Socialist Equality Party (Britain)

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Socialist Equality Party (UK) public meetings: General Election 2010

April 8, 2010

Meet the candidates

• No cuts in pay, jobs or services

• End the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan

• Break with Labour—for a new socialist party

• Build international workers’ unity

• For a workers’ government and socialist policies

Wednesday April 28, 7pmFriends’ Meeting House(rear of Manchester Central Library)6 Mount Street,M2 5NS

Saturday May 1, 4pmOxford Town HallSt Aldates,OX1 1BX

“It was industrialised slaughter on an unimaginable scale”

November 1, 2009

On October 11 in London, the European sections of the International Committee of the Fourth International held a joint meeting on the lessons of the Second World War. We publish below the remarks made by veteran Trotskyist and SEP (UK) Central Committee member Barbara Slaughter.

I am part of an ageing generation that lived through the Second World War. I grew from childhood to adulthood under conditions of war. But until I joined the Trotskyist movement in 1958, I had no real understanding of the issues involved in that conflict or why it was fought.

I remember very clearly a conversation I had, at the age of 12, with a school friend two or three days before war broke out. We were sitting on a fence and she told me that her dad had said there wouldn’t be a war and I insisted that my dad had said that there would. Within days of having that conversation, I was standing in the yard of my school, lining up with other children to be evacuated out of the city of Leeds, and my mother was outside the railings weeping and wondering if she would ever see me again.

It was then only 21 years since the end of the World War I, the so-called “war to end all wars.” But this was a war of a different character even from that bloody conflict.

A political and industrial offensive against Labour government is required

October 30, 2009

Striking postal workers in Britain are involved in a fundamental political struggle, against not just Royal Mail but also the Labour government.

As national strike action continues, the various measures advanced as a means of forcing Royal Mail and the government to back down by the Communication Workers Union (CWU) have failed.

The central role in attempting to get the strike off the agenda is being played by the Trades Union Congress (TUC). Royal Mail refused to enter discussions with the arbitration body ACAS unless all planned strike action was called off beforehand. The TUC immediately offered its services as an alternative mediator in talks presided over by its general secretary, Brendan Barber.

Despite the best efforts of the TUC and CWU to reach a deal with Royal Mail, the company maintained its position that strike action must first be halted and offered no significant concession in plans that the CWU estimates will mean up to 45,000 job losses.

Britain: Postal workers face a political struggle against Labour government

October 19, 2009

Postal workers confront a coordinated campaign to defeat their strike in defence of jobs and conditions, drawn up and executed by Royal Mail and the Labour government.

Management has recruited 30,000 temporary workers as the centrepiece of a scabbing operation that also involves management personnel who are members of the Unite union. TNT, Britain’s largest private mail operator, is seeking the right to permanently use its own employees to deliver mail door-to-door by offering their assistance to the government to break the strike.

A leaked “Strategic Overview” from the Royal Mail states that it wants to utilize the strike as an “enabler” of its aims—the destruction of tens of thousands of jobs and the imposition of speed-up in preparation for the part-privatization of letter deliveries. Management wants to slash staffing levels by up to 40 percent. Some 16,000 jobs are reported to be at risk. Royal Mail has already shed 50,000 jobs since 2002.

Socialist Equality Party Manifesto for the 2010 British general election

April 5, 2010

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown is expected to ask for the dissolution of Parliament today, in preparation for a general election on May 6.

The Socialist Equality Party of Britain is standing two candidates. David O’Sullivan, 46, will be standing in Oxford East. Born in London, he has been active in socialist politics since 1984. Formerly a mechanical engineer at Rolls Royce, Watford, until its closure, he now works on the London Underground. He is married with six children and one grandchild.

Robert Skelton, 40, will be standing in Manchester Central. He was born and lives in Manchester. Active in socialist politics since 1988, he writes regularly for the World Socialist Web Site, covering workers’ struggles across Europe. He was formerly employed in call centre work until becoming a full-time carer.

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• No cuts in pay, jobs or services• End the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan• Break with Labour—for a new socialist party• Build international workers’ unity• For a workers’ government and socialist policies

The Socialist Equality Party calls for a vote for our candidates, who are standing to prepare an independent political movement of the working class against austerity, militarism and war.

The task facing British workers

May 14, 2010

Workers in Britain face the biggest struggles in generations against a Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition set on imposing budget cuts, the likes of which have not been seen since the 1930s.

Tory Party leader David Cameron assembled his first cabinet meeting with the declaration that his government was getting “down to business”. Shortly afterwards, Foreign Secretary William Hague flew to Washington to pledge the government’s continued support for the war in Afghanistan, which is opposed by three-quarters of Britons.

The coalition government has declared its priority to be tackling the UK’s ￡163 billion deficit, accrued largely as a result of the multi-billion pound bailout of Britain’s banks.

It has outlined just some of the ￡6 billion in cuts, in addition to the ￡15 billion previously set out by Labour, that will be the subject of an emergency budget in July.

This rapid escalation in the attacks on jobs, living standards and public services was given the blessing of Bank of England governor Mervyn King, while the Tory Spectator magazine spoke of “Irish-style spending cuts to come.”

Perspectives

Once more on the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition

May 19, 2010

Below we publish a complaint by a supporter of the Socialist Party of England and Wales regarding the Socialist Equality Party statement “After the General Election: The task facing British workers,” followed by a reply.

Peter Playdon writes:

“The General Election saw these organisations grouped in the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition pledge their support for the re-election of the Labour government.” This statement is entirely false, and I don’t believe you could offer any quotations from TUSC candidates to support it. TUSC & the Socialist Party have consistently argued that workers need a new party to represent them and have offered working-class voters an alternative to Labour.

Our position on any change back towards socialism within the Labour Party is that it is highly unlikely (McDonnell couldn’t even get on the ballot last time due to the tiny number of left Labour MPs), but that IF it happened, it would of course be a positive step, and yes, if the Labour party re-constituted itself as a pro-workers party we might seek to re-enter it in order to work within it. This is no way equals supporting the re-election of New Labour or its pro-capitalist policies, and for you to say so is false and misleading.

Socialist Equality Party in Britain holds meetings: A socialist programme against mass austerity

August 15, 2010

The Socialist Equality Party in Britain held two meetings last week, part of a series advancing a socialist programme to oppose the massive austerity cuts outlined by the Conservative-Liberal Democrat government.

The meetings, held in Manchester on August 10 and London on August 11, were called under the heading, “A socialist policy against mass unemployment and cuts”. The meeting in Manchester was addressed by longstanding Socialist Equality Party member Chris Talbot and the London meeting by David O’Sullivan, the SEP’s candidate for Oxford East in the May General Election.

Speaking in Manchester, Chris Talbot said, “As the advert for our meetings says, the coalition has announced the most savage public spending cuts in Europe. Every day some new attack is announced. As I am sure you are all aware of them, I’ll just summarize some of the main features.

“As much as £100 billion will be cut by 2015. There will be a three-year public sector pay freeze, pay cuts, tax rises, and attack on pensions. As many as 1.3 million jobs will be lost. Official unemployment will soar to between 3 and 4 million. One in four graduates will end up without jobs.

Oppose the witch-hunt of student protesters in Britain

November 12, 2010

The Socialist Equality Party and the International Students for Social Equality call on working people and students to oppose the vicious witch-hunt of those involved in the anti-education cuts protest at Conservative Party HQ. Its aim is to criminalise any serious manifestation of dissent and opposition to the government’s brutal austerity measures.

The events of November 10 at Millbank Tower were relatively minor instances of vandalism and trespass. The damage is nothing in comparison to the real economic vandalism being carried through by the Conservative-Liberal Democrat government. Through its austerity measures it has set out to destroy the livelihoods and essential social provisions on which working people depend, while filling the coffers of the banks and super-rich.

Yet those arrested―and potentially hundreds of others who will now be hunted down by the police using CCTV and news footage―are now portrayed as a major threat to “law and order”. Young people―many of them taking part in their first protest―are savaged by the media as violent thugs and hooligans.

For a mass movement against austerity! For a workers’ government on socialist policies!

November 14, 2010

The Socialist Equality Party is convening a series of public meetings, as the basis for instigating a politically independent mass social movement against austerity.

The public spending cuts of £83 billion being imposed by the Conservative/Liberal Democrat government will devastate the lives of millions. At stake are the destruction of social provisions and the onset of mass unemployment, poverty and homelessness on a scale not seen since the 1930s.

The claim that austerity is the price to be paid for returning Britain to “prosperity” is a fraud. The cuts are a direct result of the £1.5 trillion bailout of the UK banks that was carried out in the aftermath of the 2008 global financial crash—the equivalent of Britain’s entire annual GDP. In the United States alone, the total cost of the bank bailouts and various stimulus programmes is projected to reach at least $12 trillion, i.e., more than the total cost to every nation of waging the Second World War.