One From The Plough

Report from the Gallows

2011-05-12T04:59:00.000-07:00

“Look, my play is also approaching its end. That’s something I haven’t yet written. That’s something I don’t yet know. It’s no longer a play. It’s Life. And in life there are no spectators. The curtain goes up. People, I have loved you. Be on your Guard!”- Julius Fučík

Today a wave of anti-communism is being unleashed across Europe. While communists are generally attacked, ridiculed, or simply ignored by the big business controlled mass media, in Eastern Europe communist parties are being banned, leading members arrested, and in some sickening cases governments are celebrating the traitors who joined the SS while partisans, who fought for their countries, are being put on trial for alleged war crimes.

In the Czech Republic, the communist party, which has mass popular support, faces following the same fate as its youth section in being outlawed. The intensification of anti-communism in Europe is sinisterly taking place at the same time when communist parties, particularly in Greece, Portugal, France and Spain, are leading resistance to brutal anti-people austerity measures being implemented by the EU and IMF.

Last year we celebrated the 65th anniversary of the victorious struggle against fascism that our grandfathers fought. The Nazis, openly supported by sections of the capitalist class, arrested those who would stand up to prevent their plans for genocide, the trade unionists and socialists. But the Nazis were most vicious in their elimination of their greatest foes-communists.

One of the greatest heroes who stood up for freedom was the Czech communist Julius Fučík. Julius was born into a working class family in Prague at the turn of the twentieth century. He grew a keen interest in politics and literature, something that got him into trouble as he was arrested many times by the Czechoslovakian Secret Police in the 1930s. Julius traveled to Nazi Germany and the USSR and wrote extensively about the dangers of fascism and the huge advances in human progress being made in the Soviet Union.

The Czech government banned in the Communist Party in 1938, but this didn’t stop Julius joining the army in an attempt to protect his nation. The cowardly governments of the capitalist countries of Europe were keen to appease Hitler and communists increasingly found themselves being banned and having to operate underground.
After the Nazis had taken control of Czechoslovakia Julius continued carrying out communist party work and in 1942 he was arrested in a raid. He was imprisoned, interrogated, tortured and eventually taken to Berlin where he was executed in 1943.
Report from the Gallows (or Notes from the Gallows) was written about this experience. He managed to write the entire book on cigarette paper that was smuggled out of prison by sympathetic guards. These were collected together after the war by his wife Gusta Fučíková-who had also been arrested but liberated from a concentration camp in 1945. Gusta retrieved the cigarette papers from the various places in which they had been hidden and published Report from the Gallows in 1947.

The book is often very difficult to read in its graphic description of the horrors of Nazi prisons. If you read this book alone at night you find yourself there with Julius alone in his cell. You can hear the echoing screams of the other prisoners. Yet the book is even harder to put down as Julius’s continuing ability to consider a brighter future for humanity stands in direct contrast to his brutally depressing environment. Julius stands tall and defiant in face of all the evils of fascism. You can see Julius sat in his cell audaciously scribbling notes on cigarette papers. In short the book is inspirational in its depiction of the tenacity of humanity to shine through and overcome tyranny.

If Julius’s book was simply a piecemeal account of courageousness written secretly in a Nazi prison it would be a compelling read yet it's legendary status was attained by Julius's talent. Report from the Gallows is a work of art forged by a genius word smith, thoroughly planned and written down on meticulously numbered cigarette papers-rescued from oblivion only as a result of all those who gave their lives to liberate occupied Europe.

Julius’s account has been hailed by some of the world’s best writers. Pablo Neruda, Chilean communist and winner of the 1971 Nobel Prize for Literature, stated that “We live at a time which in literature will be known tomorrow as the ‘Fučík period’, a period of simple courage.” The foreword of the English language edition of Report from the Gallows is written by winner of the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize for Literature James Aldridge who challenges all who pick up the book:

“Read this book, you Communists, you Socialists, you Tories. Then go out and walk the wonderful real pavements and ask yourself what philosophy of life it was that kept this man’s belief in himself and in other men.”

Vote communist on May the 5th!

2011-04-28T09:23:00.000-07:00

In one weeks time there will be several important elections. There are English local elections, elections to the Welsh and Scottish assemblies and the referendum on AV.

A strong communist vote would deliver a message to this Tory government that working people are not prepared to let the idle rich grow even fatter at the expense of everyone else. As outlined by communist candidate in Glasgow Anniesland here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-13195092

As we have seen in Greece, Portugal, Spain and France powerful communist parties can make a huge impact. In Britain we lack such a consistent fighter for socialism. While the communist party is growing, it needs your support on May the 5th.

Here is a list of communist candidates, it is incomplete and it would be helpful if anyone could provide any more known candidates.

English Local Elections;

Mohinder Farma - Unity for Peace and Socialism-Mayor of Leicester
Avtar Singh, Unity for Peace and Socialism- Coleman ward, Leicester
Ashvin Vyas, Unity for Peace and Socialism. Coleman ward, Leicester
John Metcalfe, Communist party Morton ward, Carlisle
Martin Levy, Communist Party, Newcastle Walker
Gerrard Sables, Communist Party, Barnstaple Central/North Devon District Council

Scottish Assembly elections;

Marc Livingstone, Communist Party, Glasgow Anniesland

Welsh Assembly elections;

NORTH WALES Regional List;

Glyn Davies, Communist Party
Trevor Jones, Communist Party
Rhian Cartwright, Communist Party
Graham Morgan, Communist Party

MID & WEST WALES Regional List;

Catrin Ashton, Communist Party
Rick Newnham, Communist Party
Barbara Thomas, Communist Party
Clive Eliassen, Communist Party

SOUTH WALES CENTRAL Regional List;

Robert Griffiths, Communist Party
Gwen Griffiths, Communist Party
Fran Rawlings, Communist Party
Clive Griffiths, Communist Party

SOUTH WALES EAST Regional List;

Tommy Roberts, Communist Party
Roy Evans, Communist Party
Julian Jones, Communist Party
Angharad Khan-Raja, Communist Party

SOUTH WEST WALES Regional List;

John Morrissey, Communist Party
Laura Picand, Communist Party
David Brown, Communist Party
Dan Cole, Communist Party

Vote Communist!

2011-04-15T08:33:00.000-07:00

Watch the Communist Party's election broadcast here

Communists in Wales are to stand 20 candidates in the forthcoming elections to the Wales Assembly on 5 May. This bold initiative, will also gain the Communist Party space on television from which it is so often excluded. But elections cost money and that is where you can make a difference.

The Welsh Communist Party is for the second time contesting seats across the whole of Wales (the first time was in 2007) on 5 May 2011, standing 20 candidates in the five regions.   In so doing, the Communist Party will qualify for TV and radio election broadcasts; an excellent opportunity to argue the case for a socialist response to this capitalist crisis to tens of thousands of people in Wales.

The Communist Party is also planning to hold meetings across the length and breadth of Wales and produce and distribute thousands of leaflets, stickers and posters.  All of these political commitments will cost money, money the Party doesn’t yet have, e.g. £2500.00 (Broadcast production); £2500.00 (Candidate deposits); £500.00 (20,000 leaflets).  The Communist Party is therefore calling on all its members and friends to make a contribution, large or small, to ensure that we can carry out our political work and ensure that we continue to develop as the main party of the Left in Wales.
The target is to raise £3000.00 plus from members and supporters which, along with £2500.00 from Party reserves, will fund this election contest.

If you wish to contribute to the Welsh Communist Party’s election appeal and enclose a cheque (made payable to ‘WCCPB’) for:
£100.00 / £50.00 / £20.00 / £10.00 Other £……..… (delete as applicable)
Please send your contribution to the address below:
Y Blaid Gomiwnyddol Communist Party, Blwch Post/PO Box 69, Pontypridd CF37 9AB
MAKE YOUR 2ND VOTE COMMUNIST

The Welsh Communist Party is again contesting every region in the National Assembly of Wales elections, as it did in 2007, to ensure that the usual fare of “cabbages and kings” dished up by the main parties will not go unchallenged.

20 communist candidates contesting the five regional lists are calling for people across Wales to cast their 2nd vote Welsh communist. You can read their manifesto here

March for the alternative, the alternative is socialism!

2011-04-01T11:33:00.000-07:00

Between 500,000 and 750,000 trade unionists, anti-cuts campaigners, communists and socialists joined the huge TUC-organised march for the alternative on Saturday 26th March in central London. Those marching expressed their anger at the brutal assault on the living standards of working class families. The Tory led government are handing out tax cuts to big business monopolies, while working families are suffering lower pay, job cuts and loss of local services. While the capitalist class are increasing their wealth to record levels, the level of personal debt has soared pushing up the number of homes that are being repossessed. Pensions have been extended and reduced meaning older workers will have to work longer for less and younger workers will be denied a job. Access to education is being restricted to those who afford it, with tuition fees for university trebled and EMA cut, education seems to be returning to be a privilege of the upper classes. Once again Gas and electric companies recently published record profits that run parallel to their price rises well above the rate of inflation.

Once more ordinary working families are expected to foot the bill. We are expected to subsidise the luxurious lifestyles of the idle rich and be lucky to live our lives worried about the next bill, the next job...like the ‘ragged trousered philanthropists’ of Robert Tressell.

This is not acceptable and hundreds of thousands of people demonstrated this on Saturday. People came from all over the country, many came in wheel chairs or pushing prams. Fire fighters marched in uniform, 35,000 people held on to copies of the Morning Star, the background echoed with the sound of whistles, chanting, singing as well as bagpipe, steel drum and traditional brass bands. The biggest number of union flags and banners seen on one demo for 20 gave those marching the sense that the labour movement is still here, is growing in strength and will not take this cuts sitting down.

Members of the Young Communist League joined the biggest communist contingent seen in Britain for 30 years complete with local branch banners, flags and a bhangra band. This reflects the communist party’s growing support and confident. YCLers came from around the country to attend the demonstration, a group of YCLers from Glasgow branch travelled on a coach through the night to be there on the day.

There is no alternative nice version of capitalism. This is the crisis of capitalism, of over production and over accumulation, inherent to capitalism. There is no escape through making deals with the big business monopolies. We cannot accommodate the interests of a class whose interests are the direct opposite of ours. As one Young Communist League banner exclaimed:

‘For Class Unity, Against Class Collaboration

March for the alternative, The Alternative is SOCIALISM!’

March for the alternative, the alternative is socialism!

2011-03-22T04:01:00.000-07:00

The ruling class assault on young people have caused unemployment among 16 to 24-year-olds to hit record levels of over 20%

Young workers are facing increasingly precarious, low paid work. Employment is often found only on a temporary basis, where short term contracts are gained through parasitic agencies, forcing young workers to beg for a shift, frequently with as little as an hours notice given, to work long shifts at unsociable hours.

The lack of full time employment has caused the number of part-time workers to reach the highest level since records began in 1992 at 1.19 million in total.

Students face increased financial pressures after the trebling of tuition fees and the scrapping of education maintenance allowance, schools, colleges and universities face huge budget cuts meaning that students will effectively pay more for a lower standard of education delivered by smaller numbers of teachers and lecturers.

Cuts to Connexions services are ensuring that young people suffering from personal/health/social problems-exacerbated by this assault-will have less provision of education, employment, health and training support.

Dentists are reporting increasing cases of people refusing to book appointments in order to avoid charges (anyone 18 years old and over in work and students aged 19 years or over have to pay) Poor diet together with a lack of recreational facilities and after school clubs has produced an obesity epidemic among young people. Many of these avoidable health problems have caused scientists to forecast our generation to die at a younger age than our parents.

A recent report from Child Poverty Action Group showed that, despite being one of the richest nations, Britain one of the worst places to be a child in Europe mirroring a Unicef report from 2007 that concluded Britain was the worst country to grow up in the industrialised world. A report from Save the children in February 2011 demonstrated that 1.6 million children live in poverty, in Manchester and Tower Hamlets, 27% of children live in poverty.

In direct contrast to the government’s claims that we are all in this together, last year the 1000 richest people in Britain increased their wealth by a record 30%. Young workers and students in Britain are being forced to chase declining numbers of jobs and suffer worse conditions in employment while the rich are making obscene profits.

It is as if Britain’s youth have been collectively mugged, yet the mugger is having the audacity to ask the victim to pay compensation and to accept that this is the correct way of behaving.

How did the situation become this bad and what can we do about it?
We need to reject the argument, which has become the accepted orthodoxy of the CPI, TUC, Conservatives, Liberals, Labour and mass media, that this crisis was caused by a handful of reckless bankers and that it can be solved by minor reforms to bonus payments.

This position is misleading and misunderstands the causes of crises, which is that of over-productive, over-accumulation in a society controlled by a self-interested capitalist class. The Young Communist League rejects the idea of ‘good’ and ‘bad’ capitalism; we recognise that this is a crisis of capitalism and that the cure is socialism.

The remedy to this crisis is a planned economy, where the dictatorial hegemony of the capitalist class and their monopoly control of the economy, the media and political process is broken forever. However, we also recognise that nothing of any significance changes if the forces who intend to force that change do not exist.
Our rights were never handed out to us; before we were born generations of young people had to fight for decent employment, housing and education. Young people have won in the past when they have been well organised and united in the struggle for socialism.

The brutal attacks that Thatcher launched on Britain’s manufacturing industries destroyed communities that provided the bulk of Britain’s communists, socialists and trade unionists. Many heroic battles were fought and lost but, in the face of such a powerful onslaught, defeatism set in.

The 1990s produced a wave of capitalist triumphalism, with communities broken and union membership plummeting, many socialists and trade unionists gave up fighting for a better world. With the success of counter-revolutions in Eastern Europe in the early 1990s many of those who had been socialist now avoided the term, dropped their commitment to socialism and began to believe in the illusion of a ‘nicer’ capitalism.

During the cold war, western governments had assured their citizens that the high rate of military spending was due to an exaggerated Soviet threat and that otherwise this money would be spend socially. But since the success of capitalist restoration in the East military spending has increased and NATO has been free to pursue imperialist wars where ever it chooses. In Britain the privatisation of public services has accelerated since the early 1990s and inequality has increased to record levels, the election of a Labour government in 1997 did nothing to reverse this trend.

As Tony Benn said of his experiences of the power of governments in a bourgeois democracy:

“As a minister, I experienced the power of industrialists and bankers to get their way by use of the crudest form of economic pressure, even blackmail, against a Labour Government. Compared to this, the pressure brought to bear in industrial disputes is minuscule. This power was revealed even more clearly in 1976 when the IMF secured cuts in our public expenditure. These lessons led me to the conclusion that the UK is only superficially governed by MPs and the voters who elect them. Parliamentary democracy is, in truth, little more than a means of securing a periodical change in the management team, which is then allowed to preside over a system that remains in essence intact. If the British people were ever to ask themselves what power they truly enjoyed under our political system they would be amazed to discover how little it is, and some new Chartist agitation might be born and might quickly gather momentum.”

In Britain power rests with the capitalist class who control the system of democracy, they fund the parties and own the media. In order to get into government, parties must make deals and compromises with the capitalist class, it is they who truly rule Britain. Recently Nick Clegg was asked if he knew he was in charge of the country as David Cameron had gone on a tour of the Middle East:

‘Yeah, I suppose I am. I forgot about that.’

‘I’m holding the fort but I’m hoping to take the end of the week off with my kids. Someone else will have to do it then. It sounds more haphazard than it probably is.’

What we have is a government of the capitalist class; we want a government of the working class. We recognise that this cannot be realised until the forces for change are constructed, united and coordinated.

Young Communists must:
-Get active in our union branch and build fighting unions
-educate ourselves and our mates in Marxist-Leninism
-march for the alternative on the 26th of March and declare that the alternative is socialism!

ROBERT TRESSELL CENTENARY

2011-02-03T06:42:00.000-08:00

"The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists is actually something that changed my life" said Ricky Tomlinson, "It was given to me when I was in prison in the 1970s, it was given to me by the governor of the prison."

Robert Tressell, author of the Ragged Trousered Philanthropists which has provided inspiration for labour movement activists for years, died 100 years ago in 1911. It was almost lost forever and only by chance published years after his death.

The main character of the book, Frank Owen, seeks over and over again to win his fellow workers to the socialist cause. It is a great book both for winning people to socialism, the great money trick is still one of the best ways I have seen socialism explained. It also has much a longstanding activist can relate to, namely confronting apathy on a daily basis but never giving up untill "the Golden Light that will be diffused throughout all the happy world from the rays of the risen sun of Socialism."

This Saturday-February 5th 201 - there will be a commemmoration in Hastings of the death of Robert Tressell (Robert Noonan) on February 3rd 1911

More information www.raggedtrouseredandangry.me.uk

To celebrate the centenary Philosophy Football have produced an original design of a 'Paintbrush & Sickle' combining the tradition tool of the trade of Tressell's hero, Frank Owen, painting and decorating with a hint of Lissitsky's clasic 'Red Wedge' and a suggestion of the spirit of a joyful socialism which paints the town red.

Available on a T-shirt from here

British delegation at the 17th World Festival of Youth and Students

2011-01-11T05:10:00.000-08:00

From the 13th December to the 21st of December 2010 the 17th World Festival of Youth and Students took place in Pretoria or Tshwane, South Africa under the slogan ‘Let’s defeat imperialism, for a world of peace, solidarity and social transformation!’ For members of the British delegation the event provided invaluable experience and a continuing source of inspiration.

One problem progressive young people find in Britain is a sense of isolation. They may feel like they are the only young communist in their town. That is why it is so important for young people to attend local political meetings or national events like the Tolpuddle Martyrs festival; this provides a sense of being part of a movement. For those of us given the chance to attend the world festival, with thousands of young communists and anti-imperialists from over 130 nations around the world, we discovered that we are part of a truly global movement.

British delegates gained greater knowledge of subjects such as the struggle of the peoples of Western Sahara and Palestine, the politics surrounding foreign military bases, the campaign to free the Miami Five and the history of the Vietnamese people’s infamous victory over a brutal US invasion. Evidence was presented to an anti-imperialist court concerning environmental damage, the looting of natural resources, and the establishment of repressive military dictatorships. President of the jury, the South African judge Andele Magxitama, convicted imperialism of these crimes against humanity, in their conquest of the world in line with the principle of satisfying the interests of the few above the many.

The vibrant display of different cultures was breathtaking. There was much to see and experience including a Vietnamese tradition where delegates had to step between several pairs of bamboo sticks being smashed together in time to music played from a bamboo xylophone. The festival halls were explosions of rhythm with Arabic music, Korean plays and various African tribal dances. Some Sri Lankan delegates cooked traditional hoppers-pancakes made from fermented rice flour, yeast, salt and egg, while the Cuban delegation produced Havana Club Cocktails. Experiencing South African politics at first hand was overwhelming as mass meetings always erupted into singing, dancing and chanting.

There was a real expression of youth culture, people sat around painting amazing pictures, singing songs, playing instruments and reciting poetry. Some Spanish speaking delegates dressed up as caricatures of the capitalist media, dressed in suits with a papier-mâché television camera with a CNN logo, who would proceed to interview people holding a screen in front of the camera with the sign of the dollar, while a man on stilts dressed as Uncle Sam held puppet strings above your head.

The legacy of the recent world cup was keenly felt and the festival echoed with the sound of VuVuzelas. The early exit of Bafana Bafana from the recent world cup proved to be a sore point and during a keepy-uppy demonstration a delegate from Uruguay was challenged to beat the local lads’ performance. However, the South African delegates were heartened by the victory of both their women’s and men’s’ teams who won the football tournament. British delegates from the Young Communist League were particularly proud of a football victory of its own when we beat the Portuguese communist youth 3-2 in a hard fought game, a particularly impressive feat at an altitude of 1,350 m (4,500 ft) above sea level.

At the closing of the festival we joined a march of thousands of young people through the streets of Tshwane which brought us to a rally of where passionate speeches and songs were delivered from a stage in front of the Union buildings which granted an impressive view across the city to those who walked to the top.
Members of the British delegation were greatly impressed by the vibrancy of South African politics with its singing and dancing. The ANC song Solomon was particularly enjoyed;

"Iyho uSolomon!
Isotsha lo Mkhonto We Sizwe!
Wa yo bulala amabhunu eAfrika!"

"Oh Solomon, The Spear of the Nation soldier, He struggled against the Boer oppressors in Africa."

Delegates from the Young Communist League enjoyed this popular South African Communist Party (SACP) song;

"My father was a gardener, a gardener, a gardener,
My mother was a kitchen girl, a kitchen girl, a kitchen girl,
That’s why I am a communist, a communist, a communist.”

We were so impressed that we intend to bring it home, although the occupations of railwayman and nurse would better reflect our labour movement.

Something Britain’s communists suffer from, particularly in England, is a failure to draw our socialism and our national identity together. We look enviously at our comrades in France who can quite happily mix socialist convictions while waving the tricolore and delivering La Marseillaise in thunderous voices. At the world festival delegations proudly waved their national flags and displayed their respective national cultures on their stalls. Particularly vivid are the memories of fluttering Brazilian and Cuban flags held high by carnivals moving in time to Latin music, Syrian and Algerian characters in traditional Arabic robes, whose stalls resembled a cave in Arabian Nights, and of course, tribal African dancers carefully balancing pots upon their heads or pounding upon drums, displaying stone carved elephants and beaded jewellery. We were asked by the Vietnamese delegation, with their stall full of ceramic figurines and traditional Asian Conical hats, why our stall did not contain any British cultural items.

That left us wondering, what is British culture? Would it be appropriate for us to boldly wave the Union flag, mirroring our ancestors when they thrust it through the heart of the freedom of one quarter of the planet’s population?

At an event organized by the Portuguese communist youth, we were impressed by the hearty renditions of the songs of the Carnation revolution. The only response we could muster was to remind them of the result of a certain game of football that had taken place earlier that day. Eventually we decided to deliver a few verses of the red flag, a song we continued to sing throughout the festival. Nonetheless, British culture was best expressed by the conversations we had about premiership football with delegates from over nations over a few beers in the evenings.

Clearly, defeated only sixteen years, the legacy of apartheid is still dearly felt in the form of high levels of crime and inequality. Nonetheless President Zuma, who attended the opening ceremony of the festival that included a military parade and a flypast by the South African Air force, has stated that he will seek to deliver a badly needed programme of job creation and greater redistribution of wealth, that the ANC and SACP will seek to forge a different path from South Africa’s current neoliberalism.

Overall the Festival was a life-changing event for its delegates, by learning as a group, playing football together, and overcoming organisational obstacles as a team, the YCL contingent demonstrated an ability to act as one. It’s members come back to Britain more enthusiastic than ever and better equipped to get stuck into political work with renewed vigour. Members of the YCL contingent will lead by example and use their new found skills and passion to forge a bigger, better YCL in order to support the rebuilding and reenergising of the communist party and supporting the labour movement in uniting the communities of Britain against this Tory-led government.

Our Future is socialism!

2011-01-10T11:59:00.001-08:00

The Communist Party of Britain has adopted a Party Campaign Plan for 2011 which includes major initiatives. Includes two national speaking tours and upping the ante on the struggle against job loss and the destruction of industry and services.

These include proposals for:

• The party's annual trade union and political cadre school on February 26-27.
• A national event to celebrate International Women's Day with other Communist and workers' parties domiciled in Britain.
• A campaigning 'month of action' in March and November on benefit cuts and Palestinian political prisoners.
• Two national speaking tours in spring and winter on 'Capitalist crisis - the Communist Party's answer' and 'The Communist Party and Britain's Road to Socialism'.
• Communist Party participation in English local, Scottish and Welsh elections on May 5.
• Campaigning against the Alternative Vote in the May 5 referendum.
• A seminar to be organised by the party's Economic Committee on the dimensions of capitalist crisis.
• Discussions to formulate 'a major labour movement initiative' against mass unemployment.

Britain is in an economic crisis.For too many years the labour movement has been fighting on its back foot, Finance has stranggled the rest of the nation and the rich have increased their wealth to staggering levels. Tired old anti-communist propaganda is being questioned by a new generation of socialists. Many young people are seeing capitalism for what it is and they support the communist party while it is growing in numbers and influence.

Britain badly needs the communist party. A larger cadre party that could act as a discplined cohort at the core of the labour movement ensuring that it packs a punch, providing leadership based on Marxist-Leninist analysis and organising communities that have been neglected for far too long. Such a party could make Britain's economic crisis a political crisis.

At a time when many are becoming interested in the communist party-especially among young people and students-it is fantastic to see the party asserting itself and stepping up it's activity.

As this fantastic banner read from the KNE-Communist youth of Greece at the recent 17th World Festival of Youth and Students in South Africa-'Communism is the youth of the world!'

The Nazi-Soviet Pact; cutting through the propaganda

2011-01-06T12:40:00.000-08:00

In line with efforts of many party and YCL members to draw up answers to FAQs that we face everytime we do stalls and other public activity, I have decided to take on on of the biggest tricks up the anti-communist sleave, I will attempt to put the Molotov-Ribbentrop non-aggression pact into perspective.

The Nazi-Soviet pact is one slice of history that is always brought up by those seeking to equate Communism with fascism. Revisionist historians, notably Niall Ferguson, have claimed that the "blame" for the second world war should be equally shared by the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany. Ferguson has stated that Stalin was "as much an aggressor as Hitler." Most outrageously Orlando Figes has described the Molotov-Ribbentrop non-aggression pact as "the licence for the Holocaust."

These claims may appear to be ludicrous enough to alienate most people. However, this view of history is becoming more popular. The Nazi-Soviet non-aggression pact is a key element to this line of argument and is inseparable to the recent increase in repression of communists in Europe. This piece of realpolitik diplomacy has been taken out of its context and used by ultra-right wingers in the EU, grouped around the Prague Declaration, representing the forces behind a huge, Europe-wide campaign to outlaw communism.

Those seeking to equate Nazis Germany and it’s fascist allies with the socialist nations of Eastern Europe are doing so on the basis of their anti-communist ideology alone. There can be no genuine comparison. On the one hand you have Nazi Germany, a violent and expansionary fascist state-funded by big business-who carried out a systematically planned genocide based on racial identity. On the other, the Soviet Union and socialist states of Eastern Europe, established by revolutions with mass support, that raised the general standard of living by means of a centrally planned economy.

In practise that has meant that communist symbols have been made illegal in countries such as Hungary, Lithuania and Poland. In the Czech Republic the youth section of the communist party-a party with mass support-was outlawed. While in Moldova anti-communists have resorted to riots when the communist party won the elections.

While the stated aims of these European anti-communists are to equate communism with fascism, communists-often the largest force fighting cutbacks-are being repressed in their respective countries while violent fascist groups are thriving.

In the Baltic republics anti-communism is being used in order to rehabilitate nazism. Veterans of the Latvian Legion of the Waffen-SS now parade through the streets of Riga and Estonian parliamentarians have honoured those who served the Third Reich as "fighters for independence." Across Europe monuments to those who fought the nazis being dismantled on a daily basis. Most shamefully, NATO and EU member Lithuania opened a war crimes investigation into four Jewish veterans of the country's partisans.

Efraim Zuroff, the famous nazi hunter, has stated: "People need to wake up to what is going on. This attempt to create a false symmetry between communism and the nazi genocide is aimed at covering up these countries' participation in mass murder."

The Nazi-Soviet pact is used as cover for the repression of communists by claiming that communists and fascists are both ‘totalitarian’. This attack on communists has been exploited by holocaust denying neo-nazis seeking to use this anti-communist onslaught to distract the people of Europe from the crimes of fascism.

The idea that communists and fascists are somehow one and the same is a false concept that is catching on and is in danger of becoming fashionable. Yet we can fight against this naked piece of anti-communist propaganda by placing the act in its historical context.

On the surface the idea that communists and fascists, supposed arch-enemies, should sign an act of non-aggression may seem strange. But we must go back to the mid-1930s in order to explain the act.

It was the dominant section of the British ruling elite, together with British and American capital, that ensured the rise of Nazi Germany. Treaties that allowed the Nazis to increase the size of their armed forced were signed by British politicians sympathetic to the Nazis, falling for the propaganda of ‘Living space’ and seeing them as a useful ally against the Soviet Union.

When a fascist military uprising broke out in Spain, it was the British Secret Service who had flown it’s leader General Franco from prison in the Canary islands to Morocco. While people of nations across the globe flocked to the communist organised international brigades in order to fight for Spanish democracy, Britain headed a non-intervention committee that prevented men and material from reaching republican forces.

The British government invoked the 1870 enlistment act that prohibits Britons from volunteering to fight against an ally-in this case fascist Italy! The non-intervention committee turned a blind eye to troops and material pumped into Spain from Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. This act enabled Hitler to test new tactics and encouraged him that Britain would not respond to his plans to conquer Europe. The only nation that sent significant numbers of war material and personnel to fight for democracy was the Soviet Union.

Members of the international brigades-who went on to play a massive role in resistance movements to the Nazis, or the army and Home guard in Britain-left Spain as Franco’s troops raped, tortured, murdered and pillaged, completing their conquest of the nation. Britain was the first nation to recognise the fascist military junta as a legitimate government.

As Nazi troops occupied Austria and Czechoslovakia Britain collaborated with Hitler at Munich, while repeated Soviet calls for Britain and France to form an anti-fascist alliance to stop the Nazis from invading European countries were ignored.

It was clear that war was only a matter of months away, the British government still favoured an alliance with Nazi Germany and continued to sign treaties and trade deals. High profile diplomatic delegations were sent to Berlin and Rome to drink to the health of Hitler and Mussolini, the Soviet Union was sidelined with only minor clerks, with no powers to sign treaties, sent to Moscow.

When it become clear the Nazis would invade Poland, the Soviet Union proposed to sign a treaty with Britain and France to guarantee Poland’s borders backed up with the threat of war. Poland continued to refuse to sign any treaty that allowed Soviet troops to cross Polish territory in order to attack Nazi Germany. Britain refused to join the Soviets in declaring war on Hitler in the event of a Nazi invasion of Poland, however-with very dubious motives-Britain encouraged the Soviets to go to war with Nazi Germany.

With the experience of the 1918-1920 intervention in living memory, where 22 nations including Germany, Britain and Poland had invaded Russia, committing widespread atrocities, the Soviet Union was wary of a repeat performance. The pro-nazi element in Britain’s ruling class wanted to support, formally or informally, a Nazi war with the Soviet Union. Britain’s international relations demonstrated this strategy in action.

It was in this context that a non-aggression pact was signed between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany. This move sidelined British and Nazi war plans and enabled the Soviet Union to spend two years preparing for war-a period in which defence spending rose by 27%. The decision to occupy parts of Eastern Poland, 8 days after the Nazis invaded from the West, put fascist artillery out of range of Russian cities and ensured that the population of eastern Poland-many ethnically Ukrainian or Belorussian-were saved from the horrors of the holocaust for two years.

Britain, having signed huge deals with Germany and Japan handing over valuable materials needed for war just months earlier, was outmaneuvered by Stalin. When the Nazis invaded Poland the appeasers hesitated for several days. Only after pressure from parliament, with Churchill writing to Chamberlain threatening to make a speech in favour of war revealing the government‘s treacherous nature, did Britain reluctantly declare war on Germany.

Events during the early ‘phoney war’ period appeared to vindicate the Nazi-Soviet pact. Was this an imperialist war? The pro-Nazi appeasers remained in the British government and acted to sabotage Britain’s war effort. One revealing chapter of history which is conveniently left out of the history books is Britain’s role in the Soviet-Finnish war. In direct contrast to their use of the 1870 enlistment act to prevent Britons volunteering for the fight to save Spanish democracy from fascism, the British government used a clause in the act in order to encourage volunteers to fight for Finland against the Soviet Union. In 1940 the formation of a British Legion-with the aim of recruiting 10,000-was declared. By the end of the conflict only three Britons were found to be fighting for the reactionary Finnish government, in contrast to the thousands who fought in Spain.

At a time when Britain stood alone against the threat of a Nazi invasion, a huge amount of war materials were shipped to Finland. Instead of reinforcing our armed forces, or ill equipped home guard, we shipped 30 'Blenheim' bombers, 246 fighter planes, 400,000 rifles, and 250,000 grenades to Helsinki. The Nazi ally also received supplies from Italy and Germany so much of the British supplies ended up in the hands of the Nazis. We only stopped shipping arms to this fascist ally when the Soviet Union was invaded and the conflict became a ‘people’s war’.

The Soviet Union managed to occupy parts of Finland and deny the Nazis launch pad for it’s later invasion. The example of Britain supporting a Nazi ally, against the needs of it’s own people demonstrate that the war was imperialist at this point. The occupation of parts of Finland ensured that Nazi Germany was defeated sooner than it would have otherwise and was only possible because of the Nazi-Soviet pact of non-aggression. A similar pact was signed with Japan shortly before the Nazi invasion, this is another example of realpolitik that helped make the destruction of fascism occur earlier.

The Nazi-Soviet pact and occupation of Poland, which Churchill felt ‘was clearly necessary for the safety of Russia against the Nazi menace’, cannot be isolated from the context of the events leading up to and during the start of the Second World War. If it somehow proved that the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany were secret bedfellows why did the Soviets demand the German signatories drink a toast to Lazar Kaganovitch, the most senior Jewish communist in the Soviet government? Why did the Soviet’s refuse the German suggestion to include in the treaty the phrase ‘the friendly character of German-Soviet relations’?

At the end of the day the Nazi-Soviet non-aggression pact was a reluctant move that was hard to swallow, but necessary to the ultimate aim of destroying Nazi Germany, a feat which wouldn’t have been possible without the contribution of the Soviet Union who faced 80% of the German armed forces for the duration of the ‘people’s war’ which cost the Soviet Union nearly 24 million lifes.

For more information read the fantastic book 'Freedom from Tyranny; The fight against fascism and the falsification of history' by Phil Katz and the Communist Party history group. Available at www.manifestopress.org.uk

Report highlights rural poverty while AWB is scrapped

2010-11-29T04:59:00.000-08:00

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation’s minimum income standard has recently released this report outlined the problems of rural poverty.

The report states that:

‘while the rate of income poverty is lower in rural than in urban
areas, it is growing faster in rural areas than elsewhere. A higher
incidence of low pay in many peripheral and more remote rural
areas increases risks of in-work poverty. There is evidence to
suggest that rural low income families may face higher costs for
certain essentials such as food and transport than their urban
counterparts. At the same time, however, there is limited
systematic evidence about how needs and costs vary in relation
to rurality. This report presents the findings of research designed
to examine what rural households need, to achieve the same
living standards as urban households.’

Anyone who lives in the countryside knows that poverty is more invisible in the sticks, there may be less widespread deprivation but it is masked in beautiful rolling hills. While the rural poor find themselves in relatively similar circumstances to the urban poor, access to facilities such as hospitals, schools, and other cultural and sporting such as museums and swimming pools is limited.

The only way to get to any of these facilities or the supermarket is to drive, or for those who cannot afford it-a position that people make huge sacrifices to avoid-use appalling irregular and expensive public transport. For instance, the village I grew up in had a bus to Yeovil that only came three times a week.

This position is further complicated by the nature of employment in the countryside, which is often low paid, temporary and seasonal-especially for jobs in the agricultural sector. Since 1923 the Agricultural Wage Board (AWB) has set the wages, terms and conditions for agricultural workers, who number around 154,000-although this figure is constantly changing and varies enormously.

Unite national officer, Ian Waddell, has said: "Even the Thatcher and Major governments didn’t go as far as scrapping the Agricultural Wages Board, recognising that rural workers need protection if food supplies are to be secure. Unite is building a broad alliance across rural communities to oppose the government's decision.

"The government's decision to press ahead with abolition of the Agricultural Wages Board will have dire consequences for farming and farm workers. Living standards across rural communities in England and Wales will fall as a result.

“Agriculture is critical to food supplies in this country and we have very real concerns. There is already a shortage of skilled labour and this will only be exacerbated if wages are under pressure, jeopardising our food security.”

Unite and Country Standard have organized a campaign against the scrapping of the AWB, all progressives are urged to join their fight.

The Minimum Income Standard report can be accessed here:

http://www.jrf.org.uk/sites/files/jrf/minimum-income-standards-rural-full.pdf

The Living Wage

2010-10-28T01:50:00.000-07:00

At the recent congress, the TUC and the Fair Pay Network published a report entitled ‘Unfinished Business: The quest for a Living Wage’. The report outlines the experiences of several living wage campaigns, from RMT member cleaners on the Eurostar to a Methodist minister. Local Living wage campaigns have sprung up in many cities including Manchester, Glasgow, London and Norwich. The endorsement of the Living Wage by Ed Miliband caused a storm among some Business leaders. Even David Cameron has described the Living Wage as an idea ‘that’s time has come’. It appears everyone is talking about the Living Wage.

Everyone who is paid minimum wage knows how hard it is to get by. You struggle to cover the rent, shopping, electric and heating bills despite working long hours. Many people in this situation are reliant on in-work benefits. We have seen the re-emergence of the concept of an ‘undeserving poor’ propagated by politicians such as multi-millionaire Culture secretary Jeremy Hunt, who recently argued that poor families should not have children in order to save the state money. However, these myths ignore the fact that the majority of children living in poverty have at least one working parent. Paid work should provide you with everything you need to live a decent life, yet for so many working people this is not happening.

The concept of a Living Wage is the minimum amount of money needed to live a well rounded life. The concept appears to have come from the USA where momentum has been building behind this campaign for several years. The first modern example of a Living Wage campaign began in 1994 when an alliance between trade unionists and religious leaders in Baltimore launched a successful campaign requiring city service contractors to pay a living wage. Subsequently hundreds of campaigns, encouraged by President Obama’s support for a higher minimum wage, are currently ongoing or have resulted in living wage laws being implemented.

The experience of the Living Wage campaign in the USA provides us with some lessons that we can use to improve the campaign in this country. The campaigns were most successful when they incorporated religious and community groups into the movements that could help social justice activists and trade unionist ‘usual suspects’ to mobilise larger numbers of people. While this tactic is something to be repeated in Britain, there were some lessons learnt that we need to steer clear of. In the USA Living Wage laws typically only covered state employees and businesses that receive state assistance or have contracts with the government. The movement is also fractured and often locally based. There is no universally recognised rate of Living Wage and the local Living Wage laws that have been passed have often only been a couple of dollars higher than minimum wage.

In Britain the Living Wage Campaign appears to have the ‘big mo’ behind it at the moment with local campaigns being set up around the country and the endorsement of many senior politicians. The sense of outrage sparked by the bailout of the bankers has meant that many members of the public have got behind movements such as the Living Wage Campaign, the People’s Charter and the initiative for a ‘Robin Hood’ tax on the banks. Despite the grim announcement from the Con-Dem coalition government that working families will suffer an austerity blitzkrieg there is great potential for a progressive alternative that will see a fairer Britain emerge from this crisis.

One Strength of the British campaign is the existence of a unified rate of Living Wage with an agreed methodology of updating it. The Living Wage is currently set at £7.85 an hour in London, £7.15 an hour in Scotland, or £7.60 an hour elsewhere this is based on the ‘Minimum Income Standard’ calculated by Loughborough University's Centre for Research in Social Policy. Researchers asked a broad cross-section of society to discuss and agree what is needed for an adequate standard of living – something that people feel nobody in Britain should fall below. They then worked out how much this costs on average in the UK, based on chain store prices.
For simplicity, the figures used to calculate the hourly Living Wage rate are based an example of a typical couple working full-time, with two children in paid childcare. Whilst not all working-age households include two adults and two kids, £7.60 an hour is enough to protect 90% of working-age households living outside of London.

Another strength of the campaign is that there are arguments for the Living Wage from most viewpoints and positions in society.

Despite the complaints by leading business figures to Ed Miliband’s endorsement of the campaign it has been demonstrated that the living wage is ‘good for business’. Research has shown that paying workers a living wage increases productivity, while reducing absenteeism and the rate of staff turnover. This will decrease the amount of time and money that is needed in order to train new staff. Evidence suggests that socially responsible companies that reward their staff for their hard work are thrive better in the business world than those who do not. Companies such as Barclays and Pricewaterhousecoopers are recognised living wage employers.

For those who are concerned about the amount of money that the state spends on welfare benefits it can be argued that a Living Wage would reduce this spending. The costs paid by the taxpayer, and local community, in relation to the social problems associated with poverty and inequality are staggering. Better paid workers have more to offer for their communities and are not financially dependent upon welfare benefits. Evidence suggests that crime rates would be reduced; acts such as burglary, vandalism and alcohol and drug abuse can be combated by the simple act of paying all workers a Living Wage.

These arguments have persuaded not only business groups such as those mentioned above, but also local government, such as the Greater London Authority, and universities, such as Queen Mary’s, to adopt the Living Wage.

Church Action on Poverty (CAP) has been concerned that some churches have been paying their workers inadequately. The experience of the Living Wage campaign in the USA saw religious groups of all faiths leading the fight for a Living Wage. CAP therefore has been helping Churches lead the way in Britain by signing them up to the Living Wage. It is easy to justify this by highlighting the clear Christian values and moral responsibilities of the Church to treat their staff with respect.

"Those who oppress the poor insult their Maker, but those who are kind to the needy honour God." (Proverbs 14:31)

The current National Minimum Wage is completely inadequate for working families to live off. Despite the 13 pence "pay rise" on the 1st of October, the current rate is just £5.93. While the minimum wage was arguably one of Labour's best achievements, the sluggish increases have been below the amount necessary for a decent standard of living. Furthermore, stratification by age has merely encouraged employers to pay younger workers less. The new rate for 16 and 17-year-old workers will scale the heights of £3.64 an hour and apprentices will be rewarded with just £2.50 an hour.
It is disgraceful that many workers in a nation as rich as ours cannot provide a decent standard of living for themselves and their families because of low wages. The Living Wage is desperately needed. We need to challenge the faux progressivism of the coalition government and step up to fight a generation defining campaign, the campaign for a Living Wage.

Congress and the fight against the cuts

2010-10-18T10:04:00.000-07:00

All across Europe workers have been fighting EU-imposed austerity measures. Over 10 million workers staged a general strike in Spain, following the six general strikes held by Greek workers. A recent day of action against the cuts brought over 100,000 workers from 24 countries to Brussels impressed on members of the YCL in the British contingent the need for workers across Europe to coordinate action against these devastating cuts.

Many people in Britain find themselves ill equipped to deal with government austerity measures. Access to housing, education and healthcare is already overstretched. One particularly big issue is unemployment and underemployment. The Office for National Statistics also reported that the number of people classed as economically inactive has reached a record high of 8.17 million. Young people are overrepresented in the unemployment figures and those in work are more likely to be in casualised, precarious agency or short-term contracted work.

Trade unionists came from all over the country on the 13th of September to Manchester a city whose vibrancy cut through the rain. Yet despite the sights and sounds a grim mood hangs over many inhabitants of the city. The shedding of manufacturing jobs has deeply affected the old industrial city and has been accompanied by a huge rise in poverty, unemployment and social exclusion. It could be argued that the city would be receptive to a TUC that would start the fight back against the biggest assault on working people in living memory.

The mood for a campaign against austerity was set in the backdrop of a joint statement by Unison and the PCS to campaign together to defend public services and jobs. Many developments at congress were welcome.

Delegates unanimously gave their support for John McDonnell's Private Members Bill which seeks to prevent the disgraceful practice of employers using small technicalities against democratic ballots for strike action. Court rulings have been used against overwhelmingly support for strike action from Unite’s BA cabin crew, RMT and others recently without any appreciation of the difficulties of maintaining the records of up to thousands of workers who constantly move house or job. The composite motion reaffirmed Congress' commitment to ending the harsh anti-trade union laws by standing behind the Lawful Industrial Action (Minor Errors) Bill.
TUC delegates also pledged support for the Communication workers Union’s (CWU) campaign against the privatisation of the post office. ‘Competition equals a better, cheaper service’ is the familiar excuse for the privatisation of public services and has been used in regards to pawning off of our post service. Similar arguments were used to justify the privatisation of Britain’s railways yet we have been left with a more dangerous service that is the most expensive in Europe. The same will become true of our postal service if the Post Office is privatised, not to mention the forfeiting of thousands of postal workers’ jobs.

Another good achievement came from a motion concerning the Middle East. Congress voted for boycott and disinvestment from firms that profit from the occupation and illegal settlements in Palestine. The composite motion, which was unanimously passed, denounced the Israeli government’s attack on the Mavi Marmara flotilla in May which resulted in the deaths of nine solidarity activists and its continuing support for illegal settlements. The motion issued an important condemnation of the reactionary Israel’s Histadrut trade union federation.

A packed Morning Star fringe meeting was held with many more people listening outside the door than were inside the room. RMT General Secretary Bob Crow defended his call for "general and co-ordinated strikes" against attacks by the mainstream media by pointing out that without civil disobedience women would not have the vote.
Conference delegates and members of Manchester CPB and YCL attended a Communist party fringe meeting at the mechanic’s institute which housed the founding meeting of the TUC in 1868. Communist Party of Britain general secretary Robert Griffiths forecast 2010 might be seen in future as the "class war Congress"
"Not in the sense that the TUC has declared class war but that it resolved to unite in defence of the working class against the Tories' class war," he explained.
While progress has been made on some issues more work needs to be done particularly in regards to organising resistance to the cuts. Unfortunately some negative trends distracted delegates from this.

The decision to invite David Cameron was an insult to those who will lose their jobs as a result of the coalition government’s attack on the people. The withdrawal of the invitation was no victory to celebrate it should never have been issued. Similarly it was outrageous to give a warm welcome to Mervyn King, governor of the Bank of England, as he justifies the scrapping of people’s jobs and services.
Regrettably for the democracy of Britain’s labour movement Manchester TUC 2010 was the last annual full congress. There will be no TUC congress held next year when the brunt of the austerity measures will be unleashed.

The labour movement must be organised in order to stop the austerity measures and defeat this government. As Bob Crow, who was re-elected onto the TUC general council, has stated "the government started this fight with the working class - but we are up for it." It is paramount that a conference is organised as early as possible in order to coordinate resistance to the cuts.

Young communists must help to fight the EU imposed austerity measures in two ways;
Firstly the battle of ideas still needs to be won in rejecting rhetoric surrounding the false claim that "we're all in it together". The wealth of the top 1000 richest people in Britain rose last year by almost 30 per cent so much for universal belt-tightening. It is clear that this remedy proposed by the European Union is a naked attack on the lives of working families. Instead of austerity measures, the government could close tax havens and ensure that tax-dodging millionaires pay their share. The implementation of a wealth tax and a ‘Robin Hood’ tax on bank transactions could raise billions. More could be saved by cancelling the Trident missile replacement and bringing British troops home from the increasingly aimless war in Afghanistan.

Secondly young communists must contribute to the coordinated response to the austerity programme. We must get involved in local anti-cuts groups. It must be acknowledged that the Con-Dem government’s plans for privatisation were built upon existing labour policies, such as the Academy schools programme. Likewise, a Labour government would have introduced cuts in line with other social democratic governments in Greece and Spain. Nonetheless, in the interests of unity, the broadest possible anti-cuts campaign is required and must involve socialists, communists and trade unionists together with labour party members, dissident liberals and Tories as well as local community and religious groups.

A Young Communist Outlook

2010-08-02T04:50:00.000-07:00

(From the Morning Star Thursday 29 July 2010 by the fantastic John Millington)

Revolutionary imagery on the walls, 600 years of peasant and working-class struggle eulogised at every table. That's just the first floor of the building.

And no, this is not a Cuban museum - it is the Peoples History Museum in Manchester.

My guide for the day is George Waterhouse, the general secretary of the Young Communist League, and he is taking me through the main events in indigenous struggles of ordinary people in Britain from the Peasants' Revolt in 1391 to the present day.

Legendary figures of the labour and communist movements such as Keir Hardie and Harry Pollitt are given pride of place alongside Morning Star memorabilia.

But it is the future, not history, that Waterhouse has on his mind when we finally get chance to talk.

Much of the debate surrounding the working-class movement is on how youth can be mobilised to positively campaign and fight for jobs and better pay in the current economic crisis.

Before the official cuts agenda was unveiled in Chancellor George Osborne's emergency Budget, the recession had already had a disproportionate effect on Britain's youth, with nearly a million under-25's being unemployed.

Recent figures from the Office of National Statistics showing 8.1 million people economically inactive across Britain include many under-25's.

Young people are obviously not a monolithic group, but it is safe to say that frustration and anxiety are the highest they've been for years.

Waterhouse points to the increasing liberalisation of work, where the only choices for young people are low-skilled, low-paid temporary work.

"Much of this work is dished out by job agencies which, rather than being the exception, has become the rule for young people."

Officially classed as "temporary contractors," the agencies take a cut of the wage for providing the "service" of finding employment for the worker with the added proviso of being able to terminate employment at one hour's notice.

At 21, Waterhouse is no stranger to this world of temporary and insecure employment.

Currently waiting on his undergraduate degree score, we are interrupted by his agency calling to cancel his shift the next day.

How do you deal with that, I ask him.

Waterhouse gives a characteristic communist response.

"You have to deal with the reality but also analyse the situation. Then you will then be one step closer to changing the situation."

Waterhouse insists that the cuts have exacerbated things for young people and the government "should be investing in real apprenticeships and sustainable jobs," which would have the knock-on effect of creating more job security.

"Precarious and insecure work creates problems for organising in those workplaces.

"People working there get the perception that it is just a temporary job - a means to an end. In that environment it is difficult to organise young people in trade unions.

"This leads to feelings of inadequacy and the feeling of being isolated."

Structural changes concerning young people have not just been limited to waged labour.

The comprehensive education system is being eroded with the introduction of "free schools" and with the Con-Dem government extending the use of academies.

Liberal commentators have noted the undemocratic nature of the schools, with private businesses able to run them and set the curriculum, raising fears that business models could dominate the education system.

But, for Waterhouse, the consequences are much more serious.

"Free schools and academies will entrench class divisions in the same way as raising tuition fees at university," creating effectively a two-tier system.

Several single-issue campaigns have arisen around attacks on state education and cuts in public services, with parents, students and unions starting to become mobilised in localised protests.

And they have had some success. Recently Whittington Hospital in north London, which had been due to be closed, was saved following a well-organised local campaign involving in large part the local community.

Although acknowledging that these campaigns have successfully engaged working-class communities, Waterhouse believes that they are only a starting point.

"Communists have always been part of broad coalitions. But it is our role to link the issues together and ultimately assert ourselves more effectively," he says.

One of the issues that Waterhouse insists has been underplayed and largely ignored by the labour and trade union movement is the role of the European Union in the economic and social affairs of Britain.

At the recent Rail, Maritime and Transport trade union conference, delegates pointed out that rail nationalisation could not happen due to EU directives.

With the Viking and Laval judgements from the European Court of Justice - prioritising free movement of goods over the right to strike - still fresh in the memory of thousands of trade unionists, Waterhouse highlights how the Young Communist League (YCL) is setting out to expose the "neoliberal EU agenda."

"We are planning to hold simultaneous demonstrations against cuts and the EU to reveal the role of the EU.

"Who in the rest of Britain is really identifying the EU as the source of the cuts - the main driving force behind the austerity measures?"

In Greece, where EU-led austerity measures have hit the working class hard, trade unions and the influential Greek Communist Party (KKE) have launched a series of strikes and protests aimed at curtailing the cuts.

On top of this, representatives of many former socialist states in eastern Europe have lobbied in the EU for communist symbols to be equated with the nazi swastika and banned.

Waterhouse is adamant that there is an "umbilical link" between the anti-communist campaigns and the cuts agenda being waged by the EU.

"The anti-communist measures have accelerated in recent years with the banning of the hammer and sickle in Poland and the banning of the Czech Young Communist league (KCM)."

The examples across Europe of organised resistance on a national scale give Waterhouse hope for the movement in Britain.

But the YCL is keen to point out that it is not the communist party or YCL's priority to form a communist government in the future.

"Our programme, the British Road to Socialism, seeks a progressive Labour government with the assistance of communist and other extra-parliamentary forces pushing it in that direction."

It is the extra-parliamentary element to the programme which the YCL is keen to develop. Waterhouse sees huge potential in the Youth Fight For Jobs, which has the support of nearly all unions.

But he adds a note of caution for progressive and left members of the Labour Party and Labour Representation Committee who seek to "reclaim the Labour Party."

"The trouble with the word 'reclaim' is that just working internally is not enough.

"To be successful it is about going out into the labour movement and, if the arguments are won there, then the Labour Party will follow suit."

Despite the mammoth task facing the working-class movement, Waterhouse remains optimistic, even given the scale of the onslaught being unleashed by the Con-Dem government.

"I don't think Cameron's agenda will be seen in the same light as Thatcher's in the '80s.

"Rather than being perceived as being dynamic in some quarters as Thatcher was, it will be perceived as destructive by the majority of working-class people.

"Most young people have been brought up in the shadow of the collapse of the Soviet Union.

"The absurd statements that the collapse marked the end of history helped sow seeds of apathy in young people and feelings that Marxism was outdated.

"But Marxism is even more relevant today and young people are showing all over Britain that they are in favour of collective action."

YCL makes it's presence felt at Tolpuddle 2010

2010-07-21T02:35:00.000-07:00

This year’s Tolpuddle Martyrs festival was the biggest and brightest in a generation. Members of the YCL got stuck into a weekend of activity. We sold hundreds of Morning Stars and gave away over a thousand free copies of a re-launched Country Standard-the radical agricultural workers magazine-to inspire rural socialism. As well as the usual music acts, debates, food and drink, this year’s event included a radical history school and, due to the increased number of visitors, an overspill car park.

The festival commemorates 6 agricultural labourers who, in 1832, were arrested and transported to Australia for forming a trade union. George Loveless, James Loveless, James Hammett, James Brine, Thomas Standfield and John Standfield were taken away from their families for swearing an oath under the villages sycamore tree to establish a ‘friendly society’ in which they would stand together to protect each other.

There are not many festivals in Britain where the tents fly Cuban, Palestinian and Hammer and Sickle flags. Tolpuddle is unique in many ways, but the increase in visitors year after year indicates that a new generation is warming to the values of trade unionism, solidarity and socialism.

In a phenomena widely interpreted by festival goers to be divine intervention it rained for week before the start of the event and, by the looks of it, will rain for a week after the event. Yet it failed to pour down the entire weekend. In fact, the weather was so good during the festival that a few YCLers even managed to get sun burnt.

Festival organisers and visitors commented on how inspiring it was to see so many dedicated young people, however, this did not stop YCLers from enjoying a tasty lunch prepared by the general secretary’s dear mother, pints of local cider and the best ska, rocksteady, folk, African and ‘srumpy and western’ music.

Echoing George Loveless’s immortal words “We raise the watchword, liberty We will, we will, we will be free!” a large contingent from the Prison officers association took part in a ‘freedom hike’ from Dorchester prison to Tolpuddle to highlight their lack of rights. Whether from domestic court rulings or from EU legislation the right to form a union and go on strike is under attack.

The Sunday march was the biggest seen in years. The banners representing trade unions, labour and communist party branches as well as solidarity and other organisations were accompanied by several brass and pipe bands and thousands of marches. The rally included the twin figures of Tolpuddle, Billy Bragg and Tony Benn, although the former was heckled by the crowd for his endorsement of the Liberal Democrats.

There was a defiant mood throughout the entire festival, visitors gathered to debate how we should fight the cuts and to send a message to the Con-Dem government that we will fight these austerity measures.

Almost two hundred years ago, the working class mobilised in hundreds of thousands to free the Tolpuddle Martyrs and after a huge campaign the martyrs were released. The story of the Tolpuddle Martyrs demonstrates how effective the labour movement can be when it is united.

Come to Tolpuddle!

2010-07-04T07:54:00.000-07:00

Out of all the Labour movement festivals in Britain, Tolpuddle Martyrs has got to be the best. Although all are fine, particularly Durham Miners' Gala which takes place this saturday, Tolpuddle is held dear by many trade union activists.

This year thousands of visiters from all over the country will come to Dorset for the event which takes place on the weekend of 16th to 18th of July. There will be the usual favourites such as the sunday march of trade union and progresive banners,the music of Billy Bragg and the rousing speech of Tony Benn.

For fans of Folk music Eliza Carthy and Chris Woods will be playing over the weekend. There will be a radical history school, a POA sponsored walk to Dorchester to the court that sentenced the martyrs, as well as kid's activities, debates and of course some lovely local cider.

The Communist Party are looking to expand it's presence which has been fairly huge over the past few years, swelled by activists from Bristol, North Devon, South Devon, Dorset and Somerset branches.

The radical Country Standard will be re-launched at the event, a publication that might be recalled by older agricultural workers at Tolpuddle. The Morning Star and Young Communist League are also set to have a bigger impact at this year's festival.

I look forward to Tolpuddle every year and I have been coming ever since I was young, when me and my brother were disapointed, as our parents had described it as a 'labour rally', not to see any car races.

Tolpuddle is not to be missed. When a Con-Dem government seeks to carry out an assault against the working class unity of the entire movement is paramount. The biggest possible turnout at Tolpuddle would send a message to number ten that we are still here, we are re-gaining strength and we are not going to go down without a fight.

Britain's young communists challenge ban!

2010-06-09T12:34:00.000-07:00

Members of the Young Communist League (YCL) held a successful demonstration outside of the Polish Embassy yesterday. Britain’s young communists challenged the implementation of a ban on communist symbols in Poland. The YCL were joined by members of the British branch of the Communist youth of Greece (KNE) and members of National union of Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) executive. The demonstration also received the support of the British branch of the Young Communists (Giovani Comuniste e Comunisti), youth section of the Communist Refoundation Party (Partito della Rifondazione Comunista)

Making outlaws out of heros

2010-06-07T09:54:00.000-07:00

(From tomorrow's Morning Star)

Last month US, French and British troops marched across Moscow's Red Square in a Victory Day parade to commemorate the 65th anniversary of the defeat of fascism in Europe.

The event was a tribute to the 28 million Soviet citizens who gave their lives in the global fight against the tyranny of fascism.

Yet elements within the European Union are currently embarking on an anti-communist crusade that seeks to equate communism with nazi fascism, as part of a much wider offensive against any opposition to the neoliberal agenda.

This gross distortion of history has at its heart a revisionism that attacks the role of communists and socialists while, at the same time, downplaying the crimes of fascism.

Revisionist historians, most notably Niall Ferguson, have claimed that the "blame" for the second world war should be equally shared by the Soviet Union and nazi Germany. Ferguson has stated that Stalin was "as much an aggressor as Hitler." However, attempts to equate communism and fascism hint that the former was worse than the latter.

In history lessons in schools across Britain children are taught a module on the "great dictators" where they study Hitler, Stalin and Fidel Castro. Communism, we are taught, is worse than nazism because, according to figures attained by dubious and ahistorical methodology, it is "responsible" for the deaths of more people.

This outrageous claim has been supported by "historian" Orlando Figes who described the Molotov-Ribbentrop non-aggression pact as "the licence for the Holocaust." This view of the second world war is complete nonsense. It is a disgraceful insult to the great sacrifices made by the Soviet people, partisans and ordinary people across Europe in pursuit of the defeat of fascism.

How can a conscious genocide carried out along racial lines by death camps be compared to communism?

For all its faults the Soviet Union built an egalitarian society that provided top-quality health, education, cultural activities and employment for all its citizens. The Soviet Union sought to end the violent racism and anti-semitism that traditionally plagued Russian society as well as to bring about the emancipation of women by introducing unparalleled childcare provision and enforcing equal pay.

The socialist camp provided crucial assistance to national liberation and anti-colonialist movements across the globe. The Soviet Union's contribution to this struggle has been recognised by Nelson Mandela among others.

On June 8 the Polish government will implement an amendment to the penal code criminalising the dissemination of "communist symbolism." Anyone who "produces, perpetuates, imports, stores, possesses, presents, carries or sends a printout, a recording or other object" carrying "communist or other totalitarian symbolism" would be punished with up to two years in prison.

Not only would this mean the banning of the international symbol of the communist movement - the hammer and sickle - but also the five-pointed red star, a symbol used by many socialists and social democrats across the world.

From the pronouncements made by government ministers and other right-wing politicians in Poland it is likely that the ban could also extend to other symbols and icons including pictures of Che Guevara and Lenin on T-shirts and posters.

This latest piece of anti-communist repression follows a wave of similar legislation across Europe. Bans on communist symbols have already been implemented in Hungary and Lithuania, while attempts and similar legislation have been pursued in Slovakia and many other countries in eastern Europe.

In 2006 the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) adopted a resolution that attempted to condemn communism as a "totalitarian" ideology. Speakers denounced the existence of "monuments, street names and other external symbols associated with the history of communism." The PACE resolution also called on all communist and post-communist parties of the Council of Europe member countries "to revise the history of communism and of their own history and unequivocally condemn them."

In 2007 the Czech government outlawed the Communist Youth Union because of its support for public ownership of the means of production. The Czech government has also attempted to outlaw its parent party the Communist Party of Bohemia & Moravia - a party with mass popular support that finished second in the 2004 European Parliament elections and continues to be an influential party in the Czech parliament.

In 2009 Moldovan anti-communists organised riots across the country after the Moldovan Communist Party won the election. In the Baltic republics anti-communism is being used in order to rehabilitate nazism. Veterans of the Latvian Legion of the Waffen-SS now parade through the streets of Riga and Estonian parliamentarians have honoured those who served the Third Reich as "fighters for independence."

Most shamefully, Nato and EU member Lithuania opened a war crimes investigation into four Jewish veterans of the country's partisans. Efraim Zuroff, the famous nazi hunter, has stated: "People need to wake up to what is going on. This attempt to create a false symmetry between communism and the nazi genocide is aimed at covering up these countries' participation in mass murder."

There are two elements to this anti-communist offensive by the European Union.

The first and most predominant element is an attempt to whitewash the crimes of capitalism and to silence opposition to the commitment of the European Union to capitalism and imperialism.

It is no accident that this upswing in the rising tide of anti-communism comes at a time when millions of people across Europe are being mobilised in opposition to the swingeing cuts being pursued by the neoliberalist EU to fund the bailout of the banks and financial institutions.

Communists across Europe have assumed a prominent role in this struggle against an intensification of competition, the surge in privatisation, and the ripping up of trade unionist's rights. Those labour movement battles that have seen most success contain a cohort of communists at their heart.

The great anti-communist crusade is inseparable from the European Union's enforcement of austerity measures across the continent. The campaign to outlaw communism also runs hand in hand with the expansion of Nato into eastern Europe. Along with the wars in Yugoslavia, Afghanistan and Iraq imperialism is conducting repression on a massive scale in the name of "democracy" and "freedom."

This historical revisionism is being used by a rising tide of fascists to justify attacks on immigrants, socialists and communists. Ultimately, these measures act as a catalyst for the full rehabilitation of nazism.

This disgraceful censorship contradicts the "democratic ideals" professed by the European Union.

It is incumbent on all communists, socialists and progressives to oppose this latest move in the anti-communist offensive.

There will be a protest outside the Polish embassy, 47 Portland Place, London W1B 1JH, on Tuesday at 6pm against the proposed ban and we invite all Morning Star readers and supporters to join us.

George Waterhouse is General Secretary of the Young Communist League.

Silence greets Israel's murderous pirates

2010-06-01T04:27:00.000-07:00

The massacre of solidarity activists of the Free Gaza flotilla by Israeli armed forces in international waters was a cowardly attack that further demonstrates Israel's arrogant contempt for the rule of law.

The flotilla carried aid in the form of school and medical supplies that are desperately needed in blockaded Gaza. Hundreds of activists from around the globe were present including Holocaust survivors.

This blatent example of piracy is simplely the latest in a serious of crimes committed by Israel. Last year over 1,400 Palestinians were murdered when Israeli forces commenced a full scale invasion of Gaza. Eariler this year Israel carried out the assassination of Hamas representative Mahmoud Mahboub in Dubai.

How long can Israel carry on like this?

For too long western governments have suported the genocidal state of Israel, while calls for inquiries are made when these events occur, nothing is fundalmentally changed.

Demands must be made for economic, cultural and military boycotts of Israel just as there were of apartheid South Africa.

Demonstrate against repression in Poland!

2010-05-28T03:22:00.000-07:00

The Young Communist League is holding a demonstration outside of the Polish Embassy at 6 PM on June the 8th. Anyone wishing to participate please assemble at 17.30 outside the British library main entrance.

The government of Poland will implement an amendment to the penal code criminalizing the dissemination of “communist symbolism.” Anyone who “produces, perpetuates, or imports, stores, possesses, presents, carries or sends a printout, a recording or other object” carrying “fascist, communist or other totalitarian symbolism” for other than “artistic” or “research” purposes can be punished with two years in prison.

This latest piece of anti-communist repression follows a wave of similar legislation across Europe. Bans on communist symbols have already taken place in Hungary and Lithuania, with steps being taken in other countries.In 2007, the Czech government outlawed the Communist Youth Union because it called for social ownership of the means of production. Attempts have also been made to outlaw the Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia. A party which is the third-largest parliamentary party in the Czech Republic and came second in the 2004 European Parliament elections.

This outrageous censorship condradicts the “democratic ideals” professed by bourgeois liberalism. These moves are deeply connected to the effort to whitewash history and equate communism and fascism. The Young Communist League rejects this suppresion and attempts to rehabilitate nazism.

Britain's young communists declare:

History will not be rewritten!

The future cannot be banned!

KKE shows the Peoples of Europe how to fight cuts

2010-05-18T16:59:00.000-07:00

The Communist Party of Greece (KKE) have held a huge rally in Athens. (See video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSjwwf91rEg )
In a show of strength, tens of thousands of members and supporters of KKE packed into central Athens. Their message was simple, KKE demands that power in the country must rest with the people, not the monopolies. The austerity measures demanded by imperialism must be fought.

Aleka Papariga, General Secretary of the CC of KKE, stood in front of the huge crowd assembled at the Pedion Areos Square. She declared;

“The government is shamelessly lying when it claims that the measures will last for three or maximum four years. This system, which is rotten to the core, is not eternal. The people’s sacrifices will benefit the capitalists, the monopolies. And even if we assume that the Greek economy will soon exit from the cycle of the crisis and recover, things will be equally worse for the people."

She warned that the Social democratic PASOK government mirrors the dictatorship that KKE fought for so long. The government is rolling out the anti-communist propaganda and demanding that the people respect the constitution.

The capitalist courts have carried out their measures against the people's counterattack. Strikes by the All Workers Militant Front(PAME)have been declared ilegal.

The massive demonstration has barely registered with the Greek bourgeois media, but we must make sure that the KKE's heroic efforts to combat cuts are heard. Furthermore, we must echo the call of the KKE that capitalism holds no solutions. This crisis was not created by the people, yet capitalism offers only austerity measures. The only path out of capitalist crisis for the peoples of Europe is that of socialism.

Peoples of Europe, rise up!

Not all that bad...

2010-05-08T03:56:00.000-07:00

With on going negotiations currently being held between the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats, have no idea what form of government we will get.

The results were not as bad as were expected. Despite some quite unnerving losses, Labour were not completely annihilated like some were wishfully prophesying. The Conservatives, who have had this election presented to them on a plate, did relatively badly. Like in 1979, there was a swing to Labour in Scotland and in many traditional heartland areas there was evidence of an increased Labour vote. The British working class are terrified at the prospect of a Tory administration.

It is nothing short of remarkable that the tories, who held huge leads in the polls until very recently have not gained an absolute majority.

There were some low points, although Salma Yaqoob received a very respectable vote, she unfortunately did not win her seat. And it was certainly a process of self flagellation to witness all the Tory gains, however, it was hard to pity the useless New Labour M.P.s who lost their seats. The BNP did not make any breakthroughs, and thanks to anti-facist campaigning they came nowhere near.

A high(er) turnout traditionally is good for the Labour vote and if we look at the local election results we can see that Labour have elected over 400 new local councillors and have gained overall control of 14 councils, while the tories, liberals and BNP are down.

So what about the options for government. It looks increasingly unlikely that a administration will be build around the Labour party, only if the Liberals and nationalists play ball. A Liberal-Tory alliance would mean a loss in popular support for the Liberals, perhaps even in members and M.P.s. However, it might bring us PR, civil liberties and prevent the Tories from implementing the most savage policies. A minority Tory government would be very weak, if it attempted to bring in unpopular measures it would certainly fall and we might have another election later this year.

While the Communist party's election results were disappointingly low, I do not think anyone was expecting a Communist landslide, there was one local result that was particularly good.

The national results were as follows:

Leicester East: - Atvar Sadiq 494 votes (1%)
Carlisle: - John Metcalfe 376 (0.9%)
Cardiff South and Penarth: - Robert Griffiths 196 votes (0.4%)
Glasgow North West: - Marc Livingstone 179 votes (0.5%)
Newcastle East: - Martin Levy 177 votes (0.5%)
Croydon North: - Ben Stevenson 160 votes (0.3%)
Sheffield South East: - Steve Andrew 139 votes (0.3%)
North Devon: - Gerry Sables 96 votes (0.2%)

However, in the mayoral elections for Hackney Monty Goldman received 2,033 votes. Which is a fantastic result.

While a government build around the Labour party would be best, we will still have to fight the cuts of any government. The labour movement must rally round to fight to defend our public services and campaign to withdraw the troops from Afganistan.

Happy May Day!

2010-05-01T09:30:00.000-07:00

On international workers’ day it is important for all young people to be aware, both of their rights and the past struggles that were waged to achieve them. While an increase in voter registration for under 25 year olds is to be welcomed, it is largely attributed to the ‘Clegg-factor’. However, on the same televised debate that produced a boost in the polls for the liberal democrats, a question was asked concerning burglaries. The response from all three leaders focused on problems associated with the youth. This not only underlines the perception of young people today, it also indicates that future austerity measures will constitute an attack on Britain’s youth.

Read the Communist Party of Greece's rousing May Day message here;

http://inter.kke.gr/News/2010news/2010-05-1may

Rally Round the Flag!

2010-04-29T08:09:00.001-07:00

I am filled with optimism after spending much of the day campaigning for Labour. It seems that the vast majority of people do not care about Brown's biggot comment and many are intending to vote Labour.

If labour manages to pull off a victory, it would go down as a fitting end to a bizzare election. With the Lib Dem's refusal to support Labour if they come thrid in the popular vote, there is a huge need to get the Labour vote out.

I cannot imagine what damage a Tory government/Tory-led coaltion would do to the country. It would be back to the depression of the 1980s for Northern towns like Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle and all inner cities in England. Both Scotland and Wales would be subjected to the same policies they were forced to endure during the 1980s, with the same resentment that a tiny minority of their respective populations actually voted Tory.

It is clear that a Labour victory would avoid the brutality of the Tories immediate, savage cuts. Labour proposes to pospone cuts and protect essential services. Labour has forced (or been forced by being abandoned by British capital) a division between it and the Tories. With the likes of Geoff Hoon...etc completely discredited, the right face severe internal opposition what ever the outcome of the election.

Progressives of all shades need to rally around the flag, and help Labour win a fourth term.However, we cannot make apologies for certain policies of the New Labour government. The BNP thrive of the abandonment of the working class by New Labour, we cannot defend the destruction of the manufacturing sector, the inadequate funding of council housing, not to mention the wars in Afganistan and Iraq. That is why the hard right of the Labour party need to be opposed, both politically and electorally. This means supporting candidates from outside the Labour party.

Let's examine the options;

First, the Communist Party.The Communist Party is running one of the highest profile campaigns that it has run in years. You only need to look at the masses of materials on the website and articles concerning hustings, press attention and local campaigning. Let's look at the candidates;

Marc Livingstone is standing for Glasgow North West. He is a member of UNISON and was until recently the Scottish organiser of the Young Communist League and is active in SCND and Cuba Solidarity Campaign, having visited Cuba as part of a work brigade a few years ago, and witnessed the achievements of the revolution. He also plays a key role in public work for the party, selling the Morning Star on the streets of Glasgow. In his spare time, he performs as part of a Hip Hop group called the Stupid Idiots. He also has an honours degree in History from the University of Glasgow. Further information can be found on both the Communist Party's national website and the website of the Scottish committee.

Martin Levy is standing for Newcastle East. Martin is Mr Levy works at Northumbria University as a Chemistry Lecturer and is president of Newcastle TUC. His campaign has been taking off and was the subject of a recent article in the Economist. You can find out more about the campaign, including video clips and contact details at the website of the Northern district of the Communist party.

Steve Andrew is standing for Sheffield South East. It is the first electoral battle the Communist party has fought in the city for over 30 years. Steve is a Librarian and his campaign has been covered by an article on the BBC's news website.

Ben Stevenson is former General Secretary of the Young Communist League and is standing for Croydon North. Ben is a Croydon TUC executive member and is the Youth & Student Organiser and National Secretary of the Communist Party.

Robert Griffiths, General Secretary of the Communist Party, is standing in Cardiff South & Penarth. Rob's campaign has taken off with several lively hustings meetings, organised by the Communist Party locally, and even a spot on the BBC's Daily Politics show. More information on and ways you can get involved in the campaign can be found at the website of the Welsh Committee of the Communist Party.

Finally, in what on the surface appears to be a strange constituency for the Communist party to be standing in, Gerry Sables is seeking election for North Devon. Gerry is a local author and designer and has been throwing himself into a campaign that covers a wide rural area. Check out the Communist party website for more information and for Gerry's explanation of the issues that made him stand for North Devon, chiefly rural poverty, lack of transport, housing and decent education.

As well as a whole host of local candidates, including Monty Goldman for Mayor of Hackney, who Bob Crow has recently pleadged to spend election day campaigning for, the Communist Party is also standing in alliance with members of overseas communist parties who are domiciled in Britain in Unity for Peace and Socialism (UFPS). Avtar Sadiq is standing for Leicester East. UFPS has previously polled hundreds of votes in several local election contests. You can read more about the campaign in Avtar's recent article for the Morning Star;

http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/index.php/news/content/view/full/89524

Communist Party member and former Councilllor and Mayor, John Medclafe is standing for Carlisle as the Carlisle Socialist and Trade Union candidate. John is an ASLEF workplace rep can has been creating a storm up in Cumbria. You can find out more about his campaign at http://carlislesocialist.org/

Other candidates worthy of support include the unstoppable Salma Yaqoob in Birmingham.

The outcome of this election will decide what kind of society we will live in for years to come. While a Labour victory would shrink the scale of devestation the country will suffer, it still would ensure unacceptable cuts in public spending. Which ever government is elected, these cuts will need to be fought. That will mean providing soliarity accross the entire labour movement for striking workers and building up the biggest possible campaign around the People's Charter. The Fat Cats must pay for their crisis. There is a viable alternative to public sector cuts, we can and must tax the greed of the capitalists and abandon our cold-war era, 'independent', Nuclear weapons programme.

We have much work to do.

Happy St George's Day

2010-04-24T13:34:00.000-07:00

I know it is a day late, but I was busy celebrating St George's day yesterday.

There are some on the left who like to engage with the crazy posture politics of not supporting England in the World Cup and rejecting anything to do with the country.

I have no time for such childishness. Billy Bragg outlined in 'Progressive Patriot' that we can be socialist and love our country. In fact, one of the reasons that some are turning to fascism is due to the fact that left-wingers are seen to hate our country.

We love our country not for the Queen or the empire, but for it's people and it's countryside, it's history and it's culture. I leave you the lyrics of what should be England's national anthem, 'Jerusalem' by William Blake;

" And did those feet in ancient time.
Walk upon Englands mountains green:
And was the holy Lamb of God,
On Englands pleasant pastures seen!

And did the Countenance Divine,
Shine forth upon our clouded hills?
And was Jerusalem builded here,
Among these dark Satanic Mills?

Bring me my Bow of burning gold;
Bring me my Arrows of desire:
Bring me my Spear: O clouds unfold!
Bring me my Chariot of fire!

I will not cease from Mental Fight,
Nor shall my Sword sleep in my hand:
Till we have built Jerusalem,
In Englands green & pleasant Land"

For England and Saint George!

27th April

Vote now for Jerusalem to be our song at the Commonwealth games at https://survey.yougov.com/vTFYGZJhkV3q6Z

It would be another step towards adopting it as our national anthem.

Enjoy; ://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKaJ4b0XYmI

Those CAPITALIST courts

2010-04-06T09:54:00.000-07:00

As it if wasn't bad enough that the courts are being used to take away British worker's right to strike, the story I just read on socialist unity is out of this world(http://www.socialistunity.com/?p=5540). The story reads that the judge who imposed a court injunction against the RMT that prevented strike action at Network Rail is closely related to a big gun at Goldman Sachs that raise a huge amount of money for Network Rail.

Mrs Justice Sharp's brother, Richard Sharp very recently ran Goldman Sachs’ European private equity fund. Goldman Sachs is a principle dealer for Network Rail’s 34 billion Debt Issuance Programme. She is also a massive Tory and associate of Boris Johnson.

So RMT make a few mistakes with the details of thousands of individuals who move around/get sacked/get promoted/leave for another job and they were overruled by one woman who is very clearly bias against the strike action.

This together with allegations that Mrs Justice Cox, the judge who outlawed the overwhelmingly popular decision of BA workers to strike last year, was to fly with BA leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

Whether these allegations are true or not, this provides us with a very good insight into freedom under capitalism. As Lenin wrote in State and Revolution;

"In capitalist society, providing it develops under the most favourable conditions, we have a more or less complete democracy in the democratic republic. But this democracy is always hemmed in by the narrow limits set by capitalist exploitation, and consequently always remains, in effect, a democracy for the minority, only for the propertied classes, only for the rich. Freedom in capitalist society always remains about the same as it was in the ancient Greek republics: freedom for the slave-owners. Owing to the conditions of capitalist exploitation, the modern wage slaves are so crushed by want and poverty that "they cannot be bothered with democracy", "cannot be bothered with politics"; in the ordinary, peaceful course of events, the majority of the population is debarred from participation in public and political life. . . ."

The feeling that everything is fixed breeds apathy, especially when we are presented with allegations as terrible as this. But we cannot allow this apathy to set in. It is just what the capitalists want, it is exactly the conditions that allow fascists to recieve support for their filth.

Only mass campaigning can reverse this crazed set of affairs. Now is the time to step up activity in your trades council and union branches. Come along to the Defending The Welfare State and Public Services demonstration (http://www.10410demo.co.uk/)this saturday.

All Communist party members and supporters are urged to get along to this demonstration and help us get our voices heard, help us sell the Morning Star and give a message to Tories, Liberals and New Labour that we are not prepared to face their onslaught sitting down.

The People United Will Never Be Defeated!

Communists to take over the country

2010-03-25T05:46:00.000-07:00

An article in the Daily Mail yesterday outlined how the evil Communist party in Britain is to take over the Labour Party and is behind all the strikes in the country. Read the reds-under-the-bed story here: (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1260178/Unite-militants-BA-strike-plot-control-Labour.html)

The Communist party's response was:

"It should come as no surprise that the Communist Party fully supports BA cabin crew and their union Unite in the battle to defend pay and working conditions against a vicious management. Nor is it a shock that the anti-trade union, anti-working class Daily Mail is launching a series of hysterical attacks against workers who have voted democratically and overwhelmingly to take action. Like other socialists, the Communist Party has never made any secret of its wish to see the labour movement take back control of the Labour Party from the New Labour faction and its policies of privatisation and imperialist war."

Is all publicity good?

Tax the rich? no tax the mums!

2010-03-11T03:12:00.000-08:00

Rightwing thinktank reform has released some helpful kindlines for us to reduce the country's deficit. Fair enough we are in debt, so I assume we will have to raise taxes, especially on the rich to reduce this deficit. Not according to Reform!

Reform note that "given the weakness of the economy and the need to encourage growth, the tax rises should be levied in the least economically damaging way possible". Confused by what this means? I sure am.

Reform state that "unfortunately all three major parties are committed to the most economically damaging tax rises". Eh?

Surely we have to raise taxes if we want more money to pay off our debts?

Well according to Reform this concept it completely wrong. You see these tax rises, that effect the very people who created this mess, is "already forcing major companies to consider leaving the UK and dissuading talented people from moving to and investing in the UK." Reform argue that "the balance of fairness has tilted too far against a small group of wealth generators."

So they won't pay and want to leave the country? well fair enough, I'll drive them to the airport myself. If they do not feel particularly strongly about the country where they get their profits and they have no will to reduce the debt that will effect all their employees, then to be perfectly frank they should leave.

So if they want lower taxes for big bussiness, how do they intend to solve the problem? Well it is very simple, according to Reform, this crisis created by the rich can only be overcome by reducing taxes on the rich and making the rest of us pay for it.

They declared that "The UK is one of only four EU countries to apply a zero rate to food and one of only three to apply a zero or reduced rate to children’s clothes". I love how they word this, as if it is a terrible thing to keep the prices of essential goods down, especially as these are needed by struggling people.

Despite this crisis created by the rich and the public's anger at bankers, right-wing ideologues such as Reform feel that they can pump out their vile neo-liberal propaganda. They have got some nerve.

We cannot let these creature get away with such balant defence of the rich. Why is the current political agenda based around the cost we are going to have to pay? Because we have not got out there and demanded that the rich pay for their crisis.

We need to stop this ruling class offensive. We can do that in two pays, first we need to understand it. Get a copy of this and read it(http://communist-party.org.uk/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage-ask.tpl&product_id=195&category_id=1&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=66)

Secondly, we need to get the message out there. We can do that with posters such as this one (http://communist-party.org.uk/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage.tpl&product_id=96&category_id=16&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=66)Set up a local People's Charter group, organise a meeting, talk to your workmates, the other parents at the school gates, your family.

For further inspiration, check out how our comrades from Greece are fighting the ruling class offensive in their country (http://inter.kke.gr/).

Michael Foot: 1913-2010

2010-03-03T10:44:00.000-08:00

I was sad to hear about the death of such a great, West Country socialist.

As with many socialists of his era, Michael Foot started off from liberal, non-conformist roots. Born in Plymouth in 1913, he went to Oxford University and got his first job in Liverpool. The unemployment and poverty of 1930's Liverpool certainly influenced his conversion to socialist politics.

He stood unsuccessfully for Labour in Monmouth in the 1935 general election. Foot become and journalist and continued this throughout the war, as he failed to medical to join the armed services.

Foot was elected for the first time in Plymouth Devonport at the 1945 Labour landslide election. he was associated with the Keep Left pamphlet, that advocated an independent foreign policy instead of a subservient relationship with the USA. He was very much on the Bevanite wing of the party, until he fell out with the old warhorse when Bevan rejected Nuclear disarmament. Michael Foot was a founder member of CND and abided by this moral outlook for his entire life. Fittingly Michael Foot was re-elected to Parliament at a 1960 by-election for Bevan's old Ebbw Vale constituency when he died.

Foot found Gaitskell's leadership to be inadequate and he had the Labour whip withdrawn in 1961, only to be returned two years later when Harold Wilson took over. He refused to become a prominent figure in Wilson's government, prefering to remain on the backbenches and to maintain a socialist attitude to Britain's membership of the Common Market. he unsuccessfully stood for Labour's deputy leadership in 1972, but when Labour was returned to power in 1974 he became Secretary of State for Employment. He through himself into the 'no' campaign in during the 1975 referendum on the EEC and became the Deputy Leader of the Labour Party the following year after losing out on the leadership to James Callaghan.

Michael Foot became leader of the Labour party in 1980 at the age of 67 a year after Thatcher was elected. He played a fantastic role in attempting to keep the left and right of Labour party together, but this didn't stop the treachery of the 'gang of four' who left to form the SDP. Despite Thatcher's huge unpopularity, she was re-elected in 1983. Although the Falklands did help Thatcher win, the traitors of the SDP certainly helped the country to suffer her wrath for another 7 years. Foot's eccentricity was what made him who he was. He prefered principles to the soundbites that vacuous, media-savy M.Ps produce today. This eccentricity was firmly displayed when he wore the 'donkey-jacket' on Remembrance Day in 1982. While our moronic right-wing press tore into him for this, the Queen Mother complimented him on it, you can judge for yourself, as it is now on display in the People's History Museum.

Michael Foot will always be remembered for Labour's 1983 defeat, but the 'longest suicide note in history' promised peace and socialism. It's policies for the banks and finance sector certainly don't look so silly now! While those on the right of the Labour movement have used this as a stick to beat the left and to justify the Labour party's tranformation into a party of inequality, imperialist war and big business. What the apologists for New Labour do not understand is that the idea of the abandonment of socialist policies in order to get elected did not start with New Labour, but with the 'gang of four'. If the SDP did not break away from Labour, Thatcher could have lost the 1983 election.

Instead of sticking to our guns, the New Labour team proposed that we do exactly what the SDP did. We have seen that New Labour was no triumph for electoral tactics to beat the tories, it represents a complete and utter capitulation to Thatcherism. While Michael Foot's personal leadership was seen to have lost the 1983 election, I think that he is exactly the sort of leader that Post-Blair Britain is crying out for. We are sick of the polished spin that spills from the mouths of those self-serving Tory-LibDem-New Labour creatures. In his book Debts Of Honour, Michael Foot wrote that "Men of power have not time to read; yet men who do not read are unfit for power." Today we need men and women who read, who have principles, who do not conform to the corrupt standard of poltician.

Although you might be forgiven for thinking of a certain not the nine o'clock news sketch(At 4 minutes 34 seconds on this clip http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xy0Ax9CVvzo)the universal expressions of sorrow for Michael Foot from all political perspectives are genuine. He was a great parliamentarian, a witty speaker and an all round good bloke. For instance, he was a prominent republican, but well liked by the Royal family. He was everything Thatcherism is not, yet he was respected by Mrs T herself. He was a loved man and deserved his 90th birthday present, when, becoming the oldest footballer on the planet, he was registered with the Football League as an honorary player (number 90!) for Plymouth Argyle.

I do not think I am exaggerating when I say he was the best Prime Minister Britain never had. As he declared at a Morning Star rally in 1980, "In my opinion, Marxism is a great creed of human liberation. It is the creed which says that when all other empires fade and vanish, our business is to enlarge the empire of the human mind." I couldn't agree more.

Cameron might actually lose, happy days

2010-02-28T12:37:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow's Morning Star front page is entitled 'Tories on the run as polls lead crumbles' (http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/index.php/news/content/view/full/
87395). Isn't about bloody time.

With this Ashcroft business it is really looking like Cameron's hopes of a Tory landslide victory are crumbling. Cameron's latest rants concerning his apparent 'patriotic duty' to get Brown out of number 10 look pathetic.

The next general election will be one of the most interesting that Britain has seen for years, with televised debates for the party leaders and the possibility of a party being elected into government on the basis of 'savage cuts' for the first time in history.

If Brown does manage to pull it off and beat the Tories, despite all the bad press about the current government, the question begs could the tories ever win outright ever again? They have literally been handed this election on a plate, yet it looks as though they are going to have a hard fight ahead of them if they are to win.

If candidates such as Salma Yaqoob in Birmingham Hall Green, Dave Nellist in Coventry North East and John Metcalfe in Carlisle receive a large number of votes all the better. It is going to be interesting to see how Ricky Tomlinson does in Liverpool Wavertree against a parachuted in New Labour Londoner.

If Communist Party of Britain and Unity for Peace and Socialism candidates manage to attract a respectble vote then this election will be even more interesting.

At the end of the say, while it is amusing that the Tories are having it bad at the moment, it is not clear what the result will be. While a Labour government would certainly continue the ruling class offensive in cuts as well as the war in Afganistan, the prospect of a Tory government seems to be sobering people's minds.

Merrie England?

2010-02-19T07:41:00.000-08:00

Liz Davies's article in the Morning Star today(available at http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/index.php/news/content/view/full/87003) discussed the special relationship between Britain and the USA and demonstrated what the Binyam Mohammed case tells us about this relationship.

David Miliband's 'insistence that only the US could decide what information is and is not revealed' is disturbing to say the least. Not only is it sick that our government feels that torture can be justified, but the willing of the British government to bend over backwards for the USA and, at the drop of a hat, put the interests of the USA first says much about our government's respect for its own citizens. Forget that a British Citizen was kidnapped, flown half way across the world and tortured, the USA's national security is at stake here people!

It is a terrifying thought that our government would put the interests of another country above those of its own citizens. Yet this precedent appears to have been set.
A Hamas official is assassinated in Dubai, the killers used fake British passports. The Dubai authorities (and lets be honest the entire planet) say they are 99 per cent sure it was Israeli agents. Given Mossad's record of carrying out audacious assassinations around the globe, especially given that in 1997 a Mossad assassination team were discovered to have used false Canadian passports in an attempt on the life of another Hamas official.

Now did the British government issue a fiery statement condemning the assassination, the use of fake British passports and demand answers from the main suspects? no. In fact, the British government has quietly given a kind invitation to Israel to dicuss the matter. As the front-page in the Morning Star pointed out this morning, 'The "invitation" was in stark contrast to the treatment of the Iranian ambassador recently, who was summoned to account for his country's actions and publicly hauled over the coals'. But hey, this is politics in the Middle East, Israel is infallible.

I feel that the public's perception of this complete lack of any national sovereignty is only benefiting the far-right. There are real fears that Britain is just not standing up for itself on a national stage, and in the context of Argentina refusing to back down over it's plans for shipping arond the Falklands, the government could pursue a 'Thatcher moment' to restore national pride. This would of course be a complete disaster, but it could be a solution that our government will take. Just like Thatcher, it doesn't matter if you whore itself out to US imperialism and demonstrate a willingness to sell off our industry to the highest paying bidder, you just need a little war.

Instead of idiotic postures about not supporting England in the World Cup, the left needs to project an alternative nationalism, a progressive nationalism. I recently visited the newly re-opened People's History Museum in Manchester. It is a fantastic place(http://www.phm.org.uk/), and the material it covers provides us with the tools we need to place our radicalism in the politics of our indigenous labour movement. The museum covers everything from the the Chartists and the Peterloo massacre, to the early trade unions, friendly societies and the campaign to bring home the Tolpuddle Martyrs. Right up to the General Strike, the Spanish Civil war, the foundation of the NHS and the Miner's Strike. The People's History Museum looks at the main events and movements within the history of our labour movement and asks the visiter to spot the themes brought up by figures from Tom Paine to Tom Mann and to Tony Benn.

Peace, justice and equality are not alien concepts, despite what the enemies of reason may say, progressive politics are what made and what can make our country great. And we have a rich history to draw examples of this. The left needs to present the British electorate with a progressive patriotism, that will reject imperialism and refuse to take part in it's wars. Only popular sovereignty can stand in the face of global neo-liberalism and protect our industry and our public services. We have a vision of Merrie England and its green and pleasant land, we must get our vision out to the people and not allow the right, who have sold this country down the drain, to push nationalism.

In a speech to a Chartist meeting in Manchester, that is one of the finest parts of the People's History Museum, Ernest Jones stated:

"MR. CHAIRMAN, and men of Manchester! From 18,000 pulpits 18,000 parsons are this day preaching the gospel of the rich. I stand here to preach the gospel of the poor. Surrounded by the Temples of Mammon, I stand here to preach the democracy of Christ—for Christ was the first Chartist, and democracy is the gospel carried into practice. . . .

Some tell you that teetotalism will get you the Charter: The Charter don't lie at the bottom of a glass of water. Some tell you social co-operation will do it; co-operation is at the mercy of those who hold political power. Then, what will do it? Two years ago, and more, I went to prison for speaking three words. Those words were: "Organise—organise—organise." And now, after two years, and more, of incarceration, I come forward again to raise that talismanic watchword of salvation—and this day again I say: "Organise! Organise! Organise!" You cheer: it is well! but that is not enough! will you act? We've had cheering enough—I want action now!. . . ."

That was back in 1850, but the message is just as relevant to 2010. Cheering is not good enough, we need to organise, we need to act. Sign the People's Charter( http://www.thepeoplescharter.com/), find your local People's Charter group, if there is no local group, organise one!

Manchester Burns supper

2010-01-26T07:55:00.001-08:00

Over 60 people packed into the Chorlton Irish Association Club, on Sunday 24th January, to celebrate the life and work of Robert Burns. People of all ages sat down to anjoy a meal of haggis, tatties and neaps accompanied by a jot of whiskey, although many guests took advantage of the bar and bought themselves a pint of guinness, perhaps a more appropriate drink for the venue.

Lively performances of Burns's classics followed clearly demonstrating that many people had been rehearsing their pieces, even so several members of the audience got up and recalled their favourite Burns pieces off by heart. Many of those who got up on the stage talked a little about Burns, his political ideas and what he might have said about the situation today. In this way, together with a Communist party and Cuba Solidarity Campaign stalls, the radical politics of the event was maintained.

Music was provided by the fantastic Bourbon St Preachers(http://www.myspace.com/bourbonstreetpreachers), who even managed to inspire a spot of dancing. The event was very successful, proceeds from the raffe and donations raised over 400 hundred pounds for the Morning Star's fighting fund. Any radicals in manchester cannot miss next year's event, to come together and sing Burns's words:

For a' that an' a' that
It's coming yet for a' that
That man to man, the world o'er
Shall brithers be for a' that

Now that history appears to have absolved opposition to the war in Iraq; where is the same standard for the current war in Afghanistan?

2010-01-16T08:27:00.001-08:00

The Chilcot inquiry into the Iraq war is to resume at the end of January, the biggest event will be the grilling of Tony Blair, which has proved to be so popular that the inquiry team is launching a ballot for members of the public wishing to attend. A statement from inquiry officials confirmed that a third of seats are being reserved for families of British soldiers who died in Iraq. Blair caused controversy by stating that he would have invaded Iraq whether Saddam had weapons of Mass destruction or not. Alastair Campbell, Tony Blair's former communications director and chief spin-doctor, stated that Tony Blair wrote to President George W Bush in 2002, saying that "Britain would be there" to support Washington militarily in an attack on Iraq. Campbell defended the government's ‘dodgy’ dossier and denied that claims such as Iraq’s 45 minute weapons of mass destruction capability has been "sexed up". The questioning by the crème de la crème of Britain’s establishment will refer to classified government records; in the typical ‘war on terror’ spirit of transparency these will not be published.
Media coverage of the inquiry has been very critical of those who still defend the case for the invasion of Iraq. Reading the newspaper’s portrayal of opinions against the war being ‘common sense’, you could be forgiven for asking who in the press was actually in favour of the war. We need to refresh our memory and remind ourselves of how the mainstream media covered the invasion of Iraq. Looking back it is apparent that the press recorded the invasion and subsequent occupation of Iraq in much the same way it is currently covering the war in Afghanistan.
Generally, the media’s performance could be seen to have legitimised the war by neglecting to question the, often dubious, arguments for the invasion. By and large, the more negative results of the war, such as the refugee crisis and general lawlessness, were underreported. Journalists were unable to detach themselves from military and government sources. Reports from journalists embedded within military units were problematic in this sense.
One criticism of media coverage of the Iraq war has been the coverage of life for civilians in Iraq. At a semantic level, civilian casualties were famously termed ‘collateral damage’. Much as torture was framed as ‘abuse’, and the term ‘foreign fighters’ was used solely to refer to resistance within Iraq and not the invading armies. The suffering of ordinary Iraqi civilians was downplayed by the media. A Lancet study into the number of Iraqi civilian deaths published in October 2004 produced shocking results. The catastrophic invasion resulted in a civilian death toll that outnumbered “the combined effects of Saddam Hussein and sanctions” due to both direct (as a result of combat) and indirect factors associated with lawlessness and lack of infrastructure. However, deaths of civilians remained largely ignored, it barely registered in media reports, and then generally only if it could be attributed to insurgents. The vast majority of footage of Iraqi civilians that made the headlines back in London, were enthusiastic responses that welcomed the occupation, they was little coverage of Iraqi’s voicing their opposition to the invasion. The media coverage of Operation Phantom Fury, that broke the siege of Fallujah in November 2004, provided an explicitly one-sided account. Beatings carried out on doctors and the attacks on ambulances by US forces were ignored. Newspaper’s explained that the offensive had shut down a major propaganda weapon for the militants, referring to Fallujah General Hospital. An objective account would have mentioned that US occupation forces refused to allow the Red Crescent access to Fallujah, or at least pointed out that attacking hospitals and using white phosphorous contravenes the Geneva Convention. However, it seems that the press rarely holds contravention of the Geneva Convention against Britain, the USA or its allies, in the same way that it does the enemies of imperialism. This practise most recently displayed during the Israeli invasion of Gaza, where atrocities committed by Israeli troops were justified by the handful of rocket attacks on Israeli civilians. While negative aspects of the war, such as the story of torture at Abu Ghraib, were broke by the mainstream media, it soon disappeared and the continuation of the practise of torturing prisoners was barely mentioned.
The central two lies that were the main justification for invading Iraq was the completely unfounded claim that Saddam Husain was linked to Al-Qaeda and the presence in Iraq of weapons of mass destructions (WMDs). Television audiences were told that Saddam Husain not only had knowledge of the terrorist attacks in America on the 11th September 2001, but that he had directly participated in aiding the perpetrators of that atrocity. The fact that Saddam Husain was considered too secular by Al-Qaeda escaped most news reports. Readers of newspapers were informed that Iraq had chemical, biological and even a programme to construct nuclear weaponry. Leading news organisations placed such great emphasis upon these two claims in the face of available information to the contrary that The New York Times and the Washington Post, two prestigious newspapers, later issued apologies to their readers for “having gotten so caught up in the inner workings of power in an administration determined to go to war that they lost focus on other values and other views”. While the US press was certainly more ‘gung ho’ in its reporting of the invasion of Iraq, the British press remained overwhelming pro-war. While the Daily Mirror newspaper and BBC were very critical of the decision by the British government to join the war. Once the war started, anti-war reporting, representative of public opinion, proved to be short lived. British news networks reproduced, rather than questioned, claims about weapons of mass destruction. The anti-war movement also began to suffer after the outbreak of combat operations, as the media fell back to a ‘back the troops’ position, press attention declined, and became increasingly unsympathetic.
Theories of the media during war include Lance Bennett’s indexing hypothesis. Bennett outlined his contention that journalists simply allow foreign policy elites to draw up the agenda, and frame stories of international issues to suit their own conclusions. This is, in part, “a result of ‘transactional’ or ‘symbiotic’ relations between journalists and officials” Another communications scholar, Daniel, C. Hallin, analysed media coverage of the Vietnam War, in order to investigate the concept of the ‘Vietnam Effect’ that television footage of the conflict contributed to the conflict’s unpopularity. Hallin found that initially media coverage had been generally favourable towards the United States intervention, later, the media become more critical of aspects of the war, but never directed confronted whether the USA should have invaded Vietnam. Hallin stated that the media’s criticism of the employment of certain tactics were confined to the ‘sphere of legitimate controversy’ and merely reflected elite dissensus back in Washington. These theories certainly correspond somewhat with the media coverage of the war in Iraq, in that it rarely left the ‘sphere of legitimate controversy’. Journalists ventured procedural criticism, discussing tactical mistakes instead of questioning the whole basis of the war at a substantive level. Despite the ‘negative’ reports and images of carnage coming out of Iraq following the invasion, the relationship between the media and the government did not change. Essentially, the press indexed media coverage to elite debate that occurred in Washington, regurgitation replaced independent investigation and there was little objective questioning of the principal motivation behind the invasion. It was reported in much the same way that German press reported the battle of Stalingrad in the Nazi era. Criticism was limited to tactical choices, debate centred on what strategy we should adopt in the occupation of Iraq rather than whether we should have invaded Iraq in the first place.

New coverage of the Chilcot inquiry conveniently fails to acknowledge the manner in which the press covered the war in Iraq. Despite the negative picture being painted of the Iraq war, we cannot forget that similar reporting, is whitewashing the same levels of devastation created by the occupation of Afghanistan. Just as coverage of the Iraq invasion failed to report the negative aspects of the occupation, contemporary coverage of the occupation of Afghanistan ignores stories such as the heroin epidemic that has accompanied the dramatic rise in the production of opium since 2001.

Spirit of the Old Game; the growing resistance to corporate football

2010-01-16T06:48:00.000-08:00

Football clubs existed as an extension of their local communities; they were formed by churches, pubs and other community organizations. Football was a working man’s game, producing charismatic figures such as Brian Clough and Bill Shankly, times it seems have changed.
Like much of Post-Thatcher British society, the soul of English football has been replaced by an obsessive worship of money. The commodification of football has turned the sport into entertainment, its fans into consumers. While the market has provided top quality standards to the English league, there has been a heavy price to pay. We are told that competition within capitalist society is healthy and creates winners, unfortunately it also creates losers. The role finance plays in the game has left many football clubs up to their necks in debt, top flight clubs such as Leeds United have hurtled down the leagues due to the sale of the clubs' assets key players.
Unleashing market forces upon the game, with sizable returns from TV contracts, merchandise and ticket prices, has resulting in colossal weekly wages for premiership footballers. Despite this, some individuals, nodding to their backgrounds, have attempted to do more with their wealth than buy fast cars, property portfolio’s and holiday homes in Dubai. For instance, Alex Ferguson, a former Clyde shipyards shop steward, has donated substantial sums of money to the labour party. Perhaps more impressively, Javier Zanetti, form Inter Milan captain, managed to persuade Inter Milan to donate thousands of Euros to the Zapatista guerillas in Mexico. Zanetti even talked his club into giving away the money from fines for late arrival or using mobile phones to help rebuild after the village of Zinacantán, after it got attacked by government forces. While individuals cannot change society on their own, they can be useful in mobilizing their communities. For instance, Diego Maradona’s admiration for Fidel Castro and declared anti-imperialist politics, derived from his experience of growing up in poverty, is useful in bringing progressive politics to the mass of Latin America.
Marx described the process whereby as the bourgeoisie develops the forces of production, it also develops the very force that will overthrow capitalism. What the bourgeoisie, therefore, produces, above all, are its own grave-diggers. Well, in football terms, the more the directors develop boxes, business seats, and overpriced season tickets, the more it will create angry football fans, pissed off with the state of the contemporary game. The shared identity of football fans can result in organisation that campaign for progressive reform of the whole structure of the game.
There is a rich tradition of politics being mixed up with football, although the mixture of neo-Nazism and hooliganism is a particularly ugly side of it. In Britain, this manner of organisation of the far-right in football has been witnessed most recently with the association of UK Casuals United with the English Defense League. While groups such as Lazio's Irriducibili, and Real Madrid’s Ultras Sur are rooted within this fascist tradition, the far-right by no means have a monopoly over such organisations.
There is a wide range of ultra groups that adopt a leftist ideology that is represented by their chants and iconography. This stance reflects the traditional politics of the working class districts where the supporters live. The most famous example of leftist ultras is the special relationship between Livorno's Brigate Autonome Livornesi, Olympique de Marseilles Curva-Massilia and AEK Athens's Original 2. The political rhetoric displayed by these groups is often dismissed as posturing; however, some of these organisations do have an impact. NK Zagreb's Bijeli anđeli have challenged the violent fascism prevalent among Croatian football fans by opposed all forms of discrimination and adopting an anti-hooliganism stance.
Ultra groups, together with the vast majority of football fans, view what you could call the modern game with hostility. The price of tickets, drive toward all-seater stadiums and the buying and selling of players for ridiculous amounts of money are common grievances. This attitude towards the modern game represents the potential basis for the politicisation of football fans against commercialism both within football and in broader society. The opposition to the role that money plays in the modern game and the flagrant manner in which wealth is displayed has been on show in stadiums across the world. Banners stating "Contro Il Calcio Moderno" (Against modern football) in Italy or "Love Football, Hate Business" in Britain.
This increasing commercialisation of football has inspired more firm action in the rise of fan-owned clubs. SV Austria Salzburg fans re-established the team in response to the takeover of SV Austria Salzburg by the Red Bull company. The club was renamed Red Bull Salzburg and its traditional colours of violet and white were changed to red and white and its emblem incorporated two Red Bulls. In Britain this process has taken off. FC United of Manchester was formed in response to the hostile takeover of Manchester United by the American businessman Malcolm Glazer. FC United of Manchester is run democratically as an Industrial and provident society, the club accepts sponsorship but does not allow sponsors' logos to be displayed on the team's shirts. AFC Wimbledon was founded by supporters of Wimbledon Football Club in response to the relocation and renaming of the club. In 2003, the Football Association had agreed to allow Wimbledon F.C. to relocate 56 miles north to Milton Keynes in Buckinghamshire. In 2004 the club was renamed Milton Keynes Dons Football Club. However, the Football Supporters Federation, an organization that campaigns for increased fan representation on clubs' boards and the reintroduction of safe standing areas, boycotted the new club. In response Milton Keynes Dons Football Club handed over the trophies and memorabilia of Wimbledon F.C. to the London Borough of Merton and ended its claim to the history of Wimbledon F.C. AFC Wimbledon is run by the Dons Trust, an Industrial and provident society, who have a majority share in the club.
“The socialism I believe in,” said the legendary Liverpool FC manager Bill Shankly, “is everybody working for the same goal and everybody having a share in the rewards. That’s how I see football, that’s how I see life.”The strength of the man’s character lives on it seems, when confronted with new American owners, Tom Hicks and George Gillett, a group of Liverpool FC fans formed a group called the spirit of Shankly. The group claims to be the country’s first ever football supporters union. One stated short term aim of the group is “to hold whoever owns the football club to account”, the ultimate aim being “the supporter ownership of Liverpool Football Club”. The group took a big part in the recent resignation of Tom Hicks Junior from the Board of Liverpool FC, after the son of one of the American owners abused a fan.
Back in the day, figures such as Brian Clough, who was also chairman of the Anti-Nazi League, appeared on miners' picket lines. Clough, a committed socialist, was approached by the Labour Party to stand as a Parliamentary candidate in General Elections, although he declined. By no means so characters like this no longer exist; I am sure that all progressive football fans would like to see more players like Cristiano Lucarelli, the communist striker for Livorno. Not only is his goal celebration a dual clenched-fist salute, but his ringtone is Bandiera Rossa. Antics, such as getting cautioned for pulling up his team shirt to display the face of Che Guevara, represent somewhat of the old spirit of the game. Lucarelli is a product of his upbringing in Italy’s red belt. His popularity with the crowd goes further than his playing ability, in Lucarelli’s words “We [Livorno] get no favors from the referees because we are Communists!”
The rise of fan’s organisations that campaign against the excesses of the modern game and advocate more say for fans in the running of the clubs that they love embodies a shift in attitudes. Fans are angry about the commodification of football. Progressive football fans need to engage with this sentiment to ensure that this criticism of the modern game continues to advocate cooperative solutions. There is nothing to stop this resentment over modern game from being transferred to opposition to capitalism. If money is ruining football and the remedy is fan-ownership of clubs, this must lead to the conclusion that greed is ruing our country and the only antidote is the democratic ownership of the economy.

CUBA- world's number one terrorist?

2010-01-06T04:27:00.000-08:00

So Washington has imposed extra security on people traveling from certain countries, big deal. Sounds fairly reasonable, standard War on Terror posturing. Except for one tiny detail.....CUBA INCLUDED AS A SPONSOR OF TERRORISM?!?!?

Cuban foreign minister Bruno Parilla declared that this was "outrageous”."Have you guys seen the other countries on the list? They are all a bunch of Muslims, except us. I mean come on – that is like beating up a Sikh guy because he wears a turban. Its so unfair.” The list of countries, in addition to Cuba, include Afghanistan, Algeria, Iraq, Iran, Lebanon, Libya, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. “I mean if they were going to include us, then they should have at least thrown in North Korea, but to lump us together with these crazy Muslim countries is such a low blow. I don’t see Cubans running around America blowing up planes and talking about taking over the world.”

“This is so lame” added the Parilla, “just throwing us on the list as the token ‘non-Muslim’ country to make it look like they are not targeting just the crazy Muslim countries is not fair to the people of Cuba.”

Come on now, the USA has circlated some pretty far fetched lies about Havana, Cuba is a massive exporter of drugs, Castro eats babies, you know pretty standard stuff.

The USA has pointed to instances when Cuba had assisted terrorists in the past. When you ask? When Cuba helped the ANC to rid South Africa of Apartheid. Okay so perhaps back then when Britain and the USA supported the Racist, white regime against Nelson Mandela and his band of 'terrorists', Cuba was technically a sponsor of terrorism. But these days Britain and the USA try to portray themselves as anti-racist and call Mandela a freedom fighter. If this is the case, get Cuba off that list. Some of us were under the impression that 'change' was what the Presidential election was fought on.

But sponsors terrorism? Unlike our completely 'objective' press, I think we should question the American's decision. Let's examine the issue of terrorism in Cuba.

Lets look at people like Orlando Bosch, CIA operative who blew up Cubana Flight 455 and killed all of the 75 people on board, including 24 members of the 1975 national Cuban Fencing team that had just won all the gold medals in the Central American and Caribbean Championship; most of these were teenagers. Many Guyanese passengers were also murdered included two medical students aged 18 and 19 years old.

The first Bush administration pardoned Orlando Bosch in 1992 and he now lives in Miami. When questioned about the 1976 bombing carried out by the terrorist organisation that he founded, Bosch declared, "you have to fight violence with violence. At times you cannot avoid hurting innocent people."

Another CIA operative, involved in the bombing of Cubana Flight 455, Luis Posada Carriles took part in the Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba and went on to work with death squads in fascist military dictatorships across Latin America.

Luis Posada Carriles has also admitted to the string of 1997 bombings of tourist hotels in Havana, which resulted in the death of an Italian tourist. When asked about the bombing that killed the Italian tourist, in a taped interview with the New York Times in 1998, Posada remarked, "It is sad that someone is dead, but we can't stop. That Italian was sitting in the wrong place at the wrong time." He added, "I sleep like a baby."

The fact is that the US and it's fascist Miami exile allies have consistantly carried out terrorist attacks on the Cuban people since the revolution. As well as over 600 attempts at killing Fidel Castro, they have carried out thousands of acts of terrorism, sabotage, biological and chemical warfare that has killed thousands of innocent people.

What ever you may think about the certain governments, murdering innocent people is wrong. The USA is the most hypocritical country on this planet, responsible for more acts of terrorism than the 'axis of evil' combined. Despite their so called 'war on terror', the USA remains the number one terrorist nation on Earth. This was displayed when the USA imprisoned the Miami 5, a group of Cubans who risked their lifes to carry out surveillance on the terrorists operating out of Miami. When these heros gave this information to the USA, they were imprisoned. That was in 1998, and the wifes and children of those men have not seen them since.

Lets not be too harsh on the USA, as the banning of some thought provoking Russia Today postered showed (http://www.socialistunity.com/?p=5074), they live in a a little bubble where the USA is the defender of freedom and the rest of the world are terrorists.

But in Britain, shouldn't our objective media be asking these questions?

I guess that the only upside to this tragic decision is that some people around the world will see this decision for what it is. Hopefully a few will question imperialism and read about the Cuban Revolution, perhaps they will realise that socialism is not the evil that they got taught in school. (a couple might even join the Communist Party!)

Alan Johnson-hypocrite

2010-01-04T10:26:00.000-08:00

Just heard that the home secretary said he would ban the isam4uk march through Wootton Bassett. Johnson said: "The idea that anyone would stage this kind of demonstration in Wootton Bassett fills me with revulsion.

"The people behind this stunt seek only to incite hatred and discord.The procession is not actually about the people of Wootton Bassett and it never was about them. If the Wiltshire Police and local authority feel that a procession of this kind has the potential to cause public disorder and seek my consent to a banning order, then I would have no hesitation in supporting that request."

Hang on a minute. The English Defense League's marches were largely opposed by local people, police forces and councils. The EDL's certainly had the potential to cause public disorder and were based on hatred and discord.

Yet Alan Johnson refused to ban the EDL marches, in the face of the opinions of local people, the local police and local councils. Does he really think that a handful of religious fundamentalists are worse than hundreds of violent fascists.

Our beloved home secretary is nothing short of shameful. Banning both the EDL and the Isam4UK marches would at least be consistent. But it appears the Home Secretary has one set of standards for white people and another for muslims.

What a hypocrite!

Combating sinophobia...

2010-01-04T03:30:00.000-08:00

With the great anti-Chinese crusade showing no signs of stopping, a rare bit of balance came to the British media in the form of an article for the Scotsman(http://sonsofmalcolm.blogspot.com/2010/01/scottish-newspaper-points-out-british.html).
Entitled 'Britain stands on shaky ground when attacking Chinese justice', the article outlines some of the hypocrisy of the condemnation of China.

Whatever your views on the death penalty or questions surrounding the mental health... you have to agree that the media went a little bit overboard on its criticism.

It is interesting to see the ways in which ruling class propaganda manages to slip its way into 'objective' reporting. For instance, articles concerning the olympics made political attacks on China, would this same standard have been applied to an olympics held in for instance the USA? Would our coverage of the Olympics also attack the USA for the wars in Middle East?

I highly doubt it.

If you read the news it becomes apparent that China is personally responsible for global warming, poverty in the third world....etc.

Do most people buy this? If do they really think that Britain and the USA are completely blameless liberal saviours of the planet, who are fighting the Yellow peril?

Scary times

BA to take legal action over strike!

2009-12-15T09:13:00.000-08:00

British Airways is to take legal action over the strike action of its workers. The very right to strike is being undermined by a bullish management who are refusing to negotiate.

After dismissing support for strike action, management at BA must have been shocked to see the results of the ballot, on an 80 per cent turnout, 92.5 per cent voted for 12 days of striking over Christmas.Tuesday's Morning Star editorial condenses the situation nicely(http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/index.php/news/content/view/full/84491)

BA will point to 'irregularities' in the ballot, due to the strict anti-union laws, that Thatcher brought in and New Labour refused to remove, going on strike now-a-days is no walk in the path. The sheer effort it takes to jump through all the bureaucratic hoops is designed in order to ensure that management can dismiss the legitimacy of a strike ballot. For instance, the union has to track down every member, find out where they work, who they are..... if just one person moved, or doesn't work there anymore, the ballot becomes void. It is absolutely crazy.

It is the Taff Vale of our generation. For those of you unfamilar with the case, in 1901, the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants went on strike in response to the unfair treatment of its members. When the Taff Vale Railway Company employed scabs to undermine the strike, some union members got carried away and committed minor acts of sabotage, such as greasing the rails and uncoupling the carriages. The Railway Company however, decided to sue to union for damages and won.

In 1901, my great-great-Grandfather, George Thaxton, was president of the union and was involved in the court case and the campaign to reverse the ruling. He lead a very interesting live. Born in Horsham St Faith, Norfolk, in 1852. His mother was a widow, so he went to work at 5 years old picking up stones from the fields. To demonstrate the rural surroundings he grew up in, as a teenager, he used to walk 14 miles in order to visit his girlfriend.

Due to the lack of opportunities in Norfolk, George Thaxton moved to Hunslet, in Leeds and, in his early twenties, become a goods guard. He was one of the initial agitators who established the Midlands Goods Guards association. This early pioneer of British trade unionism was recieved with a degree of scepticism, the men had to stand in the manager’s office and ask permission to form the union.

Like many working men of his time, George was self-educated, he went to a Quaker nightschool after he finished work, where he learnt to read and write. He was elected to the executive committee of the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants, 1887-1888, and then 1895-1901, and again in 1912. He was President from 1899-1901. In 1901, he participated in the Taff Vale court case and shortly after he visted, what must have appeared to be another planet back in those days, Australia, on a union delegation.

While he was President in 1899, a member from Doncaster proposed that the Trade Union Congress call a special conference to found a party to represent the working class. The Union remained one of the loudest voices for such a party.

George lived through some interesting times and he is an example of how the Labour movement can transform an ordinary working class man into a legend. He went on to became the first Labour alderman of Leeds city council, he was asked to become the Lord Mayor, but his wife was pregnant at the time and didn’t think she could perform of the role of being a mayor’s wife. He was also asked to stand for newly formed labour party in Northern Ireland, but he declined the offer.

The actions of the BA management are the culmination of long campaign to undermine trade union rights, looking at past struggles we see how these rights were not given to us, they were fought for and we need to fight to retain them.

Viva MAS!

2009-12-08T05:08:00.000-08:00

With the news that President Evo Morales has won this latest election with a bigger majority than he got in 2005, will the advance of the left in Latin America ever stop?

Evo Morales has big plans for his second term. He is hoping to implement a new constitution and place the traditionally discriminated against indigenous people at the heart of Bolivia's government and society.

May President Morales use the profits made from his country's natural gas industry to build schools, hospitals and bring all the downtrodden of Boliva out of poverty.

Long live the Movement towards socialism!

Stitch up

2009-11-30T09:43:00.000-08:00

So the USA has recognised the new honduran president, who was 'elected' in the face of brutal political repression of supporters of the legitimate president.

At the time of the coup, I assumed that US people of the ground had to be involved, as they were present at the army bases, but I didn't think that the coup had the backing of the White House. Now I realise I must have been wrong, judging from Washington's reaction.

Thank god once more for President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of Brazil, who has vowed not to move President Zelaya from the Brazillian embassy.

We have also recently witnessed a torrent of abuse from the Guardian, acusing Cuba of human rights abuses, with no referance to the human rights abuses committed by America at Guantanamo Bay, or the effects to the US blockade. Rob Miller, secretary of the Cuba Solidarity Campaign has written a great reply that puts the right-wing little Cold-war warrior back in his place.

Is anyone in the mainstream press going to highlight the hypocracy of the United States?

de Menezes' family settles their son's case

2009-11-24T06:52:00.000-08:00

Jean Charles de Menezes' family has settled for a £100,000 Met payout.

Jean happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, and he was shot dead for it. Jean was followed by several plainclothes police officers as he left his flat for several minutes, he boarded a bus, as did his pursuers. Jean got to Brixton station, but as it was closed he rang a workmate saying he was going to be late and again boarded a bus. This is obviously the behaviour of a terrorist, as the police,satisfied that they had their man, decided to go after the man who "had Mongolian eyes". "Code red" was given and the police were authorised to prevent Jean from getting on a train at Stockwell tube station.

Contrary to reports that came out at the time, de Menezes used his Oyster card and did not jump over the barrier. Jean got onto a train, no warning was given, one eye-witness said that de Menezes appeared calm as police guns were thrust onto his head.

Two officers fired a total of eleven shots according to the number of empty shells found on the floor afterwards. de Menezes was shot seven times in the head and once in the shoulder, he died at the scene. The shots were fired over a thirty second period.

The murder of the Brazilian electrician represented everything that was wrong with the paranoid post-9/11 atmosphere that Tony Blair's government created. It is New Labour's hands that are covered in de Menezes blood.

Settled for only £100,000.

Sounds a terribly low amount considering it is the price of a life. You would have thought that if an innocent member of your family had been executed by the police, you would want to sue for millions, but it is a bit better than the £15,000 that the Met offered immediately after the murder in July of 2005. The money will certainly go a lot further in Brazil i guess.

This closure seems a very unsatisfying end to what was, at the end of the day, a murder. Along with the poor little girl killed when an RAF plane dropped a box of leaflets on her and the bomb that ripped through a wedding convoy in Iraqi, the murder of de Menezes was just another terrible byproduct of the ridiculous war on terror.

Lib-Lab?

2009-11-22T07:37:00.000-08:00

A new poll for the Observer indicates a that the next general election will result in a hung parliament. Labour has narrowed the Tories lead to only 6 points, according to a Ipsos Mori poll of 1,006 people, the Tories are on 37%, Labour on 31% and the Lib Dems on 17%.

This begs the question, what government would have in the event of a hung parliament?
The Liberal Democrats have certainly moved to the right in recent years, but they would never be able to get a coalition with the tories past their membership, could they?

The best possiblity would certainly be a Lib Dem-Labour coalition, this formation could be seen to represent a united centre-left, that could avoid, to some extent, the brutality of a tory government. We could infer that the conditions for a Lib Dem-labour cooperation would be the implementation of proportional representation, further constitutional reform, perhaps the reversal of some anti-terror legislation?

In the tradition of that great Yeovil M.P Paddy Ashdown, there is somewhat of an overlap between liberals and New Labour. Certainly most liberals I have ever met would be happier in government with Labour, than the Tories. Back in 1997, Paddy Ashdown and Tony Blair established the 'Joint Cabinet Committee' (JCC) which was used to discuss the implementation of the two parties' shared priorities for constitutional reform; its remit was later expanded to include other issues on which Blair and Ashdown saw scope for co-operation between the two parties. Although this never came to anything, perhaps in the shadow of a tory government this could be a possibility.

But what is the reality of this actually happening?

Former Liberal Democrat leader Ming Campbell has stated:
"If Armageddon happened and we were faced with a Tory government, then the argument for increased co-operation with the centre left might not be a matter of choice, but a matter of compulsion."

In the background of Cameron's links to Anti-European, Neo-Nazi, homophobe, climate change deniers, liberals will naturally be drawn closer to Labour. I think that a Lib Dem-labour coalition is certainly not only a possibility that could occur, but would be miles preferable to a Tory government.

Personally, I still hope that Labour is able to win alone, but this kind of coalition is certainly a distinct possibility.

Morning Star on the BBC!

2009-11-15T11:05:00.000-08:00

A comrade told me that the Morning Star was shown on BBC 24's newspaper round up, that mainly focused on the BA situation. This appears to be confirmed by tomorrow's fighting fund:

http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/index.php/news/content/view/full/5909

A fantastic achievement. Our 'Daily Miracle' is a constant source of ispiration to so many in the labour movement and progressive politics. It is our paper and we really do have to support it, because if it goes, it would take generations for it to come back.

Congratulations to everyone who works at William Rust House!

Long live the Morning Star!

At last something to celebrate

2009-11-13T06:48:00.000-08:00

Well done Scottish Labour in Glasgow North East!

A great result that displays not only the appeal of Labour in its core constituencies, but also due to the fact that Gordon Brown was campaigning there, it proves Gordon is not the electoral liability that certain people want to convey to the nation.

However, the turnout was pathetic at 33 percent, this clearly displays the people of Glasgow North East's regard for mainstream bourgeois politicians. This was the primary reason (along with a lot of campaigning) for the good result for the BNP which was 1,013, only a few votes off the tories and 17 below the required amount to save their deposit.

The number of Left candidates was farcical, nevertheless, Sheridan still managed to beat the Lib Dems, it is always funny to see them wiped off the map.

Overall, a good result for Labour, hopefully it displays that Cameron's lies have yet to win over the people of Glasgow.

Results:

LAB - 12,231
SNP- 4,120
CON - 1075
BNP - 1013
SOL - 794
LIB-DEM - 474
GREEN - 332
SSP - 152
SLP - 47

Keir Hardie; The man and his gospel

2009-11-11T12:05:00.000-08:00

Delegates at the 2008 Labour conference voted Keir Hardie Labour’s “greatest Hero”, but who was this figure? What advice could he provide for today’s Labour movement?

James Keir Hardie was born illegitimately to a servant from Lanarkshire, Scotland on the 15th August, 1856. Hardie grow up in extreme poverty and went to work as a baker's delivery boy for twelve hours a day when he was just eight years old, his family’s only wage-earner. When he was ten years old, after caring for his dying brother all night, he arrived late at work and was sacked and fined a week’s wages. At the age of 11 he became a miner. Hardie helped to establish a union at his colliery and in 1880 led the first ever strike of Lanarkshire miners (for which he was given the sack). He later become the secretary of the Scottish Miners' Federation and began publishing a newspaper called The Miner which he used to educate his fellow miners politically. Despite being raised as an atheist, Hardie was converted to Christianity in 1897. He later stated that his political views came not from theoretical books, or even his own experiences, but from the teaching of Jesus and the principles set forth in the Sermon on the Mount.

Like many trade unionists at the time, Hardie initially supported the Liberal Party but he became disillusioned after the government of William Gladstone. Hardie began to advocate socialism and came to the conclusion that the ‘Lib-Lab’ approach of trade unionists supporting the Liberal party was inadequate as the working-class needed its own political party. In 1888, he stood as the Independent Labour candidate for the constituency of Mid-Lanark (and came last in the poll). But Hardie persevered and was elected to represent West Ham South constituency in 1892. Hardie became the country's first socialist M.P. and created a sensation by entering Parliament wearing a cloth cap and tweed suit. In parliament Hardie became a figure despised by the British establishment. He read out the names of the hundreds of miner’s that were regularly killed due to the shortcuts that bosses took to make yet more money. Hardie argued for policies that Tom Paine had declared in Rights of Man in 1791, that the rich must be taxed in order to redistribute money to the poor.
In an effort to bring together the various trade unions, socialist and progressive groups together, a meeting in 1900 established the Labour representation committee, an organisation that later become the Labour party. In the same year Hardie was elected MP for Merthyr Tydfil. He negotiated a deal with the leaders of the Liberal Party that the two parties would not stand against each other in thirty constituencies in the next election. Thus securing the Labour party’s independence.

Hardie travelled to India, where he made speeches against the institutional racism of the British administration, he encouraged Indian self-rule in order stop the British Empire from exploiting India’s natural resources. Similar speeches in favour of Equal rights for non-white South Africans encouraged the King and the bourgeois press to attack Hardie as a seditious troublemaker. Likewise, action in favour of rights for women drew similar criticism, Yet Hardie’s close relationship with Emmeline and Sylvia Pankhurst, along with his ecological views, signify how, in many ways, Hardie was ahead of his time.

In a country like Britain, with its history of moderation and respect for constitutional, democracy, the ballot is certainly more effective in bringing about social reform than the barricade. Hardie argued that “Socialism does not create the class struggle, it does not even accentuate it, it only recognises it. This is then broad generalisation of Marx which pedants have distorted out of all recognition, and elevated into a sectarian dogma under the name of the ‘Class War’." Hardie argued that socialism was not superseded by social reform under bourgeois government; he rejected the sectarian posturing of the Social Democratic Federation, who chose to oppose anything that was not the immediate full implementation of socialism overnight. In this vein, Hardie supported the social reforms of Lloyd George’s ‘People’s budget’, yet this backing was never uncritical. Hardie opposed the 1911 National insurance bill as it intended to exact contributions by means of the hated poll tax, that had led peasants to revolt against the King in 1381. Keir Hardie argued that the new party should be named the Labour party, without any reference to ‘socialist’ in order to avoid the party becoming one of many small dogmatic sects. This constructive approach allowed the Labour party not only to bring issues such as old age pensions, health and unemployment relief to a parliament that was dominated by the day to day issues of running the King’s empire, but to reverse the anti-union judgements such as that made during the Taff Vale case. Hardie’s philosophy held that the pursuit of complete socialism does not rule out the pursuit of partial socialism. In fact, it is only through campaigns of social reform that an alliance of socialists, trades unionists and middle-class sympathisers can be built into a movement that can viably buld the foundations of a socialist society.

In the years running up to the First World War, Keir Hardie threw himself into the anti-war campaign, Shaking off bourgeois attacks that labelled him ‘pro-German’ he travelled across Europe urging socialist leaders to call a general strike in the event of war. Following a gruelling schedule of meetings, speeches and protests, the outbreak of war represented a sharp deterioration in Hardie’s ill health. However, Hardie’s faith in humanity never faltered and on the 24 December 1914, British and German soldiers spontaneously climbed out of their trenches to play football and sing ‘Silent Night’ with one another.
Hardie spend much of his relatively short life isolated, lonely and often ridiculed. Yet it was his strong maverick character that enabled him to bring together so many different groups and forge a new political party. Hardie managed to steer the Labour movement away from the influence of both the dogma of anarcho-syndicalism and inward facing Marxist sects. And at the same time, Hardie built a truly independent Labour party, that no longer had to compromise it’s principles in a subservient relationship with the Liberal party.

Hardie’s appeal came from his distinctive mixture of religious derived principles, pragmatic, non-sectarian approach and firm grounding in the traditions of our indigenous radical past. From the peasant’s revolt to the levellers, Tom Paine and the chartists, Hardie believed that every movement of the people in our country for the last thousand years has ultimately sought to create the mythical, socialist commonwealth of ‘Merrie England’. In Serfdom to Socialism (1907), Hardie wrote “This generation has grown up ignorant of the fact that socialism is as old as the human race. When civilization dawned upon the world, primitive man was living his rude Communistic life, sharing all things in common with every member of the tribe. Later when the race lived in villages, man, the communist, moved about among the communal flocks and herds on communal land. The peoples who have carved their names most deeply on the tables of human story all set out on their conquering career as Communists, and their downward path begins with the day when they finally turned away from it and began to gather personal possessions. When the old civilizations were putrefying, the still small voice of Jesus the Communist stole over the earth like a soft refreshing breeze carrying healing wherever it went.”

In today’s culture of greed, where the relentless pursuit of personal wealth is not only encouraged but celebrated, even a Labour government announces that there is nothing morally wrong with being ‘filthy rich’. Hardie, drawing heavily on his religious discourse, considered his day to be an age of the worship of Mammon; to stand up against this, Hardie stated that “Socialism proposes to dethrone the brute god Mammon and to lift humanity into its place”. Hardie celebrated the radicals of his day, who had widely democratized Britain’s political system, and he urged the Labour movement to extend this emancipatory move by democratizing the economy. James Keir Hardie is widely seen as legendary figure, the father of Britain’s Labour movement. The significance of this is illustrated on the banner of the Chopwell Lodge of the National Union of Miners, which displays the portrait of Keir Hardie next to that of Marx and Lenin. The hammer and sickle of the Communist party alongside the ‘spade, torch and hoe’ of the Labour party, representing the unity of socialist, trade unionist and progressive components of force that Keir Hardie assembled all those years ago. At a time when the New Labour clique have infringed upon Labour’s founding principles of peace, equality and morality, the example of Keir Hardie informs today’s radicals how to construct an alliance that will push history in a progressive direction.

Lets get the facts right....

2009-11-10T08:02:00.000-08:00

Knowing your people's history is an essential tool for progressive activists in terms of learning the lessons of the past and informing the political work that you intend to carry out tomorrow. However, the contemporary attitude of much of the left in Britain towards, amongst other issues, the Soviet Union, GDR and other socialist nations demonstrates the pervasiveness of what can only be described as a Trotskyite version of history that has a damaging effect upon new generations of left-wing activists.

At this cold time of year in 1936, Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy recognized Franco as the legitimate head of Spain's government. The extent to which many young people have swallowed, literally hook, line and sinker, the trotskyite version of events of the Spanish Civil War never ceases to amaze me. More people need to outline misunderstandings about the conflict and, perhaps more importantly, try to identify the provenance of these lies.

The basic slogan that you will get told is:

'The Stalinists (trotskyite word meaning communist)deliberately lost the war and betrayed the Revolution'

This lie will no doubt be backed up by the 'facts' that:

1) All the best weapons were given out only to Communist controlled forces
2) The Communists murdered the true revolutionaries in Barcelona in cold blood
3) The Communists sabotaged the revolution because they did't want socialism

The best way to combat anyone uttering these fallacies, is to replace their misconceptions with stone cold truth. The only country in the world that provided any real assistance to the Republic was the Soviet Union. This came in the form of hundreds of aircraft, artillery, tanks, trucks,armored cars and thousands of machine guns, rifles, shells, cartridges, tons of ammunition. Of particular importance were the T-26 tank and the Polikarpov I-16 fighter airplane, known as the Mosca. These were accompanied by thousands of personnel, mainly tacticans, tank crew and pilots.

There has been an accusation that these weapons only went to fronts where the Communists and Socialists were in control, this is true, yet the reason for this was not Treachery, but the presence of nationalist offensives. The POUM and CNT controlled lines in Aragon were so unactive that many commentators descibed the boredom of life in the trenches, this lead these forces to concentrate on building a revolutionary society in this area.

However, the people in Extremadura, Andalucia and Madrid could not afford to waste time with such speculation due to the unrelentless advances of Franco's Army of Africa and Hitler's Condor Legion in these areas. In these areas people concentrated on the main issue of defeating the fascists, the most effective way of achieving this, in terms of unity of forces and prospect for global sympathy was to fight for the Republic. In these sections, the brutal execution of progressives, the cries of orphaned children and screams of raped women were persuasive in uniting the republican forces around the political argument that stressed making the defeat of the fascists as the main aim.

While the majority of the Republican forces agreed that the only way to defeat the fascists was to establish a unified command, whereby centralised leadership would provide a more effective military campaign and increase industrial production. Fighting to defend bourgious democracy was the only way further international support could be drawn, this would unite liberals, social democrats, communists and socialists. Murdering priests, raping nuns, buring religous items and enforcing land redistribution only led to isolating the Republic. Communist policy did not intend to betray socialism, it was the only policy that could have enabled the republic to win, and it stood in direct contrast with the ultra-left posturing of the POUM.

Those who supported the prioritization of fighting the revolution began to stockpile weapons as they feared repercussion from the Liberal-Socialist-Communist leadership. Overzealous activists from both camps began to engage in unconstructive acts of agression against each other that went far beyond petty bickering. The situation had deteriorated to such an extent that, in 1937, the leaders of the anarchist CNT and socialist UGT trade unions agreed not to hold a May Day demonstration for fears of clashes. Nevertheless, the POUM declared that their supporters should 'begin the struggle for working class power', and urged that they should have 'arms at the ready'. The Government ordered all stockpiles of arms in Barcelona to be given up and attempted to take control of Barcelona's central telephone exchange. CNT members then ignored their leaders and joined the POUM uprising equipped with weapons that had been held back from the front. The Republican, Socialist and Communist government leadership then ordered the army in to restore order.

I hope that this can counter the lies that are spread about the Communists in the Spanish Civil War, that have been spread by George Orwells 'Homage to Catalonia' and Ken Loach's 'land and freedom'. Both the book and the film is more a piece of propaganda that attempts to blame the Communist party for all the left's failures, they are false accounts that are based around trotskyist propaganda, and are not representations that display the true experience of the civil war.

This view of the Spanish Civil War does not only have no basis what so ever in fact, it is a complete disgrace to the memories of those brave people who gave their lives to fight against Franco. It is a falsification that, much like the debate centering around the GDR, correlates with Ruling class ideology more than it does with real progressive ideas.

Anyone who is interested in the real picture should check out the international brigade memorial trust's website and hear about Spain from truly heroic people. (http://www.international-brigades.org.uk)

Finally some balance on the GDR

2009-11-09T09:35:00.000-08:00

For those out there who fail to adhere to ruling class version of history, sorry the story tale repeated in the news, concerning the German Democratic Republic (GDR), Bruni de la Motte's guardian piece came as a welcome bit of proper journalism, in a sea of ideologically charged, Cold-War propaganda.

Don't get me wrong there were many problems with the GDR, and these problems only fed the one-sided stories that persit to this day. The lack of political freedoms, freedom to travel and cowardly shooting of those attempting to cross the wall were a mistake and ultimately lead to the collapse of the country.

However, much like the Soviet Union, the GDR was relatively un-developed, it was born in the midst of war and constantly faced sabotage at the face of imperialism. These issues lead to the breaking of the laws of socialist democracy, often with terrible results, these issues also lead to unfair, one-sided critism from Cold-war warrior journos.

This ruling class ideology persists today and prevents contemporary journalists from mentioning several points;

1) The GDR came into being during the cold war. It was never the intention of the Soviet Union, which liberated eastern Germany from nazi dictatorship, to set up a separate state. Moscow intended that Germany should be united along the lines of Austria, which adopted military and diplomatic neutrality. This was demonstrated by Moscow allowing Berlin to be split into different areas of influence, hardly the moves of a state that intends to 'conquer' Germany.

It was the West that split Germany, when it set up the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) East Germany was not an example of the USSR extending its 'empire'.

2)Denazification in the East was systematically carried out, whereas, in the West former Nazi Party members were allowed to continue in the FRG as government ministers, teachers, judges, prosecutors, military officers and diplomats.

3)The FRG could not be described as a being a bastion of democracy, the Communist party was banned and Communists faced widespread repression.

As I have said, the restrictions on personal liberties, while they can be explained within that certain context, cannot and shouldn't be defended. Nonetheless, the great advances in jobs, housing, sport and the arts, support for anti-colonial movements...etc should not be left out of the picture.

These acheivements have been left out because they demonstrate how a government can make advances in equality and security for ordinary people, how governement could stand up to imperialism.

The fact that the media have not reported a balanced picture of the GDR represents the fear of socialism that persists in the aftermath of the 'end of history'.

Does our media keep up its principled opposition to walls? Do they keep up the same one-sided criticism of the apartheid wall in israel? Do they fuck!

(Read the article at http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/nov/08/1989-berlin-wall )

Which way forward for the Progressive movement?

2009-11-01T07:03:00.000-08:00

Against the backdrop of unemployment, the rising tide of fascism and the strike action by the posties, we must face the elephant in the room, which direction must the left take now?

In many ways the movement is divided in terms of attitudes towards tactics. This division causes paralysis and acts as an obstacle to unified action. Together with this, especially in regards to anti-fascism, is the disorientated manner in which progressives approach subjects that concern the very conception of what it means to be British, about our identity and traditions. This two issues are deeply intertwined and are often the core reasons for division on the left at this point in time.

After recently visiting the battle of Cable street mural in East London with my brother, these two issues struck me.

Firstly, the battle of Cable Street is only one chapter from a whole library of British folklore. This indigenous labour movement history is a much neglected, but powerful weapon for progressives to use. However, several local residents of the street that we asked had no clue as to what we were talking about. When we found the mural, there were no signs to tell a bit of the history behind the image.

Stressing the need to come to grips with our radical past could be simply dismissed as a cliche. Many figures have indentified this as a problem with leftwing politics in Britain, but have often been attacked for this, Billy Bragg's excellent 'Progressive Patriot' springs to mind. Nevertheless, it is an important issue that needs to be worked on.

Popular political figures like Tony Benn are incredibly good at stressing the role of the Tolpuddle Martyrs, the Chartists etc.. But these days, the need to celebrate these heros and use this platform to encourage the general public to make connections between the solution these historical figures advocated to the problems of their day and the solutions that progressives offer to contemporary issues is a huge gap in the tactics of the progressive movement that desperately needs to be filled.

This problem is reflected in the anti-fascist movement. There is a world of difference between the tactics of groups such as Hope Not Hate, who argue that the BNP directly contravenes Britain's values of tolerance and moderation. Hope Not Hate point to our grandparents fight against Hitler to display that the BNP's professed patriotism is a sham. This tactic is effective in persuading the general public to make links between British traditions and past history and the arguments that the anti-fascists are making. In short, if we can demonstrate that events, such as the battle of Cable street, tie into a shared sense of Britishness and the experience or living in Britain, then we will always beat the fascists.

It is often said that socialists and Communists in France find it a lot easier to fuse a radical political stance with waving the drapeau tricolore and singing La Marseillaise. This is due to the revolutionary foundations of that country, as a result it is easier to make revolutionary arguements and still appear to be within the national political tradition. This is a more difficult task in britain, especially in England, where the nation's historical experience appears to be bound to Monarchy and Empire.

Within the anti-fascist movement, more headstrong anti-fascist activists are perceived to prefer to isolate rather than engage with communities. Some of these activists are likely to blockade roads, jeer houses that hang the Union Jack, or shout 'Nazi' at working class males who happen to have a short haircut. This is clearly the wrong approach, and enables the BNP to label anti-fascists as somehow not just un-British, but anti-British with 'alien' values.

In much the same way as we need to stress the indigenous foundations of our radical politics, we need to adopt tactics that are more likely to appear to be compatible with the general public's conception of Britishness. Cutting across the solutions to all the major issues facing us has to be the People's charter. The People's Charter's format is designed to be inclusive, associations with the Chartists are encouraged to persuade the progressive majority in Britain to stand up and reject the Neo-Liberal idealogical framework that mainstream political debate has been working in the last thirty years.

The People's Charter offers an alternative that is lacking in the approach of Hope Not Hate, I.E. 'Vote for anyone, but not BNP'. The manner in which the People's Charter avoids the Ultra Leftist posturing that is so easy for fascists to dub 'alien' to british values.

I urge anyone who has not already done so to sign the People's Charter and publicise it to your friends, family and workmates.

(P.S. All progressive bloggers are urged to include a Picture-link to the People's charter website at http://www.thepeoplescharter.com/)

Communist University programme published

2009-10-19T08:44:00.000-07:00

The programme for this years Communist University has been published. All communists, socialists and progressives are encouraged to attend this important annual event that is growing both in importance within the Labour movement and in terms of popularity. Those attending this year's event will enjoy speeches, rallies and music with everyone from the old veterans, who remember the battle of Cable street, to young communists, who will be full of tales from this year's legendary YCL summer camp in Derbyshire. This is an event that is not to be missed for any young budding revolutionary or old experienced battle axes. The weekend of 6-8th November is Communist University of Britain weekend. So join us in Croydon for a Friday internationalist rally and on Saturday and Sunday take part in discussion and dialogue and the development of ideas which can shape the future of our working class and Britain.

COMMUNIST UNIVERSITY OF BRITAIN

Friday Evening
Rally 7.30-9.15 pm Organised by the Coordinating Committee of Communist Parties in Britain

CELEBRATE CHINA'S REVOLUTION AT 60 AND CUBA'S REVOLUTION AT 50 - HUMANITY'S FUTURE IS SOCIALISM!

Speakers include: Luis Marron (Cuban embassy political counsellor), Maya Llamazares (Young Communist League), Alvaro Sanchez (Venezuelan embassy political counsellor), Azar Sepehr (Tudeh Party of Iran); Chair: Anita Halpin (Communist Party of Britain)

Saturday
Plenary 1 10.30-11.45 am
MOBILISING AGAINST RACISM AND FASCISM

Speakers include: Matthew Collins (Hate Not Hope organiser), Anita Wright (Lambeth Trades Council chair), Harsev Bains (Indian Workers Association general secretary), Marc Livingstone (YCL), Chair: Pauline Fraser (CPB anti-racism anti-fascism advisory committee)

Workshops 12.00-1.00 pm
1A What Do the BNP Really Want? Matthew Collins
1B The Response of the Indian Workers Association Harsev Bains
1C Combating Youth Unemployment, Fighting for Decent Work Steven Martin (YCL)

Briefing 1.15 pm
1 TBA
2 Capitalist Crisis and Climate Change Derek Wall (Green Party green left)

Plenary 2 2.00-3.45 pm
THE GREAT MINERS' STRIKE AND ITS LESSONS

Speakers: Davy Hopper (NUM North East Area secretary), Ann Field (former SOGAT national officer), Charlie May (Young Communist League), Andrew Murray (former Morning Star correspondent); Chair: John Haylett (Morning Star political editor)

Briefings 4.00 pm
2A Afghanistan—War Without End? Andrew Murray (Stop the War Coalition chair)
2B What's Happening Inside Iran? Mohammed Omidvar (Tudeh Party)

Plenary 2 4.45-6.15 pm
THE PEOPLE'S CHARTER AND THE STRUGGLE FOR CHANGE

Speakers: Mary Davis (TUC women's committee), John Hendy QC (labour movement lawyer), Robert Griffiths (CPB general secretary), Joanne Stevenson (YCL general secretary); Chair: Anita Halpin (CPB)

Film 6.20-7.30 pm
THE PEOPLE'S FLAG: The Enemy Within 1979-87
Introduced by Chris Reeves (Platform Films producer)

Manifesto Press Book Launch & Reception 8.00 pm
with authors Theodore MacDonald, Andrew Murray and Robert Griffiths

Film 8.50-10.00 pm
THE PEOPLE'S FLAG: From Victory to Consensus 1945-64

Sunday
Plenary 3 10-11.15 am
ECONOMIC CRISIS—THE SUNSET FOR CAPITALISM?

Speakers include: Jerry Jones (Morning Star economics correspondent), Megan Dobney (South East Region TUC secretary), John Foster (CPB international secretary); Chair: Christiane Ohsan (University & Colleges Union national officer, personal capacity)

Workshops 11.30-12.30 pm
4A Leninism and Democracy Martin Levy (Communist Review editor)
4B The Chartists and Class Struggle Marj Mayo (CPB political education secretary)
4C The Stonewall Uprising and LGBT Rights Peter Purton (TUC Disability & LGBT Rights policy officer)

Briefings 1.10-1.55 pm
3 Capitalist Crisis and China Jenny Clegg (author and peace activist)
4. The Charter for Women Sharon Allen (Charter for Women steering group secretary)

Question Time 2.00-3.30 pm
THE CRISIS OF WORKING CLASS REPRESENTATION

Speakers include: Len McCluskey (Unite assistant general secretary), Ruth Winters (Fire Brigades Union past president, speaking in personal capacity), Carolyn Jones (CPB trade union coordinator), Bob Crow (Rail, Maritime and Transport union general secretary); Chair: Bill Greenshields (National Union of Teachers past president)

As well as numerous workshops and briefings, Commie Chef Restaurant, stalls, book launches, film showings, cultural events & more

Full Weekend waged £20 Unwaged £10
Saturday/Sunday only waged £12 Unwaged £6

Interview with CP general-secretary about this years Communist University

2009-10-19T08:40:00.000-07:00

When we caught up to interview Robert Griffiths, he was right in the middle of helping to organise the Communist University to be held in early November. Rob's answers were open and wide-ranging and give a taste of what can be expected from platform speakers and in the plenaries.

Q. The main theme of this years CU is 'Humanity's Future is Socialism!' Why was this theme chosen?
A. To paraphrase the late South African Communist Party leader Joe Slovo, the Communists may have failed the people of Russia - but capitalism has failed the whole of humanity. The only rational, realistic alternative to capitalist exploitation, war and the destruction of our planet is socialism. Only a society based on common social ownership of large-scale industry, commerce and the earth's natural resources, planning their use for society's common good, acting to eliminate all forms of oppression, can secure the future of humanity.

Q. Ideas and theory are so important to successful labour movements - what kind of audience comes to mind when you are thinking of organising a CU?

A. Everyone who wants to think, discuss and debate how we can achieve extensive reforms and revolutionary change in society is welcome - communists, socialists, democrats, anti-war campaigners, environmentalists, people of all political parties and none. Obviously, workers, trade unionists and young people have a special role and particular responsibilities in the struggle for a better future, so we take steps to ensure that the Communist University appeals to them. We invite speakers who know how to interest and inspire intelligent workers and young people who don't have a postgraduate degree in political philosophy.

Q. There have been other CU's held in the last year - very successful ones in Scotland, the North of England, the Midlands and Wales. In what way is CU 2009 different?

A.It's bigger and can feature a wider range of topics, speakers and events. The CPB centrally can put greater resources into organising every aspect of the Communist University of Britain. We are also increasingly using the CUB to launch new initiatives. Last year, speakers such as left-wing Labour MPs John McDonnell and Jeremy Corbyn, and RMT railway workers leader Bob Crow, joined us in the call for a People's Charter, which has since come to fruition. This year, the university will host the launch of a new left-wing publishing house, the Manifesto Press. Three books on anti-imperialism, working class history and Cuba will make an appearance along with their authors.

Q. For the next twelve months, politics will inevitably focus on the forthcoming general election - and there are sessions on anti fascism, The People's Charter, the Charter for Women and 'The Crisis of Working Class Representation'. Who will lead these sessions?

A.Among the speakers confirmed so far are RMT general secretary Bob Crow and Hope Not hate anti-fascist organiser Matthew Collins, alongside South-East Region TUC secretary Megan Dobney, People's Charter joint convenor John Hendy, Charter for Women leader Mary Davis, Green Party socialist Derek Wall, Indian Worker's Association general secretary Harsev Bains, Communist Party trade union co-ordinator Carolyn Jones and many others.

Q. What factors do you apply when you are working out if CP universities have been a success?

A. Well, we don't want to lose money! But more important is the quality of the contribution that Communist Universities make to political education and discussion. They energise many of those who attend, or at least recharge batteries for the work and challenges ahead. Increasingly, too, they act as a force and focus for better mutual understanding and greater unity in action on the left. If the Communist universities don't help equip communists, socialists and progressive campaigners with ideas and arguments to take out into workplaces and local communities, they have failed.

Time to resist ruling-class offensive

2009-10-19T08:29:00.000-07:00

A brand new website accompanies a fresh focus for britain's communists. "Whichever government is elected at the next general election, the ruling class offensive will continue to unfold," Communist Party general secretary Robert Griffiths told a special meeting of the party's executive at the weekend.

"Big business and its politicians are determined to maximise monopoly profit, cut and privatise public services, undermine trade unionism and further restrict democratic rights to make workers and their families pay for getting Britain out of capitalism's crisis," he pointed out.

"But a Tory victory would deepen demoralisation within the working class and a Cameron government would go even further than new Labour in its reactionary policies," Mr Griffiths argued.

"A Labour victory, on the other hand, might produce a government more amenable to mass pressure for policies such as those in the People's Charter, enabling the labour movement to go on the offensive instead," he said.

The Communist Party executive called for the formation of local grass-roots campaigns for the charter and its policies for public ownership, wealth redistribution, a greener economy and full employment, urging a big turnout for the People's Charter conference in London on November 21.

"It is not too late to compel the Labour government to change course, ditch neoliberal policies and challenge big business profiteering in the interests of the mass of ordinary people," Mr Griffiths insisted.

The special meeting also decided, with only one vote against, to pursue further discussions with a range of left and labour movement organisations to establish a general election coalition to fight leading new Labourites and the fascists, as well as the Tories.

"The struggle against reactionary ideas and policies in the labour movement, including in the Labour Party, needs to be sharpened, not compromised or avoided," the CPB executive committee declared.

Britain's communists will also stand independent Communist Party candidates and take part in the Unity for Peace and Socialism alliance with domiciled communist and workers' parties from overseas.

The special executive also urged active solidarity with the postal workers due to take national strike action on Thursday and Friday.

It also called for protest letters and actions against the BBC for inviting BNP fascist leader Nick Griffin to appear on Question Time later this week.

One from the plough

2009-10-17T13:51:00.000-07:00

In many ways the plough is an icon for ordinary working people thoughout history. The original symbol for the Soviet Union was a hammer crossed over with a plough. In our own Labour movement in Britain, those early pioneers, the Tolpuddle Martyrs, would have worked the plough in the fields of Dorset.

The inspiration for the name of this blog came from a great man, George Mitchell, who was a leader of Agricultural workers during the Nineteenth century near Yeovil, Somerset. Our shared first name, George, is derived from the Greek 'Georgos' meaning worker of the earth. So when searching for a name for my blog I thought that nothing sounded quite as apt as George Mitchell's nickname-"one from the plough"

The Bloodstains splashed on MI5

2009-10-17T08:19:00.000-07:00

Whole article on Morning Star site:(http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/index.php/news/britain/The-bloodstains-splashed-on-MI5)

Binyam Mohamed, the British resident tortured with the alleged complicity of the CIA and MI5, won a High Court victory on Friday which would force the British government to publish details of his abuse.

David Miliband is claiming that it is in our national interest not to publish these details. Perhaps David is concerned that the more the public witnesses the horrendous crimes we have committed in our pursuit of the "democratic imperative", the less likely it is that the public will give its consent to future imperialistic projects.

Since the implementing the supposed war on terror we have used our security forces (equipted with the very latest weapons of mass destruction)to systematically beat, torture and murder innocent men, women and children. For what reason?

In Iraq and Afganistan, we have left corrupt, unprincipled governments in charge of unstable, broken countries. Why?

Was this commitment to carnage really in line with a moral commitment to the global dissemination of the principles of democratic government? Truely today no one but the most blindfolded, ideological warrior can construct an argument around this fairy tale.

Leaving aside the contention that the whole principle of 'liberal interventionism' lacks any serious basis if one considers the trail of bodies that we have left behind in Iraq and Afganistan.

It is no longer, and has not been for some time, a looney-fringe concept that this whole war on terror is part of a wider imperialist project. This taken into account, it seems obvious why David Miliband wants to censor the real story of our 'war on terror'.

Now, perhaps more than ever, it is essential for a huge turnout next weekend for the Stop The War Coaltion's National demonstration to bring the troops home. If you are reading this and have not done already, vist Stop the War Coalition's website and book a place on your nearest coach. (http://www.stopwar.org.uk/)

In the words of Peter Brierley, whose son was killed in Iraq, and famously refused to shake Tony Blair's hand, "I believe marching makes a difference. By being on the streets we get closer to the point of bringing the troops home. Everyone should bring one or two other people – people who have never been on a demonstration before."