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In the area of pensions we are hearing a great deal these days about attempts of the capitalist class in effect to lower wages by reducing or eliminating what they contribute to their workers’ retirement pensions. The general crisis of capitalism is causing capitalists to cut wages – but slyly they are not for the … [Read more…]

Train drivers yesterday [8 January 2003] refused to move a freight train carrying ammunition believed to be destined for British forces being deployed in the Gulf. Railway managers cancelled the Ministry of Defence service after the crewmen, described as “conscientious objectors” by a supporter, said they opposed Tony Blair’s threat to attack Iraq. The anti-war … [Read more…]

[This article is based on a presentation made by Ian Johnson to the SLP Education School in Yorkshire on 31 August /1 September 2002.] In the latter part of his life (1880, three years before he died) Karl Marx gave an interview to an American journalist, John Swinton of the New York Sun, in which … [Read more…]

The imperialist press is forever complaining that the DPRK and, of course, its most representative spokesman at this time, Comrade Kim Jong Il, is “unpredictable”. This word is chosen not as a term of praise, but in order to suggest irrationality and even insanity. Events of recent weeks, however, show that this “unpredictability” is nothing … [Read more…]

Having cancelled several planned 48-hour strikes in an effort to reach agreement with employers, the first industrial action by firefighters in a generation started at 1800 on Wednesday 13 November with a 48-hour walkout over pay and conditions. In the biggest mobilisation of troops since the Gulf War, 19,000 armed forces, a mixture of army, … [Read more…]

[For the first section of this article, we rely on Scott Ritter and William Pitt’s pamphlet, for the second on the imperialist media coverage] “War on Iraq: What team Bush doesn’t want you to know” by Scott Ritter and William Rivers Pitt is a timely contribution to the exposure of the cynical lies and hypocritical … [Read more…]

The British government and the unionists in Northern Ireland were compelled to sign the Good Friday Agreement owing to the strength of the national liberation struggle of the majority of the Irish people. However, it has been their endeavour ever since the agreement was signed to frustrate its implementation. As a result the Good Friday … [Read more…]

The recent election in Sweden was characterised by some commentators as a “non-event” and “completely unnecessary”, since the Social-Democratic government remained in power, with the same two parties (Left Party and Green Party) supporting it in parliament – just as before. Göran Persson stays on as prime minister, and can continue in the role he … [Read more…]

The first global recession of the 21st century The capitalist world did get that luck [which Mr. Martin Wolf spoke of in his article in the Financial Times on 23 December 1998 – see Part One of this article in the last issue of Lalkar] for a brief period but ran out of it, as … [Read more…]

On 28 September this year, the largest anti-war demonstration in a generation, and possibly since the thirties, took place in central London under the dual slogans of ‘Don’t attack Iraq’ and ‘Freedom for Palestine’. Reporters and organisers put the numbers between 300,000 and 450,000, while the police, realising that their initial piece of routine misinformation … [Read more…]