socialist fight no 13 condems decimate the welfare state

7/28/2019 Socialist Fight No 13 ConDems decimate the Welfare State

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Socialist Fight

Unity is strength, Lunion fait la force, La unin hace la fuerza, , ,. on kt l sc mnh, Jedno jestsia, ykseys on kesto, .,Midnimo iyo waa awood, hundeb ydy chryfder, Einheit ist Strke, , ,

vienybs jga, bashkimi ben fuqine, , unit la resistenza,, A unio faz a fora, eining er styrkur, De eenheid isde sterkte, , N neart go chur le cile, pagkakaisa ay kalakasan, jednota is sla,, Workers of the World Unite!

No. 13 May June 2013 Price: Waged 2 (3) Concessions: 50p

ConDems decimate the Welfare State

The British Medical Journal:

On 1 April 2013 the regulations are coming

into place to show that everything has to be

put out to competitive markets by CCGs[clinical commissioning groups] and the na-

tional commissioning board. That will create

rights for private providers to supply which

will not only allow them to take quite a lot of

the share of the NHS budget for their business

right now, it also potentially makes the priva-

tisation irreversible in the future.

The three main reforms introduced in Aprilare:

The replacement of council tax benefit by

council tax support, estimated to cost 2.4 mil-

lion families in England an average of 2.60

per week. The coalition says the council tax

benefit bill rose by 50% under the last govern-

ment.

An under-occupation penalty (bedroom tax)is expected to cost 660,000 families an average

of 14 per week. The government says 1.8 mil-

lion people are on council house waiting lists.

An overall household benefit cap, set at 500

for a family with children, is expected to affect

56,000 households with an average cut of 93

per week.


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Page 2 Leon Trotsky: I am confident of the victory of the Fourth International; Go Forward!

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1.WE STAND WITH KARL MARX: Theemancipation of the working classes must

be conquered by the working classes them-selves. The struggle for the emancipationof the working class means not a strugglefor class privileges and monopolies but forequal rights and duties and the abolition ofall class rule (The International Working-

mens Association 1864, General Rules).

2. The capitalist state consists, in the lastanalysis, of ruling-class laws within a judi-cial system and detention centres overseenby the armed bodies of police/army who

are under the direction and are controlledin acts of defence of capitalist propertyrights against the interests of the majorityof civil society. The working class mustoverthrow the capitalist state and replace it

with a workers state based on democratic

soviets/workers councils to suppress the

inevitable counter-revolution of privatecapitalist profit against planned productionfor the satisfaction of socialised humanneed.

3. We recognise the necessity for revolution-aries to carry out serious ideological and

political struggle as direct participants inthe trade unions (always) and in the massreformist social democratic bourgeois

workers parties despite their pro-capitalistleaderships when conditions are favour-able. Because we see the trade union bu-reaucracy and their allies in the Labourparty leadership as the most fundamental

obstacle to the struggle for power of theworking class, outside of the state forcesand their direct agencies themselves, wemust fight and defeat and replace themwith a revolutionary leadership by mobilis-

ing the base against the pro-capitalist bu-reaucratic misleaders to open the way for-

ward for the struggle for workers power.

4. We are fully in support of all mass mobili-sations against the onslaught of this reac-tionary Con-Lib Dem coalition. However,

whilst participating in this struggle we willoppose all policies which subordinate the

working class to the political agenda of thepetty-bourgeois reformist leaders of the

Labour party and trade unions5. We support the fight of all the specially

oppressed; Black and Asian, women, lesbi-ans and gay men, bisexuals and transgenderpeople against discrimination in all itsforms and their right to organise separatelyin that fight in society as a whole. In par-ticular we defend their right to caucus in-side trade unions and in working class po-litical parties.

6. We recognise that class society, and capital-

ism as the last form of class society, is byits nature patriarchal. In that sense theoppression of women is different from allother forms of oppression and discrimina-tion. Because this social oppression is inex-

tricably tied to private property, and itsinheritance, to achieve full sexual, socialand economic freedom and equality for allwe need to overthrow class society itself.

7. We fight racism and fascism. We supportthe right of people to fight back againstracist and fascist attacks by any means nec-essary. Self-defence is no offence! We sup-

port No Platform for all fascists but never

call on the capitalist state to ban fascistmarches or parties; these laws would inevi-tably primarily be used against workers

organisations, as history has shown.

8. We oppose all immigration controls. Inter-

national finance capital roams the planet in

search of profit and Imperialist govern-

ments disrupts the lives of workers andcause the collapse of whole nations with

their direct intervention in the Balkans,

Iraq and Afghanistan and their proxy wars

in Somalia and the Democratic Republic of

the Congo, etc. Workers have the right to

sell their labour internationally wherever

they get the best price. Only union mem-

bership and pay rates can counter employ-

ers who seek to exploit immigrant workers

as cheap labour to undermine the gains ofpast struggles.

Socialist Fight Where We StandSocialist Fight is a member of the

Liaison Committee for the Fourth

Internationalwith the Liga Comu-nista of Brazil and the TendenciaMilitante Bolchevique of Argentina.

The Editorial Board is:Gerry Downing, Laurence

Humphries, Ray Rising, AilishDease, Chris Williams, Clara Rosen

and Aggie McCallum.Contact:

PO Box 59188, London, NW2 9LJ,[email protected].

Liga Comunists, Brazil: http://lcligacomunista.blogspot.co.uk/

Signed articles do not necessarilyrepresent the views of the SF EB

Join Socialist FightWould you like to join SocialistFight or learn more about our

work and revolutionary politics?

Contact us at the above email orPO Box addresses.

10,000 print Shop FundSocialist Fight has launched a5,000 to set up our own print

shop. This will enable us to printour own magazines and to limit

the print runs to what is immedi-ately needed. It will also allow usto make available many impor-

tant Trotskyists works of limitedmass appeal but vital for buildinga new revolutionary leadership.

The following are just 8 of the 26points of the political programmeof the Socialist Fight Group which

can be found at our blog here:

http://socialistfight.com/


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Leon Trotsky: I am confident of the victory of the Fourth International; Go Forward! Page 3

Editorial: Defend the rights of the R+F andthe workers press...Page 4

What Unity? Revolutionary class struggle orclass collaboration popular frontism? By RetMarutPage 5Tories attempt decimation of the welfare stateBy Graham DurhamPage 6Queensland Updated By Aggie McCallum -

Australia.. Page 7Construction Rank and File meeting in Con-

way Hall By Alan Hunter, .....Page 8Jim Kelly, Andy Newman and Sean McGovern

witchhunt the Left in Unite By Gerry Down-ing ..........Page 9Why SA, SP and the AWL supportsMcCluskey in the Unite General Secretaryelection By Laurence Humphries.Page 11The Socialist Party and the General Strike By

Alan Hunter......Page 13Joint IRPSG/Brent LRC meeting By Laur-

ence Humphries... Page 15Why We Must Fight to Free Mohammed

Hamid By Tony Fox............................Page 17Misunderstood Loyalism and violence, themost natural thing in the world By Charlie

Walsh..Page 19Thomas Spence, agrarian socialism, commu-nism and the working class By LaurenceHumphries.Page 20Review: Shostakovich Socialism, Stalin ByLaurence Humphries....Page 22Review: Broken On All Sides: Race, By John

Leslie .....Page 24The ISL breaks with the US LRP Response bythe LCFI.......Page 26Defeat Imperialist Invasion of MaliBy Ailish Dease ....Page 30

Thatchers legacy: Housing and the Counihan

Homelessness Campaign......Page 31May Day Greetings from the LCFI..Page 32

Contents

Peoples Assembly Against Austerity

Saturday 22 June 2013, 9:30 am5pm,

Central Hall Westminster, Storeys

Gate, London, Westminster,London SW1H 9NH

Left Unity First National Meeting:There will be an initial national meet-

ing of representatives from Left Unitylocal groups on 11th May in centralLondon. We are asking groups to senda maximum of two representatives, ofwhich at least one should be a woman.

Message from Jerry

Hicks:Some 79,816 workers cast theirvotes for me as General Secretary ofUnite; 36% of those who voted. Thismore votes than can fill Wembleystadium: We did not win but arenow the left in Unite.

An historic vote for a Rank &File grassroots candidate, made allthe more remarkable when takinginto consideration what was wagedagainst us. We kept true to our poli-

cies, beliefs and politics with ourdignity intact, while their campaignspiralled into the gutter.

We spent about 4,000 [from do-nations], produced some 75,000 leaf-lets, relied upon public transport,and the generosity of often completestrangers to offer a bed/couch forthe night, [to whom I am indebted],as we travelled around the countrymeeting members.

From bus drivers, to high street

banks, from health workers to refusecollectors - every sector and almost

every region [running out of timebefore we could get to Ireland].

The union establishment spent upto 100 times the amount of moneywe did, produced maybe one millionleaflets, sent out letters to close on500,000 members and had hundredsof paid officials promoting and sup-porting their boss, McCluskey.

Shamefully, and more sinister thanthe use of the union machine, wasthe red baiting - aimed at courtingand doubtless securing the rightwing vote, notably in Len

McCluskeys election address to 1.5million members and combined withthe unsolicited emails, texts, phonecalls and letters to our membershomes that were full of innuendo,lies and scaremongering. Toppingthe list of shame was the barrelscraping libellous tweet/s. We shallbe making formal complaints aboutthe abuses. I will let you know howthat goes.Jerry Hicks Tel: 07817827912 or

email [email protected]


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Weekly Worker No 948 7th February 2013 issued an un-

reserved apology which states Untrue and highly de-

famatory allegations were made about Unite Regional officerWayne King. Socialist Fight totally rejects this apology. GerryDowning, a member of Socialist Fight and then a Unite Busworker at the Cricklewood garage, wrote the article in the 12thJanuary 2012 edition of Weekly Worker.

What Comrade Downing wrote was true and we have thejudgement of the Employment Tribunal to prove this asser-tion. By printing this apology the CPGB has cast aspersionson the reputation and integrity of Comrade Downing. Noth-ing Comrade Downing wrote was untrue apart from a mis-taken date. It has been used by reactionary bureaucrats inUnite to brand Downing a liar when, in fact, Employment

Judge Ryan with wings Mr I Bone and Mrs I Sood brandedWayne King a liar, a judgement of considerably more weightthan the grovelling and untrue apology forced out of the WWby Thompsons Solicitors on behalf of Mr King by threateningthe loss of their homes.

Socialist Fight rejects the abject apology and political cow-ardice of the CPGB. In opposition to the trade union bu-reaucracy in Unite Socialist Fight is one hundred per cent insupport of Comrade Downings decision to write the article.We reject the attempt by King and the Unite bureaucracy tomuzzle and silence the left wing press and the activities ofrank and file bus workers who are genuinely fighting for Unitemembers interests. Our record is there for everyone to see.

This decision by this Unite officer to use the capitalistcourts to silence the left wing press and rank and file opposi-tion shows the depths to which this bureaucracy will sink.Socialist Fight pledges that it will fight this action politically byturning to the working class and the wider labour movementto defend Unite members like Gerry Downing from this sortof attack. The publication of this humiliating climb down po-tentially puts every left wing publication in jeopardy.

WW rejected our suggestion that they defend the right of allworkers publications to fight this malignant TU bureaucracyby appealing to the whole working class. This would put theattack in its proper political context; the refusal of this bu-reaucracy to lead a fight against the current assault on the classinternationally. That might have worked in the 70s and 80sbut not today WW leader Mike McNair told us. Even legallyWayne Kings case was weak and perfectly defensible hadWW taken this obvious step for revolutionaries of appealingto the class. Surely such a campaign would have rallied rankand file workers and their genuine representatives therebyboosting Jerry Hicks and severely damaged Len McCluskeysUnite Gen Sec election chances. And WW would have won!

The failure of the TU bureaucracy to fight the cuts becausethey are determined to defend the capitalist system at all costis exasperating their members who will revolt at some point.This is why they must seek to silence all rank and file oppo-

nents to try to keep this revolt leaderless.Further it has emboldened the most reactionary sections of

the Unite bureaucracy and their allies to line up with the man-agement in the victimisation of Gerry Downing in Crickle-

wood garagesee pages 9-10 Jim Kelly, Andy Newman and SeanMcGovern witchhunt the Left in Unite.

The story by Downing defended Abdul Omer Mohsinagainst his sacking by Sovereign Buses and the manner inwhich Unite via King conducted the Employment Tribunal.WW identified the central libellous sentence as Omer toldhis supporters at the employment tribunal that King is indeeda consistent liar. But he is not his own liar, he is the com-panys liar. Those attending the ET are prepared to testify itdid indeed brand King a liar. The judgement of the ET (casenumber 3301372/2010) recounts the incident thus:

8.10. Having decided that Mr Docherty did not refuse to medi-

ate, we concluded that Mr Kings ev idence of forgetting whether MrDocherty was present is, in fact, untruthful and it was intended toavoid another difficult issue for him in this case, namely indeedwhether Mr Docherty did refuse to mediate, as Mr Omer al-leged. By saying he had forgotten whether Mr Docherty wasthere, he avoided having to say, as was probably the case, thatMr Docherty was prepared to shake hands and reconcile andthat Mr Omers evidence on the point was untrue. For all thesereasons, we consider that Mr Docherty did not refuse to medi-ate and that Mr Omers evidence was also false (our emphasis).

Abdul Omer knew that King was the only witness who couldhave verified his story and he failed to do so by lying that Do-herty was not present, a fact that the Judge believed he could

not have forgotten. Our legal advice on this is that once a wit-ness is deemed to be lying by the court his/her credibility as awitness is destroyed and it is an irrelevant matter on whosebehalf he is lying. The fact that the judge said Omer was alsolying because it was probably the case that Doherty tried tomediate is also irrelevant. Omers case is that King was avoid-ing telling the truth that would have vindicated his version ofevents. The pages of WW were open to King to reply.

Thompsons told the WW that Unite supported the case,however a freedom of information response by Unite claimsthe union spent no money on the case.

Thompson Solicitors were nor disciplined by the SolicitorsDisciplinary Tribunal although they were found guilty by the

Solicitors Regulation Authority of misdemeanours includingripping off sick miners by charging them contingency fees tothe time of 10.9 million when such agreements were notpermitted by law. A spokesman for Durham Colliery Mechan-ics Trust said all its members had willingly signed (sic!)agreements pledging a portion of any compensation packages.The NUM branches in Durham and South Wales were thebeneficiaries of this appalling example of illegal collaborationbetween the bureaucrats representative Thompsons and thebureaucrats themselves. And this is the shameful role theyhave played in this case too.

Gerry Downing said: I would rather cut my throat than sign theappalling grovelling apology demanded by King and Thompsons. Theserights are not mine to concede; they belong to the whole working class andto its militant left and socialist press.

Editorial: Defend the rights of the R+F and the work-ers press to fight the sell-out TU bureaucrats


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The desire for unity in the working class

again finds its expression in yet moreinitiatives to unite the left. Serious socialistmust orient to these initiatives, the Peoples

Assembly on the 22 June in Central Halls,Westminster and Left Unity who now claim8,000 members and are holding their firstnational meeting of representatives fromLeft Unity local groups on 11th May incentral London.

We should intervene to influence and winto revolutionary class struggle politics seri-ous socialists who are responding to thedesire for unity. They will recognise thereality of the class treachery of the Labour

party leaders, are impatient with what theysee as the sectarianism of the far left andmay see some problems with both thesenew initiatives.

Both initiatives fudge the difference be-tween class collaboration and class struggle.

That is they take the left TU leaders andothers at their word when they say they areopposed to austerity without questioningthem on why they are not leading any seri-ous fight and continue to sell out industrialdisputes.

In particular the Peoples Assembly lacks

any real internal democracy. It has the clas-sic talking shop format: fill the platformwith famous speakers, allow very limitedtime for discussions from the floor andsupplement this with workshops who haveno decision making mandates. So the self-appointed leaders direct the movement andcannot be removed and the dissidents canjust lump it.

The PA is led and directed by Counter-fires John Reese and Lindsey German andboasts eight TU General Secretaries, TonyBenn, four MP and the Communist Partyof Britain. It is just a talking shop and be-cause the most vital question for the work-ing class today, that of its leadership, is off

the agenda because the platform will con-

tain so many class collaborators, it cannotgo anywhere. Nonetheless because it willgel with a desire for unity on behalf of anew layers of workers and youth it is impor-tant to intervene there.

Left Unity boasts many of the same sig-natories; Ken Loach, Owen Jones et al andis the brainchild of Andrew Bergin andKate Hudson of the Stop the War Coali-tion. However it sets out to form a newparty, hence the absence of all those Gen-eral Secretaries and Labour MPs. Althoughthe politics of class collaboration are thesame it does seem to have better prospects

for intervening politically, with more inter-nal democracy and prospects for real debateand discussion.

Some serious socialists have objected thatthis call for a new left party cuts across theneed to build the left in the Labour party.

This is a clear reformist objection whichcuts no ice with those of us who know thedifference between revolutionary politicsand reformist politics, which is essentiallycounter-revolutionary. But on the otherhand this too is a reformist project but one

where we may advance the cause of build-

ing the core of a revolutionary party. Mostleft groups have responded favourably to itsLeft Unity call.

The SWPsAlex Callinicos recognisesthat these are two reformist approaches andhas a somewhat nuanced approach:

Both have to be taken seriously. My hunch isthat the drive to revive Labour will prove thestronger of the two. This is of course prob-lematic, because all Labour governmentsincluding the one elected in 1945havechosen to manage rather than transformcapitalism. The structures of the party arenow so undemocratic that its hard to seehow any attempt to reclaim Labour can

hope to succeed. This makes it all the moreimportant that all those who want to see a

left alternative to Labour work together.There are plenty of obstacles in our path aswell, but the scale of the crisis and the suffer-ing it is causing demand that we overcomethem.

The Socialist party of Engl;and and Wales(SPEW or just SP)s Peter Taaffe has this tosay about Left Unity.

Ken Loach, the socialist, radical film director,understands that New Labour represents adead end and therefore it is necessary to seeka new road; hence his call for people to signup to a new left unity. By so doing, he hasopened up a very welcome discussion on theneed for a viable alternative to the LabourParty for working class people engaged in the

anti-cuts campaigns as well as working peoplegenerally looking for an alternative to NewLabour.

This is the traditional centrist fudge be-tween reformism and revolution. But allparities involved ignore the question on thetop of this article: the relationship betweeninternational and national politics. All thesepolitical tendencies have disgraced them-selves politically in the Imperialist wars onLibya and Syria. And so must stay silent on

what were the real lessons of 1945.And as Ken Loachs spirit of 45 is cur-

rently being used as the springboard forthese new regroupment is worth remember-ing what it is Ken Loach forgot about in hisfilmhow the British ruling class paid forthe welfare state that was expanded somuch after the warthey paid for it withthe booty of Empire and they aim to solvethis crisis in that way too.

Only now the Empire is gone and theworking class will take the full force of thecuts. So it is worth remembering what thepolitical content of that post WWII era was.

The Labour government defended the Em-pire in order to protect the living standards

of their constituen-cies, they said. As

Ken Loachs film has fudged The Spirit of 45. Was this the spirit of revolution that swept Europe as shown in the determination of workers never togo back to the hungry 30s? Or the spirit of the class traitors of the Labour and TU bureaucracy who bought off and betrayed this spirit? ErnestBevin slavishly defended the British Empire; the Communist Parties entered popular front governments and backed Churchill in 1945. Only theTrotskyists still fought for the working class and socialism through revolution and were jailed and murdered for it by Nazis and Democratic gov-ernment in the US, Britain, France, Italy, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, etc. Loach knew all this once when he was around the Socialist Labour League.

What Unity? Revolutionary class struggle or classcollaboration popular frontism? By Ret Marut

The British Army in Athens in 1945

Continued on page 6


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Tories attempt decimation of the welfare state; Turn it intoPoll Tax 2, we finished Thatcher, now for Cameron!

By Graham Durham

T

he death of Thatcher has caused an outpouring ofcalls for respect to be shown from figures such as

Harriet Harman and Martin McGuinness. A disgraceful callgiven the role Thatcher played in trying to destroy the or-ganised labour movement and in supporting imperialistpolicies in Ireland, the Falklands/Malvinas and across the

world.In celebrating Thatchers death it is important to remem-

ber that she never felt confident enough to try and disman-tle the NHS and, despite some cuts, destroy the welfarestate. Yet these are the aims of the Tory/Lib Dem coalitionand they are now translated into action.

The NHS faces a two-pronged attack. First the attemptedclosures of acute care centres, such as the Leeds childrens

heart unit and A and E departments across the country.Then the introduction of doctor led commissioninggroups instructed by government to invite private providersto bid and cherry-pick services for profit.

Resistance to hospital closures is growingthe Leedscampaign has succeeded and very large marches are occur-ring to defend hospitals and their emergency services. TheLondon NHS demonstration on 18 May will be the chanceto bring together campaigners and unite the defence of theNHS. Every single privatisation or closure must be op-posedeven where some GPs are privatising their ownservice, as in Islington, London and ensuring that their

mates on commissioning groups get fat contracts it is im-portant that local trade unionists and health campaignerstrack these decisions and organise action against them.

The range of housing and benefit changes represent theattempt by the Tories to demonise the poor - far from de-fending the rights of workers to a safety net when unem-ployment is high, Liam Byrne and Ed Miliband have joinedthe attempts to force people to work unpaid and earn enti-tlements.

Across the country opposition to the Bedroom Tax-which cuts housing benefit by 14% for every spare roomand 25% for two or more has led to local protests. This

benefit cut and forced moves/evictions can become thefocus for a unified anti-Poll Tax type struggle to defeat

Cameron. Other benefit changes such as forcing contribu-tions to council tax, the national benefit cap of 500 a

week, the reduction by 20% of those disabled people eligi-ble for the new Personal Independence Payment (PIP)

which replaces DLA will all have different impacts with thebenefit cap leaving families in high rent areas facing evic-tion.

With many facing new debt and eviction threats thephased introduction of universal benefit, involving monthlypayments in arrears, will create massive hardship. Alreadycampaigns have sprung up to resist any evictions and pro-

vide practical support, The Counihan Housing Campaignand the umbrella campaign Brent Housing Acton are onexample linking the resistance to all these changes in NWLondon. Campaigners are visiting estates ,encouraging

block representatives and creating a pattern of local anti-eviction teams.

The Tories are weak and now is the time for all thesecampaigns to increase the pressure for no evictions, re-designation of bedrooms by councils and housing provid-ers, rent controls and action against landlords threateningtenants.

A wider response is necessary from the trade unionmovement to defend the welfare state - UNITE has alreadylaunched successful community branches and producedexcellent information on benefit changes and a bedroomtax protest leaflet, now the call for a co-ordinated general

strike must be driven through the TUC and action takenthis spring.

Adrian Budd said in the ISJournal in 1994:

The conceptual framework of Attlee-Bevinitediplomacy revolved around the continuationof the empire and the view that Britain re-mained a great power. In October 1944 La-bour had supported British interventionagainst the popular forces of the Greek Com-munist resistance, ELAS, in favour of the pro-monarchist right wing Voulgaris govern-ment. At the December 1944 party confer-

ence Bevin argued that the British Empirecannot abandon its position in the Mediterra-nean,and, although Nye Bevans riposte won

the loudest applause, Bevin won on the blockvote. He was able to rely on this in comingyears. [1]

The RCG has listed the Imperialist adven-tures of Labour in government post WWIIin Greece, Malaysia, India, Vietnam, Pales-tine, Kenya, Jamaica, South Africa, Ireland,Korea and Germany. [2]

How can socialists hope to solve oureconomic problems in this counter-

revolutionary way again? Ken Loach hasdrifted a long way to the right since hissympathising days with the Socialist Labour

League by ignoring this very real politicalcontent of Labour in 1945 as many on theleft today ignore the content of the Imperi-alist-sponsored attacks on Libya and Syria.Revolutionaries are defeatists in all the wars

waged by our own Imperialist ruling class.We are revolutionary anti-Imperialists inter-nationalists or we are nothing!

Notes[1] IS Issue 62 Spring 1994 Nation and empire: La-bours foreign policy 1945-51, By Adrian Budd[2] http://www.rcgfrfi.easynet.co.uk/larkin_pubs/older/rrcb/rrcb-05.htm

From page 5


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Queensland Updated By Aggie McCallum - Australia

Queenslanders have been underCampbell Newmans conserva-tive Liberal-National Government forthirteen months now. The party tookpower in March 2012 and their victorygave them a staggering 78 parliamen-tary seats it was unprecedented inAustralian political history. Now that itis a year out from the election it is afair question to ask - what is the cur-rent political landscape in Queensland?

Aside from Premier Newmansimmediate massive public servicejob cuts, and withdrawing fundingfrom or not renewing funding toorganizations and shutting down

departments is there any sign on thehorizon of the voters expectationfor positive change? Well - the shortanswer is nonot yet. The Newmangovernment is still busy scurryingaround ferreting out and cuttingexcessive spending - or as their diehard supporters have been heard tosay somewhat churlishly that the govern-ment is cutting the fat.

The following is a snap shot of the yearand Ill let the events speak for themselves.

The initial goal of the government was toput Queensland back into surplus and regain

its AAA credit rating. In the midst of axingthousands of public service jobs, former Fed-eral Liberal Treasurer Peter Costello was ap-pointed to produce the Commission of Auditreport. Costellos report contained 155 rec-ommendations and its no surprise that itlargely recommends outsourcing to the pri-

vate sector. Queenslands top newspaperrevealed that education, health, housing, com-munity support, transport and energy are tobe sold off or contracted out. The report alsorecommends that Queensland let full privatesector competition into electricity generation,transmission and distribution.

This latest cost cutting drive has put thegovernment on a collision course with unionsand President of the Council of Unions MrJohn Battams has pledged a long fight to stopfurther asset sales. Mr Battams said unionpolls showed strong community oppositionto selling off the farm and he went on tosay that the unions will mount a long andeffective campaign.

Government confidently announced that amandate from the people will be obtainedprior to selling off other areas such as elec-tricity providers, Energex, C.C. Energy, Er-gon, Powerline and Stanwell and the Towns-

ville and Gladstone Ports.Queensland law reforms have the spotlight

on unions and plans are in place to preventQueensland Health from encouraging unionmembership among staff. This would beachieved through amendments to the Indus-trial Relations Act. Together Union Secretary

Alex Scott called it a smoke screen. This

attack is purely about the fact that publicsector workers are willing to stand up andfight for services they are so proud to deliver

and he continued, the governmentsannouncement is an attempt to muzzle To-gethers 13,000 members in QueenslandHealth in the fight against Public Servicesprivatization.

A spokesman for Queensland Unions alsobelieves that the governments reform is astep to silence unions in their opposition toprivatization. To add to this, new laws arecoming into place next month which willrequire union bosses to publicly disclose their

wages, gifts and entertainment and how theyspend union money. The Office of Fair Trad-ing will have the role of ensuring union infor-mation is released to the public. A separateaudit office will be set up to pore over unionbooks and the new law will also give mem-bers of a union the power to decide how themoney will be spent, including how muchmoney would be made as a donation to theALP (Australian Labor Party).

Over the last twenty to thirty years thelabor markets have freed up in Australia,accelerating during the Work Choices yearsunder John Howards Federal Government.

The gap between rich and poor has beensteadily widening with a reported eleven mil-

lion Australian families living below the pov-erty line. Many of these families fall into theworking-poor category. The ACTU(Australian Council of Trade Unions) is cam-paigning for an increase of 5% to the mini-mum wage which translates to $16.75 perhour in the pay of 1.5 million Australians. It isan increase of a mere 79 cents an hour yet ithas sent employers into a spin theyre call-ing for such extravagancies to be reigned induring weak economic times. Disgustingly theAustralian Chamber of Commerce and Indus-try (ACCI) submitted a counter claim - toincrease the minimum wage by 1%.

It has been pointed out in several articles thatAustralias minimum wage in the year 2000 was

50% of average weekly earnings today it isonly 43%. One article in Brisbanes conservativeCourier Mail reminded employers that they havedone nicely from wage restraint over the pastdecade and the author added an emotional toneto his article saying he wonders if it is worthstaying here when the hard work of humblehonest people is devalued and workers such aschildcare workers, cleaners and caf staff arerelegated to second class citizenship in thiscountry.

On the subject of wages it is interesting tonote that the first campaign to be launched bythe conservative rural Katters Australian Party

(KAP) is to call on the Queensland Govern-ment to pay $2.2 million in compensation toAboriginal and Torres Strait islander people fortheir unpaid work in the early 20th century. LesMuckan the partys health spokesman said, TheFirst Nation people, were lost. Were still strug-gling and its about time this Government wakesup to itself.

Katters Party has an appalling stand on gaymarriage and asylum seekers and it is bitter-sweet goodwill felt for them as they vow tofollow the unpaid wages issue till it is resolved.The party seems to be aware of the NewmanGovernments unfair priorities. KAPs state

leader Ray Hooper said, Weve got a (State)government that is going to pay rent on a parlia-mentary penthouse worth $650 million thatdoesnt have to be built yet they cant pay $2.2million thats owed. (The $650 million is thecontroversial William Street development).Their party claims to have much outback/ruralsupport and as I grew up in the outback and stillhave some personal contact with rural people Imust say this partys claim could be valid. It willbe interesting to see what Katters Party do withany power they gain in the future election.

The funding cuts show no signs of abatingand every paper one picks up some service is

going or someone is losing a job. Palm ShireCouncil Mayor Alf Lacey announced they are

Campbell Newman of Queensland (left). Thegap between rich and poor has been steadilywidening with a reported eleven million Austra-lian families living below the poverty line. Manyof these families fall into the working-poor cate-

gory. But Labors dismal record of attackingthe working class and poor has seen his recov-ery in the polls paving the way for Liberalleader Tony Abbots (left) with more slash andburn mass privatisations politics to oust La-bors Julia Gillard in the September election.


8/32


This meeting was called to consider theissue of the sacking of FRANK MOR-RIS as Senior Steward at the Cross Rail sitewhere there is evidence of 18 companiesblacklisted and all the CONSULTING AS-SOCIATIONS LIST OF BLACKLISTEDEMPLOYERS.

Sharon Graham from the UNITEs Or-ganising department presented a report onthe campaign by Unite to target the Black-listed listed in the Report. The report whichis a leverage report on CrossrailBFK. She

explained that a campaign would be startedto target Shareholders and contact all compa-nies involved as a Crossrail BFk.

The objectives of the Leverage campaignwould be:1) Reinstatement of all Unite Activistssacked from the EIS Contract

2) Tangible enabling agreement for ac-cess to build member led organisation onCrossrail.

3) Use Crossrail Leverage to assist theBlacklist Support group campaignthrough increased exposure of Blacklist

Companies and individuals, togetherwith the reemployment of Unite Activists.

In simple terms this means getting all Unitemembers sacked or prevented from gettingwork and getting on the site.

Peter Farrell, a UCATT member andmember of the Justice for Shrewsbury cam-paign asked what UCATT is doing, i.e. isthere any involvement from the UCATTLeadership. Steve Kellys response was It isnot for us to ask Steve Murphy UCATTGeneral Secretary what he is doing. KevinWilliamson said it was vital that membershipand union organisation was put back on the

sites like Crossrail-BFK. We must put all ourresources to ensure that Unite activists areback working on these sites.

Frank Morris speaking from the Platformsaid it is for the Unite Stewards to get theirconfidence back, if Blacklisters are on the sitewe have to get over this Hurdle. We have toget blacklisted activists back on the site.

John Sheridan a Unite EC Member saidthat we had to have a Leverage strategy thatworked. Steve Atcheson a Unite Activist anda Blacklisted worker who recently won acourt case over his own blacklisting said that

Blacklisting was an organised attack on theworking class and Labour movement, this is

an attack on the whole Labour movementand we have to send the project down. Otherspeakers said we need direct action to get ourmembers back on the site and what is theTUC doing about Blacklisting.

It was pointed out that this was differentfrom BESNA. Sharon Graham explainedthat Unite had organised 101 organisers onthis project alone and that from 15 th AprilDirect Action would be organised around theCrossrail-BFK project.

Peter Farrell said it was important to targetthese sites and Polish workers are employedon these sites mainly as Building Labourersand we have to recruit them into the battle.Irish workers who are killed on these sitesdont know what their rights are.

It is important to recognise that the twotier workforce is in action in Britain andGlobally and that Skilled Electricians, Plas-terers, pipe fitters and others need to unitewith Building labourers who are normally inUCATT or not unionised at all, the separa-tion between skilled workers and Labourershas to stop and there needs to be a joint

campaign involving both UCATT andUNITE. We ignore this problem at our peril.

Construction Rank and File meeting in Conway Hall

By Alan Hunter, 25/3/2013

set to lose thirty jobs due to funding cuts andthat sixteen other indigenous shire councils are

in the same boat.Queensland Family Support Package deliversfinancial support to families with disabled chil-dren. These families must now submit a requestfor departmental approval for every purchase.

The governments level of intent in its doggedcost cutting drive was poignantly highlightedrecently when a family was refused money topurchase a medically recommended specialisedmattress for their ten year old disabled child.Only after the media contacted the Disabilitiesdepartment was the money released for thesingle mattress.

The Aged is always a vulnerable group and

the State Chief Health Officer has finally admit-ted at a recent forum that the State Govern-ment will be exiting from Aged Care. This wasconfirmed by State Health Minister LawrenceSpringborg. The Blue Print for better healthcare in Queensland is available atwww.health.qld.gov.au/blueprint/default.aspand although it is a 48 page document aged careis mentioned only once. This one tiny mentionleads to 1800 state owned aged care beds in 20

residential facilities throughout Queenslandgoing to private providers and non-government

agencies. Families and supporters of the frailand elderly have protested and a petition with10,000 signatures has been delivered to theNewman Government.

Although job cuts continue in Queenslandone area is set to increase employee intake. TheState Government announced that in July theywill double officers patrolling public trains withfurther increases planned over the next twoyears. The stiff fines will not only be issued forfare evasion but also offences ranging fromeating on the train, feet on seats, through toalcohol.

Aside from political scandals (and there have

been a few) and haggling over juvenile crimeand troubled youth, there is now very seriousenvironmental concerns over the impact CSG(Coal Seam Gas) is having on Queensland riv-ers in rural areas. Farmers could be left with nolivelihood as a number of bores have absolutelyno water left in them and alarmingly no hope ofaccessing this water ever again. (ABC FourCorners 1.04.2013).

Awareness of environmental politics in

Queensland has increased as the State facedfires, floods even tornadoes this year. It is be-

coming clear that the cost to recover from theseongoing natural disasters could exceed the costof implementing technology to reduce emis-sions. Concerns that the short term profits ofthe massive mining industry in Queenslandcould lead to long term environmental damage

wont go away. Such implications have not beenlost on high profile activists in other parts of theworld and it is of no surprise that Greenpeacehas targeted Northern Queensland and is nowsailing for the diminishing Great Barrier Reefcalling for its protection and preservation.

The relationship between the Newman Gov-ernment and the people of Queensland has

decidedly cooledyet support remains and thesupport is strong enough, the polls tell us, toretain power if an election was held today. Nev-ertheless their power is being eroded by theirown policies and actions and the gradual loss ofsupport for the Newman Government is a fairthing. Voters have started to turn with the tideof events and many are already looking for newleadership in Queensland. I will keep youposted.

Queensland Updated
http://www.health.qld.gov.au/blueprint/default.asphttp://www.health.qld.gov.au/blueprint/default.asphttp://www.health.qld.gov.au/blueprint/default.asp


9/32


Jim Kelly, Andy Newman and Sean McGovern witch-hunt the Left in Unite By Gerry Downing

The Socialist Unity blog have posted a shockingly reac-tionary witch hunt in comments on an article by JimKelly attacking Jerry Hicks, the SWP and Chris Ford. [1]But the attack on Gerry Downing is by far the worst. SeanMcGovern denies Brianthedog is Jim Kelly but there reallyis no doubt that he is. He could try suing the Socialist Fightto protect his anonymity!Note: the names on top of some posts are quotes fromprevious posts. The poster is beneath each post.

Four Goals attacks Jim Kellys reactionary post

31.Unite is a general workers union, where many of ourmembers earn anything from around 25,000 to 60,000+for senior grades in some sectorsOK, so a small minority of members might earn over26,000 (and how many of them will be working manyhours of overtime or working very unsocial hours to getthis sort of money), but far more will be like me- Im a busdriver working for the UKs largest bus operator and I earnjust less than 18000. And when I talk to my workmatesabout the GS wage they are astounded and shocked- its justwrong and to argue that just because the job involves a lotof responsibility the pay should be enormous, is no differ-

ent to the argument used by bankers, company directors,etc.Posted byFour Goals16 March

Andy Newman follows up the witchhunt on JerryHicks, the SWP and Chris Ford by launching thefollowing vile witchhunt on Gerry Downing:61. Brianthedog: The rape scandal SWP and Chris Ford-Dont forget Gerry Downings support. Recently pursuedfor libel by UNITE official Wayne King (I find that namehard to believe too, what were his parent thinking?), andthen I understand recently sacked from his job on thebuses for verbally abusing a passenger travelling with amentally distressed child.It is the fucking A team

Posted byAndy Newman18 March65. Andy Newman: Dont forget Gerry Downings sup-port. Recently pursued for libel by UNITE official WayneKing (I find that name hard to believe too, what were hisparent thinking?), and then I understand recently sackedfrom his job on the buses for verbally abusing a passengertravelling with a mentally distressed child.It is the fucking A teamLibel? It is an anti-free speech law for the rich! Also, judgeand jury on Gerry Downing, kicking people when theyredown, says a lot about you. Instinctively side with the man-ager/privileged class, says a lot about your class loyalties.Posted byDarren Cahil67. #65 Calling for a trade unionist to be sacked whilstknowingly spreading all over the place nasty lies (HR at alogistics company unrelated to Downing even reprinted hislies and spread them around the workplace during a disputein an effort to undermine the members and Mr King) thatyou know will severely damage their reputation, career andcause grievous upset to them, their family and their union isnot the preserve of the rich its the preserve of a cowardand someone who thinks they are accountable to no one.Its just the characteristics you do not need for a trade un-ion but no wonder Downing is Hicks right hand man.Mr Cahill can stay in the cesspit and try and defend thisfilth but we would rather not.Posted byBrianthedog68. Darren Cahil: Libel? It is an anti-free speech law forthe rich! Also, judge and jury on Gerry Downing, kickingpeople when theyre down, says a lot about you. Instinc-tively side with the manager/privileged class, says a lotabout your class loyalties.What about siding with people with mental illness, or doesa working class hero like Downing trump a disabled personfrom our class?69.#68 Or calling for a decent working class tradeunionist to be sacked on the basis of a complete pack of
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liesits f**king vile.I know where my class loyalties are its Mr Cahil who is

confused here but he can carry on supporting and defend-ing the deceitful liar that is Downing.Posted byBrianthedog

Having condemned Gerry Downing out of handon Kellys urgings Andy is now forced to examinethe evidence and he half backtracks89. Andy Newman: I dont think we lack evidence, giventhat Gerry Downing has effectively conceded the facts ofthe case in his own press statement.Do you have a link?Posted byVanyaGerry Downings press release on his sacking is

posted:[2]105.Manzil: doesnt appear to show this Downing blokehaving conceded that hed been abusive. He quotes himselfas confronting a passenger.It is a statement of undisputed fact that he was dismissedfor being abusive to a passenger; and Mr Downing acceptsthat he confronted that same passenger, and discusseshow stressed he was.Substantially therefore, the facts of the case were not reallyin dispute; had I been representing Mr Downing, then Iwould have argued that the situation was outside the nor-mal parameters that a driver is expected to deal with, andthat the particular stressful circumstances that he had in hisprivate life should be taken in mitigation; I would arguethat it was an unfortunate coincidence of exceptional cir-cumstances that are unlikely to reoccur, and that are notrelevant to the drivers ability to do the job in more normalor reasonably foreseeable circumstances. As such dismissalwould be disproportionate.For what it is worth, I think from Mr Downings accountthe decision to sack him was harsh, given the stressfulnessof the situation recounted, and his own personal circum-stances at the time. However, it would also seem to bewithin the reasonable range of responses in such a situationthat an employer might lawfully take.There is always the problem for militant shop stewards thatif the give management a pretext to sack them, then sackedthey will be.Posted byAndy Newman

Sean McGovern backtrack fully also having seenJim Kelly is a liar:110. #108 If, as I suspect it is, concerns about child protec-tion are an issue in this case, it is not wise for comrades tosuggest management were right to discipline GD. Childprotection is the responsibility of everyone in relation to

their job rolesnot just the professionals. Are bus driversgiven any training? Are there any company policies which

cover potential child protection situations?I guess we will have to wait for the evidence brought out at

the appeal.Posted byLurker113. #100Thanks for putting this piece up. Gerry Downings actionsand his concern for the childs wellbeing are laudable whether or not he read the situation correctly he attemptedto do the right thing. Travelling on public transport withchildren can be a fraught experience in itself. I suspect trav-elling with a child who has, possibly, severe mental healthissues on a London bus must be difficult for all concerned.Actions of carers of disabled people can be misconstrued.What we see as heavy handedness could indeed be the best

way of dealing with a situation. Then again, it could be thatthe carer is using too much force.These are difficult judgements to make at the best of times,and I would veer away from making them at the distance ofspace and time that the Internet offers.Gerry isnt Mr Popular. But then, in the 15 years or so Iveknown him, he has never put himself forward to win anypopularity competitions. But, if were going to continuehaving a pop at him, lets leave the situation of his dismissalout of the scenario.Posted byBombasticSpastic

The reactionary Jim Kelly is unrepentant even af-

ter his lying scam is exposed:124. # 122I agree with you Andy that this is what the known liarDowning is insinuating and he should substantiate it orwithdraw his statement. Unfortunately this kind of behav-iour is a hallmark of Downing.When you peel away the thin veneer of Trotskyism, AntiGood Friday armchair Irish Republicanism and faux tradeunion militant all you are left with is a very nasty and pa-thetic man.Well to make sure this is not more empty rhetoric fromMr Hicks he has two choices about his right hand manfrom his grassroots left group. Use his influence to immedi-ately get Mr Downing to make a full and unequivocal apol-ogy to Mr King and also substantiate or withdraw his pressrelease that his dismissal is politically motivated or publiclyput out a statement distancing himself from Gerry Down-ing and call on him to resign as secretary of his group.Jerry Hicks and Gerry Downing we are still waiting andyour silence is deafing (sic!).Posted byBrianthedog21 March

Notes[1] http://socialistunity.com/unite-gs-election-jerry-

hicks-wrong-era-wrong-politics/#comments[2] http://www.indymedia.ie/article/103413

Jim Kelly, Andy Newman and Sean McGovern witchhunt
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11/32


The British section of the Interna-tional Marxist Tendency is So-cialist Appeal, an opportunist centristorganisation deeply embedded in theLabour Party. In issue 215 of their paperSocialist Appeal they report on a recentspeech Len McCluskey, General Secre-tary of Unite, gave at the London Schoolof Economics. They state LenMcCluskey has moved to the left in re-sponse to pressures from below [1].Nothing could be further from the truth;McCluskey is a bureaucrat who at timessounds left in response to pressure from

his membership. He has no intention ofcarrying out the policies he advocates atthese gatherings. Bureaucrats are forced tofeign left on occasions. They further as-sert, his main demand on a Labour Gov-ernment would be to re-establish free-doms for Trade Unions to organise decide and take ac-tion [2].

Miliband and the leadership of the present Labour partyare no different from the Blair and Brown governments.Miliband and Balls are determined to carry out the diktatsof capitalism. Most Labour councils are cutting services,

and making large sections of workers redundant. Not oneLabour council has set an illegal budget or sought to de-fend council tenants, who are being evicted and refusedhousing benefits. McCluskey is part of this charade.

In passing Socialist Appeal makes reference to the Gen-eral Secretary Election in Unite, but fails to mention thereal reason why they are supporting McCluskey. There is nomention of Jerry Hicks, the Rank and File candidate, who isstanding against McCluskey in this election. The differencein the candidates policies are there for everyone to see. Rank and File fighter Jerry Hicks who calls for All officialsto be elected not appointed, a fight to repeal the anti-union

laws in the UK and the EU and left bureaucrat LenMcCluskey who plays at revolution whilst endorsing theausterity programme of the bankers friends Balls and Mili-band and earned 122, 435 last year. [3]

Socialist Appeal, which has pretentions to be a Trotskyistorganisation, covers up for the role of bureaucratic non-elected apparatus in Unite. Socialist Appeal mentionsCommunity Membership [4]. I have answered this sub-ject in my reply to the United Left in SF 12. Communitymembership is a device by McCluskey and the leadership todupe Unite members who are unemployed students andothers who are not in work that they have a real say in thedecisions that Unite makes. That is false community mem-bership is a second tier of membership in Unite with no

rights under the rules and are treated assecond class members.

Further on in the article Socialist Ap-peal makes reference to McCluskeyscall for a general strike. This is nothingmore than posturing by McCluskeywhich most of the left bureaucrats sup-port. It is hot air and is mainly done togive the impression to his membersthat he is going to lead a general strikemovement. In fact the opposite is true.Socialist Appeal makes comments onthe recent construction workers dis-pute the wave of militant strike action

across the private sector including theBESNA Sparks dispute of constructionworkers [5]. This dispute was led byrank and file construction workers in-cluding Steve Kelly and Jerry Hicks. Itdefeated the original aims of BESNA

and the main Construction Employers who were deter-mined to attack the conditions and pay in the constructionindustry. McCluskey and his officials only became inter-ested when they felt the dispute was not under their con-trol.

Socialist Appeal attempts to give McCluskey some credi-bility In this respect, McCluskey is far ahead of his peersand has de-facto became the leader of the left in the recentperiod [6]. McCluskey together with Bob Crowe of theRMT, Mark Serwotka of PCS and Matt Wrack of the FBUare bureaucrats and they are not leading anything. Blacklist-ing, sackings and the anti-union laws remain. McCluskeystalk is all hot air, because in practice he intends to do noth-ing. Thatchers and Blairs use of the anti-union laws meansthat all of these Trade Union leaders are terrified of seques-tration and other financial penalties and do not have thestomach or the will to conduct a serious struggle against thebosses and capitalism.

These centrists then state Len McCluskeys speech pre-sented a militant stand against austerity and the coalitiongovernment. This support for McCluskey and the bureauc-racy is against everything that Trotsky stood for and foughtfor The bureaucracy of the Trade Unions is the backbone of BritishImperialism, The trade Union bureaucracy is the chief instrument foryour oppression by the bourgeois state (our emphasis) [7].

Socialist Appeal can trace its origins back to Trotskyismafter the Second World War. Ted Grant, one of their erst-while leaders, was a member of the Revolutionary Commu-nist Party. In the 1950s and 60s they performed a role forthe right wing in the Labour Party. When principled Trot-skyists were being expelled they refused to support them.When their members who were now part of the Militant

Why SA, SP and the AWL supports McCluskey in the Unite

General Secretary election By Laurence Humphries

Ted Grant: political father of boththe SP and SA: They are still char-acterised by the same capitulationto the TU bureaucracy so theyboth support McCluskey againstthe R+F candidate Jerry Hicks.


12/32


Tendency were witch-hunted andexpelled from the Labour Party by

Kinnock and Blair the Militant splitinto two sections over their attitude tothe Labour Party. The majority, led byPeter Taffe, became the Socialist Partyand abandoned work in the Labourparty. Ted Grant, Alan Woods andRob Sewell formed Socialist Appealand remained in the Labour Partywhere they faithfully defend and sup-port the bureaucratic apparatus in thetrade unions and the Labour Party.They cannot be called Trotskyist; they

are a centrist and opportunist organi-sation who have decided to supportMcCluskey in his election campaign.Both the Socialist Party and the Alli-ance for Workers Liberty have adoptedthe same positions as Socialist Appealand have supported McCluskey in theUnite General Secretary Election.

The Socialist Party insists in its state-ment on its website of the 11th Januarythat it will be giving critical support to McCluskey what-ever that means and then proceeds to argue that supporting

a bureaucrat against a rank and file candidate is the correctpolicy to follow and will aid the left, as I have argued inSF 12 in reply to The United Left. McCluskeys politicsare based on rhetoric and speech making, nowhere is thereevidence that he has encouraged his Unite members to op-pose the anti-union laws.

Instead it has been left to rank and file shop stewardsamongst electricians, Honda workers, British Airway work-ers to fight in the teeth of immense opposition from thebureaucracy. Lenin and Trotsky were right when they re-ferred to the role of bureaucrats as getting the crumbsfrom the masters table. Their role is based on class com-

promise. Betrayals are the order of the day. Socialist Fightis very clear on how we see the role of the trade union bu-reaucracy, left or right: Because we see the trade unionbureaucracy and their allies in the Labour party leadershipas the most fundamental obstacle to the struggle for powerof the working class. The Socialist party, Socialist Appealand the Alliance for Workers Liberty make great play abouttheir support for rank and file workers, but in practice endup supporting the bureaucracy, the main arm of the capital-ist state in the workers movement. Their role which is topolice and control the trade unions for capitalism remainsvery much the same as it was when Ernest Bevin was Gen-

eral Secretary of the TGWU.The Socialist Party has a trade union arm or rank and file

organisation called the National ShopStewards Network. It is heavily influ-

enced by the RMT and its General Sec-retary Bob Crowe. It will admit to youthat its role is to accommodate a sec-tion of the so called left wing tradeunion leaderships in the RMT, thePCS, the POA and the FBU. It is not arank and file body but the voice ofthese left wing trade union leaders.When push comes to shove, these socalled lefts line up together with rightwing trade union leaders as was shownin the recent Pensions debacle when

the leaderships of Unite, Unison andPCS failed to give any proper leader-ship and capitulated. There is much talkof a General Strike but nothing in prac-tice.In fact McCluskey is supporting WayneKing a Regional Industrial Organiser inUnite in a libel action against ComradeGerry Downing a Unite Bus driver andChair of Grass Roots Left, a rank and

file organisation. McCluskey has instructed ThompsonsUnites solicitors to use the capitalist courts to proceed

against Cde Downing. McCluskey has given notice that anyworker who criticises any of his officials will find them-selves in court, a very dangerous precedent to concede to atrade union leader.

As Gerry Downing has commented recently, Obviouslyit is not just my democratic rights that are under threat butthose of every TU militant who fights against the bossesand their defenders the TU Bureaucracy The task now isfor a concerted campaign to expose this so called leftismin the bureaucracy. I will leave the final word to Trotsky.The irreconcilable and relentless struggle against the leftlackeys of Imperialism, both in the Trade Unions and in theLabour Party, is becoming especially urgent now [8].

Notes[1] Socialist Appeal No. 215 p. 14[2] Ibid. p/ 14[3] Socialist Fight No. 12 p. 1[4] Socialist Appeal No 215 p. 14[5] Ibid. p. 14[6] Ibid. p. 14[7] Trotsky, The Errors in Principle of Syndicalism, http://

www. marxi st s.org/arch ive/ trot sky/1931/unions/4-errors.htm

Sean Matgamna, guru of the AWL. aself-proclaimed Zionist (real nameJohn OMahoney from Co. Clare!). Hiscapitulation to Imperialism outpacedMilitant and Ted Grant in the early80sthe common purpose of thegrovel in both organisations is to ap-pease the TU bureaucracy to get someLebensraumfor the cadres.

Socialist Appeal, the Socialist Party and the AWL


13/32


A t last years TUC Congress in Brighton a motion wasmoved and passed by the Prison Officers associationand supported by others to examine the practicality of ageneral strike. This policy was promoted and supported bythe National Shop Stewards Movement, the industrial armof the Socialist Party. They favour a 24 Public Sector gen-eral strike. This motion is now to be discussed at the Gen-eral Council of the TUC on April 25 th, at which the NSSNintends to lobby.

The TUC is inviting two Labour lawyers John Hendy andKeith Ewing to bring proposals on how Legal generalstrike can be organised. Both the NSSN and the SPW arecentrist organisations who have full confidence in the abili-ties of certain Left wing trade Union Leaders like Len

McCluskey of Unite, Bob Crowe of the RMT, Mark Ser-wotka of PCS and Matt Wrack of the FBU.In fact this is not a serious strike movement at all. In

recent times there has been many strike actions and largedemonstrations organised by the TUC, UNITE, PCS, NUTand others over pensions, but these protests have notamounted to anything and all of them have being aban-doned except for the recent PCS strike which was stagedjust by one Union.

There is no sense in which a one day 24 general strikelegal or otherwise can be organised under these conditions.

We as Trotskyist must be very clear on the nature of a gen-

eral strike. In the Transitional Programme Trotsky statesthe whole political situation as a whole is chiefly character-ised by a Historical crisis of the leadership of the proletar-iat [1]. The leadership of the working class in Britain is ledby a bureaucratic and reformist leadership who have a his-tory of class betrayal. The purpose of a general strike is al-lied with the struggle for the conquest of power and theoverthrow of capitalism. The centrists in the SPEW areonly interested in left reformism and adaption to the leftbureaucracy. McCluskey one of the so called lefts and amember of the Labour party is only interested in the returnof a capitalist labour government.

If you look at the history of previous general Strikesstarting from 1926 you will see that if they are led by bu-reaucrats they are doomed and ultimately betrayed. Therecent 1984-5 Miners strike like the 1926 general strike ledto the defeat of the miners. In 1974 when the NUM suc-cessfully defeated the Heath government together with thedockers and other workers the result was the return of an-other Bourgeois Labour Government.

Trotsky in his writings on Britain analysed that a generalstrike was not a mere protest as practised by the NSSN. Ageneral strike if it not be a mere protest signifies an extremeupheaval of society and in any event places at stake the fate

of the political regime and the reputation of the strength ofthe revolutionary regime [2].

This is not the situation because this proposal for a gen-eral strike is just another half-hearted protest. The issue

here is that we are dealing with centrism and reformism.Trotsky understood both these tendencies in the workingclass very well: The main feature of Socialist centrism is itsreticence, its mediocre halfand-half nature. It keeps goingas long as it does not draw the ultimate conclusions [3].Further on Trotsky draws the analogy between a generalstrike and armed struggle A general strike is the sharpestform of class struggle; it is only one step from the generalstrike to the armed insurrection [4].

Trotsky perfectly analyses the role of trade union leadersand centrists whose role is to belittle, confuse and ulti-mately betray a general strike and ensure it leads to defeat.

An implacable struggle against every act of treachery orattempted treachery and the ruthless exposure of the re-formists are the main elements in the work of the genuinerevolutionary participants in the general strike [5]. Thequestion of state power and its acquisition is posed during ageneral strike. The fundamental importance of the generalstrike is that it poses the question of power pointblank [6].

Rob Williams chair of the NSSN and a member of theSPEW answers a readers letter in the March issue of Social-ism Today about the general strike tactic. But the move-ment was stalled and defeated by the sell-out of the TUC

and Union Leaders like those in UNISON and theGMB [7]. This is not correct; The SPEW chooses not tosingle out the lefts who were also responsible for the sell-out and betrayal. Unite was an important factor with theGMB and UNISON in the pension struggle, but the SPEWdoes not criticise McCluskey or the others because theSPEW are currying favour and are allied with these lefts.Further on comrade Williams directly puts the blame of thecrisis onto the working class Undoubtedly in the publicsector where the cuts have bitten deeply confidence hasbeen hit and consciousness has retreated from that headydays of N30 [8]. He further lets the Lefts off the hook by

stating The relative lull in the movement to resist austerityinevitably gives rise to a review of our approach [9].This perspective seeks to blame the working class for the

crisis and not their leaders. This is a question of leadershipand not whether the working class will fight. The workingclass is a revolutionary class and in this period it will testthis leadership out, if it has no confidence in one day pro-tests it will wait and see. That does mean that workers willnot fight it means that that they do not trust a rotten cor-rupt and reformist leadership which has a history of defeatsbehind it. Most of these protests have only been organisedto show that the TUC and bureaucratic leaders are fighting.

Both the right and left trade union leaders will betray andthe SPEW has attached itself to the coattails of this left

The Socialist Party and the General Strike By Alan Hunter


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List of Irish Repub-lican Prisoners

(Please help us up-date the list)

PORTLAOISE PRISONPortlaoise, County Laois,Ireland

E-3Bernard Dempsy LIFE DublinAidan Hulme 20 Years Co.LouthRobert Hulme 20 Years Co.LouthJim McCormick 22 Years Co.LouthThomas Morris 6 Years Dub-linFintan Paul OFarrell 30 YearsCo. LouthMatthew Perry n/a n/a

Barry Petticre 5 Years Belfast

Declan John Rafferty 30 YearsCo. LouthE-4

Liam Grogan 22 Years KildareDarren Mulholland 22 YearsDundalkE-2Anthony Deery n/a DerryCormac Fitzpatrick 9 YearsMonaghanTony Hyland 25 Years DublinTom Hanlon n/a CorkDavid Jordan n/a Tyrone

Tarlach MacDhmhnaill n/aCo. Louth

Michael McDonald 30 YearsFermanaghDermott McFadden n/a DerryMichael McKevitt 20 YearsDundalkDarren Mooney n/a DublinConan Murphy n/a LouthMaghaberry Gaol, Roe 3,Old Road, Ballinderry Up-perLisburn, IrelandBT28 2PT1. Brian Shivers - Magherafelt

2. Harry Fitzsimons - Belfast3. Sean McConville - Lurgan

4. Damien McKenna - Lurgan5. Gary Toman - Lurgan6. Brendan McConville - Lur-

gan7. John Paul Wootton - Craiga-von8. Kevin Barry Nolan - CoCavan9. Gerard McManus - Letterk-enny10. Willie Wong - Armagh12. Martin Corey - Lurgan13. Joe Barr - Strabane14. Jordan Whitehouse - Derry15. Martin McCloone - Derry16. Mark McGuigan - Omagh

17. Phil O Donnell - Derry18. Francis Carleton - Belfast19. Packy Carter - Co Tyrone20. Michael Johnston - NorthBelfast21. Dominic Dynes - Cas-tleblayney,22. Brian Cavlan - Dungannon23. Brian Sheridan - Blackwa-ter Town24. Raymond Whitehouse -Derry25. Raymond Wootton - Bel-fast26. Thomas Maguire - Belfast

27. Mark Kerr - Derry28. Tony Taylor - Derry29. Kevin Vernon - Belfast

30. Stephen Murney - NewrySpecial Supervision Unit -IsolationLiam CampbellGavin CoyleHydebank WoodHospital RoadBELFASTBT8 8NAMarian Price-McGlincheyMAGILLIGAN PRISONPoint RoadLimvady Co. DerryBT 49 OLRThe GroveCastlerea GaolCastlerea, Co Roscommon,Ireland(IRSP) Eddie McGarrigleJohnny McCrossanPravieniskiu PataisiosNamai-Atviroji Kolonija2-Oji ValdybaPravieniskiu 11kKaisiadoriu RLt-56552, LithuaniaMichael Campbell

bureaucracy, hoping that they will fight and defeat thisCon-Dem Coalition. They are very much mistaken, as Ihave shown class betrayal, cowardice and class compro-mise are the hallmarks of this bureaucracy.

Genuine Trotskyists must work to win sections ofworkers to understand the true significance of generalstrike and work to create and fight for an alternative revo-lutionary leadership in the working class.

The bureaucracy right and left must be challenged andexposed. We must show those elements in the NSSN

who want to seriously fight the bureaucracy and help tooverthrow capitalism in a struggle for state power thatthey need to adopt a revolutionary perspective. SocialistFight and the Liaison Committee for the Fourth Interna-tional are fighting for this perspective.

Notes1) Leon Trotsky: the Transitional Programme and the Tasks ofthe Fourth International2) Leon Trotsky: Writings on Britainvol. 2 p. 623) Ibid. p. 1124) Ibid. p. 144

5) Ibid. p. 1466) Ibid. p. 1467) Socialism Today No, 166 March 2013 letters p.318) Ibid. p. 329) Ibid. p. 32.

1926 General Strike: Trotsky: A general strike if it not bea mere protest signifies an extreme upheaval of society

and in any event places at stake the fate of the politicalregime and the reputation of the strength of the revolu-

The SP and the General Strike


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Last year Martins brother died suddenly. Martin looked forcompassionate parole to attend the removal and burial. His re-quest was pushed from the prison governor to the courts and

back. Eventually Martin was allowed out but only for 3 hours andonly as long as he was escorted be 2 members of Provisional SinnFin...

Marion Price is another internee, her continued detention de-fies all logic and natural justice. This seriously ill woman poses nophysical threat to the British state but they insist on keeping herinterned. The so-called British justice system have gone as far asto keep her handcuffed to a hospital bed with both male andfemale screws constantly beside her 24 hours a day, even duringexaminations. This past week a prominent priest from the U.S.visited her and here is a quote from his report

My heart was broken and my soul outraged by how this heroicIrishwoman has been treated. This seriously ill, lovely, soft-

spoken woman should not be in prison. Her persecutionyes,persecutionmakes a mockery of the Irish peace-process, ques-tions the whole judicial system, and raises doubt as to whetherthere has, indeed, been a new beginning to policing in North-ern Ireland

There are of course other internees; some interned by remandon trumped-up charge, Liam Campbell, who only last week thecourts refused to extradite to Lithuania because he would be heldin inhuman and degrading conditions is still in jail despite havingno charges preferred against him in the 6 counties is another

whos plight needs attention.Next I will speak about the Republican POWs. Political Status

was attained by all republican POWs after the 1981 Hunger

Strike. The deaths of 10 brave men to attain that status is wellknown to all here I am sure. Many others, men and women, hadtheir health ruined and lives shortened as a result of this particu-lar phase of the struggle. Sadly this hard won victory was sold outby P.S.F. (Provisional Sinn Fein) when their last prisoner wasreleased after the Good Friday Agreement We now have Re-publican Prisoners struggling for the very same recognition; thatis, to be recognition as political prisoners. They have four simpledemands;1/ an end to the brutal and degrading strip searching. 2/ freeassociation. 3/ an end to controlled movement. 4/ a right to edu-cation.In August 2010 an agreement was reached between the POWsand the NIO brokered be independent facilitators. Its fundamen-tal Principles were as follows;-1. Arrangements are predicated on mutual respect;2. Prisoner and staff safety must not be put at risk;3. Arrangements should comply with human rights and equalityrequirements;4. Revised arrangements and procedures should be achievableand sustainable;5. Staff should be able to carry out their work professionally, freefrom harm, intimidation or threat;6. The security of the establishment should not be diluted; and7. The arrangements must strengthen public confidence in NIPS

The agreement set out in full, the steps to be taken by both thePOWs and the prison staff so as to resolve the deterioration in

prison conditions and the health of the POWs. Sadly but pre-dictably once the POWs came off their protest the screws re-

neged on allaspects of theirside of the

agreement andthe POWs wereleft with no al-ternative but toreturn to thedirty protest. Upto November2012 the POWswere still onprotest. Theywere living inmaggot infested cells with no washing facilities, their own excre-ment covering walls/doors and floors.

They were locked up for 23 hours a day and only allowed outone at a time. During their one hour out of the cell they had totry; shower, make phone calls, buy something from the tuck shopand perform and other tasks necessary. They were beaten up andstrip searched on the way to and from court appearances; Theconstant strip searching is brutal in the extreme and is done as aform of torture, the POWs have had no human contact otherthan the screws and particularly while during court cases. In No-

vember 2012 the POWs took the lead and suspended their pro-test when it looked like a body scanner was to be installed in theprison. This type of scanner has been proven to work in airports/prisons and various other secure areas all over the world). Onceagain the NIPS back tracked, the screws have said that the scan-

ners supplied allowed certain items through unnoticed. It has tobe pointed out though that the scanners supplied were tested inother prisons and found to work perfectly well In a case simi-lar to that of Martin Corey, a POW whose father died suddenlywas refused bail altogether, this to spite the fact that republicanPOWs have consistently returned from compassionate leave.This was just another vindictive act on behalf of the prison...

Finally to the international struggle against imperialism andsolidarity;- Because there the majority of so-called independentmedia are in fact aligned to different political parties, it is impor-tant the those involved in various struggles, whether for inde-pendence or against imperialism to co-operate in highlighting justcauses. Governments across the globe are trying to stifle the in-dependent voice of the oppressed. The likes of the Irish, Basqueand Palestinian struggle are well known but it is getting harder forus to get the word out there that oppression continues end injus-tice is an everyday fact of life. The case of Mohammed Hamid isknown to us in Sinn Fin Poblachtach, in 2011 the CPS at-tempted to use his case as a precedent against one members whowas interviewed by Channel 4. The fact that people going outpaint-balling can be used to infer guilt of terrorist training is veryworrying. This in stark contrast to a statement made in Dec 2011where Jeremy Clarkson said he would have Public Service work-ers shot for striking. Comrades we need to build a strong anti-imperialist movement where the plight of ordinary men andwomen are put ahead of the rich and powerful. From here todaywe should agree to highlight each others ongoing struggle; as longas this does not impinge on our own principles.

IRPSG/Brent LRC meeting

RSF Easter Monday 2013, Paddington Ceme-tery, Willesden Lane, Kilburn NW6, London.


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Mohammed Hamids daughter Yasmin Cass was one ofthe speakers at IRPSG/Brent LRC meeting on 28thFebruary 28 at Conway Hall.

He is one of the many victims of Britain s war on terrorlanguishing in prison. He was arrested, along with fourteenother men, in the wake of the 2005 London bombings andcharged with providing terrorist training. On 26th February2008 Hamid was found guilty of providing terrorist trainingand soliciting murder and sentenced to an indeterminatesentence for public protection with a tariff (minimum term)

of seven years, after which he will only be released if the Pa-role Board declares he is sufficiently low risk to be freed. The

trial was based on the same principle that now has StephenMurney in jailboth have never committed any crime and arenot charged with committing a crime it was all based aspeculation on what his listeners took from what he said.

These two are in essence charged withpolitical sympathy for theAIMS of those who have adopted methods of individual terrorism. Thatis they, like us, are in political sympathy with all those who areanti-Imperialist, including those who adopt these methods tofight imperialism with which we may strongly disagree butnevertheless we are all anti-Imperialist as so we must defendeveryones civil rights in order to maintain our own rights tofight Imperialism with our own methods of mass revolution-

Why We Must Fight to Free Mohammed Hamid By Tony Fox

Message from Martin g Meehan, Republican Networkfor Unity:

Firstly though, Id like to briefly outline who RNU are;We were established in 2007, we are a revolutionary republi-can organisation, committed to building a capable revolution-ary alternative to the failed politics of constitutional national-ism and with a view to securing National Liberation & Social-ism for Ireland. We hope to carry out this task in the spirit ofInternational solidarity with other like-minded struggles, rec-ognising that true freedom cannot exist in one country alone.The Republican Network for Unity are committed to sevencore principles, which I will outline below.....RNU believe in the right of Ireland to National Self-Determination is absolute, as recognised by the United Na-tions General Assembly Resolution 1514. We believe in the

struggle for National Liberation, Territorial, Social and Eco-nomic Freedom are elements of equal importance. Therefore,the National & Class Struggles are intertwined and insepara-ble. Our Struggle is also international. We advocate acting insolidarity with other Anti-Imperialist and Socialist CampaignsWorld-wide.It is the duty of the Irish Socialist Republic to provide Social,Solidarity, Co-Operation and Care, from the cradle to thegrave. We must participate in the everyday struggles of theWorking-Class regardless of ethnic, cultural, sexual or religiousdifferences. Fundamental to RNUs struggle is the liberationof the Working-Class by the Working-Class and the key to

that process is self-empowerment through struggle.RNUs POW Department is called Cogs, an Irish wordwhich means conscience. Our Network view Political Prison-ers held in Maghaberry and Portlaoise Gaols as our con-science. We help support those prisoners in every way we can,by highlighting the injustices they suffer. Cogs played a cen-tral role in negotiations which led to the 2010 Agreement thatthe British destroyed and left POWs with no choice but toengage in an 18 month-long Dirty-Protest. Throughout thisperiod, Cogs continued to campaign on behalf of PoliticalPrisoners with Marches, Pickets and Direct-Action against the

so-called Justice Minister in the North. The oppressive PrisonRegime includes forced strip-searching, beatings, sectarianintimidation and harassment. Regardless of whatever regime

Irish political prisoners are held in Cogs will continue to sup-port them and their families on the outside and we are proudto do so!

RNU and Cogs demand the immediate release of InternedPrisoners, Marian Price and Martin Corey both of who havealready served lengthy terms of imprisonment at the behest ofthe British Government. We also call for an end to Intern-ment by Remand, where scores of Republican Prisoners areheld for over three years, continuously refused Bail, beforeappearing at a Diplock Trial. These Trials are still without Ju-ries, are named after the Law Lord Diplock who introducedthem in 1973. Theses draconian and unjust Trials must also

end as they abuse the most basic of Human Rights.Finally, RNU have asked me to express our solidarity withMohamed Hamid, his Daughter Cass is a shining example toall Anti-Imperialist Activists fighting for justice. We also sendcomradely greetings to Counihan-Sanchez, Tamil, Palestinianand Basque POWs. If our group can help your Campaigns inanyway, please let us know and well do our best..After all, abroader-based International response to Imperialist abusesaround the world will be much more effective.

Martin g Meehan: Message of support.

IRPSG/Brent LRC meeting


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ary mobilisation.The Birmingham 6 were all Republicans (unlike the Guild-

ford 4) and it was on the basis of their politics they werewrongly convicted on what was never a miscarriage of justicebut as political hostages to frighten the rest of the Irish com-munity their innocence was clear to all Irish republicansympathisers and the Irish community in general jailinginnocent people on a political campaign whipped up by thepro-Imperialist mass media had the intended effect of terror-ising and making illegal political support for a united Irelandand getting Britain out of the occupied six north-easterncounties. The big demonstrations in supports of the strugglein Ireland stopped immediately after the 1974 bombings inEngland.

The case of the Guildford 4 was in some ways worse

both groups spend 16 years in jail for crimes of which theywere wholly innocentbut the Birmingham 6 were guilty ofRepublicanism the Gu

socialist fight no 13 condems decimate the welfare state

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