Socialist Fight No. 19 February March 2015 Price: Waged £2 (€3) Concessions: 50p (€1) Ukraine’s demoralised army retreats from Debaltseve,18 Feb. 2015, after defeat by the Donbass Militias See p. 26 No elephant in the room but a potential combined rival power bloc: Russia’s Vladimir Putin and Ukraine’s Petro Poroshenko shake hands in Minsk on 11 Feb. 2015. From the left Belarussia’s Alexander Lukashenko, France’s François Hollande and German’s Ange- la Merkel are the other actors in this all European drama which excluded Obama and Cameron the heads, or any representatives at all, of Anglo-American imperialism. Leon Trotsky: I am confident of the victory of the Fourth International; Go Forward! 2 Socialist Fight Where We Stand Socialist Fight is a member of 1.WE STAND WITH KARL MARX: which subordinate the working class the Liaison Committee for the ‘The emancipation of the working to the political agenda of the petty- Fourth International with the classes must be conquered by the bourgeois reformist leaders of the La- Liga Comunista of Brazil and working classes themselves. The strug- bour party and trade unions the Tendencia Militante Bol- gle for the emancipation of the work- 5. We support the fight of all the spe- chevique of Argentina. ing class means not a struggle for class cially oppressed; Black and Asian, Editor: Gerry Downing privileges and monopolies but for women, lesbians and gay men, bisexu- Assistant Editor: John Barry equal rights and duties and the aboli- als and transgender people against Editorial Board: tion of all class rule’ (The Internation- discrimination in all its forms and their Alan Hunter, Carl Zacharia, al Workingmen’s Association 1864, right to organise separately in that Ailish Dease, Chris Williams, General Rules). fight in society as a whole. In particu- Clara Rosen and Aggie 2.The capitalist state consists, in the lar we defend their right to caucus McCallum. last analysis, of ruling-class laws within inside trade unions and in working Contact: a judicial system and detention centres class political parties. Socialist Fight: PO Box 59188, overseen by the armed bodies of po- 6.We recognise that class society, and London, NW2 9LJ, lice/army who are under the direction capitalism as the last form of class [email protected]. and are controlled in acts of defence society, is by its nature patriarchal. In Liga Comunista, Brazil: http:// lcligaco- of capitalist property rights against the that sense the oppression of women is munista.blogspot.co.uk/ interests of the majority of civil socie- different from all other forms of op- Voice of Anti-Capitalism in ty. The working class must overthrow pression and discrimination. Because Guildford: the capitalist state and replace it with a this social oppression is inextricably http://suacs.wordpress.com/ workers’ state based on democratic tied to private property, and its inher- Signed articles do not necessarily soviets/workers’ councils to suppress itance, to achieve full sexual, social represent the views of the SF EB the inevitable counter-revolution of and economic freedom and equality private capitalist profit against planned for all we need to overthrow class so- production for the satisfaction of so- ciety itself. Subscribe to Socialist cialised human need. 7.We fight racism and fascism. We Fight and In Defence of 3.We recognise the necessity for revo- support the right of people to fight Trotskyism lutionaries to carry out serious ideo- back against racist and fascist attacks logical and political struggle as direct by any means necessary. Self-defence Four Issues: UK: £12.00, EU: participants in the trade unions is no offence! We support ‘No Plat- £14.00 (always) and in the mass reformist form’ for all fascists but never call on Rest of the World: £18.00 social democratic bourgeois workers’ the capitalist state to ban fascist parties despite their pro-capitalist lead- marches or parties; these laws would Send donations to help in erships when conditions are favoura- inevitably primarily be used against their production ble. Because we see the trade union workers’ organisations, as history has bureaucracy and their allies in the La- shown. bour party leadership as the most fun- 8.We oppose all immigration controls. Join Socialist Fight damental obstacle to the struggle for International finance capital roams the power of the working class, outside of planet in search of profit and Imperi- Would you like to join Social- the state forces and their direct agen- alist governments disrupts the lives of ist Fight or learn more about cies themselves, we must fight and workers and cause the collapse of our work and revolutionary defeat and replace them with a revolu- whole nations with their direct inter- politics? tionary leadership by mobilising the vention in the Balkans, Iraq and Af- Contact us at the above email base against the pro-capitalist bureau- ghanistan and their proxy wars in So- cratic misleaders to open the way for- malia and the Democratic Republic of ward for the struggle for workers’ the Congo, etc. Workers have the Abridged statements and the power. right to sell their labour internationally full 26 points of the political 4.We are fully in support of all mass wherever they get the best price. Only programme of the Socialist mobilisations against the onslaught of union membership and pay rates can Fight Group can be found at this reactionary Con-Lib Dem coali- counter employers who seek to exploit our blog here: tion. However, whilst participating in immigrant workers as cheap labour to this struggle we will oppose all policies undermine the gains of past struggles. Leon Trotsky: I am confident of the victory of the Fourth International; Go Forward! 3 Contents Editorial: Spectres Haunting Miliband.Page 4 Why Socialist Fight is launching a series on Heartless Council leader Mo Butt, Evicted Marxist philosophy………………..….Page 19 family left stranded……………..……...Page 6 Review of American Sniper…….. ...…Page 20 Housing crisis, cuts in adult social care and Syriza, the populist petty bourgeoisie children’s services….…………….........Page 7 ……………………………………..…..Page 21 Unite’s London bus strikes were just not seri- The new US-Cuba agreement …….....Page 23 ous………………...………….………...Page 8 The Minsk Agreement and the fall of De- Keith Henderson to stand for GMB General baltseve……………………………..…Page 26 Secretary Election 2015………………..Page 9 Brokering a sell out to Kiev?………....Page 27 Jim Padmore Obituary…………..……Page 10 Socialist Fight analysis of political develop- Irish Republican Prisoners Support ....Page 11 ments in Ukraine……………...………Page 29 Who shot Michael Collins?..............…Page 12 Borotba 4: Statement …………….….Page 29 The Transitional Programme; its relevance For a Brazil United Front….………....Page 31 and application today ………………..Page 13 the Argentinean Nisman case……......Page 32 Sex Work: No client criminalisation…Page 16 Islamophobia is the racism de jour….Page 36 Socialist Fight Group Second Conference Socialist Fight Public Saturday 11 April 2015, Calthorpe Arms 252 Grays Inn Road, London, WC1X 8JR, Kings Cross underground, No 46 Bus towards City Meeting: Of London, 4 stops. Imperialism today, what it is and Agenda Day 1: Sat. 11 April 11am, (open sessions unless stated) 11am to 12 noon. Closed Session. how to fight the threat of WWIII International Perspectives: 12am—6pm and fascism: Session 1: 12.noon to 2pm Imperialism Today: Ukraine, Greece, ISIS, Are Russia and China Imperialist? the inter- Kurdistan and Cuba; national political nature of the struggle in Reading: LCFI statements collected in new IDOT 11 Ireland, north and south, what is the Anti 2 —2.30pm Lunch. Session 2: 2.30 —4pm: History of the Fourth International and Com- Imperialist United Front, what is the differ- munism: J. P Cannon, Gerry Healy, James Robertson and the “Spart fami- ence between the United Front and the Pop- ly”, Ted Grant CWI and IMT, Workers Power and LFI. ular Front domestically and internationally? Reading IDOT Numbers 1, 7,8, 10 (new OC and GD: Revolutionary Saturday 11 April, 7.30 pm – 10 pm, Communism: Lenin, Trotsky, Stalin or Mao?) and 12. (IDOT 12 to contain Calthorpe Arms, 252 Grays Inn Road, LH’s documents on the history of the FI) London. 4—4.20 pm Coffee break Session 3: 4.20-6.30 pm: Continue History of FI + The Marxist Theory of Speakers the State, The Continuity of Trotskyism. Latief Parker, Critique journal Editorial Board Reading: IDOT Numbers 6, 9 and 12. (IDOT 12 to contain LH’s docu- and former militant of the Unity Movement, ments on the history of the FI) South Africa Sunday 12 April: British Perspectives (change of venue) John McAnulty, Socialist Democracy, Ireland. Session 1: 10-12 Noon HaPe Breitman, International Bolshevik Ten- Trade Unions and the labour movement, Grass Roots Left, Labour party, dency LRC, Bolshie Youth - Youth Perspectives Michael Pröbsting, Revolutionary Communist Lunch 12 -1pm International Tendency Session 2: 1 to 3pm: Economic and political crisis in Ireland, Campaigns: Bridget Dunne, Secretary, Solidarity with Anti- Irish Republican Prisoners Support Group, Mumia Abu Jamal, Housing, fascist Resistance in Ukraine (SARU) Palestine Solidarity Campaign. Gerry Downing Secretary Socialist Fight Group Closed Session 3: 1-3pm Constitution, Where We Stand, Election of CC Chair: Ollie Coxhead Socialist Fight Group and SF Editorial board, International Conference in London in July. AOB. Leon Trotsky: I am confident of the victory of the Fourth International; Go Forward! 4 Editorial: Spectres are Haunting Miliband… d Miliband could win this election by a landslide if he E promised the working class an end to austerity or even if he promised any serious fightback at all against the bankers and transnational corporations that dominate global politics. When Tony Blair won the 1997 election he promised to respect John Major’s cuts agenda; his main concern was to dampen the ex- pectations of the working class.