Labour's war on Iraq must end! [WORKERS, DEC 2004]
On 10 November, Military Families Against the War held a silent vigil outside Number 10 Downing Street. They handed in a letter saying, "This was a contrived war, a war of option, not necessity." They denounced the "illegal invasion" and accused the government of "morally unacceptable conduct". They demanded, "Stop the war, bring the troops home." This appears to be the first time that the families of serving soldiers have protested against a war while it was still being fought.
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One constitution to bind us all [WORKERS, DEC 2004]
Some individuals in Britain not only think they know best. They know they know best. Such as those in Parliament and in the TUC, eagerly pushing the European Union project. They are the self-styled political elite who want us to leave everything to them as they plot the disappearance of Britain as a nation state and the end of any national control on the British economy. What they have in common is contempt for national parliaments, institutions and organisations and a fear of what happens when the people intrude into what they see as their own private discussions.
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Short of energy? Maybe just short of clear thinking... [WORKERS, DEC 2004]
Most discussion of energy now seems to focus on the wrong theme, worries about global warming due to emissions of greenhouse gases. Any warming of the earth from man-made emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases will probably be modest, most likely rising by 2 to 2.5°C over the 21st century (according to the UN Climate Panel).
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The unholy trinity: poverty, capitalism...and Poor Laws [WORKERS, DEC 2004]
Despite the boasts of chancellor Gordon Brown about the state of the British economy, many workers are unable to live on what they earn, many more are unemployed or constantly in and out of work. Around 14% of working age households are now in receipt of tax credits.
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Bring the troops home — now! [WORKERS, NOV 2004]
The Iraqi people are asserting their right to expel the invaders, liberate themselves and settle their own affairs without foreign interference. The Pentagon now estimates that the number of insurgents has quadrupled, to 20,000. The British former commander of coalition forces says 50,000. All the more surprising, and disgraceful, that 8,500 British troops are not only in Iraq but being put at even greater risk around Baghdad in order to boost Bush's election hopes and deepen Britain's entanglement.
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Regeneration for youth — or a “five year strategy” of destruction? [WORKERS, NOV 2004]
"Market forces create winners and losers," said Steve Sinnott, new NUT General Secretary, to a recent meeting of Divisional Secretaries from around the country, "and it is absurd to expect those forces to come to the rescue of those who have lost."
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After the TUC: reassert the need for workplace organisation [WORKERS, NOV 2004]
It is traditional to give a muted response at the TUC to a Labour Prime Minister just before a General Election, as too much association with the unions might spoil his chances. But this year's was a bit more muted than usual as the Prime Minister gritted his teeth to read a speech pledging good faith to the Warwick agreements - agreements, of course, which he and employers alike detest. Yet they are weak agreements and no previous trade union movement would have settled for them.
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What's so sacrosanct about religion? [WORKERS, NOV 2004]
The opening of Conway Hall in London's Red Lion Square, where free speech has been exercised for 75 years, was celebrated there in a fitting manner with a meeting tackling the current wave of assaults upon free speech. The Communist Party of Britain, having the tradition of holding May Day meetings in the main hall for over 30 years, was represented amongst the guests at this special celebration.
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multiple failure in the war against iraq [WORKERS, OCT 2004]
The war against Iraq has failed in all its stated aims. Iraq is not democratic, not stable, not safe, not at peace and not independent. Prime Minister Allawi has imposed martial law and admitted that the elections scheduled for January will be delayed. His government has less popular support than Saddam had. Five thousand detainees held without charge or trial are still being humiliated, abused, tortured and murdered. The war of national resistance against the occupiers grows daily.
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nhs: our agenda for change [WORKERS, OCT 2004]
Health service workers and their trade unions have developed plans to completely revitalise the pay of over a million-and-a-quarter health workers, offering them the greatest opportunity ever to take control of their working lives. Controlling your working life, the reason why most workers join a trade union, is the first step to controlling the rest of your life, a struggle for dignity and improvement.
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manufacturing industry - a tale of two reports as the tuc begs for handouts [WORKERS, OCT 2004]
In July, the TUC published an important report: Manufacturing Now: Delivering the Manufacturing Strategy. It provides an accurate description of the murder of whole sectors of manufacturing in Britain, events that have been virtually ignored. But it fails to put forward any effective remedy, accepts EU policies which are harming and even destroying our manufacturing industry, and winds up merely begging the government for hand-outs.
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the day the markets died [WORKERS, OCT 2004]
The great crash of 1929 happened 75 years ago this month. Despite its claims, one wonders whether capitalism has really changed all that much.
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trade unions and the political fund [WORKERS, SEPT 2004]
In July this year, just in time for the TUC conference and the impending general election, the government and larger trade unions closed a deal which the government hopes will buy them industrial peace and vital funding — party membership is in steep decline — to secure a third term.
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tuc - what we need are independent unions for an independent britain [WORKERS, SEPT 2004]
When the TUC meets it deserves great attention as the closest we have to a parliament of workers. We should meet thus every day. A once-a-year event becomes a rigmarole like the band playing in the park one Sunday in summer. But we are too exhausted just surviving to pool our resources daily. Once a year for the time being will have to do. Or will it? Isn't the situation quite urgent?
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a constitution for international capitalism [WORKERS, SEPT 2004]
Will the British working class survive as an independent, sovereign and democratic nation? We are the nation. We have no other nation, and though we may often choose not to exercise our powers, the proposed EU constitution is the biggest threat to them since the Second World War. Yet the TUC, out of cowardly refusal to struggle and betrayal of its working class root, embraces it.
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a design classic - and made in britain [WORKERS, SEPT 2004]
The Brompton bike, attracting admiration and applause as it unfolds from its extremely compact package, is a good example of British inventiveness and capacity for production. But in future the European Union wants to stop people knowing where this remarkable bike is made — by banning labels such as Made in Britain.
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running out of reserves in the war for oil [WORKERS, JULY 2004]
Despite the strong opposition in Britain to the Iraq war, it has been leaked that Blair is planning to send 3,000 more troops, as part of a Nato force. Blair hopes that this will be formally agreed at the Nato summit in Istanbul just before the handover to the newly appointed government in Iraq on 30 June. Coming after the announcement of 600 more troops earlier in the same week increasing numbers already there to 9,200, we must ask where will this all end? And more to the point, what can we do to stop it?
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the nhs: where have all the health workers gone? [WORKERS, JULY 2004]
The NHS has a long and dishonourable tradition of poaching overseas trained staff and of enticing young people from developing countries to come to Britain to train. .
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the relentless rise of unemployment [WORKERS, JULY 2004]
Unemployment in Britain is rising under this government, despite its efforts to convince us to the contrary. This is to be seen across whole sectors of workers. To stop this destruction, we need a strong national policy of investing in manufacturing industry and vital industries to increase the demand for labour, together with the commitment to retain investment and jobs in this country.
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the fight for scottish opera [WORKERS, JULY 2004]
The controlled anger and solidarity in the picture says it all: three unions united to resist an attack on jobs and culture with BECTU, Equity and the Musicians' Union countering attempts to destroy Scotland's biggest employer of cultural workers, Scottish Opera. Significantly, it is they, the most solidly unionised in the arts, that the Scottish Executive view as a thorn in their side — with their Labour members rushing past last week's Edinburgh street protest with bowed heads.
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US plans second war against Cuba [WORKERS, JUNE 2004]
On 6 May, the United States government announced plans to overthrow the Cuban government and effectively turn the island into a US colony. For the past 42 years, the American blockade has made it impossible for Cuba to trade with the US, imposed penalties on third countries trading or shipping with it, prohibited the country from using US dollars in foreign trade, barred it from world financial institutions, prevented it from buying medicine and food from US subsidiaries, blacklisted ships visiting Cuban ports and generally imposed a stranglehold on trade with the island. Now, the US is to impose new measures geared specifically to overthrow the revolutionary government and replace it with a US-controlled regime. The highly trained and educated Cuban population would provide cheap labour for US companies.
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a politic made in britain [article based on Mayday speech] [WORKERS, JUNE 2004]
Reg Birch's politics were made in Britain, and always focused on what the British working class — all those who have to go out to work to earn a living — needed to win a decent life, to win our class rights — the right to work and create in Britain, the rights to health, education, skill and housing, the right to sovereignty, the right to run our own affairs. Similarly, all workers across the world have class rights. We can only achieve these with peace and independence, when we no longer allow capitalism to rule.
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there's nothing free about the 'free movement of labour' [WORKERS, JUNE 2004]
BRITAIN — the welcoming new home within an enlarged European Union for all fleeing war, starvation and desperate poverty? Impossible, of course. Why, then, the confusion, deliberate and naive, concerning the free movement of labour? The government, its EU masters and its placemen and women in the trade unions are orchestrating the most systematic and deliberate campaign to exacerbate the confusion.
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