So& Wloirkdersa’ Lirbeirtty y No 282 17 April 2013 30p/80p www.workersliberty.org For a workers’ government

New York fast Illuminating Debate on food strike Marx Syria page 3 pages 6-7 page 9-10

Today’s Tories are just as much class warriors as Thatcher’s. Only because Cameron and Osborne have faced less resistance do they appear less “divisive”. Fight the class warfare of the rich: see page 5 NOW

BURY Celebrating in Trafalgar Square, Saturday 13 April. Photo: Jess Hurd (reportdigital.co.uk) THATCHERISM 2 NEWS

What is the Alliance for Workers’ Liberty? Resist student shift to right! Today one class, the working class, lives by selling its labour power to By Rosie Huzzard rape allegations against another, the capitalist class, which owns the means of Martin Smith. Shereen production. Society is shaped by the capitalists’ If a measure of a union’s Prasad, a dissident SWP relentless drive to increase their wealth. Capitalism worth as a union is its member who explicitly crit - causes poverty, unemployment, the blighting of lives willingness to fight for icised the party leadership by overwork, imperialism, the destruction of the the interests of its mem - environment and much else. in her election speech, Against the accumulated wealth and power of the bers, then this year’s NUS faced no walkouts and won capitalists, the working class has one weapon: solidarity. conference (8-10 April) a much higher vote. The Alliance for Workers’ Liberty aims to build solidarity through saw a new low. There is a debate within struggle so that the working class can overthrow capitalism. We want The leadership and its NCAFC about the useful - socialist revolution: collective ownership of industry and services, supporters aggressively re - ness of far-left activists in - workers’ control and a democracy much fuller than the present system, jected any suggestion of a tervening in NUS at all. with elected representatives recallable at any time and an end to campaign on fees, Although the prospects for bureaucrats’ and managers’ privileges. grants/loans, education any radical transformation We fight for the labour movement to break with “social partnership” funding or how our educa - of NUS are remote, Work - and assert working-class interests militantly against the bosses. ers’ Liberty students be - tion is structured. They education” and so on. palling. While constantly Our priority is to work in the workplaces and trade unions, lieve intervention is still voted down support for The NUS leadership was attacking the NCAFC, the supporting workers’ struggles, producing workplace bulletins, helping worthwhile. By intervening free education, dusting off able to get away with this leadership clapped and organise rank-and-file groups. in conference NCAFC met the argument that it means because the conference as a cheered him (they also We are also active among students and in many campaigns and new activists, publicised the poor paying for rich whole was less political urged delegates not to cele - alliances. campaigns including the kids to go to university. than in previous years. The brate Thatcher's death). He Sussex anti-privatisation whole feel of the thing was will very possibly get We stand for: struggle, organised a well- ● Independent working-class representation in politics. NATIONAL DEMO flatter and less political, elected to the national exec - attended vigil to demand ● A workers’ government, based on and accountable to the labour They voted down holding with fewer fringe meetings, utive and, breaking with justice for Steven Simpson, movement. a national demonstration fewer stalls — fewer stupid his party's recent traditions, and more besides. ● A workers’ charter of trade union rights — to organise, to strike, to in the autumn, using their election gimmicks, even. start to establish an organ - As well as continuing to picket effectively, and to take solidarity action. own failings in connec - There was also the ised Tory base in NUS and build itself as an inde - ● Taxation of the rich to fund decent public services, homes, education tion with last year's demo growth of an element at the SUs. This is a major politi - pendent activist force on and jobs for all. to justify this and to at - conference that was not just cal threat. campuses, NCAFC will be ● A workers’ movement that fights all forms of oppression. Full tack the left. right-wing in the tradi - The radical left has been continuing a debate equality for women and social provision to free women from the burden tional NUS sense — reduced to a relatively about both intervention in of housework. Free abortion on request. Full equality for lesbian, gay, They voted down a cam - broadly Blairite — but small minority. The only NUS and the possibilities bisexual and transgender people. Black and white workers’ unity paign to bring back EMAs Tory-leaning. The one big left organisation that ap - against racism. for sixth form students. for building a federation ● Open borders. Last year, slogans like “Tax defeat for the leadership a peared as a force at the con - of radical students ● Global solidarity against global capital — workers everywhere have the rich” were quietly ac - defeat from the right: on ference, with caucuses, a unions. guaranteed representation stall, extensive materials, a more in common with each other than with their capitalist or Stalinist cepted before being binned, • Comment on the walk for women on the NEC and bulletin, a fringe meeting rulers. this year both “Tax the outs during Tomas Evans’s conference delegations. and so on was the National ● Democracy at every level of society, from the smallest workplace or rich” and “Expropriate the speeches: bit.ly/ Into this atmosphere Campaign Against Fees community to global social organisation. banks” were defeated. swpwalkout strode Peter Smallwood, and Cuts (NCAFC). ● Working-class solidarity in international politics: equal rights for all A motion to campaign • Comment on a contro - Tory candidate for presi - Hundreds of delegates nations, against imperialists and predators big and small. for public, democratically versy at the conference ● Maximum left unity in action, and openness in debate. dent and the NEC. Playing walked out during run universities and col - about the definition of anti- ● If you agree with us, please take some copies of Solidarity to sell — hard on the joke of being a speeches by Tomas Evans, leges was gutted. In place Semitism: bit.ly/ and join us! fish out of water, Small - an SWP member and sup - of this, conference passed nusantisem wood would have been porter of the Central Com - bland waffle about “cele - • More on the NCAFC funny – if he wasn't ap - mittee’s handling of the Contact us: brating the public value of website: anticuts.com ● 020 7394 8923 ● [email protected] The editor (Cathy Nugent), 20e Tower Workshops, Riley Road, London, SE1 3DG. New unions show unrest ● Printed by Trinity Mirror EDL leader backs Ukip

groups of workers...” Workers’ Liberty has By Darren Bedford the party’s platform on Get Solidarity every week! been involved in cam - Europe and “Islam” as paigns involving some new Prominent English De - points of agreement with fence League ● Trial sub, 6 issues £5 o independent unions (in - the EDL’s own approach. spokesperson Stephen The EDL’s last attempt ● 22 issues (six months). £18 waged cluding the Industrial o Lennon (also known as to intervene in official Workers of the World and £9 unwaged o Tommy Robinson) has politics was an alliance the Pret A Manger Staff ● publicly backed Ukip, with the far-right British 44 issues (year). £35 waged o By Ollie Moore Union, which are specifi - £17 unwaged calling on other “nation - Freedom Party, which o cally mentioned in the re - alist” parties not to A recent report by Acas was deregistered in De - ● European rate: 28 euros (22 issues) o port, and the Industrial stand against them. into the work of the Certi - cember 2012 after failing or 50 euros (44 issues) o Workers of Great Britain). to submit its accounts to fication Office (which, We don’t see such initia - Lennon/Robinson cited Tick as appropriate above and send your money to: among other things, the Electoral Commission. tives as an alternative to Ukip has distanced it - 20e Tower Workshops, Riley Road, London, SE1 3DG maintains the official reg - transforming the mass ister of trade unions) self from the EDL, affirm - Cheques (£) to “AWL”. unions, but they can play ing that party members identifies a “steady an important role in some Or make £ and euro payments at workersliberty.org/sub. trickle” of new unions found to be involved in struggles. The proliferation EDL activities will be ex - being established, de - of such initiatives shows Name ...... spite a general trend of pelled. that more workers are find - If any kind of relation - decline. ship develops on the Address ...... ing their struggles re - According to the report: stricted, rather than ground between EDL di - visions and Ukip ...... “These new unions appear facilitated, by mainstream to be motivated by, among unions. branches, anti-fascists I enclose £ ...... other things... an attempt to This reinforces the will need to be on the gain improved recognition need to transform our guard. for under-represented movement as a whole. 3 INTERNATIONAL Time to sober up on Chavismo Fast food workers

By Pablo Velasco The civic-military al - strike against low pay liance at the heart of The narrow victory of Chávez’s Bonapartist proj - Nicolás Maduro in the ect remains intact, but is Venezuelan presidential likely to fracture in the ab - election on 14 April sence of its figurehead. For - should trigger serious re - mer military officers run 11 flection on the left about of the 20 PSUV-led state the limits of chavismo governments, and account without Chávez. for a quarter of the cabinet. Maduro won by 1.6% of The defence minister Ad - the vote against right-wing miral Molero Belavia neoliberal opposition can - claimed during the election didate Henrique Capriles, that the armed forces with 50.7% compared to his should unite behind opponent’s 49.1%. Pro- Maduro. But there is ri - chavista apologists such as valry between Maduro Nicolás Maduro salutes a portrait of Hugo Chávez (representing the civic side) the Venezuela Solidarity By Ira Berkovic worker-organising cam - Campaign were saying and Diosdado Cabello, the head of the National As - paigns that have emerged only days before the elec - Chavista apologists have grammes, which undoubt - sembly and a former mili - 400 fast food workers in recently in America, led tion that Maduro had a long pointed to the popu - edly narrowed income in - tary colleague of Chávez. New York struck and and shaped by unions but double digit lead over larity of Chávez as proof of equalities, but principally The prominence of the mil - demonstrated on 4 April employing a more cre - Capriles. Turnout was still his radical credentials. He provided a social basis of itary indicates both the to demand a $15/hour ative range of strategies high at 78%. There can be did win four presidential political support for Bonapartist essence of minimum wage. than traditional recruit - few excuses. elections, as well as other Chávez. But Venezuela still chavismo and how far it is ment campaigns. They Hugo Chávez defeated votes (losing only one ref - suffered from power cuts, The strike involved from a genuine working- particularly target low- Capriles 55%-44% last Oc - erendum on extending his shortages of basic necessi - workers at McDonalds, class socialist project. paid, hyper-exploitative tober and his PSUV had powers even further). What ties and vast corruption. KFC, Burger King, The political regime of jobs in the retail and serv - trounced them in 20 of 23 this vote shows is that the The left should not exag - Domino’s Pizza, and chavismo has eclipsed the ice sector. Fast food work - state governor races last popularity of the “process” gerate Chávez’s achieve - other multinational fast independent working class ers previously struck in December. Maduro would is fading electorally, almost ments. Many Latin food chains. movement, where the November, following have expected to gain a to the point when the American states reduced Naquasia Legrand, a unions are largely bound strikes by Walmart em - strong sympathy vote after PSUV is in danger of losing poverty over the last KFC worker, said low pay formally and informally to ployees on “Black Fri - Chávez’s death in March. power through the ballot decade. The programmes in the fast food industry the Bolivarian state and its day”, the busiest He was the comandante’s box. as well as the nationalised forced workers to make ruling party. The oil rev - shopping day in the US anointed successor, served But a far deeper reflec - industries created a stra - impossible choices: “You enues still flow and with calendar. as his vice-president and tion is needed. Chávez’s tum of boligarchs and but - have to decide whether to them some economic wrig - Jonathan Westin, direc - had effectively been run - regime was premised on tressed the private sector. feed your family or get a gle room for Maduro. tor of FFW said: “The ning the government for the revenue from an oil The class structure of But the left should Metrocard so you can go to work. Or you have to fastest growing jobs in the months. He had the vast rentier economy. He came Venezuela was remoulded cease to be a mouth - United States are also the weight of the state machin - to power with oil at $10 a under Chávez, but basic piece for the Venezuelan choose between paying your rent or feeding your lowest paid. Fast food ery as well as the PSUV barrel and died with it class divisions remain in government and cham - workers are paid between party machine behind him. more than ten times that place – a capitalist state pion the struggles of child”. The strike was part of $10,000 and $18,000 each Yet he scrapped home by level. The oil revenues served by a bourgeois gov - Venezuelan workers. year, less than half what it the narrowest of margins. funded the social pro - ernment. the Fast Food Forward (FFW) campaign, an ini - costs to support a family tiative of the Service Em - in our city … McDonald’s ployees International and Burger King are part of a $200 billion industry. Union and involving vari - “They should pay ous working-class com - their hard-working em - munity organisations and ployees enough to other labour-movement cover the necessities bodies. FFW is one of a and support their fami - number of similar lies.” Egyptian railworkers fight forced conscription

By Ruben Lomas Momtaz said: “The Morsi administration’s targeting Egyptian railway workers of strikers has proven to be Hundreds of activists took part UK Uncut’s “Who Wants To Evict A Millionaire?” protests against forced the state to back much worse and more op - the “bedroom tax” on 13 April. The protests were also supported by Disabled People Against The down from a plan to con - pressive than the actions of script 97 striking railway the Mubarak regime”. Cuts (DPAC). workers into the army. 97 strikers were sum - The London protest saw up to 300 activists block the road outside the north London house of The plan was the Egypt - moned to a Cairo bar - Work and Pensions minister Lord Freud, serving him with an “eviction notice”. ian government’s latest at - racks on Monday 8 April UK Uncut supporter Sarah Knight, whose mother is losing money because of the bedroom tax, tempt to break a drivers’ and held for nearly 24 said: “My mum has just found out that she will have to pay the bedroom tax. My family is strike that began on Sunday hours. Protests, and a let - 7 April. It is the country’s ter-writing campaign terrified about what’s going to happen. People’s hearts are being broken as this government is first nationwide railways from labour lawyers, turning Thatcher’s wildest dreams into a nightmarish reality. But this protest is not about strike since 1986. Workers forced the state to re - Thatcher’s death, it’s about the ongoing assault on the welfare state.” are demanding pay in - scind its “public mobilisa - creases and more time off. tion order”. Train driver Ashraf 4 COMMENT Not the way to tackle sexism in the labour movement

difficult self-criticism for fear of Daily Mail hack polemic. by subjective assessments about a victim’s sexual history, use Left So far so much the usual Socialist Party nonsense. But Sell of alcohol, drugs, etc. Though the system has improved such By Cathy Nugent does not want to say “Shut up women! Stop making a fuss subjective judgements are still used and much more regu - about sexism in the labour movement” so she stumbles larly than in other types of crime. through other arguments about “context” — the opinions of Elliot and Thompson want to stop the left and labour In an online article (bit.ly/hsell) the Socialist Party’s Han - Cath Elliot and the exact wording of “Safe Place for Women”. movement from mirroring this sexism in its own investiga - nah Sell tries to convince activists not to sign the state - Sell says Cath Elliot cannot be trusted. It was Elliot who tive processes, as happened in the SWP's “investigation”. ment initiated by Unison activists Marsha-Jane moved a motion at Unison women’s conference on “no plat - Putting “belief of women” at the heart of any investigation Thompson and Cath Elliot (“Our movement must be a form” for rape deniers and used her speech to attack the does not contradict establishing objective facts. That is a safe place for women”). SWP. tricky process and requires special skills. There is a lesson to “Safe Place for Women” is an unarguable appeal to the left There were problems with Elliot’s motion — her use of the be learnt there, too, from the SWP experience. and labour movement to stand in solidarity with women term “no platform” and its application to “rape deniers”. The rest of Sell’s article is about defending the right of her who are victims of male violence, especially when an inci - What Elliot had in mind was stopping George Galloway organisation to investigate accusations of sexual assault. dent takes place within our own movement. from being invited to speak at Unison events, as a sort of These points are apropos of absolutely nothing. Sell cannot directly contradict that sentiment so she takes punishment for trivialising rape when defending Julian As - So what do the Socialist Party want? Do they want the left the line “context is everything”. She says the statement will sange. It’s more a policy of “non-invitation” than “no-plat - to always desist from public self-criticism? Or do they only be used by the right-wing in the labour movement, and soci - form”. That’s not wrong in principle, but it depends... yes, want to suppress this statement, because they disagree with on the context. it? They can’t have it both ways. ety, to witch hunt the left. It will distract from fighting capi - We need to have public political debate about the state Was Elliot’s motivation right wing? Judging by this blog talism and women's oppression. of our movement. Women who have been the victims of post — bit.ly/celliot — Elliot was angry at the SWP’s at - Readers who are familiar with the Socialist Party (SP) will a range of sexist behaviour and assault need it. And with tempts at the conference to rationalise their abuse of power. recognise two of their techniques here. much more reason, truthfulness and humility than that She does not argue for no-platforming SWP members, which First, using the line “You can’t say that against the left/the displayed by Hannah Sell. Shamefully setting yourself would be right-wing and wrong. SP/the union because the right wing will use it” as a way of against a reasonable attempt to help clean up the left is shutting down debate. entirely wrong. Second, the “sledgehammer and nut” approach. A te - NO BAN diously long exposition of how capitalism perpetuates In any case none of that has any bearing on “Safe Place • Safe Place: womeninthelabourmovement.wordpress.com women’s oppression precedes the “dangerous distraction” for Women” — no ban on SWPers is proposed in the text! argument. Sell then says that the real problem with the statement is But what of the details of Sell’s right-wing backlash? she does not agree with the wording: “…in saying ‘...when A footnote Sell says the Savile scandal has created a febrile atmos - Sell’s sledge hammer approach may indicate unstated motivations women complain of male violence within our movement, our for the article. Precisely what these are we do not know. phere which will make an attack on the left more likely. trade unions and political organisations should start from a We know that an accusation of domestic violence made against That’s possible but, as Sell herself says, far, far better that position of believing women’ the statement bends the stick former Socialist Party (SP) member and RMT Assistant General Sec - such scandals are out in the open and discussed. too far, effectively arguing that the workers’ movement be - retary Steve Hedley was part of the background to “Safe place for Second, Unison’s right-wing leaders and their friends in gins by concluding the man is guilty, regardless of the evi - women” (along with the SWP’s appalling handling of a rape allega - the Labour Party will seize upon this statement to attack the dence, or lack of it.” tion). After Caroline Leneghan made her complaint about Hedley to left... because that is what they do. But if it wasn’t this issue, Sell spectacularly, perhaps deliberately, misses the point. the RMT he resigned from the SP. it would be something else, surely? “Start from a position of believing women” is not a proposal The union has now said it plans to take no further action; Caroline Third, the Daily Mail etc. will seize on anti-left criticisms to drop due process or natural justice. It is a proposal to “cor - intends to appeal that decision and the case is far from over (see because of “a correct fear by sections of the ruling class that, bit.ly/clene for background). rect” how women get chewed up by the process of making a The SP has backed Hedley and welcomed the union’s decision. given the profound crisis of capitalism, the socialist move - complaint about sexual assault. We also know that SP member Sara Mayo has resigned stating that ment will be able to become a mass force in the coming In the bourgeois criminal justice victims often have to her complaint of a sexual assault was badly handled by the party years.” I hope that is true. But more likely this Marxist “pre - prove the integrity and veracity of their complaint. (bit.ly/s-mayo). In response the SP has made public an internal doc - diction” is randomly inserted here to boost the argument. And “objective” evidence is nearly always supplemented ument with details of the case — bit.ly/s-mayo2 The logical conclusion is that the left should never attempt Are “Witch is Dead” cries sexist?

Excerpts from a discussion among Solidarity readers about I saw some woman delegates with looks of despair on their using the phrase “The Witch Is Dead” about Thatcher’s face. death. I pointed out the sexist language and asked why we get taken in by shallow campaigns especially when there are a Solidarity is quite right to raise the issue of sexist lan - number of better songs —Elvis Costello’s “Tramp the dirt guage being used to curse Thatcher. It went on in the down” would have been my choice. 1980s and there seems to have be some of it since her R death. “Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead” is not a sexist song, in I do not, however, agree that the promotion of the song the context for which it was written. “Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead” by anti-Thatcher protest - ers/celebrators is necessarily or inevitably sexist. The song Is it sexist to use it in reference to Thatcher? Probably. But, was certainly not sexist in its original intention (it was writ - it is surely a very good thing that a song celebrating her death ten for a scene in the Judy Garland film The Wizard of Oz by is at number one during the week of her funeral. In the way the leftie songwriter “Yip” Harburg, who also wrote “Brother in which it was very very good that the Sex Pistols’ “God only for women, and witches in fiction are invariably evil and Can You Spare A Dime”) and I do not believe the campaign Save The Queen” was number one during the Silver Jubilee. wicked women (not just evil or wicked people), and all this to get it to No 1 in the charts is motivated by sexism. It strikes J has its origins in the persecution of real women in the real Anyone notice good witches are always ‘pretty’ and bad me as a minor, but quite legitimate, act of protest and defi - world — literally, in fires that blazed across Europe, at one witches ugly horrid single women? Just saying. ance against the Tories’ nauseating campaign to construct a point. consensus of national reverence around Thatcher’s death. Maybe with exception of Buffy witches, but then Buffy P Of course, use of the word “witch” can be sexist, but con - rocks generally. I think pretty much all uses of the word “witch” to de - test is all. In this case, I don’t think it is. I agree it is a sexist song. What is the equivalent that would scribe a woman are sexist unless, like the character in JD be sung about a man? Not good enough she was an evil right the Wizard of Oz, she actually is one. wing woman, no, she has to be caricatured as a witch. I’ll admit to laughing when I first heard “The Witch is RW It’s true that the Yip Harburg song is not itself sexist but Dead”. But then a comrade pointed out the language surely its use now around Thatcher’s funeral is. I can’t really being used to describe her was sexist. I must admit to not remembering the Oz film from my see how you can contextualise that away. There are much childhood, so I have no understanding whatsoever of the I felt completely ignorant about the use of language, espe - better ways to celebrate her demise and remember all the vic - significance of the witch, the West, the munchkins, etc. cially when I chaired our trades council and a number of peo - tims of her government’s policies. ple were laughing and using the terms “witch” and “bitch”. But the use of the word “witch” is a term of abuse reserved MT 5 WHAT WE SAY Help us raise £15,000

Thanks to the donations of comrades and support - ers, the AWL office will be taking delivery of a new top-of-the-range digital duplicator in the next two weeks. That means we’ll be able to increase produc - tion of our workplace bulletins and other leaflets, making sure our members have printed literature as well as online material to read with contacts. There are other ongoing projects and initiatives for which we need financial support. In the last year, we’ve widened our network of international contacts – we need funds to pay for travel to bring them to the UK and to send AWL comrades to visit them. Our May Day solidarity greetings appeal is also picking Thatcherites through and through. Feeling good about making your life a misery up pace. This week we received messages from Notts Trades Council and Camden 3 branch of the RMT that they’d like to take out a solidarity advert in our May Day issue. Will your union branch do the same? A two col - umn space (78mm x 84 mm, 10-30 words) is £15, and three columns (78mm x 174mm, 50-70 words) is £25. Please do not send us artwork but a copy of your logo or Now bury Thatcherism graphic you would like to use (preferably electronically, or camera-ready) and the text of your greetings/message. The deadline is Monday 29 April. What we hold against Margaret Thatcher is not that she Cameron and Osborne as yet feel no need to bring in new was “divisive”. We, revolutionary socialists, are “divisive” ● laws restricting trade-union action on top of those which Taking out a monthly standing order using the form too — only we want to rally the worse-off to defeat the Thatcher and Major imposed in 1979-90 and which Blair and below or at www.workersliberty.org/resources. Please rich, while Thatcher rallied the rich to defeat the worse- Brown kept in force. But they keep threatening that they will, post completed forms to us at the AWL address below. off. ● if trade unions resist more. Making a donation by cheque, payable to “AWL”, or Already they are cutting away at workers’ rights and union In a recent opinion poll, a clear majority (60%) thought that do●nating online at www.workersliberty.org/donate. the taxpayer should not cover the cost of Thatcher’s funeral, strength by changing the law to make it more difficult to sue ● Organising a fundraising event. and an equally clear majority, 59% to 18%, thought “Thatcher over bosses’ breaches of health and safety rules, or over un - ● Taking copies of Solidarity to sell. was the most divisive Prime Minister this country has had fair sackings. In the public sector they are making pay more Get in touch to discuss joining the AWL. More infor - that I can remember”. fragmented, more dependent on the individual boss’s favour mation: 07796 690874 / [email protected] / AWL, The thing Thatcher is most remembered for, according to than on basic union-negotiated scales. They are cutting back 20E Tower Workshops, 58 Riley Road, London SE1 3DG. the poll, is “curbing the power of trade unions” and “the the time allowed for union representatives to do their union miners’ strike”. We do not regret the miners’ strike: we think work, and edging towards outright cancellation of union the miners should have won, and could have won if the TUC recognition in some areas. Total raised so far: £9,701 and Labour leaders had shown more solidarity. Today’s Tories are just as much class warriors as We raised £285 this week in dona - Cameron and Osborne seem less divisive than Thatcher Thatcher’s. Only, so far, they face less resistance, and so can tions with more promised. Thanks not because they are less malign, but because our side is not 1 appear less “divisive”. ,70 to Paul, Stephen, Paulette and yet fighting back as hard as we did in the Thatcher years. As £9 Mike. the thoughtful US billionaire Warren Buffet puts it: “There’s SAME ERA class warfare, all right, but it’s my class, the rich class, that’s In the 1950s and 60s the Tories said they had a policy of making war, and we’re winning”. It is bad, not good, that the “One Nation”, in which the working class and the worse- class war appears less divisive. It’s because the working class off would get improvements at a similar pace to the rich, Standing order authority is not yet fighting back strongly enough. though of course at a respectful distance behind them. Cameron and Osborne are converting the NHS from a pub - They could say that because the reorganisation of world To: ...... (your bank) lic service into a marketplace softened only by the provision capitalism after 1945, under US domination, had created a (for now) of money from the government for GPs (or, rather, ...... framework which allowed for steady growth, with relatively (its address) contractors on behalf of GPs) to buy services. It’s a market - mild capitalist competition, for a sizeable time. They did say place where many treatments are now in many areas not ...... that because they reckoned that the concessions granted to available without paying. Thatcher’s government made the the working class in 1945-8, for fear of revolutionary up - ...... start, but a small one by comparison. It cut back the NHS, Account name: heavals such as followed World War One, were so deeply- closed many hospitals, and started to introduce the “internal Account no: ...... market” (from June 1990, only a few months before Thatcher entrenched that it would be risky to revoke them. Thatcher represented the wealthy classes in an era when resigned in November 1990). Sort code: ...... Cameron and Osborne are slashing welfare benefits on a the mechanics of world capitalism had changed. The finan - scale never seen before. Over 27 million will be affected by cial architecture set up in 1945 had collapsed. World capital - Please make payments to the debit of my ist competition had sharpened and diversified. There were the latest cuts starting this April. As they work through, the account: Payee: Alliance for Workers’ Liberty, average person will lose £467 per year; people in poverty will sharper ups and downs. lose an average of £2,195; disabled people, an average of We are still in that era. Cameron and Osborne are still To - account no. 20047674 at the Unity Trust Bank, £4,410 per year — this at a time when company chief execu - ries of the Thatcher breed. What we need is more “divisive - 9 Brindley Place, Birmingham B1 2HB (08-60-01) tives paid themselves a 16% rise in 2012, to an average of ness” on our side, the side of the working class. £215,000 across companies large and small. With Solidarity and Workers’ Liberty, we’re in the busi - Amount: £ ...... to be paid on the ...... day ness of encouraging workers in Britain to divide from British Thatcher cut welfare benefits, after a whole era in which of ...... (month) 20 ...... expanded welfare was seen as a normal component of gen - bosses and bankers, and to identify with workers in other countries. (year) and thereafter monthly until this order is eral economic growth. The sharpest impact was from her We want more and rougher class struggle from our abolition of income support for 16 and 17 year olds, in 1988, side, to counter and defeat the class warfare of the rich. cancelled by me in writing. This order cancels which pushed a whole swathe of that generation of teenagers We want it because it is the way toward taking produc - any previous orders to the same payee. into homelessness on the streets. tive wealth out of the hands of the top one per cent and Cameron and Osborne are cutting housing benefit into democratic social control, and creating a new soci - Date ...... (through the “bedroom tax”, the “benefit cap”, and other - ety based on human solidarity and equality. wise) and council-tax benefit, which will push a whole new Signature ...... swathe of people into homelessness. 6-7 Fifteen years of Illumin Robert Ford is a visual artist based in London. He is online solidarity currently working producing an illustrated edition of Karl Marx’s Capital . He spoke to Daniel Randall from Solidarity about the project. Bruce Robinson reviews Campaigning Online and Win - of a global supply chain. Around eighteen months ago, I was attending ning: How Labour Start’s ActNOW campaigns are making An influx of emails can serve not only to bring pressure some Capital reading groups, including one run by unions stronger by Eric Lee and Edd Mustill on their targets — particularly those dependent on a good Workers’ Liberty. I was also watching David Har - reputation with their customers — but also to bolster work - Working-class solidarity follows capitalist globalisation ers’ resolve by showing that they are not alone and to make vey’s lectures. to respond to attacks on workers’ rights wherever and governments and employers realise that their actions are It seemed to me that many people, including many whenever they occur. being watched around the world. The campaigns can also people around the Marxist left, didn’t have any en - “The international nature of the global economy is often lead to street activism such as demonstrations outside the gagement with Capital or grasp of its key concepts. So seen as being bad for workers and of course it often is. But Eritrean and Egyptian embassies in London demanding the I wanted to undertake an original project that would release of imprisoned trade unionists. it is also potentially a source of great strength for us. When make people more interested in the book and, hope - we enter into a struggle we have allies all over the world”, Not all supporters take part in every campaign. The largest — such as against Fremantle, who tried to get fully, get them to read it in its original form. Lee and Mustill comment. As electronic communication I initially planned to mirror Harvey’s method of fo - has become accessible from the 1990s onwards, trade LabourStart closed down, or the Canadian government’s unionists and their supporters have developed their own attempt to derecognise the postal workers’ union – have at - cusing on the key concept in each chapter, and do a sin - tools that make use of the same networks that enable 21st tracted 12,000 and 14,000 names respectively. But massive gle illustration for each one. But each chapter has more century global capitalism. numbers are not always necessary for success. Only 750 than one key concept, so just trying to illustrate one LabourStart began as a website providing labour infor - messages had an impact on a victimisation dispute in a was limiting. The number of illustrations has mush - mation but has also experimented with the use of more ac - hotel in Pakistan. roomed. tivist technologies. One that has been long lasting and Obviously not all campaigns are successful and the only The project is called Captilicus Religicus Magica ; the successful — now 15 years old — is ActNOW campaign - real way to assess their contribution to the outcome of a dis - style I’m going for is a pastiche of medieval illuminated ing, sending email letters in support of trade unionists pute is through the testimony of those involved whether workers or employers. manuscripts. That’s obviously intended to be humor - under attack to pressurise employers and governments. ous — there’s a lot of humour in Marx’s writing any - LabourStart has built up a list of over 100,000 people who IMPACT way, and I think a humorous style will help make the have taken part and are regularly requested to join new campaigns. Their positive impact can be either individual or collec - project interesting and accessible. There is text within This little book provides examples under six headings — tive. Said El Hairech, an imprisoned Moroccan seafar - each illustration that emphasises the key concept, and fighting victimisation, from the London Tube to a hotel in ers leader wrote after 5,600 supporters emailed I’ve set myself the task of writing that text in rhyme. Pakistan; fighting to free prisoners such as Kamal Abbas in successfully demanding his release: “When I was in jail There’ll be about 36 illustrations for Volume One of Egypt and Mansour Osanloo in Iran; supporting strikes of I knew the whole world was behind me. Capital . 100,000 public sector workers in Botswana or 60 clothing “I thought, they cannot resist such a campaign”, while a I’m in touch with David Harvey about the project, workers in a small town in Norway; opposing union bust - successful action against victimisation in New Zealand and he’s very supportive. We’ve discussed him writ - ing by Fiat, Suzuki and the Canadian government; breaking gave a general boost to union organisation: “the members... ing a foreword, and I’m also in touch with various lockouts in Turkey, New Zealand and the US; and taking are really energised about unionism after a brief introduc - other Marxist academics to discuss their potential in - on the multinationals such as G4S in Indonesia and BAT in tion and a big win.” volvement. It’s been difficult to find a publisher, as Burma. They range across the world from the UK, US and Lee and Mustill emphasise that online campaigning can Europe to Swaziland, El Salvador, Bahrain, Ecuador and there are high upfront costs for a project like this. Verso only be one tool in a dispute and that “it’s only the partner - the Philippines, with targets ranging from governments was initially interested, but decided after internal dis - ships with unions and the work done offline, on the ground and corporations down to a small sub-contractor at the end cussions it wasn’t for them. that makes victories possible.” They emphasise that partic - I’m producing the illustrations in A1 size and fram - ipation is not a form of “clicktivism” — self-sufficient on - ing them as I go. They’re pictures in their own right, so line activism: “We do not consider ourselves to be ‘online activists’... We are first and foremost trade unionists... Our it may be the case that as the project develops it turns campaigns, all of them, are designed... to strengthen that into something other than a book — perhaps a travel - movement” and its ability to win offline. ling exhibition of illustrations, for example. The ActNOW model is based around a centralised con - The themes I’ve chosen to illustrate have developed trol of the campaigns, which ensures that subscribers re - as I’ve progressed. The key concepts and chapter head - ceive a limited amount of email about genuine disputes. ings, such as commodities and surplus value, are cov - But it is also problematic in two respects. It does not allow ered, but less obvious concepts are dealt with too. The for participants to make direct links with the workers in - idea isn’t to lecture or patronise people but to contex - volved in disputes as more interactive forms of online in - tualise some of Marx’s key ideas. Capital can be difficult volvement through social media do — though this has to read on one’s own; it’s better read as part of a group, proved possible by other means. LabourStart has tried to rectify this through the launch of a “safe” alternative to and I’m hoping the illustrations can provide some of Facebook, Unionbook, but only a very small proportion of the same context that discussing the book with other its email subscribers have become involved. people entails. More controversially, it allows LabourStart to filter which I worked in advertising for 30 years. It’s a horrible campaigns get taken up and to impose a rule that only industry, capital’s champion, but it succeeds in getting those with the support of an official union organisation will people’s attention and making them look at things. We be accepted. This excludes wildcat or rank and file led dis - can learn from that. putes as well as those where the workers involved are in Ultimately I see this project about getting back to conflict with their union officialdom or structures. Capital , and back to Marx. Because of a whole series of The book aims to inspire both through accounts of historical developments, most especially Stalinism, LabourStart’s campaigns and the struggles they support and to educate about the potential and limitations of online what’s understood as “Marxism” has had a lot of neg - campaigning. ative baggage piled onto it. It concludes with seven things readers should do, not I see my project as a contribution to the attempt LabourStart’s ActNOW campaign was crucial to building to get rid of some of that baggage and take people solidarity with jailed Bahrainian teacher unionist Jalila al- the least of which is signing up for all the current cam - Salman paigns at LabourStart’s website. back to the real ideas of Marx and Marxism. FEATURE

Songs of Liberty & Rebellion

Janine Booth is a mem - ber of the Rail, Mar - itime, and Transport workers union (RMT) Executive and a mem - nating Marx ber of Workers’ Lib - erty. She has written and performed poetry for many years. She wrote this piece in re - sponse to the death of Robert Ford’s Captilicus Margaret Thatcher. Religicus Magica project is a pastiche of medieval Respect for the dead

illuminated manuscripts, Today I mourn the passing of those who deserve our tears which aims to literally The many many victims of Margaret Thatcher’s years “illuminate” the key The teenage generation, hopes destroyed without a care Like jobless Sean and Raffy*, who ended lives filled with concepts in Marx’s seminal despair Derelict inner cities where hopelessness was rife work. Miners who lost their jobs, their communities and some The artist, who is set to their life take over curation of The millions who rely on a battered welfare state The victims of the queerbashers emboldened by Section 28 Conway Hall’s exhibition The families of the 96, the contempt she showed for fans space, says he wants the The crew of the General Belgrano, bereaved families in both lands project to lead people back Part of me’s not partying to mark that Thatcher’s dead to Marx and his writing, But wishing we were toasting the death of Thatcherism in - stead and help unburden I wish that she had lived to see her side of the class war Marxism from the negative lose To see our side victorious, as reds strike out the blues baggage heaped on it by I wish she’d lived to see our sleeping giant wake Stalinism. A mighty army rise up, a better world to make Cast off the legal shackles, forsake the ball and chain The text accompanying The “socialism” word she thought she’d killed back on our the illuminations is written lips again in rhyme. Two other details Labour leaders squandered 13 years to right her wrongs And now join in the mourning and the requiem of songs are included below. Remember you’ll get up with fleas if you lie down with curs For more information, see I wish our class was led as loyally as she led hers! the artist’s website: So you won’t see me mourning now that Thatcher’s dead eyeingthebeast. and gone The thing to really celebrate is that our struggle soldiers on bigcartel.com I’ll shed no tears for Maggie, and may even raise a glass As a Shrewsbury picket might have said, “Respect for the dead? My arse”

* Sean Grant and Graeme “Raffy” Rathbone, whose suicide became symbolic of youth unemployment and despair, with “Sean and Raffy RIP” graffiti appearing around the country.

Follow Janine on Twitter: @JanineBooth 8 LEFT Building a British Syriza?

“against austerity”. Q: The LU project looks like “unity for splitters”, in that JJ: The left should be a rich place ideologically. It’s true that many of those involved are people who’ve split from the we often dumb ourselves down to lowest-common-denomi - Green Party, or Workers’ Power, or Respect, or the SWP, or nators. whatever, and want something big and quick to replace I favour a looser idea of democracy. A “winner-takes-all” their old group... approach, where anyone who disagrees with a decision after JJ: We’re all splitters on the left! It’s true that some people it’s been taken has to shut up and lump it, isn’t helpful. who leave groups are simply people who find it difficult to Most people who are to the left of Labour in this country be in organisations. Some of those people are coming to - are not members of organisations. One of the key issues we wards Left Unity, and maybe if it’s successful then in three face is how to empower those people. years’ time they won’t be involved any more... The left organisations, the Trotskyist organisations, don’t But if that’s a characteristic of the left as a whole, we’re have a monopoly and their models are not the only way the probably doomed. In general I think we can get on with each Jim Jepps left has to be. In order to have a richer political environment, other if we develop a better culture, and get rid of that “win - we have to have spaces for other people to breathe. ner-takes-all” attitude. Jim Jepps is the Camden organiser for the Left Unity ini - In previous unity projects, independent people have felt I don’t think the people who’ve left the SWP are just look - tiative launched by Andrew Burgin and Kate Hudson and like they’re a stage army for the existing groups. ing for an SWP mark 2. There’ve been floods of new ideas in backed by Ken Loach. Jim is a former member of the SWP and around the International Socialist Network. and then of the Green Party, which he left recently. He Q: But there are limits. If a left movement or party which spoke to Martin Thomas of Solidarity about the initiative. prides itself on being easy-going gets representatives Q: Over the last ten years there have been about eight dif - Syriza shows that radical leftist politics don’t have to be elected to offices in trade unions or in local government, ferent unity projects which have failed. What’s different fringe politics. People will vote for left politics, if they’re those representatives can say “this is an easy-going organ - with this one? done in the right way. That means being inclusive, and isation, you’re not going to tell me what to do with this of - JJ: Those projects didn’t all fail for the same reason. The So - to some extent being populist. fice, I’ll do it my way”... cialist Labour Party was very different from the Socialist Al - JJ: The Red Green Alliance in Denmark has an interesting liance, and Respect was a very different kind of organisation Obviously, Rifondazione, Die Linke, Front de Gauche, model, where they have a very permissive culture at the bot - again. The left collectively made very different mistakes with Syriza all involved having had a mass Communist Party in tom and a very strict one at the top. All their governmental each of them. those countries, and drawing on those traditions, the person - representatives are expected to vote in line with agreed pol - There’s a tendency to blame the SWP, which is understand - nel, and sometimes the infrastructure. We’ve never had that icy. I’m for slightly greater permissiveness even at the top. able, but it lets everyone else off the hook. We could all have here, so our route to a broader, pluralist left party has to be I’d want to see maybe six policies that are absolute bottom done better in the Socialist Alliance. I think the fatal blow was different. But I don’t think British people are particularly dif - lines, where you’d say to an MP “we don’t care what you struck when the Socialist Party found a reason to leave, and ferent from German or French people. think personally, this is how you vote on this issue”, and just their absence left no counterbalance to the SWP. be looser on everything else. It’s too early to say what kind of organisation Left Unity Q: We would welcome a British equivalent of Syriza, The RGA commits its MPs to voting a particular way on will become. We’re hoping it won’t look like any of those ini - though we don’t see one emerging any time soon. But any - everything in its manifesto, which I think risks alienating tiatives. But each of them had successes. way, without waiting, we in AWL try build a left organisa - some people who might be uncomfortable with certain as - The Convention of the Left was commendable in its mod - tion that can do the job of DEA or Kokkino in Syriza. That’s pects of policy. esty, in just setting out to get everyone in a room talking to necessary whatever happens. The leadership of Syriza has each other, but if you remain amorphous and ambiguous for been pulled into the centre. Q: What are your realistic hopes for the new Left Unity too long, there’s no reason to continue. You end up being so JJ: Any left regroupment has to be as broad and inclusive initiative? worried about taking controversial decisions or doing things as possible. We have to find ways of working together, in JJ: I’m a pessimist at heart, from experience of previous that not everyone agrees with, you end up doing nothing. particular where we have tactical disagreements. That does - projects in this country. But what I like about Left Unity is Left Unity has the most to learn from the Convention of n’t mean there shouldn’t be red lines. If there was a war like that it’s said “let’s start a discussion”. It hasn’t launched a the Left in terms of that modesty, but we have to nail things Iraq, for example, it’d be very difficult to see how you’d ac - new party, it hasn’t said “here are our big names, come and down and move on more quickly. Our Left Unity group in Camden is planning to cam - commodate people who supported that war. be their follower”, it’s just said that we need a discussion on paign against the “bedroom tax”. We’ll do a showing of building a new left-wing organisation in this country. Spirit of ‘45 , set up an email list, hold more meetings, Q: We favour an arrangement where we can unite in ac - We’ve had 8,000 people sign up to be part of this. That continue to talk to each other and learn from each other. tion where we agree, and debate where we disagree. We ad - shows the potential. vocate local left forums in which the left debates its I’m not sure where it’ll go. By the end of the year we’ll have differences openly and does enough in unity to be a visible a much clearer idea. • Left Unity: http://leftunity.org force, socialist, aligned to the working class, and not just

Ideas for Freedom 2013 is a weekend of workshops, talks, debates, film-showings, and other activities which will promote and discuss socialist ideas. Speakers and sessions include: John McDonnell MP : Edd Mustill on Clay Cross’s rebel council : Martin Thomas on Antonio Gramsci : Esther Townsend on Marxism and feminism : Scott Lash on “What happened to the working-class?” : Cathy Nugent on “Lenin or Leninism?”

Other activities include a walking tour of radical East London history with David Rosenberg (20 June) and a social fundraising event for the “3 Cosas” campaign on Saturday night.

Tickets bought before 20 April are £26 waged, £17 low-waged/students, £6 unwaged/school or college students. Ticket price includes food for the weekend.

Find out more and book online at www.workersliberty.org/ideas Free creche and crash accommodation. 9 FEATURE Grim realities in Syria Mark Osborn replies to Pham Binh’s polemic against the down by machine gun fire and took up arms to defend them - AWL position on Syria ( Solidarity 281, 10 April 2013, orig - selves.” In fact the militias in Syria today largely were super - inally published on northstar.info). imposed on the democratic movement rather than an organic product out of it. The armed groups are certainly not con - “My country is being destroyed. The regime is killing us, trolled by the mass movement — they have their own com - many of the opposition fighters are becoming criminals mand structures, funding, programmes. and the world is watching it like a film.” Ahmad, from Deir On 23 November 2011, we wrote in Solidarity : “The Syrian ez-Zor ( Economist , 23 February 2013) demonstrators not only have a right to defend themselves Pham Binh argues: The AWL misunderstands the nature from state violence, they are right to do so. It makes no sense of the Syrian opposition because, firstly, we ignore the con - that innocent protesters offer themselves up, week after tinuing secular, peaceful mass demonstrations and, secondly, week, as martyrs to be mown down by the state’s thugs.” But that we overestimate the degree of influence Islamists have in that was a year and a half ago, when the movement had a the opposition movement. Binh argues that there have been different character, and the meaning of “Victory to the oppo - relatively few instances of sectarianism among opposition - sition” (the article’s title) was different. We wrote, “The basic ists; liberated areas are not Islamist tyrannies; we misunder - feature of the movement in the country, now, is positive and stand the difference between people who are Muslims and democratic. It is organised by networks of activists and local people who are Islamists. He sums up that the “AWL’s con - co-ordinating committees.” But even in 2011 we noted, “The clusion that it can support neither side in Syria’s civil war FSA states it is non-sectarian and is simply in favour of free - proceeds from the assumption that both sides are equally re - dom. [But] the Free Syrian Army has its own command struc - actionary… that the choice between Assad’s tyranny and Is - ture, and the attacks it is launching against regime targets lamist tyranny is no choice at all.” […] are probably independent of the local committees, al - Despite the fact that Pham Binh’s article is an honest at - though some army deserters have clearly been involved in tempt to engage in a debate on an important question, his ar - local self-defence.” gument has serious problems in two main respects. First, And I do not recognise Binh’s description of rebel-con - because he is complacent about Islamism (and ethnic sectar - trolled areas. Happily Binh tells us that the Islamist judicial ianism) in Syria. Second because he ignores a big part of our bodies that have “sprung up” across the country have not case which has nothing to do with Islamists (directly), but Mark Osborn argues that sectarian militias, rather than mass acted in a sectarian manner; liberated areas are governed which concerns the Marxist attitude to the state and relates democratic protests, are now the key element in the anti-Assad “fairly effectively by a mix of secular and Islamist elements.” directly to what we’ve said in the past about the use of slo - movement. I would suggest that claims that salafi and jihadi sharia courts gans (for example about the slogan “Troops Out Now” in Ire - are not acting in a sectarian way are — at the mildest — un - land and Iraq). The militias might have some real or nominal allegiance to likely. The three key points in the AWL NC resolution quoted by the various outside sponsors, but have wide discretion them - Binh are: given the fragmented and increasingly religiously selves. Alliances inside the country are continually shifting. CHAOS radical nature of the opposition a victory for the rebels will They are certainly not led by the latest exterior political front, There is a substantial amount of chaos already in the lead to ethnic cleansing, chaos and warlordism; that if the op - effectively dominated by the Muslim Brothers, the Syrian Na - country. Four million have no telephones, water, food or position are able to overrun the Baathist state conditions tional Coalition. fuel. Two million are internally displaced. Thousands of (both for the welfare of ordinary Syrians and for the possi - The point here is not that Islamists have control of the op - factories, roads, schools, hospitals have been destroyed. position movement (although their influence is very worry - bility of progressive struggle) will be made worse, and so we Many of the middle class professionals have fled the coun - ing, substantial, and increasing), but that no one has control should avoid slogans which lead to this; as a consequence we try. The death rate is increasing (the equivalent number of of the movement. There is no oppositional force, good or bad, would not necessarily denounce a deal between Baathists killings in the UK, over the two year period of the uprising currently capable of replacing the existing state and keeping and oppositionists which we believe might avoid the collapse would be over 190,000). The working class has, essentially, the country — more or less — together. In fact Binh doesn’t of Syrian society into chaos. Given this I would not accept been destroyed, with regular work only existing in pockets of attempt to argue how the current opposition could get from Binh’s summary of our position. regime controlled territory, and provided to regime loyalists where it is now, to form a democratic state. to maintain that loyalty; these are not good conditions to STATE The opposition fighters continue to make gains in the north build a democracy, even assuming that those with power in - It might be worth amplifying the point about the state. In and north east. However the most significant and new fact is tend that. the 1980s, for example, we rejected the use of “Troops the rebel gains made in the south of the country. This, I think, For example, a new report — whose authors include the Out” without a political settlement for the north of Ire - is the beginning of the battle for Damascus. Josh Landis, the UK’s Department for International Development — details land. US academic, speaking on 7 April 2013 on Al-Jazeera, argues conditions in Aleppo, which has been an open battleground that Damascus will probably be destroyed in the same way We had come to see the demand as irresponsible, not be - since July 2012. The survey is an analysis of 52 neighbour - Aleppo has been, and as the military is pushed out the Alaw - cause we thought the British state had a progressive role, but hoods (from 125 in the city). ites will fall back, in disarray, to their village heartlands on because if the central part of the apparatus keeping the lid The report on Aleppo states that 10,800 people have been the coast. If the Alawites lose there — which they will — they on the conflict abdicated, the way would be clear to a major killed, 4,500 people are missing, 511,900 people are internally will not stick around to find out if the rebel militias, which escalation of inter-communal conflict. Divisions in the work - displaced, one million people have left. The education sys - have not been taking prisoners, will be kind to them. Landis ing class would deepen, thousands more would die, Ireland tem has collapsed; 26 of the 52 areas have not had electricity says the three million Alawites will run away, to Lebanon would be repartitioned. Since that would be a big step back - for six months; only four out of the city’s seven hospitals are (where they may well spark a new civil war). He likens their wards, why would we choose to raise a demand that would functioning; 2.2 million people are in danger of not having likely fate to that of the similar number of Christians killed or lead to it? enough to eat; 240,000 do not have enough access to water. driven out of Turkey during World War 1. Although the British state was brutal in Northern Ireland, Factories have been stripped, either by owners, or militias We might add that other groups — and certainly the Kurds its withdrawal without agreement between the two antago - (some of whom died fighting each other over the spoils). whose freedom is opposed by pretty much every other oppo - nistic communities would make matters worse, not better. In There is no work outside the militarised structures. Basic sition group — face repression too. It is already happening. Syria we should understand that although things are very food and fuel are rare or impossibly expensive. Because the There have been battles between PKK Kurdish groups and bad (from a humanitarian point of view, and for the possi - UN relief operations work with the government’s permis - both Islamists and more secular rebel groups. The most re - bility of democracy, women’s rights, etc.) they could get sion, aid goes to areas under regime control. Opposition cent fighting has been widespread in Ras al-Ayn on the much, much worse. In a particular Syrian town, at a particu - areas are often subjected to indiscriminate regime bombing. northern border. lar moment, socialists might well favour the victory of the The BBC adds to the picture (17 January 2013): “It is widely If the struggle develops in this way — and it is not clear local militia against Assad’s army. But “victory for the Syrian believed in Aleppo that the bread shortage was caused by what will stop it — Syrian society will collapse. And it will opposition” as a general slogan now has a real meaning that the FSA stealing flour to sell elsewhere. An FSA officer con - collapse in many different ways — certainly economically would take the struggle for freedom back, not forwards. firmed as much… None of the FSA brigades — all accusing and socially. It will probably also be invaded, by Turkey in To understand why, we need to look at the conditions on each other of looting — trusted anyone else. the north, from Jordan (buffer zones to keep chaos away from the ground. So where are we now? “Now the shopkeepers, farmers and small businessmen of these states are already being planned) and possibly by Is - There are probably 1,000 armed militias operating in Syria the countryside are in charge in large parts of the city. rael too. today. These militias have no overarching command struc - “‘Free Aleppo’ has eight-hour bread queues, power cuts, This is what an opposition victory means right now, con - ture, or anything like one. They are funded by a great many children scavenging for rubbish to burn and trees in the cretely. outside groups and governments. Large weapons shipments parks all cut down for firewood.” Part of the problem with Binh’s analysis is the relationship from Qatar are now going through Turkey and from Saudi he sees between the militias and the previously existing mass via Jordan. The US has a programme to train their own FSA movement: “The demonstrators grew tired of being cut Continued on page 10 group underway in northern Jordan. 10 FEATURE

Continued from page 9 people do not have a culture of religious extremism — do not the way the struggle is being played out, the people voting welcome the imposition of religious law,” Observatory di - against Islamism are not the people who will decide. The de - The BBC also report large numbers of people being “ar - rector Rami Abdel Rahman said. (Reported by Middle-East cisions will be made by those that control the guns. rested” — in reality abducted for ransom — often dressed up online 13 March 2013). Binh makes a big fuss about the AWL’s supposed confu - in political language by the militia responsible. 5. An interesting report recently released is an analysis of sion between Islam and Islamism. I don’t think we have Part of the appeal of some of the harder-line Islamists is the attitudes of Alawites in the Homs area (“The Alawite given any reason to suppose we confuse the two. Our NC that they are seen as more honest. The FSA-affiliated North - Dilemma”, Aziz Nakkash, March 13). In April 2011 one motion says we oppose all manifestation of Islamism, not all ern Farouq brigade, recently in serious conflict with Al-Nusra young Alawite man said he joined a large demonstration manifestations of Islam. Front, the local al-Qaeda affiliate, apparently traffics cement, against the regime in the main square. He remembers that on Binh says that exclaiming “God is great” in response to fuel and even drugs. this occasion, the “secret service people were brutal with the fighter planes bombing Aleppo university is simply the Obviously the situation in the liberated areas has an im - demonstrators. And that same night, they started shooting equivalent of our “God help us!” watching the planes hit the pact on activists and their organisations. For example, the op - at people”. Soon afterwards, he remembers hearing loud ap - Twin Towers. That might even be true, but there’s a little positionist writer Hajj-Saleh, who is in hiding in Damascus, peals to jihad coming from the minarets of mosques — which polemical sleight-of-hand here, and especially writing “God” offers a bleak assessment of the local structures (March 2013): to Alawites meant a holy war against them. He says, “Sud - in English, because I don’t agree that the militia fighters’ “Conditions in the society of the revolution […are not] prom - denly I became scared and I changed my mind, as I realized shouts of “Allahu Akbar,” or calls made from Sunni mosques ising. [There are] widespread signs of dissolution, damage to that what was happening was no longer a revolution”. for jihad, are more-or-less meaningless, or are consequence- social ties, the spread of violence and use of violence to set - free (even if some of those chanting don’t understand these tle diverse scores or for private profit. The forms of self-or - calls as being politically loaded). To understand the point, ganisation do not meet needs in most areas, as the elements CHRISTIANS imagine living in a Christian village and hearing the fight - of dissolution, fragmentation, and selfishness are more pres - 6. Of the 80,000 Christians in Homs almost all have left, ers’ calls from the outskirts. ent and influential than those of healing, cooperation, and some apparently after a door-to-door campaign by Is - Binh says such shouts are a sign of resistance and defiance. joint action.” lamists. No doubt. But in the name of what, since the resistance is not Now of course the gross, systematic sectarian outrages and 7. The UNHCR conclude (November 12) that the “conflict just negative? war crimes committed by the regime have not been simply has become overtly sectarian in nature.” Binh notes that “mosques and Friday prayers have been ir - mirrored by the opposition. That is true. And Binh assures “The Commission has received credible reports of anti- replaceable vehicles for mobilising the masses.” Irreplace - us there have been no massacres carried out by the opposi - Government armed groups attacking Alawites and other able? Really? And again, these places are used to organise tion. Which is not quite true and not equivalent to saying the pro-Government minority communities. One interviewee, an against our enemy — but not necessarily in the way that we opposition is not sectarian. Take a small number of recent ex - FSA fighter in Latakia, detailed how, upon capturing Gov - would positively choose. Honestly, has the left learnt nothing amples: ernment forces, the Sunni captives were imprisoned while from Khomeini and Iran? In Iran in 1978 the mosques were 1. HRW reports (23 January 2013): “Armed opposition Alawites were immediately executed. On 30 October, a bomb important organising centres against the Shah but left their group destroyed a Shia place of worship in Idlib governorate, exploded near an important Shia shrine outside of Damas - positive and reactionary print on the political shape of the and two Christian churches in Latakia governorate were cus, killing and injuring several people. On 6 November, a opposition. Khomeini reassured us that he was for women’s looted.” And, “a dozen extrajudicial and summary execu - car bomb exploded in the Alawite neighbourhood of Hai al- rights and democracy, and he lied. Our job is not to take the tions [were carried out] by opposition forces and [there is] Wuroud in the north-west of Damascus, reportedly killing Islamists’ word for their reasonable intentions but to learn torture and mistreatment in opposition-run detention facili - ten people.” The report suggests that communities are re - from history, to agitate, and to warn. ties.” (13 November 2012 and 17 September 2012). treating into communal organisations. So when Binh writes that there are two phases of the Syr - 2. CNN interviewed Abu Mariam (15 March 2013), a for - This process should be familiar to anyone who has looked ian revolution, one where we side with all the opposition to mer political prisoner and now an activist in Aleppo. He was — for example — at the break-up of Yugoslavia. In such cir - Assad, and a second where the opposition will divide over flogged by an Islamist militia for “crimes against Islam” and, cumstances the reasonable, secular or cosmopolitan-minded women, minorities and democracy, he’s wrong in several re - later, hospitalised by another armed group when he tried to majority are marginalised. The political pace is set by the spects. Firstly, because the battle over democratic rights is stop them robbing a neighbourhood shop. communalists and bigots, and once begun the mass of peo - going on now — it is something for us to take sides on now, 3. A video (see Syria Comment site) shows a victim of a ple, feeling they have no choice, fall back to their communi - not in the future. Secondly, because he says the division will Sharia court in Raqqa. He has been horribly beaten for — es - ties for safety. Communalism is strengthened and a put us on the same side as the Muslim Brothers (who favour sentially — having the wrong girlfriend. The Washington poisonous retreat begins strengthening mean, narrow ethnic- elections) against the more extreme jihadis and salafists. The Times (4 April 13) reports a ruling from a salafi cleric, Sheikh sectarian and religious identity at the expense of more ra - idea of the Brothers acting as a force for democracy can be Yasir al-Ajlawni, that it is legitimate for those fighting for an tional social relations. dismissed quickly by anyone honestly looking at Hamas’s Islamic state in Syria to rape non-Muslim women. Binh assures us that, on demonstrations, calls for a behaviour in Gaza where they have built a one-party, reli - 4. The Syrian Human Rights Observatory reported in Caliphate are “not terribly popular,” and Islamist slogans for gious state which is intolerant of women’s rights, all mani - March: “For the third day in a row, protests erupted in the weekly Friday protests are regularly defeated by thou - festations of criticism and self-organisation, unions, Mayadeen [rebel-held town in eastern Syria] calling on the opposition political parties and other religions. sands of votes. This is good if true as stated. Our knowledge The situation now in Syria is grim. We can’t escape that Al-Nusra Front to leave the town.” The Islamists had set up is limited, and restricted to English language sources. And a sharia court and religious police force. “The protests are an reality by imagining conditions and the opposition polit - no one would argue that the opposition is one reactionary ical forces are better than they really are. important indicator that people in eastern Syria — where mass — far from it. But, again, the problem in Syria is that, North Korea: British left struggles to cope

So let’s call upon Fidel Castro to back me up. struction of socialism, a project which they are not remotely According to the Morning Star , the former Cuban dictator interested in. Whatever it is that they are building with the Eric Lee urged “North Korea to restrain itself for the good of help of hundreds of thousands of slave labourers, it is most mankind.” Castro also reportedly said that a war could affect certainly not socialism. “more than 70 per cent” of the world's population and said It’s not surprising that the Morning Star has mixed feelings Socialist Worker last week re - the current flare-up was the “one of the gravest risks of nu - about North Korea — after all, it inherits the Stalinist legacy ported on the escalation of clear war,” since the 1962 Cuban missile crisis — a subject on of full support for any country, no matter how dictatorial and tensions on the Korean penin - which he is considered something of an authority. (He did ruthless, so long as it confronts “imperialism”. sula — but in topsy-turvy allow the Soviet Union to place ballistic missiles with nuclear Why Britain’s largest trade union, Unite, continues to world of the fast-decaying weapons on Cuban soil.) bankroll this awful newspaper is beyond belief. But it may SWP, it denounced “imperial - perhaps have something to do with the fact that the union’s ist war-mongering against chief of staff has been a leading figure in the British CP for North Korea” which “threat - STALINISTS some time and a decade ago publicly expressed his full sup - ened to bring the region to the brink of nuclear war.” The Stalinists at the Morning Star may be slightly more port for the North Korean regime, saying “Our Party has al - Allow me to make one or two small corrections. clued in than the ex-Trotskyists at Socialist Worker (there ready made its basic position of solidarity with Peoples First, it is not “the region” alone which faces the risk of nu - is something ironic in that) but they’re not entirely living Korea clear.” clear war. North Korea's Taepodong-2 ballistic missiles have on the same planet as the rest of us either. Socialist Worker and the Morning Star are struggling with a reported range of 6,000 km. That puts Alaska, the northern In their one editorial so far on the subject, the only criti - the Korean crisis, but for socialists it is actually not very com - bits of Australia, the entire Pacific ocean, all of China, most of cism they make of North Korea is that “the Kim dynasty in plicated. Russia and the Indian sub-continent all within range. Pyongyang recently rewrote the Marxist maxim that the It could be summed up in just six words — “no to war, no Second (and how shall I put this delicately?), comrades, the working class plays the leading role in the construction of so - to dictatorship”. North Korean regime, peace-loving though I am certain you cialism to ascribe this role to the armed forces”. No to war — meaning that North Korea must cease its believe it to be, is not entirely innocent here. Perhaps in some That’s an odd sentence in so many ways, not least of which threats and return to negotiations based on UN resolutions. tiny way, it might be responsible for at least some of the ten - And no to dictatorship — meaning, down with the Kim is the assumption that the totalitarian rulers of North Korea regime, and for a united, democratic and socialist Korea. sions. know or care about who plays “the leading role” in the con - Of course I don’t expect the SWP to take my word for this. 11 REPORTS 3 Cosas workers: right to leave Unison?

Solidarity 281 (10 April It was inconceivable that workers have only ever three months’ delay for the 2013) carried an interview a re-run election could had the support of a hand - campaign. Alternatively, with a worker involved in have had any other result ful of directly-employed switching over to IWGB the “3 Cosas” campaign at than a victory to the clean - staff (likely the same hand - (nearly 10% of Senate the University of London, ers and their supporters ful that will join the IWGB). House branch has already who explained their deci - within the branch. Furthermore the workers signed membership forms sion to quit Unison and Within the IWGB, the have never really had the this week) allows the work - join the Industrial Work - cleaners will now have to support of their branch ers to focus on their cam - ers of Great Britain begin a new struggle for leadership. Despite this paign. Just a few days ago (IWGB). Their decision union recognition just to be they won a London Living they held a protest which has caused some debate in able to negotiate. Wage campaign, their em - had a huge turnout (esti - the wider labour move - While Balfour Beatty ployer offered a voluntary mated at 80 people), decent ment. We print two contri - may eventually recognise Can independent unions like the IWGB help workers organise? recognition agreement, media coverage, and a butions originally posted IWGB for pragmatic rea - they won £6,000 in overdue strong showing of support on the AWL website. sons, the IWGB will have wages through unofficial from their new union. pretty much negligible in - have far less influence action, and the “3 Cosas” I believe Balfour Beatty While it is perfectly un - another election would fluence on the University than they used to. campaign they run has re - will recognise IWGB and derstandable why our have been an electoral vic - of London management, ceived support from stu - the workers will win their colleagues have left Uni - Simon D tory for the outsourced will have little chance of re - I agree that the responsi - dent unions, politicians, campaign. The strength of son, and the responsibil - workers and their candi - cruiting more than a hand - bility for the situation lies and trade unionists the Senate House branch ity for this lies entirely dates. Unison has made ful of university staff to with Senate House throughout the country as was due to tireless commit - with the branch and re - clear its determination to their union, and will leave branch leadership and well as substantial media ment, dedication, and gional leadership of Uni - not allow the outsourced the Unison branch in the unelected officials at the coverage. Imagine what courage of the outsourced son, this is a massive workers and their allies to hands of people who have Greater London region they can achieve with a workers. These same work - defeat for both the Sen - take over the branch no interest in standing up office. union that supports them. ers will bring these same ate House Unison through democratic means, for the rights of outsourced In terms of the campaign attributes to the IWGB. branch, and for the And I agree this decision and I strongly believe they And instead of Unison cleaning staff. being delayed, ironically cleaners. is a major defeat for Senate would have used other disowning their protests As a secondary issue, the this is one of the many rea - House branch and will methods to prevent this or negotiating their terms The reason that the re - Unison branch itself will sons the workers — in a weaken the branch. How - happening in an additional and conditions behind gion went to such lengths now be significantly weak - democratic assembly - de - ever, I do not agree that it election. their backs, their new in the first place was pre - ened. cided to leave Unison. Both the outsourced is a defeat for the cleaners With all due respect to union will support them cisely because they realised Three more months in - cleaning staff and the in- and other outsourced our comrades who are di - and their initiatives. that they had lost any influ - vested in fighting Unison's house employees will workers. Nor do I agree rectly employed by the uni - ence on the branch. that the inevitable result of versity, the outsourced dictatorial bureaucracy is Jason Moyer-Lee Fringe meeting at Unison Health conference, McCluskey wins Unite election Glasgow — Monday 22 April, 5.30pm at the

By Darren Bedford GS election (where it was was 101,000. Campanile Hotel (opposite conference venue) 15.8%). In that election, the Workers’ Liberty mem - Len McCluskey was re- opposition vote was split bers in Unite are involved elected at General Secre - three ways between Hicks in the United Left network, Speakers include Anita Downs, nurse at Lewisham Hospital tary of Unite, with a 64% and two right-wing chal - and backed McCluskey as share of the vote. lengers to McCluskey (Les UL’s agreed candidate and Organised by the Healthworker bulletin McCluskey won 144,570 Bayliss and Gail Cartmail). because we did not feel to rival Jerry Hicks’s 79,819. Hicks’s vote in that election Hicks’s candidacy offered The turnout was 15.2%, was 52,000, while Mc - any credible alternative to Cluskey’s winning score the McCluskey leadership. lower than the union’s last Following the election the task is to build rank- Justice for and-file strength in work - More industrial news online places and branches and make sure McCluskey the 33! • Post Office strikes — bit.ly/XCfBp3 delivers on his promises Workers and supporters to back industrial action demonstrated outside and to deliver a more Transport for London’s • BBC strikes — bit.ly/ZstvIl combative political strat - headquarters on Monday 15 egy inside the Labour April to demand jobs for 33 Party. sacked agency workers. The workers, some of whom had been working for London Underground for five Drop the charges against Max and Steve! years, lost their jobs when their employer (railway By Ollie Moore are now back at work, London Met’s ongoing at - industry agency Trainpeople) Steve and Max are still fac - tempt to undermine union did not have its contract A recent campaign ing “serious misconduct” organisation in the work - renewed. forced bosses at London charges for their role in place. Their union, RMT, has been Supporters will lobby Met University to rescind appointing Jawad to his conducting a campaign university management the suspensions of three job in 2007. involving demonstrations on 17 April at 1pm. For workers, Jawad Botmeh, The campaign believes and petitioning to demand more info see Steve Jefferys, and Max Steve and Max have no that these workers are given stopthewitchhunt. Watson. case to answer, and are jobs. wordpress.com But although all three being victimised as part of Thatcher S& oWolrkiedrs’a Libreritty y destroyed lives

Workers’ Liberty activists in a sense you can feel Karen Waddington and compassion. But Thatcher Jean Lane appeared on was a public figure whose the BBC’s Big Question decision affected millions debate programme on of working-class people, Sunday 14 April, dis - and whose policies are cussing Thatcher’s death. still causing suffering Karen and Jean were in - today. People were cele - volved in Women brating the death of Against Pit Closures and Thatcher because they other class-struggle activ - saw it as one step along ity during Thatcher’s the way to getting rid of a government. The poet system that destroy peo - Benjamin Zephaniah also ple’s lives, that turns appeared on the show. young people’s lives to Nothing changed for me desolation. That’s what the day Thatcher died. she did, and that’s what My local authority is still the policies are still doing. suffering from cuts, and Jean Lane people in my village are There’s an element of still suffering from the hypocrisy here. Our devastation caused by news cameras go to Thatcher’s pit closures. other countries and film Cameron is still carry - people celebrating the ing on her policies. Before deaths of their leaders, 2010, my village had and it’s just seen as a funds available for repairs spectacle. and improvements. When People say “Thatcher’s Hong Kong Cameron was elected, that dead, and we should re - money was cut. Karen Waddington spect her”. But she didn’t respect us when we were I think the celebrations dying. we’ve seen over the I couldn’t walk the past week have been streets of London or Birm - dockers strike quite muted. ingham when Thatcher If she’d died a few was around. Her “sus By Ira Berkovic to the official Federation of gotiations. strike fund. years ago, closer to the laws”, a law of suspicion, were used to stop black Trade Unions and the Fed - The strike is causing daily The Hong Kong Interna - events of the miners’ people. I remember being A strike of 500 dock work - eration of Hong Kong and losses of $500,000, as well as tional Terminals are owned strike, we’d have seen a stopped four times in one ers in Hong Kong has en - Kowloon Labour Unions, 60-hour delays to ships. lot more. When you look by Li Ka-shing, a billionaire night. tered its third week. The both of which have links to 120,000 containers are cur - at what she did to work - who controls more than When people died at workers are demanding a the state-run labour fronts rently sitting untouched in ing-class people, to trade 70% of Hong Kong’s port Hillsborough, Thatcher pay rise of between 17 in mainland China and the terminal. Gerry Yim, a unions, to women — she container traffic. According knew the police were cor - and 24%, with the bosses’ whose members are not in - managing director at Hong destroyed the lives of to Forbes he is the eighth rupt and lying, and she offer currently at 7%. volved in the current strike. Kong International Termi - working-class people. I richest man in the world. haven’t been out dancing colluded in the cover-up. The strikers also want The dockworkers’ organisa - nals, said the company had Workers face 12-hour in the street but I under - Her biggest legacy, as their union, the Hong Kong tion is linked to the Hong “lost [its] reputation in the shifts (sometimes with no stand why people would. stated by her supporters, Dockworkers Union, to be Kong Confederation of international shipping busi - toilet breaks) and wages Thatcher has died, but was privatisation. If we recognised. In the latest Trade Unions (HKCTU). As ness” because of the strike. that have been frozen for Thatcherism is still with really want to honour her, round of negotiations, Solidarity went to press, Local supporters provide fifteen years in one of the us. When anyone dies, why don’t we privatise bosses at the Everbest Port dockers and their support - food for the strikers and world’s most expensive their immediate family is her funeral? Services and Global Steve - ers were holding a sit-down have so far raised more cities. bound to feel sadness and Benjamin Zephaniah doring Service spoke only protest outside the latest ne - than $1 million for the A police state?

John Stalker, former police force was going to Deputy Chief Constable keep the miners and pick - of Greater Manchester, ets under control. It was wrote in the Mirror of 14 all about showing who April that “Britain has was boss... never been closer to be - “One official guideline Save A&E services at Ealing, coming a police state said it was ‘perfectly in than when Margaret order’ for miners in Kent Central Middlesex, Thatcher was in charge”. to be prevented from trav - Stalker writes: “She elling to Yorkshire if they Hammersmith, and Charing turned the police into a were likely to cause disor - paramilitary force and put der — a 300-mile exclusion zone. Cross Hospitals us on to a war footing... “This was a militaristic “That was never more operation wrapped up in clear than during the min - jargon to make it look March/rally on 27 April. Meet Southall Park ers’ strike in 1984 when I like policing... To Mar - believe Margaret Thatcher (11.30am) or Acton Park (12.30pm). Rally at garet Thatcher the min - took Britain to the brink of ers’ strike was a war”. Ealing Common (2pm) becoming a police state. “She decided that ‘her’ • bit.ly/polstate