Stalin in Clerkenwell Green

It was a beautiful May morning, one of the first warm and sunny days we’ve had all year. In Clerkenwell Green, hundreds of people were assembling for the annual official London May Day march...

Many of you will not have been there — in fact there were very few trade unionists at all on this year’s march.

So let me tell you who was there — the twentieth century’s greatest serial killer, Joseph Stalin. Stalin was on several banners, and not only his image side by side with Lenin and Mao, but huge banners just with his picture alone — and quotations from his writings.

Labour councillor says: “You don’t stand as Labour to cut services”

Geoff Lumley is Labour Councillor for Newport East on the Isle of Wight. He is the only Labour councillor on the island. Geoff spoke to Solidarity about the council elections on 2 May, which take place mostly in county councils like Isle of Wight rather than city councils.


In 2009 I stood for re-election in Newport East, a traditional working-class constituency, on a clear non-New Labour platform.

Industrial news in brief

Journalists working for regional newspapers across the country are campaigning for better pay.

The National Union of Journalists (NUJ) has launched a petition calling for an end to a pay freeze at Newsquest.

Editorial staff have endured a pay freeze — in real terms a pay cut – four years in the last five while workloads steadily rise as employees are not replaced and titles expanded.

Leadership in charge at Unison Health conference

Unison Health conference (22-24 April) discussed attacks on the NHS, defending “Agenda for Change” (our national pay, terms and conditions), and union organising.

On every issue, the leadership showed their hold over the health sector of the union. The passing of the Section 75 Regulations during the week, which signalled the government’s smashing up of the NHS, went almost unnoticed. There was no real sense amongst most delegates of the NHS crisis or of the battering workers are taking.

Sussex University workers build for strikes

Sussex University branches of the University and College Union (UCU) and Unite have both returned large majorities for strikes against outsourcing in indicative ballots.

UCU members vote returned a 75% majority on a 60% turnout, and the Unite ballot returned a 93% majority on a 70% turnout. Unison, which conducted a “membership survey” on industrial action, has yet to release its results. They are due on Thursday 9 May, but many workers say they have yet to receive their papers so are fighting for an extension in order to allow them to vote.

The anti-imperialist united front

The final part of Paul Hampton’s review article looking at the themes of John Riddell’s book of documents from the early communist movement.


The Fourth Congress adopted a call for an anti-imperialist united front in the colonial and semi-colonial countries, aimed at “the mobilisation of all revolutionary forces” in “an extended, lengthy struggle against world imperialism”.

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