Solidarity 205, 25 May 2011

After seventeen years of rail privatisation, and wave upon wave of attack on railworkers’ conditions, the Government has suddenly declared that railworkers are featherbedded. Welcoming the McNulty report, published on 19 May, it has signalled an assault on railworkers’ pay and conditions, with the threat of new anti-strike laws to hand if the unions resist. The truth is not that railworkers have been living in a previously unremarked pocket of luxury. The Government is spending a lot of money on rail in a time of financial difficulty for the state. Big investment projects like Crossrail and...

Until recently I worked as a shop assistant at Superdrug in Egham, Surrey. I’m at university so can’t work as much as I need to to make ends meet. Egham is a small town and the shop is even smaller. The pay, even in comparison to other high street shops, is dire; a few pence above the minimum wage. The conditions are not much better; a tiny, underequipped tea room with nowhere to store belongings. This may sound inconsequential, but it’s an annoyance for everyone who works there. Superdrug workers, particularly the under-21s, recently faced an attack on pay and conditions. Based on the company...

As I write these words, news has come in of the failure of Syria’s opposition to hold a general strike. One is reminded of Sherlock Holmes’ comment about the curious incident of the dog in the night-time. When told that “the dog did nothing in the night-time” Holmes famously responded, “That was the curious incident.” It is not unusual for civil society organisations in repressive societies to issue a call for a general strike. What is unusual is that the Syria call — reported on Facebook — got an instant statement out of the Brussels-based International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC)...

The National Campaign Against Fees and Cuts is holding a conference in Birmingham on 4 June. Bob Sutton, Vice-President-elect at Liverpool University Student Union, and Daniel Cooper, President elect at Royal Holloway Student Union, discuss the way forward for the campaign. Students face fees of around £9,000 at the big majority of universities; they face huge cuts. The National Union of Students refuses to seriously fight back. In these circumstances, the need for a national student network that links up grassroots anti-cuts groups, plans action and mobilises students alongside education and...

Against all the odds, fierce repression by Syria’s police state has not yet quelled street protest there. Joshua Landis, a US expert on Syria, wrote on 21 May: “Syrian government statements that it had defeated the revolution with its brutal crackdown were premature. “This Friday [20 May], Syrians came out to demonstrate across the country despite the growing danger of violence. The absolute number of demonstrators may not have been very great, but the number of demonstrations was...” Landis reckons that “even if demonstrations can [eventually] be shut down for the time being, the opposition...

Yvonne Ridley, European President of the International Muslim Women’s Union has defected and become a cheerleader for Libya’s rebellion. Ridley calls for full backing for Nato military intervention on the grounds that “it might just be regarded as a force for good”. Perhaps she wants to fan the flickers of the Islamist component of the rebellion against the Arab nationalist Qaddafi regime. Her teary eyed witnessing of regiments of young men off to fight tyranny is reminiscent of Church of England priests blessing their flocks of young men in the First World War as they were sent over the top...

Counterfire have published an article by Lindsey German questioning what it says about the French “left” (or, rather, Parti Socialiste) that a man with the reputation of Dominique Strauss-Kahn might be considered an acceptable Presidential candidate. It’s perfectly valid to discuss what the emerging picture of Strauss-Kahn’s behaviour tells us about the French political system and the sweeping under the carpet of vile sexist behaviour towards women in case it damages the cause. Funny, then, that German is unable to apply the same analysis to the Julian Assange case. Of course, Wikileaks is of...

Justice Secretary Ken Clarke’s stupid words about rape were seized on by the right-wing media to bash the Government’s Green Paper “Breaking the Cycle: Effective Punishment, Rehabilitation and Sentencing of Offenders”. The underlying message of the Green Paper is that prison is not the most cost-effective way to protect the public from crime. The Green Paper wants fewer people in prison — though not necessarily fewer prisons — fewer short sentences, more “community punishment”, more people working or being trained while they are in prison. Newspapers such as the Sun and Daily Express reject...

Anarchism and the Commune This is the third and final part of a review article on Black Flame: The Revolutionary Class Politics of Anarchism and Syndicalism , by Michael Schmidt and Lucien van der Walt. It covers the history of the First International, the workers' movement in which Karl Marx was active from its founding in 1864 and the anarchist leader Mikhail Bakunin was active from 1868. It reviews the split in the International, in 1872, in which Marx and Bakunin were the leading figures on opposing sides, and the broad outlines of anarchist development since 1872. Click here to download...

FBU conference last week geared up for industrial action on a range of issues such as pensions, pay and job cuts, although no timetable for action was set. Speakers expressed the widespread anger with the government’s pensions plans, which would make public sector workers pay more, work longer and get less. Firefighters will be hit particularly hard. There was agreement on the need for action, but differences over timing and tactics. The executive council resolution, which was passed, called for a membership survey and continued lobbying in advance of action. However many delegates supported a...