Solidarity 256, 12 September 2012

Why no British revolution?

Why has Britain never had a “real” revolution — unlike, say, France, Italy, Mexico, Russia, China or Cuba? That’s the question asked by Frank McLynn in The Road Not Taken: How Britain Narrowly Missed a Revolution. The result of his endeavours is a highly readable book. But not one which really gets to grips with the question he asks. In fact, on more than one occasion, it all becomes very confusing. The English Revolution of the 1640s replaced feudal-absolutist rule by bourgeois rule, even if feudal elements such as the monarchy and the House of Lords later returned. In doing so, it achieved...

Hunt carries a health warning

The promotion of Jeremy Hunt to the position of Health Secretary is a sign of the supreme confidence of David Cameron’s adminstration and the contempt in which they hold the electorate. Jeremy Hunt is the personification of the glutton and venality of the capitalist class at this time of austerity. Like the Health and Social Care Act itself, his appointment as Health Secretary only makes sense from the point of view of powerful corporate interests. Educated in Charterhouse and Oxford University, he is one of the growing number of white, public school boys in the Cabinet. Throughout his career...

Labour: the issues in Manchester

The outcome of this year’s Labour Party conference, opening in Manchester on 30 September, will depend on how seriously the Unite union, Labour’s largest affiliate, takes its own policy. The Unite union adopted a new document at its Policy Conference on 25-28 June 2012, for a more aggressive political strategy in the Labour Party On the agenda in Manchester is a rule change proposed by Bridgend CLP to allow Labour conference to amend National Policy Forum documents. Though the change sounds technical and fiddly, it could change conference dramatically. What was done at Labour conference before...

Left Foot Forward 2012

On Sunday 9 September, the AWL’s five-a-side football team took part in Feminist Fightback’s “Left Foot Forward” tournament of left groups and campaigns — and won! Thanks to Feminist Fightback’s organisation the all-women and mixed-gender teams took part in a relaxed and friendly competition. In future tournaments, the AWL should make efforts to get an all-women team together. Working towards that “goal” we’d like to encourage women to get involved in Feminist Fightback’s Sunday morning football training in Victoria Park every Sunday,. For all levels of fitness and experience. Complete...

TUC backs co-ordinated strikes

The annual congress of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) on 9-12 September passed policy to support “co-ordinated strike action between unions over pay and pensions”. These strikes would take place over both the public sector pay freeze and the work-longer-pay-more-get-less pensions reforms against which unions struck on 30 June and 30 November 2011. That the TUC has passed policy supporting co-ordinated strike action is undoubtedly positive. The fight now is to progress from fighting talk from union leaders towards a real campaign based on a comprehensive industrial and political campaign...

Rich get richer, kids go hungry

3.5 million children in Britain are living in poverty. That is the headline of “It Shouldn’t Happen Here”, a report published by the charity Save the Children report last week. Best known for their work with the poorest children in “third world” countries, Save the Children have launched a campaign for Britain’s children living in poverty (defined by the report as coming from a family with less than 60% of the median income). That’s the rising number of children going hungry, malnourished, in need of new shoes, and warm clothes; always excluded from school trips, unable to have friends round...

US Democrats not perfect, but where workers are

Matthew and Ryan ( Solidarity 255) both criticized my article on unions and the Democrats, but they did so in strikingly different ways. In Matthew’s letter, a single word reveals the weakness in his argument. He concedes that the British Labour Party has become a lot more like the Democrats but adds: “[It] is not the same yet”. “Yet” is the key word. Because as critics of Labour here are quick to point out, that is exactly what’s happening. The grip of unions on the party has weakened dramatically. The Labour Party no longer even pretends to be a socialist party. We don’t disagree on that...

Assange's refusal to face rape charges harms his cause

Before I wrote the article on Julian Assange (“Assange, rape, free speech”, Solidarity 254) I had a good look at the bourgeois press. The serious mainstream papers and magazines seemed unanimous (based on legal opinions that they had solicited or examined) that the extradition of Assange to the US from Sweden was harder than from the UK to US. Of course, if this is true, Assange’s case for staying here to best avoid falling into the US state’s hands collapses. Paul Field, himself a lawyer, has a different view ( Solidarity 255). And, here-and-there, there are others who should be listened to...

Defend the right to protest in Glasgow!

Officials of Glasgow’s Labour City Council are recommending that the Scottish TUC’s anti-austerity demonstration of 20 October should not be allowed to assemble in George Square in the city centre. A “consultation exercise” currently being run by the Council also proposes that demonstrations should be replaced by “static protests” wherever possible, and that there should be a blanket ban on the use of George Square as a muster and dispersal point for demonstrations. Such recommendations represent a drastic curtailment on the right to demonstrate: By definition, the purpose of a demonstration...

Quebec student victory

The announcement of a tuition fee freeze by the government of Quebec on the 5 September marks a spectacular victory for the student movement. The attempt of the Government of Quebec to increase yearly tuition fees by 75% sparked walkouts of university campuses beginning in February. Increasing civil disobedience by protesters, which included the blocking of Montreal’s two main bridges and university pickets, caused a panicking administration to pass Bill 78, which suspended classes in 11 universities during the winter term and made demonstrations essentially impossible to assemble legally...

This website uses cookies, you can find out more and set your preferences here.
By continuing to use this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions.