Workers' Liberty

Continuing a series on the life and times of Tom Mann with an account of the London dock strike of 1889.

Part 1: How and Why the Six-County State Broke Down

Recently the British army in Northern Ireland was withdrawn to where it was in relation to Northern Ireland society before 14 August 1969, when it was put on the streets to be an emergency scaffolding for a state and society that had begun to break down into Protestant/ Catholic civil war.

Dear Tony Woodley,

We hear that at a fringe meeting at Labour Party conference in Bournemouth (23-27 September), you invited a mild critic of your knee-bending before Gordon Brown to “come outside and say that!”

Andy Newman is a former Socialist Alliance activist who has followed developments in Respect closely. Martin Thomas interviewed him.

Steve Cohen continues a series about important socialist novels, looking at Ring Lardner Jr and the background to his novel the Ecstasy of Edwin Muir

200 careworkers at the Fremantle Trust, which holds the contracts for care homes in Barnet, North London, took their fourth day of strike action on Thursday 20 September as part of an ongoing fight against drastic cuts in their pay and conditions.

Following their rejection of a three year pay offer that will see 27% of staff in the Department of Work and Pensions staff get consolidated rises of 2% in year 1, 40% get 0% in year 2 and 49% get 1%

Manchester mental health workers have held a second three day strike to protest against the victimisation of their UNISON steward, Karen Reissmann.

The long awaited national demonstration in defence of the NHS will take place on 3 November.

On 23 September the Labour Party conference in Bournemouth voted to ban unions and local Labour Parties from putting motions on current political issues to any future Labour Party conference.

At TUC conference motions were passed calling for coordinated action, and use was even found for the old slogan that “unity is strength”.

Last month the Camden No 3 (London Underground) branch of the RMT rail workers’ union passed a motion advocating the union run a slate of candidates in the 2008 London mayoral and Greater London Ass

On 7 October, supporters of the Iranian regime are organising an “Al Quds Day” demonstration in London (assembling 12:30 at Marble Arch).

From 5 to 7 September the first summer school of the PST [Socialist Workers’ Party of Algeria] took place in Algiers, with about 200 activists and sympathisers taking part, from 19 regions.

Mike Kyriazopolous interviews Jared Phillips, a Unite Fast Food Organiser and Workers Party activist in New Zealand.

MK: How did Unite plan its organising in fast food?

The Respect coalition was set up in January 2004 by the Socialist Workers’ Party, using George Galloway MP, expelled by the Labour Party in October 2003, as a front person.

GOVERNMENT repression of the emerging labour movement continues in Iran, with more arrests, charges and harassment.

French president Nicolas Sarkozy has hit the ground running, hoping to capitalise on the apparent mood for change that saw him elected in May. He will need momentum to push through the changes that will make France more like Thatcherite Britain; that is, to bulldoze the working-class opposition that thwarted his predecessors.

Farooq Tariq is the General Secretary of the Labour Party Pakistan. He explains how he has been caught up in the government’s suppression of opposition parties.

Sacha Ismail reviews a play about the general strike, produced by New Factory of the Eccentric Actor.

Some questions and answers on the Northern Rock collapse

GREG Charles is branch secretary of South West London Postal Communication Workers’ Union.

Julie Spence, the head of Cambridgeshire Police, launched a vitriolic attack in early September on the numbers of Eastern European migrants working in the county.

WITH the announcement of new strike dates by the Communication Workers’ Union (all out on 5, 6, 8 and 9 October, with rolling action after that), the Royal Mail bosses have decided to go for broke — for instance by announcing a drastic attack on postal workers' pensions.