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

● Deadlock at Manchester City ground Balfour Beatty job ● Scottish electricians to meet to set out next steps ● 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.