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What we think
Anti-austerity, socialist policies can be a winning formula
Angry mass revolts have been erupting in many countries across the globe. On Friday 25 October, up to two million people demonstrated on the streets of Chile’s capital Santiago.
News
Tories out now. Bin Boris. Corbyn can win with socialist policies!
As we go to press, Johnson and his bosses’ Brexit deal remain suspended in mid-air. Unable to govern, Johnson’s only way out is a high-risk gamble on a general election, hoping against hope that it will win him a working majority.
39 migrants found dead in Essex lorry container
There has been widespread shock and revulsion at the deaths of 39 people on 21 October. Their bodies were found in the back of a refrigerated lorry in the Essex town of Grays on 23 October.
Millionaire retail boss Mike Coupe, who was caught on camera singing “we’re in the money” on TV before an interview about a possible Sainsbury’s-Argos merger, has halved Argos workers’ Christmas bonus to just £5.
Wall Street Crash
The 1929 Wall Street Crash: When the capitalist system was on its knees
Ninety years ago the world was tipped into the ‘Great Depression’. The Wall Street Crash saw stock markets descend into free-fall while banks failed. The capitalist economy slumped and the nightmare of mass unemployment for the working class became a reality.
Workplace news
PCS union election: For a fighting democratic general secretary
The election for the next general secretary of the 180,000-strong trade union runs from 7 November until 12 December.
PCS: Support Marion Lloyd – a history of workers’ struggle and a programme for the future
The election for the next general secretary of the PCS civil and public services trade union runs from 7 November until 12 December.
McDonald’s – Striking to end low pay
Workers at six McDonald’s stores in south London will go on strike on 12 November. The members of the BFAWU bakers’ union are demanding a £15-an-hour wage, an end to youth rates, the choice of guaranteed hours of up to 40 a week, notice of shifts four weeks in advance, union recognition and respect and dignity at work.
London – ‘autumn of discontent’
Independent union United Voices of the World (UVW) has launched an ‘autumn of discontent’ with strikes by outsourced, low-paid, mainly migrant workers.
RMT election: Fight the cuts, vote for Jared Wood
Jared Wood opposes the £1 billion worth of cuts by Transport for London. He rejects shift patterns that are killing tube workers, fights for a four-day week, and also campaigns for the policy of transport union RMT – a Jeremy Corbyn-led Labour government with socialist policies.
Uni workers’ pay and pension strike ballot
We are waiting for the result of the University and College Union (UCU) strike ballot. The union is asking its members in universities two questions. Will you strike for your pay? Will you strike for your pension?
Butterfields
How working-class tenants beat Gentrification
Every time I drive up Lea Bridge Road in Walthamstow, east London, I pass the Butterfields estate. I look with pride to the ‘Butterfields won’t budge’ poster still displayed in the window of one of the tenants.
Black history
Black Liberation… Only possible through socialist struggle
To mark Black History Month, Hugo Pierre, Socialist Party black and Asian group, looks at the historic struggle for black liberation and the lessons we can draw from it for today.
Obituary – Bob Lee: 1954 – 2019
It was with great sadness and shock that I learnt of the death of Bob Lee, a former black member of the Militant Tendency (forerunner of the Socialist Party).
International socialist news and analysis
A human sea of Chilean workers, youth, students and others flooded onto the streets of central Santiago on 25 October. It was the largest demonstration in Chilean history.
Socialist Party reports and campaigns
Enfield North socialists lobby candidate stitch-up
Donate to fund the fightback at Socialism 2019
We are asking all our members and supporters to donate to the Socialism 2019 financial appeal.
Chile protests – London solidarity rally
Reader’s opinion
Reading the articles about low pay, I am glad we’ve raised our figure around the minimum wage. We certainly don’t want to be gazumped by the Tories, although they have no intention of implementing an increase.
Film reviews: Sorry We Missed You by Ken Loach
“A stark reminder of the inhumane lengths bosses will go to under capitalism to increase their profits”: “Let’s get one thing straight, you don’t work for us, you work with us”. Those words from the boss’s mouth in the opening scene of Sorry We Missed You get turned into a sick joke over the course of the film
TV: The Accident – Will capitalism be exposed in upsetting, true-to-life drama?
There’s a huge explosion on a building site. Children playing on the poorly guarded site are caught in the blast – dead, injured or trapped in an unsafe building that’s collapsing.
Opinion: Labour Party is structured to block left councillors
Blairite councillors are doing everything they can to prevent councils standing up to the Tories and defending their communities like Tony Mulhearn and the ‘Liverpool 47’ councillors did from 1983 to 1987.
Letters to the Socialist’s editors