Solidarity 319, 2 April 2014

RS21 has its public launch

About 120 attended the Saturday of the political weekend organised on 29-30 March by RS21 , the most recent splinter from the SWP. On Sunday there were 50 at the start, and 70 by the end. According to RS21 treasurer Ruth Lorimer, RS21 has about 200 members. A few of us from AWL attended. There were also a few from ISN (the group which split from the SWP in early 2013), and of course people interested in or close to RS21 but not members. No other left groups chose to attend. Generally, the discussions were interesting and open. There was much less of the tone of "a therapy session, not a...

CLPD AGM hears of progress in Young Labour

The Annual General Meeting on 29 March of the Campaign for Labour Party Democracy (CLPD) on 29 March heard something which CLPD AGMs have not heard for many, many years: that the best progress in fighting for Labour democracy has been made in Labour's youth wing. Conrad Landin, Dominic Curran, and Max Shanly reported on how the Young Labour conference voted - on the third recount - to oppose the Collins report to weaken Labour-union ties, and adopted other left-wing policies, much to the consternation of Labour Party officials. This happened after the Young Labour top leadership had told left...

Frank Little, IWW organiser, lynched, 1917

Frank Little was an American trade unionist who, at the time of his death, sat on the General Executive Board of the Industrial Workers of the World. He was lynched in 1917 by six masked vigilantes; his “crime” was organising workers and denouncing the government in his speeches, calling US troops “Uncle Sam’s scabs in uniform”. Little was born in 1879 and, before joining the IWW in 1906, organised the Western Federation of Miners. He became heavily involved in campaigning for free speech rights in several places, most notably in Missoula where Little was arrested for making a speech on a...

Teachers strike, 10,000 march in London

Members of the National Union of Teachers struck across the country on 26 March against government policies, and 10,000 marched in London despite cold, rain, and hail. Reports from individual schools varied, but some had had good picket lines and a good turnout. The dominant slogans on the London march were along the lines of "Gove out!" Unfortunately the union leadership proposes nothing definite as a schedule of escalating action which could really push the government back. That debate must be had out at the union's annual conference at Easter. A strike meeting in Northampton resolved almost...

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