Solidarity 025, 6 March 2003

A People's Assembly?

The Stop The War Coalition is calling a 'People's Assembly for Peace' on Wednesday 12 March (Central Hall, Westminster, 10am to 5pm). Publicity for it suggests that it is modelled on the 'People's Convention' called by the Communist Party to oppose World War Two, in the period of the Stalin-Hitler pact. After Hitler invaded the USSR on 22 June 1941, the Communist Party would become fervently pro-war, and oppose any strikes or trade-union action which it thought might hinder the war; but before then it argued that Hitler really wanted peace and that all 'progressive' people should unite to...

What Is To Be Done? A Socialist Credo

Trotsky knew: I see the bright green strip of grass Beneath the wall. And the clear blue sky Above the wall And sunlight everywhere Life is beautiful Let the future generations cleanse it Of all evil, oppression And violence And enjoy it to the full. Marti knew: With the poor people of the earth I want to share my fate. Zbigniew knew: Go upright among those Who are on their knees: Let your anger be like the sea Whenever you hear the voice Of the insulted And beaten. Connolly knew: Impartiality as between The strong and the weak Is the virtue of the slave. Marx knew, Engels knew: History is the...

We fight for human solidarity

Liam Conway made the closing speech at conference. "Comrades, the mainstream labour movement is dominated by people who have nothing in common with the aspirations of the working class - who care nothing for the idea of human solidarity. "People who think it is right to go to war in alliance with a right-wing republican government in America - not to liberate its people from a dictator, but to liberate its oil for western capitalism. "People who think it is just and fair that Cherie Blair can buy two flats for her son in Bristol for £500,000 using the services of a known conman, whilst working...

US/UK plan mass murder

Is war now certain? Despite the vast scale of the world-wide opposition to war, a US/UK attack on Iraq seems a certainty. Small-scale air attacks on Iraq have been routine for years. Already they are being escalated. Soon the US and Britain will launch what they call Operation Shock and Awe - total war on Iraq. The first two days will, they say, see 800 cruise missiles rain down on Baghdad, so as to destroy "the enemy's will to fight". Vast numbers of civilians are certain to be slaughtered. The Pentagon says plainly that "there will not be a safe place in Baghdad". Tony Blair and his cabinet...

1953: a year of hope

1953 was the year Stalin died, and a year of revolt in several Soviet bloc countries, in the first place, East Germany. This article by Jean-Michel Krivine , at the time a member of the French Communist Party, is from Rouge (2 January 2003), the paper of the Ligue Communiste Révolutionnaire in France. In it he describes some of the momentous events that followed the - very partial - Soviet thaw after Stalin's death. 1953 was a year particularly rich in events. One among them provoked seismic upheavals whose effects are still with us. But, before we deal with that, let's look at those that...

Congestion charge won't beat pollution

So far Ken Livingstone's congestion charging seems to be working. Does this mean socialists should give three (or even two) cheers and adopt it as part of our response to pollution, traffic congestion and other environmental problems? I don't think so - and not because I drive a car or support present levels of car use. Rather it is an attempt to use market forces to deal with problems that have their ultimate origins in the way the market operates. It is a regressive tax that lets the rich off more lightly than other car users. And it does little to deal with the real problems that lead to...

Don't boycott Israel's dissidents!

Dr Neve Gordon , a critic of Israeli economic and political policies, teaches at Ben Gurion University. In an article published in The Nation on 19 February 2003 and abridged below he argues against the boycott of Israeli academics. The organisers of the boycott in the UK include left-wing academics Steven and Hilary Rose. Noam Chomsky has also recently criticised the boycott. Among the Judenrat wannabes is your old friend and mine, Neve Gordon, wrote a Haifa University professor in one of his articles. “Gordon,” the professor continued, “is a fanatic anti-Semite from the monochromatic (Red)...

Victory for Mexican workers against Puma

By Mick Duncan, Secretary, No Sweat After Mexican workers' action against poverty-pay and anti-union management in Matamoros Garment, and a massive international campaign in support of their struggle, a victory has been won for militant, independent trade unionism. Workers' action began in January against illegal low-pay rates of US$3.90 per day, forced overtime, abuse from managers, disgusting food in the cafeteria and the denial of union rights. The sportswear giant, Puma, a major user of this sub-contracting factory in Puebla, Mexico, ran from the factory as soon as the struggle began to...

For women's rights against war and fundamentalism

By Gerry Byrne One voice has been surprisingly absent or muted in the debate on the coming war. Women are probably the majority of the anti-war movement. Women and children are the main sufferers under the UN-imposed sanctions. Women and children will feature hugely among the predicted half a million direct and indirect casualties, and the millions who will be forced to flee the destruction of their homes once the bombs start to fall. US military strategists are planning on a short hard war. This is code for not counting the cost in civilian casualties. Hundreds of Cruise missiles are expected...

How to fight the US hyperpower

By Colin Foster Workers' Liberty forums in London, Manchester, Leeds and Sheffield over recent weeks on "The USA as hyperpower" have produced lively discussions around questions on the shape of the modern world raised by the current drive for war in Iraq. Today's US "hyperpower" is fundamentally structural power within a world of more-or-less free trade, different from the old colonial empires of the late 19th century and the first half of the 20th century and their more-or-less organised trade blocs. As the home of the dollar, the basic currency of world trade and financial reserves worldwide...

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