Solidarity Solidarity& Workers’ Liberty For a workers’ government For social ownership of the banks and industry

Pic: CC BY-NC 2.0 bit.ly/nhs-se

REBUILD NHS FOR WINTER! ccording to a report for up the virus from the holidays now doing. Bring the privatised ASAGE, the government’s of- and openings of pubs and cafés NHS logistics into public owner- ficial scientific advice committee which seem to have fuelled in- ship and control, and requisition for the pandemic, bit.ly/s200831 fection rises across Europe, and industry to ensure supplies. the proportion of people in Eng- there being a delay until infec- • Bring care homes and domi- land with Covid-like symptoms tions spread to the more vulner- ciliary care into the public sector, who then get a test “could be as able elderly. with staff on public-sector pay low as 10%”. And, if they test pos- It is unlikely, though, that the and conditions. REBUILD NHS itive for Covid, the proportion trends will remain in conflict. Vi- • Run testing, tracing, and iso- who follow self-isolation rules rus-control efforts and the NHS lation as a local public-health fully is “currently estimated to be will come under new stress in the operation, adequately funded, less than 20%”. winter and in the run-up. instead of the current contract- The figures may be over-pes- The social measures needed ed-out Serco-Sitel mess. □ simistic (the footnote references to underpin and facilitate seri- FOR WINTER! in the report don’t seem to tally). ous virus-control policy are still What we demand But there is no solid basis for lacking. Scraps of them have ≫Bring all work in-house, reverse clear optimism about the big been conceded by the Tories in the crisis majority, of those who should do only under pressure. The unions 1. Requisition key sectors privatisation so, seeking a test, getting a test, and the labour movement must 2. Fight for workers’ control getting prompt results, reporting apply more pressure. 3. Make the labour movement contacts, and then the infected • Full isolation pay for all! Not an essential service, fighting Bring social care into public ownership and the contacts self-isolating. just Matt Hancock’s feeble £13 a on the issues listed here ≫ Infection figures in Britain have day for some lower-paid workers 4. Defend workers’ rights. risen since early July, and more in some areas. As of now, only Work or full pay! Cancel rent, Drive the Tories out! Pic: CC BY-NC 2.0 bit.ly/fp-nhs steeply since late August, while about 40% even of care-home mortgage, and utility pay- ≫ hospitalisations and deaths con- workers have access to full isola- ments. Abolish GCSEs! “Institutional Bosnia’s war, 25 “Socialism from the tinue to decrease. tion pay. 5. Take care of the worst-off End the treadmill! sexism” in unions years on Leader’s Office” There may be many factors • Rebuild the NHS! A good pay 6. Defend civil liberties The grades fiasco Report on GMB points Sarah Correia A new book gives a in these apparently conflict- rise for all, and a big increase in 7. International solidarity □ should force a to need to build a new discusses the roots of skewed and unreliable, ing trends: increased testing; budgets. Take all private hospi- thorough rethink of democracy from the the 1992-5 war, and • See full text at bit.ly/what-d but revealing, account more “false positives”; more tals into the NHS, rather than just school exams ground up lessons from it • Animated video of full de- of those testing positive being paying them to provide overflow mands: bit.ly/demand-video Page 3 Page 11 Pages 8-9 Page 11 young people who’ve picked facilities, as the government is No. 562, 9 September 2020 50p/£1 workersliberty.org No. 562, 9 September 2020 50p/£1 workersliberty.org Victory in Korea: teachers’ union New format, new term! wins 7-year fight for recognition Agenda his is our first issue since no.539 are still periodically jailed for violating rean constitution allows all workers T(18 March) to be printed in our it. to enjoy basic trade union rights. The usual tabloid format. Negotiating Eric Lee Park Geun-hye was eventually im- regulation which cancelled the KTU’s as best we could the difficulties of peached and removed from office, and union registration was subordinate to lockdown (no in-person meetings, her fall from power was described by the constitution. The judge added that no demonstrations, few people on By Eric Lee Public Services International as “not the government could not dissolve a the streets), we produced nos.540- lmost seven years ago — in Octo- only the culmination of a political scan- trade union by administrative order. 561 in a smaller A4 format. Aber 2013 — the Korean Teachers dal involving corruption” but “also a Therefore, he ruled, the delegalisation The smaller format had many and Education Workers Union (KTU) victory built by the trade union move- of KTU was invalid. downsides. For a start, it provided ment which, relentlessly, denounced so little space that many articles had came to LabourStart with a problem. Implementation The national government had given for years the abuses against workers to be published online-only. Surpris- committed by her regime.” The attacks Immediately following the court rul- ingly, however, we have found since the union an ultimatum: either it would ing, the Ministry of Employment and change its rules to prohibit dismissed on the teachers union were part of June, as street protests and street those abuses. Labour said it would start a process stalls have restarted, that the smaller or retired teachers from being mem- to cancel the deregistration “as soon bers of the union, or the union would Though the online campaign in 2013 format has sold as well as the usual was eventually suspended, the Korean as possible,” in line with the court de- one. Some readers seem to prefer a be deregistered. cision. Though the Supreme Court At issue were just nine teachers who, teachers never gave up their fight. And compact-looking publication. last week, they finally won a historic vic- has passed the buck to lower courts, So, as an experiment, we’re pub- according to the government, were ille- according to one Korean news report, gally members of the 60,000 member tory. lishing the first couple of back-to- “the labour minister has the authority tabloid issues in “endorse-folded” union. Anulled to restore the union’s legal status, even Facing the prospect of being out- format. They can be carried round, The Supreme Court of Korea annulled before a ruling in a retrial comes out.” offered to readers, and stored, in lawed, the union stood its ground. the decision to delegalise the teach- When that takes place, the report Working together with its national compact form, but open out to give ers’ union. According to the Education continued, “the KTU can exercise its the full content. We’ll see how it trade union centre, the militant Korean International, which announced the rights to collective bargaining, to call- Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) goes. victory, “This Supreme Court decision ing for the government’s mediation in In these weeks of still-fairly-low and the global union for teachers, the on 3 September follows an appeal labor disputes and to reporting unfair Education International, as well as infection rates (for how long we filed by the KTU to rulings against it by labor practices.” don’t know) and still-long light eve- other global and national unions, they lower courts in June 2014 and January The KTU thanked all those who sup- launched a LabourStart campaign de- nings, it’s a priority for us to get out 2016. In his conclusions on the ruling ported the union in this long fight. In to street stalls and protests to make manding that the government back in favour of the KTU, Chief Justice Kim an email I received last week from the down. socialist ideas accessible to as many Myeongsu invoked several times the KTU’s international officer, Hyunsu people as possible. International support Korean constitution and international Hwang, he reminded me that “Labour- We’re also preparing for the start Over 10,000 trade unionists from labour standards.” Start was in the middle of this seven of university term. Even now, we around the world signed up to support By “international labour standards” year-long fight.” don’t know how many students will the Korean teachers — but the govern- the judge was referring to those eight Martin Luther King famously said that be on campuses and when. We’ve ment was adamant. It was intent on ILO “core conventions” which consti- “the arc of the moral universe is long, set up Workers’ Liberty student breaking a union seen as “left-wing”. tute international labour law and which but it bends toward justice.” It certainly Zoom meetings for every Monday The Korean President, Park Geun-hye apply in all countries, even those which did so in this case. □ evening (6pm) from 21 September have not ratified the specific conven- (daughter of the dictator Park Chung- • Eric Lee is the founding editor of through to December, and will be tions. hee) was no friend of the trade un- LabourStart. He writes this column in a putting posters round campuses The judge emphasised that the Ko- ions and had said that “unionised KTU personal capacity. to publicise them: facebook.com/ teachers are making this nation RED”. AWLstudents And it was not only the KTU that Most local Labour Parties will be faced de-registration; the government having their first decision-making also refused to register the KCTU-affil- Upcoming meetings meetings since March this month iated Korean Government Employees (though online), and union activity is Union as well. orkers’ Liberty meetings are open to all, held online over zoom. Until the also picking up, with more disputes The campaign we ran made the argu- Wend of September, excluding ongoing study courses: and the general secretary election ment that the decision by the Park gov- in Unison. We recommend the text to adapt for motions at those meet- ernment to outlaw the teachers’ union Thursday 10 September, 8-9.30pm: start of “Revolution Betrayed” reading ings, on many issues, found at bit.ly/ was arbitrary and illegal. It breached group mo-pe □ both the Korean constitution and the Sunday 13 September, 12-2pm: Socialist Feminist Reading Group: Hood “core conventions” of the International Feminism by Mikki Kendall Labour Organisation (ILO). Sunday 13 September, 6.30-8pm: What is left antisemitism, how can it be Public sector workers in general, and confronted? teachers in particular, and often denied Anti-racist their human right to join and form inde- Sunday 20 September, 6.30-8pm: Covid-19: what do we know so far? With pendent trade unions — and not only in George Davey Smith (Professor of Clinical Epidemiology at Bristol University) resources Korea. When I was growing up in New Monday 21 September, 7:30-9pm: Racism Today and How to Fight it e have compiled various an- York City, it was illegal for teachers to For full and updated details, zoom links, more meetings and resources, see Wti-racist resources to learn go on strike, and when they did, their workersliberty.org/meetings about anti-racist movements, and leaders would be sent to jail and the Online calendars arm yourself with ideas to beat back union subjected to punitive fines. The racism: readings and pamphlets, Visit workersliberty.org/meetings for our calendars of events: public AWL “Taylor Law” which prohibited public video and audio. sector strikes in the state of New York events, wider labour and social movement events, and more. Subscribe to them is still on the books, and union leaders on your phone or computer, through Google Calendar, Apple Calendar, Out- See workersliberty.org/anti-racist- look, or Thunderbird, to keep your schedule up to date! □ resources □

2 workersliberty.org fb.com/workersliberty workersliberty.org/audio Abolish GCSEs! By a London teacher “In a 2016 survey for Parent Zone, 93 Nevertheless calls for change have they want is to cause controversy that per cent of teachers reported seeing met strong opposition. The Depart- will take the focus away from William- ast year, Ken Baker, the Tory edu- increased rates of mental illness among ment for Education has called GCSEs son’s ineptitude. Nevertheless, that is Lcation minister responsible for in- children and teenagers and 90 per cent “the Gold Standard” and officials what students need from Labour. troducing GCSEs and the national thought the issues were getting more argue that recent reforms have made curriculum, said, “I am the author of severe, with 62 per cent dealing with a GCSEs better fitted to current needs Missed school GCSEs. I established those exams back pupil’s mental-health problem at least (i.e. the current needs of capitalism). Next year’s GCSE students will have in the 1980s, bringing together two once a month and an additional 20 per Cridland replied that reform of GCSEs missed four months of classes and may exams” [O Levels and CSEs]. cent doing so on a weekly or even daily “misses the point that we need curricu- well see their schools close, or par- Baker claimed tests at 16 were then basis.” lum reform, not just exam reform.” He tially close, in response to future Covid necessary “because lots of youngsters Tory MP Robert Halfon, chair of the complained that current vocational ed- spikes. The last thing they need is the left school at 16,” but he went on to say, Education Select Committee, has spo- ucation is a “restricted, unloved range stress of pointless exams next summer. “Now with the leaving age going on to ken against GCSEs, which pressure of options” and “a social and economic Melissa Benn calls for teachers to 18, you don’t need to test youngsters at teachers to “train to the test”, leading own goal… Non-academic routes step-up and lead the debate (Guard- 16. [GCSEs] are redundant.” (February to a focus on rote learning above skills should be rigorous and different to ac- ian, 20 August). Benn says, rightly, that, 2019). such as communication, problem-solv- ademic ones, but not second best.” “teachers and pupils tell regularly of Head teachers from the Girls’ Schools ing, and team-working. The strange thing about this discus- how dull exam material is, how stressful Association — academically selective sion within the ruling class is its lack and archaic the formula, how unfit for girls’ schools — have slammed GCSEs Costing capitalism of echo in the labour movement. In purpose. A third of pupils, most of them as “outmoded and draining”, forcing Halfon, speaking out in February 2019, most school staff rooms, today, when a from disadvantaged backgrounds, fail students on to a two-year treadmill to has his own agenda. His concern is school worker suggests GCSEs should to reach the required standard — that prepare them for five weeks of exams the economic damage being done to be abolished, they are most likely met is a level 4 — in the reformed exams for in ten or more subjects. British capitalism by a system unable with blank stares or shock. It is not an English and maths. They come away Some students might sit 25 GCSE to produce critical-thinking, IT-literate argument most teachers and teaching not highly educated, but deeply dis- exam papers under enormous pres- young people. He quotes The Open assistants have heard. It is not an idea couraged.” sure. It is hardly surprising that there is University as suggesting skills short- many have ever thought about. What should replace the abolished a mental health crisis amongst British ages are costing British capitalism £6 The problem is partly the timidity of GCSEs? Nothing. teenagers, who are considered to be bn per year. Labour Party and National Education And how should students progress amongst the most miserable young Halfon wants to replace GCSEs with Union (NEU) leaders. Take the current beyond 16? They must be allowed to people in the world. a baccalaureate qualification at age crisis over exams. The Labour Party has study what they want in 16-18 educa- The Independent noted (2016): 18 that would recognise both the aca- concentrated on attacking Gavin Wil- tion, taking, perhaps, six subjects in- “Rates of depression and anxiety demic and vocational sides of educa- liamson’s competence. That’s fine as stead of the current standard three A among teenagers have increased by tion. far as it goes. But the central job the Levels. Broader is better. 70 per cent in the past 25 years. The His concerns are repeated by the Labour Party is supposed to do — to cri- 16 year old students must also have number of children and young peo- leaders of the bosses’ organisation, the tique policy and provide a radical alter- the option of useful work, with contin- ple turning up in A&E with a psychiat- CBI. Back in 2015 John Cridland, direc- native — is not done. uing education, which is paid a living ric condition has more than doubled tor general of the CBI, called for the Labour’s recent call for GCSE and wage. Students who stay in full-time since 2009 and, in the past three years, abolition of GCSEs, noting that most A Level exams to be pushed back a education after 16 should receive a liv- hospital admissions for teenagers with countries don’t test at 16. “We have to month, to July 2021, was predicated ing grant which will allow all to do so, eating disorders have also almost dou- face the uncomfortable truth that — in- on the idea that the government was should they wish. bled. ternationally — we’re the oddballs.” about to do it anyway. The last thing Abolish GCSEs! □ Union battle over NYC school reopening as the UK, relative to popula- est teacher workforces in the suggests that it may be possi- And schools have a higher tion. world; Italy, Spain, and Swe- ble to reopen schools without claim to be an “essential ser- Covid-19 New York City’s schools are den among the oldest). setting off a spiral of infections. vice” than pubs, cafés, gyms, due to reopen to students on The postponement deal bit. There are no guarantees, and cinemas, etc. 21 September, with workers ly/ny-s provides for monitor- there is much we don’t yet School workers’ unions have By Martin Thomas going into the schools to pre- ing schools against a 50-item know; but in Sweden, schools generally supported reopen- he USA currently has a pare from 8 September. The union checklist, regular testing (other than the equivalent ings, but demanded meas- Tmuch higher rate of infec- reopening-to-students will at of students and staff, and cri- of sixth forms) stayed open ures to limit infection. Most tion than the UK, with a Covid- first bring them back only a teria for school re-closings in throughout, including at times important is workers’ control 19 death rate about 120 times few days a week, so that class case of infection spikes. when the country had a high over the precautions, through bigger (proportional to pop- sizes can be kept small. As of 7 September, schools infection rate. Teachers did not elected health and safety com- ulation) than the UK, and a It was at first scheduled from are in their second week back incur a higher infection rate in mittees using the best expert proportion of tests showing 10 September, and put back in England, and fifth week the way that hospital workers, advice they can find. Elected positive about 10 times big- to 21 September after a threat back in Scotland. Across most care workers, bus workers, etc. student representatives should ger. In most big cities in the from the teachers’ union to of Europe, schools have been have done. be added to those commit- USA, schools are restarting strike in defiance of NY state’s reopening since mid-April. In Australia, the starting-point tees. The committees should online-only. Taylor Law banning stoppages The major exceptions are Italy for the new spike which has feel confident to insist on tem- New York was the hardest-hit by public employees. The (reopening from mid-Septem- caused a new lockdown in porary school closures when area early on, but now has a union is particularly concerned ber) and Spain (already started Victoria was the quarantine necessary. lower rate of infection than because New York state has reopening, but opening stag- hotels and the private-contrac- Unions also need to demand many areas in the USA: about an older teaching workforce gered in some areas across tor security guards there, not extra money for schools to pay three times as many confirmed (one-third of them over 49: September). the schools (open since May for such measures as improved infections and deaths per day England has one of the young- The experience since April across Australia). ventilation. □

Meetings, events, campaigns: workersliberty.org/meetings @workersliberty youtube.com/c/WorkersLibertyUK 3 Belarus: confusion or calculation? feudal reactionaries and stories about victory’ of Mr Lukashenko, calling it the The Morning Star was hedging its concentration camps in Xinjiang and natural consequence of the economic bets. On 24 August it published a Antidoto demographic genocide of Uyghurs are growth of the republic since he came piece by Unite assistant general secre- simply Western propaganda. to power in 1994. tary Tony Burke backing the opposition But, strangely, recent events in Be- “It blamed the protests on ‘subver- and independent trade unions. On 2 By Jim Denham larus seem to have left the Morning sive work’ by ‘specially trained instiga- September the paper went so far as he Morning Star is usually clear-cut Star in a state of confusion. The paper tors, from outright fascists to inveterate to publish a letter from A. Bukhvostov, Ton international issues: for them appears unable to decide whether criminals’... Chairman, Free Trade Union of Metal- (and their political masters, the Com- Lukashenko is a goodie or a baddie “It warned that ‘foreign puppeteers’ workers of Belarus, stating: “Independ- munist Party of Britain), the world is and whether the protests are the work were aiming to carry out a coup in Bela- ent and free trade unions in Belarus are divided pretty neatly into goodies and of western-funded saboteurs and fas- rus. ‘It is clear that if they win, the coun- fighting for the rights and freedoms of baddies. The goodies are the “anti-im- cists or the legitimate and spontaneous try will face bloody chaos and landslide workers, for democratic reforms in the perialist” forces (Hamas, Hezbollah, mobilisation of a populace outraged by degradation,’ a statement from the country, for the respect to the people etc.) and regimes like Cuba, Iran and the regime’s obvious and massive elec- party central committee said.” of labour.” Venezuela. The baddies are the US toral fraud. That was followed (19 August) by It has been suggested that the pa- (with or without Trump), the EU and all The Morning Star’s initial coverage a report that quoted the Communist per’s ambivalence is not unlike that liberal democracies. (10 Aug) of the protests and the re- Party of Belarus claiming that “some of Putin himself: waiting to see how Putin doesn’t quite fit into the Morn- gime’s violent response described demonstrators are being paid to attend things pan out before committing to ing Star’s neat division of the world, but Lukashenko as an “authoritarian”, the protests” and the Communist Party either side. I don’t know, but if so, that’s it’s pretty obvious that on the whole, protests as “massive”. and the response of Ukraine warning that the protests a pretty cynical reaction to a work- they reckon he’s more sinned against of the police as “violent”. “could prefigure a second ‘Maidan’ as ing-class uprising whose demands are than sinning. The sympathetic tone didn’t last long: 2014’s fascist-backed coup in Ukraine, simply for basic democracy. First and foremost amongst the good- by 17 August the paper was reporting: supported by the EU and United States No wonder Ian Sinclair, a non-CPB ies, of course, is China, whose regime “Communist parties in Italy and Russia is known”. (For the record, there was contributor to the Morning Star, has can simply do no wrong. The Hong have warned against another US-spon- a peripheral far-right presence in the written “I would not feel comfortable Kong protestors are either terrorists sored ‘colour revolution’ similar to Ukrainian uprising, though it’s been recommending the paper’s coverage or dupes who don’t know what’s good those that took place in Georgia and massively exaggerated by the Stalinists. of the ongoing protests in Belarus.” □ for them, the Tibetan Buddhists, are Ukraine”. “The Communist Party of Be- There is no evidence at all of any such lorussia welcomed the ‘unconditional presence in the Belarusian protests). Jiři Menzel: 1938-2020 By John Cunningham absurd, it is also tragic (a fairly humil Hrabal. Although his life typical Czech mix, you might was not without its difficulties, ne of the great European say). The young protagonist the authorities tended to leave O“auteurs”, Jiři Menzel, has Milos is sexually inexperi- him alone, no doubt aware of died aged 82. He is one of the enced. He attempts suicide. his international reputation. last of a generation of film di- While assisting the local an- At a time when we are ex- rectors the likes of which will ti-Nazi resistance he is shot pected to drool at such mor- never be seen again. dead. bid dross as Joker and listen They included his fellow After the suppression of the in awe as a succession of mul- Czechs Miloš Forman and Prague Spring in 1968 (the at- ti-millionaire actors and ac- Vera Chytilova, the Hungarians tempt to introduce “socialism tresses, oozing “sincerity”, tell Miklós Jancsó, Marta Mészáros with a human face”), the Czech us how devoted they are to and István Szabó, and, from authorities clamped down cause of humanity, pause for a Poland, Andrzej Wajda. From on artistic freedom. Menzel’s moment and look back on the the Soviet Union, Andrei Tark- 1969 film Larks on a String, a career of Jiři Menzel and watch ovsky and Elem Klimov. tale of Czech artists and intel- some of his wonderful films (all From other parts of Eu- Closely Observed Trains lectuals sentenced to working the major ones are easily avail- rope: Theo Angelopoulos in a scrapyard, was banned. able on DVD). from Greece, the doyens of caught up in difficult situations and his first major production Unlike Forman and others, He never needed to posture the French New Wave such not of their making, but trying in 1966, was Closely Observed Menzel never left Czechoslo- before a bejewelled, tuxe- as Francois Truffaut, Jean-Luc to cope and understand and Trains. vakia. He stayed and worked do-clad audience of narcissists Godard and Agnes Varda, Ger- not lose their basic human Telling the tale of an inexpe- on many more films and stage and half-wits. His films spoke many’s Rainer Werner Fass- dignity and compassion. rienced railway worker — the productions, sometimes in col- for him, and said everything binder and Margarette von Sometimes they succeeded, film starts with his first day laboration with the writer Bo- that needed to be said. □ Trotta, and Sweden’s Ingmar sometimes they didn’t. at work — Menzel’s film is set Bergman. And many more. As nearly all of that genera- during World War Two. As so What unites those directors, tion were supported by state often with films from Central in a very loose sense, is their funding, they could make and Eastern Europe around “Revolution Betrayed” humanism. They were con- films without looking over their that time, it was also covertly cerned to portray the basic shoulders too often, even to about the time of its making: study group human qualities that make us the point where they criticised the idiocies of the Stalinist bu- Zoom study group, Thursdays 8pm, starting 10 September what we are, and they rarely the same governments that reaucracy, the bullying, petti- put “heroes” up on a pedestal. were providing them with state ness and stupidities of state rotsky’s book is the classic starting point for discussing: More often than not they subsidies. officials. Twhat went wrong after the Russian revolution? What ex- showed us real human beings Menzel’s best-known film, At times hilarious and even plains Stalinism? Register: bit.ly/sg-rb — zoom link: bit.ly/z-rb

4 workersliberty.org fb.com/workersliberty workersliberty.org/audio Rebuild the NHS for winter! The government has also increased fection! cutting to the maximum as long as it the volume of testing, though the or- The Tories want to be able to end fur- can just “get by”. It has been routine, Editorial ganisation of it remains a largely con- lough pay at the end of October and even in ordinary winters, for hospitals tracted-out mess, rather than a proper minimise the consequent unemploy- to be at 95% capacity. public-health operation. ment spike. (Over three million workers n mid-July, the government received a But little else has been done during are still on furlough). The labour move- Cost-cutting kills report commissioned by its Chief Sci- I this period when virus hospitalisations ment should demand the continuing of Care homes, the same. A recent re- entific Officer which warned that July have remained at a low level, though, full furlough pay for many months yet; port showed that larger, fuller, less- and August were likely to be a lull in thanks to the reopening of pubs, cafés, rent holidays for residential tenants staffed care homes have had more the pandemic followed by new spikes and tourist activities, infections have in- and for small businesses; and a great Covid deaths. In other words, the more over the winter. creased across Europe. expansion of public services which will cost-cutting, the more deaths. But the Even if this virus is not “seasonal” in Now Health Minister Matt Hancock provide good new jobs for. drive has been for cost-cutting. the way some others are, the fact of is warning, obviously enough, that the At the same time, schools are being The pandemic has shown us the de- people spending more time indoors in current quick rise in infection numbers reopened, universities are restarting, structiveness of the capitalist logic of winter will boost infections. The usual (since late August) will feed through, and the government is encouraging “what the market calls for, right now” seasonal rise of flu will make it harder sooner or later, to one extent or an- more passengers for public transport. as against the socialist logic of “social to trace chains of SARS-Cov-2 infection, other, into more hospital cases and Each of reopening schools, re-filling provision, with social foresight”. and put pressure on the NHS. more deaths. public transport, and even restarting The labour movement must fight for The report urged the government to universities, may be possible to do the rebuilding of the NHS and of social use the July-August lull to get prepara- Government push without setting off a new spiral of in- care, with good pay rises for all staff, tions in place for the winter. At the same time, the government is fections. But each one is bound to add with all jobs taken in-house, and all At first, it seems, the government just pushing to get more office workers out something to the infection figures. To contracting-out reversed. didn’t read the report. Boris Johnson of “work from home” and back into of- do a “back-to-the-office” drive at the And above all we must fight for work- blustered about life being back to nor- fices. They are demanding that 80% of same time, and while positively encour- ers’ control at every level. The Tories mal for Christmas. civil service workers be back in their of- aging people to crowd into pubs and and the bosses cannot be trusted. Only Then the ministers read it, or some- fices (at least some of the week) by the cafés, is foolish and short-sighted. the workers, in each workplace and in- one who had read it caught their at- end of September. The NHS and the virus-precaution dustry, have adequate motivation and tention. The government “put on Not so that they can work better! No, system needs to be rebuilt now, while adequate interest to keep us safe. □ the brakes” about lockdown-easing, so that they can pack into the pubs, we still have time, for winter. though only after it had reopened cafés, and shops of the city centres, the Ever since 2010, and before that too, pubs and cafés, known to be possible buses and the trains, and so spread in- the NHS has been run on the basis of virus-transmission hubs, on 4 July.

When “free thought” turns against science Solidarity By Will Sefton tions of “wellness” and “new age” distrust congealing into a worldview thought with anti-mask thinking. Peo- where it is impossible to know the truth ver the months there have been a ple who already believe that many and scientific research is no better than with Onumber of anti-mask demonstra- ailments are caused by unidentified the last post you read on social media. tions, most of them fairly small, and toxins in your body have been caught Science comes to be seen as some- certainly well on the fringes of public up alongside organisations like Stand thing not to be widely understood, workers in opinion about the Covid-19 pandemic. UpX who reject the lockdown as “au- something for a privileged few. On 29 August that shifted up a notch. thoritarian control” and a mass SARS- Such attitudes have been promoted A number of larger demonstrations Cov-2 vaccination programme as only over the decades by sections of capital Belarus! were held in Europe. In London, several benefiting big pharma and Bill Gates. for their own reasons, for example to n Monday 7 September, Maria thousand of people, at least, crowded A poll of French anti-mask protest- deflect scientific findings on smoking OKolsenikova, a Belarus opposi- into Trafalgar Square to hear speakers ers shows that a majority distrust the and on climate change. tion figure, was seized and bundled including David Icke and Piers Corbyn. powerful and consider themselves free Socialists have a lot to do to break into a van by two masked men.As we As Levente Zékány reported in Soli- thinkers. down these attitudes. We should try to go to press on 8 September, there darity 561 there is a crossover between Distrust and free thought are also “pre-bunk” rather than “de-bunk” the are confused reports of her being these demos and the wider-rang- necessary to build a mass socialist theories. And understand why people sighted, and maybe arrested, on the ing QAnon and “Save our Children” movement. But here we have a valid are drawn to them in the first place. □ Belarus-Ukraine border. demonstrations. Within the milieu are Street protests against the people committed to the idea that the Lukashenko dictatorship continue, pandemic is fake, or wildly exagger- four weeks after the rigged election ated, or caused by 5G, and that the “victory” of Lukashenko on 9 August, public is being lied to in order to lever and despite thousands of arrests. more mandatory vaccinations and the New videos! atch Workers’ Liberty’s videos and playlists, and subscribe to our youtube Solidarity calls on readers to sup- suspension of many civil liberties. channel! Many have subtitles. New this last fortnight: port the campaign by LabourStart Solidarity’s Diary of a Tube Worker W • The 1945 Labour govenment: Causes and lessons, with Mark Catterall in solidarity with the workers and has reported similar ideas given cre- • Global capital and pandemics, with Camila Bassi people of Belarus, and to get their dence in a relatively unionised work- • The Black Jacobins: Haitian revolution against slavery, by CLR James — with union and Labour Party branches to place. In my own Tube station I have Dan Davison support it too. been approached by someone claim- • Back the health workers! 15% pay rise! Editorial plus For schools without See bit.ly/br-ls — and a longer text ing to be a “nutritional doctor” and ad- exam tyranny! Editorial□ on solidarity which can be adapted vising me on the dangers of “breathing for motions in unions and Labour in your own CO2”. Please watch and subscribe; like, comment and share! All at: youtube.com/c/ Parties is at bit.ly/mo-pe □ We also see a convergence of sec- WorkersLibertyUK

Meetings, events, campaigns: workersliberty.org/meetings @workersliberty youtube.com/c/WorkersLibertyUK 5 “This attack on capitalism” dreds have been arrested, including their trust fund”. According to the Daily mass arrests following kettling. Telegraph (5 September), one option Environment Protestors have been taking Cov- under consideration is classifying XR as id-safety seriously, yet the police have an organised criminal gang. threatened them, including those wear- On Friday 5, XR targeted some of the By Zack Muddle ing face-masks, with fines using Coro- bourgeois media. A “team of over 100 s I write on 7 September, Extinction navirus police powers. rebels blockaded newspaper printers ARebellion (XR) UK’s latest rebellion Priti Patel, the Home Secretary, is overnight, successfully preventing The has just finished its first week, with a few threatening increased repression. “We Sun, Daily Telegraph, Daily Mail and days still to come. Every day, in many must defend ourselves against this at- Times from reaching newsstands all locations across the country, hundreds tack on capitalism, our way of life, and over the country.” Meanwhile rebels of protesters have turned out for often ultimately our freedoms.” in Australia dumped manure outside bold actions to urge action on the cli- The Daily Mail cited a “Home Office Newscorp offices. mate crises. source” as saying that “We want to see Aside from causing disruption and XR has rightly denounced serious some people banged up instead of raising the profile of the climate crises and increasing police repression. Hun- escaping with a fine they can pay from and XR, XR was was targeting those media for “dehumanising marginalised groups”, systematically under-reporting climate change, and highlighting, too, Pushing Labour on the NHS its ownership by a handful of billion- argued in Solidarity 561 bit.ly/xr-re- By an MI activist aires. turn). Boris Johnson, hypocritically, de- XR have received less media cover- omentum Internationalists, a class-struggle, internationalist platform of the nounced this performative stunt as age in this wave than previously, un- Labour left, is launching a drive to make Labour speak out on the ongoing M “seek[ing] to limit the public’s access derscoring the longer-term limitations NHS workers’ pay campaign. to news”, implying an attack on “free of placing “making the headlines” front The fight for a 15% pay rise by rank-and-file NHS staff, in the face of indifference press”. and centre in their approach. But so- and inadequacy from trade union leaderships, is a source of inspiration to a great The CEE Bill, the passing of which is cialist environmentalists should and many workers across the country. But Labour is missing in action. their key aim of this rebellion, has been do support it, while using it as a lever We will be bringing out our Labour and Momentum friends to the demonstra- tabled in parliament and has garnered to spark or rekindle much needed en- tions across the country, and moving motions and petitioning to get the leader- significant support. vironmental activism in workplaces, ship of the Labour Party to offer leadership on this crucial fight. The Bill and their strategy — while unions, Labour Party branches, and be- For more details see momentuminternationalists.org. □ positive — remain severely limited (as yond. □

TUC report reveals racism but offers no answer By Janine Booth BME people are more likely not receiving adequate PPE workers through agencies to contracting-out in public ser- to die. The TUC report, Dying even when white workers did; carry out menial work along- vices; public ownership of PPE TUC report has revealed On The Job: racism and risk at being made to continue at- side better-paid, directly-em- production and distribution; A the deep-seated racism work, sets out some of the rea- tending the workplace while ployed white professionals. or full pay during sickness ab- that underlies the higher im- sons why. white workers were furloughed The TUC makes one spe- sence or self-isolation. pact of Covid-19 on black and Some factors are measurable or allowed to work from home; cific, concrete demand: a Team TUC put together an minority ethnic (BME) people, and relate to job security. Tem- being excessively scrutinised ban on zero-hour contracts. impressive build-up move, but but its proposals fall well short porary, agency and zero-hours over sickness absence; and It does not demand a higher finished it by missing an open of what is needed. workers are significantly more not being given support that minimum wage; employers goal. □ In the early days of the pan- vulnerable to work in unsafe their employer willingly gave to remove proven racists from demic, it became clear that conditions, as taking time off to white workers. management roles; no more BME people were dying at work would cause them to lose But despite uncovering this a significantly greater rate. their income. BME workers damning evidence, the TUC’s Compared with white people, are more than twice as likely answer largely comprises black people are more than to be on an agency contract, suggestions for more reports. four times as likely to die from and nearly twice as like to be It wants the government to Covid-19, Bangladeshi and Pa- on a zero-hours contract, than publish a cross-departmen- New audio! kistani people more than one- white workers. One in thirteen tal action plan and introduce isten, download or subscribe to Workers’ Liberty audio re- and-a-half times as likely. BME workers is in a temporary mandatory ethnic pay-gap Lcordings of our paper, other publications, and many meet- While the government tried job, compared with one in reporting; and employers to ings. New this last fortnight: to portray this as a mystery nineteen white workers. BME carry out risk assessments, • The 1945 Labour Government: Causes and lessons — intro requiring medical study, com- workers are over-represented establish ethnic monitoring • Solidarity 561 part 1 and part 2, 560 part 1 and part 2 mentators pointed to the facts in low-paid jobs, under-rep- systems, undertake workplace • The Black Jacobins: the Haitian revolution against slavery, that proportionally more BME resented in high-paid jobs, race equality audits, and set with Dan Davison people work in frontline essen- and paid on average 3.8% less targets. All these measures tial jobs and live in more popu- than white workers. would be welcome, but they See workersliberty.org/audio for links to the audio version. lous areas, both bringing them Other factors are less meas- are processes not results. It All recent episodes can be found through most podcast into unavoidable contact with urable but just as real. BME makes no difference to a black providers: search “Workers’ Liberty” or “Solidarity & More”. more people. workers told the TUC of dis- worker if their employer car- More information on subscribing and using podcasts at the However, even within job crimination including: being ries out a race equality audit URL above. □ and residential groupings, given more dangerous work; but carries on hiring black

6 workersliberty.org fb.com/workersliberty workersliberty.org/audio Singapore: birth of a new left By Sara Lee a really independent labour movement since the 1960s. As fter three weekends of in so many other parts of the Afantastic discussions on world, people — particularly issues like climate change and young people — are radicalis- migrant workers’ rights, Ac- ing and moving to the far-left tivism in Crisis (AIC) — a huge because of climate change. activism festival in Singapore, Liberal logics of economic 3 to 23 August — has wrapped growth and political reform- up triumphantly. ism are pushing up against the The freedom to speak and urgent need to reorganise so- to organise in Singapore is ciety from below so as to avoid quite stifled. Yet, in many ways, catastrophe. AIC is a model for organising AIC was organised by SG Cli- Not only was accessibility a to make that happen unless gaporeans are not “political” and hosting events online — a mate Rally — a large organisa- central feature of the way the those workers gave reports on is due to a myriad of factors, model not just for organising tion of climate activists, mainly festival was run, but it was also local conditions within their including the tight control of under repressive regimes but politically-conscious university a recurring substantive theme. workplaces and shed light on the PAP, but it isn’t due to the a model for organising in the students. In 2011, Yale Uni- Speakers and participants possible industrial demands. fact that Singaporean activists time of Covid. versity — in conjunction with asked, “how do we make ac- And only workers could stage don’t do a good enough job of The festival took place over the National University of Sin- tivism in Singapore accessible a walk-out or a strike — activists explaining their jargon. Even if Zoom with extensive measures gapore — set up a liberal arts to workers?”, “how do we allow can’t do that, unless they are that were the problem, activ- to keep the conversation going college in Singapore. Initially oppressed and exploited peo- also workers. ists having their own “lingo” is and to grow a coalition of ac- there were fears that student ple to speak for themselves?”, Activists need to be educat- a bit of a self-reproducing phe- tivists in the long term. The activism on the campus would “how do we expand the ‘ac- ing, agitating and organising nomenon. Once workers are one word that was constantly be stifled. But many SG Cli- tivist circle’ beyond university within the working class, not brought into “activist circles”, emphasised throughout the mate Rally activists have come students?” outside of it. In any case, with language will necessarily start festival was “accessibility”. from that college. The problem of jargon was each AIC event having 500- to shift. Linguistic expressions To a large extent, the fact that What has also contributed brought up a lot, with people odd registered participants, will become less abstract. everything was online made to the birth of a fledgling left saying that activism in Sin- activism in Singapore proba- The liberal opposition in the festival a lot more acces- in Singapore is the popular gapore requires a university bly isn’t as exclusive as some Singapore now has a stronger sible already. Still, a guide for movement for LGBTQ+ rights. degree. One participant, in people worry it is. Most of presence in Parliament, and using the technology was cir- For the last fifty-odd years, the a rather striking reply, said the participants at AIC were working-class Singaporeans culated. Speakers were made ruling People’s Action Party something along the lines themselves workers, perhaps are now slightly more involved to speak slowly and clearly. has cast a long shadow of so- of “the Singaporean masses white-collar workers. in what goes on in the sphere There was sign language, cial conservatism over the is- might not understand activ- It is a falsehood that work- of bourgeois representative live closed captions, and live land. Gay sex is criminalised in ists’ social science jargon, but ers can’t understand politics democracy. That’s a step for- note-taking. Singapore, but the movement lots of activists probably don’t — or that it has to be “dumbed ward. The task for activists Guidelines were read out at to repeal the ban on gay sex understand working-class is- down” before they can under- in Singapore will be to fight the beginning of each event — Pink Dot — has rapidly be- sues either.” Another partic- stand it. Someone who works for a form of democratic par- to prevent harassment and dis- come a mass movement. As ipant pointed out that it was two jobs and has kids may not ticipation that goes beyond criminatory behaviour. Mate- with the climate crisis, people perhaps a bit condescending have time to read Lenin, but casting a vote every five years. rial was circulated in advance inevitably run up against capi- to say that orienting towards it isn’t true that they wouldn’t We want workers to be able and in readable font. All that, talist logics when they confront workers requires doing activ- be able to understand Lenin if to protest in the streets about and more, was provided with issues of sex and sexuality. On ism “in plain English.” they did. political issues that they care the help of crowdfunding. the terrain of social repro- In the event on transnational about. We want them to union- In some ways, the festival duction, the reproduction of solidarity, it was acknowl- ise, fight for better wages and being conducted online gave ACCESSIBLE edged that a lot of migrant working conditions, and take human beings stands in stark When it is touted as a way to the organisers and the partic- contrast to the reproduction of workers in Singapore already control of their workplaces ipants more political freedom. orient toward the working have political causes of their and industries. workers. class, “making activism acces- The organisers were able AIC was a broad forum for own. Despite working under The need for free trade un- to host many speakers from sible” is not only a bit conde- extreme conditions of pov- ions and an independent la- left-wing ideas — ideas that scending, but it also presumes abroad, including Extinction might not have been fully erty and exploitation, migrant bour movement in Singapore Rebellion and an abolition- that knowledge only has to be workers often wish to organise was brought up at almost fleshed out in issue-specific disseminated in one direction ist-activist from the States. forums on climate change or political events and protests every event during the month- Three years ago, Hong Kong — from the allegedly intellec- in Singapore, especially on long festival. References were LGBTQ rights. While some of tual activists to the allegedly democracy activist Joshua the festival events focused issues affecting their home made to the militant labour Wong had given a speech via poorly-educated working countries. They are prevented movement that once existed on specific topics like Big Oil, class. In truth, we need a sit- Skype at an in-person event other events were more gen- from doing so because for- in Singapore in the 1950s and in Singapore. The organiser, uation in which workers and eigners aren’t allowed to have the central role that workers eral. They were about “building activists are educating each Jolovan Wham, was then im- transnational solidarity,” going protests at Speakers’ Corner played in mobilising against prisoned for organising an other. (the only place in Singapore colonialism. “beyond (policy) tweaks” and During the event on “Big illegal public assembly. AIC, developing “bolder (activist) where it is legal to have pro- AIC is now a membership or- being online, managed to Oil”, it became clear that a ‘just tests) and public assemblies ganisation, and it wants to con- strategies.” While some par- transition’ to sustainable en- avoid state interference of this ticipants might have been on the political causes of other tinue to fight for the specific kind. ergy would have to centre the countries are not permitted. demands that were raised in perplexed by the ambiguity migrant workers who work in In recent years, the global of these event titles, they were Migrant workers aside, it is the course of the festival. It has movement around climate the petrochemical industry on well-documented that the na- done an exemplary job mak- actually a brilliant and subtle Singapore’s Jurong Island. It change has led to an uptick invitation to discuss ideas that tive Singaporean working class ing Singapore politics acces- in left-wing activism in Sin- is they who would be able to has high levels of education, or sible in a repressive climate. It were revolutionary and not just walk out and demand green gapore — a country that has reformist. at least high levels of literacy. must now make politics agita- not seen an organised left or jobs. Activists wouldn’t be able The reason working-class Sin- tional too. □

Meetings, events, campaigns: workersliberty.org/meetings @workersliberty youtube.com/c/WorkersLibertyUK 7 Bosnia: the war and 25 years later By Sarah Correia bia led to nationalisms being seen by “other”, when in fact it was more a car- blies”. The movement started with a re- a lot of the population as real options. icature of the West. People on the left action against police violence against Sarah Correia is a researcher into so- The whole of the Eastern Bloc was col- were lost, seeing the newly-emerging factory workers who had been protest- ciety and history in Bosnia. She talked lapsing. world order as just the dominance of ing for months. It started in Tuzla and with Martin Thomas from Solidarity. Still, nationalist parties and leaders the United States. spread through the country. hy did war erupt in Bosnia in were not advocating for war. The coun- A lot of dogma, a lot of ignorance, But much of it was improvisation, and W1992, between the Bosnian try was led to war not by a wish by the and a lot of unwillingness to face facts, much of it, I’m sad to say, quickly be- government on one side and Serb population for violence or conflict, but, shaped attitudes on the left. came wishful thinking. militias and the Serbian-dominated at a time of extreme certainty, the pop- People felt a need to talk, to share ulation saw the only real forces that What is your assessment, in hind- a common experience of oppression, federal army on the other? We sight, of the February 2014 protests thought we should side with Bosnia were organised as the nationalist par- and to reject the system in which they ties. They were the only people who in Bosnia (strikes and street demon- lived. But as the “Plenum Assemblies” against what we saw as Serbian strations against privatisation and imperialism, but much of the left could offer an alternative to the status began to push for new solutions, the quo which was anyway collapsing. against nationalism)? established political parties began to refused to take sides in the Bosnian The protests caught everyone off war of 1992-5, or backed the Serb In Serbia, the media were very quickly regain leverage, and we found there controlled by the Milosevic regime. guard. They created a certain level of wasn’t enough critical mass to go for- forces. hope that popular mobilisation could It was a time of profound changes to With Serbia being such a strong factor ward. in the federation and Belgrade being lead to meaningful change. The people who tried to steer the the international system. And, from the I was in the protests myself, in Sara- 19th century onwards, shifts in the in- the capital, that gave Milosevic great movement are very decent and princi- leverage, including in the Serb popula- jevo. There was an attempt at direct pled people, a few of them friends of ternational system had been very much democracy, through “Plenum Assem- felt in the Balkans, because historically tions of the other republics. it has been the crossing-point of differ- Now there is a lot of Yugo-nostalgia ent empires and different geostrategic and romanticisation of the old regime, interests. but in those days the old rulers were Timeline of the region Yugoslavia had been organised as seen as grey people, self-interested, 1180: First independent Bosnian bia, quickly seize much of B-H’s land a federal state, but it was a one-party opaque, covering themselves in coded state. The mountainous territory of area, but most main cities stay in Bos- system, so in fact pluralism was quite language which had become meaning- Bosnia, or Bosnia-Herzegovina, has nian hands. Sarajevo is under siege limited. less. been a political unit ever since, though for 44 months. Big powers impose an Nationalism had always been a factor In the appeal of the nationalisms usually under an external overlord. arms embargo on Bosnian forces. in Tito’s Yugoslavia, though then issues there was an element of populism, as 1463: Ottoman Empire takes Bosnia. February 1994: Washington Agree- were channelled or accommodated we call it nowadays. But the new lead- Over centuries, a part of the popula- ment, brokered by US, between Bos- within the ruling party. Now, fights erships were of poor quality. Either tion, especially in the cities, converts nian government and Bosnian-Croat which had been controllable when the they were recycled from the LCY (“com- to Islam from Catholicism or Ortho- forces, for a common front against system was stable, for example in the munists”), as for example Tudjman was doxy (Bosnia is on a dividing line be- Serb nationalist forces. 1970s, led to the pragmatists and liber- in Croatia, or people with no proper tween the two Christianities). July 1995: Srebrenica massacre, als within the regime being sidelined. experience in politics, like Izetbegović 1878: Austro-Hungarian Empire takes of some 8000 Muslim civilians by After Tito died in 1980, the regime (president of Bosnia 1992-6). Bosnia-Herzegovina. Serb forces, in an area supposedly a entered a period of flux. It was also a Those who had a vision had a vicious 1919: After Ottoman and Austro-Hun- UN-protected “safe haven”. European time of economic crisis, external-debt one, of dividing people, and the others garian empires collapse, first Yugoslav governments, previously tilting to- difficulties, and growing discontent. weren’t strong enough to see what was state (Serb-dominated). wards Milosevic, start tilting pro-Bos- Serb nationalism was the first dynamic coming. 1944: Stalinists led by Josef Tito de- nia. to find expression, exploiting a feeling In the case of Slovenia and Croatia, it feat the Nazis, their Croat fascist allies, September 1995: NATO bombs of resentment about the Serbs being was a very credible way forward to be- and Serbian royalists, to win power in Serb military positions. the backbone of Yugoslavia but always come independent and go their own Yugoslavia. November 1995: War ended by having to sacrifice their own interests way. They did that. Then for the other From 1966: Titoist Yugoslavia be- US-brokered Dayton Agreement. B-H for those of the whole country. republics of Yugoslavia, what was left? comes more decentralised. B-H gets survives, but as a confederation of a Over the 1980s, there was a shift of Only a smaller, poorer, more more autonomy as a republic within Muslim-Croat unit and a Serb unit, ideas which made nationalism more Serb-dominated Yugoslavia. Maybe Yugoslavia; “Muslims” are recognised ruled over by an external “High Rep- accessible and accredited. Slobodan with hindsight, now, we could even say as “a nation” within Yugoslavia. resentative”. Since Dayton, peace, but Milosevic understood well how things that might have been a lesser evil. But From late 1980s: As the old order continued divisions and high emigra- were shifting, and he was able to speak that is not how it looked at the time to crumbles in Eastern Europe, Milose- tion (population down from 4.4 mil- both the language of “communism” the leaderships in place. vic launches a “Greater Serbia” policy, lion in 1991 to about 3.3 million now). and the language of national identity. Once a multi-party system was put calling it “the anti-bureaucratic revo- The “High Representative” continues Reactions grew, led initially by Slo- into place in Bosnia, three strong na- lution”. to rule. venia and then supported by Croatia, tionalist parties emerged, Muslim, Summer 1991: Slovenia and Croatia March-June 1999: After escalating within the League of Communists of Croat, Serb. Ostensibly, at first, they declare independence, and retain it Serb repression and Kosovar resist- Yugoslavia. The single-party system col- were proposing to rule together with after short (Slovenia) or long (Croatia) ance in Kosova, and finally a move lapsed, not so much because there was some form of power-sharing. That’s wars against Milosevic. by Milosevic to kill or drive out the popular pressure (as in other countries), what people voted for. March 1992: By now B-H is about majority of the Kosovar population, but because the republics became un- The Bosnian government ended up 44% Muslim (still concentrated in the NATO goes to war against Milosevic, able to find a way forward together. moving for independence because the cities), 17% Croat, 31% Serb (and 8% and forces Serbia to withdraw. Kosova Slovenia and then Croatia moved to- state that Bosnia had been part of came defining themselves just as “Yugo- survives under international control, wards multi-party systems, and towards to be considered no longer to exist. slav”). B-H declares independence and eventually wins independence in abandoning the federal state. In the West, the conflict gave free after Bosnian-Serb moves to separate 2008. There was an attempt by Serbia to re- rein to the prejudices about the Bal- Serb-majority areas and after a ref- February 2014: Wave of strikes and centralise the system which failed and kans. Maria Todorova has described erendum. The “federal” Yugoslav army protests in Bosnia, against privatisa- led to a collapse. The attempt to have a this in her book Imagining the Balkans. (controlled by Milosevic), Bosnian tion, for jobs and pensions, for work- smaller Yugoslavia dominated by Ser- The West looked at the Balkans as its Serb militias, and volunteers from Ser- ers’ control, against nationalism. □

8 workersliberty.org fb.com/workersliberty workersliberty.org/audio Bosnia: the war and 25 years later mine, but quickly the momentum was plastic waste from the West. And there Dayton Agreement in 1995, Bos- better than a war: that is what has kept lost. is extreme pollution. Bosnia is export- nia-Herzegovina has survived, but as the country going. Since then there has been a wide- ing hydroelectricity, and yet Sarajevo is a state held together by the external I believe that Bosnia is still one coun- spread feeling that there is no hope being heated by dirty coal. High Representative, and still with try. The environmental problems are left in Bosnia. We had a moment of op- Meanwhile there is an exodus of the no clear road to independence. Few exactly the same both sides of the portunity to transcend ethnic divisions active population. Young people are say explicitly that it would have been inter-entity dividing line [between and an unpopular political system, but leaving. Those who cannot get a visa or better for the war to take its course the “Republika Srpska” and the (Mus- failed to gather enough support and work permit are still going to work for and end with separate Croat and lim-Croat) “Federation of Bosnia-Her- lost momentum. periods of three months or so in Austria Serb areas (annexed to Croatia and zegovina”], and there is considerable Nowadays the only meaningful activ- or Germany or Switzerland, as cleaners, Serbia), and a rump majority-Muslim movement across the line. ism in Bosnia is environmental. Thanks in construction, as care workers, pick- Bosnian state, all tidied up by pop- Most of my research has been in Re- to the European Union wanting more ing fruit, or whatever. ulation movements. What do you publika Srpska. In recent years there renewable energy, hundreds of small Most people have no sense of a fu- think? has been much less denial of a com- hydroelectric dams have been built ture. Even nature, in Bosnia, is being Dayton was a hybrid that could not mon Bosnian identity than there was on rivers in Bosnia to export electricity, destroyed at such a rate that people work. It put into the constitution the ten years ago. The Bosnian flag is more and they are destroying the rivers and see leaving the country as the only op- idea of an ethnic sharing of power, present. Ten years ago, the TV weather the environment. It’s usually Austrian tion. but also included many liberal, hu- reports in Republika Srpska showed companies linked with local contrac- man-rights element. only weather in Republika Srpska. Now tors. Local populations are trying to re- Bosnia has been a political unit in The contradictions have been con- they show the whole of the country. sist, because villages end up with their more or less similar borders since tained and sustained through the in- Of course, Serbia re-emerging as a water supply cut off. maybe the 12th century, though ternational presence, but also through strong country, and the recent rise of And there are imports of waste, es- usually under an external overlord. the wish of the population to have a ethnic nationalists in Montenegro, cre- pecially since China stopped importing Since the end of the war and the normal life, without war. Anything was ate new problems. □ The left and Bosnia By Martin Thomas One group, Workers’ Press, imperialist-inspired attacks on the USSR crumbled, Socialist the Bosnian government was did valuable and courageous “socialism”, Socialist Worker Worker increasingly identified dominated by a Muslim party he wars in Croatia (1991- work to promote Workers’ had supported the rights of “imperialism” as just the USA. (the SDA), which had a Mus- T5), Bosnia (1992-5), and Aid to Bosnia, with convoys to the Hungarian and Polish peo- As Yugoslavia fell apart, the lim-chauvinist wing, and “the Kosova (1999), all part of the Tuzla, but politically refused to ples. big powers generally sought Muslims of Bosnia were not an break-up of Yugoslavia, were see anything but the “defence But Socialist Worker was to minimise separation and, oppressed group before the among the first wars of the of Bosnia” and multi-ethnic de- shifting. In 1987 it had for as long as it seemed even war started”. new era following the fall of mocracy against “fascism”. switched its attitude on the half-plausible, to press the At that time, Socialist Worker Stalinism in Eastern Europe They rightly praised the at- Iran-Iraq war which raged from weaker nationalities to be like others on the left took it (1989) and the USSR (1991). titude of the trade unions in 1980 to 1988. patient and continue under for granted that the left should And the different attitudes Tuzla, but refused to register Until 1987 Socialist Worker Serbian overlordship. The big oppose Muslim-chauvinism or then of different trends on the the increasingly Muslim-com- had, like us, said that was a war powers imposed an arms em- political Islamism. And (again left were among the first mark- munalist and sometimes sec- in which socialists could back bargo on the Bosnian govern- like others on the left) they ers of how the left would differ- tarian drift of the Bosnian neither side. On neither side ment in the 1992-5 war. must have taken the fact that entiate in the new era. government of Alia Izetbego- was it a fight, however warped, But the USA tilted somewhat the hijab had been banned in Workers’ Liberty backed the vic. for national liberation. It was a more towards Bosnia than the Bosnia from 1950 to 1992 as peoples of Croatia, Bosnia, Workers’ Press wound up battle between two aspirant European powers. The USA a (bureaucratic) form of secu- and Kosova in their struggle in 1996, and there was little regional powers for regional was the driving force behind larism, rather than as “Islamo- for self-determination against direct sequel to its policy on domination. the NATO bombing of some phobia”. what we saw as Serbian pro- Bosnia. Serb positions in 1995 and the Things are different with to-imperialism, quasi-imperi- The attitude of Socialist My enemy’s enemy subsequent (botched) Dayton Socialist Worker these days. It alism, or sub-imperialism. Worker, however, would have Now Socialist Worker backed Agreement of 1995, which denounces ex-Muslim secular- Leading figures of the parlia- sequels. Iran, on the grounds, so they ended the war with Bosnia in- ists as “racists”, praises Hamas, mentary left then, such as Tony They saw the Bosnian war as said, that they had discovered tact. claimed to be “the best fight- Benn and Dennis Skinner, saw only “a cynical battle between that the USA was backing Iraq. That US tilt was enough to ers for Muslims” as its election the Croatian and Bosnian gov- ruling groups with two aims in (In fact the USA had been persuade Socialist Worker that pitch in its 2004-7 “Respect” ernments, and the Kosovars, mind: to grab as much territory doing that since early in the the Bosnian cause was not period, and hails hijab-wear- as catspaws for aggression by as possible and, in doing so, to war. It feared that Iran, as the “anti-imperialist” enough to ing as a gesture of solidarity German or American imperial- stir ethnic hatred...” (Socialist bigger power, would overrun support. with the oppressed. ism against the old Yugoslavia Review, July August 1995). Iraq, and focused its policy on By 1999, and the Kosova war, The Bosnia story shows us and against Serbia. Some of Unlike the pro-Serbian for- preventing a clear Iranian vic- Socialist Worker had moved that those attitudes come not their co-thinkers identified Mi- mer admirers of the USSR, tory). further pro-Milosevic. They did from any principled stance for losevic’s Serbia as the last re- Socialist Worker had a record Thus Socialist Worker bur- not deny that Milosevic was to universal rights, but from the doubt in Europe of socialism, which suggested a better re- ied the positive democratic be criticised, but now he was negativist “back whomever when in fact it was privatising sponse. principle of national rights as up against the USA, and the fights the USA” rule, and a and marketising in much the When some on the left had a guideline, and replaced it by main thing had to be opposi- catchpenny opportunist hope same way as other ex-Stalinist denounced nationalistic rebel- the negative rule of supporting tion to the USA. that militancy against the USA states, while retaining highly lions in Hungary and Poland whomever was “against impe- Over Bosnia, Socialist (no matter for what positive al- authoritarian rule. against USSR domination as rialism”. And, as the power of Worker also emphasised that ternative) may win support. □

Meetings, events, campaigns: workersliberty.org/meetings @workersliberty youtube.com/c/WorkersLibertyUK 9 Shapurji Saklatvala: a tribune of the working class By Sacha Ismail that of the proverbial surgery: ‘Can I to raise purely local issues. India be- speech at a meeting in Berlin, and the help you?’, ‘Have you any problems?’ At came increasingly central to his inter- CP discussed disciplining him again. n rapidly shifting post-war conditions, that time the entire working class had ventions. In 1927, after Saklatvala had his five Ias Labour displaced the Liberals as a problem, that of survival against the He used Parliament to champion children initiated into Parsism at a large Britain’s second party, there were three employers’ lock-outs, widespread un- working-class and liberation struggles. public ceremony in Westminster, the general elections in 1922-4. Chosen employment and the downward slide of In 1923 he played a major role in the CP published a statement saying that, as the standard-bearer of a strong and the sliding scale of wages agreements. fight against deportation without trial while religious workers could join the radical local labour movement, Indian Saklatvala spoke at factory gate of Irish republican activists in Britain. In party, a leader like Saklatvala should revolutionary socialist Shapurji Saklat- meetings and introduced the monthly 1925-6, the CP collected 300,000 sig- know better. He replied publicly that he vala was elected Labour MP for Batter- report-back from Westminster. There natures to protest the arrest of many fully agreed, but it had been unavoida- sea North in 1922; narrowly lost it to his were great meetings. Long before the working-class activists, including twelve ble for family reasons... “Constitutionalist” opponent in 1923; doors of the town hall opened, queues of its leaders; Saklatvala got wide pub- Saklatvala had a very strong person- and won it back in 1924, as a Commu- formed just like they used to at Stam- licity by presenting the petition to Par- ality and will of his own, but remained nist candidate with local Labour back- ford Bridge. liament and raising the issues in the strongly committed to revolutionary ing. The platform was always crowded. chamber. He regularly raised strikes socialism and to the CP. He resisted se- Saklatvala was Labour’s first “BAME” Sak, as he was affectionately known, and workers’ issues. Attempting to co- rious pressure to break from the party. MP, but not the first MP with member- was flanked by the entire executive of ordinate parliamentary with extra-par- This ranged from widespread vilifica- ship in the then-revolutionary Commu- the Trades and Labour Council and nu- liamentary struggles, he consulted tion, to suggestions of receiving a safe nist Party of Great Britain. Peculiarly, merous representatives of Indian and extensively with working-class organi- Labour seat and becoming a minister, that was Cecil Malone, an airforce colo- colonial organisations. He was… a mag- sations and activists. to being barred from international trips nel and OBE elected in 1918 from the nificent orator. Saklatvala loved parliamentary-style for MPs. Eventually, he was banned wing of the Liberals then in coalition Those monthly report-back meetings debate and his general courtesy and from his home country, for the last dec- with the Tories, on a militantly anti-so- on the doings in Parliament stirred hun- politeness were widely acknowledged. ade of his life. cialist platform. He visited Russia, was dreds into activity. The Battersea labour At the same time he regularly used his won over by the Bolsheviks, and on his movement pulsated with life and was speeches to mock ruling-class figures The General Strike return helped found the CP! In 1922 united. Marxist classes held by the old and institutions, indulging his impish Saklatvala worked hard to support the John Walton Newbold became Com- Plebs League flourished. Trade union sense of humour. This was part of in- 1926 General Strike, suffering repres- munist MP for Motherwell, with local branches were crowded. dicting the system of which they were sion as a result. More broadly, too, the Labour backing. Holding monthly report-back meet- part, to mobilise workers against it. He strike was a turning point for him. Malone and Newbold quickly lost ings for his “Labour electors” had been consistently brought class conflict and The first Labour government (1923- their seats and left the CP soon after. an election pledge. Saklatvala and the the wider question of capitalism and 4) had done nothing to dismantle the Saklatvala sat for his until 1929 and local Labour and Trades Council organ- socialism to the fore. There is no MP system of organised strike-breaking the remained extremely active, a Commu- ised regular canvassing, not primarily doing quite the same today. state had gradually built up to prepare nist by his own lights, until his death in for electoral purposes but to discover for industrial unrest. Saklatvala repeat- 1936. What kind of MP was he? the concerns of and engage in dia- A Communist MP edly raised the question of strike-break- Even before his re-election as a Com- ing organisations in Parliament. Report-back, not “MP’s logue with the constituency’s wider working class. munist, the CP regarded Saklatvala On 3 May, the day before the strike surgery” as a Communist MP. From the start he started, the Manchester Guardian re- “During my strenuous work in the La- In Parliament was very open about his political ideas ported the “unusually large” May Day bour Movement”, finished Saklatvala’s Saklatvala energetically used the plat- and his affiliation. In 1922-3, although demonstration in London: 1922 election leaflet, “I have always form of Parliament itself to raise a wide Saklatvala was accepted into the Par- Saklatvala seemed to be the hero of remembered one thing, that I have to range of issues — again, local, national liamentary Labour Party and John Wal- the day. He was followed to his plat- fight for and to work for the Working and international. In his maiden speech ton Newbold was not, they cooperated form by a swirling wake of enthusiasts, Classes, as through them alone I see a (23 November, 1922), he discussed closely as what the CP called its “Com- and his meeting was much the biggest. chance for a truly humane world.” He growing UK unemployment; the state munist Fraction in Parliament”. He is, one imagines, the most powerful would use his position to help workers of post-war Europe; the shared inter- As a result of having MPs, the pres- mob orator of the day… he harangued organise, champion their struggles, ests of textile workers in Scotland and tige of the CP in the labour movement for a good half hour. With a sort of som- and fight to end the capitalist system Bengal; the Irish Treaty establishing de was increased, along with interest in bre joy, he acclaimed the General Strike exploiting them. facto but limited independence; and Communist ideas. Saklatvala and New- as the definite rising of Labour against For Saklatvala, the working class did the Russian revolution. bold received numerous invitations to their oppressors, to a chorus of “Good not mean the working class of just the The next month, responding to a loan speak from a wide range of non-Com- old Saklatvala!” UK, but of the whole world, and in par- for “economic development” in Sudan, munist organisations. Their speeches Saklatvala’s speech called on soldiers ticular the British empire. In particularly, he spoke about British imperialism, the were often reported in the press, giv- to support the strike. He was quickly he made consistent attempt to link the interests of working people in Britain ing increased opportunities for wider charged with sedition and sent to material interests and struggles of Brit- and Sudan, and the problems of “pri- propaganda. Wormwood Scrubs for two months. ish and Indian workers. I will look at this vate enterprise”. The last was a theme CP publications regularly carried ex- On his release, he went literally central part of his work in my next ar- in many of his speeches, widely noted. tracts from Saklatvala’s speeches, and straight to Parliament to attack the To- ticle. While the CP was still enmeshed the party published three pamphlets ries and the ruling class. Speaking at The kind of working class and labour in the Labour Party and the Battersea of his speeches — The Class Struggle in mass meetings in Battersea and across movement Saklatvala represented and labour movement united around Sak- Parliament, With the Communist Party the country, he was hailed as a hero by his relationship to them were vividly latvala, he regularly raised local issues, in Parliament and Socialism and “La- angry labour movement activists. But described by Communist and Trotsky- often in consultation with the borough bouralism” — selling tens of thousands as the impact of the strike’s defeat set ist veteran Harry Wicks, who in 1922 council. He repeatedly raised hous- of copies. in, organised labour weakened — with worked in Battersea’s important railway ing, for instance the council’s conflicts The CP was not afraid to criticise Sak- major consequences for Battersea, the industry: with private landlords refusing to pay latvala. When the (Liberal) Commons CP and Saklatvala. □ In the twenties, to the consternation for repairs. He spoke about attempts Speaker retired in 1928, Saklatvala • Longer version at bit.ly/sakarticle3. of the Liberal-minded Labour leader- by Battersea South’s Tory MP, Viscount made a glowing speech about him, and Part 1 at bit.ly/sakarticle1. Part 2 at ship... Battersea North elected as their Curzon, to hinder the council from there was widespread criticism in the bit.ly/sakarticle2. There will be two member of parliament the Indian Sak- running local energy provision, again party, including calls for his expulsion. more articles in this series — one on latvala. Not only was he an Indian but a using the chance to indict private own- The CP leadership resolved to exer- Saklatvala’s campaigning for colonial Communist, and he was sponsored by ership. cise greater control over the MP. Soon (and particularly Indian) liberation and the united Battersea labour movement. Later, as Labour was pushed out of after that controversy he was criticised one on the CP’s breach with the Labour The link that Saklatvala established the CP, Saklatvala became less inclined by the German Communist Party for a with his worker constituents was not Party, his last years and his legacy.

10 workersliberty.org fb.com/workersliberty workersliberty.org/audio Left politics without the activists pro-Palestine groups and Mondoweiss. is really only as an aside to the boiling Even Ian Lavery, with some of the conflicts in the top circles. Book review most stridently pro-Corbyn, Morn- The “Corbynsceptics” of the PLP do ing-Star-wavelength views in the not come off well in this book. Neil Shadow Cabinet, is reported as remon- Coyle MP sends repeated boorish By Keith Road strating: “Why can’t you just say sorry? texts to Corbyn with no reply, appear- abriel Pogrund’s and Patrick Magu- Just do it, man”, in a conference call ing as a sad act shouting into a void. Gire’s book Left Out: The Inside after Corbyn squirms on TV (26 No- The MPs who became Change UK, are Story of Labour Under Corbyn is not vember 2019) when questioned about portrayed as disoriented by the two really about the politics of the Corbyn Labour Party members going on about egos of Chuka Ummuna, who everyone Labour Party leadership, but about “Rothschild conspiracies”. can see is big-headed, and Chris Les- the “politics” in the sense of corridor Corbyn, we’re told, tends to talk only lie, who spends most of his energy on chat, text-message exchanges, and with Jewish activists who already agree decrying his colleagues on the Labour WhatsApp groups at the top of the with him. He remains close to Sue Lukes right who refuse to leave. an Islington councillor and JVL mem- party hierarchy. WATSON Tellingly, it doesn’t mention the fail- ber. When options for how to respond Peter Mandelson is described as try- ure of the Labour Party in that period on antisemitism are put to Corbyn, he ing to regroup the right-wing “stay to promote any real ongoing political is said always to ask: “What does Sue and fight” brigade around Progress campaigns outside the general elec- Lukes think?” to oust her former employer Tom Wat- and Tom Watson. Mandelson advises tions of 2017 and 2019. Either the au- Andrew Murray appears to have son as Labour’s Deputy Leader. Umunna he stands no chance and thors take it as obvious that political given more time, or more thought, to She is depicted as determined to do might as well join the Lib Dems (as he parties won’t do political campaigning, his interviews with the authors (Milne her job however she might be viewed eventually did). or they picked up no argument or dis- is never quoted directly). He comes by anyone else, and at war variously Tom Watson is a tragic bully who lost pute about it in top circles, or both. across as more considered, and more with her juniors in the office, with John his way. He had long been considered The alt-left media of The Skwawkbox, as an intellectual advising LOTO on McDonnell, and at times with Corbyn a quitter by his internal opponents on The Canary, and Novara get a mention strategic direction than as an enforcer. himself. the Labour right, but his mandate from but the focus of this book is very much The book confirms that Murray mooted Her move in late 2019 from LOTO the membership as elected deputy in the top echelons of The Project, Labour supporting one of May’s Brexit Chief of Staff to overseeing the general leader put him on the spot to lead the rather than among its many online and deals, in order to get Brexit “out of the election campaign is presented as a Labour right’s rearguard action. His on-the-ground supporters. way”, and to stop the Tories presenting matter of John McDonnell and his clos- half hearted attempt to set up the Fu- The book rattles on quickly through Labour as frustrating Brexit. Like Milne, est ally in LOTO, Andrew Fisher, using ture Britain group in March 2019 with the “Corbyn Project” (“The Project”, as he voted Leave in the 2016 referen- Bob Kerslake to push her away from an the blessing of Mandelson and Gordon the authors call it), through the optic of dum. overcentralised power and a stifling at- Brown does very little to dent LOTO, offices in Westminster, from Corbyn’s McDonnell and his ally Fisher are writ- mosphere she had allegedly created in though it does dent Change UK. second election in 2016 through to the ten as The Project’s more dynamic but LOTO. Eventually he retires from politics (on General Election of 2019 and the elec- also more pragmatic faction. McDon- “Director of Communications” Seu- 6 November 2019), after giving five tion of Keir Starmer as Labour leader. nell pushes for more conciliation with mas Milne is presented as being the minutes’ thought to an offer of running Part serialised in The Times, Left Out the Parliamentary Labour Party [PLP], most serious ideological influence over in Lewes as a Lib Dem at the 9 Decem- has had much negative reaction from whom Corbyn is clearly exhausted by. Corbyn, who, so the book says, called ber 2019 election. the Corbyn-loyal twitterati, who have He develops friendly relations with him “The Great Milne.” The Labour staff in Southside under pulled apart a misleading passage Alistair Campbell over Brexit and he He is portrayed as not very good at Iain McNicol fare badly in the book. about Laura Alvarez and an oatcake. uses his friendship with former Civil the communications part of his brief, They are shown as having utter con- It is hard to know exactly which of the Servant chief Bob Kerslake twice to getting into the office late, resented by tempt for the growing Labour mem- book’s unfootnooted anecdotes will reorganise LOTO. He opposes the re- the other staff, and careful to put very bership after 2015 and for their new stand up to scrutiny. Even those who moval of Tom Watson, the disciplining little in writing — but has Corbyn’s ear. bosses. lived through The Project only from of Margaret Hodge. He is much more The book presents Corbyn’s interest By the time of the 2019 election, re- the grassroots will find see glaring er- bothered about the harassment of Lu- in issues like East Timor or West Papua lations in the shadow cabinet, primarily rors. Andrew Fisher was never accused ciana Berger. He drags LOTO towards as unnecessary distractions. In fact, that over Brexit and antisemitism, are, we of backing a “Trotskyite” candidate at least a fudge on Brexit. interest was not the problem at all, but are told, at an all-time low. As Johnson’s against Emily Benn. It was Class War. rather the ideological frame built round DETERMINED government loses its majority, intense Seamus Milne’s adherence to Stalinism them, and the influence in shaping that The book gives us very little sense, squabbling develops over whether to was not a flirtation when at Winchester of Milne and Unite hatchet man and in- other than McDonnell being deter- push for a Brexit referendum or for an and Oxford, but continued through his veterate Stalinist Andrew Murray. mined that The Project win an election, election. By the time the crunch comes, role as business manager of Straight Breaking convention after the Skripal of why McDonnell does this. It does both sides are weary and have low Left and into the politics he has today. poisoning, even the Press Association not consider real political differences, hopes. The star of the book, almost, is Karie quoted Milne by name rather than a as distinct from differing tactical cal- We are taken through Labour’s al- Murphy, as the all-round bullish en- “Labour spokesperson” as dismissing culations, as a factor in the rows about most-daily dropping of new policies forcer of LOTO (the Leader of the Op- or questioning the role of Putin’s Rus- Brexit and about antisemitism. on the electorate during the 2019 elec- position’s office). sia. As Andrew Fisher’s resignation let- Lavery and Jon Trickett are pre- tion campaign, many not drawn from An observer is quoted as saying: ter, which went public in September sented as the hardest pro-Brexiters in the conference or even discussed in “Karie doesn’t do politics. In fact, I’m 2019 and is covered again in this book, the Shadow Cabinet, but McDonnell is the shadow cabinet, presenting that as not sure she has politics”. Certainly she revealed, Milne sought to stop a tweet presented as just having a mysterious shaped by a desperate semi-belief that had no real background in Labour left from Corbyn mentioning the Russian overnight conversion to the Remain a shopping list of good things can turn politics. Her biggest political role be- bombing of Syria, and removed refer- cause. the polls with weeks to go. fore LOTO had been as a backroom ences to Russia’s role in Ukraine from a The nearest the book gets to touch- Left Out is far from a definitive history aide, for some years, for Labour right- Corbyn speech. ing on political principles is when Mi- of the period. But it gives one angle on winger Tom Watson. When Corbyn’s social media man- chael Chessum is quoted as saying how a politically ill-prepared and ideo- By 2019, according to the book any- ager tweeted about Corbyn being that the majority of Labour members logically-incoherent left leadership can way, she was central in getting an often “disgusted” by an antisemitic banner opposed Brexit because it is a nation- flounder when it has no clear plan to disengaged and at times meek Cor- outside Labour conference, Milne alist project committed to ending free neutralise a largely hostile parliamen- byn to make decisions or just to get to chastised him and complained that the movement. Where the book does men- tary party, and it fails even to try to mo- things on time. Central also to the plot tweet has caused friction with some tion pressure from the membership, it bilise a potential mass movement. □

Meetings, events, campaigns: workersliberty.org/meetings @workersliberty youtube.com/c/WorkersLibertyUK 11 Stand firm for right to protest!

By Colin Foster soon. The Uyghur Solidarity Campaign • you’ve done a risk assessment Since then the police have squeezed held its regular monthly protest at the (which does not have to be shown to or down protest rights bit by bit. A new n 5 September, a trans rights pro- Chinese Embassy the same day, with approved by police) appeal, “Restore the right to protest in Otest (bit.ly/t-r-5s) scheduled for care but with no trouble from the po- • you take reasonable measures to NSW”, facebook.com/DemocracyNSW, Parliament Square, London, was can- lice. reduce risk (covid-distancing, using says: celled by its organisers because the Far-right anti-asylum-seeker protest- hand sanitiser, wearing masks). “Following the NSW police’s recent police threatened them with mass ar- ers blocked main roads in Dover on 5 Even if some people attending your interpretation... any public gathering of rests. September. Ten were arrested, but on demonstration behave recklessly, as more than twenty people, for the ‘com- The organisers wrote: “On 3 Septem- charges like “assaulting an emergency long as the organisers have taken mon purpose’ of protesting, no matter ber we liaised with the Metropolitan Po- worker”, not on the basis of any ban reasonable measures to promote vi- how distanced the participants or large lice and they assured us, after the news on protests. Migrant rights support- rus-precautions, they’re covered. the area, is deemed illegal.” of Piers Corbyn’s arrest [on 29 August, ers held a counter-protest elsewhere Moreover, if the protest is static, it is “Yet in NSW, up to 10,000 are now at a Trafalgar Square anti-virus-precau- in Dover, and had no trouble with the covered by different legislation. Organ- allowed to attend Rugby League tions protest] that there would be no police. isers do not have to liaise with the po- matches, and 50 in a single corporate risk of arrests or fines because our pro- Extinction Rebellion protests have in- lice or get permission for static rallies. box. Three hundred can be in a casino, test posed no risk of danger. curred arrests, but that is not new for There is no need for risk assessments. pub or restaurant. “[Then] on 4 September the police them. NHS workers are confident about If protesters keep our nerve, and the “Not a single documented case of called us and informed us that there their protests on 12 September. labour movement stands up for civil lib- coronavirus spread has occurred at is a likelihood that us, any participants, There are regulations restricting pro- erties, then we can sustain our rights. a protest in Australia [where the pub- stewards and even British Sign Lan- tests, under the Coronavirus Act, which The dangers are shown by events lic-health authorities have much wider guage interpreters of the Trans Rights are periodically amended. As it stands, in New South Wales, Australia. Back tracing of infection sources than in Brit- Protest [would] be arrested on 5 Sep- it is legal to organise a demonstration in early June the police got a court to ain]. We now know that outdoor activi- tember”. of over 30 people as long as: ban a Black Lives Matter protest, over- ties, combined with mask-wearing, are Many other demonstrations of differ- • you are a “political campaigning or- turned on appeal only minutes before one of the safest things you can do...” ent sorts have taken place and are due ganisation” (in a broad sense) the 60,000-strong march started. □

Arguing for a Otto Rühle’s society based on abridged human solidarity, version of Buy our books! social ownership Capital, putting of industry aside current Order from workersliberty.org/books and banks, factual material, rices of listed listed exclude postage and packaging. UK: £1 for and political, illustrations, Psmall items, £3 for larger items, free over £30. More for international economic polemics, is a shipping. Discounts if you buy in bulk, or some combinations. and social good lead-in for More info, reviews, study guides, online. Some books are free to democracy. 182 the full book. download or as audiobooks. Pay at workersliberty.org/payment □ pages. £5 131 pages, £6

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12 workersliberty.org fb.com/workersliberty workersliberty.org/audio GMB: democracy vs Regional Secretaries By Ann Field gional secretaries instruct them to do.” Regional Councils meet only once to another, and do nothing to promote Regional Secretaries are also a major- every six months, although the smaller lay-member power. he GMB union is institutionally sexist. ity on the union’s Senior Management Regional Committees which they elect At the same time the report rightly TThere is gender-based job discrim- Team, which is the body which really meet more frequently. But, in practice, recommends that the CEC and other ination. Branches are male-dominated, runs the GMB. The power which Re- Regional Councils and Committees lay bodies “claim and exercise the au- with deliberately engineered limits on gional Secretaries exert over lay bodies “have very little real authority, if any. It thority the Rules give them over the female participation. And bullying, mi- at national and regional levels allows is the Regional Secretaries who hold General Secretary, Regional Secretaries sogyny, cronyism, and sexual harass- them to decide on their own succes- the real power, along with the General and the regional bodies.” ment are endemic in the union. sors, which guarantees a perpetuation Secretary.” The change required in the GMB, That is the conclusion of Karon of the same culture of bullying and in- The union’s National Equality Forum is says the report, “will be traumatic.” Lay Monaghan QC’s report on her inves- timidation. weak and lacks power. Some Regional members need to organise to bring tigation into the GMB trade union, When a GMB member is elected Equality Forums promote best practice, make that prediction a reality. In the commissioned by its Central Executive by lay members as a shop steward or but others “are not effective and do lit- language of the GMB’s booze-ridden Council (CEC) in late April, and pub- workplace representative, they have to tle by way of promoting equality.” male-dominated culture identified by lished on 2 September. be confirmed by the Regional Secre- As for branches, the most basic unit the report, it’s a case of: “Time, gentle- Monaghan’s remit was to investigate tary before taking office. This allows Re- of lay-member democracy, 40% of men, please!” □ the GMB’s record on responding to gional Secretaries to control branches. them are moribund. complaints of sexual harassment, as- They decide who will have access to “The lay structure formally dominates sess the effectiveness (or otherwise) of facility time, and if or when to withdraw under the Rules,” concludes this part of GMB policies and procedures relating their credentials the report, “but despite all the powers Upcoming to sexual harassment, assess the impact In contrast to the power wielded by outlined above, the real power in the of the broader GMB culture on dealing Regional Secretaries, the report ex- GMB rests with the Regional Secretar- livestreams with sexual harassment, and make ap- poses the ineffectiveness of the lay ies and the General Secretary.” propriate recommendations. orkers’ Liberty have a schedule structures of the GMB. Nominally the “The practices and culture of the of videos going “live”. Please The report also concludes that real supreme decision-making body of the GMB are so entrenched that a com- W power in the GMB is wielded by the tune in and share! The videos (often GMB between conferences, the CEC plete transformation is required” says subtitled) will “go live” at the times (unelected) Regional Secretaries, all of subordinates itself to the Regional Sec- the report. The report concludes with whom are male (and always have been). below on our facebook, and (if not retaries: 27 detailed recommendations to help before) instagram, youtube, and They use that power to manipulate and “On occasion the Regional Secre- achieve that transformation. But some bully lay members, from branch level often twitter. From Wednesday 5 to taries bully CEC members to vote in of them point in different and contra- Tuesday 11 August: up to and including the CEC: particular ways. It was put to me that dictory directions. “There are, and have been, regional Thursday 10 September, ‘nothing happens [at the CEC] with- “External monitoring, auditing and, 1.30pm: Solidarity editorial with secretaries who maintain power largely out the Regional Secretary whispering if needed, support” should be pro- through bullying, threats and victimisa- Stephen Wood (see page 5) in the ear of their delegate.’ Evidence vided by the TUC, described as “the Monday 14 September, 1.30pm: tion and by creating a climate of fear. I received indicated that the CEC has obvious organisation to take up that This means that officers and lay mem- Marxism and autism, with Janine at times acted as no more than a ‘rub- role.” But that would be to entrust the Booth and Dinah Murray bers in the regions do what the re- ber-stamping’ body.” reform of one trade union bureaucracy Tories lurch towards “no deal” By Martin Thomas would be “viewed dimly by future trad- contractor, and on redundancy pay- for the way Britain inserts itself into the ing partners”. ments. world economy, will mean many more oris Johnson, according to the Fi- By most, probably, but not by Donald The Tories have already published an rules dismantling safety protections, Bnancial Times on 7 September, is Trump’s USA, which would welcome Immigration Bill, which starts its Com- opening out areas to international planning legislation (to be published the UK cutting its other trade options mittee Stage in the House of Lords on capitalist investors, and giving them le- 9 September) which will contradict the and giving itself little choice except 7 September. It is written to license the gally-enforceable rights against future Withdrawal Agreement already signed to do a trade deal with the USA on US government to write regulations as it government moves to regulate them. It with the European Union on state aid to terms. pleases. It will stop free movement, go will mean that even if Biden wins in No- industrial bosses and on trade checks Why are the Tories even considering with an even more punitive attitude to vember, and with double force if Trump between Britain and Northern Ireland. “no deal” disruption as an option? asylum-seekers, and make more work- wins. And Johnson said on 6 September Negatively, because it looks possible ers’ status dependent on the say-so of What is behind Labour’s silence? As that if he doesn’t get an outline deal (though still difficult) for them to hide employers. in 2019, the “tactic” is to allow a Tory on free trade post-Brexit with the EU by the disruption of “no deal” under the “No deal” is not what it says on the Brexit formula to go through, but to go 15 October, then he will “move on”. In disruption of the pandemic. And, pos- can. No one, not even Tory free-market through with Labour criticising it. other words, to a “no-deal” Brexit. itively, because for them there are ad- ultras, believes that Britain can “build a That way, Labour can avoid being We can’t judge how much John- vantages to doing Brexit in a chaotic, wall” in the Channel and dispense with seen as “blocking Brexit”, but at the son is bluffing to try to spook the EU off-balanced, improvised way. negotiations with other countries. same time be free to criticise the out- into last-minute concessions, and how That way makes it easier to use Brexit “No deal” means mainly that the come. “Nothing we can do about it much he positively wants “no deal”. as a lever for social regression and deal-making will be helter-skelter, ad now, but that’s not the way we wanted At the very least, there’s a serious risk worker-bashing, via has been called hoc, and tilted towards closer ties with Brexit”. of “no deal”. That is an outcome which “Disaster Capitalism”, where plunder- Trump’s USA. It will contain everything But any form of Brexit that the Tories Parliament voted to block in 2019. ers pick up on chaos in order to slam bad about the EU, but none of what push through, and especially a “no Which almost all shades of opinion through their plans. is good: the lowering of borders, the deal” Brexit, will be a setback for the among Labour MPs and trade unions “Disaster capitalism” could clear the restraint on race-to-the-bottom com- working class. condemn. And which a big majority in way for the Tories to cut or abolish the petition between states, the limited Labour activists should demand that the general population oppose. mild protections which workers in Brit- levelling-up, the scope for political Labour campaign urgently against Labour has said nothing much about ain have acquired through EU stand- scrutiny of the rules: in general, the cre- Brexit, and positively for free move- this, beyond shadow Northern Ireland ards, on working hours, on agency ation of a broader terrain for cross-bor- ment and for a socialist united Europe. minister Louise Haigh saying that the work, on protections when work is con- der working-class action. □ flouting of the Withdrawal Agreement tracted-out or switched to a different A US trade deal, as the alternative axis

Meetings, events, campaigns: workersliberty.org/meetings @workersliberty youtube.com/c/WorkersLibertyUK 13 What we stand for oday one class, the working class, Tlives by selling its labour power to another, the capitalist class, which owns the means of production. Slow days The capitalists’ control over the Another apprentice installed some huge beards and are a good laugh — economy and their relentless drive Diary of an new lights in one of the workshops, adjust the tension on the valve spring to increase their wealth causes pov- and the worker that uses them asks that until these conditions are met. erty, unemployment, the blighting engineer they be angled slightly differently. This For several mornings the qualified of lives by overwork, imperialism, pointless task keeps the apprentice fitters are nowhere to be found, and By Emma Rickman destruction of the environment and busy for a day — I grit my teeth and roll the other apprentice and I kick around much else. fter the intensity of the Outage my eyes. drinking coffee and trying to find jobs The working class must unite to A[when the plant is shut down for I observe others working. An exter- to do. I go up to the control room. struggle against the accumulated two weeks for maintenance which can nal company come in to change some “Where are the fitters?” wealth and power of the capitalists, be done only when it is offline], normal valves on the crane grab’s hydraulic “J was just here — he’s gone down to in the workplace and wider society. working feels lethargic, and our days system. The contractor spends some the workshop.” The Alliance for Workers’ Liberty feel short. So much has been repaired time trying to get the crane to move “Ah, I was just there. What about D?” wants socialist revolution: collective that there are only routine jobs to do. by remote; neither of us can figure out “He’s delivering a motor to Sulzers.” ownership of industry and services, We have several improvement pro- why the grab won’t lower, and have to “Tricians?” workers’ control, and a democracy jects planned and ready to go, but the waste time getting help. Once the grab “In shop.” much fuller than the present system, maintenance budget is exhausted, and is down, the engineer tests the fluid “Anything going on up here?” with elected representatives recall- our manager won’t order the parts re- pressure on each side of the cylinders “Nope.” able at any time and an end to bu- quired. The team of mechanical fitters which move the “petals” on the grab. Me and J, the other apprentice in our reaucrats’ and managers’ privileges. has divided once again into old friend- He ensures that there is a pressure dif- team, try to keep ourselves occupied We fight for trade unions and the ship groups and patterns which I find ference between each side, enabling and second-guess where our tutors Labour Party to break with “social hard to break into. the cylinders to move smoothly, all might be. We clean the lime venturi; we partnership” with the bosses, to mil- Frustratingly, we are now carrying out while scowling at his manager looking hammer and press a door back into its itantly assert working-class interests. daily repairs on one piece of pipework over his shoulder. frame; we fix the discharger pipe again; Another day I help some valve en- we do greasing runs; we replace oils; n workplaces, trade unions, and which is too flimsy to do its job — the gineers test the high-pressure steam we drink too much coffee; we have Labour organisations; among stu- fluid inside it rushes around with such I safety valves in the turbine hall; a pro- long, irritated lunches. dents; in local campaigns; on the force that it rattles the pieces of plastic cess known as trevi testing. A hydraulic Everyone is a bit restless and on left and in wider political alliances pipe apart. The whole pipe leg needs to press is placed on top of the valve and edge, we feel useless and left out. I’m we stand for: be replaced with steel, but the budget pulls the spring upwards, simulating an looking forward to having the knowl- • Independent working-class rep- won’t allow for it yet. We have the time increase in pressure within the pipe. edge and trust to work alone. □ resentation in politics to repair it, and it is our job, but it’s very Once a given pressure is reached — 8 • A workers’ government, based disheartening to see your work broken • Emma Rickman is an engineering bar — the valve should open by itself on and accountable to the labour and broken again pointlessly, when the apprentice at a Combined Heat and and release steam safely out the chim- movement problem could be easily eliminated. Power plant. ney. The engineers — who both have • A workers’ charter of trade union rights — to organise, strike, picket ef- fectively, and take solidarity action • Taxing the rich to fund good Four films to public services, homes, education Stop this deportation! and jobs for all watch • Workers’ control of major indus- ozens of protesters gathered out- tries and finance for a rapid transi- Dside the Home Office on Friday tion to a green society 4 September to demand that Osime Mini film reviews • A workers’ movement that fights Brown not be deported to Jamaica. all forms of oppression Led by Osime’s family, the protest wo films worth watching on Bosnia • Full equality for women, and so- was supported by Autistic Inclusive are Walter Defends Sarajevo (from cial provision to free women from Meets (AIM), Neurodivergent Labour T 1972, probably the “model” Partisan domestic labour. Reproductive free- (NDL) and RMT’s London Transport film), and Gbravica (2006), where a doms and free abortion on demand. Regional Council. Osime’s mother, Muslim mother hides from her daugh- • Full equality for lesbian, gay, bi- sister and stepfather told how he had ter the fact that she was raped during sexual and trans people been imprisoned under “joint enter- the 1992-5 war. • Black and white workers’ unity prise” law simply for being present On the revolution against slavery, against racism when a mobile phone was stolen, Lydia Bailey is a film made in 1952 • Open borders and that an order has been issued to about Toussaint’s Haiti. It was a major • Global solidarity against global deport him when he is released next Hollywood studio film, and it focuses capital — workers everywhere have month. things through the eyes and adventures more in common with each other The family left Jamaica when Osime of an American visitor; but it is sympa- than with their capitalist or Stalinist was four years old; he has no knowl- thetic to the slaves and Toussaint. The rulers edge of the country and knows second hero is a Haitian who is por- • Democracy at every level of so- nobody who lives there. Osime is trayed a hundred miles from how black ciety, from the smallest workplace or mentally and physically unwell, has people usually were in those days. community to global social organi- learning difficulties and is autistic, but support, telling protesters how the Another film from the same year sation his trial did not take into account how injustice of Osime’s story had moved which sympathetically shows a slave re- • Equal rights for all nations, this might have led him to be in the her. Afterwards, Nadia met with cam- volt is worth mention, though not in the against imperialists and predators wrong place at the wrong time. paign organisers to plan the next same league as Lydia Bailey. It is called big and small Representing RMT and ND Labour, steps. With sufficient pressure, we can Caribbean Gold. □ • Maximum left unity in action, and Janine Booth told the protest that push the government to intervene full openness in debate “joint enterprise” is unjust in principle and prevent this deportation. • Thanks to John Cunningham and Sean and racist in practice, as ixt systemati- More info: autisticinclusivemeets@ Matgamna for the recommendations, f you agree with us, take copies of cally criminalises black youth. gmail.com — sign and share the peti- inspired by recent Workers’ Liberty ISolidarity to sell — and join us! □ Nadia Whittome MP gave her full tion: bit.ly/osime-b □ meetings on these same topics

14 workersliberty.org fb.com/workersliberty workersliberty.org/audio The 80% Preparing to fight Tube cuts By Ollie Moore nancing”, and that cuts were necessary due to the collapse in fare revenue dur- embers of Tube union RMT in ing the pandemic. “We didn’t cause the gesture London met via Zoom on 7 Sep- M crisis, we shouldn’t have to pay for it”, tember to discuss the union’s response argued one rep. to cuts which the union expects to be There was debate over the best time John Moloney, proposed by an ongoing audit into to launch an industrial action ballot. Transport for London and London Un- Some, including supporters of Tube- PCS AGS derground’s finances. worker, the rank-and-file bulletin pub- The audit was ordered by the Tory lished by Workers’ Liberty, argued that currently balloting for industrial action, government as part of a funding bail- he government has announced RMT should ballot as soon as admin- in a local dispute against management out given to TfL in June, with account- a target of 80% of civil service istratively possible. Others argued it bullying, with the ballot closing on 15 T ancy firm KPMG appointed to run it. workers to back in the office from would be better to wait until the details September. □ There was a strong consensus in the the end of September. They want to of the KPMG audit are known. meeting to oppose any and all cuts • Tubeworker/ Off the Rails joint use the civil service as a beacon for Drivers’ union Aslef is already ballot- recommended by the review. Several meeting, Thursday 17 September, their wider “back-to-work” drive. It’s ing its members on LU, with the ballot members emphasised the need for 16:00-18:00: fighting “colour bars” a crude political gesture, effectively due to close on 17 September. RMT RMT to go on the offensive against on the railway. Zoom: us02web.zoom. a form of virtue signalling. members in Service Control on London arguments from the bosses and gov- us/j/8784354612 — Facebook: bit.ly/ Currently, 74% of civil service work- Underground’s Victoria line are also ernment that TfL/LU needs to be “self-fi- rail17s ers are still working from home, so to go from that to 80% being back in the workplace would be a huge leap. In reality the target is not serious; the government plans to count peo- ple who come into the office for just Deliveroo: against sackings one day a week as part of the 80%. By Michael Elms Sheffield find themselves being termi- to the new “child food poverty task The safety measures the employer nated with no reason, no warning, and force” in an attempt to drum up busi- eliveroo drivers in Sheffield are set has agreed to mean it wouldn’t be no right of appeal. On the evidence ness. to take further action against large possible to accommodate that many D of anonymous complaints (made by Drivers in Sheffield have in recent national partners of Deliveroo in the people in offices and maintain dis- whom? Racists bent on mischief? Res- weeks proven that they have industrial week starting 7 September. tancing anyway, but the rhetoric taurant bosses with a grudge or a taste muscle, shutting down the whole food Despite the risks that drivers have could lead to our members being for union-busting? Small-minded cur- delivery service as an opening move taken during the pandemic to keep the put under pressure. tain-twitchers who take an arbitrary in their campaign, and then effectively service rolling, and in spite of the fact The union’s National Executive dislike to a driver one night?), a whole closing the doors on a restaurant run that Deliveroo expects its hyper-ex- Committee meets on 9 Septem- series of workers have been given the by a particularly bad boss. They will in- ploited workers to themselves bear the ber, and will decide our collective sack, with no thought for either their tensify their campaign of action in the costs of running and insuring their ve- response. Our policy remains that long records of service or their chil- weeks to come, until their fellow union hicles, the fees paid to the drivers con- everyone who wants to continue dren. And at the same time, millionaire members are reinstated, and Deliveroo tinue to fall. homeworking should be able to Deliveroo founder Will Shu is beating moves on the real cause of child pov- Worse, a whole series of drivers in do so, and we’ll reinforce that mes- his chest about his paltry contribution erty — low pay. □ sage. We’ll also remind members of their individual rights, including the right to refuse unsafe work, but we also need to discuss a collective £7,634 towards £10,000 Subscribe to response. One option is to ballot members across departments to ith donations from Eddie, John see if they’d be prepared to take in- Wand Andrew of £500, £20 and Solidarity dustrial action against the “back-to- £10 respectively, we are now less than rial sub (6 issues) £7; Six months work” push. £2,500 from our target of £10,000, T(22 issues) £22 waged, £11 un- We’ve now begun balloting our and just over 70 days away from the waged, €30 European rate. members at London’s Southbank end of the drive on 21-22 November. Centre for industrial action against We now have an opportunity, but Visit workersliberty.org/sub possibly a short one, for an uptick in job cuts, and our dispute at the Tate Or, email [email protected] in-person activity. This is the first tab- is continuing. The consultative ballot with your name and address, or loid Solidarity since 18 March. We for action of our members in DWP phone 020 7394 8923. Standing are trialling a new “endorsed folded” Job Centres, where management are The fundraising is also helping to order £5 a month: more to support format. Feedback from our readers imposing extended opening hours, develop our new Workers’ Liberty our work. Forms online. □ would be welcome. concludes on 7 September, and the e-commerce shop. That should be Returning to the usual tabloid for- union’s Group Executive Committee ready to launch before the end of mat obviously enables to increase the for the DWP will meet the following the year, and will make buying our content in the printed paper, rather day to discuss the result and possible books, pamphlets and merchandise than having to have much of it on- Contact us next steps. We’re expecting an over- easier and more accessible. We are line-only, or with a full version online 020 7394 8923 whelming majority to vote for action, also investing in better equipment for and only an abridged version in print. so the obvious next step would be a sound recordings for our online meet- It also brings an increase, albeit quite [email protected] formal ballot for action. □ ings. We will keep these going perma- a small one, in the cost of printing, nently, even as we return to more face Write to: 20E Tower Workshops, • John Moloney is assistant general partly because we will now be print- to face meetings. Riley Road, London, SE1 3DG secretary of the PCS civil service ing many more copies. All donations help to improve the union, writing here in a personal The opportunities to distribute Sol- Production team: Cathy output we can produce, and help to capacity. idarity further are there, and we aim Nugent, Martin Thomas win more socialists. □ to increase subscriptions and general (editor), Sacha Ismail, Simon Nelson, sales in the coming weeks. • workersliberty.org/donate Zack Muddle

Meetings, events, campaigns: workersliberty.org/meetings @workersliberty youtube.com/c/WorkersLibertyUK 15 Next steps on NHS pay Young Labour: democracy, By Angela Driver the NHS, such as Unite, have rejected the out- come, but been unable to challenge the bigger struggle, internationalism he cross-union campaign “NHS Workers Say unions. TNo!” is organising a day of demonstrations RCN is calling for a 12.5% rise, but has a long on 12 September. (London: 11am from the BBC, record, since 1916, of never striking (the nota- By Steve Michaels the question of whether those And worse still. A candidate Portland Place. Info for other cities: bit.ly/pay-n). responsible for running the pri- for Young Labour under-18s ble recent exception being Northern Irish nurses et up to back international- This follows a round of protests in many cities in December 2019). Unison is demanding only mary actually wanted members officer, the leftwing climate ac- on 8 August, when NHS workers across the coun- Sist, class-struggle candidates to participate in it. tivist Scarlett Westbrook, has £2,000 flat-rate increase (about 11% for Health in the current Young Labour try came onto the streets to demand a pay rise, Care Assistants, more like 5% for longer-serving A number of candidates were reported that she has with- an earlier London street protest on 29 July, and elections (nominations close excluded from the primary by a drawn from the running after nurses), apparently wanting to target their appeal 27 September, ballot 19 Oct to workplace actions across the country. to lower paid members. panel of unnamed experts and receiving menacing messages The demand is that all NHS workers (including 12 Nov), Young Labour Interna- with no right of appeal, Danielle from anonymous social-media those contracted out) get a 15% pay rise. That Union election tionalists also aim to connect Wright, a supporter of Socialist accounts, threatening her if she does not fully make up for the loss in pay NHS Activists are given extra leverage in Unison by Young Labour activists with so- Appeal, was removed for hav- does not stand aside for their workers have had over the last decade due to pay the fact that the union currently has a general cial movements and struggles. ing written a tweet seeming to preferred left candidate. freezes. When taking inflation into account, NHS secretary contest underway. The main left candi- In particular, they plan to imply that the Labour antisemi- This is surely an egregious workers have lost 20% in real terms. dates, Paul Holmes and Hugo Pierre, are known get young activists involved in tism outcry was simply a put-up examples of online bullying Pay is not the only issue for health workers, who to support the NHS pay campaign, but have said the NHS workers’ fight, and in job. Cam Rose was excluded on the Labour left, and against have suffered great stress and danger during the nothing about it in their platforms, which have making solidarity with freedom for having lent a nomination to a 16 year old. Momentum and pandemic and over many years of the NHS being been more targeted to Unison members in local struggles in other countries: a trans candidate (not backed Labour should deal with it seri- run with cuts and privatisations on a just-scrap- government. Belarus, China, Montenegro, by Momentum) with the expla- ously. ing-by, nudging-full-capacity basis. Unison health branches should call on these Poland... You can read their full nation that they were doing it to Whoever was responsible But pay is a national issue that can unite work- candidates to make NHS pay a key issue. If they platform at bit.ly/yl-i get more trans people onto the for the bullying, it also demon- ers to organise together. Nurses and other health did that, that would put pressure on Roger Mc- Young Labour Internation- ballot. strates the degree to which the workers, especially the low paid and those on Kenzie (the more leftish of the two “union estab- alists candidates include Benj culture in Labour has been de- the top of their pay bands, have felt their pay lishment” candidates) to do likewise. Eckford (Northern rep), Robbie Democracy based, including on the Labour drop over recent years. There is a direct link be- So far the Labour Party has done little to sup- Scott (international officer), and Workers’ Liberty strongly disa- “left”. Witch-hunting, bullying, tween pay and the other most immediate issues port NHS workers. The Labour front bench has Sacha Marten (student rep). grees with what Danielle Wright and an attitude that winning for many health workers — workload, stress and said nothing, and Labour MPs did not figure as Democracy is also a major wrote in her tweet. But that committee places for your safety. speakers at the NHS demonstrations on 8 August. theme of the Young Labour In- would make us vote against her, mates is the highest virtue, all The NHS is about 100,000 workers short, in- But local Labour decision-making meetings are ternationalists platform. On Fri- not exclude her from the vote. have to be swept out of Labour cluding 43,000 nurses, even on official figures. resuming this month after nearly six months’ sus- day 11 September at 6:30 they In any democratic organi- — right and left. □ This vacancy rate has a massive impact on day- pension for lockdown. Branches should call on will be running a public Zoom sation, the membership is su- to-day working, with, for example, qualified staff MPs and the party to put out clear messages of meeting on democracy and the preme. It is the membership, being moved around from ward to ward, to pro- support, and on MPs to join the demonstrations. Republic, along with the Labour through ballots and confer- vide cover away from their speciality. In France the government has already, in July, Campaign for Electoral Reform. ences, who should decide who Our pamphlets This pay campaign so far has been driven awarded an increase of 183 euros a months Details: bit.ly/mi-f is or isn’t a good candidate — by rowse, download, buy, or from the grass roots, by some workplace union (about £2,000 a year) to all health workers. It has There is a need for greater voting for them, or not! listen to our pamphlets: branches and sometimes by hospital workers, promised more pay rises, and to hire 15,000 new democracy and better culture To delegate that power to B within Young Labour and Mo- nameless experts is a Blairite especially nurses, who hadn’t even been particu- workers for hospitals. Not enough — French health • The German Revolution mentum as well. Momentum method of politics, techno- larly active in their union before. It has some nom- workers have been on the streets demonstrating • For workers’ climate ac- ran a “primary” election to se- cratic, obsessed with scrubbing inal support from the Unite and GMB unions, but for more — but evidence of the public pressure on tion lect the candidates it would away anyone who might not fit the officials of those unions have not done much governments to move on these issues. • Two nations, two states recommend for Young Labour. with a squeaky-clean image. It to build the action, and anyway neither is espe- Public support for the NHS is enormous. Every- • Workers against slavery So far, so good. But turnout creates cruel, panicky, anxious, cially strong in the NHS. one knows that the NHS will continue to be a key • How to beat the racists was poor: we hear that the win- conservative and undemocratic But to win, turning round the unions and get- service over the coming months, as the risk of fur- • Remain and rebel ning candidate for one commit- organisations. ting the possibility of industrial action is crucial. ther waves of Covid 19 remains high. • Stalinism in the Interna- tee position reportedly won by The decision to ban Cam The two biggest unions in the NHS, especially Even from a conservative point of view, the tional Brigades 9 votes to 7. (Possibly because Rose is especially bad after among nurses, are RCN and Unison. state requires a good health service right now. • How to fight elections they were so poor, actual vot- Momentum lent its support to The NHS unions do not always coordinate their The government has increased, and knows it has • Left antisemitism: what it ing numbers have not been re- candidates for in the Labour pay demands. Each union submits “evidence” to increase, public spending anyway. is and how to fight it □ and demands to the official pay review body, The Tories won’t budge without pressure. If the leased by Momentum following National Executive Committee More: workersliberty.org/ which then makes a recommendation to the gov- campaign is continued on the streets, and taken the election). elections who refused to give pamphlets ernment, and the government ultimately decides into the unions and the Labour Party, we can pro- In an organisation of tens of commitments on trans rights on the pay award. Some years unions smaller in duce that pressure. □ thousands, such figures raise asked for by Momentum itself. i workersliberty.org Meetings, events, campaigns: workersliberty.org/meetings ii Solidarity Solidarity& Workers’ Liberty For a workers’ government For social ownership of the banks and industry

Pic: CC BY-NC 2.0 bit.ly/nhs-se

REBUILD NHS FOR WINTER! ccording to a report for up the virus from the holidays now doing. Bring the privatised ASAGE, the government’s of- and openings of pubs and cafés NHS logistics into public owner- ficial scientific advice committee which seem to have fuelled in- ship and control, and requisition for the pandemic, bit.ly/s200831 fection rises across Europe, and industry to ensure supplies. the proportion of people in Eng- there being a delay until infec- • Bring care homes and domi- land with Covid-like symptoms tions spread to the more vulner- ciliary care into the public sector, who then get a test “could be as able elderly. with staff on public-sector pay low as 10%”. And, if they test pos- It is unlikely, though, that the and conditions. REBUILD NHS itive for Covid, the proportion trends will remain in conflict. Vi- • Run testing, tracing, and iso- who follow self-isolation rules rus-control efforts and the NHS lation as a local public-health fully is “currently estimated to be will come under new stress in the operation, adequately funded, less than 20%”. winter and in the run-up. instead of the current contract- The figures may be over-pes- The social measures needed ed-out Serco-Sitel mess. □ simistic (the footnote references to underpin and facilitate seri- FOR WINTER! in the report don’t seem to tally). ous virus-control policy are still What we demand But there is no solid basis for lacking. Scraps of them have ≫Bring all work in-house, reverse clear optimism about the big been conceded by the Tories in the crisis majority, of those who should do only under pressure. The unions 1. Requisition key sectors privatisation so, seeking a test, getting a test, and the labour movement must 2. Fight for workers’ control getting prompt results, reporting apply more pressure. 3. Make the labour movement contacts, and then the infected • Full isolation pay for all! Not an essential service, fighting Bring social care into public ownership and the contacts self-isolating. just Matt Hancock’s feeble £13 a on the issues listed here ≫ Infection figures in Britain have day for some lower-paid workers 4. Defend workers’ rights. risen since early July, and more in some areas. As of now, only Work or full pay! Cancel rent, Drive the Tories out! Pic: CC BY-NC 2.0 bit.ly/fp-nhs steeply since late August, while about 40% even of care-home mortgage, and utility pay- ≫ hospitalisations and deaths con- workers have access to full isola- ments. Abolish GCSEs! “Institutional Bosnia’s war, 25 “Socialism from the tinue to decrease. tion pay. 5. Take care of the worst-off End the treadmill! sexism” in unions years on Leader’s Office” There may be many factors • Rebuild the NHS! A good pay 6. Defend civil liberties The grades fiasco Report on GMB points Sarah Correia A new book gives a in these apparently conflict- rise for all, and a big increase in 7. International solidarity □ should force a to need to build a new discusses the roots of skewed and unreliable, ing trends: increased testing; budgets. Take all private hospi- thorough rethink of democracy from the the 1992-5 war, and • See full text at bit.ly/what-d but revealing, account more “false positives”; more tals into the NHS, rather than just school exams ground up lessons from it • Animated video of full de- of those testing positive being paying them to provide overflow mands: bit.ly/demand-video Page 3 Page 11 Pages 8-9 Page 11 young people who’ve picked facilities, as the government is No. 562, 9 September 2020 50p/£1 workersliberty.org No. 562, 9 September 2020 50p/£1 workersliberty.org