Nuclear weapons

Nuclear arms and the replacement of Trident

No to any attack on Iran: for working-class resistance to imperialisms big and small.

1) TO CONDEMN OR NOT CONDEMN? 2) THE "BURNING, IMMEDIATE QUESTION". 3) BACK TO THE CHESS BOARD 4) THE ISSUE IS AGENCY 1) TO CONDEMN OR NOT CONDEMN? I’ve found the bogging down of the debate in the question of whether we would condemn/not condemn/oppose/support/advocate/call for/take responsibility for a particular action (specifically, an Israeli attack) rather unhelpful. They’re all potentially confusing categories and on a certain level, talking about “condemnation” is all a bit abstract anyway; the key thing is how such “condemnation” (or otherwise) translates into concrete action for us...

What if Israel bombs Iran? A Discussion Article

Click here for the ensuing debate. An attack on Iran will most likely lead to great carnage in the Middle East, and beyond, as supporters of Iran resort to suicide-bombings in retaliation. There might well be large scale Iranian civilian “collateral” casualties. An attack would strengthen the Iranian regime and license a smash down on its critics, including working class critics, inside Iran. It would throw Iraq back into the worst chaos. Yet the plain fact is that nuclear bombs in the hands of a regime which openly declares its desire to destroy Israel are not something Israel will peacefully...

Iran, Israel and nuclear weapons

We can’t be sure; but the odds must be that George W Bush’s administration will not launch a bomb attack on Iran in its last few months in office. Even if such an attack went neatly as planned, it couldn’t bring any triumph that would boost the standing of the administration or of its favoured candidate in the November presidential election, John McCain. Politically, an attack would be very difficult only months after an official US government report declared that Iran had probably stopped any efforts to develop nuclear weapons. The Bush administration has in fact inched towards closer...

Nuclear energy and metabolic rifts

Solidarity’s current debate about the future of the nuclear industry appears to be an argument at cross purposes. Martin Thomas, Les Hearn and others have argued that nuclear is not as dangerous or as lethal as some other energy sources like coal. If only we had a planned economy under workers’ control without a £70 billion Trident replacement project in the pipeline, then nuclear would be a good idea. I think its useful to look again at Marx’s metaphor of the “metabolic rift”. As the grandfather of historical materialism, Marx not only developed a radically practical philosophical worldview...

Letters: Honest accounting on nuclear

Is this Solidarity or Green World that I’m reading? According to Stuart Jordan (24 Jan), whatever the answer to climate change is, it’s not nuclear power! Nuclear plants are always late and over budget, unlike anything else. Apparently, uranium would run out in 10 years, a fact that had escaped the companies that are keen to build and run new power stations. So why is Gordon Brown keen on nuclear? Because his brother is a “lobbyist” for EDF! Of course! Instead, we need “a massive investment in renewables, energy storage and carbon capture technology”, with “a giant international supergrid...

Why we should oppose expansion of nuclear power

Nuclear power is dangerous, expensive and unnecessary to cut global greenhouse gas emissions. It is bound up with nuclear weapons. We should oppose the expansion of nuclear power in today’s conditions of capitalist globalisation. In particular we should oppose the British government’s promotion of a new generation of nuclear reactors. According to a recent report by the Oxford Research Group (ORG), there are currently 429 nuclear reactors in operation in the world today in 30 states. It says another 25 reactors are under construction and a further 76 have been planned, mainly by China, Japan...

Trident: Taking The TUC Tops To Task

This morning, we were treated to an address by TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber. There are various little things he said that I could pick on and slag off, but I won't, because it was the overall message that bugged me. Basically, after listing the Labour government's bountiful gifts to workers...

Trade union action can stop Trident replacement

In September 2006 the TUC resolved: “Congress calls upon the Government not to replace Trident.” A few weeks later, Labour Party conference met. The report to it from the National Policy Forum — a new body set up under Tony Blair’s remodelling of the Labour Party — stated: “The question of the replacement for the Trident system is one of central importance... there should be a full debate on the issue.” In a bizarre twist typical of the Blair-Brown Labour Party, this statement that there should be a full debate then became the pretext for denying a debate. Seventeen motions from constituency...

No to Trident replacement!

by Amy Fisher In his foreword to the Government's white paper on the replacement of the Trident nuclear missile system, Tony Blair writes of the need to "deter" countries who might "seek to sponsor nuclear terrorism". In fact, the system exists for no other reason than to reinforce British imperialism's power to terrorise. Whilst we oppose apologists for the weapons programmes of countries such as Iran and North Korea, socialists must recognise the hypocrisy of the biggest nuclear powers, Britain and the United States, when they talk of disarmament. The white paper states Labour's "commitment"...

North Korea and nuclear weapons

By Sacha Ismail North Korea’s underground detonation of a nuclear device on 9 October, with the threat of more tests to come, should be a cause of major alarm for the labour movement and left internationally. So should the Bush government's push for sanctions against North Korea and the increased possibility of conflict in the region. Unfortunately the crisis has elicited a distinct lack of internationalist, “third camp” responses. In Britain, we are used to the leaders of the labour movement supporting nuclear weapons. At this year’s TUC Congress, the General Council tried to force the RMT to...

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