Politicians who continue to welcome contracts with US companies without considering the risks and consequences of total dependency in the years to come are undermining the raison d’etre of the NHS, argues Dr JOHN PUNTIS
Are ‘the unions back’ as the TUC claims?
NIGEL FLANAGAN argues that despite the massive spike in strikes, workers must fight the long-term decline of the unions by building a ‘rank-and-file’ movement like that of the 1960s
MISH RAHMAN introduces the platform of a new organisation within Your Party, which will campaign for the highest level of democracy, accountability and participation, having learned from the mistakes of Labour in the 2015-19 era
The colonial mindset behind the governance of the UN is the reason for its inertia when it comes to conflict resolution, argues ROGER McKENZIE – but can China’s Global Governance Initiative point in a new direction of global equality?
ANDREW MURRAY wonders what the great communist foe of Oswald Mosley would make of today’s far-right surge, warning that while the triumph of Farage and ‘Robinson’ is far from inevitable, placing any faith in Starmer in an anti-fascist front is a fool’s errand
LOTTE COLLETT welcomes the arrival of a new party for the left, a vehicle for councils to finally fight for progressive policies on housing, green spaces and public facilities, rather than administering cuts and misery from central government
KEVAN NELSON reports back from a delegation to the epic celebrations for the anniversary of Vietnam’s 1945 revolution, where British communists found a thriving, prosperous socialist country, brimming with ambition and well-earned national pride
TODAY, hundreds of trade union delegates are gathering to look at the challenges and opportunities facing the movement on the back of the huge upsurge of strike action and industrial militancy since 2022. With 2.3 million strike days in 2022, the highest since the 1984-85 miners’ strike, and numerous national ballot successes, it seems that the unions are back.
Every night, the TV news has been covering strikes. All measures of public opinion show great support for strikers — on the railways and in the post service, not just nurses and doctors — and trade union general secretaries routinely embarrass bosses in televised debates about the cost-of-living crisis.
The activists who are attending this meeting are the people who have mobilised the yes votes and organised the pickets. Union members have stepped up and delivered yes votes and massive picket numbers.
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Community organising has been repeatedly shown to be ineffective – it’s time for a switch to industrial organising, based on socialist principles, writes NIGEL FLANAGAN
