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 […]
Peace scarf “wraps up” MoD at anti-nuke protest
Amy Gilligan reports Thousands of people encircled the Ministry of Defence in London yesterday with a giant, pink knitted peace scarf. The “Wrap up Trident” protest was called by the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) to send a message that Trident, Britain’s nuclear weapons system, must be scrapped, not replaced. MPs are set to vote on […]
Report: rs21 national meeting
On the weekend of 10th-11th January, rs21 held its 4th national meeting, one year after its founding in January 2014. It was attended by over 100 members, and had around 20 observers from other organisations and campaigns. We discussed the political situation in both international and national terms, debated what was possible for the left, and […]
Here to Stay, Here to Fight – Home Office protest for Migrants’ Rights Day
International Migrants’ Day on Thursday 18 December happened only two days after G4S guards were acquitted of the murder of Jimmy Mubenga. Sophie Williams of DocsNotCops reports from a protest outside the Home Office. This year’s Migrants Right’s Day saw scores of demonstrators take to the streets outside the Home Office. Called by NUS International […]
Scotland: the Social Movement for Independence and the Crisis of the British State
During the last week we’ve published a major analysis of Scottish politics after the independence referendum by historian and activist Neil Davidson in five parts. Now here it is all in one place.
Scotland – what next?
In the fifth and final part of his analysis of Scottish politics after the referendum, written in late September, Scottish historian and activist Neil Davidson looks at events since the vote.
Not ‘crazy’ as in wacky, but ‘mad’ as in ‘fuck this’
A Marxist analysis of the mental ill health epidemic has to lay the blame squarely at the door of class society, and the alienation, injustice and misery it causes.
Scotland – project fear and the ruling class panic
In the third part of his analysis of Scottish politics after the referendum, Scottish historian and activist Neil Davidson looks at the No campaign. Occasionally, writers have to resort to what might be called historically-informed speculation about the collective attitude of political actors. For the British ruling class in the referendum crisis, however, no speculation is necessary since its […]
A bigger fight is taking place below the radar: the movement to end detention
This article is reposted from the Right to Remain blog. On Saturday 8th November at 1pm Movement for Justice has called the fifth demonstration at Harmondsworth and Colnbrook immigration detention centres. Details here. [vimeo http://vimeo.com/110608994] When we write about immigration detention, we tend to comment on the inhumanity and the injustice. We write that detention […]
Tens of thousands join parade of the labour movement
Amy Gilligan reflects on Saturday’s TUC demonstration. The large TUC demonstration on Saturday saw tens of thousands of trade unionists march through central London. Branch banners from across the country were visible in many of the union blocks, and groups from outside of the capital made up a substantial proportion of those marching. The demonstration was […]
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 […]
Two public sector strikes suspended: proposed council deal offers little
The local government and tube strikes set for next Tuesday have been called off, though the new deal on offer to council workers is little better than the previous one. Two key public sector strikes planned for Tuesday 14 October have been cancelled by the unions involved. The local government workers’ strike by over 1.5 […]
Public sector strikes: a guide to who’s on strike when and why
Next week will see groups of workers from across the public sector taking industrial action in defence of pay and services. The week will culminate with trade union demonstrations in London and Glasgow on Saturday. Amy Gilligan rounds up who’s taking action when. UPDATE, 10 October Two of the strikes were called off yesterday. An RMT statement […]
Climate activism in the UK: Broadening, deepening, radicalising
As we prepare for an important conference on climate jobs and an international wave of climate demonstrations this weekend, Tabitha Spence takes a look at developments in the climate movement here in the UK. The year 2014 is proving to be significant for radical climate activism in the UK. The number of people getting involved […]
Fight for your right to read
Alan Gibbons, author, organiser of the Campaign for the Book and lifelong socialist discusses the attacks that the library service is facing in Britain. He is based in Liverpool where proposals to cut eleven of the city’s nineteen libraries have recently been announced. It is the fiftieth anniversary of the public library service. This should […]
A bluffer’s guide to boycotting Israel
A handy one-stop-shop for all the arguments you’ll need to argue for the growing Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israeli apartheid
Get organised! A guide from Ritzy and Curzon workers
In the past few months the strikes at the Ritzy cinema in Brixton and the growing campaign at Curzon cinema for the Living Wage have been an inspiration for those questioning how we can start to organise young workers or those on zero-hour contracts. Estelle Cooch sat down with Ritzy branch secretary Nia, Ritzy worker […]
Build in, build out, build up! July 10 strike report
Estelle Cooch writes: Over a million public sector workers went on strike today against pay, pensions and cuts. The strike was the biggest in several years and brought together unions that haven’t struck together since the two big pension strikes of 2011 – June and November 30th. It is worth recapping how the action came […]
A sunny success for the People’s Assembly
Anindya Bhattacharyya writes: Saturday’s march through central London was a test for the People’s Assembly Against Austerity’s – the first time it had organised a national march primarily through its own resources, rather than putting a call out for a march that brought bigger forces (the TUC, the big unions) behind it. It passed that test smoothly […]
People’s Assembly demonstration – rolling coverage
Reports and updates from today’s #NoMoreAusterity demonstration in London. Follow @revsoc21 on twitter and send reports, updates and photos to revolutionarysocialism21@gmail.com 4.48pm From Brixton earlier – Curzon workers join Ritzy picket line ahead of demo 4.04pm Great view from the stage via @pplsassembly, giving some idea of the size of today’s demo: 3.42pm Vishal, a medical […]
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 […]
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 […]
UK a tax haven for Big Pharma
Sophie Williams, a medical student at Imperial College London, discusses how low tax rates in the UK make buying out AstraZeneca an attractive deal for US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer US-based pharmaceutical giant Pfizer has begun a bid to buy-out the UK-registered AstraZeneca. Both companies are the in top-ten most profitable pharmaceutical industries, generating a combined […]
Sparks strike back against umbrella agencies: NG Bailey vulnerable to action
â— Deadlock at Manchester City ground Balfour Beatty job â— Scottish electricians to meet to set out next steps â— Action could generalise across country and industries by Christian C and Anindya Bhattacharyya Over 40 electricians “cabined up” (ie refused to work) on Thursday morning at a Manchester City training ground. They are demanding “jobs […]
rs21 Political Weekend: Social Movements and United Fronts Today
Rebecca Short writes: Colin Barker and Sølvi Goard’s workshop on Social Movements and United Fronts Today tackled arguments that are key for anyone organising on the left. As the room started to fill, a video was played from perhaps one of the most exciting struggles in the past year, that in in Bosnia Herzegovina, etching […]
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.
Atos: We’ve won the battle but not the war
As Atos is forced to rebrand and pull out of Work Capability Assessment, Gill George discusses the misery they have inflicted and argues we need to take on the Tories as well.
Craft, gender and politics
Why would a revolutionary socialist spend time knitting? Amy Gilligan writes on craft for production and pleasure.
A note on intersex and transgender issues
Colin Wilson provides a 101 on trans and intersex people’s lives and struggles.
Revolutionary organisation and the united front
Rob Owen writes criticising the SWP’s trajectory over the past few years, arguing that it has been based on a false assessment of the working class and is incubating sectarian attitudes to the movement.