Issue 2370 Socialist Worker (UK)

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NO TO WAR ON SYRIA
Obama’s desperate measures to win Senate bombing vote l Syrian revolutionaries oppose intervention >>Page 4

£1

| No 2370 | 14 September 2013 | socialistworker.co.uk
education

Sir Frank Chapman FORMER energy boss lives in luxury

Frank ormston railworker who can’t afford to retire

New school strikes can force back Tory Michael Gove
Britain’s two biggest teaching unions have announced two new strike dates next month. The walkouts, on 1 and 17 October, are part of an ongoing dispute to defend pay, pensions and conditions. Teachers also hope their action can help stop the Tories’ assault on education.

A ROTTEN RECOVERY
George Osborne’s proclamation this week that the British economy is in “recovery” delighted the City of London. But his boast rang hollow in the ears of millions who, like Frank Ormston, struggle to get by. Frank is 54 years old and works on the railways in York. He “dreams of retirement” but with a pension of just over £5,000 a year, Frank knows that day will be a long time coming. “I’ll have to sell my house and move somewhere cheaper when I stop work, so I guess I’ll go on for as long as I can,” he says. Frank’s fears are not shared by 60 year old former energy boss Frank Chapman. Chapman has amassed a pension pot of £22.2 million. It will pay out over £805,000 a year. His biggest problem is what to spend his riches on. Osborne’s talk of recovery can’t disguise the grim reality of Tory

a year pension

£805,000

a year pension

£5,200

>>Page 20

anti-fascism

Protest keeps the racists out of east London
The racist English Defence League wanted to march in Tower Hamlets, east London, last Saturday. But the strength of the anti‑racist response forced police to restrict them to a small rally outside the borough. More than 5,000 joined the Unite Against Fascism protest.

>>Page 7 tuc

Britain—unemployment, low pay, pensioner poverty, and an ever‑growing class divide. Anger at this government of the wealthy is driving thousands to march on the Tory party confer‑ ence. Why not join them? Special demo poster >>centre pages

Unions support coordinated action at TUC congress
Union leaders backed coordinated action against austerity at this week’s TUC congress in Bournemouth. There was anger at Labour leader Ed Miliband’s attempts to cut union influence on the party. But the question of when to take action remained unclear.

March on the Tories Sunday 29 Sept

>>Pages 3 & 5

‘‘
THE THINGS THEY SAY
“There are poor children who do not have a room of their own in which to do their homework, in which to read, in which to fulfill their potential”
Michael Gove unwittingly describes the effects of the Tory bedroom tax on poor families. The tax orders children aged 6 to 10 to share a bedroom

Socialist Worker 14 September 2013

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the

Troublemaker
Free massacre with every trip
The Sri Lankan army bathed the Jaffna region in blood as it overran the separatist Tamil Tigers in 2009. Its problem now is what to do with the vast territory it forcibly cleared. So the army has decided to fill it with tourists. It has launched Thalsevana Holiday Resort. Its website proudly proclaims that “functioning under the Security Forces Headquarters” it is the “ideal venue to make your holiday perfect and memorable”. Soldiers work as tour guides, running local flights and whale watching trips. The publicity doesn’t mention if trips to the sites of mass graves or former concentration camps are on the itinerary.

Think tank claims Tories are soft on attacking welfare
The TaxPayers’ Alliance (TPA), or the military wing of the Daily Mail as it should be known, is pushing for jobseekers to do 30 hours of unpaid work a week, or lose their benefits. The proposal is nothing new. The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has already implemented Workfare—where jobseekers have to do unpaid work for weeks at a time. The DWP also uses benefit sanctions, where job centres cut off benefits to people who “aren’t trying hard enough” to get into work. The TPA calls itself a “grassroots alliance” of “ordinary taxpayers”. Ordinary taxpayers who support the TPA include: lSir Tom Cowie, Life President, Arriva lSir Rocco Forte, Chairman, Rocco Forte Hotels l Peter Hargreaves, CEO, Hargreaves Lansdown l Malcolm H.D. McAlpine, Director, Sir Robert McAlpine lStuart Wheeler, Chairman, IG Group lLords Salisbury, Pearson, Derwent, Hodgson, Chadlington, Kalms and Vinson l Alexander Heath, one of its directors, pays no tax in Britain. He lives in a farmhouse in France’s Loire region and has not paid any tax in this country for years. The TaxPayers’ Alliance was set up as a limited company in 2003 by Matthew Elliott. It was formed because the rightwingers who run it thought David Cameron was too left wing. Now even the government assault on welfare is too little for them.

“England is not the country I grew up in. It’s a European country now”

An ordinary taxpayer

l

Ex-footballer, actor and US immigrant Vinnie Jones whinges about immigrants not fitting in. Jones flies a Union Jack outside his LA mansion

The Walkie Talkie building’s concave structure focused the sun into a 50 centigrade solar “death ray” in central London last week. It melted the inside of a car—tragically a sports Jaguar. It happened due to cost cutting during construction. Architect Rafael Vinoly has form. He built Las Vegas Vdara Hotel called “Death Ray Hotel”

l

Scorchie Ta lk

ie

“A small island that nobody listens to”
Spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin punctured Cameron’s imperial self-image

Bettison’s secret Lib Dems offer new perks worth £70,000 way to sell arms
Troublemaker’s favourite top cop Sir Norman Bettison just can’t stay away. The former chief constable is under investigation over the Hillsborough and Stephen Lawrence scandals. He received a secret package of perks worth more than £70,000 a year on top of his £169,359 salary. Bettison was Chief Constable of West Yorkshire Police before being forced to resign last year. That was when the IPCC police complaints watchdog began inquiries into misconduct allegations over the Hillsborough disaster. Documents disclosed under freedom of information laws reveal that Sir Norman had a “locally agreed package”. It provided him with two cars, gym membership, home entertaining expenses, personal development courses and medical insurance. The package was to recognise Sir Norman’s “exceptional qualities and additional responsibilities”. Vince Cable’s business department is finding new ways to flog arms around the world. The Direct Lending Scheme is designed to support exports that banks refuse to finance owing to their highly risky nature. Previous incarnations of such “export credit guarantee” schemes and similar have been instrumental in helping companies arm dictators. This latest money to arms dealers scam has,

Warship HMS Brilliant torpedoed whales in Margaret Thatcher’s 1982 war over the Falklands. The Navy’s “state of the art missile systems” torpedoed two of the whales and one of the ship’s helicopters killed another. The navy claimed they were swimming towards the task

TOFF OF THE WEEK
Lord Levy Former chief fundraiser for Tony Blair lAccording to a new book Levy got down on his knees in front of Matthew Harding, the late tycoon, who donated £1  million to Labour “Matthew was slumped there and he was begging him for money,” says Jonathan Powell, who was Blair’s chief of staff. “And it worked.”

“The British haven’t felt the need to kill their royal family for a good 500 years”
Number 1 in the Telegraph’s top ten ways in which little Britain is vastly superior to big fat Russia

according to the government, “been developed by UK Export Finance, the government’s export credit agency”. “It will support exports where buyers need loans of up to £50 million. This is to finance the purchase of capital and semi-capital goods and services from UK exporters, but have been unsuccessful in obtaining an export credit loan from the banks.”

Dance for Currys job
A graduate has told of his “humiliation” after being forced to dance during a job interview at Currys. The company has been forced to apologise after jobseekers were asked to dance to a song by Daft Punk at their Cardiff megastore. Alan Bacon had to perform a “dance off” for the sales assistant role. “I think everyone initially thought it was a joke,” Alan from Newport, South Wales, said.

Norman Bettison

Vince Cable

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Socialist Worker 14 September 2013

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Anger at TUC Congress, but where’s the action?
by Simon Basketter at TUC Congress in Bournemouth

IN BRIEF Prentis makes promise on pay
Dave Prentis, general secretary of Unison, predicted a pay revolt by the end of 2014. He also raised the spectre of it not happening until 2015 in the first few months of a Labour government. He said, “We will be working with other unions for an end to this pay cycle. “There will be major action around pay and it will be coordinated.”

anger and bitterness at the scale of the Tory assault flowed through the TUC Congress in Bournemouth this week. But frustration with the effectiveness of Labour’s opposition did too. TUC leader Frances O’Grady said, “The government seems intent on dividing Britain, Thatcher-style, between those in work and those out of it.” Union leaders demanded mass joint strikes and civil disobedience across Britain to “wage war on the politics of austerity”. Congress unanimously backed a motion supporting unions’ coordinating action, including strikes. A large majority of unions backed a motion pushing for a mid-week day of action and to keep the option of a general strike on the table. Last year the TUC passed a motion to look at the practicalities of a general strike. So far this has looked impractical to union leaders. Unite general secretary Len McCluskey said that the Tories know “that their divine right to rule is being questioned across society. “And they know that trade unions are at the heart of any alternative.” The TUC backed the People’s Assembly and similar local initiatives resisting austerity.

Inquiry call on Shetland crash
Delegates passed an emergency motion calling for a full inquiry into the Shetland Super Puma helicopter disaster. Four people died when it crashed last month. The motion supported workers who refuse to travel on this type of helicopter unless their safety concerns have been addressed.

TUC says don’t bomb Syria
TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady at this year’s TUC Congress

back story

Coordinated

Unison leader Dave Prentis said, “We will campaign, we will organise and move to coordinated action across sectors. “And when we move to action, we expect the Labour Party, our Labour Party, to be there with us, supporting us.” But the Labour Party is less sure of that. Labour leader Ed Miliband told

The TUC represents around 6.2 million workers across Britain lSome 54 trade unions are affiliated to it lUnion leaders voiced their anger at the Tories’ attacks on workers at this year’s TUC Congress lThey backed the idea of taking coordinated action across unions to stop the assault lA coordinated strike on 30 November 2011 had a huge impact lBut union leaders have failed to call further coordinated action

Congress on Tuesday that unions are “not the enemy within. They’re the people who make Britain what it is.” Yet in reality the unions are an obstacle within for Miliband. So he pushed ahead with his attack on union influence on the party. He repeatedly referred to former Tory leader Disraeli when arguing that getting rid of union affiliations would help recruit 300,000 trade unionists to Labour. He gave vague promises to ban zero hours contracts—but not to repeal the anti-union laws or Tory cuts. Delegates cheered militant speeches during the congress.

RMT union general secretary Bob Crow said, “We can either stand in the middle of the road paralysed like a frightened rabbit or get off our knees and fight for what we stand for.” Tony Kearns of the CWU said, “You either put up with the situation or you do something about it.” They are right. But the question for the unions, since waiting for Labour seems an increasingly forlorn hope, is when?

The TUC passed a motion reaffirming its opposition to Trident. It also issued a statement opposing military intervention in Syria.

Stop assault on workers’ rights
Delegates slammed new plans to make workers with household savings of £3,000 pay the full cost of going to an employment tribunal. From next month they will have to pay the maximum £1,200 fee even if they are in a low-paid job or on meanstested benefits.

On other pages...

Why unions and Labour are in crisis and day of action called over blacklisting >>Pages 5&19

Unite the Resistance conference

No to Tory union-bashing
There was unanimity at the trade unions and people at work.” TUC in opposition to attacks on Martin Smith is national employment rights and curbs on organiser for the GMB union. union organisation. He said this would stop unions General secretary of the Unite having to adopt “tactics of the union Len McCluskey said, French resistance” in companies “Shackled unions mean a crippled such as Amazon and Sports society. Direct. “Stronger unions mean He said these firms a decent country for were “hostile” to trade everyone to live in. unions. “Union-bashing hasn’t Steve Turner from created a single job Unite added, “If we have —instead it has led to got money to propose inequality, poverty and war on Syria, we’ve got increasing desperation.” money to wage war The TUC demanded “a on food banks, to put new legal settlement to people back to work, our provide for new rights children into school and Len McCluskey and new freedoms for university.”

Organising to win
Saturday 19 October
12 noon-5pm Bloomsbury Baptist Church, 235 Shaftesbury Avenue, London WC2H 8EP uniteresist.org

Build the protests, build the strikes, build the unions

Panic as bank run hit Northern Rock

2007

In this week

People queued outside Northern Rock branches across Britain on Friday 14 September 2007 to withdraw their money. They took out around £1 billion in just one day after the bank had to borrow cash from the Bank of England.

Socialist Worker  14 September 2013

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news & comment

Obama’s desperate measures to get support for Syria attack
by Judith Orr

Back story

Barack Obama is exposing the faultlines of US power as he goes all out to win a vote to attack Syria. As commander in chief of the US armed forces, Obama could have ordered military action without support from the Republicandominated Congress. But he suddenly shifted tack when David Cameron was forced to withdraw from supporting an attack after losing the vote in the House of Commons. Obama then said he would go to Congress to win support for military intervention. He claimed this would show that the US has “a government of the people, by the people, and for the people”. If it really was a government of the people then there would be no war. Public opinion in the US is solid against bombing Syria. In a campaign to shift the public mood the government has released footage of children and other civilians after a chemical weapons attack. Despite this the latest polls show that 70 percent of Americans do not think launching an attack is the answer.

The US used chemical weapons in Vietnam and Iraq lIt spread the defoliant Agent Orange on Vietnam, killing up to 400,000 people lAnother 500,000 children were later born with birth defects lIn Vietnam it also used napalm against civilians, something that would now be a war crime lIn the attack on Fallujah in Iraq during 2004 US forces fired mortars loaded with white phosphorus which melts the skin

line” that could not be crossed. The US is still the world’s biggest imperialist power. It still wants to swagger around the globe dictating terms to other countries, so it cannot afford to look weak. But its economy has just gone through its worst crisis since the 1930s. And the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have eroded US power instead of shoring up it.

Risks

Register

Anti-war activist Medea Benjamin has been campaigning around Congress for a no vote. She said, “Just going into the offices, you hear the phones ringing constantly and you hear the receptionist saying, ‘Yes, I will register your opposition to a US invasion of Syria’.” And the ruling class is split. There are open rows about the risk for the US being dragged into another drawn out conflict. Obama now finds his authority as a president is in the balance, but not only that. He made a big issue of saying that chemical weapons were a “red

This is why Obama has so far held back from action despite all the tough talk about Bashar al-Assad’s regime in recent months. The risks of intervening outweighed the risks of holding back. The situation changed not because Obama was moved by videos of suffering children—any military intervention will be done solely if it serves US imperialist interests. But his hesitation shows that, just like Cameron, he can’t completely ignore the opposition to war at every level of society. Whether Obama wins the vote or not his attempt to prove US power has also exposed its weaknesses.

President Obama discusses the crisis over Syria with leaders of Congress in the White House

Syrian voices oppose intervention
by Simon Assaf



On other pages...
Chile: 40 years since Pinochet’s coup >>Pages 14&15

Cameron still wants to bomb
David Cameron and foreign secretary William Hague have been doing all they can for Obama’s war plans, despite losing their own vote in parliament. Hague welcomed John Kerry on Monday of this week. The US secretary of state was touring the offices of world leaders to find support for an attack on Syria. Hague promised “full diplomatic support” to the US. He has pledged to share intelligence gathered from Britain’s GCHQ outpost in Cyprus with the US. Hague said on Sunday that the government would only bring the issue back to parliament “if circumstances change dramatically”.

David Cameron

A growing number of insurgent organisations in Syria have declared their opposition to a US strike on Bashar al-Assad’s regime. They include Islamist and secular brigades. The brigades fear that, despite the difficulties many face, any Western intervention will strengthen the regime. And this comes at a time when the regime is deeply weakened after its sarin attack on rebelheld Damascus suburbs. The rebels argue that the attack exposed as a lie regime claims that it was a moderate force in the face of growing Islamist-dominated insurgency. Assad has had some success in painting rebels as jihadis and extremists, and sowing mistrust of the rebels among a population that supported the revolution. Any Western strike will be widely seen in the Arab world as marking the failure of the revolution. It will help build Assad as an opponent of

This poster held up on a protest in rebel-held Homs, Syria, reads, “We started our revolution and we will finish it. Our unity is stronger than any foreign strike.”

imperialism, despite widespread revulsion at his regime. Several major rebel formations—including the Free Syrian Army and Islamist brigades—have posted statements on YouTube. They warn that the West “was intervening to serve its own interests”. “We reject completely any Western and Russian interference in the Muslim world”, the statements said. One fighter in Homs said,

“Why are they now making red lines, why not when Assad used Scud missiles? “When he bombed churches? When he destroyed our cities and our neighbourhoods? “This is about them, not us.” Another said, “We have over 100,000 martyrs. Now they object because of chemical weapons. “We know that this is a pretext for them to interfere in our country to end out revolution and attack the revolutionaries.”

Socialist Worker 14 September 2013

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Breivik’s party is set to join new Norwegian government
The Conservative Party has won Norway’s elections, with 27 percent of the vote. In chilling news the far right Progress Party could, for the first time ever, join a coalition government with them. Progress celebrated with promises of “tougher immigration policies” and tax cuts. In 2009 their leader, Siv Jensen, introduced Norway to the expression “Sneak Islamisation” while attacking Muslims’ rights. Just weeks after her former member Anders Behring Breivik massacred people in July 2011, she reaffirmed her position. Progress lost support soon after. But the main parties avoided politically addressing Breivik’s massacre, and let

INternational

WHAT WE THINK

H
progress party leader Siv Jensen

TUC leaders dream of Labour concessions
what the changes will mean for Labour’s cash flow. Unison leader Dave Prentis denounced Miliband’s plans as “living in cloud cuckoo land”. Unite’s Len McCluskey is generally more conciliatory. He said, “We want to engage in a proper debate and discussion to see whether we can strengthen the relationship and make sure that we create a Labour Party that is on the side of ordinary working people.” Miliband told delegates at the TUC, “It is you who have been telling me year after year about a politics that is detached from the lives of working people. We need to build a party truly rooted in the lives of all the working people of Britain once more.” But Labour is at best aloof on the things that matter. At worst it agrees with the Tories. Union leaders are rightly furious at Labour announcing it would stick to the coalition’s spending plans for 2015-16 if it wins the next election. Prentis called it “madness”. Union leaders need promises of change from Labour so they can focus on re-electing the party, not calling action, as a way to beat the Tories. But Labour is refusing to reverse the cuts. And this is leading to repeated crises. So, there is much discussion of the evils of zero-hours contracts. Striking Hovis workers (see page 18) have beaten them in Wigan. That is a better approach than spending millions of pounds to get Labour to think about doing something about employment law. There was much rhetoric on the importance of standing up for union members at the TUC. But until enough pressure is put on union leaders to call and support action against the Tories and the bosses they will remain paralysed.

them off the hook. Their vote has gone down since 2009. Yet the political establishment is willing to form a new government with them. The previous “Red-Green” alliance lasted eight years and was backed by the unions. But it forced through neoliberal reforms to health care, pensions and labour conditions. It also promised a “humane asylum

policy” yet attacked asylum seekers harder than any previous government. This played into the hands of Progress. The Tory coalition will now dedicate itself to undermining union power, labour rights and benefits, while privatising and cutting public services. We need to prepare to fight their racism, and hostile policies towards immigrants and refugees. Thomas Kvilhaug

Disillusion helps Murdoch’s man win Australia’s election
Right winger Tony Abbott won Australia’s election last week. Rupert Murdoch’s papers enthusiastically backed the liberal party leader. Abbott said in his victory speech, “Australia is under new management and Australia is now open for business”. Abbott promises to cut government spending, and repeal carbon and mining taxes. He has run a filthy campaign, attacking migrants. Socialist Worker’s sister paper Solidarity reported, “Abbott has

ow can we stop the Tories’ assault? That was the question asked but not answered at this year’s TUC Congress in Bournemouth. For many union leaders Plan A was simple. Push Labour to be a bit more left than it was in government last time and wait for it to be elected. But Plan A has gone wrong. Labour leader Ed Miliband seems determined to spurn union advances. Labour accused the Unite union of corruption in the parliamentary candidate selection process in Falkirk. Unite has since been cleared. But this row revealed a deeper crisis. At its heart is the question of whether the Labour Party looks after the interests of workers—in however a limited way. Miliband wants to get rid of union affiliations to Labour to encourage more people to join the party. This has sparked outrage among union leaders, partly because it directly attacks their influence. The GMB union has cut £1 million of its funding to Labour. This is intended as warning as to

‘‘ 

Labour is at best aloof on the things that matter. At worst it agrees with the Tories

Abuse is overlooked

T
Protest targets Tony Abbott outside a polling station

no mandate for his big business agenda. “Overwhelmingly, people voted against Labor—not for the Coalition. “On so many issues

a majority oppose Abbott. “In a pre-election poll over half thought him narrow-minded and out of touch with ordinary people.”

he sexual exploitation of children has become a racialised crime. Politicians and tabloid newspapers want to demonise Muslims and claim “grooming” crimes are specifically a problem of Pakistani men targeting white girls. But these claims are based on a small selection of recent cases. Now a new report also shows that white girls are not the only victims.

The survey by the Muslim Women’s Network gives evidence that Asian girls, and boys, are also victims of sexual exploitation by both Asian and white abusers. It shows that the suffering of Asian girls has been overlooked because of racist myths about the motivation of abusers. This research is limited to a small number of cases but it exposes the problem of portraying the crime as solely

involving a certain section of the population. Victims who don’t fit the assumptions may not get the help they need and abusers who don’t fit racist stereotypes may not get noticed. All statistics show that the vast majority of child sex offenders are white. But politicians and newspaper headlines never describe child sexual exploitation as a crime reflecting the culture and beliefs of white people.

Workers put the lights out
Striking power workers put the lights out in Johannesburg, South Africa, for three days last week. Some 200 technicians walked out unofficially over shift changes. Bosses claimed some workers with technical knowhow shut down sub stations, causing blackouts. Johannesburg mayor Parks Tau is threatening criminal charges, saying there could not have been blackouts without sabotage. However the workers have been ordered to do the extra shifts because they had not been able to halt earlier power cuts working their existing hours. Workers in the motor, construction and gold industries have all recently held strikes over wage demands across the country.

This month in Socialist Review
islamophobia, repression and resistance Talat Ahmed on the role of the state in fostering Islamophobia and how we can resist it greece: crisis and the left Thanasis Kampagiannis on the situation in Greece, Syriza and workers’ resistance
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news

A class divided by money and power
THE G20 summit has been dominated by the divisions among the Great Powers over Syria. The line-up has been predictable. A joint statement signed by the US, Britain, France, Australia, Canada, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Spain and Turkey called for “a strong international response” to Bashar al-Assad’s alleged use of chemical weapons. Among those states refusing to sign up were Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Germany, Indonesia, and Argentina. This is pretty similar to the division over the Nato military intervention in Libya in 2011. Roughly speaking you have the main Western imperialist powers and their closest allies opposed by the so-called “emerging market economies”, including all the members of the BRICS grouping of leading Southern states. Germany is the odd one out—and not just because chancellor Angela Merkel faces elections. Berlin also opposed the Libyan intervention. What’s interesting is that this geopolitical split roughly matches up to a divergence in economic fortunes. After the 2008 crash, the G20 was supposed to have supplanted the Western-dominated G7 as the main forum for coordinating economy policy among leading capitalist states. This hasn’t exactly worked out, partly because the G7 has much better organisational resources supporting it, partly because of the different economic trajectories taken by the member states of the G20. Since the Great Recession of 2008-9 the key zones of advanced capitalism—the US, the European Union, and Japan—have, at best, stagnated. Meanwhile, the leading economies of the global South have recovered relatively strongly. Initially, this was because the Chinese government ordered a massive programme of bankfinanced investment. This revived not only China but also those countries supplying it with energy, raw materials, and complex manufactured goods. This pulled up the other “emerging market economies” but also Germany, which specialises in exporting high-end manufactures. But a second factor soon came into play. This was the policy of “quantitative easing” (QE). The US Federal Reserve Board embarked on this policy, followed by the Bank of England and, more recently, the Japanese central bank. This involves central banks buying government and corporate bonds with money specially created for the purpose.

Analysis alex Callinicos

Anti bedroom tax federation piles on the pressure to win
by Raymie Kiernan

Angry

Stockport campaigners

Reserves

The idea was that QE would, by pumping money into the economy, encourage companies to borrow and invest. This didn’t work—big corporations are sitting on huge cash reserves that they are not investing. So much of the new money was used to make speculative investments in the bigger economies of the global South, encouraging relatively rapid economic growth. Now this is unravelling. The Chinese authorities are desperately trying to slow down an economy that has been driven by the accumulation of vast quantities of unmanageable debt. And the influx of capital elsewhere created more speculative bubbles that are now deflating in countries such as India, Indonesia, and Turkey. Add to this the fact that some Western economies—notably the US and Britain—have finally begun to grow a bit. This has prompted financial markets to start betting that the Federal Reserve and other central banks will end QE and allow interest rates to rise much earlier than they are claiming they will. This is a self-fulfilling prophecy that is already pushing up interest rates. And this in turn is attracting speculative money to shun the South and return to the US and Europe. Just before the G20 summit the International Monetary Fund admitted that it had got it wrong yet again. The “emerging market economies” have not, as it had predicted, become the driver of global growth, and “momentum is projected to come mainly from advanced economies”. Tensions about US plans to “taper” QE surfaced at the G20 summit, though they were papered over it in the final communiqué. But St Petersburg confirmed the disharmony among the leading capitalist states is as much economic as it is geopolitical.

Angry anti bedroom tax campaigners in Cudworth, near Barnsley, grilled Barnsley Labour council leader, Steve Houghton on Tuesday of last week. Tenants asked why he wasn’t following North Lanarkshire’s lead instead of taking tenants to court with the threat of evictions. Houghton promised to argue that Barnsley council oppose the bedroom tax, and

call on Ed Miliband to pledge to repeal it. He also pledged to see whether Barnsley could follow North Lanarkshire’s example. In Scotland, campaigners in Fife scored tremendous victories at appeal tribunals. They successfully argued exemption from the tax as their so-called “spare” rooms were used for other purposes. Jackie Baillie, Scottish

Picture: Mark Krantz

A senior United Nations (UN) official touring Britain for two weeks has been inundated with testimonies about the human suffering caused by the Tories’ bedroom tax. The special rapporteur on housing, Raquel Rolnik, heard mounting evidence suggesting the impact of the bedroom tax has violated human rights. The preliminary findings were due as Socialist Worker went to press. The report comes as pressure from campaigners is starting to get results. Momentum has grown after Scotland’s largest council landlord, North La na r kshi r e , la st we e k announced a no evictions policy for tenants in arrears due to the tax. The head of the Labour group in Cosla, the umbrella group for Scottish councils, pledged the same for all Labour-controlled councils in Scotland. Sheffield’s Labour council did the same for Sheffield. And the North Lanarkshire decision has emboldened campaigners elsewhere.

lobbying the Scottish government, this week against Picture: Josh Brown evictions for bedroom tax arrears

Labour’s welfare spokesperson, plans to introduce a motion to the Scottish Parliament against the bedroom tax. It calls for £50 million extra for councils and housing associations to deal with increasing rent arrears as tenants can’t or won’t pay. And Nick Clegg faces possible defeat over a motion opposing the bedroom tax at the Lib Dem conference. Campaigners plan protests outside the conference. Angela McCormick is vicechair of the All Scotland Anti Bedroom Tax Federation. She told Socialist Worker, “We are lobbying the Scottish government to rule out any evictions for bedroom tax arrears.

Thanks to Dave Gibson and Carlo Morelli
Anti Bedroom Tax March and Rally, Saturday 14 September, assemble 12 noon Glasgow Green. Rally at SECC.

“And the mood is growing around the protest at the Lib Dem Conference in Glasgow this weekend. “All the recent moves against the tax are a direct result of consistent and determined activity from people on the ground in local communities across Britain. “This needs to continue if we are to finally finish off these nasty attacks on the working class.”

Rally to call for independence in Scotland
Thousands of people in Scotland are mobilising to march for independence on Saturday 21 September in Edinburgh. Yes Scotland has organised the event. It is calling for a vote for an independent Scotland in next year’s referendum. Around 10,000 people joined a similar rally in September last year. Steven Griffiths is a campaigner for independence involved in the Scrap Trident Coalition. He said, “I’ll be marching for independence because a Yes vote in the referendum is our first genuine opportunity for radical change in my lifetime. “We have to reject the unfair and destructive policies of the Westminster elite. “Welfare and health budgets are being slashed while politicians tell us we need a £100 billion Trident system which we can never use.”
March and Rally for Scottish Independence Saturday 21 September, 11am to 4pm, Calton Hill, Edinburgh EH1 3BJ



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Rally for Scottish independence last year

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Socialist Worker 14 September 2013

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Protesters keep EDL out of east London
Last weekend’s mass mobilisation shows what it takes to stop the fascists, says Annette Mackin Over 5,000 anti-fascist protestback story ers kept the English Defence
League (EDL) out of Tower Hamlets, east London, last Saturday. The EDL managed to muster just 600. They wanted to march into Tower Hamlets and into Altab Ali Park—named after a young Bangladeshi man murdered by racists­ —but they did not pass. The scale of the anti-fascist mobilisation forced the police to restrict the EDL to a brief rally at Aldgate, outside Tower Hamlets. Unite Against Fascism (UAF) called the demonstration which opened with a rally in Altab Ali Park. It was supported by United East End, trade unions and many other organisations. Local councillor Rabina Khan told the crowd in the park, “They say that multiculturalism is dead. But I’m a product of multiculturalism and we are here to stay.” Writer Owen Jones said, “We are a community united, standing in solidarity. Stand together and we’ll win this together.”
The EDL promised to mobilise thousands to Tower Hamlets lIt has tried to use the killing of soldier Lee Rigby in Woolwich in May to whip up racism lMosques have been firebombed and others faced racist attacks lUAF has consistently mobilised against the fascists wherever and whenever they have marched lThe EDL completely failed to march in Tower Hamlets last Saturday—for the third time

anti-fascists blocking Whitechapel Road in east London last Saturday

Picture: Guy Smallman

Battle

Veteran anti-fascist campaigner Max Levitas said, “This is taking me back to the Battle of Cable Street. We won because we stood in the fight. We didn’t move, we must do the same now.” Amanda Bentham from the NUT union, John McLoughlin from Unison and mayor Lutfur Rahman all spoke from Tower Hamlets. Crowds kept arriving all morning. Mahmoud, who lives in Tower Hamlets, told Socialist Worker, “It’s brilliant to see so many people out together. These are our streets. The EDL will not come here to spread their hate.” As the EDL approached Aldgate thousands took over Whitechapel Road. Banners from the NUT, PCS, Unison, UCU, Unite, CWU, BMA and RMT unions filled the road. After the Nazis scuttled back over

Tower Bridge, a victory march went down Whitechapel Road and rallied outside East London Mosque. Chants of “Whose streets? Our streets!” filled the air. UAF joint secretary Weyman Bennett told the crowd,“The EDL will never come to the streets of east London. Who stopped them? We stopped them! Let’s continue to stand together in solidarity.” The EDL fought each other throughout the day and around 14 were arrested, including EDL cofounder Tommy Robinson. A group of anti-fascists broke from the main demo. They were held in police kettles for hours and later arrested. One observer told Socialist Worker, “They literally arrested every single person in those kettles. Nothing was happening, but they were arrested anyway. I was there until the last arrest four hours after the main demo ended.” Over 200 were arrested, including five legal observers and at least one journalist. Weyman Bennett said, “UAF Legal is investigating why the police went in and arrested so many anti-fascists. “It always goes back to the disproportionate way the police treat anti-fascist protesters.”

New movement will Max resistance to Tories’ scapegoating of migrants
by joseph choonara

Arrests

Draconian

The government is set to publish its immigration bill in coming weeks. It will translate draconian measures trailed in this years queen’s speech into law. This could include attempts to curtail migrants’ access to the NHS and Legal Aid. It could also force landlords and employers to police the migration status of residents and employees. Representatives of several national and regional organisations committed to opposing the

Protest at UK Border Agency in Glasgow against giant posters inside depicting a destitute refugee. The posters read, “Is life here hard? Going home is simple”.

government’s attacks attended the Max meeting. These included South London Immigration Monitor, Black Activists Rising Against Cuts, the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants, the Migrant Rights Network, Migrant Voice, BritCits and others. Max hopes to strengthen its links with trade unions and other

campaigning organisations. It committed to call a demonstration in response to the first parliamentary reading of the immigration bill. It also agreed a draft launch statement. The Socialist Workers Party has affiliated to Max and other antiracist and campaigning groups should do the same.

Read the statement at bit.ly/18PlVv0

picture:

A new coalition to oppose the scapegoating of migrants, the Movement Against Xenophobia (Max), held its inaugural meeting in London on Wednesday of last week. The summer has seen an escalation of attacks on migrants. Home Office vans have travelled around London bearing the slogan “Go home or face arrest”. The UK Border Agency has coordinated raids on transport hubs.

Duncan Brown

Socialist Worker 14 September 2013

8

international

Solidarity fight frees an Egyptian socialist
The arrest of a socialist lawyer is a warning that the Egyptian state may now target the left, says  Judith Orr
Egy p t i a n R e v o l u t i o n a r y Socialist and leading labour lawyer Haitham Mohammedain was released with no bail from police custody late on Saturday. Haitham was arrested on Thursday of last week as he made his way to meet workers in Suez who had asked him to represent them. He said, “I have been released thanks to the pressure of all those who stood in solidarity with me, not just in Egypt, but internationally across the world.” Wassim Wagdy spoke to Socialist Worker from Cairo. He said, “The solidarity Haitham received was stunning. Many industrial workers came on the protests.” Demonstrations took place across Egypt. Lawyers and activists across the world signed protest letters and sent their support. But Haitham still has charges pending. Police stopped the bus he was on last week. Haitham was taken off the bus and showed police his lawyer’s ID. Documents in his bag showed he had been part of the demonstrations against Muslim Brotherhood president Mohamed Mursi. They also showed he had campaigned against the military takeover after Mursi’s fall. He was taken into custody in a Suez police station. The cell for political prisoners was full of Brotherhood supporters, so he was put in with people accused of ordinary crimes. The four metres square cell held 42 other prisoners. Haitham spent the night answering questions about socialism and politics. He now faces investigation and trial by the higher state security prosecution office. Haitham said, “It was a political arrest so I gave them a political defence.” Three hours of his interrogation was solely about the Revolutionary Socialists. “He is being accused of being in a

back story

Mass demonstrations and strikes overthrew Egypt’s dictator Hosni Mubarak in 2011 lMohamed Mursi, Egypt’s first democratically elected president, took office on 30 June 2012—but continued many of Mubarak’s policies lUp to 17 million people marched against Mursi on 30 June this year lEgypt’s military removed Mursi on 3 July and began a brutal crack down on Mursi’s Muslim Brotherhood

Hundreds protest against Haitham Mohammedain’s arrest in Cairo last week

Picture: Gigi Ibrahim

Greece
by Ken Olende

New attack on public sector workers
Greek Secondary school teachers are outraged at the government’s privatising “mobility scheme”. It is a massive attack on wages and conditions. Teachers’ unions have announced a series of five-day rolling strikes. The first is set to start on Monday of next week. They also plan legal action. The scheme was imposed by the Troika—the European Commission, International Monetary Fund and European Central Bank—as part of Greece’s bailout conditions. It affects over 25,000 public sector workers, including 3,500 teachers. They will only be paid 75 percent of their salary—which has already been reduced. They will then be sacked if they can’t be transferred to another post within eight months. The teachers’ action is timed to coincide with a public sector general strike on Wednesday and Thursday of next week on the same issue. Some health workers have already taken action. At Salonika’s Infectious Diseases Hospital, workers came in to find entire sections closed and locked. They set up a mass picket of about 80 people. “There is no other way to keep the hospital open except to stay here and keep control in our hands,” said one physiotherapist.

secret organisation, one that advocates ‘a certain class’ should have supremacy in Egypt,” said Wassim. “They couldn’t bring themselves to say ‘the working class’. “He was also accused of receiving funding from foreign sources and plotting to topple the social system.”

Brotherhood

Arrest

The military crackdown has so far focused on the Brotherhood. Security forces massacred hundreds of Brotherhood supporters when they demonstrated for Mursi’s reinstatement last month. The Revolutionary Socialists took part in the 30 June marches against Mursi. And they have been part of a small minority of revolutionary forces who have courageously stood out against the military take over since Mursi’s fall. This exposed them to the attention of state security forces which have been more confident since co-opting sections of the revolutionary movement in their support. Haitham’s charges show the danger that the state may now target the left and the importance of solidarity both in Egypt and internationally.

Striking teachers in Greece

figure it out


50

Anti-fascist cleared of libel
Greek socialist activist Savvas Michael was acquitted in a libel case brought by Nazi party Golden Dawn last week. This is a considerable victory, but the prosecution of Petros Constantinou, coordinator of the anti-fascist group, Keerfa, continues. Savvas was in court because his party published a leaflet for an antifascist protest using an old slogan, “The people don’t forget. “They send the fascists to the gallows”. Constantinos Moutzouris, former chancellor of Athens Polytechnic, was also acquitted. He’d been charged because Athens Indymedia— which also supported the demo—is on the university server. Petros, Keerfa’s coordinator, is the best known figure in the anti-fascist movement. We hope to stop the prosecution reaching court. Teachers and hospital workers have passed motions in support of Petros.
Nikos Loudos

 billion euros swallowed by banks in Greece for their “recapitalisation” needs at the beginning of this summer  billion euros for another bailout for bankers in Greece expected next year  percent cuts in public sector wages—the minimum the Troika wants to impose on workers



11





On other pages...

24

Tories’ class war—march on 29 September >>Pages 10&11

Letters
Keep up the pressure
David Cameron losing the Syria war vote is a huge boost to anyone who wants to resist war and austerity People don’t suddenly forget the huge number of deaths that resulted from bombing Afghanistan and Iraq. But there are differences ten years on. We have recently seen revolutions and uprisings across the Arab world which present greater risk for military intervention. And Labour is now in opposition. I believe if it was in power we would have seen more Labour MPs bow to the whips. Undoubtedly the pressure of anti-war feeling helped to defeat Cameron. We must keep it up.

Email [email protected] Post Socialist Worker, PO Box 42184, London SW8 2WD

Socialist Worker 

14 September 2013

9

Just a thought...

Oliver serves up nonsense
Jamie oliver, the multimillionaire TV chef, says he is uncomfortable speaking about poverty in Britain. That’s OK, because I’m uncomfortable listening to him. His comments on people’s eating habits and the size of their TVs were bizarre and garnished with demonisation. Matty Flynn Bradford

Illustration: Tim Sanders

nIn the 1930s rich

Reclaim the power

Julie Webster Nottingham

The mobilisation for the Sunday 29 September march on the Tory Party conference in Manchester has received a further boost. Reclaim the Power, has decided to back the demonstration. This is the coalition of groups which organised a week long action camp and mass blockade of Cuadrilla’s fracking operation in Balcombe last month. It wants to highlight the fact that the destruction of the NHS through privatisation and the destruction of the environment through fracking are driven by the same neoliberal ideology.

We must fight to protect our hard won abortion rights
I remember a winter evening in 1964. A young woman collapsed on the pavement in front of me. I went to help her and offered to call an ambulance. She pleaded with me not to. Her backstreet abortion had made her a criminal and she was too frightened to seek treatment. Luckily, the ambulance driver assured us she would be treated sympathetically. Until abortion was legalised in 1967, thousands of women went through similar experiences and hundreds died. We campaigned for years, against continual attempts to roll back every gain, for the right of every woman to control her own body. Our hard won rights are threatened again by members of the government. They want a lower time limit for abortion and compulsory counselling, sometimes by openly anti-abortion organisations. There is also a group of Texasbased Christian fundamentalists called 40 Days for Life, planning another campaign against abortion clinics. They want to surround them in what is described as a peaceful prayer vigil. The reality is far more intimidating. They film clinic staff and patients. They accost and harass vulnerable women, aiming to persuade them to go through with unwanted pregnancies and give up their babies for adoption. They distribute misleading leaflets about alleged dangers of abortion. From 25 September to 3 November this group will target the British Pregnancy Advisory Service clinics in Stratford, Ealing and Twickenham. Pro-choice campaigners will be organising counter-demonstrations and showing solidarity with clinic staff by delivering messages of support, chocolates and flowers. Support for a woman’s right to choose is a basic socialist principle. We must support this campaign and fight to protect our rights.
Sarah Cox London

socialite Lady Docker was addressing a lecture to the poor on how to make a nutritious meal from a cod’s head. A member of the audience chirped up at the top of their voice and said, “Who got the rest of the bloody cod?” Answer that one, Jamie Oliver. Martin Adams London

Keep Deanes School open
Thank you for supporting and reporting this atrocity of closing Deanes School. Cllr Ray Gooding is going ahead with plans to close the school. This is despite a 50-page document of evidence that argued otherwise. Councils in Southend, Basildon and Castle Point in Essex are all vehemently against the closure. We shall continue with the fight for the sake of our children. Hayley Leigh-on-Sea, Essex

John Sinha London

Axe the bedroom tax
The Bedroom Tax is a prime example of how this government treats people with disregard and disrespect. It is so encouraging to see that so many people, all over the country, are standing up to them. And besides being turfed out of our homes we are now being forced to work until we drop. Anne Keen on Facebook

Anger and anxiety over A working Super Puma flights class hero
I was on a ferry bound for Shetland last week when news began to filter through of the Super Puma crash which claimed the lives of four offshore oil workers. Many fellow passengers were anxious about friends and relatives whom they knew would be involved in the search and rescue operation. There was also anger that more workers’ lives had been lost in an aircraft which already had a poor safety record. Workers were angered by the swift restarting of flights. This was despite thousands signing an online petition for the Super Pumas to be grounded permanently. Workers are only thankful that the government had failed in its attempt to close the coastguard station. It was good to be reminded of the enduring nature of Bill Shankly’s inspiration (Socialist Worker, 31 August). As a 13 year old Anfield boy in 1959 I had no doubt that he would transform the fortunes of our Second Division team. And thousands of other Liverpool supporters thought the same. His socialism came from the Scottish coal fields. It informed his belief that

Liverpool manager Bill Shankly

nSocialist Worker is after his death was when he turned up at a wedding of a supporter with five of the team. The family had only requested a signed card!

Frank Ormston York

he, and his players, were privileged to represent and entertain the workers who paid their wages. He was a working class hero for generations. One story that emerged

Derek Coleman Manchester

really informative with plenty of examples of why the bedroom tax punishes the vulnerable and is a form of class cleansing. Moyra Samuels on Facebook

Bad for the workers

Good for the bosses
GOING UP
The average pay rise for FTSE 100 bosses last year was 10 percent. The average yearly pension for FTSE 100 bosses is £260k, up from £180k three years ago. The average pension pot for a FTSE 100 boss is now £4.73 million. One director alone has a pot of £22.2 million, according to the TUC

660,000 650,000 170%

public sector jobs axed so far under austerity plans

the Tories’

GOING down
The rate of corporation tax is now just 20 percent. Chancellor George Osborne slashed it from 28 percent. The tax was 52 percent under Margaret Thatcher.

households hit by hated bedroom tax

ergency rise in the number of people given em r food by food banks since April last yea

Pay and pensions
Workers’ wages have dropped by 5.5 percent since autumn 2010. The average public sector pension is worth less than £5,000 a year. Benefits and wages are being pushed down while the cost of living soars. And the Tories want to raise the state pension age to 67 by 2028. Just 12p out of every £1 created in Britain’s economy goes to the wages of the poorest half of workers. This figure has fallen by a quarter over the past 30 years.

Benefits
Several people have killed themselves because of stress caused by the Tories’ war on welfare. The bedroom tax raid on housing benefit has taken many tenants below the minimum income of £71 a week. Two thirds of households affected by the tax include at least one disabled person. The Tories admit their “reforms” will snatch benefits from 500,000 disabled people.

Health
Some 25,000 NHS jobs have gone under the Tories—and they want to slash another £20 billion from health service spending. They want to sell off the NHS to vulture firms who can make mega profits.

Jobs
Some 2.5 million workers are officially unemployed, including almost a million young people. Over 16 percent of those in work earn less than the Living Wage—set at £7.45 an hour or £8.55 an hour in London. It’s estimated that one in ten workers want to work more hours. And the Tories have slashed 25 percent of the Health and Safety Executive budget—putting workers’ safety at risk.

TORIE S’ CL A S S WA R
The government are waging war on workers and the poor—but their rich mates are booming provides a few reasons to demonstrate at the Tory party conference

bonuses

£40,000,000,000
inequality
Britain is more unequal now than it was a year ago. The richest people grabbed another £35 billion over the last financial year. But ordinary people have seen their incomes slashed as the cost of living soars. Food prices rose four times faster than wages.

That’s £40 billion—the amount paid out in bonuses in the last financial year, a rise of 4 percent. MPs are also set to cash in. They’re in line for an 11 percent rise, which takes their pay to more than £73,000 a year, not including expenses.

tax
billion in taxes every year.Yet some 40,000 HM Revenue and Customs workers have been sacked since 2005. Each worker brings in an average of £1 million in tax every year.

It’s estimated that the rich evade or avoid £120

Get on board!
Scores of special trains, coaches and car pools will take thousands to Manchester on the day. For details see www.uniteresist.org
Add local details

MARCH IN MANCHESTER SUNDAY 29 SEPTEMBER

Socialist Worker 14 September 2013

12

What’s ON
Worker { Socialist PUBLIC meetings }
Reform or revolution Thu 19 Sep, 7.30pm, Vauxhall Centre, Johnson Place, NR2 2SA
Norwich

Email your meetings to [email protected] or phone 020 7819 1170

What we stand for
These are the core politics of the Socialist Workers Party. INDEPENDENT WORKING CLASS ACTION Under capitalism workers’ labour creates all profit. A socialist society can only be constructed when the working class seizes control of the means of production and d ­ emocratically plans how they are used. REVOLUTION NOT REFORM The present system can­not be patched up or reformed as the established Labour and trade union leaders say. It has to be overthrown. Capitalism systematically degrades the natural world. Ending environmental crisis means creating a new society. THERE IS NO PARLIAMENTARY ROAD The structures of the present parliament, army, police and judiciary cannot be taken over and used by the working class. They grew up under capitalism and are designed to protect the ruling class against the workers. The working class needs an entirely different kind of state—a workers’ state based upon councils of workers’ delegates and a workers’ militia. At most parliamentary activity can be used to make propaganda against the present system. Only the mass action of the workers themselves can destroy the system. INTERNATIONALISM The struggle for socialism is part of a worldwide s ­ truggle. We campaign for solidarity with workers in other countries. We oppose everything which turns workers from one country against those from other countries. We oppose racism and imperialism.We oppose all immigration controls. We support the right of black people and other oppressed groups to organise their own defence.We support all genuine national liberation movements. The experience of Russia demonstrates that a socialist revolution cannot survive in isolation in one country. In Russia the result was state capitalism, not socialism. In Eastern Europe and China a similar system was later established by Stalinist parties. We support the struggle of workers in these countries against both private and state capitalism. We are for real social, economic and political equality of women.We are for an end to all forms of discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. We defend the right of believers to practise their religion without state interference. THE REVOLUTIONARY PARTY To achieve socialism the most militant sections of the working class have to be organised into a revolutionary socialist party. Such a party can only be built by activity in the mass organisations of the working class. We have to prove in p ­ ractice to other workers that reformist leaders and reformist ideas are opposed to their own i ­ nterests. We have to build a rank and file movement within the unions. To join us, turn to page 16 or go to www.swp.org.uk or phone 020 7819 1170 for more information

Socialist Worker branch meetings

What is anarchism? Wed 18 Sep, 7pm, Snug Room,The Grand Union, 26 Camberwell Grove (off Camberwell Church St), SE5 8RE Marxism and the new feminism Wed 18 Sep, 7.30pm, Kitabevi Cafe, 410 Tottenham High Rd, N17 9JB Lessons from the 1913 Dublin Lockout Wed 18 Sep, 7pm, Oxford House, Derbyshire St (opp Bethnal Green Rd Tesco), E2 6HG Engels and the origin of women’s oppression Wed 18 Sep, 7.30pm, Quaker Meeting House, 1a Jewel Rd (off Hoe St), E17 4QU
LONDON:WALTHAMSTOW & LEYTONSTONE LONDON:TOWER HAMLETS LONDON:TOTTENHAM

LONDON: SOUTHWARK

Joe Hill and the Wobblies—a radical history of the USA Thu 19 Sep, 7.30pm, Brynmill Community Centre, St Albans Rd, SA2 0BP The fight against racism 50 years on since Martin Luther King’s speech Wed 18 Sep, 7.30pm, Sea Horse Hotel, 4 Fawcett St,YO10 4AH
YORK

SWANSEA

Worker { Socialist branch meetings }
Weekly meetings to discuss political issues and our local interventions. All welcome.
ABERDEEN

Imperialism and the Middle East Thu 19 Sep, 6pm, Aberdeen Trades Council Office, 22a Adelphi Lane, AB11 5BL The police, corruption and the state Thu 19 Sep, 7.30pm, YMCA, 1 Blucher St, S70 1AP 50 years since the March on Washington—how do we turn the dream into a reality? Wed 18 Sep, 7pm, Laurel Road Community Sports Centre, Laurel Rd, B21 9PB Porn and women’s oppression—what do socialists say? Wed 25 Sep, 7.30pm, King’s Heath Community Centre, 8 Heathfield Rd, B14 7DB
BOLTON BIRMINGHAM: STIRCHLEY & KINGS HEATH BIRMINGHAM: HANDSWORTH BARNSLEY

{

Movement events

}

The Happy Lands, a film by Robert Rae Tue 24 Sep, 7pm, The Civic, Hanson St, S70 2HZ. £5/£2.50 concessions (Box Office 01226327000). Organised by Barnsley Trades Council Defending the NHS public meeting Wed 18 Sep, 7.30pm, Friends Meeting House, Ship St, BN1 1AF The Great Unrest 1910-1913—how can workers win? Sat 5 Oct, 1.30pm, Colliton Club (opposite County Hall), Colliton Park, Dorchester DT1 1XJ Organised by Dorset Socialists 3rd Lewes Festival of Trade Unionism and Socialism— 1st May Banner Band Tue 24 Sep, All Saints Centre, Friars Walk,BN7 2LE. Organised by Lewes and District Trades Council Stop the War Coalition annual general meeting Sat 14 Sep, 10am-5pm, The Old Cinema, University of Westminster, 309 Regent St,W1B 2UW. Admission £10/£5. stopwar.org.uk Say It Loud! Launch party for new book on Marxism and the fight against racism Sat 21 Sep, 8pm-2am, The Horse Bar, 124 Westminster Bridge Rd, SE1 7RW. Admission free. RSVP [email protected] Organising to win—Unite the Resistance conference Sat 19 Oct, 12 noon-5pm, Bloomsbury Baptist Church, 235 Shaftesbury Ave, C2H 8EP. £5/£3. To book tickets go to uniteresist.org or email [email protected] Austerity, Injustice and the Power of Protest —Defend the Right to Protest conference Sun 27 Oct, 11am-5.30pm, University of London Union (ULU), Malet St,WC1E 7HY. Admission £5/£3 unwaged £10 solidarity. To book tickets go to defendtherighttoprotest.org
London Lewes Dorset brighton

Barnsley

Chile 1973—revolution, reform and reaction
BIRMINGHAM: SMALL HEATH Wed 18 Sep, 7.30pm, Bader Restaurant, 394 Coventry Rd, B10 0UF BRADFORD Wed 18 Sep, 6pm, The Equity Centre, 1 Longlands St, BD1 2TP CHESTERFIELD Thu 19 Sep, 7.30pm, Chesterfield Library, New Beetwell St, S40 1QN
DUDLEY

Cameron on the run—how can we defeat the Tories? Wed 18 Sep, 7.30pm, Chorlton Library (side door), Manchester Rd, M21 9PN 40 years since Pinochet’s coup in Chile—what are the lessons for today? Thu 19 Sep, 6.30pm, Friends Meeting House, 6 Mount St, M2 5NS Lessons from the 1913 Dublin Lockout Wed 18 Sep, 7.30pm, Swad Cafe, 608 Stockport Road (next to the Immigration Law Centre), Longsight, M13 0RQ How should the left organise the fightback today? Thu 19 Sep, 7pm, The Labour Club, 11 Leazes Park Rd, NE1 4PF Tories, cuts and privatisation—how can we save the NHS? Thu 19 Sep, 7.30pm, Turl Street Kitchen, 16 Turl St,OX1 3DH Rich vs Poor—how the economy really works Wed 18 Sep, 7.30pm, Southsea Community Centre, St Paul’s Square, PO5 4EE Who are the British? Wed 18 Sep, 7pm, Bridge Inn, Greasbrough Rd (near the bus and train stations),S60 1RB A rebel’s guide to Gramsci Wed 25 Sep, 7.30pm, Upstairs Trinity Church Hall, 1 Beaconsfield Rd (near St Albans City station), AL1 3RD Lessons from the 1913 Dublin lockout Thu 19 Sep, 7.30pm, Burngreave Community Library, 179 Spital Hill, S4 7LF Where next for the Egyptian revolution? Wed 25 Sep, 7.30pm, Old Junior School/Sharrow Community Forum, South View Rd (off Sharrow Lane), S7 1DB The trade union bureaucracy and the rank and file Wed 18 Aug, 7.30pm, Goblets Wine Bar (upstairs), 184 Above Bar St, SO14 7DW
SOUTHAMPTON SHEFFIELD: SOUTH SHEFFIELD: NORTH ST ALBANS ROTHERHAM PORTSMOUTH OXFORD NEWCASTLE MANCHESTER: LONGSIGHT & LEVENSHULME MANCHESTER: CITY CENTRE

MANCHESTER: CHORLTON

EDINBURGH Wed 18 Sep, 7.30pm, Friends Meeting House, 7 Victoria St, EH1 2JL LONDON: DALSTON Wed 18 Sep, 7.30pm, Halkevi Community Centre 31-33 Dalston Lane (just down from Dalston Junction), E8 3DF LONDON: KINGSTON Thu 19 Sep, 7.30pm, St Luke’s Church, 62A Gibbon Rd, KT2 6AB
LEEDS

LUTON Wed 18 Sep, 7.30pm, Hazel Room, Bury Park Community Resource Centre, 161 Dunstable Rd, LU1 1BW NOTTINGHAM Wed 18 Sep, 7.30pm, International Community Centre, 61b Mansfield Rd, NG1 3FN WOLVERHAMPTON Wed 18 Sep, 7.30pm, Grain Store, King St, WV1 1ST
LONDON: EUSTON

Egypt—revolution and counter revolution Wed 25 Sep, 6.30pm, Bolton Socialist Club, 16 Wood St (off Bradshawgate), BL1 1DY Do we live in a democracy? Wed 18 Sep, 7.30pm, Friends Meeting House, Ship St, BN1 1AF What makes a revolution? Thu 19 Sep, 7.30pm, 5th Floor,The Canteen, Hamilton House, 80 Stokes Croft, BS1 3QY Martin Luther King and the civil rights movement Wed 18 Sep, 7.30pm, YHA, Narrow Quay, BS1 4QA Fracking, capitalism and the future of energy Thu 19 Sep, 8pm, The Ostrich, 163 Bury Old Rd, Prestwich M25 1JF Fracking, capitalism and the future of energy Thu 19 Sep, 7.30pm, Shanghai Family Restaurant, 39 Burleigh St, CB1 1DG Syria—imperialism and resistance Wed 18 Sep, 7.30pm, Cathays Community Centre, Cathays Terrace, CF24 4HX Ideas of the revolution and the role of the revolutionary paper Wed 18 Sep, 7.30pm, Albatta Cafe, 18a Sir Isaacs Walk, CO1 1JJ The politics of Martin Luther King—how can we turn the dream into reality? Wed 18 Sep, 7.30pm, Koco Buildings, Arches Industrial Estate, Spon End, CV1 3JQ
COVENTRY COLCHESTER CARDIFF CAMBRIDGE BURY & PRESTWICH BRISTOL: SOUTH BRISTOL: NORTH BRIGHTON

Syria—why we oppose Western intervention Thu 19 Sep, 8pm, The Duke William pub, 25 Coventry St, Stourbridge, DY8 1EP Can there be a revolution in Britain? Wed 18 Sep, 7.30pm, Dundee Voluntary Action, 10 Constitution Rd, DD1 1LL Do men benefit from women’s oppression? Wed 18 Sep, 7.30pm, Cafe Cherubini, 360 Great Western Rd, Kelvingrove, G4 9HT Gramsci—life of a revolutionary Thu 19 Sep, 7.30pm, Govanhill Pool, 99 Calder St, G42 7RA Capitalism, fracking and the future of energy Wed 18 Sep, 6.30pm, Brian Jackson House, 2 New North Parade (near both train and bus stations), HD1 5JP The politics of the International Socialists tradition Thu 26 Sep, 7pm, Labour Club, 33-35 Silent St, IP1 1TF Capitalism, fracking and the future of energy Wed 18 Sep, 7pm, Friends Meeting House Meeting House Lane, LA1 1TX
Lancaster IPSWICH HUDDERSFIELD GLASGOW: SOUTH GLASGOW: NORTH DUNDEE

China—resistance, revolt and workers’ struggle Thu 19 Sep, 7.15pm, The Roundhay Road Resource Centre, 233-237 Roundhay Rd, LS8 4HS What do we mean by a mass strike? The current experience in South Africa Wed 18 Sep, 7pm, Leicester Adult Education College, 2 Wellington St, LE1 6HL The NHS and why we have to defend it Thu 19 Sep, 7pm, The Black-E, 1 Great George St, L1 5EW What is fascism and how do we fight it? Wed 18 Sep, 7.30pm, Vida Walsh Centre, 2b Saltoun Road (near Effra Rd, facing Windrush Sq), SW2 1EP Crime, class and politics Thu 26 Sep, 7pm, Theatro Technis, 26 Crowndale Road, NW1 1TT Can there be a revolution in Britain? Thu 26 Sep, 7pm, Matthews Yard, 1 Matthews Yard (off Surrey St), CR0 1FF Tories, cuts and privatisation—how can we save the NHS? Wed 18 Sep, 7.30pm, W3 Gallery, 185 High St, Acton,W3 8DJ
LONDON: EALING LONDON: CROYDON LONDON: CAMDEN LONDON: BRIXTON LIVERPOOL LEICESTER

From coal mines to call centres—how has the working class changed? Wed 18 Sep, 6.30pm, Room B320, 3rd Floor, Brunei building, Soas, Thornhaugh St, Russell Square, WC1H 0XG Marxism and religion Thu 19 Sep, 7.30pm, The Round Chapel, Powerscroft Rd (corner Lower Clapton Rd), E5 0PP
LONDON: HORNSEY & WOOD GREEN LONDON: HACKNEY EAST

Capitalism, fracking and the future of energy Wed 18 Sep, 7.30pm, The West Indian Culture Centre, 9 Clarendon Rd, Hornsey, N8 0DD Has neoliberalism changed the working class? Thu 19 Sep, 7pm The Old Fire station, 84 Mayton St, N7 6QT Revolutionaries and the united front Wed 18 Sep, 7.30pm, West Greenwich Community and Arts Centre, 141 Greenwich High Rd (near Greenwich main line and DLR Station), SE10 8JA Lessons from the 1913 Dublin Lockout Wed 18 Sep, 7pm, Stratford Advice Arcade, 107-109 The Grove (next to Morrisons car park), E15 1HP
LONDON: NEWHAM LONDON: LEWISHAM LONDON: ISLINGTON

contact the SWP
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Socialist Worker

14 September 2013

13

A stylish story of struggles, but revolution is a backdrop
New TV series Peaky Blinders gives a glimpse of the revolutionary mood that gripped Britain in 1919 but puts family dramas first, says  Annette Mackin
Britain in 1919 was in the grip of a revolutionary moment. Extreme poverty at the end of the First World War saw working class people fight back against the ruling class. The Russian Revolution two years earlier had inspired people. Mass strikes by workers and mutinies by soldiers and sailors left the British state reeling. Peaky Blinders, a new six-part TV drama, is set in Birmingham in 1919 during this period of militancy. In the first episode we’re introduced to Tommy Shelby, played by Cillian Murphy. Tommy is a war veteran and head of a notorious crime family. They’re named the Peaky Blinders because they sew razor blades into the peaks of their caps. The antagonisms of the time, between worker and capitalist, are played out between Tommy and his former best friend Freddie Thorpe. Freddie is presented as a Bolshevik while the Peaky Blinders run protection and robbery rackets, and off track betting. We first see Tommy tricking desperately poor people in a Birmingham slum into gambling on a horse he knows will lose. We are then introduced to Freddie addressing a strike meeting of angry workers.

Film
Encounters, short film and animation festival 17-22 September, Arnolfini and Watershed, Bristol encounters-festival.org.uk

The 19th Encounters short film and animation festival includes films, performance, music, talks, exhibitions and more. One series of short films, Burning Bridges, looks at why people leave their pasts behind to try and find a better life. Visions of Modern Europe gives snapshots of struggle from Greece, Cyprus, Spain and Britain. You can buy passes to access all of the events or browse the programme to pick out the free ones. There are open-air cinema showings—and a chance to make movies yourself.

DVD
The returned, series one DVD out now, £20

Tommy Shelby, played by Cillian Murphy, leads the Peaky Blinders

Guns

A botched raid by the Peaky Blinders finds them in possession of a crate of guns. Secretary of state Winston Churchill sends in brutal Belfast police inspector Campbell, played by Sam Neill. He is to find the

weapons and deal with gangs, revolutionaries and the IRA—then fighting a war of independence against Britian. The problem with Peaky Blinders is that it takes on a lot of issues but fails to focus on any of them properly. Revolutionaries, gangsters, the IRA, and even poet Benjamin Zephaniah—playing an evangelical street preacher—all jostle for space. The real Peaky Blinders emerged in Birmingham in the late 1890s. Series creator Steven Knight doesn’t gain

much from placing them in 1919. In fact, the far more interesting class struggles of the time are pushed aside to make way for the personal struggles of the gang. So, when Freddie is addressing the strike meeting the workers only get to cheer, nod and pat him on the back. It’s unclear if the constant foregrounding of Freddie is to present him as an insincere, vain activist or an inspirational revolutionary. It’s possible that the trade union sellouts of the militancy of 1919 could be played out through the weaknesses

of Freddie’s character. Yet it seems more likely that the mass struggles of 1919 are just a vague backdrop. Peaky Blinders is expertly crafted, with fine attention to period detail. It’s very stylish and reminiscent of US shows such as Boardwalk Empire and Deadwood. As it’s set in a highly politicised moment it’s worth a watch—even if it doesn’t live up to its promises.
Peaky Blinders begins on Thursday of this week at 9pm on BBC2 or watch online at bbc.co.uk/programmes/ p01fj94w

The Returned had nearly two million viewers across Britain hooked when it aired earlier this year. It focuses on a group of people living in a beautiful French village. They are unnerved when their dead relatives such as Victor (pictured) start coming home. It’s a haunting, compelling drama about vulnerable people trying to deal with loss. Now addicts can pore over the DVD while waiting for the second series.

The Returned’s Victor

Seamus Heaney---a poet who wasn’t part of the herd
by Simon Basketter

Book
Reggae soundsystem— original reggae album cover art Soul Jazz Books, out now

So. The great Irish poet Seamus Heaney is dead. Heaney was once offered the job of British poet Laureate. He wrote, “be advised, my passport’s green/ No glass of ours was ever raised/To toast the Queen.” “I like to play with words sometimes,” he said. “Words that are different but sound the same, like heard and herd. “And I think a poet wants and needs to be

heard but must not be a part of the herd.” Heaney was a poet of betweens. “Between my finger and my thumb/The squat pen rests; snug as a gun.” Between Ireland, England, and America, between formal and free verse, and between plain speech and loading “every rift with ore”. His poetry was full of references to Celtic mythology and classical literature, but he always meant for it to be read aloud and understood. He was criticised for being too “accessible”—as

Seamus Heaney

if poetry is supposed to be incomprehensible. Though for at least one Daily Telegraph obituary, his leftish views were what made him a bad poet. Heaney’s poems about the “troubles” in the books North, Wintering Out and Station Island are polemical without cliche. In Requiem for the Croppies he wrote, “Terraced thousands died, shaking scythes at cannon./The hillside blushed, soaked in our broken wave./They buried us without shroud or coffin/And in August ...

the barley grew up out of our grave.” In 1995, then US president Bill Clinton quoted Heaney’s play The Cure At Troy during a speech about the Northern Ireland peace process: “When History says, don’t hope/On this side of the grave./But then, once in a lifetime/The longed-for tidal wave/Of justice can rise up,/And hope and history rhyme.” The words survive even Clinton’s use. In Heaney’s own words about death, “You left us first, and then those books, behind.”

This 200-page hardback book showcases a history of reggae music through full size record cover designs. Compiled by author and reggae expert Steve Barrow and edited by Stuart Baker, it covers artwork spanning 60 years. The book features iconic, classic and rare artwork starting from the 1950s. It also includes a fascinating introductory essay on the history of reggae by Steve Barrow.

Socialist Worker 14 September 2013

14

history & theory

Socialist Worker 14 September 2013

15

C

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hile’s experiment with socialism brought through parliament came to an abrupt halt 40 years ago this week on 11 September 1973. The military killed some 30,000 people as it overthrew Salvador Allende’s Popular Unity (UP) government. This earlier 9/11 was a defining event for the left in the 1970s. In the immediate aftermath right wingers around the world said the coup was inevitable because the left wing government had ruined Chile’s economy. On the left a polarisation emerged between those who said that UP had gone too far and those who said that it needed to go further. There is an echo of this argument today, among those who say the violent attacks on the Arab Spring prove that people in the Middle East can’t cope with democracy. Allende was elected in September 1970, with a 36 percent vote. UP, promising radical left wing reforms, got in because the right was split. The economy was stagnating, real wages were falling and none of the other main parties had anything new to offer. Chile’s population was then ten million, with almost three million living around the capital, Santiago. The UP coalition included the Communist Party (CP) and the Socialist Party. Allende was a reformist who believed in Keynesian economics. He was determined to change society while playing entirely by the rules of its leaders. In one of his first acts he guaranteed not to interfere with the church, the education system, the media or the armed forces. Mario Nain, a socialist in Chile at the time, recalled, Allende “was an extremely honest politician. He genuinely believed that society could be reformed by parliamentary means.” Allende’s first reforms were wage rises, land reform and partial nationalisation of the economy. This included the copper mines that generated most of Chile’s foreign earnings. Monica Lucero remembers the excitement of that period, “It started from the most basic things—cleaning up poor neighbourhoods, repairing roads. “Local people organised collectively.” Allende’s politics were far too

Salvador Allende in hard hat, 11 September 1973, and thought to be last picture of him before he was killed

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radical for either the Chilean ruling class or US leaders. US national security adviser Henry Kissinger notoriously said, “I don’t see why we have to let a country go Marxist just because its people are irresponsible.” Documents released many years later show the CIA cabled its Santiago station saying, “It is firm and continuing policy that Allende be overthrown by a coup.”

chile: lessons to learn
Augusto Pinochet’s neoliberal experiment began 40 years ago in Chile after a coup. He is celebrated by the right but workers could have beaten him, writes Ken Olende

in focus chile

‘Chile showed that revolution is possible’
pinochet bombs the presidential palace

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All the elements needed were there
fter the 1970 election UP argued it found a new path to socialism bypassing old divisions between reform and revolution. Allende argued, “Sceptics and catastrophe-mongers will say that a parliament that has served the ruling class so well is not capable of transforming itself into a parliament of the Chilean people.” But, he explained, “Our case opens up possibilities, it shows a way. Apparently it can be said of us that we are mere reformers, but we have taken measures that imply we want to bring about revolution.” Much of the world’s left agreed uncritically. Many dismissed Socialist Worker as living in the past for insisting that the classical Marxist understanding of the state was still vital. Socialist Worker was in a small minority in arguing that, “The same army that has been used to shoot down strikers would not sit by and let the ruling class be voted out of existence.” After the coup much of the left flipped to saying that too much had been attempted. A British CP statement at the end of the year echoed a line taken up around the world as it complained that UP had moved too fast and so “contributed to the alienation of large sections of the middle strata and aggravated the situation of conflict at a time when the relation of class forces was still unfavourable.” But as Socialist Worker’s sister publication International Socialism said at the time, “All the elements necessary for such a movement were present in Chile: the occupation of the factories, the fight of the peasantry for land, the preparation of at least some sections of the workers for armed struggle”. Those who thought that UP had gone too far took a pessimistic view of the potential for socialist progress. The disastrous idea of the labour movement in Italy making a “historic compromise” came from this mood. As did the rise of Eurocommunism that effectively said there is no alternative to capitalism and the left must make its peace with the system. But all of these ignored the fact a real alternative was workers overthrowing capitalism altogether.

Mario Nain says new struggles are sweeping Chile—and that activists must learn the lessons from defeats in the 1970s
New generations of workers in Chile have started to fight neoliberalism in recent years, despite 17 years of the tyrannical Pinochet regime. “Neoliberal” policies were first tried out in Chile. The government could bring them in after the 1973 coup because they followed violence, disappearances and enormous repression. We are told the defeat of workers’ struggles then proves that we could never have won real change. But that isn’t true. As with the British miners’ strike in the 1980s, the defeat led to the pessimism that followed. The left in Chile didn’t see the transition to democracy in 1990 as a chance to reject everything Pinochet had stood for. Instead it followed exactly the same trajectory as the Labour Party in Britain—and embraced neoliberalism. The recent wave of struggle began against Chile’s previous president, the Thatcherite so-called socialist Michelle Bachelet. The ruling class in Chile tries to hide its past. Workers have to find their own history. The new militants certainly didn’t start out with socialism on the agenda. In fact students have rejected organised political parties because they can see that the Socialist Party has embraced neoliberalism. Students were the spark for recent struggles. They protested, demanding free education, renationalisation of the universities and higher taxes for the rich They managed to wake up the working class. There was a general strike over the students’ demands in August 2011. Of course we haven’t seen the same level of struggle that existed between 1970 and 1973.

Women march in Chile a week before Pinochet’s coup

Allende tried to demobilise the movement of the poor to reassure the rich

ut the coup in Chile was not mainly about the US. The country has its own ruling class, determined to defend its own interests. UP’s moderate reforms gave enormous hope to the country’s poor. Peasants seized land in the big estates. In the towns poor people took land to build homes on. This was what really scared the rich. Radomiro Tomic, the Christian Democrat Allende had beaten in 1970, complained, “Illegal occupations are not only the work of the ultra-left; they are also the spontaneous action of groups of peasants, workers and miners.” And this mobilisation was popular. Local elections in mid-1971 showed the UP vote increased 14 percent. This was Allende’s defence Minister José Tohá tells workers to go home during attempted coup in June 1973—he was later tortured and found hanged in prison the height of their popularity. From now on right wing disright wing demo and a left wing particularly in upper and for civil rights in Chile. Yet the government claimed ruption led to economic probcounter demo. But he used riot middle class neighbourhoods.” they were responsible for less lems while the government police against the left, killing worker at the well organised workers not getattacked the workers who had one demonstrator. Ready-Mix con- ting their due. The argument done most to implement its Workers formed “cordones”, crete plant said, was as divisive then as now, promises and defend what groups bringing together “ We’ve got to but the organisations of the left it said it had set out to representatives of different thank the fascists went along with it. achieve. workplaces, to organise against for showing us A coup in June 1973 failed By late 1971 the right the bosses’ strikes and keep that you can’t make a revolu- but crackdowns on workers were on the offensive in production going. continued. Yet the general an attempt to disrupt In October 1972 a transport tion by playing marbles.” Allende responded to show secretary of the CP said on the popularity of the bosses’ strike tried to shut down government. Middle the economy. It blocked public he was running a reliable 8 July, “We continue to supclass housewives transport and the delivery of c a p i t a l i s t g o v e r n m e n t , port absolutely the professional demonstrated on the street goods. But workers broke the appointing serving military character of the armed instiagainst shortages by waving strike by taking control of dis- officers to the cabinet. UP tutions. Their enemies are not mobilised against workers’ self- among the ranks of the people empty saucepans, which many tribution themselves. got their maids to carry. Workers fought to keep shops organisation­— precisely what but in the reactionary camp.” Tuesday 11 September UP responded by trying open. All 113 Bata shoe shops could protect it from a coup. Copper miners struck when 1973 dawned with air force to demobilise the movein the country got organised. ment of the poor to reassure One worker explained, “We’ve they were paid less than they jets bombing the presidential the rich. In May 1972 the formed self defence commit- were promised at a time of palace. Mario Nain recalled, “It CP mayor of the industrial tees to repel attacks. We’ve rampant inflation. These miners was total war—a conventional, city of Concepcion banned a Defiant Up supporter already had to face a number, had been at the heart of fights well equipped, sophisticated

back story

Workers in Chile were highly organised in the early 1970s lThey created cordones, or “industrial belts”. These were elected from factories to decide on production or distribution and they echoed the Russian soviets lBut the ruling class went on the offensive and Pinochet came to power after a coup in 1973. Every government since then has embraced neoliberalism

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army against a completely disarmed population.” Allende was killed in the attack. The military took over the country’s main football stadium to house 12,000 leftists they had rounded up. During the terror that followed, the military killed up to 30,000 people. Many more were tortured or driven into exile. General Pinochet led the coup and held power for 17 years, openly championed by the likes of Margaret Thatcher. The hopes of workers and peasants were drowned in blood for a generation, but despite the brutality of Pinochet the movement has revived. The political lessons of how to challenge a powerful, armed state are still very much in the balance, in Egypt as much as South America.

read more

lRevolutionary Rehearsals edited by Colin Barker lChile: The end of the Parliamentary Road by Ian Birchall and Chris Harman http://bit.ly/LD8nx4 Available at Bookmarks, the socialist bookshop. Phone 020 7637 1848 or go to bookmarksbookshop. co.uk

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Revolutionary socialists have to be clear about the lessons of Chile. The military is the armed guard of the bourgeois state. It will act to defend the interests of its ruling class and Western imperialism. When I watch the exciting, sad, tragic news from Egypt a lot of what is going on reminds me of Chile in the 1970s. We too had people who thought the armed forces were neutral, just there to protect the nation.

What’s going on in Egypt now reminds me a lot of Chile in the 1970s

Our experience reminds us of two key factors for the present. First, the only social force capable of defeating the ruling class anywhere in the world is the working class. Second, the working class needs to be organised in a revolutionary organisation. The consciousness of workers is uneven. So we need to organise the best fighters together, what Antonio Gramsci called the “organic intellectuals”. The majority of the party— including its leadership— has to be made of such workers, who have the direct experience of exploitation. That was the kind of party we lacked in Chile. We had a coalition that wanted to reform the system rather than get rid of it. That was our tragedy. But it isn’t just a matter of having a party with all the right ideas in place. Revolution isn’t just about the party teaching workers how to struggle—workers also teach the revolutionaries. Chile showed that revolution is possible, but tragically it also showed the other side of the coin. Sometimes it can seem like people will never act. But, we live in a very unstable world and our rulers don’t have any answers. We will see more upsurges as we saw in Egypt and Chile.
Mario Nain was a socialist in Chile throughout the UP years, and was imprisoned after the coup. He lectures in south London and is active in the UCU union

Socialist Worker

16

31 August 2013

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Assemble Liverpool Road (M3 4FP) from 11am. Rally in Whitworth Park For more information and transport information contact l yOUR LOCAL UNION OR SHOP STEWARD l THE UNITE THE RESISTANCE ORGANISATION WWW.uniteresist.org l the tuc www.tuc.org.uk

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Socialist Worker

14 September 2013

17

Tory lobbying bill targets the unions, not lobbyists
The Tories new bill will make it harder for trade unions and campaigning groups to organise—and let lobbyists off the hook, writes Simon Basketter
Government plans to attackunions with the lobbying bill are in trouble—but they’re still very nasty. The Tories are promising to rewrite the Lobbying, Non-party Campaigning and Trade Union Administration Bill. After a wave of outrage at attacks on charities’ ability to organise (see box, below left), the Lib Dems and the Tories are promising fundamental amendments. The bill isn’t about stopping corporate lobbyists. It plans to bring in a register of lobbyists—but if you work directly lobbying for a firm, you won’t have to join it (see box, below right). It proposes that any organisation that spends more than £5,000 and engages in political campaigning will be forced to register with the Electoral Commission. If they don’t, they could be shut down. Registering with the Electoral Commission will impose a series of rules and regulations on groups, and put obstacles in the way of campaigning. Whatever amendments are made, the main purpose of the bill will remain. It is primarily intended as an assault on trade union funding.

Documents will be up for grabs
Unions with more than 10,000 members will have to submit an annual Membership Audit Certificate to the Certification Officer. This is on top of the annual return which they already have to make. The Certification Officer will have the power to require production of “relevant” documents, including membership records and private correspondence.

Tories want to control funds
Corporate lobbyists are at the heart of the government—but the Tories are targeting unions instead David Cameron has defended the lobbying bill as it will make it harder for unions to spend money. He complained that unions “go on spending millions after millions trying to alter an election campaign”. Cameron said that if the bill became law it would “control” union spending.

Spender

So the largest spender in 2010 that would be affected by the legislation was the Unison union. The legislation is a pre-election gift to Tory candidates who have long complained about union-funded phone banks, leaflets and adverts to back Labour. According to Chloe Smith, minister for constitutional and political

reform, “Controlled expenditure by a recognised third party would now include expenditure on a broader range of activities such as market research, rallies, press conferences or transport. “This is to ensure all relevant campaigning activity is caught.” The bill will reduce the total cap on campaigning expenditure in the year before a general election from £989,000 to £390,000. It broadens the definition of spending to include staff time and office costs. The TUC has warned that it could

be forced to cancel its 2014 annual congress and any national demonstrations in the year before the next election. Otherwise, it could breach the spending limit. A union will be permitted to spend up to £319,800 in England, £35,400 in Scotland and £24,000 in Wales. The Bill also proposes that no more than £9,750 can be spent in each constituency in England in the year before the election on 7 May 2015. This is intended to stop campaigns against specific ministers.

And the Bill includes the concept of “targeted expenditure”, which is a subset of “controlled expenditure”. So while unions individually can spend £319,800 in England on “controlled expenditure”, they can only spend £31,980 on expenditure targeted at a particular political party. The Bill is such a mess that it will now likely pass only with significant amendments.

Clegg cares for charities? Secret ‘headline’ dinners to stay secret
Charities are unhappy that Commission, which was not their political campaigning consulted, has warned the bill could fall under restrictions for could be unenforceable. the first time. Nick Clegg has said he will Legal advice obtained respond to charities’ concerns. by the National Council of It said parliament must Voluntary Organisations consider whether it wants said it could have the regulator to intervene a chilling effect. to stop spending on Helen Mountfield QC political campaigning. warns of uncertainty This could entail about what the bill means getting a website taken by “for political purpose”. down or ordering a She said it could “put rally to be cancelled. small organisations and their trustees/ directors in fear of criminal penalty if they speak out on matters of public interest and concern”. Clegg to save charities? The Electoral The one thing the lobbying bill won’t do is put any controls on lobbying. Its claim is that it will create a list of consultant lobbyists. Firms will register and reveal their clients if they have contact with ministers. If you declare that the main part of your business is something other than lobbying, consultancy for instance, you don’t have to join the register. If you work directly lobbying for a company you don’t have to register. Lobbyists can meet as many MPs who are not ministers for dinner as they like and not declare it. So for instance lobbyist Lynton Crosby and his PR PRfirm, firm,Crosby Crosby Textor Fullbrook, will not be covered. David Cameron employs Crosby as a spin doctor and policy advisor. The Tories are paying Crosby £200,000 a year. Cameron’s lobbying bill is an attempt to diffuse the scandal over lobbyists’ influence in parliament. The Tories dropped plans to introduce plain packaging on cigarettes and minimum pricing of alcohol earlier this year. Crosby’s firm helped Coincidentally, Crosby tobacco has bosses fiercely helped firms oppose oppose the this same same policy inin policies Australia. Australia.



On other pages...

Teaching unions gear up for fresh strikes against Gove >>Page 20

O’Grady says, don’t gag us
TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady opposes the bill. She said it is “One of the biggest threats to freedom of speech we have seen for years”. “This is supposed to be a free country where ordinary people are supposed to have a say, not one where we’re gagged because professional politicians don’t like what we’re saying.”

Socialist Worker 14 September 2013

18

reports
disABILITY RIGHTS FOOD PRODUCTION

In Brief

Protesters stage a die-in at arms show
Protesters staged a diein to protest at an arms fair last Sunday. The Defence Security Equipment International (DSEI) is hosting the world’s biggest arms fair in London’s Docklands from Tuesday of this week.

A victory for Hovis strikers
Wigan Hovis workers who struck for a week earlier this month against zerohours contracts and the use of agency staff have won a victory. The 24 workers employed at Wigan Hovis since April on zero-hours contracts have been given full time permanent contracts. They will have the same pay and conditions as other workers doing the same job. The second seven-day strike is set to begin on Wednesday of this week against the use of agency labour. A solidarity protest has been called from 6am. The 220 Hovis machine operatives’ and cleaners’ first week-long strike ended last Wednesday. Workers from the McVities biscuit factory in Manchester, some of whom are already on
martin empson

Health campaigners fight ambulance cuts
Some 50 health workers, trade unionists and NHS campaigners protested outside Yorkshire Ambulance Trust HQ in Wakefield on Tuesday of last week. The Trust announced cuts of £46 million. Ambulance technicians would be replaced by drivers with only first aid training. The trust has also derecognised Unite. nAnother protest is set for the DPAc protesting outside the Department for Work and Pensions

A Hovis worker on strike zero hours contracts, came to show support. Ian Hodson, president of Bfawu bakers’ union said, “We’ve had fantastic support from other workers, unions and organisations.” lSolidarity protest—
Wednesday 11 September, 6am, Hovis, Cale Lane, Wigan WN2 1HD. Public meeting—Sat 14 September, 2.30pm, Whelley Labour Club, Northumberland St, WN1 3PZ

Disability activists stage week of action
by Sarah ensor
Around 200 campaigners for disabled people’s rights protested at the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) in central London on Wednesday of last week. Campaigners rallied outside the ministries for transport, energy, education and health demanding equality for disabled people before converging on the DWP. They chanted, “Give us back our money” and “Atos kills”. This was part of a week of action organised by Disabled People Against Cuts (Dpac) to highlight worsening affects of cuts on people with disabilities and their families. Roger Lewis from Dpac said, “We’re fighting against this vicious ConDem government but union leaders need to do more.” Dpac and Inclusion London, which promotes equality, then launched the UK Disabled People’s Manifesto, Reclaiming Our Futures, in parliament.

Picture: Guy

smallman

next Trust board meeting on Tuesday September 24, Cutler’s Hall, Church St, Sheffield S1 1HG Gwen Vardigans

Cambridgeshire CCG meeting gets lobbied
Trade unionists from the PCS, Unison, Unite, GMB and NUT unions, as well as community activists, lobbied an NHS Cambridgeshire CCG meeting last week. The CCG plans to sell off the majority of our health service. Andrew Osbourne

Activists came from around Britain to protest. In Oxford the Oxford People’s Assembly held a rememberance event on Friday of last week for those who have died following Atos assessments. Candles were lit and Unison health activist Dan Fearnley spoke, followed by a minute’s silence. Unison health and local government activsts also took part in the remembrance. Thanks to John Walker

save the grange campaign
Some 30 Unison activists, campaigners and parents protested at a youth event attended by Labour mayor Ian Stewart on Tuesday of last week. They are fighting to keep the Grange Children’s Centre open as respite care for children with autism and learning disabilities. It is under threat as Stewart and the Labour controlled council implement Tory cuts. Stewart described parents as a “rent-a-crowd”. The protest forced him to answer questions about Labour’s plans to make children aged over 14 use an adult centre, cutting respite in half for both adults and young people. Stewart has now agreed to meet with campaigners.

manufacturing
Around 900 workers at Britain’s largest, and Scotland’s only, bus makers could walk out in a dispute over pay later this month. Unite union members at Falkirk-based Alexander Dennis Limited (ADL) have rejected bosses’ latest 3.5 percent pay offer. Three quarters voted to strike on an 80 percent turnout. A two-day strike is set to begin from 6am on 19 September. Workers started an indefinite overtime ban on Friday of last week. Bosses can afford the 4 percent pay increase the workers demand—its profits went up by 56 percent last year. The CEO grabbed an 89 percent pay rise in 2012. Workers are furious— not least because they voluntarily worked a three-day week for months throughout 2009/10 and helped to boost ADL’s profits.

brewery workers
Workers at Kuehne and Nagel Drinks Logistics (KNDL) were set to strike for one day from 10am on Wednesday of this week. The Unite union members say bosses have breached an agreement over workers’ terms and conditions that could lead to job cuts. The workers, including drivers, draymen and warehouse members, have also begun a work to rule and an overtime ban. The action will hit deliveries of drinks. Some 85 percent of workers voted for strikes in a recent ballot on a turnout of 64 percent.

media workers

Academy status schools favour rich
Academy schools are increasing segregation between rich and poor children, according to a new report. Professor Stephen Gorard from the University of Durham carried out the research. He said schools that had converted to academy status had much lower numbers of children on free school meals than the national average.

Journalists fight job cuts
Journalists at the Herald, Sunday Herald and Evening Times have backed industrial action in a re-run ballot by 97 percent. The NUJ members are fighting compulsory redundancies. They initially voted 76 percent for strikes.

TRANSPORT WORKERS
nUnite members working for Hutchison Ports in Felixstowe, Suffolk, have voted for strikes over pay. The workers have rejected a 1.5 percent pay offer.

obituary
Rosey Kirwan 1960-2013
Rosey Kirwan, a muchloved socialist, teacher, union activist, Irish rebel, fun-lover and Hackney SWP member, has died aged 52. Born into an Irish working class family in Nottingham, Rosey was the eldest daughter of six children, raised from the age of nine by her single mum. Her mother had met James Larkin as a 14 year old when she was leading a girls’ strike at a sweet factory and Rosey took the example to heart. Rosey did not skimp on life. She was active in every major struggle from the Irish hunger strikes of 1981, the Miners’ Strike—during which As a student in 1981 she helped lead a lengthy occupation at the Polytechnic of Central London where police besieged the occupiers. After college, Rosey made an extraordinary effort to unionise the Virgin Megastore on London’s Oxford Street. She recruited 50 staff to the TGWU union and held joint meetings with HMV workers and Harrods staff. Subsequently, as a teacher and University and College Union (UCU) activist at Hackney, Tower Hamlets and Westminster Kingsway colleges, she displayed a remarkable talent for inspiring students and taking on management. She particularly inspired younger teachers, sharing her passion for education and encouraging them to take union roles. Rosey was serious about education. It transformed her life and she fought to give her students the opportunities she enjoyed. Young at heart, with a ready laugh and a thick application of red lipstick, Rosey was fun, glamorous, argumentative and endured her final illness with courage and grace. Heartfelt sympathy goes to Sinead, Mike, Ellie, Danny and all the Kirwan family. Ian Taylor lRosey’s funeral will take place
on Monday September 16, 11am, at the City of London Crematorium (Manor Park). All who knew and care for Rosey are welcome. For tributes please go to www. roseykirwan.co.uk

deaths in custody
West Midlands Police has issued a formal apology to the family of Mikey Powell. Mikey was 38 years old when he died after being detained by West Midlands Police on 7 September 2003. Mikey’s sister, Sieta Lambrias, said, “We appreciate the apology, but we would be far more appreciative of an apology acknowledging that it was the actions of their officers that caused the death.” An inquest jury found that Mikey died of positional asphyxia in the back of a police van. Poet Benjamin Zephaniah, Mikey’s cousin, said, “We can’t reject an apology. It’s better than nothing. But it’s only a little bit better than nothing. It is not justice.” For a longer version of this article go to bit.ly/1dV3VH0

Building to march on the Tories at festival
The third annual Diggers Festival took place last Saturday. Petitions to support the Hovis strikers and Defend the NHS went down well. Leaflets promoting the 29 September protest outside the Tory Party conference were also handed out. Katrina Lawrie

Taking on the payday loans companies
Campaigners protested against payday loan companies in a number of cities across Britain last Saturday. The action was supported by the People’s Assembly.

Rosey Kirwan she gave birth to daughter Sinead—to Stop the War and recent Unite Against Fascism protests. At 17 Rosey led a strike in a nightclub, winning wage parity between glass washers and bar staff.

Picture:

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housing workers education

Socialist Worker

14 September 2013

19

One Housing strike is getting stronger
by Emma Davis

A big vote for walkouts at the University of Liverpool
UCU union members at Liverpool university have voted for strikes against bosses’ plans to impose worse contracts on nearly 3,000 non-academic staff. Workers backed strikes by 65 percent and action short of a strike by 82 percent. The turnout was just over 50 percent. Mark O’Brien is a researcher at Liverpool university. He said the vote “shows that if you give a serious lead you can win people to the idea of taking action”. The contracts would mean management could call workers into work outside their contracted hours—with no time off in lieu to make up for it. Bosses also want to make every day of the year, in principle, a working day. The other unions affected are Unison and Unite. Some 88 percent of Unison members voted to have an industrial action ballot in a consultative ballot held over the summer. UCU members at the university are set to meet on Tuesday of next week to decide on an action plan.

Workers at the One Housing Group in London began a five-day strike on Thursday of last week. The 150 Unite union members are fighting plans to slash their pay by up to £8,000 a year. Strikers mounted picket lines in Chalk Farm, north London, and in Wandsworth, south London. A Complex Cleaning delivery van refused to cross the Chalk Farm picket line on Monday of this week. One worker picketing there told Socialist Worker, “I’m losing £500 a month. And I never got a bonus. “The strike has been great. It’s important that we’re taking a stand together to set an example for other workplaces.” A Unite rep added, “This is our third time out and pickets have grown every time. “We plan a reballot and hope to be out again next month, November and December. “Hopefully our action can coincide with the teachers’ strikes. “Bosses aren’t offering anything. So members feel they have no reason not to con-

uplands school
Workers at Uplands school in Leicestershire struck on Wednesday of last week to defend jobs. The walkout, by GMB and Unison union members, was against bosses’ plans to sack five teaching assistants. Three teaching assistants have already lost their jobs. NUT union members were set to join the action, but called off the plan. GMB and Unison members struck three times last term against the job cuts.

legal aid

Grayling makes a U-turn
One Housing workers on strike to defend their pay 
Picture: Julie Sherry

tinue the action. “And we won’t let the employer use austerity as an excuse.” Workers say there’s no need for pay cuts. One Housing Group boss Mick Sweeney recently bagged £31,000 with a pay rise and bonuses.

And the group made a record profit of nearly £36 million in 2012/13. Some £26 million came from the sale of private homes. The surplus was almost three times as much as the group’s previous figure. Workers also say that

nSend messages of support

bosses are refusing to listen to their concerns or to respond to the conciliation service Acas. More workers have joined the union as a result of the battle to defend pay.

to [email protected] and [email protected]

Justice minister Chris Grayling has dropped plans to hand legal aid contracts to the lowest bidder. The Tories hoped the plans would help them slash up to £300 million from the annual legal aid budget. Lawyer Matt Foot said the U-turn was “a great achievement” for campaigners. But the Tories still want to make legal aid unavailable to migrants who have lived in Britain for under a year. And legal aid will still be cut for judicial review, while

prisoners will no longer be eligible to receive legal aid for complaints. Daniel Guedalla, a prison law solicitor, said, “People try to trivialise legal aid for prisoners. “But it’s about getting mother and baby units in women’s prisons and help for prisoners who don’t speak English as a first language.” As Matt said, “We have won a major victory. But a massive fight remains to make sure everyone has access to justice.”

post workers

tuc congress

local government
There was anger among Unison union delegates at last week’s Scottish Local Government Conference. Cosla, the employers’ organisation, has offered a below-inflation pay deal of one percent for 2013/14. It recently announced that this offer was conditional on unions agreeing a one percent deal in 2014/15. Local government workers in Scotland narrowly voted against a programme of strikes in pursuit of their £1,000 flat rate claim. The conference reluctantly accepted the 2013/14 offer following the ballot result. But there was an overwhelming mood to reject a further year’s below-inflation wage rise. Unison will now consult branches on its 2014/15 local government claim. Activists argued that the union should be prepared to strike next March if bosses don’t meet the claim. Glasgow Unison stewards nUnison union has sent a pay consultation document to local government branches. It asks them to consider two options that could become part of the union’s pay claim. The first is for implementation of the Living Wage and an equivalent increase for those earning above it. The second is for a £1 an hour rise for everyone. My branch committee felt option one doesn’t make clear what pay rise is being demanded for those who already earn the Living Wage. We voted to support option two. But we made it clear that the campaign had to begin immediately and at its forefront should be coordinated action. Without a campaigning strategy and industrial action with other unions, the claim will mean nothing. Nick Ruff, chair Kirklees Unison (pc)

Walkout vote in Oxford, TUC pledges day of action but Bridgwater action off against blacklisting firms
Workers at Oxford East Delivery Office have voted by over 75 percent to strike after two post workers were sacked. Bosses claimed they “wilfully delayed mail”. CWU union members will meet on Thursday of this week to decide on strikes. One worker told Socialist Worker, “The feeling is that one day will not be enough. “We’re going into this dispute strong.”
nCWU members in Warne Road post depot in WestonSuper-Mare were set to strike on Thursday of this week. The action is over deliveries and unagreed conduct procedures.

Ipswich sorting office are balloting for strikes. Royal Mail plans to close the office threatening 139 jobs. The ballot result will be announced next week.
nThe CWU called off a two-week post strike in Plymouth after reaching an agreement with management. nA seven-day strike in Bridgwater, Somerset, was called off after management agreed to not make any decisions without consulting the union first. Workers had struck nine times in a dispute over cuts to full time jobs and allegations of bullying.

nPost workers at an

by Simon Basketter at TUC Congress in Bournemouth

The TUC has called a nationwide day of action against blacklisting on Wednesday 20 November. Among events across Britain there will be a protest and lobby of parliament. Justin Bowden from the GMB union told the TUC Congress how “undercover cops and state forces colluded with big business” to “destroy workers’ reputations and job prospects”. He said, “If celebrity phone hacking was a national scandal, the secret conspiracy that denied workers employment without explanation and ruined lives is a civil rights outrage.” He said that only a “Leveson-style public inquiry”

would force blacklisters and their police informants to “own up, clean up, pay up”. Blacklisted construction Ucatt union member Bill Parry spoke to TUC Congress. He said, “I want justice for every single person who was blacklisted. “And we need to ensure that blacklisting never happens again.” TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady said, “It is scandalous that so many people’s livelihoods have been ruined or put at risk just for raising health and safety concerns.” The TUC added that blacklisting should be made a criminal offence punishable by imprisonment and an unlimited fine. nFor more on TUC congress
turn to page 3

£1 No 2370 14 September 2013

School strikes can beat Gove
United strikes by teachers next month can defend workers’ conditions and children’s education—and hit the government hard, writes Sadie Robinson
Britain’s biggest teaching unions have announced dates for more strikes to defend their pay, pensions and conditions. NUT and NASUWT union members in Yorkshire, the Midlands and Eastern regions will walk out on Tuesday 1 October. Those in London, the North East, South East and South West will strike on Thursday 17 October. Unions also plan a one-day national strike in November. The action follows a successful walkout in the north west of England on 27 June. Kevin Courtney is deputy general secretary of the NUT. He told Socialist Worker, “This is a vital campaign for education and our children. “Michael Gove, the most reviled education secretary in living memory, is attacking the entire pay, pensions and conditions package. “He claims his changes will lead to good teachers getting more pay, but the evidence shows the reverse.” Chris Keates is general secretary of the NASUWT. She told Socialist Worker, “The strikes will be an opportunity for teachers to demonstrate their anger and frustration at the way they are being treated. “Attacks on their pay and conditions are impacting on the children and young people they teach.” school who say they are definitely coming. “In schools where people are talking to teachers about the rallies, they will find an audience.” The Tories and their friends in the media claim that teachers’ strikes are unpopular. Yet the walkout in June won widespread support. Thousands of people joined rallies across the region.

29 Sept demo

Join march in Manchester on the Tories
There are just two weeks until the protest at the Tory party conference in Manchester on Sunday 29 September. Activists are building for it across Britain. TUC president Lesley Mercer told this week’s Congress in Bournemouth about the importance of the demonstration. She said, “If we want to stop the NHS being turned into just another business commodity, now is the time to rally behind it. “Not out of self‑interest. But because the NHS, like our schools, like the Royal Mail, is

Time to get the Tories out

Enemy

Tory education secretary Michael Gove has tried to make teachers public enemy number one. He wants to bring in performance-related pay and has attacked their pensions. Meanwhile teachers’ conditions are getting worse. Andrew McBurney, an NASUWT member, struck on 27 June. “Sometimes I work 13 hour days and I’ve got a young family,” he told Socialist Worker.

teachers marching for education in June this year 

Picture: Socialist Worker

“There’s a constant pressure to deliver for exams. Something’s got to change.” Many teachers see the strikes as a key way to defend education. Jess Edwards is a primary school teacher in south London.

She said, “In my school there’s a real sense of hatred at Gove. “Teachers are angry because they know his curriculum plans are bad for children. We don’t want to have to do things we don’t agree with just to keep our jobs.”

The unions have called a series of rallies in the run-up to the strikes. Teachers in London and Nottingham were set to rally this Saturday. Jess said, “I think London will see a big rally. “I’ve got people at my

part of what makes us a civilised society. “That’s why we will be standing up for the NHS on 29 September in Manchester.” All the major unions are backing the demo. Trains and coaches will bring thousands to Manchester on the day. Chris Denson is joint secretary of Coventry NUT union and will be part of a regional strike on 1 October against Tory attacks on education. He said, “We are busy building for the 29 September. “Our fight is part of taking on a wider Tory agenda. “We hope to persuade other activists opposing the bedroom tax, benefit cuts and military strikes in Syria that we have to take action to defeat the Tories.”
March on the Tories— Sunday 29 September, central Manchester. To find transport in your area go to uniteresist.org lFor more details see advert on page 16

Published weekly except final week of December. Published by Larkham P&P, London SW8 and printed by trade union labour at Trinity Mirror Printing Ltd

Picture: Julie Bremer

Applaud

Workers from other unions, parents and children turned out to show their support and applaud strikers as they marched through city centres. PCS union member Lee Hammond joined the teachers’ march in Liverpool. “It’s nice to see other unions fighting back,” he said. “We should all be out together.” Wales is not included in the planned strikes in October as the Welsh government has engaged in talks with the unions. Union leaders say Gove could avoid strikes by agreeing to meet them. But at every stage in the dispute Gove has refused to listen to the unions or engage in meaningful talks. He is on the offensive against teachers and is attacking the strikes because he knows they will be effective. The walkout on 27 June shows the potential for taking successful action that can have an impact and build workers’ confidence to go further. Many union leaders have said they back coordinated action. The planned national strike in November is an opportunity to bring more unions together in united action that can beat the Tories.

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