In the recent federal elections the far-right AfD was able to reach sections of the working class on issues over which the left is divided and unable to articulate a coherent position, a situation that is replicated in a number of other European countries, argues NICK WRIGHT
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An error occurred while searching, try again later.Rent hikes threaten the institution of council housing
Above-inflation rent increases will push council tenants deeper into poverty while failing to address the housing crisis — and it won’t really raise any money, as council rent arrears are doubling across the country, argues MARTIN WICKS
JULIE SHERRY looks ahead to this weekend’s Stand Up to Racism and trade unions conference that will play a vital part in developing the urgent anti-fascist fightback
Linda Pentz Gunter talks to Anglo-Palestinian author GHADA KARMI Ghada Karmi about why she still believes a one-state solution remains the only acceptable outcome if Palestinians and Israelis are to live in peace
It’s sunny times for the solar industry which is expected to continue to grow rapidly — but there are still major environmental issues with how solar cells are made, explain ROX MIDDLETON, LIAM SHAW and MIRIAM GAUNTLETT
After years of struggle in the MAS party, the mass movement of left-wing peasants and workers has founded a new party, with former president Evo Morales as its candidate for the summer’s elections, writes CINDY FORSTER
Sixty years after his murder, it is up to all of us to defy ruling-class attempts to sanitise or distort his revolutionary legacy by upholding his deep understanding of capitalism’s ties to racism and empire, writes ISAAC SANEY
As we face savage cuts to our pay and conditions while the executive gravy train chugs on, Unite is putting the Scottish government on notice as workers prepare for a massive wave of resistance, writes DEREK THOMSON
RATHER than proposing to increase the financial pressure on tenants with above-inflation rent increases, councils should be seeking the support of tenants in a campaign for the government to fund Housing Revenue Accounts (HRAs) sufficiently to maintain and improve existing homes.
Support for the government’s proposal for five years of above-inflation rent increases for council and housing association tenants is almost universal with housing associations and is even supported by some councils that have signed the document Securing the Future of Council Housing.
London councils are calling for 10 years of CPI plus 1 per cent. Clearly, councils are short of the funding they need to maintain and improve their homes. Yet above-inflation increases are, in our view, short-sighted and counter-productive. It will further impoverish already poor tenants who do not have their rent covered by housing benefit.
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Labour’s about to shift cost of new housing onto tenants, writes MARTIN WICKS arguing instead for cancelling the councils' HRA debt
MARTIN WICKS argues that the government’s reduced discounts for council house purchases don’t go far enough, and we need to be calling for the complete abolition of this regressive Thatcherite policy
It’s high time for England to follow Scotland and Wales in ending the privatisation of collectively owned housing. MARTIN WICKS explains why
Local councils — some of which now need four times the normal funding — must have their debts waived by central government, argues MARTIN WICKS