So& Wloirkdersa’ Lirbeirtty y No 224 9 November 2011 30p/80p www.workersliberty.org For a workers’ government

Strike votes for Crisis in the Does nuclear 30 November Eurozone have a future? page 11 pages 6-7 page 8 Greek crisis See page 5

“The ‘lower classes’ do not want to live in the old way and the ‘upper classes’ cannot carry on in the old way.” Lenin NEWS What is the Alliance “Business as usual is not an option”

for Workers’ Liberty? By Jayne Edwards pose as the alternative? So ments and repairs to help Today one class, the working class, lives by selling far we have tuition fees of small businesses. In a recent Observer arti - its labour power to another, the capitalist class, £6,000 instead of £9,000, 5. A tax break for every cle, and in interviews and a five point plan small firm which takes on which owns the means of production. Society and conference is shaped by the capitalists’ relentless drive to which all Labour Party extra workers. speeches, Labour leader members have been told to The trade union move - increase their wealth. Capitalism causes Ed Miliband has been remember. ment needs to be demand - poverty, unemployment, the blighting of lives by making statements that This is his plan to take ing that Labour makes overwork, imperialism, the destruction of the make it seem like the on the predator capitalists. much more concrete and environment and much else. Labour Party is begin - Judge for yourself: radical commitments and Against the accumulated wealth and power of the ning to side with protest 1. A £2 billion tax on not just for a future gov - capitalists, the working class has one weapon: solidarity. movements and is sup - bank bonuses to fund ernment but for now. They The Alliance for Workers’ Liberty aims to build solidarity porting the demands of 100,000 jobs for young should include support for through struggle so that the working class can overthrow public sector unions on people and build 25,000 af - the public sector strikes, capitalism. We want socialist revolution: collective ownership pensions and job cuts. we can’ t allow high levels fordable homes. repeal of the anti-trade of industry and services, workers’ control and a democracy of youth unemployment to 2. Bring forward long- union laws, reverse pri - Miliband says the Oc - much fuller than the present system, with elected continue; that we shouldn’ term investment projects, vatisation and for publi - cupy London protests raise representatives recallable at any time and an end to t be afraid of taking on the like new school buildings. cally funded and deep issues that society vested interests like we did 3. Temporarily reverse democratically run public bureaucrats’ and managers’ privileges. can’ t ignore; that the To - in 1945 when the NHS was the VAT rise — a £450 services. Labour should We fight for the labour movement to break with “social ries are in touch with the set up; and that the NHS is boost for families with say tax the rich and expro - partnership” and assert working-class interests militantly richest 1% but not the too important to be left to children priate the banks. against the bosses. other 99; that we must We need a workers’ the market. 4. A one year cut in VAT Our priority is to work in the workplaces and trade unions, tackle the “irresponsible plan for the crisis. Yet what does he pro - to 5% for home improve - supporting workers’ struggles, producing workplace bulletins, predator capitalists”; that helping organise rank-and-file groups. We are also active among students and in many campaigns and alliances. Open the Workers lose out as bosses rake it in We stand for: G Independent working-class representation in politics. banks’ By Gerry Bates down to a sharp rise in consequences are associ - G A workers’ government, based on and accountable to the bonuses, which leapt from ated with… rising inequal - labour movement. While workers face wage an average of £737,624 in ity.” G A workers’ charter of trade union rights — to organise, to books! freezes or real-terms pay 2010 to £906,044 this year. The cause is the greed of strike, to picket effectively, and to take solidarity action. cuts, those who top the Workers’ real wages capital, using the economic market food chain are G Taxation of the rich to fund decent public services, homes, Bankers have again meanwhile dropped by crisis as an excuse to trim education and jobs for all. shown their contempt for enjoying ever-bigger 2.7%, according to the costs and slam workers payouts. G A workers’ movement that fights all forms of oppression. democracy by avoiding Daily Telegraph (13 July rather than taking a hit on 2011). profit margins. Full equality for women and social provision to free women an estimated £10 million Bosses of the FTSE 100 We need to abolish Free market capitalism is from the burden of housework. Free abortion on request. Full in tax. companies saw their pay profit altogether and im - to blame; economist equality for lesbian, gay and bisexual people. Black and white rise by an average of 49% prove conditions for the Lawyers and top civil Nouriel Roubini said: “[it workers’ unity against racism. in the last financial year. working class — which servants at Revenue and is] a deeper truth that un - According to a report can only be achieved by G Open borders. Customs have been ques - fettered free markets… from Income Data Services smashing capitalism G Global solidarity against global capital — workers tioned by MPs over a tax have not benefited all and the bulk of the increase is from within. everywhere have more in common with each other than with repayment agreement some of their pernicious their capitalist or Stalinist rulers. made with Goldman Sachs. G Democracy at every level of society, from the smallest The Wall Street invest - workplace or community to global social organisation. ment banking firm fought a G Working-class solidarity in international politics: equal five year battle to avoid na - rights for all nations, against imperialists and predators big tional insurance payments New traveller solidarity network and small. on bankers’ bonuses, which G Maximum left unity in action, and openness in debate. were paid from offshore tax havens. G If you agree with us, please take some copies of Solidarity By Bill Holmes get involved now subscribe to walk off en masse, and They eventually settled to sell — and join us! to the Dale Farm mailing Basildon Council had an with HMRC, but tax offi - A new traveller solidarity list. injunction to block trav - 020 7394 8923 [email protected] cials allowed Goldman network has been set up Travellers themselves ellers returning to the site Sachs to avoid paying an to support families who will lead the network. granted by a court on 7 No - 20e Tower Workshops, Riley Road, additional £8-10 million in are being evicted from At the meeting travellers vember. interest. London, SE1 3DG. their homes despite the reported on continuing bat - Many of the families are Top tax chiefs say that huge questions raised by tles against forced home - living with relatives on the they didn’t understand the Dale Farm eviction lessness. legal part of the site, but they could charge interest last month. A gypsy settlement in are still at risk of eviction (why not?), and that an of - Brighton was evicted on 25 from their temporary ac - GET SOLIDARITY ficial has lost his bonus be - The Traveller Solidarity October, with some fami - commodation. cause of the error. Movement met in London Until the travellers have lies leaving voluntarily Phone giant Vodafone on 5 November to discuss the right... to live as trav - while others were dragged EVERY WEEK! has also been subject to strategy after Dale Farm. ellers and enough “au - off the land. government scrutiny after The meeting resolved to thorised” plots are set Special offers Meanwhile travellers in they were not asked to pay set up the network, linking up, families will continue Beausale, near Warwick, G Trial sub, 6 issues £5 interest on a £1.25 billion local supporter and activist to face homelessness  face eviction from land tax settlement. groups, including anti-fas - and be deprived of A key transitional de - they have occupied since G 22 issues (six months). £18 waged  £9 unwaged  cist and anti-racist organi - healthcare and educa - mand for socialists has May 2009. sations, with regional tion. 44 issues (year). £35 waged £17 unwaged to be that banks open Bailiffs have finished G   travellers. their books and stop clearing Dale Farm follow - • More: A website and mailing G European rate: 28 euros (22 issues)  or 50 euros (44 issues)  evading tax. ing the decision by families dalefarm.wordpress.com list is being set up, but to Tick as appropriate above and send your money to: 20e Tower Workshops, Riley Road, London, SE1 3DG Blood Service win Decent benefits for all! Cheques (£) to “AWL”. Health workers have shown an interest in run - Or make £ and euro payments at workersliberty.org/sub. won a small victory By Lena Williams ning the service. But Byrne stayed silent against privatisation of A commercial review of on other benefits! Does he the NHS after it was an - Liam Byrne, Labour’ s the service reported on 18 think that some of the most Name ...... nounced the Blood and Shadow Work and Pen - October that it should re - vulnerable in society could Transplant Service will sions Secretary, has told be receiving even less cash maAicntnivaitsitosnmaliussedt .now Address ...... not be privatised. chancellor George Os - in real terms? build momentum from borne that he should not Labour should not be The Industrial Workers ...... this to stop the whole - include pensions in a calling for only pension - of the World and Unison sale selling-off of the Tory plan to not increase ers to be spared the axe unions had led the cam - rest of the NHS to com - — everyone should see ...... benefits in line with the paign to stop the service panies interested not in 5.2% inflation rate their benefits increase, being put into the hands of saving lives, but making I enclose £ ...... recorded in September. and financial support companies such as DHL profit. should be scaled up not and Capita, who had The plan will save £10.4 down. billion for the government. 2 SOLIDARITY INTERNATIONAL Libyans’ new struggle General strike in Israel

By Ira Berkovic four hours by a ruling By Martyn Hudson lowed no rights under the from the Israeli Labour old regime. A four-hour general Court. In advance of the Two weeks after the The dismantling of the strike in Israel caused strike, Histadrut leader death of Qaddafi and the old official “trade union what the Ha’ aretz paper Ofer Eini said that the wholesale rout of the last bureaucracy which did not called “near paralysis” Court was “the only thing remnants of pro-regime offer rights to the migrant on the morning of Mon - that can stop us”. fighters in Sirte there are workforce should open the day 7 November as This is the first signifi - major debates in Libya way for the representation workers took action in a cant industrial confronta - about the post-war reso - of all workers and not just dispute about public sec - tion since the explosion of lution and how Libyan Libyan nationals. The tor contracts. social protest in the sum - civil society can imple - rebels’ original stand mer. Many commentators ment a new policy and Schools, transport hubs against communalism and believe Histadrut has been practice on human (including Ben Gurion In - tribalism has to gain some significantly emboldened rights. ternational Airport) and substance if the minority by the protest movement, populations of Libya are the Tel Aviv Stock Ex - The apparent mass mur - with some suggesting that Sirte: where Qaddafi loyalists have been executed not to continue to be perse - changed were shut down der of Qaddafi loyalists in the protest movement had cuted. A free media, the ex - as hundreds of thousands one of the main hotels in acted directly as catalyst tensions of women’ s and of workers took action. Sirte points to violations Abu Salim prison in the The NTC has released for the strikes. workers’ rights, and the The Histadrut union fed - The movement itself is which are not just about early 90s, and the public hundreds of regime loyal - consolidation of the judici - eration is demanding that slowly beginning to re - mopping up the remnants hangings of students in the ists from its prisons in cel - ary and civil society more the government hires vive after a two-month of fighting forces. The 80s, point to the reality ebration of Eid over the generally make social jus - 250,000 public sector work - lull, with 50,000 demon - dead were prisoners or in - that Libya was on the past few days but it is tice for the persecuted mi - ers currently employed strating in Tel Aviv on 29 jured. A mass grave just verge of genocide before clearly worried about norities of Libya more through agencies on a tem - October. The demonstra - outside of Qaddafi’ s com - NATO intervention. forces like the Misratan possible. porary or semi-casual basis tion’ s main demand was pound in Tripoli indicates But the reprisal attacks brigades who are not yet The continuation of re - on permanent contracts for the government to a mass execution of regime by rebel (now government fully under their control venge and hostilities is and levels up their condi - cancel the planned 2012 soldiers, many of whom supporters) against the and are prosecuting their what we would expect tions to those of other per - budget and re-launch a had their hands tied be - pro-regime town of Taw - own war supported by from the ebbing of a brutal manent employees. “social budget” instead. hind their backs and had ergha, many of whose citi - vast arms dumps left be - civil war but it has to stop. The strike was limited to been subject to a single zens were involved in hind by Qaddafi’ s forces. The united working shot to the back of the atrocities against the civil - However, suspected class, of all peoples, sexu - head. ians of Misrata, are partic - mercenaries from Mali, alities and genders has to Support the Bedouin! Other graves in the Gar - ularly unsavoury. Chad and Niger have not fight back against a Libya gur district and other parts Tawergha has been lev - been released and there is where tribalism and ulti - of Tripoli point to the elled and its population of a suspicion that they will By Dan Katz mately Islamism could one tlements predate the state, widespread use of mass 30,000 kicked into the go on trial in order to pub - but are unrecognised and daHyubme avnictroigrihotuss.abuses, murder by pro-regime desert and hunted by the licly cohere a new Libyan Israel’ s right-wing gov - so are refused road, pub - the extension of Sharia ernment continues to forces. The dreaded Misrata brigades. civil society against the old lic transport, water and Khamis brigade, led by The National Transi - pro-Qaddafi foreigners. law, extra-judicial killings persecute Israel’ s electricity. Qaddafi’ s son, instituted a tional Council (NTC) has this might be an issue also and the persecution of Bedouin population. massacre of prisoners by sent a pro-government for the Tawerghas, many minorities are an affront Plans are underway for In the Israeli-occupied burning down a com - force into the town of Hun of whom are the descen - to a liberation movement the mass resettlement West Bank 2,000 Bedouin pound and shooting into 250 miles into the desert to dants of African slaves. which wanted to over - of tens of thousands in are to be shifted to the the camp. Certainly the protect the people of Taw - This would be a hugely throw the trappings of cities. But the Bedouin edge of a rubbish dump regime’ s form on mas - ergha from the potentially costly process for Libya’ s despotism, not replicate are refusing to go. to make way for Jewish sacres, going back to the genocidal vengeance of the vast migrant and external them. setMtlearnsy. of these herders mass executions in the Misratans. workforce who were al - Israel has 200,000 Bedouin, with a further have now abandoned 40,000 in the West Bank their camels and goats, Syrian blood still running and millions beyond, in and those that survive Jordan, Sinai and Gaza. find themselves ha - Nearly half the Negev’ rassed by settlers and Syrian activists were sition group, the Syrian people who get hit in the s Bedouin live in un-regis - Israeli soldiers. sceptical when the Arab National Council, called on streets are dying from their tered villages. Many set - League announced a plan Arab and other interna - wounds on the spot be - agreed with Syrian offi - tional observers to be sent cause no one can reach cials to end the violence to Homs, which they de - them,” he said. Israel and US punish against the opposition. Significantly, armed scribe as a “humanitarian forces defectors killed Now the League has an - disaster area”. four pro-government Palestinians for UN bid nounced a meeting in Cairo Fighting in the Baba Amr militiamen near the bor - on Saturday 12 November neighbourhood of Homs der with Turkey. The has continued for days, to discuss the Syrian state’ armed attacks by anti- By Sacha Ismail for the Palestinian Author - s failure to take steps to re - with dozens of deaths. government former-mili - ity. solve the crisis and stop the “Whole buildings have tary fighters are The Palestinian bid for Meanwhile Israel has an - crackdown inside the coun - been gutted by tank fire,” a continuing. recognition of an inde - nounced plans to acceler - try. local activist, told Reuters. Occupy pendent state at the ate the building of 2,000 The Turkey-based oppo - “Bread has run out and United Nations will hit housing units for Jewish the headlines again settlers in the Occupied Sydney soon, when the UN Secu - Territories, and has sus - Occupy London rity Council publishes an pended the transfer of the Activists in Sydney suc - initial report on the appli - tax and customs revenue it cessfully re-occupied cation. collects on behalf of the By Bill Holmes services to continue unin - due to be held on Tuesday part of the city centre fol - PA. Together with the US Already Israel and the terrupted, with a debate at the Finsbury Square site lowing a forced eviction funding freeze, this is po - US are punishing the The London Occupation on how activists relate to as Solidarity went to press. from Martin Place by po - tentially disastrous for the Palestinians for their cam - continues and at its Gen - such events planned for Attendance at Monday lice last week. PA. paign. eral Assembly on Mon - Saturday 12 November. evening’ s General Assem - So while the Palestinian Following a march on Following the over - day 7 November Workers’ Liberty activist bly seemed lower than campaign is putting their Saturday 5 November from whelming vote at Unesco, occupiers discussed a Ed Maltby ran a workshop usual, but this could have opponents under massive the Town Hall the move - to admit Palestine as a full draft press statement on Socialism and Democ - been due to the weather. pressure, the results so far ment then entered Hyde member, the US cut off all which contained good racy at the Occupy LSX AWL members sold are also harming them. Park for a rally, before oc - funding to the organisa - demands calling on the camp at St Paul’ s Cathe - about 10 papers during the On the other hand, what cupying the space. tion, removing more than a City of London Corpora - dral on Monday. evening. is this oppressed nation, It is important that ac - There were some scuffles fifth of its budget. If the tion to open the books. Ed explained the prob - cut off from every avenue tivists continue to inter - with the police during the Palestinians seek member - lems with bourgeois of liberation, supposed to Some of the occupiers vene in the Occupy re-occupation. ship of other UN bodies – democracy and the institu - Keeping the occupa - do? thought this was too con - movement to give it a for instance the Interna - The Palestinian strug - tional filters that exist to tion going for as long as ciliatory. There were also specifically class-based tional Atomic Energy gle demands the support prevent a reformist change possible in Sydney — and announcements about a focus rather than a sim - Agency – this issue could of all socialists, and all to socialism at a well-at - elsewhere — allows ac - temporary pause in poli - plistic anti-capitalist become even bigger. democrats; the response tended session at the Tent tivists to keep up pres - tics on 11 and 13 Novem - campaign with no direc - The US has also tem - from Israel and the US City University. sure on the capitalist ber to allow Armistice Day tion. porarily frozen its funding demands condemnation. A second session was ruling class. and Remembrance Day SOLIDARITY 3 REGULARS From social Dictatorial measures: the networks to social revolution Bolsheviks had other options

Eric Lee Letters

In mid-November trade unionists from more than 30 Mark Osborn ( Solidarity 223) correctly raises issues countries will gather in Istanbul for the second annual about the intentions of the Bolsheviks, the struggle of Global Solidarity Conference organised by LabourStart. Lenin and Trotsky against the bureaucracy, the decisive The theme of this year’s conference is “From social net - or not so decisive break between October and Stalinism Lenin: political choices works to social revolution” and the timing is exquisite. and, I think, critically the question of what the Bolshe - viks did as they were struggling for their existence. tion of all parties and political groups willing to accept, and The 2011 LabourStart conference was due to be held in pledge loyalty to, the Soviet system of government. The Australia. But we had organisational problems at that end, The usual take of Leninists on this is the following: Bol - government would have also immediately closed all puni - and urgently needed to come up with a venue, and com - shevik intentions were good (agreed), Lenin and Trotsky did tive labour camps, placed the secret police under strict judi - rades in Istanbul said “sure, why not here?” as much as they could in the struggle (well, this wasn’t what cial control and declared an immediate amnesty for all And all that happened only days before a workers’ gen - Adolph Joffe and Serge felt but there you go), that there was people imprisoned for nonviolent political offences. The al - eral strike brought down the Mubarak regime and the Mid - a decisive break or river of blood between the traditions, ternative was the steady bureaucratic degeneration of the dle East and North Africa suddenly became very interesting and finally that the Bolsheviks made some mistakes in the revolution, and the increasing alienation of the state’s polit - places for the trade union movement. heat of the struggle but these were justified and in any case ical leadership from the mass of the population,” ( Against A highlight of this year’s conference is the presence of rep - they had no option to do anything else in the context of the the Current 2011). resentatives of independent trade unions from Morocco, Al - Bolshevik party ruling in the name of a working class that For Farber (in his great book Before Stalinism and else - geria, Tunisia, Egypt, Bahrain, Jordan, Israel, Palestine, Iran no longer existed (I dispute this entirely). where), even though there are clear differences (breaks and and Iraq. In some cases divided trade union movements are The recent work of Simon Pirani ( The Russian Revolution in continuities as I have already noted) between Stalinism and represented by more than one organisation (this is true in Retreat 1920-24 ) persuasively argues against the myth of Bolshevism, this dictatorship politically disarmed the So - Israel and Palestine where no fewer than four organisations working class “pulverisation” — that proletarian numbers viet working class and destroyed their capacity to resist the are attending). As you can imagine, one has to be exceed - did fall, but that the workers’ movement, inside and out - rising bureaucracy. For Farber there was absolutely no ingly diplomatic to pull this sort of thing off. side the Bolshevik party, was extremely active. Much of this Marxist justification for Bolshevik dictatorship. The banning But we are also living through interesting times, and peo - was hostile to Bolshevik control but much of it recognised of factions in the context of the Kronstadt rebellion in March ple who would not normally agree to be in the same room the difficulties in the context of famine, war, and the hostil - 1921 dealt the revolution “a definitive and maiming blow” as others are suddenly showing a little bit of flexibility. ity of external powers. 25% of representatives elected to the that the proletarian cause would never recover from — not The conference programme is at the moment fairly fluid, Moscow soviet in 1921 were non-partyist. In the Kronstadt in 1921 or even in 2011. Even worse is the contemporary but will probably open with a visit to a picket line — and uprising Trotsky himself pointed to 30% of Communist Leninist abasement to the idea that these dictatorial meas - this is, apparently, never much of a problem in Turkey. Party members supporting the rebellion, 40% remaining urTeshwereerewneerceesosathryeroroepvteionnvsir,ttuhees!re were other routes Turkey’s militant trade unions are often engaged in inter - neutral, and only 30% supporting the government. En - and other voices — roads to the future liquidated by esting struggles which is one of the reasons why it’s so great twined with this was the resurgent socialism outside the Bolshevik dictatorship. to be working with them on this conference. Unions where Communist party amongst the Mensheviks and internal to independent, militant trade unionism is a new idea will the party in the Workers’ Opposition and the Dem Cens. Martyn Hudson, Teesside have much to learn from their Turkish colleagues. There was also a large rump of oppositionists expelled This will be followed by a walking tour of the Taksim from the party who were liquidated in mass arrests in Sep - square area — Taksim square being not just the centre of tember 1923. Pirani points to Bolshevik repression as elim - Radical bookselling town where all the hotels are, but also the square where fol - inating whole swathes of socialists who to a large extent lowing a massacre in the 1970s, May Day protests were were committed to the gains of October but were now pos - Radical bookselling in Britain has a long history. banned for decades. Unions were only allowed to resume tulating a different route out of Bolshevik “dictatorship”. May Day protests last year. And let’s be clear that this was a dictatorship of the Bolshe - The second hand labour history book dealer Left on the vik party and not the dictatorship of the proletariat. Lenin Shelf (www.leftontheshelfbooks.co.uk) has an incomplete WORKSHOPS was clear that he was for party dictatorship. As Hal Draper listing of radical bookshops on its website, together with a In the evening, the conference formally opens at the notes Lenin never surrendered the idea that “the scientific listing of mentions of such shops in fiction and in non-fic - headquarters of the oil and gas workers’ union, Petrol- term ‘dictatorship’ means nothing more nor less than au - tion. Dave Cope — who runs Left on the Shelf — and I are Is, which has had a long relationship with LabourStart thority untrammelled by any laws, absolutely unrestricted trying now to make the listing as complete as possible. We built upon a number of online campaigns waged in sup - by any rules whatever, and based directly on force,” ( Marx would be grateful for any corrections and omissions. port of their members. to Lenin ). The Soviet working class were the recipients of this I’m currently working on a booklet about radical book - shops that is less list-based and will cover bookshops from The opening session will feature a video address by Sha - despotism. Marxist, libertarian and other traditions, as well as feminist, ran Burrow, the general secretary of the International Trade If the Bolsheviks were compelled to take this route then, peace and other issue based radical shops. I’d be pleased to Union Confederation, who will tell participants about the yes, we would be in the position of accepting that historical hear from anybody who has worked in radical bookselling, strong links forged between the ITUC and LabourStart over fact and moving on. But this is not just about hindsight — or customers who have interesting stories to tell. recent years. Under Burrow’s leadership, the ITUC has there were many voices documented internally and exter - I can be contacted at [email protected] or at Five shown a much greater openness to this sort of thing, which nally of the Party postulating other routes. Worse, the dicta - Leaves Publications, PO Box 8786, Nottingham NG1 is to be welcomed. torship clearly made it more possible for a nascent Stalinist 9AW. Speakers from Turkish unions and global union federa - despotic bureaucracy to emerge. Sam Farber expresses this Ross Bradshaw, www.fiveleavespublications.blogspot.com tions will also address the plenary. different route well: “This would have involved the legaliza - The real work of the conference begins the following morning with a series of 24 workshops on a wide range of themes. About half of them are country-focused — so there will be workshops dealing with Palestine, Bahrain and Iran, for example. There will also be country and regional focuses Socialist feminist tour for workshops on East Asia, Pakistan and sub-Saharan Africa. And other workshops will focus on specific issues a necessary political ideology, despite the formal equality such as young workers, women in the unions, the fight against precarious employment, labour video, the use of so - that women now have in large parts of the world, but not cial networks, and how to do an online campaign. everywhere. In Sheffield the discussion touched on why The conference ends with the annual meeting of AWL news young women today might say “I’m not a feminist but…”. LabourStart correspondents — the volunteers who post all On the whole the discussions have tried to get to grips the news stories to LabourStart throughout the year. By Rosalind Robson with why there is a link between the struggle for female The day after the conference ends, the delegates from the equality and against capitalism. Why does the working- Middle East and North Africa will stay on a bit as they get In the run-up to the AWL’s conference “Is This As class matter? How are the cuts affecting working-class to meet separately at an invitation-only event where they Good As It Gets?” on 26 November (see back page) women? can frankly discuss the lessons learned from the Arab Spring we organised a speaking tour, putting the case for so - In Northampton the meeting had a discussion about — and where we go next. cialist feminism. The six AWL women who have spo - what the women’s movement of the 1970s and 80s had The involvement of a dedicated group of young Turkish ken at 10 meetings so far have reported, by and large, managed to achieve. What kind of women’s movement do trade unionists and socialists has been critical to the success a very positive experience. we want to see now, and in the future, and what would be of organising the event so far. As has been the support of its relationship to the labour movement? These meetings the global union federations and the ITUC. Fingers crossed, Some of the meetings were at colleges, organised with student feminist societies. Others were organised in towns have touched on political ideas that do not always get thiIs’mprvoemryisesxtcoitbeedaanbaomuatztihneg wheoekleentdh.ing (you can tell, where we have AWL branch meetings. talAkfetderab2o6uNt oinvethmeblaebrowuer awnoduoldthleikremtoovoemrgeanntiss.e meet - right?) and look forward to reporting here in another The discussions have been enormously wide-ranging. couple of weeks on how it all turned out. ings in more towns, colleges and union branches. To At Liverpool Hope University participants wanted to help us please email [email protected]. discuss the very basic ideas about why feminism remains 4 SOLIDARITY WHAT WE SAY Greece: the “old ways” fail. What new ways?

The Greek revolutionary socialist group OKDE is call - new elections on 19 February. ing for the creation of “structures and organs of work - Opinion polls reflect the utter discredit of Greece’s whole ers’ control” in districts and industries, and “popular political establishment. New Democracy and Pasok got 78% assemblies in neighbourhoods”, “with all bodies of the vote between them in October 2009, but now New elected and recallable”. Democracy scores about 22%, Pasok about 15%. The biggest These would be something like the “neighbourhood com - leftish opposition party, the diehard-Stalinist KKE, has im - missions” which emerged in Portugal in 1974-5, after the fall proved on its 8% in the 2009 general election, but only to of the military regime, or in Chile in 1972-3, in the ferment 14%. A very large number of voters are disgusted with the before the military coup. whole range of parties. Building on the strikes and demonstrations of recent Papandreou hopes that the coalition with the Tory ND weeks, such bodies could challenge all the factions of the will shelter the Pasok leadership from pressure from Pasok’s Greek capitalist class, and the deal imposed on Greece by working-class base; both main parties hope that the short the “Troika”, the European Central Bank, the European reprieve given to them by the formation of a new coalition Union, and the IMF will enable them to nail down the cuts flowing from the 27 In the first place, they could force concessions, and by October plan. In February, even if they lose much ground, doing so could encourage and boost working-class strug - Pasok and ND between them can still hope to have a parlia - Pasok leader Papandreou has sidestepped into a coalition mentary majority, and then to improvise. gles in all the other countries of Europe hit by cuts. with Greece’s Tories Greece is in a pre-revolutionary situation, a situation The “upper classes” of Greece are fumbling and groping where the first conditions for social revolution have devel - for new ways to carry on. And the “lower classes” are sick at a discount to the pre-euro price... [And] the introduction of it. oped. “The ‘lower classes’ do not want to live in the old of the euro made borrowing very cheap”. way; and the ‘upper classes’ cannot carry on in the old The KKE (the diehard-Stalinist Greek Communist Party) Webb, writing from a pro-capitalist viewpoint, recom - is calling for a “social popular front for the overthrow of the way...”, as Lenin defined those conditions, writing a few mends that “the euro should survive intact a bit longer. Eu - years after the Russian Revolution of 1917. power of the monopolies and to free Greece from the EU ropean politicians might start being a little kinder to Greece and NATO”. In practice its focus is on demanding quicker Lenin added: “for a revolution to take place, it is essen - — softening their deal bit by bit”. tial, first, that a majority of the workers (or at least a major - new elections, in which it plausibly hopes to do well. The deal decided by the Euro-summit on 27 October will Despite anti-capitalist bluster, the KKE’s immediate poli - ity of the class-conscious, thinking, and politically active need to be revised anyway. It has failed in its main aim, to workers) should fully realise that revolution is necessary, cies are weak (“taxation of profits of big business at a rate of save Italy from “contagion”. Much in its terms has been left 45%”, and so on), and are tainted by its nationalist empha - and that they should be prepared to die for it...” vague, and can be adjusted one way or another. That doesn’t happen unless an organised revolutionary sis on “freeing Greece from the EU”. On 28 October, all over Greece, official parades on a usu - Synaspismos, the former Eurocommunists and now the party has won majority support among the working class, ally-revered national anniversary were disrupted by vast or at least among the politically-active workers. Greece is as core of the Syriza coalition, the biggest leftish force after the protests against the plan. On 31 October Greek prime min - KKE, also focuses on demanding quicker elections. yet far from that. ister George Papandreou announced a referendum on the As Lenin also wrote in those years, “there is no such thing plan. BANKS as a situation that offers no way out for the bourgeoisie”. That infuriated the eurozone leaders and had financial It calls for “nationalisation and socialisation of the The Pasok government in office in Greece since October markets plunging. For Papandreou, however, facing a situ - banking sector for the benefit of society, and the imme - 2009 has now “opted out” by going for a coalition with New ation where only 13% of the people of Greece said they diate return to public ownership, with workers’ and so - Democracy (Greece’s Tory party). This coalition, or some would favour a vote of confidence for his Pasok govern - cial control, of the public enterprises and organisations new coalition, will find “ways out for the bourgeoisie” un - ment, it was a canny move. It put the opposition parties on which have been or are being sold off.” less those rank-and-file working-class coordinations can be the back foot. formed in Greece. On 2 November, Papandreou’s defence minister replaced It protests at the “suzerainty” demanded over Greece by Pasok, the Greek equivalent of the Labour Party, is dis - the leaders of the three armed forces. Greece spends more Merkel and Sarkozy. It counterposes not Greek exit from the credited and compromised by having accepted and pushed on its military, as a percentage of GDP, than any other coun - EU but “new ways for people across Europe” to fight “neo- all the cuts plans. The main Greek union federations have try in Europe, and has much greater numbers in its armed liberal austerity”. called protest strikes, but are very bureaucratic, with lead - forces, in proportion to population; and the military is set Antarsya, a more radical left-wing electoral coalition, calls erships politically aligned to Pasok. New organisation is to suffer relatively little from the country’s vast spending for “exit from the euro and the EU, the nationalisation of needed at rank-and-file level. cuts. Greece was under military dictatorship from 1967 to banks and large enterprises under workers’ control and a 1974. radical redistribution of wealth in favour of workers”. CONCESSIONS The focus on exit from the euro is diversionary. Almost Although the situation is pre-revolutionary, that does A week or so before, a writer in the Daily Telegraph had re - certainly a workers’ government in Greece — which would not mean that the Greek working class can win nothing ported talk among financiers “only half in jest ... that a bet - refuse to pay the debts run up by Greek plutocrats who short of revolution. ter use for Germany’s money than pouring it down the drain of further bail-outs would be to sponsor a Greek mil - have salted away 600 billion euros in Swiss banks — would By fighting for a workers’ government, and in the course itary coup”. The coup would enable the European Union to end up being evicted from the eurozone and the EU. That of fighting for a workers’ government, the Greek working evict Greece on purely political grounds, and tool up the would be an episode in the fight by that government to in - class can win concessions. Greek ruling class to make Greek workers pay for the ensu - spire similar workers’ mobilisations across Europe and The big powers of the eurozone have vast financial re - ing chaos. recreate a united Europe on working-class and socialist sources, quite sufficient to afford some concessions to The Greek government, however, said that the replace - lines. Greece. However much Greece annoys them, they have a ment of the military chiefs was a routine matter of their The other way round doesn’t work. Exit from the euro strong motive to make sure it remains able to pay its debts; terms of office being ended; and the left in Greece has raised would not automatically, or even probably, push Greece to and that motive gives Greek workers great leverage. no alarms about a possible coup. the left, or make it easier for Greek workers to win conces - With the Italian government already having to pay un - On 3 November, Papandreou dropped his referendum sions. It would deepen Greece’s economic crisis, and set the sustainable interest rates to get its IOUs (bonds) accepted plan. He had successfully bluffed the opposition New scene for the exiting government to use nationalist bluster to by global financiers, a Greek default could collapse the euro. Democracy (equivalent of the Tory party) into backing the forTcheewcourktserasrteo Epuayrotphe-cwosidt eo,f athnadt csrhisoisu. ld be fought on That would bring huge economic damage to German capi - 27 October plan and agreeing to a coalition government. As the basis of working-class unity across Europe, with a tal. of 7 November, Papandreou and ND leader Antonis Sama - Europe-wide programme, without of course suggesting As Merryn Somerset Webb points out in the Financial ras were planning to form a coalition government, headed that the most mobilised working-class movements, as Times (5 November): “The really big winner [from the euro] (they hoped) by a “technocrat”, “within a week”; and call in Greece, should wait for the slower movements. has been Germany... It gets to sell its goods outside the zone The truth about China A top Chinese government official has blamed Europe’s Welfare provision, and laws which give workers some The Chinese state puts more people to death than all the economic problems on welfare provision and labour protection from unfair dismissal or unsafe work conditions, rest of the world put together. It publishes no information laws. exist in Europe thanks to two hundred years’ struggle by on its use of capital punishment, but Amnesty International Jin Liqun, chair of China’s sovereign wealth fund (the labour movements across the continent. Eroded in recent reckons that executions in China run into thousands a year, body which manages the Chinese government’s overseas decades, they still exist. maybe ten times as many as in the next-worst country, Iran. investment of its spare loot) told Al Jazeera: “If you look at China has never had a free labour movement. Since the Jin Liqun’s statement shows what the Chinese bureau - the troubles which happened in European countries, this is victory of Mao Zedong’s Stalinists in 1949, all working-class crats think about this. To them, the oppression in China purely because of the accumulated troubles of the worn-out organisation outside the official state-run trade unions (fake seems normal, and the still relatively civilised conditions of welfare society. I think the labour laws are outdated. The “trade unions”) has been suppressed. European workers look like an outrageous departure from labour laws induce sloth, indolence, rather than hard work. In recent years, strikes have become common in China, whWaot uisldn-obremlaelfatinsdtsrignhEt.urope who still regard China as The incentive system is totally out of whack. with the growth of a vast urban working class facing enor - “communist” or “socialist” or left-wing should learn the “Why should, for instance, within [the] eurozone, some mous social inequality and corruption. The government, lesson. “Communism” which relies on such oppression member-states’ people have to work to 65, even longer, nervous about unrest, is sometimes subtle about dealing of the working class that Merkel, Sarkozy, and Cameron whereas in some other countries they are happily retiring at with them: but they all happen, at best, in a legal grey area. look outrageously “soft” by comparison is not “commu - 55, languishing on the beach? This is unfair. The welfare sys - Chinese workers have no rights. nism” at all, but a system of exploitation by a bureau - tem is good for any society to reduce the gap, to help those Welfare provision is minimal. Health care has to be paid cratically-organised ruling class. who happen to have disadvantages, to enjoy a good life, but for (though some prices are subsidised). People complain a welfare society should not induce people not to work that they have to bribe teachers if they want their children • aje.me/jinliqun hard.” to get a decent education. • https://chinastrikes.crowdmap.com SOLIDARITY 5 EUROPE The end

By Michel Husson

“No” Day, The decision by Greek prime minister Georges Papan - Thessaloniki, dreou to put the Eurosummit agreement to a referendum 28 October: marks a new step in the European crisis. To understand 10,000 people the causes and what is at stake in this crisis, we must first joined an situate it in the broad sweep of events. alternative demonstration to It is not just a sovereign debt crisis. It is also, and more fun - the official damentally, a crisis of the European construction. Today it is military parade obvious that neo-liberal-style Europe was botched. that is held each The single currency was supposed to serve as a wage-con - year. “No” Day trol instrument, since it became impossible for governments parades were to devalue. But that constraint was in part evaded circum - cancelled or vented by over-indebtedness, boosted by low real interest hijacked by rates and growing external deficits. protestors in several places. For a decade, 1995-2005, the countries of Europe’s ”South” (Spain, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal) had a growth rates almost one per cent higher than the countries of the ”North” (Germany, Austria, Belgium, Finland, Netherlands). That could not last, and the situation reversed from 2006. Greece: coup with a Since the crisis, and except in 2009, the growth of the countries of the “South” has been clearly lower than that of the “North”. The crisis has thus exposed the incoherences of the European model and deepened the divergence between the trajectories of the different countries. parliamentary disguise Growth gap between countries of the South* and the North** of Europe

A militant from the Greek revolutionary but they do not set the tone of events. socialist group OKDE in Athens spoke to Ed The occupations of the ministries may be sowing some - Maltby from Solidarity : thing for the future — forms of struggle closer to what we would describe as workers’ control or self-management. Ed: You call for the creation of “structures and organs But it would be an exaggeration to say that we are there al - of workers’ control in workplaces and neighbour - ready. hoods”. Are these things coming into being? The overall feeling of the people is a general disappoint - ment with the political situation — a lack of confidence OKDE: At the industrial level this has not gone further that anyone can manage the situation. I don’t think that than simple propaganda or agitation. At the level of neigh - people have risen to the bait, despite the media propa - bourhoods there are a lot of popular assemblies. The num - ganda, about our destruction if we leave the euro and stuff ber of people participating is fluctuating a lot, both for like that. The handling-from-above by the European people in general and people from the left. In general the Union is not a way out of the crisis. Communist Party does not participate in any of this. We think the political crisis will grow even more acute These general assemblies are dealing with local prob - in the next weeks. New Democracy has played its politi - lems like people not having the money to pay for electric - cal cards and now, in coalition government, they are being * South: Spain, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal. ity; as the new taxes are being applied through electricity asked to vote for all the emergency measures. The crisis is ** North: Germany, Austria, Belgium, Finland, Netherlands. taxes, these committees are a good front for organising re - growing. Bonapartism is growing. sistance. The growth of public debts itself has three causes: the me - Is a military coup possible? People are looking at these assemblies as a new way of chanical effect of the recession, the costs of bailing out the expressing themselves. It is difficult to imagine that the bourgeois apparatuses, banks, and also the poisoned fruit of the policies carried For the majority of the forces participating, the assem - from the EU down to the military apparatus, are ready to through for many years of reducing the taxes paid by business blies are seen as strictly connected with purely social is - impose such a solution. On the other hand, one must be and the richest households. The brutal shift to budgetary aus - sues. They do not have a view of how to connect these wary of this. It is in the political logic of things. terity thus sets a vicious circle going: by cutting expenditure, struggles to the central political problems of the country. You could say that this new coalition government is a they slow down economic activity, and that cuts tax receipts There is no governmental slogan. The attempt from us to coup with a parliamentary disguise. It makes no differ - and so the deficit is not cut. start discussing the central political problem is being dis - ence what the people want and what the people vote for. A priori there were several possible scenarios. The austerity missed by anarchists and so on, or from the reformist left The ruling class will somehow impose this or that coali - scenario meant getting into a long period of social regression like Syriza, who are looking to solve the problem through tion. So it is an end for a type of bourgeois democracy to bring down the debt bit by bit at the expense of the living making gains in electoral terms. even if it does not take the form of an open coup. standards of the majority of the population. But it was known These assemblies are taking place in squares — the that a certain number of countries, in the first place Greece, Are you growing? weather is still helpful for that — or in municipality of - could not meet their debt payments. Thus the risk of conta - fices. OKDE is growing. It has not got further than the pri - gion to other countries, leading to a scenario of the breakup of And in workplaces? mary accumulation of forces; we are not able to play a the eurozone. large-scale role, and this is the key problem in which all The scenario of federalisation would have meant taking re - Recently it seemed the strongest unions were being re - other weaknesses of the workers’ movement converge. sponsibility for the totality of the European debts in a pooled vitalised in the public sector. All the people working in the There is still not a visible revolutionary tendency or a way by various methods of which the main one is the mone - public sector were experiencing a lot of cuts, threats of lay - centre around which to organise. So all the rebel energy tarisation of the European debts by the European Central offs, and this created strong mobilisations, to occupy the of the Greek movement, although it is creating huge polit - Bank. That is in fact the only way to avoid exposing the financ - ministries and so on. But it remains weak. The control of ical results, is undirected. The reformist left only begs for ing of the states to speculation on the financial markets. the struggle remains in the hands of the administrative elections. We feel that the basic tendency of the far left is Finally, the radical scenario would, since the sovereign debts bodies — we do not have the means for control from to start looking for “popular front solutions” with the re - are in large part held by the European banks, mean national - below. It is still at the level of the first push. ising those banks and organising default for the most exposed forTmheistpproacrteiesss. oBfuthtehicsraelasotioisnnoofttchlearre. volutionary ten - There is a problem of how the overall social climate of countries. dency is underway. But you cannot say you are happy disobedience and rebellion is translated into the work - For almost two years the governments of Europe have been with this until you have managed to do it. It is an op - places. feeling their way between several pitfalls. The first is what portunity you cannot afford to miss. The expression of the movement is to follow political economists called moral hazard: looking after a Greek default ways rather than social ones — that is through trade • More on Greece: No to the Unity Government by could be a signal encouraging other countries to evade auster - unions and workplaces. There are struggles in workplaces Theodora Polenta. ity measures. The cost of the default would fall back on the “virtuous” countries, especially Germany, and the financial 6 SOLIDARITY less bailout of Europe

so that they should not be obliged to cut back their profits 2. Nationalisation of the banks; and their dividend distributions. As one of the negotiators 3. Cancellation of the illegitimate portion of the debts. of the agreement puts it: “You don’t have to be paranoid to This combination of measures would allow for settling the be terrified” (see: “The euro deal: no big bazooka”, The Econ - crisis by way of making those who profited from the frenzies omist , 29 October 2011 [2]). The most terrifying thing, how - of financialised capitalism pay. ever, is the drive of the ruling classes to make the peoples of But the issues at stake are above all social, and the situation Europe pay the cost of the crisis. is in the last analysis simple to sum up: thanks to deregula - tion, financialisation, etc., a small minority grabs the wealth QUIT THE EURO? produced, as the rise of inequality shows. Quitting the euro is presented as a miracle solution. It It goes further: that minority organises economic and social would allow the country involved, Greece for example, life in line with its interests, and has the power to decide so - to devalue and re-establish its competitiveness. This cial priorities and deprive the peoples of any say in their fate. claim is based on the observation that the European That minority will not give up those privileges without a construction was flawed from the start in so far as it it powerful social intervention which must combine a global did not take account of the divergent trajectories of the point of view with local or sectoral initiatives. different countries of the eurozone. In any case, capitalism is in an impasse: the neo-liberal The serious response would be to introduce mechanisms of model can no longer function, and return to capitalism of the harmonisation: a large European budget, a unified system of ”golden age” of 1945-75 is impossible. taxation of capital, funds for social harmonisation, a Euro - A progressive solution must therefore involve a radical pean minimum wage. That solution may seem out of range. questioning of this system: the redistribution of wealth is the Georges Papandreou at the G20 summit Quitting the euro is not however a better solution: to think immediate point of leverage, but the approach must include that would be to put the cart before the horse and to make a a total inversion of the capitalist logic. markets would put the debt of numerous other countries strategic error. We must make the satisfaction of social needs the decisive under the rule of speculation. But a break-up of the eurozone The debt would indeed be increased in proportion to the priority, and from that work out what are the necessary and is also seen as a major risk, including by Germany, which devaluation rate, and the new currency would be exposed, useful jobs, and prioritise non-market public services and the through such a break-up would lose its advantages in world without defence, to speculative attacks. Those pressures development of free time above the search for profit and in - competition. would then serve to justify an even harsher austerity policy. dividual consumption. Those are, besides, basic precondi - The 27 October 2011 agreement was, like the previous In France supporters of “deglobalisation” do not all advo - tions if we want to meet aims for the reduction of ones, a provisional and cobbled-together solution which con - cate quitting the euro, but their preoccupations are similar. greSeincheoussuec-ghasaepmroisjseicotnps. uts the very logic of capitalism firmed Germany’s refusal to accept a change in the statutes Since they make free trade the source of all ills, they mainly in question, a very broad alliance is necessary, between of the European Central Bank which would allow it directly propose fiscal protectionism, or in other words taxes on im - the social movements defined in the broad sense. to finance states. The Greek debt was theoretically cut by ports. There, too, the aim is to re-establish competitiveness. half, but at the cost of a veritable placing under supervision, It is hard to see how such measures could, as if by magic, 2 November 2011 sharpened austerity, and a massive programme of privatisa - re-establish a fairer distribution of income: it is not a border tion. tax that will make the profiteers give up their privileges. In [1] http://gesd.free.fr/esummit.pdf Technically, the weak points of this agreement, which was any case, competitiveness depends on many other factors be - [2] http://gesd.free.fr/nobigbaz.pdf probably stillborn, were obvious. The debt cutback is volun - sides commodity prices. [3] See ”Exit or voice? A European strategy of rupture”, So - tary, as the text of the agreement explains [1]: “We invite And, above all, this approach would mean getting into a cialist Register 2012, http://hussonet.free.fr/sreg122.pdf Greece, private investors and all parties concerned to de - doubly perverse logic. First into the logic of competition: but velop a voluntary bond exchange with a nominal discount a country can improve its situation by better competitiveness of 50%”. Indeed, they wanted to avoid declaring a Greek de - only by taking market share (and thus jobs) from neighbour - fault which would unleash the diabolical mechanism of the ing countries. And then into the logic of productivism, which CDS (Credit Default Swaps), whose owners would then sees no way to create jobs other than more economic growth. Is This as Good come to demand their dues. To avoid contagion for other countries, appeal was made to QUITTING EUROPEAN NEOLIBERALISM The preconditions for a way out are to establish a bal - the European Financial Stability Facility. This fund, created in ance of forces favourable to the working class and to May 2010, had been endowed with 440 billion euros, but as it Gets? wipe out at least a portion of the debt. after the bail-out plans for Greece, Ireland and Portugal, it had only about 200 to 250 billion left. A feasible strategy is thus composed of unilateral meas - THE CASE FOR CLASS-STRUGGLE FEMINISM For it to serve as a firewall, it had to be able theoretically to ures which clash with the rules of neo-liberal Europe but command 1000 billion euros. But the states do not want to which would aim at the extension of progressive measures Saturday 26 November pay, and this sum was to be got by the same methods which across Europe. led to the financial crisis: leveraging and a “Special Purpose The technical responses exist and are based on this coher - 11.30-5.30, University College London, Vehicle”, with an appeal to the emerging powers and espe - ent triangle: cially to China. 1. Monetarisation of the debts by the European Central Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT The banks were also to be recapitalised, but not too soon, Bank; Creche • Social • Tickets: £10/5/2 • Women vs cuts • What kind of student women’s movement? • Marxism and feminism ...and more All change in Italy and Spain? Details: workersliberty.org/ isthisasgoodasitgets / 07883 520852 Italy’s billionaire “playboy” prime minister Silvio Berlus - The economic crisis in Italy is the most compelling rea - coni is coming under increasing pressure to step aside son yet for Berlusconi to go. But the left and labour move - as his country slips ever-closer towards economic cri - Is This as ment has to map out a serious socialist alternative to sis. challenge the austerity cuts which will follow whatever the Good as it Berlusconi’s opinion rating dropped to a record low of political shape of Italy’s government. 22% after a rally on 6 November. SPAIN Gets? Italian left party Rifondazione called last week for imme - The conservative Popular Party (PP) is favourite to win diate elections, to act as a referendum on the economic pol - in Spain’s general election on 20 November. speaker tour icy forced on the country by the EU and carried out by Berlusconi. The main plank of the PP’s campaign has been to criti - A series of meetings around the Even Berlusconi’s Northern League coalition partner cise the ruling Socialist Party for a 21% unemployment rate. country... For more details: leader Umberto Bossi called on him to resign before a cru - To counter that they propose mild as milk policies for workersliberty.org/feministtour cial budget debate as the interest rate on Italy’s borrowing groInwpthra(centicoeutrhaegiPngPswmiallllsbtiucskinteossaes,treitcct). austerity pro - reached 6.74%. gramme — just as they have done in local government, 07883 520852. Italy currently has a debt worth €1.9 trillion, 120% of its where they are now the biggest party. GDP. SOLIDARITY 7 DEBATE Socialists and nuclear power

We continue our debate on the future of nuclear power with this article by Les Hearn. Les argues that technolog - ical developments, such as using thorium instead of ura - nium, can create a vastly more ecologically-friendly nuclear industry acceptable to socialists. In our next issue we will print an opposing view. Why I support nuclear power as one of a range of alternatives to fossil fuels

Back in the 70s, like many on the left, I was alarmed by what seemed to be the cover-up of the risks of nuclear power in the 50s and 60s. The indiscriminate power of nuclear weapons to kill in large numbers also marked many on the left with a fear of nuclear energy. But, as Maynard Keynes put it, “when the facts change, I change my mind”. We only have one planet and it is overwhelmingly likely that “we” (or greedy capitalists, if you like) are altering its Is nuclear power safe? climate for the worse by returning carbon dioxide to the at - mosphere a million times faster than it was originally locked away in fossil fuels. And, despite attempts to reduce carbon population. A 2% increased risk of cancers linked to radia - stantial reductions in demand (so far untested), while some emissions, these are actually rising … by over 5% last year, tion is dwarfed by a 24% decreased risk of death from other involve reductions in population — by up to 20%! Since an from 29.0 to 30.6 gigatonnes (Gt or billion tonnes). cancers, according to a Canadian study. It also found that increase will be needed in order to care for the ageing pop - And, of the 13.7 Gt released by electricity generation, 11.2 nuclear workers lived longer than average. And this under ulation, this seems particularly unrealistic. Gt is “fixed” for the foreseeable future, since it will come capitalism! In particular, ERJ claims that transport energy can be re - from existing or planned fossil fuel power stations that will I am accused of listing the objections to nuclear power but duced by 70% with hydrogen-powered vehicles. They don’t be operating in 2020. not attempting to answer many of them. In particular, in the mention the following problems. Hydrogen is inefficiently The closure or cancellation of nuclear power stations areas of waste disposal, plant safety and cost, I fail to “see produced from fossil fuels; solar-powered electrolysis of makes this much worse, since these are the main proven al - the reality of nuclear power within the context of a global water is even more expensive. Highly flammable hydrogen ternative source of electricity. Countries which have reacted capitalist economy”. Trading content-free accusations, I must be stored in pressurised tanks, no doubt to be released to recent scares, rather than evidence, include Japan, Ger - might accuse others of failing to see the reality of renewable in traffic accidents. A new infra-structure for hydrogen sup - many, Malaysia, Thailand, Italy and Switzerland. energy within the context etc. etc. ply would have to be built, “a matter for policy decisions Truthfully, the potential risks of radiation are massively Of course, I did deal with plant safety and waste disposal. and market forces” (ERJ) (!?). Fuel cells to “burn” the hy - exaggerated by anti-nuclear groups in comparison with the A recent Physics World (May 2011) shows that more modern drogen use costly platinum catalysts which can be poisoned actual risks of the fossil fuel industry to workers and the designs would have survived both the Japanese earthquake by impurities in the hydrogen or air, which is also needed; public. In particular, the environmental risks of radiation and tsunami. These include better back-up generators and their reliability over long periods is unknown; they would are minimal — wildlife is flourishing in the exclusion zone containment for molten fuel in case of a meltdown, and pas - easily freeze in cold weather; they would be a magnet for round Chernobyl and, as James Lovelock has pointed out, in sive (i.e. not depending on a power supply) emergency cool - thieves. Incidentally, ERJ assumes that much of the hydro - the atom bomb test sites in the Pacific. ing operated by gas pressure or gravity. In fact, gen would be imported (from where?). Furthermore, the difficulties of replacing nuclear power, modifications to the Fukushima model to reduce radiation let alone the whole fossil fuel industry, with renewables are leaks in case of an accident were proposed by scientists 30 VAGUE minimised (see my article in Solidarity 203, 11 May — years ago but rejected as too expensive. Meanwhile, other Other aspects of ERJ’s schemes are equally vague. http://bit.ly/qffeKv). similar power plants survived the earthquake and tsunami Much geothermal energy would be needed, though this technology is notoriously unreliable. Curiously, nowhere CONTROL undamaged. On radioactive waste, I said that deep storage in stable in 250-plus pages is there a mention of earthquakes or It is said (by Theo Simon, Letters, Solidarity 204, 18 May strata was perfectly plausible. Reprocessing would reduce tsunamis! —http://bit.ly/k8WOD9) that “nuclear power demands the amount and feed back fuel to nuclear plants. The rele - high security and central control”, as if these were nec - It is difficult to avoid James Lovelock’s conclusion that vance of the “global capitalist economy” to this is not clear, essarily bad. “only nuclear power can now [my emphasis] halt global except that they won’t pay for it. In any case, the danger of warming” — but this is not to accept nuclear power as it is. Central control would anyway be needed to construct waste has been greatly overstated. Five metres of concrete The possibility of fail-safe thorium-powered reactors is ig - tens of thousands of wind turbines, on- and offshore, and would absorb all the radiation from anything. Wade Allison nored not only by the (capitalist) industry which will not or the new supergrid of thousands of kilometres which would “would be perfectly happy” to have high-level waste buried cannot afford the research costs but by the Left and environ - be needed to get the electricity to the cities. Already, propos - 100 metres below his house, while James Lovelock has “of - mentalists. Supported by eminent scientists such as Carlo als to introduce new systems of pylons have provoked mass fered to take the full output of a nuclear power station in Rubbia of CERN, thorium reactors do not have a chain reac - protests in Wales, Scotland, Somerset and the West Mid - my back yard.” tion to go out of control. They rely on a stream of neutrons lands. And putting cables underground would be ten times ALTERNATIVES from a particle accelerator which could be instantly more expensive. Alternatives to fossil fuels consist of two proven tech - switched off. Using plentiful thorium, they can also “burn” Apparently, I fail “to question the projected ‘energy gap’ nologies, nuclear and hydroelectric power (HEP), a host other radioactive materials, including surplus bombs … and which is being used to justify nuclear power expansion”. of promising but unproven ones, and the mirage (at high level radioactive waste. Radioactive material decays The argument goes that, if the most wide-ranging pro - present) of a vast reduction in energy demand. into stable isotopes, usually lead. Plutonium takes about gramme of insulation and energy conservation is under - 100,000 years to reduce to 1/20 of its original amount. Tho - taken world-wide (the like of which has never been seen), All have environmental and/or health implications. HEP rium reactors accelerate this process greatly (Accelerated then the electricity generated by nuclear power would not requires vast dams flooding arable land and wildlife habi - Transmutation of Waste), reducing the volume of waste and be needed. As the Spartans once said in a different context, tats, disrupting river ecosystems, destroying estuarine fish - the time for which it would have to be kept safe. if! eries, reducing the fertility of flood plains, and endangering A final point: Theo accuses me of ignoring the “prolifera - Once again, let’s look at the reality of nuclear power. The lives in case of collapse. tion argument”, which he seems to equate with the simple worst accident of all time, Chernobyl, has killed 43 people. The Three Gorges dam in China necessitated flooding possession of nuclear power. There are many difficult steps This was due to the criminal negligence of the USSR police 1000 towns and villages, and “removing” 1.4 million peo - to building nuclear weapons and it is clear that these have state. 28 workers were fatally irradiated while bringing the ple. Since completion in 2006, the reservoir has been not proliferated anything like as fast as civil nuclear power. reactor under control. 15 young people died of thyroid can - plagued by pollution and algae. The dam is silting up, while More of a problem is terrorism and here too it is not clear cer, entirely avoidable had the bureaucrats issued potassium the extra weight of water is causing geological problems. that nuclear power plants are uniquely vulnerable and dan - iodide tablets (as was done promptly in Japan recently). Downstream, the reduction in flow has led to a drought af - gerous targets. More importantly, many conflicts are, and Other estimates of potential deaths range from 9,000 to fecting 300,000 people, with drinking water reservoirs con - will be increasingly, over resources, particularly as the cli - 900,000 but even the lowest of these seems to be way too taining only “dead water”. Shipping can no longer use large mate changes. Nuclear bombs won’t be much use in these! high. So far, no other deaths have been proved to be due to stretches of the river. It is worrying that Switzerland is phas - Yet more deaths in the UK fossil fuel industry (four work - the Chernobyl disaster. ing out the nuclear power that provides 40% of its electric - ers killed in a Welsh oil refinery explosion in March; five As Wade Allison (author of Radiation and Reason ) states, ity, replacing it with HEP. coal miners killed in Wales and Yorkshire in September) the ability of living tissue to repair radiation damage has It is also worrying that Germany, the sixth biggest emitter should help put the supposed dangers of nuclear power in been wildly underestimated. In radiation treatment of can - of carbon dioxide, is phasing out nuclear power, increasing perspective. Multiply these figures by at least 1,000 world - cers, healthy tissues receive up to five times the fatal dose of carbon emissions by 3%. If it can afford to do without the wide. According to Environmentalists for Nuclear Energy radiation but spread over several weeks, during which time electricity from its nuclear plants, it should keep them open (www.ecolo.org), environmental opposition to nuclear en - they efficiently repair the damage. while closing down an equivalent number of fossil fuel ergy is the “greatest misunderstanding and mistake of the Many accidents have occurred in nuclear power plants. plants, cutting CO2 emissions proportionately. century”. We should be demanding that nuclear power be In those resulting in radiation leaks, there have been … no In Japan, phasing out nuclear power will cause massive exBpauntdletd’sanddemimapnrdovthede,sratfheesrt tfhoarnmpshoafsenduoculeta. r power, deaths or even injuries among the public. A few workers shortfalls in energy. The optimistic scenarios of Energy-Rich as well as support for renewable energy research. have died, usually because they were close to the incident. Japan (ERJ — www.energyrichjapan.info) all involve sub - Otherwise, nuclear workers are healthier than the general 8 SOLIDARITY DEBATE What Trotskyists should know about today’s young anarchists

Yves Coleman is a French revolutionary who helps pub - knows is not a separate reality but interlinked with human lish the journal Ni patrie ni frontières. This is an extended social relations), they often use a vague Marxist vocabulary version of an address he gave at the AWL’s 2011 confer - which may lead you to think they are easy to “win” to your ence in which he criticised our recent polemics against an - beloved Marxist “science”. This is a total illusion. archism. Generally, the anarchist press places much more value on “anecdotes” about daily life and small-scale experiences “When I cook for the Occupy movement in London, I con - than most Trotskyist newspapers. Young anarchists value tribute to changing the world. “ (An interviewee on RFI more creative forms of propaganda: street theater, videos on Radio) the internet, and large cultural events, which they think are As far as I know, the AWL is the only organisation in the as effective as traditional meetings, newspapers, or leaflets. European far-left which is trying to seriously debate This is linked with the tradition of the “ateneos” (sorts of with other reformist or revolutionary currents. cultural centers/libraries, etc.) in the Spanish CNT. I don’t share the AWL’s dogmatic reverence toward CONCRETE RESULTS Leninism and Trotskyism, but we have something impor - Trotskyists should realise young “anarchists” want to tant in common: the belief that discussions can be useful be active in their own milieu — their own community, and fruitful as long as they are not led along sectarian and Makhno, because the role of Trotsky in suppressing these their own housing estate, their own workplace — and slanderous lines. I acknowledge your effort to deal with revolutionary movements is both well known and well doc - see concrete results of their action now. umented. The Trotskyists’ lies, slanders, and distortions other currents of thought, even when I disagree totally with That means they don’t give a damn about selling papers you. about these historical episodes mean that anarchists with a grasp of the historical record will be immune to your over - or distributing leaflets if it is not linked to a concrete change Anarchist comrades should remember the virtues of po - in people’s lives. It means that they don’t fancy going miles litical debates, particularly as Emma Goldman and tures, and with good reason. They see classical Trotskyism as part of the problem, and in no way part of the solution. away from their home to distribute leaflets to people they Voltairine de Cleyre — to quote only two famous examples have never met. Or if they do go far away, it’s much more to — participated in debates with socialists (Marxists) and learn about unknown realities than to propagate a specific were won over to anarchism through such debates! DIRECT ACTION NOW Trotskyists should realize that young “anarchists” today ideology to supposedly ignorant workers, peasants or op - So the question of debate is not where our disagreement want action now . And by “action now” they don’t mean pressed people. regarding today’s “anarchism” lies. It seems to me that your a long “primitive accumulation” of militants (or cadres) What they do and propose, even on the basis of confused articles in Solidarity were too much centred on “old- to build the party (a process traditional Trotskyists enjoy slogans and politics, resonates among young precarious style”19th-century anarchism and not on today’s diverse, so much). workers or students, influenced by the anti-globalisation confused, libertarian and anarchist currents. movement ideology (the ”indignados” is a good example) Through my work publishing the journal Ni patrie ni fron - The most “physical” (and sometimes “macho“) anarchists and they are like a fish in water in these social movements tières (which, for almost 10 years, has published many anar - want to confront physically the cops, to throw Molotov because they don’t want to impose an ideology. chist and Marxist texts together in the same issue and on the cocktails, to smash the face of fascists, to destroy the head - same theme to stimulate debate and political reflection), I quarters of some bourgeois party, etc. The more “peaceful” MILITANCY AT WORK? have had the occasion of meeting many young “anarchists“ ones (but sometimes people who are also in the first group) Trotskyists should also know that young anarchists in book fairs, conferences, etc. What struck me is how much want to build new human relationships here and now. That have a different view of militancy at work. (generally) they ignore “their” classics: Proudhon, Bakunin, means organising squats or communes; questioning gender Stirner or Kropotkin. There are certainly many more points Trotskyists have traditionally tried to get jobs in big facto - relationships now and not in a distant future under com - ries or other large workplaces, and they have occasionally to be discussed, but I would like in this article to underline munism; cultivating vegetables to have healthy food; “skip - only five. succeeded in getting positions inside the trade union bu - ping” good food from supermarket dustbins to distribute it reaucracy in the public sector (or, less often, in the private TRAINING or cook it; cooking food for homeless or poor people; sup - sector). When Trotskyists discuss with young “anarchists”, they porting illegal workers’ struggles concretely; occupying un - Young anarchists are often very precarious (as all the should realise that they did not receive, and don’t value, employment agencies; organising unemployed or members of their generation), working in call centres and the same “training”. precarious workers; creating cooperatives; discussing all temporary jobs. That may explain why they are not inter - sorts of ways of changing their daily life here and now. ested in long-term strategies for building tendencies inside Trotskyists are generally trained in “party” “schools” trade unions or in trade union routine, and are much more where they learn about the history of the workers’ move - NO “THEORY OF EVERYTHING” Trotskyists should realise that young “anarchists” are in direct action in their community more than at their work - ment and the basic laws of Marxist “science”. That was the not looking for an all-explaining science as Trotskyists place, which is always changing. There also some anarchists tradition until the 70s and 80s in France in Trotskyist groups. are. (not all of them of course, because some anarchists share In general the Trotskyist press still puts the stress on the im - Trotskyist tactics of infiltrating the trade union bureaucracy) portance of a historical culture. That has also happened in They have a spontaneous distrust of “Marxist-Leninist” who think that trade unions represent barriers and brakes the Spanish CNT before World War II, or in some traditional Stalinism (which is a rather good thing), but they also think on forms of self-organisation among workers, and in many anarchist groups before the 1960s, but is no longer true as far Marx, Lenin and Trotsky are boring guys who lived 70, 100 cases are overtly hostile to any autonomous currents that as I know in Europe. or 150 years ago and can’t deal with today’s realities. They have emerged among radical workers. Young European “anarchists’” political culture is much obviously hate Lenin and Trotsky for Kronstadt, the repres - This little article may give you the impression that young more diverse : it derives from all sorts of radical or marginal sion of anarchists in Russia, etc., but more than everything “anarchists “ are hot-blooded, hyper-sensitive, empathetic films or documentaries, semi-political zines and music, from they are not, unlike Trotskyists, looking for a coherent, sci - and funny individuals, while Trotskyists are cold-blooded, the anti-globalisation movement and from all sorts of tiny entific point of view. They are inspired by different, hetero - insensitive, indifferent and boring persons. There is a bit of booklets reproduced in “infokiosks”, etc. geneous, ideas, which seem to Marxists totally incoherent truStoh inif bTortohtosfktyhiesstes mwuatunatlltyoshdairsecducslsichsées.riously with I must also say that for those anarchists with a solid back - and sometimes even reactionary. ground in revolutionary history, there is absolutely no for - today’s young anarchists they (as well as their organisa - They can be inspired by postmodern or confused multi - tions) should start by questioning themselves, along the getting (nor is there is the slightest wish to minimise) the culturalist intellectuals, as well as by obscure vegan or pre- deeds and thoughts of the historical figure known as Leon lines I have just described. Who knows — something ecologist thinkers. But you can often be fooled because interesting may happen. Trotsky. You are not going to persuade these anarchists when they write about “economy” (which every Marxist about anything concerning Kronstadt 1921 or Nestor Searchlight splits from Hope not Hate

By Jack Yates light and HnH, represent one of the two distinct trends of nual “conferences” and maintaining a steering committee “official” anti-fascism (the other being the SWP-run UAF). — Searchlight ’s campaigning arm appears to have no struc - The anti-fascist magazine Searchlight announces in its Together, these groups benefit from the vast bulk of trade ture at all. October issue that “Nick Lowles, the prime creator of union funding and support. They represent “anti-fascism” At a time when the fortunes of the British National Party the very successful Hope Not Hate [HnH] campaign, de - per se in the imagination of most activists. look grim, and when the English Defence League’s support cided to stand down as editor.” Lowles has been re - If there has been a sharp political disagreement at the top seems to be plateauing out, we need a serious discussion placed by former (and founding) editor Gerry Gable. of the organisation, then the unions which put up large about what is to come and how to counteract it. The present amounts of money and the activists who pound the streets social, economic and political conditions are just as All fair enough, you’d think. However, not only has with leaflets deserve to know about it. Carefully-worded favourable for far-right/fascist regroupment as they are for Lowles stood down, he has completely disappeared from editorials and suggestion by omission do not add up to po - building the labour movement and socialist organisation. the pages of the magazine. Also notable by their absence are litical accountability. Neither of the official anti-fascist campaigns are up to the Matthew Collins and Graeme Atkinson, both prominent Although Searchlight provides useful information and in - task of seriously assessing, mobilising the working class Searchlight associates. The only British contributors to Octo - telligence, it has always been a factional publication, repre - against and combating the rise threats to come. ber’s Searchlight are Gerry and Sonia Gable. Add to this the A weakened and divided Searchlight /HnH that con - senting and promoting a particular brand of anti-fascism. absence of any links from the magazine’s website to HnH tinues to benefit from trade union and activist support Real debate and discussion on tactics and strategy for the and it looks like more than an amicable parting of ways has can only be a block on the road to effective, working- anti-fascist movement rarely grace its pages and unlike UAF occurred. class anti-fascism. — which at least goes through the motions of holding an - Why is this important? Gable and Lowles, through Search - SOLIDARITY 9 LEFT It is good that Qaddafi’s gone! By Martin Thomas

On Sunday 6 November we got a small down-payment towards the debate on Libya between AWL and the So - cialist Party which we have been demanding, and the SP has been evading, since SP leader Peter Taaffe put his pen to work on the first of two long (and inaccurate!) polemics against us on the subject back in April. At a session on Libya at the SP’s annual weekend event, on 5-6 November, Mark Osborn and I intervened from the floor, for AWL. Bear in mind that the SP’s annual weekend event is not like AWL’s “Ideas for Freedom” event. Sessions are almost never set up as debates, and guest speakers of any sort are rare. Almost all sessions are long lectures from members of the SP leadership, followed by a few questions. Lectures are sometimes very valuable, but only if they give listeners facts and ideas they hadn't come across be - fore. That is rarely the case with SP speakers, and wasn’t the case with Niall Mulholland, the speaker on Libya. Peter Taaffe was at the weekend event, and not speaking in another session at the time, but chose not to come to the session. Asked, as he arrived at the event, whether SP would debate AWL, he muttered: “We have debated...”, and quickly made off. OVERTHROW fighting the fascists. It was similarly false to “call on” the without NATO help, the civil war would certainly have Mulholland conceded that the overthrow of Qaddafi has NATO powers to stop bombing Qaddafi, and to let that been longer and cost even more lives. If 30,000 died, the vast created openings for the working class in Libya. He was “call” overwhelm support for the people of Libya. majority were civil-war deaths between the factions in enthusiastic about the initial anti-Qaddafi protests in Several SPers replied from the floor, and Niall Mulhol - Libya. Even Qaddafi’s gang, who would almost certainly Benghazi in February. But he pointedly did not support land from the platform. Their points included: exaggerate, blame no more than 2,000 on NATO). the actual overthrow. • The outcome has left imperialism stronger. Imperialism now • NATO’s intervention is in no way analogous to cops clash - has a bridgehead in the troubled Middle East. (The Egyptian The overthrow of Qaddafi, he claimed, was much less ing with fascists because it is the normal job of the police to deal army, receiving more aid from the USA than any other army with thugs, and even a workers’ government would have police worthy of support than the overthrow of Ben Ali in Tunisia, in the world except Israel’s, is a more reliable “bridgehead” or of Mubarak in Egypt. (of a different sort). (A workers’ government would also, if it for the USA! We do not yet know which of the European could, give military aid — again, of a different sort — to rev - The new regime in Libya, the National Transitional Coun - powers vying for influence in Tripoli will come out best. In olutions in other countries). cil, is bourgeois. (That is true, of course, also of the military- any case “imperialism” cannot be equated with one rival • Counter-revolution has already happened in Libya, with the run regimes in Tunisia and Egypt since their dictators fled). big power or another. And our criterion should not be what NATO intervention. Decisively, Mulholland claimed that the NATO bombing of is worst for vaguely-defined “imperialism” in general, but (As if the initial rebellion in Benghazi Qaddafi’s forces had spoiled the revolution. what is best for the working people). were a pure independent workers’ movement. Actually, We argued it was wrong to fail to take a position inde - • The bourgeois press said that Qaddafi would have carried Qaddafi’s dictatorship was such that no workers’ move - pendent of the big powers — to be cornered by NATO into through a massacre in Benghazi if NATO had not bombed. That ment of any sort existed at the time of the initial rebellion. saying no whenever they said yes — and so to let your in - is doubtful; and in any case a massacre followed, with over 30,000 Only now can an organised workers’ movement emerge. It clination to support the people of Libya be overwhelmed by dying between March and the eventual fall of Qaddafi. (Of course may be overwhelmed, in the end, by the Islamist forces in your anxiety to have an uncomplicated blanket “no” to it would have been better if Qaddafi had gone quietly. He the NTC — who assuredly are Islamists for some other rea - NATO. didn’t. So? You submit? Civil wars cost lives. The evidence son than that NATO wants them to be Islamist! — but the We do not support or endorse the cops when, on occasion, from Libyans who were in Benghazi at the time, and from opTehneinSgPs nsohwouelxdisrte)s. pond to our demands for a properly finding themselves between anti-fascists and a more numer - Qaddafi’s own declarations, was that Qaddafi would have organised debate — speakers from both sides, an ous fascist crowd, they turn against the fascists rather than slaughtered great numbers. If somehow the rebellion had agreed chair, and so on. the anti-fascists. But we also do not “call on” the cops to stop survived that bloodletting, and managed to win through Debating Israel/Palestine

pression and uniting the working-class from a position By Liam McNulty flicts such as Northern Ireland would have been settled sev - of relative formal equality. eral times over with strikes over outdoor relief, the postal On Tuesday 1 November the Alliance for Workers’ Lib - service and the NHS. Socialist Appeal also used Leon Trotsky’s theory of per - erty debated Socialist Appeal at the Marxist Discussion The issue of national self-determination requires demo - manent revolution to argue that “there is no solution under Group at Cambridge on “Which way forward for Israel cratic demands which deal with the root of the problem and capitalism” because democratic tasks can only be solved if and Palestine?” provide a basis on which to unite workers on a political the struggle of the working class immediately leads to so - level. Otherwise, national differences risk shattering the cialism. Such debates are the sign of a healthy socialist movement movement when the issue of self-determination inevitably and contribute towards the collective sharpening of politi - But Trotsky’s theory of permanent revolution was based arises. on a concrete examination of the relations between classes in cal ideas. It is a pity that similar debates are not more com - That is why the AWL advocates “two nations, two states” mon on a left often characterised by sectarian sniping and Russia (and later in China). On this basis Trotsky established as a basis to unite the Israeli and Palestinian working that the bourgeoisie in those countries could not solve ques - hysteria. classes. This demand recognises that the fundamental issue On a superficial level, the positions of the AWL and So - tions of political democracy because they were socially and facing the Palestinians is the denial of their right to self-de - numerically weak. Notwithstanding the fact that Trotsky cialist Appeal on Israel/Palestine appear quite similar. Both termination. It also recognises the right of Israelis to their organisations take a class-based approach to the issue and said little about the issue of national self-determination in own state, which exists and has existed for 63 years. Only on are critical of the politics of boycott on the left. Both stress relation to this theory, and that the AWL argues that it is the the basis of these mutual rights can workers in both nations the need to link up the struggles of Israeli and Palestinian working class who can solve the Israel/Palestine question, be united. workers and reject the idea that Israelis should be lumped the Socialist Appeal line is “Trotsky frozen”, ignoring his Socialist Appeal’s objection to the AWL was the argument together and branded as uniquely evil. warning that permanent revolution is not a suprahistorical that a Palestinian state under capitalism will not solve the However, during the course of the debate fundamental master-key, applicable in all situations. problems of capitalist exploitation. But as Lenin pointed out differences emerged. John Pickard from Socialist Appeal In response to Paul Hampton’s arguments, John Pickard in The Right of Nations to Self-Determination, substituting the opened with a lucid description of the oppression facing was left with little option but to mischaracterise the AWL Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, and the discrimina - issue of economic independence of nations under capital - position as one of pessimism regarding the possibilities of tion suffered by Arabs living in Israel — very little of which ism for the political question of self-determination “is just as socialism. This was rhetorical bluster to disguise the fact we would disagree with. intelligent as if someone, in discussing the programmatic that the Socialist Appeal line did not deal comprehensively However, he gave the impression that Palestinian national demand for the supremacy of parliament...were to expound with the necessity of transitional democratic demands to ad - oppression will dissolve automatically in the course of class- the perfectly correct conviction that big capital dominates dress the immediate issues facing Palestinian workers. in a bourgeois country, whatever the regime in it.” But the differences between AWL and Socialist Ap - struggle on economic issues. Socialist Appeal has nothing peal were thrashed out in a serious but comradely fash - to say about the immediate problems — the lack of a Pales - DRAINING ion, both by the platform speakers and by members of tinian state — and offers only one solution: socialism! No-one in the AWL argues that political self-determina - the audience. It is a credit to the organisers of the Cam - As the AWL speaker, Paul Hampton, pointed out, as tion for Palestinians will be the end of the matter. It will, bridge Marxist Discussion Group that such open dis - much as we all want socialism, we need to say more than however, be a qualitative step forward and brings with cussion can take place, and we hope that it will “‘jam tomorrow”. If national differences could be solved by it the possibility of draining the poison of national op - continue well into the future. day-to-day struggles over economic issues, national con - 10 SOLIDARITY REPORTS Unison: massive vote for strikes

By Ira Berkovic 78% of those voting in automatically less militant The turnouts in Unison’s strike action has forced the the union’s local govern - and more reluctant to take ballots were low (30% in government into these Members of Unison, the ment section voted for action than their local gov - local government and 25% token concessions; it is a country’s biggest public strikes, while 82% of health ernment counterparts. in the NHS), but no lower glimpse of what might be sector trade union, have workers voted for the Scottish teachers’ union than is usual for ballots in a achieved with more sus - overwhelmingly voted in walkout. As well as being a EIS has also returned its union of Unison’s size (and tained action. Union offi - favour of strike action on decisive result in general, ballot result, registering an higher as a proportion than cials like the GMB’s Brian 30 November. the figures explode the 82% vote in favour of the number of people who Strutton called the new myth that NHS workers are strikes on a 54% turnout. voted for the Tories at the offer “a step in the right di - last general election). Part rection”; if that’s the case, of the reason for the low the step is tiny. Defending turnout is the anti-union the status quo should be “Our aim is to close every building” laws, which force unions to the bottom-line negotiation conduct their ballots position for unions. By Ed Whitby, close every building and tre location for the rally. through the post rather Union leaders don’t Newcastle Unison every service. By putting The branch agreed to than in workplaces. Postal share that bottom-line. The (pc) out a strong message that work with other unions ballots atomise the voting form the action will take, rush into scheme-by- we will picket every build - through the Public Service process and abstract it from with the union’s right-wing scheme negotiations (rather Newcastle Unison stew - ing, we hope that even in Alliance to build a day of day-to-day experiences at suggesting that NHS work - than across-the-board talks) ards met on Monday 7 the academies, where the action in the city centre on work. The low turnout is ers should take a token two where unions are much November to form plans unions may feel less confi - Saturday 19 November. also, in part, down to the hours of strike action rather more susceptible to “di - for 30 November. dent, we can pressure Our want to get 10 reps union itself. Wherever than a full day’s walkout. vide-and-rule” tactics from head-teachers into closing from each union branch in good work was done to A revised offer from the the government, was The mood was upbeat. the school. The message is the town centre with stalls build the vote, it was government, floated on 3 mainly led by Unison’s There was discussion if management don’t close across the city centre, ex - driven at branch or work - November, looks unlikely Dave Prentis and strongly about getting a clearer it, we’ll picket it. plaining the strike, making place level with little or no to prevent the action. The suggests that he is willing message to members to The TUC is organising a links with cuts and other support from the union na - offer involved the protec - to accept some of govern - counter the press reports march on the strike day attacks. We can’t rely on tionally. Branches relied on tion of existing terms and meRnatn’skp-arenmdi-sfeilse. activists that the strikes are not nec - across the iconic Tyne TUC or union full-timers neighbouring branches for conditions for anyone must strengthen branch essary. Bridge. Unfortunately the toWmea’kllebtehicsahlalipnpgeonn. all resources and materials within 10 years of retire - organisation and con - We agreed to set up a propose to assemble at activists — including rather than the national ment and a slight change to tinue building independ - strike committee involving 10.30am (which doesn’t from the anti-cuts net - union. the “accrual rates” — the ent strike committees to ordinary stewards rather leave very long for picket - works, the Free Educa - The decisive ballot result rate at which pensions ben - provide a counterweight than just senior branch of - ing) and the rally is some - tion Network, and by no means suggests that efits are built up – meaning to people who will, at ficers or those on full-time what out-of-the-way. We Occupy Newcastle folk we can just buckle up and the new career-average best, mislead the dispute release. wil lobby the TUC for a — to unite with us. wait for 30 November. schemes would be slightly and, at worse, derail it On the day we want to later start, and a city-cen - There is still a fight to be more generous. It is posi - entirely. had in Unison over what tive that the mere threat of Marciano Flora must stay! Unite stewards oppose Southampton deal

By a Tubeworker migration controls to be By Darren Bedford Mike Tucker told the dation one way or another Southampton Daily Echo on the deal. But when we supporter scrWapoprkeedr.s should have Unite and Unison mem - that, while not formal votes took it back to our stewards the same freedom to bers at Southampton John Laing, a cleaning were taken at recent mem - they were clear that there travel the globe as the council are currently vot - contractor hired by Lon - bers’ meetings to discuss hadn’t been enough move - wealth we create cur - ing on an offer from man - don Overground, recently the deal, “the mood at the ment from management. rently enjoys. agement that could end tricked nearly 30 of its meeting was overwhelm - They were also particularly the long-running dispute employees — including ingly to reject the council opposed to the condition over pay cuts. an RMT union rep — into • Online petition: proposal.” the council was putting on If the deal is rejected, us that we had to drop our reporting for fake over - marciano.epetitions.net The deal, which contains strikes — suspended since legal claims, and for those time, and subsequently • Protest: John Laing’s some reductions in the mid-October — could re - reasons felt we had to rec - handed them over to the Allington House building, scale of cuts for each grade sume. ommend rejection of the UK Borders Agency. 150 Victoria Street (oppo - of workers, also involves Unite’s shop stewards deal to our membership. site Victoria station), the unions calling off an “I think that was a very The workers, who were voted to recommend rejec - Wednesday 16 November, ongoing legal challenge to strong and principled po - told to report to a meeting tion. Unite regional organ - 8am the council’s cuts package. sition that our stewards in a school hall on 25 Octo - iser Ian Woodland told While Unison, the major - took.” ber, were arrested by Carlisle cleaners Solidarity : spite this, he was arrested, ity union at the council, is UKBA cops. They were de - “Like Unison, our negoti - taken to a detention centre not putting out a recom - tained and told they had to strike ating team came out of the • A longer interview with in Dover and told he must mendation to its members produce papers to verify last round of talks not plan - Ian Woodland will appear leave the country by 9 No - on how to vote on the deal, their immigration status. ning to make a recommen - in Solidarity 225 vember. Unison branch secretary Most workers had valid pa - The RMT is mounting a 350 RMT members work - pers, and were later re - campaign against John ing for Carlisle Cleaning leased. However, one Laing, who say they will and Support Services Sparks fight to maintain rank-and-file control worker — Marciano Flora not rehire even those work - will take 48 hours of — now faces deportation. ers who the UKBA re - strike action from Marciano has lived in the leased. The move is typical 12.01am on Friday 11 No - By Darren Bedford Many rank-and-file ac - direct-action oriented ap - UK for five years and has a of cleaning contractors who vember as they fight for tivists are frustrated by proach. A rank-and-file family here. Although his routinely use immigration living wages. Over 1,000 Unite mem - how long the union has campaign newsletter ar - current work visa had ex - law as a tool for union- There will be picket bers at Balfour Beatty taken to move; 7 December gued: “This dispute will be pired, he had already ap - busting. As well as organis - lines at major stations Engineering Services, the is the day on which BBES won by stopping produc - plied for leave to remain ing to defend these along the Virgin West construction industry plans to unilaterally im - tion on the big jobs — not and explained to UKBA of - members, the RMT and Coast Mainline. The contractor leading the pose its new contracts, by appealing to the good ficers that he had a letter other unions must cam - workers held a solid 24- charge to rip up the col - prompting some to argue nature of politicians. If we from the Home Office veri - paign for Britain’s racist hour strike two weeks lective agreement, could that the strike will be too have got thousands of fying that his application and anti-working class im - ago. strike on 7 December. little too late. angry sparks in the middle was being processed. De - In the run-up to the con - of the City on 9 November, The strike is part of a struction workers’ national we should do more than campaign to defend the demonstration on 9 No - just listen to speeches; we AWL industrial bulletins Joint Industry Board, the vember there was further should physically close union-negotiated agree - wrangling over what tac - down the sites: The Pinna - ment governing pay, terms Pensions Fightback (30 Nov strike bulletin) tics the campaign should cle, The Shard, Blackfriars tinyurl.com/novemberstrikebulletin and conditions for electri - Public Disorder (local government workers) employ. Unite officials Station, Crossrail. tinyurl.com/publicdisorderbulletin cians in the construction in - “This dispute has been Germ’s Eye View (health workers) wanted the demonstration tinyurl.com/germseyeview dustry. led by the rank and file to conclude in a lobby of Lambeth Council Worker (local government workers in Lambeth) Unite’s ballot, forced from the beginning, and parliament, with the from the union by months we will run it on 9 No - workersliberty.org/lambethcouncilworker sparks’ rank-and-file com - Tubeworker (London Underground) of rank-and-file pressure, vember as well.” mittee arguing for a more workersliberty.org/tubeworker closes on 28 November. SOLIDARITY 11 Oakland general S&oWloirkdersa’ Lirbeirtty y strike: “a sense of the possible”

On 2 November, tens of — acting on the special so - thousands of people re - cial power of the working sponded to a call for a class to stop production, “general strike” from the rather than just our nu - General Assembly of Oc - merical strength. cupy Oakland in Califor - It was also the most nia. Tens of thousands of successful example yet of protesters marched on the city’ s port, forming bridging the physical oc - flying pickets which cupation site with a mo - were respected by mem - bilisation of its bers of the International widespread support in Longshore Workers’ the city. The general strike Union (ILWU), some balanced this dynamic — using a contractual loop - recognizing the irreplace - hole that allows them to able political role of the refuse to cross picket occupation (at this point) lines and others using Students gather after walking out of Greg Mankiw’s lecture in protest while not sucking all ac - health and safety loop - tivity into maintaining the holes to refuse to work. occupation. By Isaac Steiner STRATEGIC (Solidarity USA) As a strategic orienta - tion begins to develop, The general strike and Harvard students take on political differences will national solidarity ac - tions, built in under a become more clear. week and with the se - These differences may vere deficit of practical initially sprout from tac - knowledge in the tactic tics-elevated-to-strategy neo-liberal economics that’ s to be expected after a drought of over (like “pacifists” vs “anti- pacifists” — which both By Gabriel Bayard and sixty years, has to be pushing for Harvard to There has a march in soli - judged a success. treat the use, or absten - Rachel Sandalow-Ash treat its workers and use its darity with Occupy Oak - tion from using, physical $32 billion endowment in a land. In raw numbers, it did - force as some kind of holy On Wednesday 2 Novem - socially responsible way. Is the occupy movement’ n't ’ t match the giant “Im - principle). A broad move - Harvard has a responsi - s vagueness a weakness or ber there was a citywide migrant Spring” of 2006, ment will have both pres - bility to use its money to a strength? We think it’ s education walkout in but the impact of this day ent, will be led by neither, Boston against rising create a university for the both. If we were to set up a on political consciousness and would make tactical costs of education. 99% and not a corporation list of demands, we would and sense of the possible, for the 1%. They outsource headline socialisation of in the United States and choices that include Student debt has just ex - their money to hedge our healthcare system. We internationally, is enor - “property destruction” as ceeded $1 trillion in the US, funds, one of which has think that regulation of the mous. Two months ago, it a means to an end (for ex - which is more than credit been grabbing up land in financial markets is neces - was unthinkable that ample, mass squatting or card debt. Africa in the hope of gain - sary to prevent speculation workplace occupation). Greg Mankiw there would be an open- We walked out of our ing natural resources. It’ s a on people’ s homes and ended protest encamped Occupy Oakland is also, course (Economics 10) be - non-transparent process. lives; and we think that in downtown Oakland. by far, the most multira - cause we found it was em - starting with Reagan. There is another venture taxes should be raised on One month ago, it was cial and multinational Oc - blematic of the ideology Harvard has historically capital firm that purchases the 1% and we should be unthinkable that the in - cupy I’ ve seen yet that has created the eco - been a training ground for hotels around the US, with investing more money in fant Occupation would (although not representa - nomic collapse. Our tutor, people who go on to be the a proven track record of education and less money muster a General Assem - tive of the working class Gregory Mankiw, was an elite. Harvard grads be - mistreating staff, several of in wars. bly of 2,000 — much less of the city). There are advisor to Bush Junior and come very important peo - their hotels have gone on Corporate influence is a overwhelmingly pass an surely lessons in how to now advises Republican ple who go on to do very strike. major problem in the US ambitious call for a gen - Presidential candidate Mitt bad things to our financial and there should be steps eral strike. One week ago, advance beyond “repre - Romney. system. CRITICAL taken to limit that. sentational” and symbolic A “university for the 99%” it was unthinkable that Republican administra - Mankiw teaches us from Politicians talk about cut - this call would be met approaches to building an tions are known for cutting his own textbook and would be transparent in ting taxes because that anti-racist movement into its endowment, invest in with success. taxes on the wealthy while doesn’ t use other journal sounds good and then The strike was about truly linking with, incor - not doing anything for the articles. So we don’ t see a responsible manner, be they’ ll say, “oh no we have fair with its unions. the right to assemble and porating and strengthen - poor, and the financial cri - other perspectives or rigor - a budget crisis, we have to practice the novel form of ing movements that are sis took place at the end of ous debate. It would be It would teach its courses cut social services”. They organization used at this already taking up issues the Bush administration. It good to bring in a greater in a way that promotes crit - create budget crises and re - stage of the movement — was a result of 30 years of of institutional racism. diversity of reading and ical thinking and doesn’ t solve them by cutting so - securing and defending deregulation of the finan - In the short term, the views. just teach people to accept cial services for the elderly the democratic right upon cial markets and rising in - main task for Oakland We wanted to walk out the way that financial sys - and the poor. which greater rights can come inequality with cuts will be evaluating the suc - and raise the debate, to tems and the world is cur - There should be more in - be won. That right has to social services and tax cesses and weaknesses of communicate to students rently run; it would vestment in green jobs, ed - been secured. It would breaks for the very rich, the strike effort, bringing that instead of taking what encourage access to educa - ucation, socialised seem that the failure of our professor says for tion for students of any healthcare; raising the capi - New York City to clear in new leaders, and iden - granted we should think background; it would not tal gains taxed which is Zucotti Park and the fail - tifying a medium-term On 2 November 70 critically. lobby against the Higher only at 15% which is signif - ure of Oakland to prevent strategy for expanding students at Harvard We’ re not opposed to Education Transparency icantly lower than the tax the retaking of Oscar the Occupation move - University (near Mankiw teaching his point Act which would oblige on a lot of other people; we Grant Plaza are two major ment in the city. For the of view at Harvard. But he should create jobs. Boston, USA) them to disclose what they tactical blunders on the time being, Oakland make teaches only his point of do with their money. We would like to see part of the ruling class. take a leadership role na - view to introductory eco - politicians start reacting students walked The student movement The potential to crush and tionally, in the way that out of a lecture by nomics classes of over 700 has been active in the oc - more concretely to the oc - demoralise the Occupa - students a year. NeWwhYaoterkvehrahs appropveindse,d. prominent right- cupy movement. cuOpyccmuopvyemoenvte. ment ac - tions while they were in a We plan an Occupy Har - The main issues in the tivists support the labour relatively immature phase the terrain is much wing economist vard rally and march student movement are cuts movements and student was lost. more favourable for our Greg Mankiw in around Harvard yard. We to public universities movements in the UK. We The Occupy movement side than it was just a protest at his “bias” will be stopping in front of around the country which need to bridge the gaps as a whole has won a week ago. the Economics department have resulted in increased between countries tremendous victory in re - and in solidarity and doing a protest there. cost of living and health . framing politics in the with the “Occupy” We are pushing against and decreased financial United States. The Oak - • Abridged from the Soli - movement. the corporatization of Har - aid. It’ s tied in with issues • Abridged from: land general strike has in - darity US website: vard as a whole. We are of equality. bit.ly/virgF4 troduced a new element bit.ly/sK10gY