Party Notes

August 31st 2010

From Bradford to the national demo in London
For the EDL, the Bradford protest was going to be the ‘Big One’. But it wasn’t, they only managed to put 800 – 1000 on the streets, far less than the 5,000 they predicted.
For UAF the day went about as well as could be hoped for. The argument for banning the EDL has been consigned to the dustbin. Also the argument that you can’t hold a demonstration in Bradford against racists and fascists without a riot taking place was also dispelled.
The fact that we held a protest at all was a victory – given that the government, police, council and others on the left all opposed such a protest.
At the end of the day around 1,500 people joined the UAF protest. Our protest was far bigger than the other counter events organised to weaken the UAF mobilisation. Around 250 attended the Searchlight vigil on Friday night and no more than 150 came to the joint council/police event on the Saturday.
It was also really good to see around 300 mainly young Asians have a real go at the EDL.
At the moment we are involved in a long war of attrition with the EDL – one which we are slowly winning. But if we are going to deliver a decisive blow we need much bigger mobilisations.
The question is how do we achieve this? Over the last 13 months the EDL have organised 30 protests around the country. That means on average UAF is organising over two protests counter protests a month. This is very exhausting on the organisation, scares many on the right of UAF and gives us very little time to broaden and rebuild the organisation.
Over the coming months we have to do two things. Firstly we have to build local UAF groups. The key to our successful mobilisations against the EDL in east London, Cardiff, Swansea and Glasgow is the fact we had well rooted groups with a broad range of supporters.
Secondly we need to see the national demonstration against Racism, Fascism and Islamophobia on the 6 November as part of the process of broadening UAFs base both nationally and locally.
The national demonstration is supported by the TUC and all major Muslim groups in the country. It will attract a much wider and diverse rage of people than the counter EDL protests. If we build a demo of 10,000 or more we will strengthen our base to resist the EDL and begin take up the wider political questions – Islamophobia and racism in general. We have already been approached by the Roma Council of Britain who would like to join the UAF protest.

• We sold over 170 SWs on the protest and we recruited 5 people to the SWP including a post worker and a nurse. Also we sold 215 copies of SW in the two days before the demonstration and 4 recruits.

Support Martin Smith: UAF supporters will gather outside the court on 7 September when Martin Smith faces a serious charge following the demo against British National Party leader Nick Griffin’s appearance on the BBC’s Question Time.
Martin, a national officer of UAF and national coordinator of Love Music Hate Racism, was arrested on the protest and has been charged with assaulting a police officer. He strenuously denies the charge.
Please join us outside the court to show support for Martin. The case involving a leading anti-fascist activist could also have implications for other anti-fascists in future. It is important to stand up for our right to protest against racism and fascism.

Join us: 9am Tuesday 7 September
South Western Magistrates Court, 176a Lavender Hill, London SW11 1JU

The court is just up the road from Clapham Junction rail station.

UPDATE – TUBE STRIKE: There is set to be a tube strike on the day of the hearing – use Clapham Junction rail station (5 mins from Waterloo or Victoria). Bus routes 35, 37, 39, 49, 77, 87, 156, 170, 219, 295, 319, 337, 344, 345, C3 and G1 all stop close to the court. Please allow extra time to travel by bus because it is rush hour and buses will be crowded during the strike.

All out to build Right to Work demo
George Osborne laid his cards on the table today announcing that some 25 percent of staff at his treasury department will go as part of the Con-Dem government’s cuts package. The public spending "star chamber" will meet again this week to finalise the cuts to be implemented in a number of government departments.
Meanwhile there are signs of a growing level of resistance.
London tube workers are set to strike. Alstom workers on London Underground will take 24 hours of strike action from 7pm on 5 September and the whole network will be hit from 5pm 6 September for 24 hours in a strike against 800 job losses.
Last week saw two huge mass meetings of London fire fighters heralding the possibility of strikes against the threat of mass sackings if the FBU don't sign up to new contracts. The FBU are set to hold a mass lobby of the London fire authority on 16 September. Tomorrow the result is announced of a ballot of the 5 BBC unions over attacks on pensions. And in Yorkshire thousands of council workers in Kirklees are due to ballot against 1,500 job losses.
On 15 September London bus workers will be lobbying City Hall against transport cuts (there were mass pickets by bus workers this weekend as part of a strike on pay against Stagecoach on Merseyside).
There is a just over a month to go until the Right to Work protest on 3 October in Birmingham at the Tory party conference. Support for the protest continues to grow...amongst the latest signatures to the statement backing the demo are Yasmin Qureshi MP for Bolton South East, Green Party GLA councillor Darren Johnson and Councillor Paul Bell from Lewisham.
We should be getting every activist, council and MP we can signed up to back the demo. You can sign up online at http://bit.ly/dwp8HBor
We are now at the crunch moment as far as the demonstration goes.
Much of the labour movement has been "asleep" over August. Now trade union branches and trades councils are back up and running.
This Friday Sheffield trades council has called a mass protest against Nick Clegg with Right to Work. That means we have to make sure that the Right to Work motion (available on the Right to Work website) backing the protest and calling for affiliation to the campaign is put at every possible trade union meeting this month. This is our one and only shot if we haven't done it already. Trade union branches/branch committees will start to meet this week so don’t get caught out!
We have to push for every Right to Work group to put on transport now if they haven’t already. If activists are worried about funding coaches the easiest way to get things done is to hire the coach and then fix the funding. It's a thousand times easier to get funding for a real coach from union branches and community groups than it is to get support for a vague idea!
We have to be visiting and phoning every possible workplace, community organisation and trades council to back the demo and come to the protest too.
Where-ever possible we should be getting to the FE colleges (students are registering now) and agitating for the demo.
With the outcry over the cuts in university places and more cuts to come most FE students know that government cuts could be condemning them to a life on the dole.
New posters and leaflets for the demonstration are out this week. We have to create the biggest possible atmosphere around the protest in every town and city in the country.
If we get the turn-out that’s possible the protest can set the tone for resistance this Autumn in the run up to the announcement of the Tories spending review on 20 October.

Important London Right to Work meeting, Thursday 9 September
Right to Work is calling a public meeting on the evening of Thursday 9 September in London to mobilise for the Birmingham protest and to build support for the action on London Underground and possible action in the colleges, fire stations, Royal Mail and at the BBC. The meeting will be at 7pm, Bloomsbury Central Baptist Church, 235 Shaftesbury Avenue, WC2H 8EP with speakers from RMT, NUJ, FBU, UCU and Right to Work. We should go all out across the capital to build this meeting to get the biggest possible turn out both to build support for the strikes but also to mobilise as widely as possible for the Right to Work protest.

“Building the resistance” day school, Saturday 18 September
With every worker facing enormous attacks from the Con-Dem government this event is crucial to arm SWP members for the fights ahead. Every comrade who is trying to operate in the workplaces should get along. There will be workshops tackling issues from the trade union bureaucracy and the rank and file to how to organise at work. There will also be a series of national union “fraction” meetings where we will re-elect fraction committees in each union to organise our work. There will be a pooled fare operating on the day of £15 so you shouldn’t worry about the cost of the event if you are coming from outside London as long as you book tickets early and get the cheapest possible fare. The booking form for the event is attached. Please email michaelb@swp.org.uk to let us know that you can make the event.
National Shop Stewards Network (NSSN) lobby of the TUC, Sunday 12 September
The National Shop Stewards Network has called a lobby of the TUC calling on Congress to announce the date for a national demonstration to defend the public sector. The lobby starts at 12 noon at the Manchester Convention Centre.
There is transport going from Bristol, Hull, Sheffield, Leeds, Wakefield, Huddersfield, South Wales, Newcastle and London. Contact details for transport are on the NSSN website. There will be good activists from many areas attending the lobby and so we should make sure that we have some of our key trade unionists on all of the transport. Manchester comrades should be mobilising for a good turn out on the day.

Socialist Worker appeal – help us raise £150,000
The Tory government and its vicious attacks on the welfare state have raised the stakes for the left. Socialist Worker intends to raise its game accordingly – to do that we need the appeal.
The sheer scale of the Con-Dem assault, combined with the ongoing need to resist the BNP and EDL, should mean that a very wide layer of people see the need for a paper like Socialist Worker and are thankful for our existence.
We have already received some very good quotes supporting the appeal (and donations) from figures like Tony Benn, from trade unionists including Mark Serwotka and Billy Hayes, and from left wing academics including Terry Eagleton and Istvan Meszaros.
Our anti-fascist work and our orientation against the Tory cuts have won us a lot of respect over the past year, while a very good Marxism has contributed to a high level of party pride amongst members.
This year, the appeal should fit in with the party’s general strategy and help to strengthen our branch organisation and our roots, as well as raising the £150,000 we need to keep SW fighting.

Every member matters
The bulk of appeal donations come from the members each year. But we need to go beyond the usual suspects. We can use the appeal to integrate new people who joined this year – a financial commitment is an important step in this process.
We also shouldn’t be shy about asking members for a bit more money. There is a lot of pride in the party at the moment, and a general understanding of the urgency of the fight against the Tories. If every member who gave £100 last year could give £120 we would make £5,000 more. If every member who gave £50 could give £60 that would be another £5,000.
The leaflet should have arrived through every member’s letterbox by now – so it’s time to start the ring-rounds.

Rebuilding a culture of workplace collections
There must be very few comrades who do not engage in political conversations at work – everybody is talking about the cuts, for example. But the number of comrades who sell the paper at work, or take petitions round, or collect for strikes, is far too few. We want to use the appeal to help change this.
Over the coming months every branch needs a hit-list of comrades who might be able to collect at work, and to have discussions in the branch about how to collect so that comrades feel confident about doing it. Workplace collections shouldn’t be seen as the preserve of a select few who have been in the party since the 70s – most comrades rant about the cuts while at work, and most workplaces have people who collect for other causes like Cancer Research. Some comrades find that the easiest way to collect at work is to ask people to sponsor them for eg a walk or bike ride.
Some may have one or two mates who will donate £20 or £30 each, others may be able to get a few quid off several people. Some might get nothing. But every comrade should try. As Lenin put it “A newspaper founded on the basis of five-kopek pieces collected by small factory circles of workers is a far more dependable, solid and serious undertaking (both financially and, most important of all, from the standpoint of the development of the workers’ democratic movement) than a newspaper founded with tens and hundreds of roubles contributed by sympathising intellectuals.” Of course we don’t say no to hundreds of roubles from sympathising intellectuals!

Union branch donations
Our focus on building Right to Work means we have more links with local trade unionists than we have had in a long time. We want to capitalise on these links.
The Tory government makes it much easier to ask trade unionists for a donation – rather than debating the merits and failings of Labour the discussions now focus on who will fight the Con-Dems, and why we need people’s money to keep up that fight.
Some union branches made donations for Marxism and we have done well around May Day greetings in recent years – this shows what is possible when we ask people for their support. Every comrade who is active in their trade union can submit a motion and we also need to approach trade unionists we work with about their branches too.

Events and Socials – an important part of building your branch
Every district should aim to hold at least one big fundraising event – which could involve film, music, comedy or anything else that works. Manchester and Leeds will host Omar Puente gigs, for example.
But each branch should also hold a few smaller scale fundraising socials through the period of the appeal. Someone could have people round to watch a film or for drinks, you could do a pub quiz. Chesterfield have a curry night each year which always does well, a comrade in Huddersfield has done a sponsored climb for the appeal in previous years, North London have a table football tournament each year

Appeal organisers
Every branch / district needs someone or a team of people who will oversee the appeal. This is the best way of making sure the ring-rounds and the events happen. But better organisation will also help to make sure that things like regular socials, meeting up with new members, and workplace collections don’t fall off the bottom of the to-do list. Getting these things that are sometimes considered ‘added extras’ right will mean that the appeal not only strengthens the party financially, but also strengthens us politically for the fights in the year ahead.
For any help or advice call the office on 020 7819 1190 or email appeal@socialistworker.co.uk.

Appeal launch event
We are proud to invite you to celebrate an inspiring win for our side at the launch event for the 2010 Socialist Worker Appeal…
CELEBRATE SOCIALIST WORKER &
CELEBRATE YUNUS BAKHSH’S VICTORY
Join us for an evening of political entertainment, with food, drink and stand-up comedy, all in an historic waterside building.
Saturday 18 September from 6pm
At the London Canal Museum, N1 9RT
.Tickets: * £15 (solidarity) * £12 (waged) * £6 (unwaged)
Call 020 7819 1190 or email appeal@socialistworker.co.uk to book a ticket.

Industrial notes
UNITE general secretary elections – vote Gerry Hicks: The nominations period for the UNITE General Secretary election closes this week. A candidate needs at least 50 nominations from branches and workplaces to make it on to the ballot paper. Jerry Hicks now has well in excess of 50 nominations and will definitely be on the ballot paper. Party members in UNITE have worked well to help Jerry’s campaign achieve this figure with comrades winning 29 nominations to date. We are currently verifying these nominations with Jerry and the Electoral Reform Society. We have also been helping organise delegation work, getting Jerry into some key workplaces, meeting new activists and raising Right to Work.
As the campaign moves on to the next stage we are well placed to help build the network around Jerry’s campaign and maximize his vote. Comrades are currently helping produce campaign material for leaflets and the website. The ballot doesn’t take place until 25th October. However, in the intervening period comrades should be continuing to organise workplace visits with Jerry to help reach a new layer of activists in UNITE and to help build local anti-cuts activity and the Birmingham Right to Work demonstration on 3 October.
Jerry Hicks can be contacted by email jerryhicks4gs2010@yahoo.co.uk.

Anti Academies in September: As the new term starts the Tories are having difficulties with Academies and Free Schools. No schools are opening as Academies this week, and only 160 have started the process. This despite Gove claiming thousands of schools were applying. Only 20 Free schools are expected to be ready for September 2011. This is a sign of the resistance that exists in education to an agenda of privatisation.
However the 160 schools are planning to become Academies in the next few months, and more will be watching to see what happens. In every Local Authority we need an urgent response of meetings, petitions, leaflettting schools and protests. We need to try to organise around every school that signs up to become an Academy.
There is a huge increase in the number of people and organisations who want to campaign. Over the summer the GMB held public meetings on Academies. UNISON branches have been getting involved. There are 30 public meetings already set up for September. Anybody involved in education can be asked to get involved.
Contact the Anti Academies Alliance for help campaigning at office@antiacademies.org.uk

Burston School Strike Rally, Sunday 5 September
Tony Benn, Len McCluskey, Chris Keates and Christine Blower are the headline speakers at this years Burston School strike rally. If you are attending the event please let us know at the industrial department julies@swp.org.uk

London Underground: Workers at Alstom on London Underground are set to start strike action over pay this Sunday (5 September) from 7pm (based at Golders Green, Morden and Stratford) while the whole network is set to be hit by strikes against the loss of 800 jobs from 5pm on Monday (6 September). We need to get into as many tube stations as possible with the attached “Trouble down the Line” flyers and Socialist Worker.
An updated Socialist Worker leaflet will be out later this week.

Firefighters: Last week saw 2 huge mass meetings held in London by the FBU. Every London firefighter faces the sack if they don’t sign up to new contracts and new shift patterns. The FBU is balloting firefighters for action short of a strike and if the fire authority does not back down by the end of the ballot (result out on 17 September) they will start to ballot for strike action. There will be a mass lobby of the London fire authority on 16 September from 12.30pm. We need to be getting into as many fire stations as possible across the country highlighting the importance of the London dispute.
We’ll update the Socialist Worker leaflet tomorrow and we should be using the fact that the London region of the FBU has backed the 3 October protest to build the demo amongst firefighters.

Kirklees Unison: Thousands of local government workers are to start a ballot for industrial action on 9 September in the face of 1,500 job losses being pushed through by the Labour council. An important protest in support of the Kirklees workers has been called on Saturday 11 September, 12.30pm, St George’s Sq Huddersfield (outside the main train station).
This will be a crucial battle over jobs and we need to get delegations from across Yorkshire to the demo and we should be pushing for delegations of local government workers from across the country. Messages of support from trade union branches should be rushed to nickruff45@aol.com

BBC ballot: The result of the BBC pension’s ballot will be out tomorrow. With a positive result expected action could begin soon. A new leaflet for BBC workplaces will be out on Wednesday.

SWP meetings and caucuses
Palestine: Next month will see the next Viva Palestina land convoy leave for Gaza. The question of boycott, disinvestment and sanctions against Israel will be discussed at the TUC and will be a prominent issue when students return from their holidays. In order to discuss our strategy and interventions we will be holding a national SWP caucus for comrades involved in work around Palestine.
London: Sunday 12 September 11.30am venue tbc.
Every district needs to send a comrade. Please email juditho@swp.org.uk with names of those attending.

SWP Party Council:
Sunday 19 September, 11 am – 4.30 pm, Central London
Each branch is entitled to send 2 delegates to Party Council. These need to be elected at a branch meeting as soon as possible.
Please let the National Office know who your delegates are and if they require accommodation (please note the Party Council takes place the day after the SWP TU Day School so some comrades may want to go to both).
There will be a delegate fee of £15 per delegate. Transport costs will be refunded. Branches and districts should book the cheapest possible transport now. We cannot afford to refund fares at full cost.

SWP Climate Caucus
Sat 18th September
5.30pm, (after the TU Day School)
This is a caucus for all comrades involved in climate work to discuss the Climate Jobs Campaign as well as wider environmental issues and initiatives. If you would like to come or require further information please email Martin on swpmre@yahoo.com or get in touch with the National Office.

September Socialist Review out now!
TORIES DECLARE WAR: From playgrounds to pensions... is nothing safe? Judith Orr looks at how the government is using the crisis and the drive to reduce the budget deficit as an opportunity. They want to shift the balance of power in British society in favour of capital and break up the very basis of social provision that is the welfare state. We examine whether the Tories’ austerity measures might increase the likelihood of a double dip recession and what the possibilities of resistance are.
This is an issue that can be sold everywhere as we build for the RtW protest in Birmingham, bring copies as you do workplace delegation work, sales, stalls, and student groups getting ready for Freshers Fairs should call the office to set up an order.
Also this month: we have reports and analysis from Pakistan about the floods—how government intervention has protected military and other official installations over people’s homes while the only functioning airfield on a US airbase won’t allow aid flights. Dave Crouch analyses what soldiers’ own accounts of the war in Afghanistan expose about the horror of war. Ron Margulies writes from Turkey where after rounding on Israel for its attack on the Gaza aid flotilla, the government is attempting constitutional reform. And Jeffrey Webber gives an eye witness account of the inspiring mass revolt in Bolivia which is testing the Morales government’s radical credentials.
Has your branch made its order? Call now if you are not sure. It’s still £1.50 each when you order ten or more, and £2 for nine and under.
Email office@socialistreview.org.uk, call 020 7819 1176. Make sure you are all up to date with your bulk order payments!

Bookmarks news
Author event at Bookmarks
New Author Merilyn Moos will talk about her novel The Language of Silence,
6.30 pm Wed 8th September
To reserve free space events@bookmarks.uk.com 0207 637 1848
Bookmarks Trade Union Branch Library: Reading has always been an important part of the working class movement. To build on this tradition and the tradition of political trade unionism we have created the Bookmarks Trade Union Branch Library service which will be launched at TUC Congress. Every union branch has a spare shelf and we can help turn that small space into a vibrant resource for TU members, from the history of class struggle to the facts and figures to arm activists today. Please see attached flyer. Any Trade Unionist is welcome to take books to a Union meeting, sale or return.
Is anyone going to the European Hazards Conference in Leeds 10-12 Sept who could run a small bookstall?
Please contact sarah@bookmarks.uk.com

Tom Behan – 1957 – 2010
It is with great sadness that I have to inform comrades that Tom Behan died on Monday. Tom was a member of the party for over 30 years. He played an invaluable role in the protests in Genoa and he was responsible for bringing over Carlo Guiliani’s mother to speak at numerous political events in Britain.
His writings on Italy – especially on Mussolini, the Resistance Movement and the Mafia are just wonderful and should be read by everyone. He will be greatly missed. An obituary for Tom will be in next week’s Socialist Worker.