Solidarity 055, 15 July 2004

Liberté, égalité, fraternité - There is a power in the union

By Vicki Morris On 29 June the French parliament voted a change in the status of the public owned national power company EDF-GDF (Electricité de France-Gaz de France). EDF-GDF became a sort of "société anonyme", a joint-stock company, open to 30% private capital. Private shareholders can in future reap profits from the labour of the EDF-GDF employees. In time, no one doubts, the government's plan is to open the entire company to private capital, until it is wholly privately owned - until it is privatised, in short! The vote in parliament was no surprise: the right-wing government of prime...

Debate and discussion - Promising what they can't deliver

I read with interest Janine Booth's letter on the International Working Class Association (IWCA) in Solidarity 3/54, and I think she is basically right. However, I would make a couple of points. The IWCA's success in Oxford has been both unexpected and spectacular. I wonder if the reason they are less electorally successful (although more visible in the community, and probably a lot more popular) in London is that in London their political approach is more honest and consistent. Here in Oxford the IWCA have capitalised on the government's refusal to give money to refurbish council housing...

Smacking, parenting and children's rights

By Jean Lane When my daughter was 20 months old, I took her to a parent and toddler group on a nearby estate. The parents sat at one end of the room nattering and gossiping, while a paid, trained worker took the responsibility away from them for a while and provided equipment and company for the kids to play with. A little boy of about 4, immediately on seeing my daughter, knocked her down and cracked her on the head with a plastic toy. I was quite shocked at the suddenness of the assault and looked around the room to see what the reaction of the other parents would be. Ruth got up, dusted...

Irish republicans part 2: The gunmen in power

Thomas Carolan continues his series about the history of Irish republicanism "Ireland occupies a position among the nations of the earth unique… in the possession of what is known as a physical force party - a party, that is to say, whose members are united upon no one point, and agreed upon no single principle, except the use of physical force as the sole means of settling the dispute between the people of this country and the governing power of Great Britain… "The latter-day high-falutin hillside man exalts into a principle that which the revolutionists of other countries have looked upon as...

FBU: Keep the pressure on the EC! No compromise, no witch-hunt!

By Nick Holden As the dust settles from the FBU's decision last month to disaffiliate from the Labour Party, union activists continue to prepare for a possible strike over pay, with at least one hand tied behind their backs by their own union leadership. FBU leaders have continued to seek negotiations with employers, including meeting with the TUC. As things stand, the FBU will be balloting for industrial action in August unless the employers pay the second and third instalments of last year's pay agreement before the end of this month. The chances of that seem slim, but the record of the FBU...

The roots of Bolshevism. Plekhanov: father of Russian Marxism

Click here for the series on The Roots of Bolshevism of which this article is part "The task of our revolutionary intelligentsia therefore comes, in the opinion of the Russian Social Democrats, to the following: they must adopt the views of modern scientific socialism, spread them among the workers and, with the help of the workers, storm the stronghold of autocracy. The revolutionary movement in Russia can triumph only as the revolutionary movement of the workers. There is not and cannot be any other way out for us." George Valentinovich Plekhanov, speaking at the Founding Congress of the...

Unison: the left must organise industrial battles

By Kate Ahrens This year's Unison National Conference was a curate's egg for the left, but perhaps it reveals some of the errors that have been made many times by the left, and some of the strengths that we don't make the most of. The left's 'big idea' for this conference was a single-line motion calling for the resignation of Tony Blair. As is so often the case, this was not a conscious plan, but rather a combination of chance and circumstances, as well as a result of the odd set-up within Unison, where the full National Conference cannot discuss specific industrial issues. The left has for...

Strike threat saves Leeds schools posts

By Patrick Murphy, Divisional Secretary, Leeds NUT Plans to make 50 teachers and 110 support staff redundant in Leeds by the end of August have been withdrawn as a result of the threat of strike action by trade unions. The NUT, NASUWT, GMB and Unison formed a Joint Redundancy Action Group earlier this year to mount a united campaign against school redundancies. The group was set up in the aftermath of NUT action last July to fight teacher redundancies, and pledged to organise joint action if necessary this year. By the end of May it was clear that large numbers of school staff had received...

Anti-SATs campaign

By Patrick Yarker, Norwich and District NUT How best to take forward the campaign to end over-testing in English state-schools? 'Research, alternatives, action!' was how the strategy was summed up at the second anti-SATs Conference on 12 June, when teachers, parents, governors and academics met to consider activity after the NUT's abortive boycott-call. The recent Daugherty Report looks likely to ensure the scrapping of all SATs in Wales. Professor Daugherty has been particularly robust in his dismissal of KS3 SATs, calling them a waste of money. His recommendations will enable assessment to...

Keep up the campaign to ban smacking!

Children need rights and protection By Rosalind Robson At the beginning of July the House of Lords voted on the Children's Bill. They debated whether or not there should be a ban on all physical punishment of children - in schools and in the home. This prompted a huge public debate. The Lords, in the end, voted to allow parents to continue to smack their children. The law is now both confusing and more to the point continues to be iniquitous and oppressive to children. The Lords voted for the amendment which will keep in force the provision which allows parents to claim, in a court of law...

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