#BBCdebate: win for the Nationalists and Greens, demolition for Miliband
Jonas Liston shares his thoughts coming out of tonight’s leader’s debate 1) Farage was isolated and snowed under by the dominance of the left in the debate. However, even though his central, racist focus on migration as the cause of every social problem (housing, NHS, etc.) got outdone in the debate, that and his sheer […]
Stealing the election
Dan Swain argues we can’t let the Tories steal another 5 years Who’s going to win the General Election? The simple answer is nobody. Under the first past the post system, to really ‘win’ a party has to secure 326 seats in Parliament, which makes it impossible for them to be outvoted even if all the […]
Dundee porters on strike against low pay
Mike A reports from the hospital porters’ strike in Dundee. On the wall of the Medical Library at Ninewells hospital in Dundee, there is a poem by Michael Rosen. It’s a fine tribute to all those who contribute to caring for us in hospital when we need it, whether medical staff or not, and I […]
Labour – what are they good for?
Amy Gilligan asks what it means for people to support Labour today and what is happening to this support? This article was originally published in the Spring 2015 issue of the rs21 magazine One of my earliest experiences of political activity was going canvassing for the Labour Party. I was, I should probably say, about […]
rs21 magazine Spring 2015 launches tomorrow
The Spring 2015 issue of the rs21 magazine will be launching at our event for International Women’s day 50 Shades of Struggle: Women and the New Social Movements taking place at LSE tomorrow (Wednesday 11 March, 7pm, East Building, Room E304) – get your copy at the meeting, from your local rs21 group, by subscribing or […]
Reject the deal – restart the strikes
Mark Boothroyd, a nurse at St Thomas’ Hospital, on why health workers should restart the strikes for the sake of the NHS. This was originally posted on Mark’s blog. See also the Health Worker leaflet: Reject this rotten offer. Last week UNISON and UNITE’s leaderships voted to call off NHS strike action in response to an offer from the government. The […]
The Magpie: Can we get a political voice?
In a new column, The Magpie discusses working class political representation The feeling that working class people in Britain have no effective political voice was everywhere even before Syriza won. It is shared by followers of Russell Brand; by those who back Labour out of fear of the Tories; and those who back smaller parties such […]
Jim Murphy’s election: a view from inside the Labour Party
The pro-independence left have written off the Scottish Labour Party, writes Jim Monaghan – but polling figures for left of Labour parties are tiny, and we need unity to fight austerity and war. The election of Jim Murphy as Scottish Labour leader will have a profound effect on Scotland’s current fluid political landscape. From optimistic […]
Jim Murphy’s election: a death sentence for Scottish Labour?
Jim Murphy is the new leader of the Scottish Labour Party. That he was even a candidate for the job, writes Pete Cannell, shows how little the Labour Party understood what was happening in Scotland during the referendum campaign. The final months of the referendum campaign were a festival of democratic participation. The objective was […]
Historical Materialism 2014: Migration, the Labour Market and Social Reproduction
The second of three articles by UNITE union activist Ian Allinson, reporting from four very useful sessions[1] on learning the North American Labour movement at this year’s Historical Materialism conference. We’re all busy fighting to stop “blame the migrants” arguments from politicians from UKIP to Labour and from the press getting a hold in our […]
Parliament votes to recognise Palestine: what is going on?
We can use these shifts at the top to strengthen our actions on the ground in support of genuine Palestinian liberation.
Why Labour should be worried about Clacton
Anindya Bhattacharyya analyses UKIP’s success in Thursday’s two by-elections. One of the peculiarities of mainstream political chatter is its tendency to seize on the unexpected and discount long-term predictable trends. The response to Thursday’s by-elections is a case in point: UKIP’s Douglas Carswell was expected to win in Clacton, so no surprises there, but the Heywood […]
The People’s Assembly: Why you should march on Saturday
Dan Swain, of rs21 and active in Norfolk People’s Assembly, argues why you should support Saturday’s demonstration against austerity, and build the People’s Assembly where you can.
Euro elections: consolidation on left and right
Anindya Bhattacharyya follows up his predictions for the Euro elections with analysis of the results. He argues that the problem isn’t necessarily UKIP, but the space that UKIP occupies, and that space needs to be shut down. The Western Isles refuses to count ballots on a Sunday, and Tower Hamlets ended up taking an extra […]
rs21 guide to the European elections: predictions and recommended votes
Anindya Bhattacharyya crunches the figures and predicts polarisation, with a right wing consolidation around UKIP and a left wing tussle between Labour and the Greens I’m going to stick my neck out and give my predictions and recommendations for the European elections in Britain on Thursday. First the headline news: Yes, UKIP is riding high, […]
Busting immigration myths
Immigration has dominated the discussion in the run up to the European elections on Thursday. Politicians and the media are happy to spread anti-migrant myths, Bunny La Roche seeks out the facts MYTH: Migrants hold down wages FACT There is little evidence that mass migration has significantly driven down wages. Three studies undertaken between 2009-2011 […]
Tony Benn (1925–2014)
Ian Birchall looks back at the life of a genuine socialist who fought to the end: Tony Benn, who died today.
Unite halves affiliation to Labour
The move is a sign of the discontent within the unions caused by Labour’s failure to stand up for workers and a reaction to the attacks on the union links by the Labour leadership.