2016 isn't yet over, but lots is going to be happening in 2017 for everyone who opposes oppression and exploitation and wants to drive back the right in and out of parliament!
There are going to be plenty more events going on, but here are some you'll want to be sure you don't miss!
January
3rd - Action For Rail have called a national day of action, as on the 1st January new rises in rail fares will be announced. This comes against a backdrop of strikes as the RMT act to defend the safety of the railways in Liverpool and the South East.
12th - SWP Meeting:Prospects for Socialist in 2017, including report back from national conference. This is likely to be a members-only meeting, please email branchsec@derbyswp.org.uk for more information.
Join us on Thursday 26th January at 7 pm, at the West End Community Centre, Mackworth Road, Derby.
February
4th - Stand Up To Racism Trades Union Conference
It's vitally important that active trades unionists are also active anti-racists as our rulers attempt to whip up hatred between groups of workers. Get yourself down to the national Stand Up To Racism Trades Union Conference at Hamilton House in London!
March
4th - Save Our NHS National Demonstration, London 18th - National Stand Up To Racism demonstration - celebrate UN Anti-Racism Day!
Hello everyone,
Welcome to this week's update from Derby Socialist Workers Party.
In this week's update:
Next branch meeting - Greece: Austerity & Resistance
Report from People's Assembly National Demonstration April 16th
Marxism 2016 - have you got your tickets yet?
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.
Last week we had a really great discussion on Pride, Politics & Protest: a Marxist Analysis of LGBT+ Oppression.
This week we look at Greece and how the situation between the Troika, Syriza and the Greek working class is developing with Greece: Austerity and Resistance
Thursday 21st April 7 pm West End Community Centre on Mackworth Road (next to Britannia Mill).
All welcome. See you there!
People's Assembly Against Austerity - National Demonstration 16th April
The first peek at this year's Marxism Festival is out now.
Marxism festival is the biggest event of its kind in Europe - thousands of people attending a five day festival of ideas, with meetings on a vast range of subjects and loads of activities. Here is last year's opening rally to give you an idea of the event:
It is a fantastic event and anyone who wants to change the world should get down to it!
If you want to go but are worried that you will not be able to afford it please get in touch.
We will do everything we can to help you to attend this fantastic event. email derbyswp@gmail.com or find us on Facebook, Derby SWP or on Twitter @derbywsp
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?
Today's People's Assembly demonstration in London was as angry as it was massive. The tens of thousands who filled the streets and Trafalgar Square came from all over the country, and they weren't happy with the Tories.
Two coachloads went from Derby. On the coaches on the way back a lot of the talk was of the large size of the demonstration but also the way that the mood was inspiring. Thousands of people will have returned home tonight knowing that they are not alone in their anger at the injustices of this government. What is needed is action to harness that anger and energy.
There was a large union presence on the demonstration. Junior Doctors are engaged in the fight of their lives to save the NHS, and teachers are about to join the fray. Organisations like the People's Assembly have the potential to engage a new layer of activists in supporting these struggles. Let's make it happen! Talk to your workmates, work with the People's Assembly, have a union meeting about solidarity action. In short: be a socialist!
Hello everyone,
Welcome to this week's update from Derby Socialist Workers Party.
In this week's update:
Next branch meeting - Pride, Politics & Protest: A Marxist Analysis of LGBT+ Oppression JOINT WITH NOTTINGHAM BRANCH
People's Assembly National Demonstration April 16th - get the coach and join in!
Junior Doctors - report from the pickets
Marxism 2016 - have you got your tickets yet?
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.
Las week's introduction to Marxism and Religion will hopefully be posted on this blog in the near future. This week's meeting is a bit of an experiment for us - a joint meeting with our nearest sister branch, Nottingham. We hope to have joint events on a regular basis and build large-scale public meetings with a greater scope for broadening discussion and bringing fresh voices to branch events.
Our speaker at this week's meeting Pride, Politics & Protest: A Marxist Analysis of LGBT+ Oppressionwill be Laura Miles, who has literally written the book on this topic.All our meetings have great discussions but this week's should be especially big and fantastic, so come along this
Thursday 14th April 7 pm West End Community Centre on Mackworth Road (next to Britannia Mill).
All welcome. See you there!
People's Assembly Against Austerity - National Demonstration 16th April
In the wake of Osborne's budget and with the Junior Doctors fights now looking set to be joined by teachers, the Tories tearing themselves apart, now is the time to ramp up the pressure and bring them down! Join the national demonstration organised by the People's Assembly on 16th April.
The first peek at this year's Marxism Festival is out now.
Marxism festival is the biggest event of its kind in Europe - thousands of people attending a five day festival of ideas, with meetings on a vast range of subjects and loads of activities.
It is a fantastic event and anyone who wants to change the world should get down to it!
If you want to go but are worried that you will not be able to afford it please get in touch.
We will do everything we can to help you to attend this fantastic event. email derbyswp@gmail.com or find us on Facebook, Derby SWP or on Twitter @derbywsp
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?
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.
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:
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 - the second part of our mini-series on the Russian Revolution of 1917:
after the incredible birth of the workers' republic in 1917, the cause of a revolution in rights not only in the workplace but in education, rights for women, LGBT people, religious groups and self-determination for the conquered peoples of the Russian Empire, what went wrong with the Russian Revolution? How was mass workers' democracy overthrown by Stalinist tyranny? Thursday 12th November, 7 pm.
Solidarity with Striking Lecturers
Lecturers in FE Colleges across the country will be out on strike on Tuesday 10th November. Lecturers in FE have seen large real-term reductions in pay over the last few years and now employers are refusing any pay rise at all.
There will be pickets at the Joseph Wright Centre and the Roundhouse - show support on the pickets if you can or send support messages to the UCU regional secretary alanbarker764@gmail.com
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?
UNISON called its second demonstration against the severe attacks on school support staff by the Labour-led Derby City Council last night.
With some teaching assistants facing up to 25% wage cuts the mood was angry and noisy.
There was a lot of support from the public as car horns joined the shouts, whistles and chants of demonstrators.
UNISON were supported by a solidarity delegation from the NUT and the local People's Assembly as well as comrades from the SWP.
An unexpected development was the presence of the Derby North Labour
Party banner (which bore the face of Jeremy Corbyn) even as the Labour
council tries to push through these pay cuts.
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.
Last week, following the enormous demonstration in Manchester against the Tories, we had a lively and wide-ranging discussion about how to defeat the anti-trades union laws that the Tories are proposing. Although there are serious threats to our ability to organise the Tories are seriously weak in some areas, and the Labour Party is, under Corbyn, opposed to the laws and will overturn them if elected. Passage of the bill is by no means assured, if trades unionists fight hard to oppose it. Even if we can't stop the passage of the bill, enforcing it is another matter: given the hardship which working people are to face over the next 5 years if the Tories are not thrown out of office, we can realistically say that a serious fightback by workers in the country is a genuine possibilty - and as revolutionaries, despite the grave threat that the proposed laws pose to our class, we still have reasons to be cheerful!
We have no branch meeting this week as there is an important meeting on the anti-tradesunion laws in Nottingham. (See below.
The following week we will look at the way that the capitalist system works. Why do most of us have to work for bosses? Why is profit so important? Why, in a world which produces more than enough to feed us all, do millions starve? Come along for our topic: How does capitalism work? An introduction to Marxist economics. Thursday 22nd October, 7 pm.
Protect the Right to Strike - 15th October
Join us in Nottingham on the 15th October if you can - the anti union laws are the most serious attack on the working class yet posed by the Tories, as they try to take on the best institutions which we have for fighting back against their onslaught. We must defeat the bill if we can!
Britain First - Not Welcome in Burton
Over the summer, members of Nazi organisation Britain First turned up on the streets of Derby. 40 people turned out the following week to join a vigil against them, sending a clear message that Nazis aren't welcome on our streets.
The anti-Britain First vigil this summer
Although they haven't been back to Derby, they have announced their intention to march in Burton on October 17th. The RMT, UAF and NORCARF have called for a joint mobilisation to stop them. This is a call for all anti-racists and anti-fascists. At a recent Britain First demonstration in Rotherham the Nazis were hugely outnumbered by the counter-demonstration. Wherever opposition to the fascists is organised, our side shows that we are many and they are few - but that won't stop them trying to intimidate local people and demonise minorities. They claim to be anti-'extremist', but their march gives the lie to that - they want to demonstrate against the building of a mosque!
Join us on the counter-demonstration on October 17th - tell the fascists that they aren't welcome anywhere.
Demo Round Up
The last couple of weeks have seen some massive demonstrations: in Manchester against the Tories, and a big, lively, angry demonstration in Derby against pay cuts to teaching support staff across the city. Here are some pictures from comrades who were part of the demonstrations!
Demonstrate Against the Tories - Manchester, last Sunday
Demonstration by School Support Staff, Council House this Wednesday
Support staff in schools are facing swingeing pay cuts at the moment, but they aren't taking it lying down - SWP comrades were there to show solidarity with them!
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?
