Unity! October 2018 by Communist Party

CP BRItAIn

CP BRItAIn communist-party.org.uk

Workers of all lands, unite!

october 2018

People’s Assembly takes a leap forward This issue of Unity! sets the scene for the Communist Party’s national congress in November.

Bill Greenshields sees a new stage in the movement against austerity

It is preceded by intense discussions in party organisations based around resolutions drawn up by the party’s executive committee in conjunction with specialist commissions. In this issue Andy Bain who leads the party’s trade union work discusses a new stage in the trade union struggle. Tony Conway, who leads the party’s antiracist and antifascist work prepares for the big November demonstration against racism. Bill Greenshields, who represents the party at the People’s Assembly looks foward to a new stage in the mass action against austerity.

t’S A FundAmentAl principle of marxism that the world and all that’s in it is in a constant state of movement and change. that’s as true of the antiausterity struggle and the People’s Assembly as it is of anything else. Change is brought about by the natural struggle between new and old ideas, which develop as a result of the changing realities we all face daily. these are not necessarily antagonistic contradictions, and with marxist-leninist leadership they can result in a new consensus. Where they are antagonistic, that same leadership needs to be determined in beating old ideas that hold us back. that’s not to say that the ‘old ideas’ were not right and positive at the time they emerged. In 2013 when the PA was formed, there was a contradiction between the People’s Charter, which had all the policy statements and paper support from the unions etc – and the Coalition of Resistance, which had street activists and militant youth. At first each resented the other. But the struggle of ideas, with marxist application, led to a new stage in which the Party was instrumental – the formation, from the two, of the People’s Assembly the contradictions within Britain that led to austerity were fundamentally class contradictions, only manifested in, not caused by, left/Right contradictions. But the People’s Assembly – in the conditions of the time – had to focus on opposition not fundamentally to the cause of austerity, but on building protest against its growing effects… spending cuts, privatisation, widening wealth/poverty gap, pay and pension cuts etc. A wide coalition of protest groups was formed at national and local level, capable of mobilising increasing numbers of people – for some events in hundreds of thousands. the austerity lies – ‘We’re all in it together’, ‘there is no alternative’, ‘there is nothing you can do about it’ were increasingly transparent and rejected. Increasingly, the tories were identified as the perpetrators. there was struggle over this, as some protest groups strove to remain “non-political”. Political consciousness grew fast, and those directly involved, together with many others, searched for a political vehicle. the mass recruitment to the labour Party and Corbyn’s leadership emerged largely from this struggle. there is an opposition to this process, which while currently very small is nonetheless disruptive – perhaps deliberately so – and potentially dangerous. this coalesces around “infantile disorderists” on the anarchist fringe – such as Class War – which deny the significance of the left leadership of the labour Party, the importance of organised labour and the unions, and the building of an integrated mass movement. this is indeed an antagonistic contradiction to which we must give attention as it occurs, without being distracted by it.

The congress is made up of delegates elected to represent party members in the nations, districts and branches of the party.

Stand up to racism and fascism FIGHTING RACISM

vote of the fascist Bolsonaro in Brazil has given a major boost to right wing and racist nationalists. tony ConWAy there is a dangerous crossover with racists and fascists drawing RItAIn hAS become an social media support and cash from important centre of right wing activity. not surprising with the each other. tommy Robinson buys a house costing near a £million. political attitudes of much of our Communists are clear that media combined with the tory Party’s defeating racism means working in long standing choice of right wing the broadest non-sectarian way to nationalist immigration policies. edl founder Robinson is given a oppose policies and tactics that platform to attack muslims. Johnson divide our class and by putting forward policies that unite workers. uses his column to spew racist and Combatting racism and fascism in sexist views. Citizens are deported our communities and work places is with impunity. the state forces best worked for with pro public people to report on each other. services, pro union, pro workers’ the Windrush generation rights campaigns. We need deported. Visas applications for family reunions refused. the home practical activity to unite workers oﬃce remains wedded to numbers and patient persuasion rather than name calling. trades unions have a not justice while at work Bme special responsibility to improve the citizens are in poorer jobs with fewer rights and lower pay. Grenfell content of their members’ and stewards’ education. our backstop reveals just how housing policy hits is a mass movement to protect poor and black people. the prison population is disproportionally black. communities in the face of provocations by the far right. the election of trump and the

the Communist Party has stepped up its anti-racist and antifascist activities. our long standing policy pamphlet: Workers of All Lands has been completely re written to become a contemporary document that focuses on racism, immigration, nationality, the nature of the eu, austerity and employment rights. Communists have played a major role in a range of local and regional groups by developing our broad based approach. We have taken our arguments into the trade unions and had an inﬂuence in the ﬁnal tuC decision on the need to take the anti-racist arguments into the movement. the socialist daily paper the Morning Star has featured a large number of anti-racist articles including from two shadow ministers and one of the co convenors of Stand up to Racism. history shows that the international communist movement has stood against fascism where

ever it showed its face. this history run from the Battle of Cable Street and the International Brigades in Spain to the defeat of fascist Germany and Italy; from the underground struggle to overthrow fascism in Spain, Portugal and Greece to Cuba’s internationalist military mission to defeat the apartheid army. today communists are defending themselves against fascist attacks in ukraine and in Brazil, in Greece and India. the Communist Party Congress will meet in november on a day when a mass united demonstration against racism and fascism is taking place. As our delegates meet to hammer out the way ahead to working class power the streets will be ﬁlled with thousands of people who stand together agains racism and fascism. tony ConWAy IS ConVeneoR oF the CommunISt PARty’S AntI RACISt And FASCISt CommISSIon.

Campaign for more workers’power UNIONS Andy BAIn RItAIn’S tRAde unions have agreed a new campaign to change the balance power in the world of work. At the manchester conference of the tuC in September a new deal for workers was agreed as the way forward, to be supported by the biggest trade union campaign for decades to strengthen unions as the collective voice of workers. this decision arose from the campaigning work of the Communications Workers union

and is a ﬁghting response to the growing casualisation of the nation’s workforce. A wellattended fringe meeting at the tuC saw unite’s len mcluskey, GmB’s tim Roache and dave Ward of the CWu launch the campaign. dave Ward was optimistic despite bosses looking for ever more ways to make workers work harder. he saw that the combination of Corbyn with an updated manifesto along with the unions developing a charter of cooperation, could make it our moment. young CWu member Fiona Curtis agreed, stating that the mood of the young generation was changing.

the resolution committed the tuC General Council to develop a plan for the new deal with worker and trade union rights at its core and is based on six points:

the basis for labour’s future employment laws, calls for new national Joint Councils (nJC) of employers and trade unions for each industrial sector. these nJCs would establish and run the sector collective bargaining Agree a common bargaining agenda for individual sectors to machinery. Insecure employment, or tackle insecure employment, precarious work, isn’t new, marx inequality and in-work poverty referred to an ‘industrial reserve and stress. army of labour’, able to be According to the Institute of employment Rights’ Rolling out the coerced into ﬁlling in gaps as Manifesto for Labour Law, between employment patterns changed. What is new is that the trade 1979 and 2017 the percentage of union movement has been caught workers covered by collective unprepared to deal with it and bargaining fell from 80 to 26%. that is now our main challenge. this manifesto, which has been taken on by John mcdonnell as CONTINUED OVERLEAF

Jeremy Corbyn “The Morning Star is the most precious and only voice we have in the daily media” £1 weekdays, £1.50 at weekends. From newsagents or online at www.morningstaronline.co.uk

There is clearly need for a new level and direction of struggle. there is now also a developing contradiction – largely non-antagonistic – between those in the antiausterity movement who see the focus shifting decisively to the Parliamentary arena (including some in momentum) with less focus on ‘the mass movement’, and those who see the need for that mass movement to oﬀer a new lead by developing a clear understanding of the class forces at play and adopt policies structures, processes and actions informed by this understanding… with a view to defending and pushing forward a labour Government the term used in PA circles is ‘reorientation’ which, would take the Assembly towards a broad, democratic, popular anti-monopoly alliance with a left Wing Programme. CONTINUED OVERLEAF

A new deal for workers CONTINUED FROM PAGE )ONE Convene a summit to agree a charter, similar to Bridlington, which promotes greater co-operation on how we recruit the millions of unorganised uK workers and bring an end to inter-union competition. the Bridlington Agreement was administered by the tuC with the purpose of encouraging inter-union cooperation, rather than poaching of members and competition. during the 2018 tuC the word ‘collaboration’ was used many times but the movement has to take a step up in consciousness to get to the situation where joint recruitment initiatives become the norm. A joint union App to get young workers into the movement and to shift easily between unions as they move jobs, would be a good start. the Communist Party’s timely pamphlet We need REAL jobs was also launched at the tuC. It paints a picture of a global attack on workers’ conditions and job security, driven by neo-liberal economics with a downward pressure on the cost of workers. We must quickly move on from being merely defensive to planning our wins, organising local recruitment via trades councils, using leverage in company supply chains, combinations of trade unions, public solidarity actions by other workers and non-workers in the community, etc. the pamphlet describes the signiﬁcance of some of the more recent struggles such as uber drivers and strikes in macdonalds and tGI Friday and associated newer, and not so new, forms of organising. But casualisation is not only a problem in the weakly unionised industries like hospitality, it has been rife in construction for many years and also in sectors such as health care, further education and the railways.

AUGUST 2018

Agree a trade union new deal manifesto that builds on the labour Party manifesto (For the many not the few) and the work of the Institute of employment Rights. In addition to sector collective bargaining ((i) above) this manifesto covers the full spectrum of labour law from a new ministry of labour, training and apprenticeships, to worker democracy, regulation of supply chains and the enforcement of the new rights of workers this may seem a long way off at the present so it will need to be well understood and supported across the trade union movement, from the top to the shop floor. then when it does become law the trade unions will have a fight on their hands to achieve what it will allow.

develop links and solidarity with other groups campaigning for social justice to build a better future and stronger society. the tuC 2018 saw the trade unions coming closer to the left social democratic policies of the labour Party but they are still acting as a brake is some areas. In order to secure a Corbyn government and, even more challenging, to keep it in power, a mass support base is needed. the recent anti-semitism attacks on the issue of were coordinated and relentless and did achieve a bit of what was intended: splits between Corbyn supporters which should be fairly easily healed. But this is nothing compared to what will come. It is therefore essential that the campaigns against austerity, privatisation and wars are all strengthened. the Peoples’ Assembly, for example, can play a key role in, not just protesting against cuts, but inspiring people on the possibilities of a better future. Similarly, for campaigns for social housing.

urgently challenge the government to amend the current trade union Act in respect of postal balloting for industrial action to allow e-balloting. this is not a new demand and should be one of the easier wins but the current Government will not concede it without a ﬁght.

organise a day of action in support of the new deal in the ﬁrst half of 2019. Such a day should be preceded by the biggest ever collective communication using social media and a workplace meeting strategy where imaginative actions can be planned from strikes to marches, to meetings to public events and lots more. the imbalance of power in today’s economy and the challenge of the coming fourth industrial revolution of artiﬁcial intelligence mean it has never been more important for unions to come together and deliver a bold new deal for the vast majority: workers and their communities. We have a major challenge, but it’s no greater than that which faced early trade unionists. If today’s young workers and the generations ahead are to prosper then the balance of class forces must be upset and to achieve this trade unions will need to re-invent themselves in some sectors of the economy. this necessary shift in class forces to bring about progress will be popular and is a step towards a socialist Britain.

s Marx’s Das Kapital and capitalism today by Robert Griﬃths Illustrated £8 €9 (plus £2 €2.5 pp)

BREAK THE BOSSES CLUB FOR A PEOPLE’S

BREXIT

s State Monopoly Capitalism by Gretchen Binus, Beate Landefeld and Andreas Wehr. Introduction by Jonathan White

Inside: * News and Reviews * Introducing Das Kapital * Brexit Negotiations

THE EU, BREXIT & CLASS POLITICS

Communist Party membership is on the rise At the party’s Autumn executive committee meeting, general secretary Robert Griﬃths reported a continuing rise in party recruitment and membership, which is now more than 7% higher than in 2017. he said: ‘A much stronger Communist Party is needed to help secure a ‘People’s Brexit’ and a leftled labour government that is free to carry out radical policies of public investment, renationalisation, wealth redistribution, sustainable growth and peaceful cooperation with the rest of the world’. new and prospective members of the Communist Party are invited to a weekend event to ﬁnd out about the party and its policies. Saturday 27 october from 11.30 -4pm at the SBS Welfare Centre, 191 upper dale Road, derby de23 8BS.

Which way now for the labour movement?

£2 €2

s The EU, Brexit and class politics Which way for the labour movement? by Robert Griﬃths £2

s Women & Class by Mary Davis has become the standard text for the labour movement’s engagement with the issues. £2 THIRD EDITION

Challenge is the bimonthly magazine of the young Communist league, produced and written by and for yCl members who read, distribute and sell it up and down the country. the magazine features news and views from Britain’s young Communists, campaigns and struggles in Britain and abroad. It covers developments in the international Communist movement and socialist countries with features on important current and historical aﬀairs, art, culture, games, poems and ﬁlm/music reviews. the current issue deals with tory disunity and Brexit, opposition to trump along with racism and the ‘Free tommy Robinson’ demo.

Ruskin House 23 Coombe Road Croydon CR01BD Editorial team: Derek Kotz, Anita Halpin, Deirdre O’Neil, Nick Wright

topics include: Britain’s Road to Socialism – practical revolutionary socialism; party organisation – local, national and international; What party members do, how we organise, work and ﬁght for socialism; the Morning Star.r Britain’s socialist daily newspaper. Book a place at 07979 230175 derbyshire@communistparty.org.uk transport from derby station.

www.ycl.org.uk

16-18 November Dublin First International Conference Against US/NATO Military Bases Jointly organized by the Peace and neutrality Alliance (PAnA), Ireland, and the Coalition Against uS Foreign military Bases, uSA. http://nousnatobases.org/registration -is-open/ Saturday 17 November 2018 Assemble national unity demonstration Against Fascism & Racism the demonstration is initiated by Stand up to Racism, co-sponsored by unite Against Fascism and love music hate Racism, and is supported by Shadow home Secretary diane Abbott and Shadow Chancellor John mcdonnell amongst others. more details will follow. A special unity! will be available. Send advance orders for distribution coaches etc coming to the demo to party centre Communist Party Congress Saturday 17 November 2018 Sunday 18 November 2018 Ruskin House, Croydon

s Available from www.communist-party.org.uk

Growing threats to peace and security EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE ommunISt PARty international secretary John Foster has warned of the growing threat to world peace, the international economy and the environment. Reporting to the party's executive committee, he cited uS President trump’s increasingly aggressive attitude towards China and Russia, in keeping with what the uS national Security Strategy calls a new era of ‘great power competition’.

the history of the 20th century shows how the struggle for imperialist domination leads to war, he said as trump announced his country's withdrawal from the Intermediate-Range nuclear Forces (InF) treaty with Russia, which bans both powers from producing, possessing and testing cruise missiles. John Foster argued that the Western imperialist powers had not given up their attempts to partition Syria, while uS sanctions against Iran’s oil exports would further destabilise the middle east.

‘Alongside these threats to peace and stability, Saudi Arabia's British-backed genocidal war against yemen continues as does the open sore of Israel’s brutal oppression of the Palestinian people’. Britain’s Communists demanded that Britain’s tory government halt all arms sales to the ‘criminal and corrupt’ Saudi regime and reaﬃrmed support for the Boycott, divestment and Sanctions campaign against Israeli state policy. Referring to recent ImF

reports, John Foster claimed that international capitalism faces a ‘gathering crisis’. economic growth is slowing, the pools of speculative capital are expanding while leveraged loans by secondary banks have surpassed pre-2008 levels. ‘the world is heading towards recession and trade wars between the uSA, the eu, the middle east and China just when the un InterGovernmental Panel on Climate Change is calling for urgent and coordinated transformational policies to avert global warming catastrophe’.

this contradiction requires marxist leadership – and that means a more active mobilisation of our Party members at local and national level. the origins of the Peoples Assembly process lay in the People's Charter, originally devised by the Communist Party executive committee and following this tradition the Party has taken the lead in pioneering In Place of Austerity. We have to say that the central importance of this programmee – which carries a clear analysis of the class origins of austerity, the kinds of antimonopoly policies required, and the kind of action needed to achieve it – did not met initially with universal enthusiasm . largely through our Party’s consistent work, this meets with a more positive response and is

reflected in a ‘reorientation’ of the Peoples’ Assembly. this includes l a renewed commitment to involve the unions in the leadership, for assembly activists to be involved in their unions locally and nationally, and developing the established formal connections between local Assemblies and their local trades union councils l a new determination to build the Assembly at local level, including support, networking and training rather than focusing solely on national demonstrations l working towards an overt commitment to winning a labour Government l building an awareness of the need for a mass movement to defend and push forward such a government. All this begins with the new PA

campaign for 2019 ‘Britain is Broken – We can’t afford the tories’. this begins with : l a meeting of the original Signatories and subsequent PA affiliates. All Party members able to attend in these capacities should be there. A conference on 2 February – where we need similar Party activity… l Followed by a speaking tour of major cities – which we are pushing for to be part of the revitalisation of local Assemblies… and directly aimed at building the anti-monopoly alliance. the opportunities are all there for all comrades and Bdns to get involved, order copies of In Place of Austerity, revitalise the local PA, get it affiliated/represented at the local trades Council (tuC policy!), offer a venue and local speakers for the speaking tour,

start building your local antimonopoly alliance. the moment is here! We must not sleep through it….

s Workers of all lands, unite! sets out a labour movement policy on migration, labour and refugees. £2 www.communistparty.org.uk

there is coverage of the un International youth day, zionism. Features include Rob Griffiths on Paul Robeson and Wales, the marxist approach to disability and a Back to Basics piece on dictatorship and democracy. Add in poetry and reviews for a good read. Challenge subscriptions can be ordered at ycl.org.uk/resources/challenge/ one edition costs £2.50 including P&P. A full year’s back catalogue (the last six editions) is discounted to £12 including P&P. one year’s subscription or a recurring subscription is also discounted to £12 including P&P.

A light lunch is provided. hear Rob Griﬃths, general secretary of the party, leading trades council activists moz Greenshields and Bernadette Keating circulation manager of the Morning Star.

diary

In Place of Austerity A PROGRAMME FOR THE PEOPLE

2nd edition January 2018 Donations accepted - to cover production costs

In place of austerity availabe at www.thepeoplesassembly.org.uk