NO. 9 • JANUARY 2017 • PRICE £1.00 • REDFLAGONLINE.ORG

FEATURE You are being lied to about immigration PAGES 4&5

THEREDFLAPAGE 3 G

NHS primed for : where next? PAGES 6&7 FRACKING privatisation RISK FOR HALF OF UK

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leaked and some published. unflled with trainee numbers Hinchingbrooke Hospital, it had to BY DARA O’COGHAIDHIN • Leicester, Leicestershire & Rut- down 17 per cent cut over four withdraw from a 10-year contract land region will close one of three years. Tis will get worse when bur- due to patient neglect and inade- acute hospitals saries are scrapped in 2017. quate hygiene. SECRET COST-CUTTING plans • Te Black Country will shut down could force hospitals, Accident & an acute unit and one of its two PRIVATISATION SAVE THE NHS Emergency departments and wards general hospitals A YouGov poll found that 84 per On 26 November, thousands of to close, as stretched health workers • Mid and South Essex will down- cent of respondents want a publicly campaigners responded to a call struggle to cope. Te Guardian and grade Southend and Broomfeld owned NHS. But Tory cuts, along- from Labour leader campaign group 38 Degrees reveal A&Es, leaving Basildon alone to side private frms’ ability to under- to defend our NHS. Tis is just a that NHS Trusts face a shortfall of cope. cut public providers, will push start. £22 billion by 2020-21. Dr Tajek Hassan, President of the CCGs to outsource their contracts. Defending the NHS should be- Each of NHS England’s 44 “foot- Royal College of Emergency Medi- Tis is a deliberate strategy: run come a nationwide focal point for print” areas have been asked to sub- cine, warned that STPs “are poten- down the NHS; undermine public resistance to this government. mit a “sustainability and tially catastrophic and will put lives confdence; ofer private health in- Labour members should demand transformation plan” (STP), bring- at risk… Te multitude of problems surers and care providers to fll the that councils refuse to sign up to ing together clinicians, patients and facing emergency departments – gaps. the STPs, as Hammersmith & Ful- local health partners. Proposals in- including the worst four-hour per- Te 2012 Health and Social Care ham and Ealing councils have al- clude A&E closures, hospital merg- formance for a decade, stafng Act allowed services to be con- ready done. Councils can also ers and a reduction in face-to-face shortages and overcrowding – will tracted out to “any qualifed invoke their powers through TRUMP consultations. not be solved by closing units and provider”. In 2015 private frms Overview and Scrutiny Commit- removing beds. Patients will not won 40 per cent of all contracts, de- tees to hold NHS managers to ac- STPs AND CUTS simply disappear.” spite evidence that competition and count. Tey can refuse to NHS England says that it wants He was responding to a survey of privatisation worsen health equity implement the plans for cuts and PAGE 3 strong public engagement with Clinical Commissioning Group and quality of care. closures. STPs before any fnal decisions, yet (CCG) ofcers in which almost a Virgin Care, with its poor repu- Labour should also build and have told local health systems not third said their STPs might close or tation, won a £700 million contract support the national demonstration to make plans public. downgrade A&Es in the next 18 covering more than 200,000 people for the NHS, which has been called Wendy Saviour, Director of months, while half warned beds in Bath and North East Somerset in by Health Campaigns Together for Commissioning Operations for would go and a ffh expected staf November. It will become the 4 March 2017. A huge and militant North Midlands, said, “STPs are not cuts. prime provider of a wide range of mobilisation should push trade meant to be published at all. Tey Hospitals in England are running care from April next year. union leaders into action. Follow- should not go to Board meetings. up a record defcit of £2.45 billion, Serco was forced to abandon out- ing the example of the junior doc- Some of them contain very radical as a surge in demand coincides with of-hours GP services in Cornwall, tors, the trade union movement things… Tese are highly political severe cuts. Budgets fall far short of afer it emerged that it had falsifed must coordinate widespread indus- and highly contentious.” what is needed. data. trial action against cuts and privati- Nonetheless, some have been One in ten nursing posts remain And when Circle took over sation 2 THE RED FLAG • ISSUE 9 • JANUARY 2017 Where we stand

REDFLAGONLINE.ORG CONTACT @REDFLAGONLINE.ORG AGAINST AUSTERITY grant for all. THE LABOUR MOVEMENT 100% opposition to Tory austerity. No cuts to End PFI/PPP and renationalise privatised serv- We can revive the Labour Party and the trade BM BOX 7750 07478330061 welfare, services, jobs or pay. ices. Restore local democracy: end the cap on unions, recruiting the young and the old, the work- LONDON WC1N 3XX End cruel benefits sanctions – stop forcing dis- local authority spending. ing and the unemployed, the casual workers, abled people to work. women, black and Asian people, migrant workers, RED FLAG @REDFLAGLABOUR Tax the rich, not the poor: raise taxes on busi- DEMOCRACY LGBT people, the skilled and unskilled, the man- ness and the wealthy. Clamp down on tax avoid- Abolish anti-trade union laws. Employment pro- ual and the office workers. ance. tection from day one. End the bans on socialists and the purge of new Votes at 16 for all regardless of nationality. members. Restore the right of local Labour Parties A PLANNED ECONOMY Nationalise the media, guarantee right to reply, to select and if necessary deselect their local and Take over the banks and financial institutions launch new mass media under democratic control parliamentary candidates. without compensation. Merge the banks into a sin- of the labour movement. Full policy-making powers to be in the hands of gle state-owned investment bank under direct Abolish the Monarchy, the House of Lords, the the membership, not the MPs or grandees. democratic control of the working class majority. Privy Council. Labour MPs to be under the democratic control Jobs for all. For a massive programme of in- For a single chamber, elected by proportional of the party’s membership, not the other way vestment to create socially useful, sustainable representation. round. RED FLAG is an organisation that campaigns for jobs. End precarious working – make casual con- Self-determination for Scotland and Wales, in- For a democratic and socialist constitution for Labour to become a mass working class party with tracts permanent, including apprenticeships. cluding the right to separate from the UK if a ma- Labour that sets public ownership and socialist policies. Share the work. Cut the hours to a maximum jority choose it. as our goals. We are members of the Labour Party because, 30 hour working week and reduce the retirement For workplace Labour Party branches and like hundreds of thousands of you, we believe that age to 60 for all. NO TO OPPRESSION mass Labour women’s, BME, LGBT and youth or- under new leadership it can help the working class Promote a planned shift to sustainable energy. No to racism in all its forms, to Islamophobia, ganisations. defeat austerity and put forward a radical alterna- Nationalise the top monopolies under workers anti-Semitism and national chauvinism. Labour councils should refuse to carry out Tory tive. control and without compensation. This to include No to sexism, complete equality for women, cuts and rally nationwide resistance including co- A Labour Party infused with its new members’ the great food, water, energy, transport, infrastruc- equal pay now. ordinated strike action against undemocratic Tory spirit of resistance and desire for a radically diferent ture, pharmaceutical, manufacturing, property, re- No to oppression and discrimination against disqualifications and any attempted imposition of alternative, can start to oppose the Tories’ welfare tail, technology and telecoms conglomerates. lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. commissioners. cuts, NHS privatisation, their wars and missiles, Draw up a socialist economic plan through Free abortion on demand. All Labour and union officials to be subject to mass direct democracy, matching production and 24-hour free childcare facilities for all. regular re-election and to the right of the members their anti-immigrant racism. distribution to popular need not private greed. No to discrimination on grounds of disability. to recall them, and to be paid the average wage It can campaign positively to scrap tuition fees, Cancel the national debt to the private bond- Abolish Work Capability Assessment, reinstate all of the workers they represent. bring back student grants and create a National Ed- holders and refuse to submit to blackmail from in- benefits. For cross-union and cross-industrial commit- ucation Service free for all, from cradle to grave. ternational financial institutions. tees of workers that can take action even against We need to start the fghtback now. We need to INTERNATIONALISM the wishes of union officials where necessary. take to the streets against the Tory beneft cuts. We END EXPLOITATION Cancel Trident. Workers of all countries, unite – build an inter- need strikes and protests for higher pay, lower rents, Raise the minimum wage to £10 an hour, for Britain out of NATO. national union of revolutionary socialist parties. lower fees. We need to stop the Tories’ anti-union all, regardless of age. Welcome refugees and migrants. Yes to free- laws. We need to protest against government plans Work or full pay. Benefits for the unemployed dom of movement, no to immigration controls. REVOLUTION to bomb the Middle East, and fght for refugees to and pensions for the retired at the level of mini- No more imperialist wars. Britain out of NATO. A left-wing Labour government should not ac- be treated like people and given the refuge they so mum wage or final salary, whichever is higher. Troops out of Afghanistan, Eastern Europe, Ire- cept the sabotage of the rich, but should be a desperately deserve. Pensions to be nationalised and guaranteed. land and all overseas postings. workers’ government and take power out of the Te Tories and big business will resist every step End the pay freeze. Peg wages to a people’s Don’t bomb Syria – no to British wars. Solidarity hands of the unelected civil servants, CEOs, se- of the way. Te media frenzy against Jeremy Corbyn cost of living index. with Syrians and Kurds fighting ISIS and Assad. curity chiefs and generals. is just a taste of what we can expect when we come Stop backing Israel, its occupations and wars. We need a mass party committed to revolution, closer to power. Te billionaires who control the PUBLIC SERVICES Boycott Israel and support Palestinian self-deter- which will mean the forcible dispossession of the media, the banks and the tax-dodging corporations Build and improve publicly owned social hous- mination and the return of Palestinian refugees. ruling class through direct action from below, will protect their profts every inch of the way. ing all over Britain, freezing rents, guaranteeing Break ties with the far right Ukrainian govern- breaking up their unelected apparatus of coercion, Tat is why we need to go further and campaign tenancies, stopping the sell-off of estates. ment. taking power into the hands of workers’ councils for a socialist society, a society without a rich ruling A National Education Service from cradle to Not a penny or a person for the defence of the and a working class defence force. grave, free at the point of delivery. Bring all schools billionaires’ system. Not a standing army loyal to Today hundreds of thousands of people are class concentrating ownership, control and power and nurseries under public ownership under con- the establishment, but a defence force of the work- changing British politics. Soon millions can change in their own hands. Tat will mean a mass move- trol of parents, teachers and pupils. ing class majority. Britain. All together, we can bring down the Tories ment of millions of people taking action from Massive investment in health including mental No to the undemocratic institutions of the EU. and open the road to a working class government below, fghting to stop the Tories, fghting to take health services. No to a British nationalist walkout – for a United and a social revolution. power out of the hands of the millionaires and into Scrap student fees and loan schemes. A living Socialist States of Europe. the hands of the millions. Socialism is the answer to the Tories and their ADVERTISEMENT system of austerity and war. Now Labour has stopped standing up for the rich, we should commit ourselves to the goal of a new society, one run by ffh international 19 the working class, replacing the chaos of the capi- talist market with a democratic planned economy. WINTER / SPRING 2017 Under socialism we will share out the work and produce for public need, not private greed. So now is the time to join Labour. Tere is a role OUT NOW for you, your passion and your skills. Help strengthen the party. Help us sing a diferent song fifthinternational.org to the discredited Blairites. Help us fght for a so- cialist society. Labour’s old pro-war, pro-business types have their own pressure groups, like Tony • 2016: the year the right rose again Blair’s ‘Progress’ organisation. So socialists also need to organise too. • Brexit: should Labour accept it or Tat is where Red Flag comes in. We organise so- cialists in the Labour Party to put forward a consis- oppose it? tent strategy based on the principles of class struggle • Germany the rise of the Alternative fur and international solidarity across the labour move- ment - at home and abroad. If you agree with our Deutschland aims, join us to add your voice to the socialist cause. • What lies behind Donald Trump’s triumph? • Trade unionism in Pakistan • Obituary: Fidel Castro • International Political Economic Perspectives RED FLAG welcomes debate within the movement. Please email your letters, • Origins of the political crisis in reports or articles for consideration to the editors Europe at [email protected]. THE RED FLAG • ISSUE 9 • JANUARY 2017 3

EDITORS: JEREMY DEWAR, KD TAIT

EDITORIAL BOARD: R. ANDERSON, R. BRENNER, M. HALABY, J. MACREADY, P. MAIN, S. SMITH, D. STOCKTON, A. YORKE

PUBLISHER: RED FLAG

Trying to reclaim THERESA MAY and her three Brexi- teers, David Davies, Boris Johnson and Brexit for the lef Liam Fox, are preparing for a devastat- is a distraction ing withdrawal from the European Union. Her “red, white and blue” Brexit from opposing will deny the UK full access to the single the Tory plans market, leading to an economic down- turn, greater infation and skills short- ages. So why is she so gung-ho about it? Well it will shore up the Tories’ reactionary, xenophobic electoral Inside Momentum: their politics and ours base against any resurgent Ukip revival. And, she calculates, it will throw Labour into a further round of fratricidal frenzy. Be- BY KD TAIT AND REBECCA ANDERSON form and policy change are efectively dictated by the right wing of sides, as Philip Hammond’s autumn mini-budget exposed, the the PLP and their allies in the Party’s bureaucracy, National Policy Tories will always aim to heap the burden of economic pain onto Forum and National Executive Committee. Lansman’s approach ties the working class. MOMENTUM’S DECEMBER National Committee voted to hold a del- Momentum’s hands and efectively makes it a voluntary prisoner of Clearly, we cannot support any manoeuvres by the anti-Brexit egate-based conference in February 2017, and to launch campaigns in the right. elements of the ruling class to stop it, either through parliament defence of migrants’ rights and against the expulsions and suspensions Te best way to defend Corbyn is to go on the ofensive. If we accept or through the courts. But we must oppose attempts to use the of Jeremy Corbyn supporters in the Labour Party. Te Steering Commit- the PLP dictating the price of unity, we will soon fnd ourselves in a referendum result as a “mandate” to force through whatever re- tee and ofce staf remain unchanged. party led by Corbyn, espousing the politics of Bomber Benn and actionary deal May and the EU bureaucrats cook up. With the dark clouds of Brexit looming, and the transformation of Stephen Kinnock. Te pressure from both lef and right of the party A referendum is a snapshot in time of specifc circumstances Labour into a genuinely democratic anti-austerity and internationalist for Corbyn and Diane Abbott to abandon their principled defence of and conditions. Te view of the majority can change, and possi- party still incomplete, these modest objectives give Momentum mem- free movement shows how real this danger is. bly already has. If conditions change dramatically, if the eco- bers a chance to confront the big questions facing our movement. nomic consequences prove severe, if the lies of leading pro-Brexit Tere are good grounds for optimism. Momentum is growing, new fgures are exposed, it may prove possible to democratically re- branches are being established, people from all backgrounds are grow- WHAT’S AT STAKE Freedom of movement is not a shibboleth or a distraction that should be verse the decision before it is fully implemented. ing in confdence, as they take on new roles and responsibilities. casually discarded. If the Labour right succeed in forcing Corbyn to aban- Whatever the motivations of those who voted for Brexit, it is Yet in the comment pages of , in the studios of the BBC don this principle without a fght, Labour’s new membership could be- clear that the Brexit campaign ofered many “types” of Brexit; the and in the swamp of the blogosphere, a crisis supposedly threatens the “Norwegian model”, “hard Brexit”, “sof Brexit”. What the refer- very existence of the organisation. come demoralised and Corbyn’s leadership fatally undermined. endum result gives is a simply mandate to seek negotiations on Articles by Laura Murray and Owen Jones, ably assisted by an ap- Tat is why the attempt by John McDonnell, Paul Mason, and Jon what leaving the EU would mean in reality. It does not give the pearance on the Daily Politics show from Paul Mason, allege that there Lansman to pre-emptively capitulate to the right by dressing up sup- government a mandate to restrict immigration or to rescind is a conspiracy by Trotskyist “saboteurs” to “take over” Momentum. port for Brexit in “socialist” clothes demonstrates political cowardice human, environmental or workers’ rights. While the Steering Committee’s undemocratic behaviour and mis- and strategic ineptness in equal measure. use of ofce resources to push their own political agenda is well doc- Jon Lansman, without consulting the organisation, abused his priv- ileged access to Momentum’s staf and resources to launch the so- SO WHAT SHOULD LABOUR DO? umented, no evidence is ofered for the claim that Trotskyists have Labour is not obliged by the referendum result to trigger Article 50 subverted Momentum’s democratic processes. called Take Back Control campaign in coordination with John if it is a “step in the dark”, or “walking of a clif”, let alone if it is part Like all third-rate conspiracies, it is nothing more than an amalga- McDonnell. of a package of attacks against the conditions of the working class mation of stale prejudices and innuendo, garnished with an unpleasant Just days later, Momentum’s national committee voted to “campaign at home or abroad. relish of sub-Stalinist abuse. When Tom Watson tried to smear the for Labour to resist the growing pressure to cave in on freedom of It should insist that parliament votes on the negotiating posi- Corbyn movement by claiming Trotskyists were “twisting arms”, he movement and migrants’ rights” and to “campaign to defend and ex- tion before a vote to trigger Article 50. Labour should table was rightly laughed out of the room – including by Momentum na- tend freedom of movement in the context of the Brexit negotiations, amendments to insert the following conditions: tional chair Jon Lansman. including the establishment of a Labour movement-based campaign • Te maintenance of access to the single market Te claim that this is a dispute between old and young is a patron- for free movement”. • Te preservation of freedom of movement for both UK and EU ising fction that merits no further consideration. Nor is this dispute Clearly these two approaches, Lansman’s and the NC’s, are funda- citizens simply about whether one method of internal democracy is preferable mentally incompatible. • Te preservation of progressive EU legislation on workers' rights, to another. Te frst demonstrates the method of those with contempt for the human rights, environmental protection, etc. It is sad that previously respected fgures like Jones and Mason have members, who believe the only way Momentum can be efective is if It should also call for the abandonment of the UK opt-outs used their standing in the movement to lend a veneer of credibility to it simply carries out the strategy developed by its leaders. Te second from the European working time directive and should vote a malicious and unprincipled witch-hunt that threatens the future of expresses the method of an organisation where policy and strategy is against triggering Article 50 unless these red lines are guaran- a movement painstakingly built up over the course of two summers. generated from the bottom up, but also one whose members remain teed. But it is not surprising given the political gulf opening up between committed to defending the fundamental principles of Jeremy Cor- Regardless of the outcome, Labour should maintain its oppo- them and the majority of Labour Party members over Brexit, Trident byn’s leadership campaign. sition in principle to Brexit, campaigning to win the majority of and Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership itself. Paul Mason, Owen Jones, Jon Lansman and John McDonnell, all the working class to halt the process of exit democratically, by a want to capitulate in one way or another to the pressure from the general election or a referendum. Te party must campaign to STRATEGY Labour right over immigration and “national security”. Whether they remain within, or return to the EU on the basis of fghting with Te real division in Momentum is over the most efective strategy to de- want to do this from electoral calculation, political expediency or per- socialist and progressive forces across the union on the following fend Corbyn’s leadership and turn the Labour Party into an efective tool sonal conviction is immaterial. If we go down this road, it will end in basis: for the working class to stop austerity and fght for a genuinely socialist disaster for the Corbyn movement, the Labour Party and the working • End the EU’s pro-austerity and “balanced budget” policies, as well alternative. class. as its restrictions on nationalisation. Te wing around Jon Lansman, supported (from the outside) by We need to keep sight of what our goal is. A Labour Party led by Je- • End Fortress Europe, down with the walls and fences within the Owen Jones and (from the inside) Paul Mason, wants Momentum to remy Corbyn – yes. A Labour government led by Jeremy Corbyn – EU and on its external borders. be an auxiliary of Corbyn supporters who can be mobilised to vote in yes. But not at the price of abandoning the principles and socialist poli- • Massively increase the scale of humanitarian rescue and aid mis- elections or sign petitions according to a strategy developed by the cies that Jeremy gave voice to during his leadership campaigns. sions in the Mediterranean. Leader’s Ofce. When the right wing wanted to isolate Corbyn, split his supporters, • Let in war refugees from Syria, Afghanistan, Yemen, Iraq, etc. Tis means that actions, that disrupt the promises made by Corbyn and destroy the movement they whipped up a hysterical campaign • Repeal EU rules banning nationalisation and in-house services, and McDonnell, or which would force them to choose between the against Trotskyists. Tose on the lef, who now want Corbyn to capit- and those mandating private outsourcing. members and the Parliamentary Labour Party, are of-limits. Tat’s ulate, and don’t want Momentum to be an obstacle to their manoeu- why Lansman unilaterally declared that Momentum does not support vres, are now themselves whipping up a campaign against Trotskyists. ELECTORAL HOPES mandatory reselection or setting “no-cuts” council budgets, and en- Not because Trotskyists are the only people capable of opposing It would be doubly wrong for Labour to adopt an opportunist pol- dorsed witch-fnder general Deputy Leader Tom Watson immediately them – far from it. But because they are preparing to betray funda- icy based on reducing immigration or ending free movement of afer Corbyn’s re-election. mental principles of the Corbyn revolution and want Trotskyists to labour. Te frst problem with this approach is that it turns grassroots mem- take the blame for the inevitable divisions their betrayals will provoke. Firstly it would pit the party against migrant workers, who are bers of Labour and Momentum into a passive stage army, while infu- Tat is what this dispute is really about. every bit a part of the British working class. ential leaders and advisors make the big decisions. Far from being a So whether you prefer delegates or plebiscites, whether you favour Secondly it would not even bring the proposed electoral gain, “new kind of politics”, it is a mirror of the bureaucratic leadership a social movement or the labour movement, whether you are a Trot- since twice as many Labour voters supported Remain as Leave, prevalent across the labour movement. skyist or not, if you want to defend Corbyn’s leadership, you need to and probably an even greater number of its members back free But the more serious problem is that Jeremy Corbyn is a prisoner support motions to Momentum’s conference that defy this witch-hunt movement and EU membership of the PLP. His room for manoeuvre and the pace of democratic re- and defend the principle of freedom of movement 4 THE RED FLAG • ISSUE 9 • JANUARY 2017 BRITAIN Labour MPs ditch free movement You are being lied to Concessions to Ukip on immigra- tion is like drinking salt water

PAUL NUTTALL’S threat to “replace the Labour Party and make Ukip the voice of patriotic Britain” seems to have thrown some Labour MPs into a panic. Dan Jarvis MP, for example, thinks that, “the Ukip fox is in the Labour henhouse and we have got to make a decision about what we want to do about that fox”. His answer seems to be that Labour should clone itself into a fox. In fact, the commotion in the Parliamentary Labour Party henhouse is, in part, a result of the Brexit carnival of reaction and the tabloids' campaign to “gain control of our borders”. Although most Labour MPs are well aware that immigration beneft the UK, some of them harp on the theme, “our constituents are telling us on the doorstep how worried they are about immigration”, ofen adding, “we cannot continue to move the subject onto other issues”, or “how dare you accuse them of racism!” No, it is not a matter of changing Jeremy Dewar, sets out the arguments to combat the lies peddled by the subject, let alone of abusing them. Every Labour canvasser (let alone MP) should be able to engage with these fears. Labour should long ago have armed itself with millions of THE PAPERS, TV and radio say Britain is under siege University College London research shows that out fell in those areas most afe leafets combatting the mass media lies. from immigrants. Tey blame them for higher taxes, of over 2 million EU citizens working in the UK, just eastern Europe. Te reason behind the lies is to divert attention away from the real crime, housing shortages, hospital waiting lists, cheap 91,700 (4.5%) claim out-of-work benefts – the UK On the other hand, hate causes of the economic and social problems in working class areas: evils labour and terrorism. During the Brexit campaign, unemployment rate is 4.8%. Because a high propor- England and Wales rose by that Labour should be fghting to abolish. If we do this, then with a mass and since, this has reached fever pitch. tion of migrants have degrees or other qualifcations, EU referendum. Migrants party of 640,000 members we can put Ukip to fight. Tere are two possible reasons for this. Only one of only 317,000 (15%) claim tax credits, far lower than migrant racists do. But the “concerned about immigration” MPs are not just sincere op- them can be true. Te frst is that immigrants really the UK average. portunists infuenced by the media; they realise that this is another issue are responsible for most of Britain's problems. Te What about their attit with which to attack Corbyn and force him to abandon his principled second is that you are being lied to – deliberately, day Don’t we take more than our fair share? LGBT rights? position and so demoralise the lef. in, day out – about immigration. Migration naturally follows jobs and at the moment Migrants live among and w Many people believe immigrants are one of our so- the UK has more jobs than most countries, so levels nationalities and cultures have risen. At the depth of the depression in 2012, net THE PLP OFFENSIVE ciety's biggest problems. No wonder. Te scare stories racist views are regularly c Right wing Labour MPs are trying to cause maximum trouble by attack- printed every day in the Sun, Express, Star and Mail migration was half (177,000) what it is today, and changed. Teir children wh ing the line on immigration that Jeremy Corbyn and Dianne Abbot have are hardly ever challenged. would have fallen further had southern Europe not sity are great transmitters taken in the context of the Brexit negotiations. Rachel Reeves led the Tat's why we are setting out some facts that might been in deeper crisis. attitudes to their parents. way, claiming that her Leeds constituency would “explode into rioting” make you see things diferently, that immigrants are Asylum seekers are another matter. We are signed Nevertheless, welcoming m if immigration were not curtailed. not causing these problems, but are being used as up to the Geneva Convention, which obliges us to ac- with turning a blind eye t Afer the referendum, the right attacked Jeremy for not supporting scapegoats. cept refugees. But in fact Britain takes far less than its behaviour and crime. Fe the EU enough. Now, they want to make “no free movement of labour” If we're right, then whoever is responsible for soci- fair share. (FGM) has no legitimate pl one of the party’s red lines, even though it would guarantee a “hard ety's problems is getting away scot-free. It's the oldest For example, the number of Syrian refugees reset- else in the world. But migr Brexit”. Te only consistency we can expect from these people is to at- trick in the book. Blame the other person. Divide and tled in Britain stands at just 2,898 since the confict to strengthen campaigns to tack Jeremy, whatever he does or says. rule. began. Tere are over 4.8 million Syrian refugees. Te Soon a string of Labour MPs took to the tabloids and the airwaves to In Red Flag we're fed up being lied to about why this Government has promised to resettle 20,000 Syrian Surely there’s not en demand that Jeremy and Diane’s approach be dropped, for fear it will is happening. Instead of accepting that we live in a refugees by 2020, just 4,000 a year. round? alienate Labour’s working class “heartlands”. “post-truth era”, let’s look at the truth. Migrants are not jumping Stephen Kinnock thinks we need “managed immigration”, which he Does immigration cause unemployment? ing. Government fgures re laughably claims is “rooted in lef wing values”. Moreover he insists: Are immigrants “swamping” Britain? Tere are 28 million UK nationals in work, a record cial housing lets go to UK-b "We must move away from multiculturalism and towards assimila- Tere has been a signifcant increase in the number 75%, compared to 3.4 million migrants (72%). British Migration Observatory say tion. We must be for one group: the British people." of immigrants in the UK over the past 15 years. But citizens still get most of the jobs on the market. In fact, in private rented accommo Ten we have , who Jeremy unwisely made Labour’s the numbers remain manageable. Just 13% (8.5 mil- a higher proportion of migrants than British-born of British-born people. T spokesperson on Brexit. In the very frst interview afer his appointment lion) of British residents were born abroad and 5% (3 workers start up businesses and employ other people. from overcrowded accomm he said, “Tere has been a huge amount of immigration… it should be million) were born in the EU. In all, 3 million have Te real culprit for the la reduced by making sure we have the skills in this country that are become UK citizens, reducing the number of “for- Are they undercutting UK workers’ wages? the government, which con needed for the jobs that need to be done”, adding that, “We have to be eigners” to under 9% (5.5 million). More than 60% of migrants from southern and west- right-to-buy and diminish open to adjustments of the freedom of movement rules and how they Since most migrants are of working age, this infow ern Europe, and 25% of those from eastern and cen- new tenants, and stubborn apply to this country.” has in fact helped rebalance the UK’s otherwise ageing tral Europe, have university degrees (the UK average social housing: just 25,000 population. In short, immigrants tax and national in- is 25%). Others have skills for which there is a short- and 2 million need to be h age here. So they don’t compete with semi-skilled or WAVERING ON THE LEFT surance payments help our pensioners survive. extended the time needed Such responses could be expected from the right. More surprising is low skilled workers and don’t drive down wages. get on the waiting list, wh that of Clive Lewis, MP for Norwich South and a popular supporter of Isn’t Britain too full? Among lower paid workers, the National Institute fects migrants. Jeremy Corbyn: No. Tis would imply that either there is too little of Economic and Social Research has found that, “Te “We have to acknowledge that free movement of labour hasn’t worked space for a growing population or that the economy impact of migration on the wages of the UK-born in Aren’t they draining for… many of the people in this country, where they’ve been undercut, cannot support the number of people here. Neither is this sector since 2004 has been about 1 per cent, over NHS and adding to th who feel insecure, who feel they’re not getting any of the benefts that true. Any long rail journey would give ample evidence a period of eight years”. Again, the real reason wh immigration has clearly had in our economy.” that there is room for more towns and houses in the Jeremy Corbyn is committed to re-establishing the pitals and A&E units are c Clive supports Jeremy’s line that employers must be prevented from UK. Migrant Impact Fund to help regions most afected growing, is government c exploiting migrant labour but presents this as a way of reducing num- Our population is growing by 0.7% a year while of- cope with this pressure as well as restoring trade £2.45 billion in defcit and bers: fcial fgures show the economy is growing by 2.3% a union rights, raising the minimum wage to the level in service. “It will have an impact on the number of people coming to this coun- year. For each working age person in Britain, we create of the independently assessed Living Wage, and in- Te main drivers of inc try, if you make it more difcult for employers to bring people in, to un- $42,000, the 22nd highest in the world. Recently, creasing the number of inspectors chasing undercut- nology and treatments (£ dercut people.” working people have not seen rising incomes because ting employers. Te Tories and UKIP reject these real wages (£2.8 billion) and an Fortunately, Diane Abbot has taken a frm and courageous stand. In the Tories’ austerity policy has reduced workers’ in- solutions because their priority is to support the (£1.2 billion). And, of cour Te Guardian, she spoke out against the MPs demanding a change of comes by increasing the amount going to profts and bosses. contribution migrant staf policy: the banks. many trained at the expens “We can’t fght and win an election in 2020 as Ukip-lite… If you are Surely they push our taxes up? attracted by Ukip arguments, you are going to vote Ukip. And in areas Are immigrants draining Britain’s No. Migrants pay £2.5 billion a year more in taxes Aren’t non-English s where they are not so upset about immigration they are going to be baf- resources? than they take out. UK-born citizens on average take children back in scho fed about what we are actually doing”. On the contrary, immigrants pay far more in taxes more out than they pay in. So migration keeps taxes Tere is no evidence of th Te Labour lef and Momentum need to make it clear that opposing than they receive in benefts: £3 billion a year in, £500 down, not up. pick up English very quic a policy of greater restrictions on immigration is a red line for us. We million out; a net beneft to the UK of £2.5 billion. their parents. London sc must not let Labour MPs, the Shadow Cabinet or the NEC foist this on Tis is not surprising since the vast majority of mi- Don’t migrants cause crime? largest number and wide us. We must demand that Labour sticks to Corbyn’s policy. grants are ft and working. And this is far higher than Te Association of Chief Police Ofcers has found speaking students, are also Te anti-immigration ofensive is another Trojan horse for the right, the UK average. that crime fgures have fallen over the same period schools in the country. aimed at overthrowing him and reversing the Corbyn revolution. But that immigration numbers have risen. In 2013, the if we can stop them – this time on a clear political battlefeld – it will be Aren’t immigrants just on the make, taking London School of Economics concluded that crime, Isn’t this a way for t worth even more than the two leadership ballots advantage of our generous welfare? especially burglary, vandalism and car thef actually country? THE RED FLAG • ISSUE 9 • JANURARY 2017 5

A progressive about immigration patriotism? Dave Stockton explains why class is a better focus for unity

THE PROJECT to develop “our own progressive patriotism”, as Owen Jones puts it, is seriously misplaced, indeed a fool’s errand since all the positive points he cites for inclusion are not national at all, but interna- tional, indeed universal, values. Another of the lef’s most popular speakers, Clive Lewis, has also fallen for the idea that we need to mix a dose of nationalism into our socialism. He has called for “an inclusive, civic, outward-looking, open, tolerant version of [English nationalism]. I think it’s there for the lef to say, ‘we’ve got a stake in national pride and identity as well’.” Clive says “English” so as not to cramp the style of Scottish, Welsh and Irish na- tionalism. But this open and tolerant nationalism is the spoonful of tar that ruins a barrel full of honey. National identity is by its very nature defned the mass media against other national identities, and embodies the potential of confict between them, however peaceful and good natured relations may be at any given moment. ected by immigration from Possibly, of course, but the facts point to the main ter- Isn’t the Brexit referendum a mandate for Indeed, short of that, national identity is the origin and result of the rorist threat coming from British-born Muslims (or tougher immigration controls? kinds of hostility to migrants and refugees that we are witnessing in the e crime against migrants in converts) who have been radicalised, like Lee Rigby’s No. Tere was only the single question on whether the Brexit furore. When millions have been poisoned on a daily basis by the y 41% in the month afer the killers, Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale, UK should leave the EU, not on what our immigration Mail, Sun and Express, prescribing a milder version is not just useless, don’t cause crime; anti-im- or shoe bomber Richard Reid. policy should be. In fact many would have voted but will only make their fever worse. Te Islamophobic campaign to demonise the UK’s Leave on the basis of staying in the single market. Above all it divides the workers of one country against another. It po- 2.7 million Muslims is both wrongly directed and Labour could and should resist any attempt to weaken tentially alienates our brothers and sisters across Europe and beyond. tude to women’s and counterproductive. Britain’s terrible invasions of freedom of movement in the wake of this result. In a world where many jobs cross national borders, it can only weaken Afghanistan and Iraq are the main reasons for the UK and sever the ties of solidarity we need. work with workers from all being targeted by ISIS and al-Qaida, while the singling Won’t immigrants dilute our national cul- Since every state contains people from diferent national origins and s. Sexist, homophobic and out of Muslims for suspicion and surveillance isolates ture? traditions, deliberately fostering the national identity of that state can hallenged… and over time their communities and helps radicalise some of the Surely the opposite of this is true? Immigrants enrich only divide and weaken an identity that is a hundred times more im- ho go to school and univer- more desperate of their youth. our national culture. Tere have always been those portant: working class consciousness and active solidarity. of progressive and tolerant who whip up hysteria about newcomers. In the 19th Of course, socialists have never been so stupid as to deny the existence It’s not racist to be concerned about immi- Century, it was the Irish, in the early 20th Century the of nations or national culture, nor that there are elements within every migrants has nothing to do gration Jews, afer World War II the Indians, Pakistanis and national culture that are justifably the object of pride. Tese include, to sexist and anti-minority Te point here is that if immigration is accepted as a Jamaicans. Now it is east Europeans and Africans. frst and foremost, progressive struggles for democracy, for workers' emale Genital Mutilation problem, then immigrant populations are an expres- But who really does not now appreciate the cultural rights, for independence where a nation is oppressed. lace in the UK or anywhere sion of that problem – and who is most easily identi- contribution of these previous waves of immigrants ation, if anything, can help fed as an “immigrant”? Tose who are not white or to our country, be it the national dish of curry or reg- CLASS o oppose and eliminate it. who dress diferently or speak a foreign language. Tat gae music? We have to face down those racists who What Marxists have always insisted is that the whole question must be is the connection to racism and why anti-immigrant despise people because of their diet, dress or dialect… understood in the context of the fundamental underpinning of society nough housing to go propaganda encourages abuse and discrimination not just like anti-racists did in previous generations. – class. Te national state, its traditions, culture and popular conscious- only against immigrants but also non-white Britons. ness, are a product of the development of capitalism. Te dominant in- the queue for social hous- Te wave of racist attacks afer the EU referendum is Should those who come be obliged to as- fuence on all these is therefore capitalism – constantly validating them eveal that 91% of all new so- just the latest example of this. similate? and making them seem common sense to all classes, the exploited as born residents. Te Oxford Tis is the current policy of the Labour right wing and well as the exploiters. ys that 39% of migrants live You can be anti-immigration without being has informed the actions of previous administrations For this reason, the national culture and consciousness justify the odation, as opposed to 14% anti-immigrants and today’s Tory government. But it does not work; state institutions of our rulers – private property, the royal family, the ey also tend to sufer more Some people draw a parallel between unemployment on the contrary it will push minorities out of public supremacy of parliament, the rule of law, the eternity and normality of modation. and immigration. Both are wrong they say, but that life and into ghettos (which, thankfully, do not exist the patriarchal family, etc. Te working class and the middle class, of ack of afordable housing is does not make us anti-unemployed or anti-immi- yet in the UK). course, play a role in this; they may be fattered as the very heart and nstantly widens the net for grants. Tis is a false comparison and a dangerous Why should new immigrants “assimilate” into a soul of the nation. But they play a subordinate part and must sacrifce es the available housing for one. Generally, people are unemployed against their country that demonises their religion, accepts the their “sectional” or “selfsh” interest to it. It can be see from this that, nly refuses to build enough will, whereas immigrants choose to leave their coun- right of racists to march through their towns and when the chips are down, the nation is a jealous god – tolerating no 0 a year while between 1.5 tries of origin to seek a better life. For socialists, that opens the way for violent attacks and abuse? Te best rival. oused. Some councils have is their right, everybody's right, and to deny it is to and only way to truly integrate migrant communities Last, but not least, if the interests of “our” nation are challenged by d to qualify as a resident to support the division of the world between a few rich is to combat racism and open the doors of the labour another, it is “our” duty to defend it and to support “our boys” (and girls) hich disproportionately af- countries and far more poor ones. Te danger is that movement to them. who are doing so, whether or not we agree with our rulers: “My country, this argument legitimises opposition to immigration, right or wrong”. it avoids the socialist argument for open borders. Why are they lying? For all these reasons, those socialists who want to defend the everyday resources from the Te people who beneft from the anti-migrant cam- interests of the working class – wages, social services, democratic rights he waiting lists? Shouldn’t we concentrate on standing up paign are the same people who beneft from the real – must not fall victim to appeals to the national interest, deployed con- hy the NHS is in crisis, hos- for the rights of workers who already live causes of bad housing, long hospital waiting lists and stantly to defend austerity cuts and wage restraint. losing and waiting lists are here? declining education. It is the big bosses – the million- War is more serious and therefore more difcult, since the ruling class cuts. NHS Trusts are now UKIP present this argument as if a choice has to be aire, even billionaire, fnanciers and industrialists – and the media set up a totalitarian barrage of propaganda. Opponents this is translating into cuts made, but that is totally wrong. What is more, Ukip's and the right wing parties that support them – the To- of war are silenced or hounded. programme would get rid of all workers’ legal rights ries and UKIP – who want to pay less and less tax, It is only in the afermath of war that millions wake up to the facts, reased costs are new tech- on weekly working hours, overtime, redundancy, sick while forcing austerity on the rest of us. why the war was fought and how empty the promises were. So powerful £1.4 billion), infation and pay, pensions, employers’ national insurance obliga- was this waking up at the end of the First World War (revolution in Rus- n ageing British population tions and the legal right to four weeks’ paid holiday. So what can we do? sia and Germany, strike waves in the countries of the “winners”) that rse, there is the inestimable Te Tories also envisage a bonfre of protective legis- We can support Jeremy Corbyn, Diane Abbott and our rulers have never successfully rehabilitated the carnage of the f have made to the NHS, lation in their Great Repeal Bill. trade union leaders, insofar as, and so long as, they trenches. se of their native countries. Workers’ rights can only really be protected by a defend the right to free movement of labour, safe pas- Te Second World War did not end in revolution but it did end with Labour government committed to lifing the rights of sage for asylum seekers and the abolition of racist im- major reforms. Despite the horrors of Nazism and the Holocaust, the speakers holding our all workers and by trade unions fghting to defend and migration controls. idea that this was what it was fought for is also a lie on a grand scale, ool? extend our gains by collective action against un- And probably more important than this even, we since the priority for our rulers was the protection of Britain’s empire. is. School students tend to scrupulous employers. can raise these issues with our neighbours, family, All patriotism is an enormous deception used to justify trade wars, ckly and also help educate friends and workmates – “conversation by conversa- cold wars and shooting wars. Nice, polite, apparently harmless patriot- hools, where there is the Aren’t many of them illegal? tion”, as Abbott puts it. We have fought racism before, ism only prepares the way for the brutal sorts: a soporifc that prepares est variety of non-English Some may well be, but this helps to create the “grey in the 1970s and 1980s for example, and won. We can the way for the poison of national chauvinism. o the most improved state economy”, in which employers avoid tax and wages do so again Given the (narrow) triumph of anti-European nationalism that Brexit are undercut. Tat is why we support an amnesty for All facts and fgures from the UK government, represents, we need more than ever to foster international solidarity, all migrants. In any case, the fgures reproduced here United Nations or World Bank unless otherwise stated. not try to imitate Farage or Nuttall, albeit in a minor key. Any conces- errorists to enter the show the real benefts of all migration, legal or not. sion on patriotism or freedom of movement by sections of the Lef will fracture the forces fghting to break the Right’s control 6 THE RED FLAG • ISSUE 9 • JANUARY 2017 DOMESTIC UNION NEWS Sparks fy at Crossrail

BY BERNIE MCADAM CONSTRUCTION WORKERS at the Crossrail site in Tot- tenham Court Road took two days of unofcial strike action on 30 November and 1 December to defend Unite steward Terry Wilson. Employers Laing O’Rourke insisted Terry be transferred to another job while re- fusing to recognise him as a union negotiator. A further protest on 2 December was followed by another walkout on 5 December, with workers agreeing to go back the following day. Tis follows a campaign by Unite to win second tier productivity bonuses for electricians at Crossrail and a previous unofcial stoppage at the site on 25 November. Laing O’Rourke is noto- rious for being involved in an illegal blacklist of building workers and has failed to abide by na- tional agreements, including over bonus payments. Unite must hold a ballot on industrial action in the New Year. Further action will be necessary to win the bonus dispute and the reinstatement and recognition of victimised stewards. If Unite leaders dilly-dally, then sparks, as the electricians are known, should remember their proud history of massive unofcial strikes and protests in 2011-12, which tore up the proposed BESNA contract that would have meant a 35 per cent drop in pay. Strikes stepped up at Southern Rail

BY BERNIE MCADAM RAIL UNION Aslef has announced that 87 per cent of its drivers at Southern Rail voted to strike. Tese strikes will take place in December and January, alongside an immediate and indefnite overtime ban. Tis is in addition to RMT strikes, on diferent dates, as guards continue their industrial action. Both unions are protesting the imposition of Driver Only Operated (DOO) trains. Southern’s parent company, Govia Tameslink Railway, want to introduce DOO on all their services. Unions have campaigned vigorously against this, arguing that safety is being seriously compromised. With a huge increase in passenger numbers, there should be more rail staf, not less. In the event of accidents, fres, derailments and emergency evacuations, the guaranteed presence of a second trained member of staf is paramount for passenger safety. Without this, disabled pas- sengers will be especially disadvantaged, while anti-social behaviour will be unchecked. However, Govia is driven by proft, not safety. It needs to defeat the unions to reduce staf num- bers, and the Department for Transport is backing them up. DfT ofcial Peter Wilkinson spelled this out earlier in the year, saying that highly indebted union members “can’t aford to spend too long on strike and I will push them into that place”. He added that they “will have to decide if they Fracking menace want to give a good service or get the hell out of my industry”. Te stakes are high. A victory for Southern bosses could see DOO wheeled out nationally. All Tory U-turn leaves half of UK at risk of drilling the more reason for RMT and Aslef to coordinate their action. If two or three days of action are not enough to win, then they should move towards an all-out indefnite strike. Rank and fle rail workers should form joint strike committees and assert their control of this in 2013. Little wonder then that 2013 had more rail action, making sure their leaders are accountable every step of the way. And Labour Parties locally BY CHRIS CLOUGH accidents involving fossil fuels than the previous 40 and nationally should be backing them on picket lines and handing out leafets to long-sufering MOST PEOPLE imagine that their fuel comes from years combined (including an oil train explosion in passengers to explain where the blame for their pain lies. oil platforms far out at sea, or wells in the desert, far Quebec that caused 47 deaths). away places removed from daily life. Energy com- Tis could become our reality as well. Te Tories panies go to great lengths to paint this picture. initially decided to ban fracking afer mass oppo- Bah Humbug But increasingly this is not the case. Many unfor- sition and unexpected earthquakes. But they have tunate enough to live around the controversial frack- now reversed this to announce that almost half of ing sites know that energy extraction is not always the UK’s landmass is eligible for drilling, including WORKERS AT the factory that makes Humbug sweets are BY MIKE BLACK so remote. Indeed their homes are ofen despoiled in National Parks like the proposed well in Ryedale, striking against their Scrooge employer. beyond habitation. Land and water is poisoned, with North Yorkshire. Tis was the frst to be given the GMB members at the Tangerine Confectionery site in York people’s homes and livelihoods lef in ruins. Occa- go-ahead, despite the opposition of 4,375 people are in dispute with their bosses, who have been eroding conditions and making cuts to pension sionally the consequences of the greed for “black complaining to the Tory-led council, compared to contributions. Te 2016 pay ofer was a measly 1 per cent increase backdated to January 2016, fol- gold” are revealed when oil spills bring this poison, only 36 in favour. lowed by a 1.25 per cent increase, with an extra 15 minute tea break, backdated to April. Members sometimes quite literally, to people’s doorsteps. Te whole Labour movement must act to stop have rejected this insult and voted for a series of 24-hour strikes. High commodity prices, new technology and a this frst well being drilled. Environmentalist However, afer the frst successful strike, senior GMB organiser Desiree Wilburn cancelled the declining stock of traditional fossil fuels have groups have already challenged the decision in the next 24-hour action in favour of a one-hour stoppage on each of the three shifs. Tis was appar- brought the vultures of the energy industry to our High Court. But while this may delay things long ently to ensure the minimum impact on members’ pay before Christmas and the maximum impact doorsteps in the hunt for carbon profts, exactly enough to build further protests, we cannot rely on on the employer. Rank and fle members should protest against this sabotage, which in fact ensures when humanity should be doing the opposite. the courts, which ultimately will defend the inter- minimum impact on the employer, and demand the reinstatement of the 24-hour strikes. Te main form this has taken is fracking, the fr- ests of proft over those of our natural environment. ing of water and chemicals into the earth to dislodge Labour Party and union branches must support natural gas. Energy companies present this as a step anti-fracking groups, politically and fnancially. Ac- away from carbon-based fuels and towards a renew- tivists should be on the front line, blockading sites Len McCluskey seeks third term able future. But fracking has been shown to result in and disrupting the activities of drilling companies 30 per cent greater leakages of methane than in con- when necessary. We should also bring in activists from other campaigns and explain how the climate BY MARCUS HALABY Len McCluskey, head of Britain’s biggest union Unite which ventional extraction. Methane is 34 times more ef- is also the Labour Party’s biggest donor, has resigned from his fective at trapping heat in the atmosphere, that is crisis relates to housing, jobs and democracy. post and is standing for re-election. acting as a greenhouse gas, than CO2. Most of all, we need to raise the horizons of the He last did this in 2013, three years into his frst fve-year term, to avoid embarrassing then If this environmental damage isn’t enough to put movement. We face an unprecedented ecological Labour leader Ed Miliband with a major union election at the same time as the 2015 general elec- you of fracking for good, then there is more. Nu- crisis at the same time as the contradictions of cap- tion. On that occasion, his only rival was lef-winger Jerry Hicks, who stood on a militant platform merous videos online show how communities have italism are forcing millions into poverty and inse- of rank-and-fle union democracy. sufered at the hands of companies that are so will- curity. Te causes of both are intimately related, Hicks came second with 80,000 votes (36 per cent), having previously received 22 per cent to ing to trade our climate for their profts. Te process and so is the solution. McCluskey’s 42 per cent in 2010, ahead of right-wing candidates Les Bayliss and Gail Cartmail. leaves huge quantities of water and toxins running Te fght to stop climate chaos can become a cat- Tis time, McCluskey’s main opposition will come from the right, angered by his support for into streams and lakes, leading to fammable rivers alyst for a better world. Te expropriation of the Jeremy Corbyn in this summer’s Labour leadership election. West Midlands regional secretary and even tap water. Tis has caused public health energy multinationals can provide the fnances and Gerard Coyne will be their sole candidate, receiving support from many of the right-wing Labour disasters, as many of the chemicals used are highly the technical know-how to control humanity’s en- MPs who tried to force Corbyn to resign in July. carcinogenic. ergy production and its environmental conse- Tis election will therefore not just be about the leadership of one particular union, but about Te landscape too becomes littered with drilling quences. A democratically drawn up energy plan the future of the labour movement as a whole. Whatever our criticisms of McCluskey’s record - platforms and heavy goods vehicles. In the US 15 would also involve huge infrastructure projects to including his failure to defend jobs at Grangemouth refnery in November 2013 - socialists in the million people now live within a mile of a well, and create jobs and housing. Only by linking these two party and in Unite should support McCluskey against the right on this occasion. the volume of railcars transporting fuel has in- in an active, living movement can we succeed in ei- Te campaign will run from March 2017 and end on 28 April next year. creased from about 9,500 in 2008 to about 400,000 ther THE RED FLAG • ISSUE 9 • JANUARY 2017 7 INTERNATIONAL Trump’s victory and how he can be stopped Unite the resistance and build a new party of the American working class

to choose an abortion. Tis could herald a return BY ANDY YORKE to the dangers of backstreet abortions. LGBT peo- ple will face a likely erosion of recently won rights. ON 8 NOVEMBER Donald Trump rode a wave of Public sector trade unions in the 32 States with Re- anti-establishment anger to become the 45th pres- publican governors and legislatures are already ident of the United States in the bitterest campaign shackled by “right to work” anti-union laws. Now of modern times. Trump used blatant distortions they can expect Congress to generalise this legisla- and outright lies to convince voters that only he tion. was telling things as they are, only he recognised And, as we show below, Trump’s triumph threatens the suferings of ordinary Americans, only he to reverse the meagre advances made to tackle cli- dared lay the blame on the crooked, privileged es- mate change. tablishment in Washington and Wall Street. He had an ideal opponent in Hillary Clinton, the RESISTANCE very embodiment of this elite, Democrat or Repub- However, Trump already faces a wave of progres- lican. Presidents Bill Clinton, George Bush and sive anger. Students from state schools immediately Barack Obama had fostered neoliberal policies that took to the streets with the chant, “Not our Presi- have been downsizing US industries, jobs and dent!” when the result was announced. Tousands wages for 25 years. In doing so they had been of people, night afer night, protested in streets, steadily eroding their own electoral base and open- squares and campuses across the country. Plans ing the way for a populist demagogue like Trump. have been laid for demonstrations on Inauguration Day (20 January), including a women’s march on HARD RAIN GONNA FALL Washington. His Islamophobia, anti-Mexican racism and even Te key question is how to unite the various sectors revelations of his shameless misogyny attracted into powerful movement beyond the inauguration. certain strata. Above all they gained him free cov- To do that we need to bring the working class to erage in mainstream news outlets. Also he had the the forefront. support of the extreme right wing social media, Bernie Sanders has once again spoken at mass with Breitbart, a self-proclaimed organ of the sin- meetings in the universities, as he did before the ister “alt right” (the US far right), as a Trump cam- Democratic Party convention. He is calling for re- paigning tool. In the eyes of many it signalled a sistance but he is also continuing his profoundly president with the backbone to push through rad- wrong strategy of reforming the Democrats, which ical change and the return of better times – to TRUMP MAKING BASEBALL CAPS GREAT AGAIN led him to support Clinton. Tis inevitably means “Make America Great Again”. mean a perspective of continued dependence on Clinton’s counter-slogan, “America IS Great” went 2.5 million votes and only the undemocratic Elec- Trump’s America there will be tax cuts for the rich congressional Democrats and winning elections down like a lead balloon in many of the so-called toral College system gave him the presidency. But and welfare cuts for the poor. Black youths already rather than the kinds of mass action needed to rustbelt states and in small town America. It un- with Republicans in control of the White House, face racist cops murdering them with impunity. block every attack in the here and now. derscored how out of touch the Democrats were the Senate and the House of Representatives, work- Now Trump promises to increase police powers. If resistance is to be efective, it must not get sucked with the desperation and anger that has built up ers and the racially and socially oppressed face a Millions of “illegal” immigrants will fear the knock into the Democrats’ slipstream, only to be demo- from below. Millions, disgusted with both candi- massive attack over the next four years. on the door that leads to imprisonment and depor- bilised every two years when elections come dates, just stayed home, the root cause of her Already Trump’s victory unleashed a wave of thou- tation. Women will soon face a “pro-Life” Supreme around. To do this it must set as its goal the cre- defeat. sands of hate crimes and physical attacks aimed at Court that could reverse Roe vs Wade, the 1973 ation of a new party of the American working class, Trump victory was no landslide – indeed he lost by minorities, immigrants and LGBT people. In case that set a precedent legalising a woman’s right open to all those fghting back Climate scepticism captures the White House The need to combat climate change has never been more urgent

We need to create a climate change movement that BY CHRIS CLOUGH links the demands and needs we face today to chal- lenging the very economic basis of society. WHEN PRESIDENT-ELECT Donald Trump se- Companies that poison our air and they should lects one of the most notorious climate sceptics, be heavily taxed to compensate everyone who suf- Scott Pruit, to head the U.S. Environmental Pro- fers from their pollution. If there is money for jobs tection Agency (EPA) you know the planet is in and infrastructure in extraction projects then peo- trouble. Pruitt, is part of the team waging a legal ple should be able to decide it is spent on renew- action by 28 states against the EPA to halt Barack ables instead. If energy is used by everyone then it Obama’s Clean Power Plan, an attempt to curb should be accumulated and distributed democrat- greenhouse gas emissions from coal-fred power ically by everyone. Housing, job creation, public plants. transport, city planning and agriculture should all Of course this is no surprise. Trump in his cam- be planned with an eye to reducing emissions. paign declared climate change as “a total hoax” and But to achieve these aims requires a mass move- “bullshit”, even as a concept “made by and for the ment, one that links up the struggles of all sections Chinese”. of society. One that is capable of physically disrupt- Climate change is no longer a theory espoused ing and shutting down the activities of the fossil by fringe elements You know this when the World shareholders invest based on these reserves earning fuels market already in existence. fuel companies, as the Standing Rock Sioux have Bank says in a study “We're on track for a 4C them a proft. Te problem with this is that those Since climate change became undeniable in been doing successfully in North Dakota. warmer world marked by extreme heat waves, de- reserves equal fve times the amount of CO2 we 1988 we have consistently produced more CO2 Tis cannot mean a return to the past or the clining global food stocks, loss of ecosystems and can pump into the atmosphere to remain below year afer year. In fact emissions are around 61 per utopia of a “zero growth” economy. Of course biodiversity, and life threatening sea level 2C. cent higher than in 1990. Te very fact that they much “growth” is not growth in the well-being of rises...there is no certainty that adaptation to a 4C Anything above 2C would lead to sea level rises spent the last 30 years holding toothless climate humanity, but only of profts and the wealth of the world is possible.” afecting major cities around the world, acidifca- conferences only to break their own feeble prom- a tiny minority of the super rich. Te study also discusses how a rise to 2C (which tion of the oceans leading to plummeting food ises means that there is now no alternative, no But the great majority if people of the world do we are already dangerously close to) could be a tip- stocks and desertifcation of entire regions. Tis gradual market based approach, no quick-fx tech not have a superabundance of the things needed to ping point where a relatively small change in our would in turn result in untold disruption to solution to save the day. make a decent life. We need to plan for an increase climate triggers unexpected and irreversible economies and produce tens of millions of refugees Either humanity makes a drastic change that in these things but in a way that takes acoount of changes to the system as a whole that creates a run- on a scale never before witnessed. Nevertheless rapidly switches to renewable energy or we unleash the environment in which we live and how to pre- away process that we cannot turn back from. they keep on drilling. untold devastation. Te only people who are capa- serve, indeed restore and improve it. It almost certainly has a lot to do with Trump Tey do this not out of ignorance or malice but ble of doing this are those who will be most nega- Climate change can be used as a catalyst to justify being in the pocket of the most proftable industry because the competitive logic of capitalism drives tively efected by climate change- the poor of the transformative actions that move away from capital- on earth – the extraction of fossil fuels - coal, oil, them to. Tey cannot cease to make proft. Te world, and most importantly their most organised ism and towards a system that democratically con- gas. Tese companies posses proven reserves market will not magically move towards renewable section - the working class. trols economic life, safeguarding our environment in amounting to 2795 gigatons of carbon dioxide, and energy when there is an intensely proftable fossil Te stakes are high and we have no time to lose. the process - that system is socialism NO. 9 • JANUARY 2017 • PRICE £1.00 • REDFLAGONLINE.ORG THEREDFLAG Endgame for Syrian revolution

Aleppo, with its large urban work- BY MARCUS HALABY ing class and vibrant civil society or- ganisations, acted as a source of DONALD TRUMP’S election on 8 restraint on forces like the Nusra November was welcomed in Moscow Front, with mass protests occasionally and Damascus. It was taken as the forcing a climbdown on unpopular green light to wipe out what remains measures and preventing them from of the resistance to the rule of Syrian being able to exercise exclusive control dictator Bashar al-Assad. in the “liberated zones”. A fnal, unremitting ofensive was Its loss will exacerbate the already launched on the remaining rebel-held visible trend of some of the armed fac- eastern portion of Aleppo, Syria’s tions towards unaccountability and a largest city. As before, this has in- reactionary domination by “extreme” volved a merciless slaughter of civil- Islamist factions over the civil society ians, 700 people being killed in the last that they claim to protect. Tese fac- ten days of November. tions will still be able to access re- Leafets dropped from the air sources from the native and Syrian warned besieged inhabitants that the expatriate business communities in world had “abandoned them”, and that Saudi Arabia and Qatar. they faced “slaughter” if they remained It will also increase Turkey’s infu- in their homes. Russian Foreign Min- ence over that wing of the opposition ister Sergei Lavrov echoed this on 6 that is friendly to it, in turn allowing December, saying, “If somebody re- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdo- fuses to leave on good terms, he will gan to divert his rebel protégés away be eliminated.” from fghting Assad and towards an By 27 November, pro-regime forces ethnic chauvinist turf war with the succeeded in splitting the rebel-held Kurdish YPG militia, the Turkish areas of the city in two, forcing 20,000 state’s real enemy in Syria. of the 250,000 people besieged there And like the Palestinian refugees in to fee. Te rebel enclave has now been the 1950s and 1960s, many of Syria’s reduced to a third of its previous size refugees will want to pursue a struggle and is completely surrounded. to return to their homes and lands, Refugees from eastern Aleppo have under the protection of an armed been placed in internment camps, ASSAD AND PUTIN HAVE DESTROYED ALEPPO IN ORDER TO ‘SAVE’ IT force recruited from amongst their with men between the ages of 18 and ranks. 40 separated from their families, some of them forcibly conscripted into the human rights. Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, the former eye to its Nato ally Turkey’s repression WHERE NEXT? regime’s fghting forces. Most of these Teir policy, however, is to accept Nusra Front, had become an integral of its own Kurdish minority. Military defeat for the remnants of refugees will not be allowed to return such brutality as the price to be paid part of the rebel forces. US attempts to Te anti-war movement in the West the revolutionary forces is now loom- to their homes, just as the refugees for avoiding the destruction of the to- create a “moderate” or secular force has failed to expose and oppose the ing, even if it is still premature to say from Darayya and Moadamiyeh in the talitarian Baathist apparatus of repres- also failed miserably. real actions of our governments. It that there is nothing left to defend of Damascus suburbs will not. sion. Tat is the lesson they have What little aid has reached opposi- has, in efect, believed that the US and the popular uprising that began so Around half of Syria’s population learned from the US interventions in tion factions has generally gone to its allies really were intent on bringing heroically almost six years ago. How- have now been driven from their Iraq and Libya. forces like the Kurdish YPG-led Syr- down Assad and his regime and con- ever, Assad has wrecked his own homes, while pro-regime, sectarian True, Obama did come close to ian Democratic Forces or the US-cre- centrated on opposing such a policy. country and his regime rests on for- militia fghters from Iran, Iraq, bombing Assad when his “red line” ated New Syrian Army, whose Organisations like the Stop the War eign armed forces. The social and po- Afghanistan, Yemen, Lebanon and was crossed in August 2013 by Assad’s exclusive mission is to fght the Is- Coalition have seen a replay of the litical contradictions within the Pakistan are being encouraged to set- use of chemical weapons in a Damas- lamic State, not the Assad regime. Bush-Blair invasions and occupations regions he rules are likely to burst tle their families in strategically-lo- cus suburb, with the death of 1,500 Elsewhere, the collapse of the resist- of Iraq and Afghanistan as the single forth the moment they withdraw. cated neighbourhoods. Tis forced civilians, including 400 children. He ance to Assad in the south of the biggest danger. Tey have ignored the The task of socialists in the West expulsion of whole communities op- drew back then, because military in- country is partly a result of US at- actual atrocities of the regime and should neither be to encourage their posed to Assad’s continued rule tervention would have threatened the tempts to divert the Southern Front of Russia and refused to defend the Syr- own governments’ interventions nor should be considered ethnic cleansing, nuclear deal with Iran. Instead he ac- the Free Syrian Army away from an ian revolutionaries. It must be said to “accept” the victory of Assad, Rus- if not genocidal, in its intention. Its cepted a face saving Russian media- attempted relief of the rebel-held that Jeremy Corbyn has taken the sia and Iran as a lesser evil. Rather, similarity to the Zionists' driving out tion to secure the UN-monitored Damascus suburbs and towards fght- same line. we must expose and oppose the ac- of the Palestinians is striking. removal of the regime's chemical ing the Nusra Front. tions of all of the imperialist powers weapons. Te US and its allies have engaged ENDGAME and their regional allies engaged in IMPERIALIST INTERVENTION Ten, on 30 September 2015, when in a complex and unstable game of al- If Aleppo falls and Assad forces push this conflict, first and foremost our However loud their hypocritical Russian warplanes intervened mas- ternating cooperation and rivalry with west to Idlib, surviving Syrian rebel own. claims to support a transition to sively to prop up the retreating and Assad’s Russian protectors. Teir real forces may turn towards a purely rural Our support must go instead to “democracy” in Syria, Western gov- shaken Assad forces, direct US in- priorities have been their oil interests guerrilla war rather than the hopeless Syrian socialist and democratic ernments are entirely complicit in this. volvement could have turned into a in Iraq and the USA’s developing rap- task of defending densely populated forces, many driven into exile in Eu- Of course, US President Barack clash between the two nuclear powers. prochement with Iran. Tis has gone urban neighbourhoods from starva- rope or neighbouring countries, Obama and his Secretaries of State But Obama became ever more deter- alongside an efective partition of the tion sieges and mass murder from the helping and encouraging them to re- Hillary Clinton and John Kerry have mined not to arm the rebels with the country, with the USA posing as a sky. Tis will inevitably mean a change build a working class political organ- been loud in their denunciations of anti-aircraf missiles that could bring “protector” of Kurdish autonomy in in the social base of that struggle and, isation that can prepare the rebirth of Assad and Putin for their violations of down Putin’s warplanes, especially as northern Syria, while turning a blind with that, in its political dynamic. the Syrian revolution