Update #95

In this update:

• Branch meeting - climate change: can capitalism save the planet?
• Unite the Resistance national conference
• Report from Stand Up To Racism national conference

Branch Meeting

The SWP is a party of activists who know that we need to understand the world to be effective in our actions. Our meetings have a discussion about key issues: economic, political, historical and cultural; as well as planning for events and activities.

This month, our guest speaker  Martin Empson will introduce the topic: climate change: can capitalism save the planet?

We have another exciting guest speaker this month! Martin Empson is a prominent activist in the environmental movement and is the author of Land and Labour and Marxism, Ecology and Human History. He is also treasurer of the Campaign Against Climate Change Trade Union Group.

Climate change is being caused by capitalism - can the system find a way to stop it? The stakes are high, time is short and effective action is urgently needed. Join us for what is sure to be an informative and lively public meeting and debate!

Thursday 3rd November

7 pm

West End Community Centre on Mackworth Road (next to Britannia Mill).

United Front work

As well as being a party of revolutionaries, we recognise that it is vital to work alongside others in areas where we share common ground. As well as solidarity with striking workers such as the teachers, junior doctors and teaching assistants, the SWP has a proud tradition of broad united front work within organisations such as the Anti-Nazi League, the Stop the War Coalition, the People's Assembly and many more.

Unite the Resistance national conference

Unite the Resistance is a national organisation of trades unionists who want to be part of a serious fightback against austerity.

Its annual conferences have been an amazing place to be, with trades unionists sharing their experiences of successful action against employers, trades union leaders giving their perspectives on the state of the struggle and political leaders such as shadow chancellor John McDonnell. It's a really lively event with a huge range of discussions and debates going on and some really inspiring stories.

This year is no different and the impressive line-up includes:

If you want to see a serious fightback to austerity that can win, Unite The Resistance is a good place to start! For more information email branchsec@derbyswp.org.uk

Stand Up to Racism national conference

Jeremy Corbyn MP and Diane Abbott MP addresses plenary session of SUTR conference

The conference on 8th October was a huge success, with 1600 anti-racist delegates from a huge range of organisations and none attending on the day. In the wake of a spike in racist attacks following the Brexit vote, it was a great event that anti-racists should use to help build the Stand Up To Racism campaign in communities across the country.

Derby Stand Up To Racism group has some big ideas to help build on the broad, inclusive conference and make sure that racism cannot gain ground in Derby. For more information check out the Derby Stand Up To Racism Facebook page or email derbysutr@gmail.com


 Can't make our meetings?
If you want to find out more about us, meet some of our comrades, sign up to any of our petitions, find out about campaigns we are involved in, buy our paper or get hold of some of our other literature, why not come along to the campaign stall on Saturdays?

Find us on St Peter's St from 12 pm!

Solidarity With Junior Doctors

Yesterday junior doctors in Derby petitioned the public to support them in their dispute with the Department of Health. Campaigners from 38 Degrees and the NUT joined them, as did comrades from the SWP. It was a very popular petition! At some points there were queues to sign or take selfies. There was a media presence too so it got a good amount of publicity.

On our campaign stall we also collected signatures to support them and presented them to the doctors to add to their collection. Comrades' support was warmly received by doctors present and it was generally a really positive event that showed what unity can achieve.

The strike ballot was really impressive. It would have allowed national action even under the Tories' new laws that attempt to repress trades unionists and suppress our efforts to take action to defend ourselves. At last week's Unite the Resistance conference, junior doctor and BMA activist Yannis Gourtsoyannis spoke to explain the reasons for the action and the urgent need for solidarity:



The campaign was very popular with the public and at times there were queues to sign and take support selfies for Twitter. Unless the DoH backs down, the junior doctors' plan of strike action is as follows:

• Emergency care only – 8am, Tuesday 1 to 8am Wednesday 2 December 2015
• Full withdrawal of junior doctors' labour – 8am to 5pm, Tuesday 8 December 2015
• Full withdrawal of junior doctors' labour – 8am to 5pm, Wednesday 16 December 2015

It is important for comrades to show solidarity on picket lines if at all possible - details will be posted on the blog as soon as they are known.

This fight is only the latest provoked by the Tories as they seek to dismantle our public services in order to open them up to be run for profit - it is not enough for them that working people are paying for the crisis they and their class caused by having our wages held down, epidemics of underemployment and the cutting of the services which we rely on, they want themselves and their cronies to be able to profit from whatever services we are able to use. This is a fight that needs our full support - it will be a real victory for working people across the country and expose the weakness of this nasty party that managed to get the support of less than a quarter of the population in the election this year.

Update #74

Hello everyone,
Welcome to this week's update from Derby Socialist Workers Party. What's going on? Find out below!

After Paris - SWP Statement

The horrific murders in Paris were a shock to everyone. Yesterday was a day of intense sorrow and sympathy for the victims of these awful attacks.

Unfortunately the reality is that the right will attempt to use these deaths for their own vile ends. The SWP has put out a statement following these events - read it here.

Branch Meetings

The SWP is a party of activists who know that we need to understand the world to be effective in our actions. Our meetings have a discussion about key issues: economic, political, historical and cultural; as well as planning for events and activities.

This week is our district aggregate, open to members only. Public meetings resume the following week.

Next public meeting:

As revolutionary socialists we are committed not just to equality, which can simply mean equality of oppression, but liberation. Our next meeting will be:


From post-feminism to the new sexism - how can we fight for women's liberation?

Thursday November 26th, 7 pm, West End Community Centre.

All welcome. See you there!

Unite The Resistance - national conference

Fantastic conference on Saturday - see our blog post here for a roundup.

The People's March for Climate, Justice and Jobs

It is becoming ever more clear that the ruling classes of the world, left to their own devices, will simply work in the short-term interests of their class - and that means untold destruction for the climate and the lives of millions, if not billions of people. There is another way: join the campaign for climate, justice and jobs. There is at least one coach going to London on the demonstration on the 29th November ahead of the Paris climate conference. Join us!

Can't make our meetings?
If you want to find out more about us, meet some of our comrades, sign up to any of our petitions, find out about campaigns we are involved in, buy our paper or get hold of some of our other literature, why not come along to the campaign stall on Saturdays?

Find us on St Peter's St from 12 pm!

Unite The Resistance 2015

Unite The Resistance pamphlets are available from us - come to our branch meetings or find us on St Peter's St at our campaign stalls Saturdays from 12 pm!

Report back by Kieran, branch secretary.

This Saturday was the annual conference of Unite The Resistance (UTR). UTR is a united front organisation that aims to bring together trades union activists to fight austerity and the divisive, bullying Tory government. The conference shares success stories, perspectives on the Tory attacks on the working class and how to fight it.

I always look forward immensely to the UTR conference. There are lots of organisations which oppose austerity, and which we as a party are proud to be a part of, such as the People's Assembly and TUSC. What makes UTR special is that it offers us not only a concrete and powerful way to build an effective fightback, being based where our class has power - in the workplaces, but also welcome success stories. It can be easy to believe, if you rely on the mainstream media coverage for your news, that strikes are rare and ineffective, but in fact there have been some fantastic examples of solidarity and victories from across the various sectors of the economy. UTR is also a great way to learn about ongoing fights and how to support them.

Morning Session

Yesterday we heard from Candy Unwin and Sandy Nicholl, victimised reps who won reinstatement because of solid support from their members. Candy was one of the leaders of the fantastic strike at the National Gallery, which won significant victories in their battle with management against privatisation, and Sandy's colleagues took unauthorised strike action that had their management at SOAS backtracking almost immediately. Conference also sent support to Andrew Mootoo, victimised rep at Royal Mail in Bridgwater, whose managers again are frantically retreating after wildcat action when they attempted to sack him.

Speakers were from across the trades union movement, but there were also comrades from campaigning organisations such as DPAC (Disabled People Against the Cuts) (amazing speech - IDS should be very afraid of DPAC!) and political parties (most notably Natalie Bennett, the Green Party leader, who gave an excellent speech).

John Burgess, candidate for UNISON General Secretary, was brilliant about the need to fight the bill and break the law collectively.

Obviously the focus was on how to stop the Trades Union Bill when it passes, in particular how we can organise an effective counter to it and support each other in breaking this unjust new law collectively. John Hendy QC kicked off the first speech with a short illustration of what awaits us. I was able to record it for posterity here. (The sessions were recorded by proper people with proper equipment and will be posted on the Unite The Resistance Youtube channel here - I suggest you subscribe!)

Don't let them divide us

Of course, the horrific events of Friday in Paris cast a pall over proceedings. Conference began with a statement of solidarity with the victims and many speakers also offered statements of support, particularly Natalie Bennett of the Green Party. The Shadow Chancellor, John McDonnell, who is a longtime supporter of UTR and was scheduled to speak was unable to attend as the Shadow Cabinet were in session following the attacks. The SWP has put out an excellent statement in response to the murders, which you can read here. After the initial session I and some other local comrades attended a session which we thought was especially relevant that day: Don't let them divide us.

This session included speakers on the Prevent agenda and the Justice for Cleaners campaign as well as the general drive by the Tories and other elements within the ruling class, particularly the right wing media, to use racist bile against Muslims and migrants to divide our class wherever they can.

I was struck by the Justice for Cleaners campaigner, who spoke of the ways that bosses try to divide migrant workers, trying to pit 'documented' against 'undocumented' and Spanish against Latin American. This is the kind of hatred upon which the bosses thrive.

Repeatedly speakers emphasised the need to unite now to prevent the right from trying to capitalise on the murders in Paris to promote their racist, Islamophobic agenda. UTR is about sharing ideas and success stories, not just listening to speakers, and there were some fantastic contributions from the floor. One point which was made more than once is that the right will attempt to use the murders to attack migrants, and we need to continue to say that migrants are people fleeing exactly the sort of horror which the people of Paris experienced. One practical thing which we will need to do is continue to defend migrants and promote the Stand Up To Racism campaign to welcome refugees, especially as winter approaches and thousands are in danger from the cold in makeshift camps in Calais and elsewhere. Find out more about Stand Up To Racism and donate to the Calais winter appeal here.

Afternoon Session

In the final session we heard from speakers on the environment and climate (or as David Cameron calls it: 'green crap') and the People's March for Climate, Justice and Jobs on the 29th November in London. From Derby there will be at least one coach going to this vital demonstration - come if you can!

For me there were two particular highlights of the afternoon session. The first was the speaker from the BMA who spoke very well on the dispute between junior doctors and the Department for Health.

He got a well-deserved standing ovation in his call for solidarity and his promise of solidarity in return.

Finally, Ian Hodson of the bakers' union BFAWU, who I always look forward to. He is a passionate and animated speaker, and I will remember particularly two lines. The first from the fallout when he compared Cameron's policies towards trades unions to Hitler's: "if you don't want to be compared to a fascist dictator, don't use policies out of Mein Kampf!" The second was one of my favourites, and I know one of his (it's not the first time he's used it :) ) and it's from Nye Bevan, architect of the NHS:

Update #71

Hello everyone,
Welcome to this week's update from Derby Socialist Workers Party. What's going on? Find out below!

Branch Meetings

The SWP is a party of activists who know that we need to understand the world to be effective in our actions. Our meetings have a discussion about key issues: economic, political, historical and cultural; as well as planning for events and activities.

This week we will have a more social meeting with a showing of the film Sylvia Pankhurst: Everything is Possible, which will look at the more radical, egalitarian suffragist, anti-war and working-class movement that is not given its full head in Suffragette. Join us for socialism, socialising and snacks!

The following week we have our rescheduled meeting why do we celebrate the Russian Revolution? Our guest speaker, Dave Hayes, addressed this topic at this year's Marxism festival, so this should be an exceptionally good talk and discussion! Come and join us for a revolutionary socialist perspective on 1917 and all that!

Unite The Resistance - national conference

On Saturday November 14th it will be the national conference of Unite the Resistance, an organisation aiming to unite activists and workers from across the country. It is an opportunity to debate the national situation, hear success stories from workers who have organised to defend themselves from attacks by the bosses and the Tories, and share ideas. There will be some fantastic speakers, including John McDonnell, shadow Chancellor; Candy Unwin, the rep at the National Gallery whose colleagues have recently fought a successful all-out strike action, and Natalie Bennett, leader of the Green Party.

There will be a number of people going to the conference, so we would like to help organise transport if possible. Please get in touch at derbyswp@gmail.com if you are interested in sharing a car down.

Can't make our meetings?

If you want to find out more about us, meet some of our comrades, sign up to any of our petitions, find out about campaigns we are involved in, buy our paper or get hold of some of our other literature, why not come along to the campaign stall on Saturdays?

Find us on St Peter's St from 12 pm!