Disgrace of Leicester sweatshops

 TheIndependentof 27 September reports that“Sweatshop labourers in some of Britain’s small garment factories are routinely paid less than the minimum wage but are too frightened to complain.”The National Union of Knitwear, Footwear and Apparel Trades is bringing Tribunal cases on behalf of several Asian workers who are being paid wages as low as £1.50 an … [Read more…]

Partial victory for tea-workers strike in West Bengal

 On 11 July 1999, 300,000 full-time and 50,000 part-time workers went on indefinite strike in the Dooars, Terai and Darjeeling regions in West Bengal, where 104,000 hectares of tea gardens produce almost 22% of India’s tea. Production lost per day of strike action amounted to 500,000 kg of tea. Companies affected by the strike include … [Read more…]

Turkish ‘class quake’ targets the poor

 The devastating earthquake that hit Turkey on the night of 17 August 1999, which has killed in the region of 40,000 people, destroying 100,000 building, is reminiscent of the one which hit Guatemala City in 1976, killing 23,000. It was dubbed the ‘class quake’ because of the accuracy with which it struck down the poor.Is … [Read more…]

Demand Justice for Manjit Kaur Basuta

  The conviction of Manjit Kaur Basuta for shaking a child to death has raised many questions concerning the justness of her trial and the lack of publicity given to her horrendous treatment.On June 15, Manjit Basuta was found guilty of killing 13-month old Oliver Smith, a child in her care at the Day Care Centre … [Read more…]

“Mistake of the Millennium” –

UN report damns the effects of restoration of capitalism in the USSR and Eastern Europe  Three days before the publication of a United Nations report to the effect that the transition to capitalism of the countries of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union has in reality been a Great Depression in terms of its disastrous … [Read more…]

Greetings on 50th Anniversary of People’s Republic of China

 This coming October marks the 50th anniversary of the Chinese Revolution and the establishment of the Peoples Republic of China (PRC). On this historic event Lalkar sends its heartfelt greetings to the people and the government of the PRC, as well as to the Communist Party of China (CPC), without whose brilliant leadership the Chinese … [Read more…]

China: Can Reform be Sustained

By C P Chandraskehar,  We reproduce this article on the Chinese Reforms for, since our own article “Socialism with Chinese Characteristics” in the August/September 1992 issue of Lalkar, it is one of the most thoughtful that we have come across. [FromPeople’s Democracyof 18 July 1999, with thanks.] – Editor. China’s drive towards a “socialist market economy” is … [Read more…]

‘Narco-guerrillas’: alibi for intervention By Stan Goff

  Stan Goff retired from the U. S. Army in 1996. He served in Vietnam, Guatemala, El Salvador, Grenada, Panama, Colombia, Peru, Venezuela, Honduras, Somalia and Haiti. His last assignment was with 3rd Special Forces.Earlier this year, the Departments of State and Defense shed crocodile tears over human rights in Kosovo. Now, self-righteous sanctimony about drugs … [Read more…]

Diarmuid O’Neill: A Case of Shoot to Kill

 On the morning of 23 September 1996 Diarmuid o’Neill was shot and killed by officers of the Metropolitan Police in Hammersmith. The trial of Brian McHugh and Patrick Kelly – arrested at the same address in Hammersmith – ended in December 1997. The disclosures and evidence presented at that trial exposed Diarmuid’s death as murder. … [Read more…]