communist-party.org.uk
unity!@tuc
sunday 10 l Monday 11 september 2016
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USteritY iS working . . . for the boss class. but this audacious attempt to shift the cost of the crisis on to working people is a political disaster for our rulers. Thus Theresa May now promises to “tackle corporate irresponsibility and reform capitalism to make sure it works for everyone not just the privileged few.” Owen Smith triangulates madly to his left hoping to pick up a few unware voters with his hitherto neglected lexicon of socialist phrases. Serious majorities of people in eastern European countries tell pollsters that their experience of capitalism makes them yearn for their socialist past. A majority of people in the USA between the ages of 18 and 35 think socialism is better than capitalism. Corporate neo-liberalism – neither of the Tory or austerity-lite New Labour versions – has the answers to Britain’s problems. It is the working out of a capitaliust crisis and new thinking is required all round. The People’s Assembly has sketched out a programme of things that must be done. Jeremy Corbyn’s team has put forward some strikingly progressive proposals. A policy compendium of union demands would transform life for millions. The time has come for the whole Labour and progressive movement to put detail and substance into an alternative government programme that would tackle poverty and exploitation, joblessness and the housing crisis.
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elcoMe bAck to brighton after a rollercoaster 12 months. this time last year, what had for so long been a dream became reality, a socialist was elected by the biggest ever majority to lead the labour Party. the reaction of the big business party and its media puppeteers was predictable, but the year of the long knives inside the party of labour was shameful. Jeremy corbyn has achieved more than any of his predecessors did in their first 10 months on the opposition front bench; kinnock was given three terms to turn the party round - and failed. if ever a leader made a party ‘unelectable’ it was proven to be kinnock not corbyn, ever since his election, the rightwing mantra has been that corbyn will fail - say it often enough and it becomes believable. but he’s actually done nothing wrong. labour’s results in the May elections were better than predicted, so confounding the lie that he is an electoral albatross. two-thirds of labour members voted to remain in the eU; exactly the same proportion as SnP remain voters; so how come only corbyn is branded ‘a failure’? labour's shift to an anti-austerity stance, steered by corbyn and his chancellor McDonnell, was crucial in forcing tory U-turns on tax credits, disability benefits and academy schools in england. is that a crime? the attempts of pro-eU labour MPs to shift responsibility for their own failure onto Jeremy corbyn are breathtaking in their hypocrisy. Many of those leading the coup had very high, even majority votes to leave in their own constituencies; so who is to blame the leader or the local MP? one of corbyn’s latest crimes is that he wants to bypass the PlP and involve the growing membership in policy making. Yet blair was praised for establishing Policy Forums; talk about double standards. the real criminals are those who week in, week out re-write the rules to disenfranchise newly-joined members and then charge £25 to ‘buy’ a late vote or expel members for alleged offences in the ether. Surely history has taught us that you cannot solve political differences by administrative means. blair was held by some to be a 'great leader' but as we now know for certain had no principles. corbyn on the other hand is acknowledged to be a man of principle but is not a leader. Well, i'll take principles and a robust democracy any day! AnitA hALPin is A MeMber of cP’s executive
And edits the unity! series of PubLicAtions
Demonstrate at the tory conference Join the Midland’s TUC march and rally on Sunday 2 October 2016 in Birmingham
why manufacturing matters o
ne tenth of all Uk’s manufacturing workers come from the eU - one in six of all eU citizens in the Uk. Whatever we do about migration, renegotiating our treaty status with the eU is a once in a lifetime chance to restore britain as a major manufacturing nation. but this will need good regulation of wage and skill standards and a willingness to invest to retain key industries such as steel. take shipbuilding: government strategy has been focused on the type 26 frigate programme. Putting aside what that means for a conventional
defence strategy, high-skilled jobs supporting local communities can be sustained only if we rethink our place in the world. there are still 90,000 employed in shipbuilding but decline is not inevitable. consider that nearly 600 net vessels have been lost in the uK fishing fleet since 2000, despite there being unprecedented amounts of white fish reported in our seas, very little is landed due to eu market rules. As well as fishing, a market for freight shipping could be developed by using safety-at-sea regulations to ensure that freight forwarders are advantaged if they use short sea shipping techniques
around our coast. the rapid drop in manufacturing employment in the uK really began under new Labour, after which the uK invested less in r&d and adaptation than its competitors. A tight, low-waged, conditions-poor labour market signalled to employers to forget re-equipment or retraining. there are 130,000 manufacturing businesses, mostly small and medium. the average holds about a quarter of a million pounds, mostly ear-marked as a ‘cash buffer’. but jeremy corbyn and his newly supportive front bench shadow ministers have proposed a way forward by freezing rates for small businesses,
clamping down on corporate tax avoidance, and investing in skilled workers. today there are only 5,000 people left in britain making shoes, but this could change once we quit the eu whose rules permit goods to be assembled in one place but ‘finished’ in another. so ‘italian’ shoes are actually made for a pittance in east european sweatshops. so Geox shoes ‘made in italy’ are mass made for a wage of £34 a week and sell at between £100 and £150 each. yet another manufacturing sphere, perhaps, where the uK could begin to trade with the world.
An active energy and climate change strategy generally. Melting of the polar ice-caps will raise sea levels, not only inundating small island nations but also putting a major strain on industrialised countries – otion 11 from tSSA is 44 per cent of the world’s population live particularly timely, given in coastal areas. But it also risks changing the news that, worldwide, the circulation patterns in the world’s July 2016 was warmer than any other month in 136 years of record- oceans, which in Britain’s case could mean keeping. this continued a run of 10 the end of the Gulf Stream, which keeps our own climate relatively mild. consecutive months that have set The increased frequency of severe new monthly high-temperature flooding in Britain – due to higher records. concentrations of water vapour in the Global warming is real and its main cause is carbon dioxide from the continued atmosphere – and the droughts elsewhere which have provided the economic profligate burning of fossil fuels. If urgent background to conflicts such as the war in and sustained action is not taken, worldSyria and the mass movement of people wide average temperatures in 2100 are northwards from Africa, are testaments to likely be as much as 40°C higher than the modest extent of global warming so far. those in the year 2000. But, since last year’s election, the The consequences are incalculable in government has rolled back many of the terms of economic dislocation and the impact on working people, and poor people policies aimed at reducing carbon by
MArtin Levy
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emissions. The cuts in subsidies for renewable energy sources and for carbon capture and storage at power stations make a mockery of the Tories’ pledges at the Paris climate talks. They are encouraging the expansion of natural gas consumption, including shale gas (‘fracking’), although life-cycle carbon emissions from conventional natural gas are at least nine times greater than renewables’, while those from shale gas are even higher – and the latter creates additional risks of local water, land and air contamination. For only 50 per cent of the subsidies being offered to new Hinkley Point C nuclear plant, the solar industry could deliver an equivalent amount of electricity, including back-up. Even more could be achieved with cheaper onshore wind power. The government claims that UK emissions have fallen considerably since
1990, and that therefore Britain still remains a leader in climate action. But that is largely because gains in the industrial sector have been achieved through shutting down factories and importing goods from abroad instead. The ‘carbon footprint’ per head – which is based on consumption – was 15.5 tonnes in 2015, but it needs to be about three tonnes per head to keep global temperature rises below 20°C, let alone the 1.50°C in the Paris agreement. Much more ambitious policies on energy conservation, energy generation from renewable sources and sustainable consumption, such as those listed in the motion, urgently need to be pursued. MArtin Levy is A scientist And editor of coMMunist PArty’s theoreticAL And discussion journAL, coMMunist review. the
young people need socialism with it the resultant job losses and so on as the private sector shrinks at the same he torY government's new time as the public sector is torn apart. this increase in poverty is most acutely national 'living' Wage is a seen in this generation. the first lot to joke. A poor joke at the expense of the working class of this come through without the same opportunities as their parents. Let me nation. not only does it offer a repeat this; the lack of opportunities for paltry rise in workers' salaries it the youth of today is a result of the ruling doesn't even apply to the under class's most recent offensive: operation 25s. Austerity. the increases in child poverty today’s youth are the first generation and youth unemployment is not a result to be worse off than their parents in a of the financial crisis of nearly a decade very long time. centuries, claim some. ago. A tired excuse still being this is no accident, neither is it confined hegemonically peddled by news-reading to britain. it is the result of austerity. A global phenomenon whereby the capitalist mouthpieces of the ruling class in today's media. class snatch back any past form of social young people need socialism. they democratic reforms of the capitalist need it to combat low wages. the system. namely the welfare state. abolition of the wage system is basic economic principles follow that the more money is taken from the masses undoubtedly a long way off but in the meantime the youth need a society where and into the hands of a wealthy few then we can fully develop without being the more an economy suffers. bringing by
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our daily paper of the working class by
ben chAcKo
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ritAin’s unions today face greater challenges than at any time for years. over the summer our prime minister may have changed, but the determination of the tory government to press ahead with its assault on working people has not. since the last tuc congress we have seen the passage of the trade union Act. if some of the more breathtakingly draconian parts of the bill - such as forcing us to notify employers of what we planned to say on social media or making pickets wear identifying armbands - were defeated, the Act is still an anti-democratic travesty designed to stop unions taking strike action. the Act leaves workers weaker, and bosses stronger, than ever: and the bosses are hardly proving trustworthy custodians of our economy. from asset-stripping bhs before leaving this icon of our high streets to die, to watching impotently while our steel industry stares into the abyss, britain’s rulers in both the business and political worlds have shown they have no vision or strategy for the future. that’s why working people’s wages are still not worth what they were when the banker’ crash hit us eight years ago. that’s why young people are entering a world of precarious work and sky-high rents. And that’s why the movement to change all that, in the form of jeremy corbyn’s leadership of the Labour Party, is more important than ever. corbyn has had a rough ride in his year at the helm. Generals have threatened military coups if he wins an election. his own MPs have waged a ceaseless campaign of vilification, culminating in their mutiny following the eu referendum - a declaration of war by the PLP against the party membership - but also against the labour movement who top plotter Lucy Powell told to stay out of the leadership contest. And repeated studies have shown the scale of media bias against him, from a bbc that helps co-ordinate on-air
resignations to newspapers whose hostility has been exposed in studies by the Media reform coalition and the Lse. there’s one exception among daily papers: the Morning Star. And that’s not a coincidence. it’s owned by its readers, rather than some billionaire tax exile. Anybody can pay a pound and become an owner of the people’s paper with full voting rights at the annual general meetings that elect our management committee - no retrospective £25 supporter’s tax applied. And we're the paper of the labour movement with 10 national trade unions and one trade union region holding management committee seats. this year we were delighted to welcome our newest shareholder union, the tssA, which joins community, cwu, fbu, GMb, nuM, nuM north east, PoA, rMt, ucatt and unite on the board. Alone in the press the star has welcomed the revolution in the Labour Party and the new mass membership. britain needs a decisive break with years of privatisation and financial speculation: we need democratic public ownership and an industrial strategy for growth. Alone we cover the industrial struggles of the unions and put the worker’ case against that of the bosses who have ruled unchallenged for too long. if you haven't yet, isn't it time you made the Morning Star your daily paper? ben chAcKo is the editor of the MorninG stAr
by Liz PAyne
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croSS the world the aspirations of working people for peace, decent living standards based on productive jobs, a sharing of the wealth and resources created and an end to poverty are thwarted by the leading imperialist powers. Their sole interest is in controlling access to vital resources, notably oil and gas, the neoliberal maximisation of capital investment possibilities and profits globally, weakening the competitiveness of rival economies (such as Brazil and Venezuela) and ensuring that any possibility of challenge by left and progressive forces is eliminated. Workers daily face the impact of US and NATO warmongering, exploitation by multinationals, suppression by reactionary governments, state security forces and company-hired thugs, sectarian division and the attacks of neo-fascists and racists. According to the 2016 ITUC Global Rights Index, published in June, workers’ rights have deteriorated significantly in the
past 12 months. The Middle East and North Africa are most notorious for the way workers are treated but Europe also has seen an attack on rights. The Report, based on internationally recognised indicators, notes that Cambodia, India, Iran and Turkey have joined countries such as Colombia at the top of the list of the worst places in the world to work. Cambodia has introduced repressive anti-worker legislation, India has used exceptional violence against protesting workers, Iran has imposed hefty prison sentences on trade union leaders and Turkey has punished public sector workers for legitimate union activities. Trade unionists have been put to death in eleven of the 141 countries surveyed. ‘We are witnessing the closing of democratic space and an increase in insecurity, fear and intimidation. The speed at which attacks on rights are being forced through … shows an alarming trend’ says Sharon Burrows, ITUC General Secretary. Only when working people act together to protect their interests, demand rights and justice and expose the vile system of
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communist review
Distortions of the Spanish civil War Ken fuller State monopoly capitalism Part 3 Gretchen binus, beate Landefeld and Andreas wehr Space, time and dialectics Martin Levy Discussion: intermationalism Lars ulrik thomsen islam as a religion jimmy jancovich plus Poems from the spanish civil war
owAin hoLLAnd is GenerAL secretAry of the younG coMMunist LeAGue
workers’ rights under assault
Morning Star Fringe meeting
Theoretical and discussion journal of the Communist Party number 80 • summer 2016
malnourished at the end of a telephone line umbilical cord waiting for the next zero-hours job opportunity to phone through with a couple of hours work. we need a society that can provide social housing so that we can be guaranteed shelter from becoming another number in the rising tally of young homeless people. we need nationalisation to provide us with jobs as well as to prevent us from lining the pockets of the rich by trying to keep warm every winter struggling to afford rising energy costs. we can achieve all these things if we work at it and we can start by getting a pay rise tomorrow if we teach the young people how to organise as part of the trade union movement and take the fight for a better life to their bosses.
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e Are living through exciting times. the people of britain are stirring. our ruling class of bankers, bosses and bureaucrats and their hangers on in politics and the media no longer have it their own way. A decade of anti war protest, years of campaigning against austerity, anger at falling wages and rising living costs have created a groundswell of resistance. our communist Party has played its part in the stop the war coalition, in the trade unions and campaigning organisations, in the Peoples Assembly
Against Austerity and in sustaining the Morning Star, the daily paper of the left. we argued – almost alone on the left – that with mass action Labour could change direction and we were proved correct. corbyn’s new leadership has inspired thousands to join Labour. we are with them in our collective struggle to win a Labour government that will end austerity, privatisation and war. every working class and socialist activist needs to make a sober judgement about where they can make the best contribution. for many it means a greater role in their union, campaign or in the
capitalism for what it is will these trends be reversed. The possibility is real and the potential enormous. In Britain we must continue stand in solidarity with the mounting struggles of labour and progressive movements throughout the world, through sectorspecific and country campaigns, and by calling for peace and the eradication of the poverty which unnecessarily blights the lives of billions. But more than this, as workers in a leading capitalist state and one of the richest countries of the world, we must demand that the foreign policy of our government stands unequivocally against corruption, exploitation, war and hostile interventions across the world and secures recognition and implementation of internationally-recognised workers’ rights everywhere that it has influence. International solidarity must never be an ‘add-on’ to our union work. It is intrinsic. Only by this can there be any hope of a peaceful, just and socialist future. Liz PAyne is chAir of the coMMunist PArty Labour Party. for many, too it should mean joining britain’s communist Party – the party of working class power and liberation. the party needs many new members to add strength and stability to this new movement. if not you, who? if not now, when? … the party also needs money to resource its key tasks. the party is the backbone of the campaign to turn brexit into Lexit. A progressive exit from the eu will meet the demands of millions of working people and can unite those who voted to leave with those who didn’t. our party congress in november takes place on the cusp of big changes with Labour’s leadership decided and the tuc and Labour conferences will shape the electoral and extra-parliamentary strugges that lie ahead. the struggle for peace and solidarity will be strengthened by the participation in our congress of delegates from our ukraine sister party while their struggle against imperialism and fascism will chime with our celebration of the 80th anniversary of the battle of cable street. the communist Party needs £10,000 by november. Payment can be made: by cheque made out to cPb and posted to the communist Party, ruskin house, 23 coombe road, croydon cr0 1bd; by credit transfer to the communist Party of britain, account number 50725694, sort code 60 83 01