Solidarity 343, 12 November 2014

Another day: When Mussolini Hailed Stalin as a Fascist

Benito Mussolini addressed to Joseph Stalin last week the felicitations of one butcher to another. He wrote in his own paper, Popolo d'ltalia, that Stalin "had become a Fascist" and, in effect, that Stalin was doing more than any other to destroy the faith of the workers of the world in the Communist Movement. For cutting down thousands of revolutionists as "Fascist spies," Stalin has won the gratitude of the Fascist dictator, Mussolini. Let those who still think they can believe in the monstrous frame-up-terror system of Stalin, who think they can ignore the heavy blows the Stalin terror is...

We can win free education!

The British student movement should take its lead from its counterparts in Germany, Chile and other countries, which succeeded in overturning the introduction of a shambolic, transparently unfair system of tuition fees. And it must go further, and demand that the debt hanging over millions of students who have already left study is abolished. On the introduction of tuition fees in 1998, many predicted that the change would further entrench university education as the preserve of those wealthy enough to pay. It was predicted that the loan system would saddle millions of students with debt that...

Industrial news in brief

Cleaners working for Interserve at Waterloo station struck on 10-11 November after a manager claimed “we shouldn’t be employing black people.” The strikes will take place between 3pm on Monday and 3pm on Tuesday, and for a further 24 hours starting at 3pm on 21 November. The RMT union says bosses have refused to address the allegation through agreed procedures. The union also says Interserve has underpaid wages, as well as victimising, bullying and harassing staff. Cleaners at Waterloo are not the only ones facing these conditions, or fighting back. Across various contractors, cleaners...

Labour needs anti-cuts policy, not a Blairite new leader

Labour MPs are their own worst enemies. Many of them are panicked about losing their seats, and are sufficiently stupid and disloyal to blame Ed Miliband and brief the press accordingly. Deputy chief whip, Alan Campbell, rather than feeding reports of discontent to his leader, is whipping it up. And yet, if Labour MPs keep their cool, there will be no Labour meltdown in England or Wales in 2015. UKIP may take a seat or two from us, and prevent us winning a few marginals. But we shall still win others from the Tories and Lib Dems, whose problems are worse than ours. And no short-coming of Ed...

Tories plan to double cuts

The Tories’ declared budget plans mean more and more cuts, and at an accelerating rate, in 2015-20. On top of the £25 billion cut from annual budgets between 2010-11 and 2014-5, they would cut another £48 billion from those budgets by 2018-9. The Financial Times estimated the numbers from official statistics and the Tories’ declared intention to have the government budget in overall surplus (current income covering both current and capital spending) by 2020. The Tories plan to do that by cuts, not by taxing the rich. They have offered tax cuts to the rich, on inheritance tax for example. They...

The exaggerated death of Scottish Labour

The quote (actually a misquote) attributed to Mark Twain that reports of his death had been greatly exaggerated, could equally well apply to the Scottish Labour Left. The vast majority of socialists in the Scottish Labour Party campaigned for and voted “no” in the referendum campaign. This in itself was enough for many in Left groups outside the party to consign it to the dustbin of history, rather perversely given the long anti-nationalist history of the socialist movement. Of course, and here I have some sympathy, this sat alongside other accusations that the Scottish Labour Left had made...

Scottish Labour: vote Findlay!

Over a hundred people turned up last Saturday (8 November) to a rally in Fauldhouse at which Neil Findlay MSP launched his campaign to be voted in as leader of the Scottish Labour Party. Neil is the left challenger for the position, with Katy Clark MP standing as the left candidate for the post of Scottish Labour deputy leader. Both of them are committed to rebuilding electoral support for Labour by a return to “the timeless Labour values of community, solidarity, fairness and justice.” They want Labour to adopt policies to attack poverty, unemployment, exploitation in the workplace, and...

“Alive we want them back!”

On 26 September, students at the Mexican Normal de Ayotzinapa Rural Teachers’ College in Iguala, Guerrero were planning to go to Mexico City to join a protest. The students peacefully took over three buses, common for protests in Mexico, and were asking fellow passengers for money to fund their trip when they were ambushed by the police who started shooting indiscriminately. Attacks from police and gunmen in civilian clothing left six dead including one student who was skinned and was left with no eyes. Five were gravely wounded (one is now brain dead) and 43 became “disappeared” comrades...

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