Postal strike - brief update

This is only a brief update on today's postal strike, there will be a more detailed report soon, when we have all reports in from Socialist Party members who have supported the postal workers across Devon, from Barnstaple in the north to Plymouth in the south to Exeter in the east, and plenty of places in between.

Generally though, the strike was near solid, and in Newton Abbot it was 100% out. The atmosphere on the picket line was determined and generally there was a good spirit. Our leaflets, copies of the Socialist and support were well received, and the postal workers can be sure we are behind them 100%. Speaking to some of the strikers, it is clear that while they are angry over the 'pay rise' of 2.5% they have been offered (which, with inflation standing at 5%, loss of early start bonuses and strings attached including mass cuts and 40,000 job losses, has got to be one of the measliest 'rises' ever offered), the main reason behind the strike was the privatisation and commercialisation of a public service.

Support for the strike from the general public was high (and very enthusiastic), proving once again that ordinary people can see through the lies, distortions and manipulations of the government and Royal Mail management.

It is not thought that managers working today had much of an impact on the effectiveness of the strike, being collectively described by one worker as 'about as efficient as a sponge in the Sahara desert'!

Concrete steps will now be taken in North Devon to forge public sector unity, by arranging a join meeting of all the public sector unions to move forward, campaign and fight together.

Good riddance

Devon Socialist Party would just like say, to ex-PM Tony Blair, a fond farewell. We have much to thank 'Tony' for, not least hundreds of thousands of dead Iraqis, Afghanis, Lebanese, British and Americans, low wage Britain being a haven for exploitative big business, the privatisation and destruction of the NHS, Royal Mail/Post Office, education and many others, the continued death of manufacturing and agriculture, racist attacks on immigrants, the continuing disgrace of public transport, the failure to build any affordable social housing, the fast erosion of civil liberties, keeping the most restrictive trade union laws in western Europe, and I could go on all night.

We welcome the new PM, Tweedledum to Mr Blair's Tweedledee, Mr Brown. Mr Brown excitingly promises a 'new kind of politics' and 'change'. It's a good job Mr Brown didn't vote for and support any of the things I outlined above, otherwise unkind people might call him an unprincipled careerist hypocrite, a warmongerer, privatiser and job slasher.

Devon Socialist Party (and the Socialist Party nationally) looks forward to fighting war and occupation, cuts and privatisations whenever they might be imposed by Mr Brown or his lieutenants - and work towards building a genuine alternative for workers, campaigners, socialists and youth, by campaigning for a new workers' party. If you want to join us in our campaigns and struggles, please email socialistpartydevon@googlemail.com or if you are interested in the Campaign for a New Workers' Party click here.

The man in the photo, by the way, is John Howson, who was protesting outside Downing Street this morning (when Blair was doing his usual hammy routine on the steps of Number 10) alongside other campaigners from Military Families Against the War.

Competition time

Devon Socialist Party are launching two new competitions with cash prizes!

The Socialist Party needs money raised from members subscriptions and through 'fighting fund' raised in order to print all our materials, maintain premises and equipment in our central offices, pay full-time party workers and arrange events, book venues etc. However, such is the nature of our party that our members are not wealthy and big business aren't queuing up to fund us like the three main parties! We therefore need to run competitions like these to raise funds to enable us to continue our work, fighting against cuts and privatisation and building the ideas of socialism and the Campaign for a New Workers' Party.

The competitions we are announcing today are a Rugby World Cup 2007 sweepstake and the 2007-2008 season football manager sack race sweepstake. Both are £2 for each entry, but there are cash prizes of £10 and £50 respectively for the winners.

The Rugby World Cup sweepstake is simple. You simply pay £2 and are randomly assigned a team.

The football manager sweepstake is nearly as simple. You pay £2 and are randomly assigned a number from 0 to 92. The numbers correspond to the number of Football League and Premiership teams who have the same team manager (or head coach in some cases) at the final whistle on the respective last days of the season, as at kick off on the first day of the 2007-08 season. For instance, if you get 64, you will be aiming for 64 Football eague and Premiership teams having the same manager at the end of the season that they started with.

Incidentally, to illustrate this post I have chosen a picture of Wigan boss Chris Hutchings. For no particular reason, naturally....

If you want to enter please email socialistpartydevon@googlemail.com or come along to an event being held by us (or email us and arrange to meet one of us at or on the way to a national event!). Hope to hear from you soon.

Devon Socialist Party supports the postal workers

With the news that postal workers are set to stage a 24 hour strike on Friday 29th June, the Devon Socialist Party would like to express our solidarity with them and the CWU (Communication Workers' Union), and pledge our support for the action they are taking. On the day of the strike, Socialist Party members in Devon (and elsewhere) will give practical and political support to those taking industrial action.

The reasons behind the action (the 'yes' vote was a resounding 77%) are primarily pay and the direction of the Royal Mail/Post Office.

Justifiably, the CWU think that postal workers should earn the national average wage and that the Royal Mail should not renege on previous agreement. The CWU are also opposed to the privatisation, fragmentation and commercialisation of the postal service that has occurred over these past years and is set to continue. Commercialisation and privatisation is the reason why post offices are closing, conditions at work for postal workers are worsening, pay is being squeezed, and the second post for of the day has been abolished.

Devon Socialist Party calls for the demands of the CWU to be met in full, and for the privatisation and commercialisation of the postal service to be stopped and reversed. Postal services need to be run by a public sector body, democratically run by postal workers and the public at large. No more Post Offices should be closed and any villages or towns lacking a Post Office should be provided with one, even as an adjunct to a local shop.

The CWU has produced a leaflet countering the misinformation coming from the Government and the Royal Mail, which is uncritically reported by the capitalist media. It can be found here.

The Socialist Party leaflet (produced before a date was named for strike action), outlining our views in a little more depth, can be found here.

19/6/07 Exeter branch meeting report + solidarity appeal

After discussing organisational issues including how we will work to support the postal workers and firefighters in their coming struggles, SB led the discussion on why internationalism is so important for a socialist organisation.

Because of the international, globalised nature of capitalism and the need for global unity of workers and poor peasants to replace this system with a system of democratic socialism, socialism and internationalism need to be two sides of the same coin.

In the Socialist Party, this means being part of an international organisation (the Committee for a Workers' International, the CWI) which has organisations and parties affiliated to it in around 40 countries, from Chile to Russia, South Africa to Sweden, New Zealand to Israel. Being a part of an international organisation allows cooperation and coordination of action as well as sharing information - unclouded by the capitalist media - about what is going on in these countries.

Solidarity work also forms a key part of the internationalism of the party, for instance, supporting a CWI member recently arrested in Bolivia.

An internationalist approach, focussing on the power to change the world for the better only the united, organised working class have, serves as a counterpoint to the dead-end of nationalism (swapping one set of oppressors for another) and Stalinist ideas of 'socialism in one country'

The discussion that followed included contributions from all those present, ranging from discussion of how the Socialist Party's position - a consistent focus on the importance of class - differs from other left groups, the heroic and often dangerous work some of our comrades undertake in places like Kazakhstan and Sri Lanka, and how internationalism influences our approach to analysing world affairs and wars (such as in the middle-east).

In summing up SB accepted the points raised in the discussion and added that three books that had helped him in preparing for the meeting, would be useful and instructive to anyone wanting to find out more about internationalism.

These books, from different eras of struggle, are 'Socialism Made Easy' by the Irish revolutionary James Connolly, 'What We [Militant, the forerunner to the Socialist Party] Believe', by Peter Taaffe, and 'Marxism in Today's World', also by Peter Taaffe. All are available from Socialist Books, or for loan if you email Devon Socialist Party at socialistpartydevon@googlemail.com.

--- As this report was being written, details of another solidarity appeal have come through:

KAZAKHSTAN SOCIALIST JAILED AGAIN

Ainur Kurmanov, leader of Socialist resistance (CWI) in Kazakhstan has once again been jailed for five days after participating in a protest in support of residents in the Bakai region of Almata, who for over a year have been resisting forced evictions to allow building speculators to use the land for more profitable projects.

Please protest immediately to the Kazakhstan Embassy: london@kazakhstan-embassy.org.uk

Please also send messages of support to Kazakhstan social protesters and CWI members at:
bolshevik1917@list.ru
with copies to
pabgem@online.ru