Red Letters

Red Letters

For peace and socialism

Newcastle & Gateshead Communist Party Newsletter, 2012 No 1

AFTER THE OLYMPIC TORCH … WHAT NOW?

T

he arrival of the Olympic torch in Tyneside was certainly a spectacle. Despite downpours, tens of thousands of people lined the streets of Newcastle to cheer the torch on its way.

This was a celebration of what sport should be about – accessible and open to all.

The tragedy is, that is precisely what the London Olympics are not about Modern sport isn’t simply a contest between teams or individuals. It is also a space that big business is seeking to control and exploit to its own end.

OK, so you may be able to watch Olympic football at St James’s Park – or is it the Sports Direct Arena? – at ticket prices not very different from Newcastle United’s, but the fact remains that: prices for all Olympic events escalate rapidly from the basic £20 minimum; enormous quantities of tickets have gone to corporate sponsors; and sportswear manufacturers like Adidas and Nike are likely to make a killing from the free advertising, despite the pitiful wages paid to their workers in poor countries like Bangladesh and Indonesia.

Does this matter to us? Yes, because the London Olympics are already costing £11bn of public money, and are likely to go over budget, while we are being told by the Con-Dem government that we can’t afford the public services that people need.

On a local level, the same applies to the iconic Olympic rings decorating the Tyne Bridge.

The rings are very impressive, but

installing them has cost around £100,000, albeit from the Games organisation, but still public money nonetheless.

In fact, despite their impressive location, it is a travesty to put the rings on the Tyne Bridge since the bridge celebrates Tyneside’s engineering heritage, rapidly becoming a thing of the past.

BAE Closure Just a fortnight before the arrival of the torch in Newcastle, BAE announced the forthcoming closure of the former Vickers plant on Scotswood Road, and redundancies at its Washington site, with altogether 430 jobs to go.

Communists have long opposed the sort of weapons manufacture for which the Vickers/BAE plant was well known, since such weapons either fuel tension in the world or are used to enable British imperialism to intervene militarily where economic ‘interests’ are at stake – eg in the Middle East, where oil companies like Shell and BP can rake in big profits.

However, this country can ill afford to lose not only the jobs but the skills of the BAE workforce as our manufacturing base is already

sharply erroded.

The Tory government of Margaret Thatcher took the view that manufacturing should be allowed to go to the wall, in order that trade union organisation should be destroyed, and Tory or Labour governments since then saw financial services as the solution, not the problem it became.

BAE is a profitable company and it should be compelled to keep the Scotswood Road site open, diversifying away from armaments into areas such as renewable energy. If they refuse to do that they should be nationalised.

This is one of the policies of the People’s Charter for Change, (www.thepeoplescharter.org) supported by many trade unions as well as by the Communist Party. The Charter’s demands are: A fairer economy for a fairer Britain More and better jobs Decent homes for all Protect and improve our public services – no cuts Fairness and justice Build a secure and sustainable future for all.

Printed and published by CPB Newcastle & Gateshead Branch, c/o 13 Shoreham Court, Newcastle NE3 2XG

North East Unemployment Still Growing The latest unemployment figures demonstrate the complete failure of the government’s economic strategy. Between February and April the number out of work nationally for more than 2 years rose by 29,000 to 434,000. In the North East, 8,000 more people joined the dole queues, taking the unemployment rate to 11.3%.

Austerity isn’t working but it was never intended to. The government’s strategy is to protect the interests of the bankers and super-rich and to make working people pay for the financial crisis. The plans for ‘regional’ public sector pay need to be seen in this light.

NHS under Threat Recent reports indicate that nearly 1,400 National Health Service staff in the North East face possible redundancy as a result of the government’s socalled ‘health care reforms’.

These staff work for NHS Primary Care Trusts, which will disappear from April 1 next year, to be replaced by GP-led commissioning groups.

The government wants to privatise as much as possible of the NHS, and the plans open up the possibility of business interests being brought in to run the GP commissioning, and of patients being sent for treatment at private rather than NHS hospitals.

It has just been announced that two more Tyneside GP practices – Grainger Medical Group and Earsdon Park Medical Practice – have been handed over to private interests.

Meanwhile, research by the False Economy group (see www.falseeconomy.org.uk) has shown that already, in 22 of the new commissioning groups, at least half of the GPs that dominate their boards have a personal financial interest in a private provider. This must influence their decisions.

The GP commissioning groups are not obliged to take over staff

from the NHS, which is where the threat to jobs arises.

On top of this the government has imposed £20bn of cuts on hospital trusts, threatening mergers and cuts to local services.

Already we have seen proposals for cutbacks in hospital care for acutely sick and injured children in Gateshead and South Tyneside, which apart from reducing access in those areas will put increased pressure on hospitals in Newcastle and Sunderland.

In addition, some hospital services are already being contracted out to private providers, the first step in giving privateers a big stake in patient care.

But the full implementation of these plans can be frustrated if there is big enough local resistance.

GPs should be urged to press their local commissioning group to adopt policies which would preserve the NHS and frustrate the drive to the market and competition.

The commissioning groups should commit to maximum transparency, refusing to accept contracts which have to be kept secret, discussing all significant decisions on local services with the local communities affected and taking decisions on services in public session.

Unions, campaigners, councillors and communities should challenge hospital trusts which pull out of services, and rally behind any commissioning groups that take a stand.

Turning the Clock Back in Education If anyone thought that this Toryled coalition was really interested in providing quality education for all children, then the latest announcement by Education Secretary Michael Gove should have dispelled those illusions.

His plan to scrap GCSEs and replace them with ‘tougher’ exams for ‘more academic’ pupils and ‘more straightforward’ exams for those branded ‘less able’ is resurrecting the ‘O’level–CSE

divide which was abolished over 30 years ago.

It fits neatly into place with the ‘free’ schools and academies which are creaming off resources formerly under the control of elected local authorities, and looks very much like an attempt to bring back the grammar school-secondary modern split, where only a minority of working class youngsters got the chance for real education for life.

There needs to be the widest outcry against this retrograde proposal, so that not only is it rejected but Gove and his cronies are sent packing too.

TUC Demonstration October 20 The Trades Union Congress has called a demonstration in London on October 20, under the slogan of ‘A Future that Works’. This needs to be turned into a truly massive protest against the whole range of government policies.

But a one-off fling is not enough. The TUC should call now for October 20 to be followed up by regional and local demonstrations, and it should be campaigning for the sort of comprehensive alternative projected by the People’s Charter for Change.

The mass media in Britain reflect the views of their multi-millionaire owners – generally hostile to trade unions, socialists and communists.

How to get a more balanced view? Read the paper that is owned by its working class readers, the MORNING STAR £1 daily from your newsagent – although you may have to place an order – and you can also read it online at www.morningstaronline.co.uk

JOIN BRITAIN’S COMMUNISTS Contact CPB, Ruskin House, 23 Coombe Rd, Croydon CR0 1BD or e: office@communistparty.org.uk

Printed and published by CPB Newcastle & Gateshead Branch, c/o 13 Shoreham Court, Newcastle NE3 2XG