for the workforce, the first of which is whether they will be paid. The next...

Industrial reports: London Undgertound, Schools, Crown Post Office

Bakerloo strike over lone working Following a 94.5% yes vote to take strike action, drivers and detrainment workers on the Bakerloo line will be out this Friday to force management to withdraw their plans for ‘lone-working’. Detrainment staff, who check that trains are empty of passengers at the end of their route, currently work in groups of at least two in order to ensure their and passengers’ safety — and yet, at Harrow & Wealdstone and Willesden Junction stations, in an area where violent crime is 40% above the national average, security is being cut back. Detrainment work at these...

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