Workers - the force for change
Global capitalism warps development across the world. Countries and peoples everywhere become the playthings of billionaires and finance capitalists.
Editorials
Editorials
End terror: stay out of Israel and Palestine
13 October 2023
Events in Israel and Gaza have appalled workers everywhere. Workers should demand an end to external interference, opposing both terrorism and reprisals.
Stay out of Israel and Palestine! [print version]
Events in Israel and Gaza have appalled workers everywhere. Workers should demand an end to external interference, opposing both terrorism and reprisals…
No to military escalation in Ukraine
2 October 2023
The British government threatens to escalate Britain’s involvement in the war in Ukraine. This is not in the interests of British workers.
What’s next for workers?
No worker really thinks that one year’s success ends the necessity for future defence of pay. Yet perpetual, unending strikes are not the answer either…
Back to school - a national priority
School attendance is essential for both personal attainment and a key part of developing the skills we need as a nation.
Health workers need a plan
Faced with an enemy operating a scorched earth policy, all NHS trade unions need to plan. And struggle will need to be persistent and protracted.
Assert the right to strike
The new Public Order Act, finally hurried through a pliant Parliament just days before the Coronation, is a giant step towards a far more repressive state. Peaceful protest is under threat.
Take charge, keep charge
The resurgence in working class struggle – after years of relative quiet – is proof that progress is possible.
Oppose all free trade agreements
For Britain to leave the EU and then seek to join other trade blocs is the opposite of asserting independence and sovereignty.
What is Internationalism?
18 March 2023
Control over borders is the best way for a country to develop its economy and benefit its people. Such self-determination and independence serve the cause of workers everywhere.
Keep the EU out of Britain – and Ireland too!
10 March 2023
At the end of February the goverment announced a provisional agreement (the Windsor Framework) with the EU to resolve difficulties with the Northern Ireland Protocol. Rishi Sunak claims this will “take back control” of Northern Ireland. It won’t.
Arming Ukraine: no road to peace [print version]
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky stepped up efforts to further involve Britain and other NATO countries in his country’s war against Russia. This makes escalation more likely, not less.
The political economy of taking control
Since the 2008 crash governments have increased the money supply, with no improvement in productivity. This imbalance is the main cause of the current inflation.
Arms escalation in Ukraine no road to peace
9 February 2023
Ukrainian President Zelensky is stepping up efforts to further involve Britain and NATO countries in his war against Russia by pleading for more arms. This makes escalation of the conflict more likely.
Starmer’s speech – the opposite of taking control
12 January 2023
The Labour Party has made its pitch to win the next general election, due in two years’ time at the latest – by stealing the Conservative party’s slogan for the 2016 referendum and 2019 election, Take Back Control, and reinterpreting it.
New year, new spirit
In many ways the situation facing workers in Britain is as dire as it has been at any time since the Second World War. But there is a shining light: the army of the working class is on the move.
Resistance breeds oppression
When a strike takes place, when workers withdraw their labour, they and their employers are confronted with the truth: workers are essential to capitalism.
No going back!
21 November 2022
This government is toying with reversing the referendum vote to leave the European Union. That will get as far as it thinks the people will allow it to go.
Autumn statement – no change, no answers
21 November 2022
The Autumn Statement changes nothing for workers, who must take matters into their own hands. Fighting for increased pay is essential, but on its own not enough.
Living on borrowed time
Another month, another prime minister. And yet underneath nothing has changed at all. British capitalism, the oldest in the world and arguably the most cunning, is out of ideas and out of time.
Some honest thinking, at last
The TUC congress met in Brighton from 18 to 20 October. Much of the agenda was routine and predictable, but some unions are thinking honestly and hard about the future of their industries and of Britain.
Truss beats the drums of war
10 October 2022
Instead of increasing Britain’s security Liz Truss is making the world a less safe place by leading Europe in arming Ukraine, training their soldiers and leading sanctions against Russia, with the defeat of Putin at the top of her list.
Nurses: a call to arms
9 October 2022
Nurses are considering industrial action on pay. It is time for those of us outside the NHS to stop clapping and hear the call to arms.
Carelessness and contempt
5 October 2022
During the past couple of weeks the government’s contempt towards its two main domestic creditors – the pension funds and the Bank of England nearly brought about a new, devastating collapse.
Making an honest living
As a nation, there are really only two ways for Britain to make a living. It can be an honest one as a manufacturing nation making things that people need. Or it can be a parasitic existence, relying on banking and tourism, and buying in what we need.
Capitalism isn’t working
Capitalism cannot meet even our basic survival needs. Nor can it protect the environment here in Britain or elsewhere.
Counting the cost of ‘net zero carbon’
20 August 2022
None of the politicians – least of all those vying for the Conservative leadership – will talk about the daily damage caused by adherence to the mantra of net zero carbon by 2050.
No to the war machine!
Our current prime minister doesn’t know if he’ll still be in office by the end of the summer. But he does claim to know that the war in Ukraine will drag on for years.
Time to fight for pay
As inflation spirals upwards, more workers are lodging and fighting for pay claims. But too many are not...