TUC get off your knees - lobby on Sept 11th

Three quarters of a million went on strike on June 30th in a massive
show of strength against a concerted attempt by the Tory and Liberal
Democrat partners of this millionaire government to make workers pay
for the bankers? greed. Powerful demonstrations up and down the
country brought thousands, including many young workers onto the
streets in big cities and small towns, many for the
first time, determined to defend pensions, and to stop the immediate
huge pay cuts that the pension changes would mean.

We believe that 30th June was the opening salvo. To win we need to
turn this threequarters of a million into 4-5 million in the next
round of industrial action in the autumn, involving all public sector
unions, and thereby scuppering the machinations of the government to
drive a wedge into the trade union movement between the NUT, UCU, ATL
and PCS and the other three big unions Unison, Unite and GMB. Defence
of pensions has proved a unifying factor so far, and one of our best
opportunities to all come together, and collectively force Cameron and
Clegg into a massive U-turn.

To this end the National Shop Stewards Network (NSSN) is organising a
lobby of the TUC Conference in London on September 11th 2011.

We will be handing in a petition calling on the TUC General Council to
call for and coordinate a one-daystrike of all public sector unions as
the next step in this struggle.

The assembly point will be at Friends Meeting House, Euston Road,
London NW1 2BJ at 1:30pm for an indoor rally which will be addressed
by union leaders, including PCS General Secretary Mark Serwotka,
alongside shop stewards and workplace reps involved in the pension
struggle.

The NSSN is encouraging all trade unionists to attend the rally and
the lobby as well as signing the petition at
www.shopstewards.net/sign. Why not use the text of the petition as the
basis of a branch resolution which you could forward to the TUC
general council to help keep the pressure up?

We would be grateful if you could circulate information about this
event around your trade union
branch, attend yourself and encourage others to do so. We would also
encourage unions to book
transport to the event. If your branch / trades council would like to
contribute to the cost of a
coach, please make a cheque payable to ?National Shop Stewards
Network? and post to NSSN, PO
Box 54498, London, E10 9DE.

Big Society and a Big Hypocrite

Walk down any high street in this country and you will meet a homeless
person selling the Big Issue. If you want a living indictment of the
kind of society millionaires like Cameron defend you need look no
further.

And what is this? The current Big Issue is edited by David Cameron!
John Bird, who set out wanting to help the homeless now has them
forced to peddle the most disgusting Conservative Party propaganda. If
his name does not appear in the New Year's honours list - there just
ain't no justice!

In an editorial Bird lavishes praise on "the big society" in which
individuals can take the place of the state in helping out. Yet of
course this very magazine shows what is wrong with this approach. The
homeless are at the mercy of the whims of a philanthropist. If those
whims include grovelling to the Tory Party then the homeless have to
grovel. Refuse to sell the magazine and you don't eat tonight.

And one final question. If Cameron or Bird go into hospital will they
be happy for a volunteer to walk in off the street and operate on
them? If so I am prepared to give it a go. Where's my scalpel?

Reports of Murdoch's death have been exaggerated

While Murdoch was impersonating Uriah Heep on his 'umble
Commons appearance, reports of his death were appearing on
The Sun website. Apparently he was not intending to 'do a
Maxwell. In an ironic move, Hacker Murdoch had been hacked!

The 'hacktivists' responsible have now released email
addresses and mobile numbers of the 'know nothing'
executives of News International. It really would be pushing
the boundaries of hypocrisy for Hacker Murdoch to insist
that the full force of the law be used against them.

And that is exactly what he has done. Obviously the humble
pie disagreed with him

Murdochgate

"‘Murdochgate’ is Britain’s Watergate. In politics, as in nature, the ‘butterfly effect’ operates. A seemingly small event – the famous metaphor of the flutter of a butterfly’s wings – can begin a chain of events resulting in massive unforeseen consequences.

In the case of the Watergate break-in, it led to the discrediting and downfall of Richard Nixon, the President of the most powerful nation on earth, the US. Cameron and his corrupt, rotten government deserve the same fate today. Watergate exposed the rottenness at the heart of the US administration and threatened the social system it was based upon, capitalism. "

Read more

Defend the NHS

North Sussex and Surrey Trades Council launched a Coalition
to defend the NHS at a meeting on 06 July 2011.

Oliver Coxhead was elected as Chair
Derek Isaacs was elected as secretary.

David Isaacs was one of the first people to have his life saved by the new NHS in 1948. He had a playground accident
climbing the fence and was later taken to the hospital with an abcess which was growing inwards and would have
threatened his life.

However his mother didn't have to beg to a group of hard-nosed charity commissioners. The treatment was free for
the first time, so he was among the first of hundreds of thousands who owe their lives to the NHS.

People of sixty were old in 1948. The NHS has given us a new lease of life and that is why it is worthwhile for all of us
to defend it.

The government talks glibly about "reforms" of the NHS. In fact they propose to cut public provision and privatise
health care. The contents of your wallet will determine your treatment, not your medical need. You might as well say the German Air Force "reformed" Coventry.

The Coalition to defend the NHS will be meeting at St Johns Church Hall in central Crawley and the meetings will be advertised on the blog. http://crawleyagainstthecuts.blogspot.com/

To join the coalition contact crawleyagainstthecuts@yahoo.com
It could be the fight of your life.

From our Royal Correspondent

The Roman Emperors dealt with economic crisis with a policy of "bread and circuses". The Con Dems are determined to leave out the bread and just give us the circuses. Witness the media torrent of sickly sentimentality over the royal wedding.

Much has been made of Premier Cameron's deliberations over whether he looks better as a lounge lizard or a stuffed shirt. Serious stuff. It makes Cameron look a fool which is no bad thing but it diverts attention from the realities of

the state of the Con Dem Nation.

We should be grateful that although the country cannot afford health, welfare, education, libraries or pensions, at least we can afford for two overprivileged parasites to live like pigs in clover. It's romantic isn't it?

And of course the media Royal Correspondents stress that Middleton is "a commoner". About as common as hen's teeth in fact. The Middletons are from an elite every bit as remote from the common people as the Windsors. The significance of "blue blood" is that in the past the royals and the aristos had pale skin because they did not work outside like the peasantry so their blue veins were more likely to be visible. None of the millionaire Middletons has to turn an honest day's work and indeed they look to expand their business empire with their royal connections.

On the other hand it is important for the Windsors to bring new blue blood into the family because the perils of inbreeding are all too evident in Prince Charles and Prince Philip. Daft as a pair of Poundland brushes.

So watch the royal circus and enjoy it. After all you paid for it!

Derek McMillan

Royal Correspondent

Mid Sussex Socialist Party

After the big march what next - how can we stop the cuts?

Meeting at St John's Church Hall

Phil Clarke

National Shop Stewards Network

7.30

Monday 4th April