Communist news& views April 2009 Free to members and supporters news&views@communist-party.org.uk
Photo: suburbanslice
Communist Party, Ruskin House, 23 Coombe Road, Croydon, London CR0 1BD 020 8686 1659 office@communist-party.org.uk www.communist-party.org.uk
Graffiti in the City during the G20 protests on 1 April
In the latest political report to the executive committee, the party chair Anita Halpin looked at past, present and future struggles
W
here to start? Why not 25 years ago and the miners’ strike? But before we go there, let’s remind ourselves of events after the miners’ strikes of 1972 and 1974. In 1978, Eric Hobsbawm delivered the Marx Memorial Library lecture – “The Forward March of Labour Halted” (reprinted in Marxism Today in September that year). He asserted that the labour movement was in historic decline and that the working class was inevitably (inevitably!) losing its central role in society.And his conclusion? That left parties could no longer appeal only to the working class. No surprise, then, that the Marxism Today clique – the Eurocommunists, the revisionists, call them what you will – supported and assisted the transformation of the Labour Party that Kinnock initiated in 1983. In September 1982 came Tony Lane’s attack on the shop
stewards movement in the pages of Marxism Today, which Mick Costello (then the CPGB’s industrial organiser) reported critically in the Morning Star. These were events that marked the start of the last leg of our journey towards re-establishment. The next year saw the bitter dispute at Eddie Shah’s Messenger Newspapers in Cheshire, with printers and journalists sacked and all the National Graphical Association’s assets being sequestered – the first time that the full weight of Thatcher’s anti-trade union legislation was tested. There were scores of arrests and injuries as police attacked pickets and solidarity demonstrators in Warrington in a confrontation that served as a rehearsal for the miners’ strike. (Good news, then, that my union has now won back statutory recognition at the papers, now part of the Newsquest group.)
So we’re back at the 1984-85 miners’ strike. While many communists played significant roles in solidarity and support up and down the country, as far as I know, the CPGB’s mining advisory never met and it took lots of arguments and many months until an aggregate meeting of industrial comrades was even called.Why? First,because the industrial department was in mess – Costello having resigned – and second, because the majority revisionist leadership was afraid of what might happen if the strike was successful and the forward march of labour had actually not
Inside
Continued overleaf
NEW COLUMN: Why I joined 6 the Communist Party 7 Diary of events Trade union conferences 8
page 2 Communist news & views April 2009 Continued from front page
been halted! The strike was exceptional in the level of solidarity it attracted, both here and from abroad.And, in remembering the strike, the TUC Women’s Conference in March this year acknowledged the outstanding part played by Women against Pit Closures. The theme of the Women’s TUC was women and the global recession, and speaker after speaker stressed how women are always the first to suffer the brunt of economic crisis. It has been estimated that the gender pay gap costs a woman up to £330,000 in the course of her working life – that’s a hell of a lot of potential purchasing power lost to the economy – and the motion going forward to the TUC this September is on women’s employment and the recession. (It places particular emphasis on bank workers, so it will be important that there is a spread of women speakers across all industries in the debate.) There was anger that women are seeing the promises made in advance of the new Single Equality Bill being
“
A key message to come out of the TUC Women’s Conference was that equality is a universal human right, not a luxury for boom times only
”
chipped away bit by bit. And the key message to come out of the conference was that equality is a universal human right and not a luxury for boom times only. (This fear was well-founded given that the Commission for Equality and Human Rights is now claiming that, at a time of recession, business can’t afford to do pay audits.) NNN
One of the demands from this EC must be mobilisation around the People’s Charter for Change,to get the target of a million signatures. Unfortunately, however,we lost the composite motion that included a late amendment from the RMT calling for support for the charter; with both Unite and Unison opposing, there was little chance of winning. Speakers against the motion did not specifically oppose the charter, but focused on the demand (also from the RMT) for the nationalisation of all companies threatening closures or mass redundancies. The other tactic was to argue that the criticism of bank bailouts and bonuses was an attack on low-paid banking workers who were mainly women – in my view, an opportunist misinterpretation. This does highlight the tactical problems associated to with trying enshrine a charter
such as this in official TUC policy,something that we never tried to do with the Women’s Charter. Finally, a motion on the decriminalisation of prostitution was lost, while a motion on the commodification of sex was carried.This is a topic being debated in our Women’s Advisory and will be on our May agenda. Since this executive met two months ago, the poor have continued to get poorer and the misnamed welfare “reforms” will only serve to worsen their plight with all the stringent conditions and threats contained within the proposed legislation. On the other hand, the bankers continue to moan about the economic crisis and come cap in hand for government handouts without any fear of being charged with benefit fraud. Last week, the business minister Peter Mandelson called for “sober” banking and New Labour leader Gordon Brown hopes to be able to return to “old-fashioned banking” as somehow fairer and more “ethical”. What sort of values would sober, old-fashioned bankers have? Those of an incompetent banker such as Fred Goodwin,who is threatening to sue the government if it tries to claw back some of his obscene pension? Those of a mortgage provider that ferrets all its good mortgages abroad and lets repossessions at home rise by more than 60%? It would be interesting to know when Gordon Brown thought oldfashioned banking came to end. One answer might be May 1997, when his first act as Chancellor was to cede control to the Bank of England. Or was it when he again ceded control – this time of the billions of our money invested in failing financial institutions to a new arm’s-length company, wholly owned by the government, UK Financial Investments Limited? UKFI’s brief is to manage the investments on a commercial basis in order to create value for the taxpayer as shareholder, with due regard to financial stability and acting in a way that promotes competition. What rot. RBS should compete with Lloyds
April 2009 Communist news & views page 3 TSB? Taxpayers should compete with each other? It must be one of the crassest contradictions ever created by capitalism. NNN
The TUC General Council at its last meeting was very critical of Brown’s unfortunate and ill-chosen words that have come back to haunt him – “British jobs for British workers”. There was agreement that unions, particularly Unite and GMB, were all working hard to prevent the far right from highjacking the situation, though it was agreed that it wasn’t always easy. There was unanimity on the need to challenge the BNP in the European elections – though, as one union leader remarked,Labour hasn’t given the trade unions much to fight with! As our party has already made clear,European Court of Justice judgments have been disastrous for workers’ rights and job security. For instance, the workers recently laid off at Mini were “only temporary” workers, which is why they could be sacked on the spot. It is therefore not enough to call, as John Monks does, for amendments to the Posted Workers Directive and for the ETUC to organise Europe-wide demonstrations. The arguments are political,and our decision to intervene in the European Parliament elections is correct; the No2EU campaign offers a marvellous propaganda potential. No2EU and the People’s Charter are crucial in winning the ideological battle for advance and we should be proud of the role our party has played in these two initiatives. Jobs losses, closures and bankrupt-
Never a safe bet
Following Thatcher’s deregulation of the finance and banking sector the City of London went on a gambling spree in the boom years of the 80s. Banking is gambling; as if to prove the point, two new betting shops have opened near me – one was a travel agent and then an estate agent, while the other used to be a bank! One of my favourite stories of buying and selling futures, and long before the Wall Street crash, is the Dutch tulip mania of 1636-37, when speculation intensified into frenzy and bulbs were bought and sold and resold dozens of times. An Amsterdam mayor made 60,000 guilders in four months, which was some 500 times his annual salary.
cies continue – it would take far too long to list them all.Not surprisingly,the latest figures show more people are looking for fewer available jobs; the jobs market hasn’t bottomed out yet by a long way, and wages are falling significantly. This helps to explain the mass support for the TUC’s G20 demo on 28 March and Stop the War Coalition’s “alternative summit” in central London on 1 April. It’s now five months since Brown brought Mandelson back from Europe – five disastrous months for the economy, for workers and for equal rights. One has to ask why Brown thought that a politician who had been forced to resign not once, but twice, could be an asset to any government. Mandelson is a Mephistopheles character to whom Brown has sold his soul for political survival. Mandelson’s a devil spawned in part by the Eurocommunists; a rat responsible for betraying the Royal Mail and engineering the slow erosion of the package of equality measures promised in the new Equality Bill. And we now know that he’s slimy, but not so green. For
instance, he’s still dithering about whether to make state aid available so we can import equipment from Denmark to make wind farms. NNN
We condemn the recent murders in northern Ireland and ally with the Irish trade union and labour movement in their call for the peace process to stay on track. It was no surprise when the story of “blacklisting” broke; trade union “troublemakers” have been targeted for years.We all know that demonstrators get photographed, but the double standards of the media was breathtaking. The Guardian led with the story – the same paper that buried the two million peace march on the bottom of an inside page. Quite clearly, our government has scant regard for civil liberties. The arrest, detention and treatment of Binyam Mohammed were illegal and inhumane.We welcome his release and say that the complicity of our government is shameful.
THE EC AGREED TO: N Help organise a series of Morning Star meetings on “The 1984-85 Miners’ Strike and the Crisis Today”.
N Urge support for EDM 660 (J Corbyn) and Scotland’s For Peace demonstration against Trident on 20 June in Glasgow. N Urge support for EDM 941 (L Hoyle) against the part-privatisation of Royal Mail.
N Condemn the recent killings of security forces personnel in northern Ireland and reaffirm support for full implementation of the Good Friday Agreement. N Welcome student occupations against collaboration with the Israeli government and war machine.
page 4 Communist news & views April 2009
News in brief
No2EU – Yes to Democracy
The Communist Party is centrally involved in this exciting new initiative for the 4 June European Parliament elections, with the intention of contesting as many of the 11 Euro-constituencies across Britain as possible.The bodies that have so far signed up to the coalition include the RMT, the Socialist Party,Trade Unionists Against the European Union Constitution and (via Unity for Peace and Socialism) the Indian Workers Association-GB.A growing number of trades councils are also declaring their support.The final lists of candidates will be agreed on 16 April.The manifesto of No2EU – Yes to Democracy is based on opposition to the Lisbon Treaty, support for public services against privatisation, for workers rights, against the BNP fascists and to take back democratic power from the EU and its institutions. If elected, candidates will retain their MEP title but not get on the EU gravy train by attending the sham European Parliament. Instead, No2EU – Yes to Democracy MEPs would spend their time campaigning on its platform in Britain and other countries. All party organisations and comrades should support this campaign by planning regional activities, including fundraising. In addition, it is vital that the CP fulfils its own Election Appeal of £15,000, in accordance with the quotas decided at the EC for each district and nation, in order to meet our pledge to the coalition. Campaign materials are already beginning to be produced and more information can be found at www.no2eu.com
The People’s Charter: sign up today!
The Communist Party is supporting the People’s Charter, which is seeking a million signatures to put people’s interests before that of the bankers and speculators.The demands of the charter, which was launched at the Houses of Parliament in March, are a fair economy for a fairer Britain, more and better jobs, decent homes for all, protect and improve our public services, fairness and justice, and build a secure and sustainable future for all. Check out the charter at www.thepeoplescharter.com – sign it and send it on . . .
T
IRELAND N Ken Keable on the route to democratic advance he party congress in May 2008 passed a resolution, “Promoting withdrawal from Ireland”, which omitted certain matters proposed by Somerset branch.The most important of these is the idea that the union with northern Ireland impedes democratic advance in Britain.This makes it much more than just a solidarity issue for us. As Marx pointed out, specifically in relation to Ireland’s position within the UK, “Any nation which oppresses another forges its own chains”. The idea stems from our assessment that the piece of territory known as Northern Ireland is, in essence, a colony, albeit in a disguised and unique form.This means that the United Kingdom is a state that contains a colony, and this fact poisons Britain’s parliamentary democracy, its system of justice and every aspect of the state, especially by enhancing the influence of the military and secret services within government. It creates a barrier to democratic advance in Britain and preserves, within the UK, a hotbed of militarism, religious fundamentalism, sectarian hatred and discrimination, imperialist ideology, monarchism and political backwardness. Repressive measures introduced for the colony have a habit of coming home – the Inquiries Act 2005 being one example, potentially undermining all future public inquiries, on any subject, anywhere in the UK. At Westminster, the political parties that represent unionism have always voted for the most reactionary, repressive measures, and have supported governments that would otherwise have fallen. Also important is the demand that the British state come clean about its collusion with paramilitaries and especially the murder of the solicitor Pat Finucane in 1989. Of all cases of collusion, this is the one most well-known internationally and which the state most needs to cover up, defying long-standing international demands for an independent public inquiry.Yet the British left hardly knows of it. If the government procured the murder of Gareth Peirce, would we take more notice, just because it happened “here”? We must demand independent public inquiries into this and many other matters concerning British colonial rule in Ireland.This is based on the need to expose to the British people the true nature of the British state and to protect ourselves and all British progressives from the repressive measures and agencies that the state will use against us when it feels the need. Our party must fight the left’s traditional blind spot about northern Ireland, not succumb to it ourselves. Ken Keable is secretary of the CP’s Somerset branch
April 2009 Communist news & views page 5 RUSSIA N John Haylett reports on the congress of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation
T
he Communist Party of the Russian Federation, which now has about 160,000 members, is the second largest in the Duma, with 57 seats out of 450.The CPRF congress (28 November to 1 December 2008) had 347 delegates and more than 600 guests from home and abroad. Despite media suggestions that it would narrow differences with the United Russia government of Vladimir Putin and Dmitry Medvedev, leader Gennady Zyuganov, who dominated the congress, leading most items and speaking at length, emphasised its opposition to the “dead-end” policies of the free-marketeers. He and several speakers rejected any idea that the CPRF would embrace social democracy and insisted that, if a revolutionary situation arises, it would not restrict itself to parliamentary struggle. He announced that 55,000 “young people” had joined the party, “dedicated to support for the October revolution and socialism”, although it was not clear over what period.YCL members marched onstage, carrying two huge banners, one for the central committee and the other a Great Patriotic War victory banner. A number of young people, mainly students but also including an airforce general Hero of Russia, were presented with their party card on stage. On the platform were not only Yegor Ligachov, who led CPSU central committee opposition to Boris Yeltsin and, by extension, Mikhail Gorbachov, but also Anatoly Lukyanov, who was the chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR until August 1991. He was accused of complicity in the coup against Gorbachov, denied it and was released, becoming a founder member of the CPRF. Both men are in their late 80s, but spoke vigorously and amusingly. Zyuganov denounced the Putin regime for bailing out financial predators and speculators rather than investing in the real economy. He accused it of starving science and education of cash and running down the armed forces. More than 3,000 hospitals and polyclinics have been shut down over past eight years. A full-scale brain drain is rampant.The price of medicines is rocketing and alcohol dependency is rising. Consumption per head, including children is 18 litres a year. He savaged the efforts of Putin and the state-controlled media to claim that all is well, insisting that people want to return to “justice, order and normal life”. Russia has lost five million square kilometres of its territory (out of 22m sq km) and half its productive capacity. It still has not reached 1990 production levels. Instead of a capitalist paradise, the country has to support 100 dollar billionaires and 200,000 dollar millionaires. Much of Zyuganov’s rhetoric is nostalgic, reaching back not simply to the Soviet era but, more specifically,
to the days of Stalin, recalling Konstantin Simonov’s description of JS – “He spoke little, did much, had many business meetings with people, seldom gave interviews, seldom made speeches and, as a result, every word of his was weighed and valued not only here but all over the world” – and contrasting this with the antics of current state leaders. The party’s new programme calls for action to stop the nation dying out, to boost the birth rate, increase child benefits, restore kindergartens and provide housing for families with children. It demands public ownership of the power industry, transport, defence industries, oil and gas fields, unlawfully privatised industries and coal mines, and it would allocate 10% of the state budget to support agriculture. It would tackle poverty by controlling prices, setting a minimum income guarantee and introducing progressive taxation. It would invest in science, education and healthcare. It would also curb corruption and crime and would lift the moratorium on the death penalty for “very serious crimes”. It would enhance the capacity of the armed forces and pursue a foreign policy based on mutual respect. The CPRF has been advocating independence for Abkhazia and South Ossetia for years, seeing its efforts as now being “crowned with success” and recalling that the CPRF had been branded as “red-brown for our adherence to patriotism and the national interest”. The party believes that it is time to “revise the muddled and spineless policy with regard to Ukraine”, asserting that Yuschenko’s pro-NATO, pro-EU regime poses a mortal danger to Russia. Visitors to the congress were presented with a number of publications, mainly by Zyuganov, including his Stalin and the Current Times.The Lenin mausoleum was opened specially for a Soviet-style pilgrimage, laying of wreaths and placing of carnations – most international visitors laid theirs at Lenin’s tomb, but Stalin’s monument was also heavily laden with flowers.
page 6 Communist news & views April 2009 N
WHY I JOINED THE COMMUNIST PARTY
By David Grove
I grew up in a middle-class suburb of Liverpool during the Great Depression of the 1930s. People around me lived quite well, but when I went into town, I saw kids with no shoes playing in dreary streets while their parents looked for non-existent jobs.The tram passed the rising bulk of the Anglican cathedral, surrounded by some of the worst slums in Europe. I wondered why there was poverty in the midst of plenty, why the world was once again threatened with war. There was plenty of discussion at school and I was soon calling myself a socialist, and for a time a pacifist. But I had no contact with any part of the labour movement. It was going to Oxford as a student in 1941 which changed that. The university gave me two things that have been much more life-shaping than the formal education.The University Labour Federation (a broad left group) ran excellent day and weekend schools on Marxism. And I met a comrade who had been active in a working-class CP branch before she came to Oxford, and who filled me in on the struggles of the unemployed, and the actions against Mosley and in support of the Spanish government. So I soon realised that only the Communist Party could give me what I was seeking: a theory to explain inequality and conflict and to show how they can be ended, and an organisation to lead the necessary struggles. They’re both needed more than ever in the present crisis. N Why did you join? Email your contribution to news&views@ communist-party.org.uk or post to party centre.
Reports of work
Local Devon
On 27 February, party members in Devon were very proud to host a public meeting as part of Nancy Coro Aguiar’s tour of Britain celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Cuban revolution. Two posters with details of the meeting were put up in the windows of the venue, the Owl Vegan Cafe (which served up a delicious Cuba-inspired meal), and we wrote letters to those we thought might be interested, in most cases delivering the letter by hand and explaining the virtues of coming to our meeting.We also emailed the regional offices of the major trade unions, the Green Party, the Socialist Party and members of the Socialist Workers’ Party. North Devon has a left-wing
Always tell audiences “ why you need the
money: this gives them a sense of responsibility for making the collection a success
”
think-tank that was originally set up by the party.To be a member, you have to live in North Devon and agree with the old Clause Four of the Labour Party constitution.The convenor circulated the details of our meeting to all members of this forum, which brought along five non-communist members of that body.The Morning Star advert worked in as much as two Socialist Labour Party members arrived from Bodmin. Our Somerset comrades came to give us support (Cornwall branch had their AGM and public activity the following day, and so sent a message of solidarity instead). Of the 31
people who attended, 11 were CP members. An appeal was made for money, and this raised £111.20. Always tell an audience why you need the money: this gives them a sense of responsibility for making the collection a success. Never simply pass round the hat! Our branch secretary read out poetry by one of the Miami 5 and presented Nancy with a locally crafted slipware jug.We agreed to set up a local branch of the Cuba Solidarity Campaign and fixed the inaugural meeting for 7pm, 8 April, at the same venue.Time was made for questions and discussion, and the meeting ended with the singing of the Internationale.
Gerrard Sables N Look out for more reports on Nancy Coro Aguiar’s speaking tour in the next Communist News & Views
Eastern
An Eastern District aggregate was held in Ipswich on 21 February, following the sad death last year of its secretary Rodney Tucker. Trevor Harris of North Essex and Suffolk branch was elected secretary, and decisions were made on a range of activities in the district during 2009, including the Burston Strike School Rally in September, freshers’ fairs in October and a Morning Star public meeting in Cambridge. A new Eastern District website will appear very soon – watch this space. Comrades will distribute No2EU leaflets in Ipswich on Sunday 24 May. Call 07834 487076 for details. SEND YOUR REPORTS for the next Communist News & Views by email to news&views@communistparty.org.uk or by post to party centre.
EVENTS
Wednesday 15 April, 7.30pm Sunday 19 April, 10am-5pm
April 2009 Communist news & views page 7
Why You Should Vote No2EU, Yes to Democracy
Guest Speaker: Brian Denny, Campaign Coordinator Upstairs Room, Lucas Arms, 225 Grays Inn Road, London WC1
Midlands Communist University:
Speakers include Joginder Bains (IWA), Robert Griffiths (CP), Bill Greenshields (NUT), Alvaro Sanchez (Venezuelan Embassy), Tony Conway (PCS) and Joanne Stevenson (YCL) Shaheed Bhagat Singh Centre, 88 Hastings Rd, Leicester LE5 0HL
Monday 20 April, 7.45pm
Derby Marxist Forum “Philosophers have interpreted the world – the point, however, is to change it!” The Brunswick Inn, 1Railway Terrace, Derby
Thursday 23 April, 7.15pm
Mobilising for Struggle – The Next Steps Nottinghamshire and North Lincs Communist Party meeting Speaker: Andy Goodall, Communist Party National Organiser YMCA International Community Centre, 61b Mansfield Road, Nottingham NG1 3FN
Saturday 25 April, 10am-4pm
Saturday 20 June
Friday 16 – Sunday 18 October 2009, various dates
Crunch Time for Trident?
Scottish CND conference hosted by Glasgow's Lord Provost, City Chambers, George Square, Glasgow. A range of leading UK figures will speak. Free, to register email john.ainslie@ banthebomb.org Phone 0141 423 1222 or write to Scottish CND, 15 Barrland St, Glasgow, G41 1QH.
Morning Star Conference: ‘Surviving Capitalism’s Crisis’
TUC Conference Hall, Congress House 23-28 Great Russell St, London WC1B 3LS. Book by sending £10/£5 unwaged to the Secretary (Conference),William Rust House, 52 Beachy Rd, London E3 2NS (Tel: 020 8510 0815). Cheques/P.O. should be made payable to PPPS. Detailed information can be found in adverts in the M Star and on the party website. Promotional leaflets are available from Ivan Beavis on 07766 546958.
Communist University of Britain ’09
Check the party website for updates on workshops and speakers.
Cuba 50
A celebration of Cuban culture. For details, watch the Cuba 50 website: www.cuba50.org See next page for trade union conference dates
Make sure your events – meetings, conferences, congresses – are listed in the next issue of Communist News & Views, in print and online
Send the details to news&views@communist-party.org.uk or party centre
page 8 Communist news & views April 2009 PARTY CONTACTS LONDON PARTY CENTRE Ruskin House, 23 Coombe Rd, Croydon, London CR0 1BD 02086861659 office@communist-party.org.uk www.communist-party.org.uk SCOTLAND Unity Offices, 72 Waterloo Street, Glasgow G2 7DA 01412041611 office@scottishcommunists.org.uk www.scottishcommunists.org.uk WALES PO Box 69 Pontypridd CF37 9AB office@welshcommunists.org office@welshcommunists.org YORKSHIRE PO Box 449 Leeds LS6 9BE www.yorkshirecommunists.org MIDLANDS www.midlandscommunists.org.uk NORTHERN www.northerncommunists.org.uk
I want to join the Communist Party/Young Communist League name
address email
phone age
Return to Communist Party, 23 Coombe Road, Croydon, London CR0 1BD
TRADE UNION CONFERENCE DATES NUT
10-14 April
Cardiff
UNISON Health
20-22 April
Harrogate
NASUWT
Scottish TUC CYWU
BECTU
13-16 April
20-22 April 23-26 April
Bournemouth Perth
Newcastle
25 April
Bournemouth
26-29 April
Blackpool
TUC Black Workers’ Conference
24-26 April
TUC Wales
19-21 May
Llandudno
18-22 May
Brighton
12-19 June
Blackpool
USDAW TSSA PCS
UCU GMB
20-22 May 27-29 May
Scarborough
Torquay t.b.c
UNISON Local Government
15-16 June
Brighton
TUC Northern Pensioners
26-27 June
Northumbria
Labour Party
26-30 Sept
Brighton
UNISON TUC
STUC Women’s Conference NUJ
17-20 June 14-17 Sept
17-18 Nov 19-22 Nov
WHAT YOU CAN DO
Brighton
Liverpool
Perth
Southport
To assist with Morning Star sales and distribution of Communist Party materials, please contact Ivan Beavis (Morning Star circulation manager) on 020 8510 0815 or Carolyn Jones (chair of the Communist Party’s Trade Union Co-ordinating Committee) on 07941 076 245 or email cad@communist-party.org.uk
GET YOUR COPY NOW!
A third, updated edition of the Communist Party pamphlet Women & Class, written by Professor Mary Davis, is now available for £2 from the website or direct from party centre. Party branches: log in and order online, and get a 10% discount.