Year of war and economic collapse ends in bloodshed

Stop the Slaughter in Gaza - Mass struggle is the only way out

Israel's government's rule has been a chain of scandals and failures. Now they are trying to save themselves from defeat in February's elections, by means of a wholesale slaughter of Palestinians in this long planned attack.

Bush, and Obama, have refused to force Israel to immediately halt the carnage. Bush used similar brutality in their occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan. While Miliband makes feeble calls for a cease-fire, the White House has even blamed Hamas for the attacks and condemned the Hamas rocket fire into Israeli cities.

Abu Abas, Mubarak and the Arab league leaders condemn the massacre. But they were complicit in Israel's starving of the Gaza's 1.5 million inhabitants by Israel's 16-month siege. These regimes willingly carry out the dictates of imperialism. Mubarak's authoritarian regime in Egypt collaborated in the imprisonment of the Palestinians by preventing free movement of goods and people on Egypt's border with Gaza. Mubarak even met Israel's foreign minister Livni on the day before Israel's attack.

Hamas' rocket fire cannot defeat the Israeli state's oppression of Palestinians. The Israeli ruling class do not care about the working class inhabitants of the towns bordering Gaza, but uses their plight to justify the war. The Israeli government does not defend the real interests of ordinary Israelis, rather it exploits their fears.

Every gain made in the history of Palestinian struggle has been the result of active mobilisation of the masses. Tragically for Palestinians neither Hamas, nor Fatah, nor the Arab regimes, have a strategy to defend the masses and stop the Israeli state's slaughter.

The Socialist Party and the Committee for a Workers' International calls:

· For an immediate end to Israeli attacks. For and immediate end to the siege.

· For escalation of demonstrations and protests against the war, in the Middle East and internationally.

· No trust in the world powers or the United Nations. Organize the masses in self-defense. Mass action by Palestinians and Egyptians to break the siege that imprisons Gaza and appeal for support from the working masses internationally, especially in the Middle East, including Israel.

· For united struggles by the workers and poor to overthrow all the capitalist regimes in the Arab states and in Israel. For worker's governments across the Middle East which can end the cycle of violence by resolving the contentious issues in the interests of working people and start to create a society run for the needs of ordinary people.

· For a Socialist Palestine and a Socialist Israel as part of a Socialist Federation of the Middle East.


---- DEMONSTRATIONS THIS SATURDAY (3rd January) ----

Exeter -

12noon in Bedford Square, Exeter High Street.

Organised by Exeter Stop the War.

London -

12.30pm in Embankment, Central London.


For more details please email us at socialistpartydevon@gmail.com

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No new incinerator in Barnstaple!

In conjunction with Devon County Council, North Devon Council has approved in principle the plan to build a rubbish incinerator as part of the redevelopment of a stretch of land by the river Taw in Barnstaple. The proposed incinerator would burn 50,000 tonnes of waste per year and is intended to ensure that the local authority complies with the European Union Landfill Directive, which aims to reduce the amount of refuse that is disposed of in landfill rubbish dumps.

However, these incinerators have been linked to a number of health problems, including increased risk of heart disease and cancer. They can release heavy metals, fine particulates (linked to cancer and heart disease) as well as polluted water, which could be an issue considering the site is a flood plain. They also release dioxins, the chemical implicated in the Irish pork recall.

The location of the mooted incinerator is right bang in the centre of town. Surrounding it is housing, retail units and the new further education college will be built next door! Downwind of it is more housing as well as a large secondary school. It is estimated that most, if not all, of the 25,000 residents of Barnstaple and nearby villages will be exposed.

A meeting for those opposed to the scheme was arranged last Tuesday (9th December). Two anti-incinerator campaigners from Cornwall were the invited speakers, and gave an in depth analysis of the environmental and health dangers, as well as emphasising that there needed to be a positive argument for an alternative, which could help comply with the EU Directive as well as provide a means to use the waste as a potential resource, rather than just get rid of it.

Much helpful practical advice was given, in terms of contacting officials and finding out information. However, the Socialist Party members present at the meeting made the point that getting over a technically and legally correct argument, while useful, would not win the campaign by itself. What is needed is to involve the citizens of Barnstaple in stopping this threat, by campaigning in the town and on the estates, and ultimately putting immense pressure on the Council. Both Lib Dem County Councillors in the town support the scheme, and are up for reelection next year, while the Lib Dem MP, up against a strong Tory challenge at the next election, is 'keeping an open mind', which translated means 'waiting to see which way the wind blows'.

The scheme is at an early stage at the moment, as is the campaign. North Devon Socialist Party intends to work and make the necessary arguments to stop these potentially dangerous plans.

Appledore shipyard workers end dispute

Workers at Appledore shipyard have accepted an offer from Babcock Marine management, ending the industrial action they have participated in. Among other grievances, the strike action was concerned with pay, which was £60-80 less per week than Devonport workers in the same company doing equivalent jobs.

The deal sees a 12% wage increase over two years, and the majority of other demands put forward by the unions (GMB and Unite) accepted by management.

Throughout the dispute, Babcock Marine had attempted to bully and threaten the workforce into submission, with threats of closure and downsizing. An annoucement of job cuts at the company's Devonport operation was made, and middle managers were threatened with the sack if they joined in the action. Unfortunately for Babcock, the news of their record profits had to be released at this important time also!

Despite all that the company threw at the workers, they held firm, with large numbers on picket lines and 100% of engineering staff out. Although they did not achieve parity with their Plymouth counterparts, they did achieve a significant above inflation pay increase at a time of insecurity and increasing redundancies and hours cuts. They showed that unity in action, even in the current climate, will get results, even with only a few days strike action. Both unions on site worked together, and they received the support and solidarity of their fellow workers at other shipyards, through the Confederation of Ship Building and Engineering Unions (CSEU), as well as North Devon Socialist Party.

North Devon Socialist Party branch meeting report 25th November

The main focus of the latest North Devon branch meeting was the housing crisis.

Introducing the discussion, JL noted the dramatic increase in housing repossessions, which seem to be particularly acute in North Devon. He gave background about the cause of the crisis which has resulted in soaring private sector rents and mortgages, and the decimation of social housing.

He outlined the importance of the neo-liberal measures brought in by the Tory government of 1979-1997, most notably the Right to Buy scheme, the attacks on the unions and the restructuring of the economy away from manufacturing and mining and towards financial services.

The move towards financial services and the increasing lack of social housing resulted in a house price bubble, where house prices rose to ridiculous levels. These prices are now declining due to the banks being much stricter in their lending since the so-called sub prime mortgages came to light and paralysed the financial 'industry' with fright. This, combined with rapidly increasing unemployment is resulting in the elevated repossessions. As GS noted in the discussion afterwards, the situation for people repossessed now is worse than it was 40 years ago, when there was more of a social safety net and more council housing.

It was agreed that as socialists we need to put the political arguments forward for nationalisation of the banks and construction industry under democratic workers and for a house building programme to be initiated and for repossessions to stop.

It was also agreed that practical support needed to be offered, and pressure put on the council to improve its provision of housing benefit and help for those threatened with, or victims of, repossession. A housing campaign will be established, and contact made to other organisations and interested individuals to help kick-start and build that.

In the discussion on organisational matters, a new branch programme was agreed, and the forthcoming regional conference debated. In industrial reports, DL outlined the 12% pay rise over two years the Appledore shipyard workers had achieved, and looked forward to Robbie Segal's forthcoming election campaign in the USDAW union.

Appledore strike update

Industrial action at Appledore shipyard is currently suspended pending negotiations currently taking place between the unions and Babcock Marine.

The suspension has come at the same time as an announcement by the company of record profits of £50 million in the first half of the year, up 30%! This is the same company that continues to make threats of closure and losing contracts in response to the reasonable request by Appledore workers that they earn the same as other Babcock workers in equivalent jobs. At the moment, they earn around £60-80 per week less than their counterparts at Devonport dockyard. They tried to claim that this was due to the higher cost of living in Plymouth, something easily contradicted by a worker who had previously lived in Plymouth!

In reality, they have tried to take advantage of the fact that North Devon is a low wage area. They, and the company that preceded them, have made no investment at the site, the consequence of which is that a site previously used as a model for overseas fact finders now has grass growing all over the roof. In addition to the pay insult, picketers have been unhappy about a number of issues at the site. There is widespread bullying by management (including threatening middle managers with the sack if they went on strike), and unilateral decisions taken, such as to change shifts and deploy workers to other sites. The petty attitude of management is exemplified by a previous round of negotiations, in Hatherleigh, when in response to an unofficial overtime ban, managers refused to meet with and speak to shop stewards situated in another room. The union officials had to act as messengers and go-betweens!

In response to our comments on the picket line that the workers themselves should run the shipyard, pickets gave examples of management incompetance and short-term thinking. For instance, apprentices were not allowed to go on day release to college, the skills base is kept narrow, and civilian contracts have been turned down.

It is clear that private ownership cannot develop and safeguard the future of the shipyard in Appledore. We renew our call for the nationalisation of the yard and for its placement under democratic workers control.

We also reaffirm our complete support and solidarity for this action, which has remained solid, with as many as 50 on the picket line at times. Unanimous support has also come from the Confederation of Ship Building and Engineering Unions (CSEU).

We would like to make a solidarity appeal, for support and donations to the Appledore shipyard workers. If you would to express your support or to make a donation to the strike fund, please email North Devon Socialist Party at socialistpartydevon@gmail.com and we will give you the details of how to help, and pass on your messages.

Socialism 2008 report

On Saturday, members of the Socialist Party and Socialist Students from across Devon descended on London for the Socialist Party's annual weekend of debate and discussion, Socialism 2008.

The Devon delegation attended sessions on the two days covering topics as varied as the environment, how to build a revolutionary party, racism, China, the 1978/79 Iranian revolution, how to fight the BNP, how to build in the unions and many others.

As always, the level of discussion, both from the introducing speaker and those attending sessions, was very high. There were many matters to debate, and contributions made, all in a freindly and inclusive manner.

On the Saturday night, the rally saw speakers from Britain and all over the world share their experiences and analyses of the changing world situation. The theme was that 'Marx was right', as the economic crisis -and our prediction that it would occur - clearly shows. A worker from the Ford Transit plant in Southampton explained how he and his co-workers had acted, in the face of indifference from the official union structures, to organise what has become a prominent campaign to save the plant and their jobs.

In the wake of her excellent result in the USDAW general secretary elections, Robbie Segal explained the lessons of the campaign, which found real resonance with shop workers despite the attempts of the official pro-New Labour union bureaucracy to suppress her candidacy. She will soon be standing for the Presidency of the union, and shortly we will be carrying details of how you can help the campaign to democratise the union and improve the lot of some of Britain's most exploited and bullied workers.

The recently elected Deputy Youth Mayor for Lewisham, Natalie Powell-Davies, gave us an insight into how she won the support of so many young people with clarity and passion, demonstrating that young people can be won over with a clear, campaigning, practical programme and someone who is sure to provide a strong voice for them.

There was a real international flavour to the rally also, with speakers also from Greece, Germany, Italy and China. In Greece, mass protests and militancy have led to the development of a new left force, SYRIZA. Nikos Anastasiadis, from Xekinima, our sister organisation in that country, presented an inspiring video of the struggles that have taken place before outlining the opportunities and challenges that lie ahead. Fang Guoli from China, outlined the critical role that genuine revolutionaries and Trotskyists have to play in China, and cautioned against despondency that we 'are in winter' as one day 'it will be spring'.

As most years, there were rousing and often amusing contributions from Peter Taaffe, general secretary of the Socialist Party, and Tony Mulhearn of the Liverpool 47, who reminded us of what a genuine workers party could achieve, with the Liverpool struggle's legacy still standing 'in bricks and mortar'.

Janice Godrich brought solidarity greetings from the International Socialists in Scotland, and outlined the effects that a socialist leadership could have in a trade union, in this case the PCS (civil servants union), of which Janice is the President. The left wing leadership of the PCS has radically democratised the union and involved rank and file members in activity and campaigning like never before in that union. As a consequence, its membership is growing and it has achieved notable successes for its members which many predicted were 'impossible'.

In a similar vein, Onay Kasab, a Socialist Party member in UNISON, related the possibilities opened up when a principled branch leadership delivers for its members. Against a backdrop of many council workers receiving quite significant wage cuts, Greenwich UNISON, which Kas is the secretary of, secured a deal which meant that not a single worker had their pay reduced, while some had substantial increases. Despite this, or perhaps because of this, Kas and three other Socialist Party members are currently facing disciplinary action at the hands of the union hierarchy, on trumped up charges as part of a witchhunt against left activists in the union. To find out more and offer your support, please visit the 'Defend the Four' website, located here.

The final rally on the Sunday afternoon saw the future of political representation for working class people discussed by Cllr. Dave Nellist (of the Socialist Party, and chair of the Campaign for a New Workers' Party), comedian and author Mark Steel (formerly of the Socialist Workers Party), Kevin Ovenden (of Respect) and Hannah Sell (deputy general secretary of the Socialist Party). There was a friendly atmosphere, and consensus that the need for an alternative to the pro-capitalist policies of the three main establishment parties was needed now, more than ever.

Socialism is always a fascinating, morale boosting, informative event. This year more than ever this was transfused by a spirit of defiance and fightback, that we will not pay for the crisis the bosses and the banks have created.

4th November North Devon Branch meeting report

Members and non-members of North Devon Socialist Party gathered last night in Barnstaple, and enjoyed extensive discussions about the American elections, building the left in the US and in Britain, and future activities of North Devon Socialist Party.

JL, introducing the discussion on the American elections, noted the importance of the grassroots movements built up by Barack Obama and Ralph Nader (the independent pro-worker candidate). He reiterated the political positions and likely acts of the incoming President Obama, including making the American working class pay for the economic crisis caused by the capitalists, as well as continuing with the substance of Bush's imperialist foreign policy, albeit with a different focus and Clinton-style charm and superficial multilateralism. He emphasised the need for the movement built by Nader to continue to organise on 'November 5th and beyond' to build an independent pro-worker force, preferably moving towards forming a workers party with other elements including peace campaigner Cindy Sheehan.

Those present agreed with the characterisation of the Democrat Party as just a wing of the capitalist party in the US, the Republicans being the other wing. The mass movement backing Obama were set for disappointment, and it would be the task of the left in America to engage with those people, and patiently explain the need for a break with the Democrats.

Concerns were raised about the scale of the task facing the American left, and certainly the challenges of organising and building on a continental scale are great, but there was consensus at the meeting that there was no alternative, and the best we could do in Britain and Europe would be to offer practical and political support to our American comrades. In addition, we need to work towards establishing our own workers party in Britain, emulating and learning the lessons of the tremendous efforts in Germany and France in this respect.

There then followed industrial and student reports, in which our support for the Appledore shipyard workers was reiterated, and an update was provided on the efforts to build the Shop Stewards Network in North Devon.

Support the Appledore shipyard workers

On Friday, workers at Appledore shipyard took part in the first of six days of strike action, which will continue tomorrow and every Friday and Monday after that up until the 17th November.

Every worker involved in shipbuilding was out, reflecting the anger at their treatment by owners Babcock Marine, and the strong union presence at the yard. Babcock Marine, who also own Devonport Dockyard, pay the workers much less at Appledore, and also do not provide them with a pensions representative or workplace nurse.

Wages in North Devon are lower than the average for Devon and nationally, and it seems Babcock Marine have been taking advantage of this to exploit the Appledore workers for years. Extensive negotiations by the GMB and Unite representatives brought no significant concessions from Babcock Marine, and there has been no comment from the company on the strike action. However, Appledore workers are not known to shirk from a fight - the shipyard has been constantly threatened over the past thirty years, being nationalised by the then Industry Minister Tony Benn in the 1970s, and being taken over by the workers in 2003 when it was temporarily closed by the then owners.

Babcock Marine have threatened workers with closure in response to the strike action, even though they only ask to be paid at the same rate as their counterparts in Plymouth.

North Devon Socialist Party has expressed its support and solidarity for the industrial action, and also point out that the best way to safeguard the future of the shipyard for the workers and their families is to nationalise the yard and place it under the control of the workers. They can develop a plan of production to meet the needs of producing ships for civilian use as well as safeguard their own livelihoods, as part of a democratically planned economy locally, nationally and internationally.

Exeter Socialist Party - November programme

Venue: Exeter Community Centre, Heavitree Room, St Davids Hill, Exeter

http://www.multimap.com/maps/?qs=st+davids+hill+exeter&countryCode=GB

Tuesdays, 7.30pm

Tuesday 4th November

Today's economic crisis: can we compare it to the 1930s? Recession or depression?

Tuesday 11th November

The Campaign for a New Workers Party -as New Labour shows its hand in helping Capitalism, who will represent the working class?

Tuesday 18th November

The Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan: Propaganda – truth is lost – are the wars lost for Imperialism?

Tuesday 25th November

To be announced


Exeter Socialist Party also has weekly a table stall in Exeter High St on Saturdays at 12 noon and holds Public Meetings and campaigns on local and national issues.


Further information on the Socialist Party is available at our national website http://www.socialistparty.org.uk or locally: http://socialistpartydevon.blogspot.com/ or by contacting the Secretary on 07890630221

How the decontamination threat was averted - lessons from UNISON's successful campaign

In the wake of their successful campaign to stop the privatisation of Sterile Services departments across the south west, UNISON South West has published a review of the campaign they ran. It is an excellent guide to how a union should go about campaigning to defend public services.

We publish here several of the key lessons of the campaign -

- Get involved in any formal groups set up by the public body. UNISON accepted a place on the Human Resources group established by the NHS Trusts and attended the meetings of it. While the group had no power, it enabled the UNISON rep Graham Parrish to gather information "about the project, the bid parameters and...the companies who were bidding". They also attended meetings with the companies involved, which enabled them to analyse the likely consequences for staff and understand the weaknesses of the scheme.

- Establish links with other relevant unions, branch officials and stewards and the staff concerned themselves. An email list was established for quick and easy communication and use was made of video conferencing facilities to share information and coordinate action.

- Meetings were arranged with workers (members and non-members) to "advise them on their rights and to establish their views on the possible transfer and to involve them in campaigning".

- A detailed case was built up against the proposal, including the impact on staff, clinical standards, practicalities, the environment and finances.

- A public campaign was built and the media was used to promote the cause. Information was fed to the BBC who covered the issue on the national news.

- The case was made to professional bodies, such as the Royal College of Nursing, the British Medical Association and the Royal College of Surgeons. These bodies all came out either in outright opposition to the plans or expressing serious reservations.

- A petition was established, in hard copy and on the internet.

- MPs were lobbied, including Health Minister and Exeter MP Ben Bradshaw.

- The argument was made FOR the present arrangement, in terms of its effectiveness and financially.

- A Freedom of Information request was put in which established the £1 million pound bribe the Department of Health was offering Trusts in order to buy them over to the scheme.

- An Equality Impact assessment was sought from the Trusts identifying the impact on the predominantly female and part-time workforce.

- Attempts were made to influence Trusts, and Trust board members. This helped the campaign to find out which Trusts were unconvinced by the scheme, providing a morale boost and information to build the case against the plans.

- The postcard scheme got all staff and the public involved, providing for Trust Chief Executives the arguments of the campaign, as well as illustrating the strength of feeling.

As the attempt to 'outsource' Sterile Supplies is a national policy, UNISON South West has sent it's reflections on the campaign to other areas still facing the threat.

The menace of privatisation stalks all the public sector though, and hopefully the lessons of a successful campaign can help in other areas also.

Critical to supplementing the industrial struggles will be a political voice for the working class, in the form of a new workers' party, which could link all these excellent campaigns together and campaign for an end to privatisation and cuts in the public sector, and for public services to be democratically run in the public sector for people's needs, not private greed.

New service for housing and debt advice + useful contact information

In a timely move, Ilfracombe Citizens Advice Bureau has established a team of specialist legal advisers on housing, mortgage and debt problems at the Ilfracombe Centre. Anyone who is experiencing problems including rent and mortgage arrears, or other housing or debt problems is encouraged to make an appointment. The phone number is (01237) 479222 (the specialists are provided by Bideford Citizens Advice Bureau).

Below is a list of Citizens Advice Bureaux across Devon, with their addresses and phone numbers. If you live outside Devon, the search facility on the Citizens Advice Bureau website can help you locate your nearest one.

As Citizens Advice is a charity, many of them rely on volunteers and have limited opening times, so please check opening times and whether you need an appointment.

Axminster - Lea Combe House, Lyme Close - 01404 44213

Barnstaple - Ground Floor, Belle Meadow Court, Albert Lane - 01271 377077

Bideford - 28a Bridgeland Street - 01237 473161

Brixham - Brixham Town Hall, New Road - 01803 297803

Bude and Holsworthy - Neetside, Bude - 01288 354531

Crediton - Council Office, Market Street - 01363 778410

Dawlish - Tunnicliffe, Barton Hill - 01626 864110

Exeter - Wat Tyler House, 3 King William Street - 0844 4994101

Exmouth - Town Hall, St Andrews Road - 01395 264645

Holsworthy (also see Bude and Holsworthy) - Manor Offices - 01409 253372

Honiton and East Devon - Honiton Library & Information Centre, 48-50 New Street, Honiton - 01404 44213

Ilfracombe - The Ilfracombe Centre, 44 High Street - 01271 377077

Ivybridge - The Town Hall - 01803 862392

Newton Abbot - Bank House Centre, 5b Bank Street - 01626 203141

Okehampton and West Devon - The Ockment Centre, North Street, Okehampton - 01837 52574

Paignton - 29 Palace Avenue - 01803 521726

Plymouth - 2nd Floor, Cobourg House, 32 Mayflower Street - 0844 826 717

Sidmouth - The Community Partnership, Mill St - 01404 44213

South Molton - The Library, 1 East Street - 01769 572342

Tavistock and West Devon - Kingdon House, North Street - 01822 612359

Teignmouth - Teignmouth Library, Fore Street - 01626 776770

Tiverton and Mid Devon - The Town Hall, St Andrew Street, Tiverton - 01884 234926

Torquay (Specialist Debt Advice - for other matters see Paignton) - 11 Castle Road - 01803 297803

Totnes and South Hams - The Cottage, Follaton House, Plymouth Road, Totnes - 01803 862392

Photos from Tolpuddle Festival

As you can see from the pictures, the festival fell on one of the few good days of the Summer.

The event commemorates the Tolpuddle Martyrs, agricultural labourers who were sentenced to transportation to Australia for forming a union.

Organised by South West TUC, this year Devon Socialist Party had a stall.

All photos were taken by SB.

Help workers, not fat cats - save people's homes

Remember the boom years, the 'nice decade' as the Governor of the Bank of England Mervyn King described it? It certainly was a nice decade for the so-called 'masters of the universe', who benefited to the tune of billions from the neoliberal counterrevolution that begun 30 years ago. Meanwhile, real wages for workers froze or declined, and public services were privatised and scaled back. Now, in the death throes of neoliberalism, the ones who made the mess are assured a soft landing by Governments on both sides of the Atlantic.

They will keep their mansions, and holiday homes. Meanwhile, ordinary workers in America and Britain are losing their homes. A report in today's Guardian revealed that the amount of repossessions of homes in the south west has recently increased dramatically. The report states that

"One repossession and eviction court in Penzance, west Cornwall, raced through 50 cases in one morning recently. In Barnstaple, north Devon, the last repossession court heard 26 cases - more than double the number before the credit crunch."

We would agree with Stephen Davis, of Torridge and Bude Citizens Advice Bureau, who blames "lower than average wages and above-average house prices". But the picture is much worse than suggested by even the outrageous ratios of average house price to average wage. The average wage given is heavily skewed by a small number of very high earners.

We have very high house prices in the south west (and nationally) for a number of reasons. Firstly, the amount of social housing has shrunk dramatically over the past 25 years, due to the Thatcher government's 'Right to Buy' scheme, the privatisation of council housing in many areas, and lack of funding and legal oportunities for local authorities to build new houses. Secondly, the availability of cheap and easy credit enabled certain parasites to buy up lots of housing and rent it out to recoup the mortgage costs and make some profit. This has led to the quality of private rented accommodation falling as the cost of it increases. Thirdly, the attractiveness of the area, and the enrichment of a small section of the population in the Thatcher-Major-Blair years has led to a boom in second home ownership, further reducing the amount of houses available, allowing sellers and estate agents to hike up prices.

The lack of availability of social housing and undesirability and expensiveness of private rented accommodation has led many people to buy their own homes. Many will have decided to buy for security, which obviously is absent in the private rental sector. The consequence of low wages, high house (and flat) prices, and the (now ended) willingness of the banks and other financial institutions to lend a large amount of money to people (the so-called 'sub-prime' mortgages), is now that ever higher numbers of people are losing their homes, and are now either living with relatives, in temporary accommodation or are homeless.

The solutions to the crisis will not be found in the City, Wall Street, the US Congress or the Houses of Parliament. The class war was long ago declared dead by the likes of the newly resurrected Business Secretary Peter Mandelson, but the Tories and New Labour have been waging it fiercely, in the interests of capitalists and their rotten system. The measures taken in these early stages of the economic crisis show that clearly. Nothing is done to help people turfed out of their own homes, yet the financial wizards are bailed out. Banks are nationalised as they are deemed 'too important to fall'. Yet MG Rover wasn't. Nor was Ford Dagenham. Or the many other businesses whose closures over the coming months will put thousands of workers out of work.

We must demand that all the banks and financial institutions are nationalised, with compensation provided only on the basis of proven need. People struggling to pay their mortgages will have their debt cancelled, and their house transferred to the ownership of the local authority, who will be obliged to rent the house at a minimal rate to them with absolute security of tenure, and be able to pass on the tenancy to a child. Bureaucratic restrictions placed on council tenants should be scrapped.

The restrictions on councils building houses should be removed. The housing associations, and homes belonging to private landlords, should be nationalised also, and those homes transferred to the local housing stock.

There should be a national council house building programme, funded from central government but carried out by local authorities. Local people should have a democratic say in how the new housing developments should take shape, and community facilities should be provided, including transport links, general stores, a Post Office, GP surgeries, health centres, schools and amenities.

The building and construction industries will need to be nationalised under the democratic control of the workers in that industry and the public as a whole. In a break from current practice, the new houses and flats would be built according to people's various needs, not to make vast profits.

Fundamental to all this is the need to replace the profit obsessed system of capitalism, which leads to perpetual crisis, and which on the upswing gives the wealthy all the lolly, and on the downswing, makes workers pay for the bosses folly.

Next week - Exeter and North Devon Branch Meetings

Exeter Socialist Party Meeting

Date: Tuesday 7th October, 7.30pm

email socialistpartydevon@gmail.com for details of the venue.

Agenda includes discussion of trade union and industrial news, Socialist Students activities, our fuel poverty campaign and a discussion on the individual under capitalism introduced by SB.

North Devon Socialist Party Meeting

Thursday 9th October

7.30pm

Henry Williamson Room, Barnstaple Library

Agenda includes discussion of the National Shop Stewards Network, a report back from the Devon, Cornwall and Somerset aggregate meeting, Socialist Students and ISR campaigns, the fuel poverty campaign and a discussion on the roots of the current economic crisis introduced by JL.

Organising for action - first aggregate meeting of Devon, Cornwall and Somerset

Saturday marked the first aggregate meeting for Socialist Party members across Devon, Cornwall and Somerset. The purpose of these meetings, to be held monthly, are to coordinate activity and organisation across what is a very large, sparsely populated area. The day's activity started with a stall in Exeter High Street, where our demand for the nationalisation of the oil, gas and electricity companies met with a positive response.

In the meeting itself, Tom Baldwin from Bristol Socialist Party and the National Committee introduced a session on the current economic crisis and the role of our party in the turbulent weeks, months and years ahead. Following this was a vigorous discussion, in which most who attended made contributions, ranging from the role of a revolutionary party in influencing events and bringing to the working class past experiences of struggle, which will be essential in the trying times ahead, to how the rising unemployment will affect people and their ability to fight back.

In the second session, JT analysed the recent work of the party, most notably in establishing new branches and campaigning in workplaces, colleges and universities, and outlined his view of how we should proceed over the coming months, and coordinate our work across the counties. In the debate that followed, action was decided upon and the future work of the party was thrashed out. We are entering times when it is necessary that we are at the top of our game, in defending workers and youth from the attempts by capitalist politicians to make us pay for the mess they and big business has created, through their wasteful, exploitative, crisis ridden system.

Meetings like this, with full and frank discussion aimed at working out how we can take effective, coordinated and organised action, will help the Socialist Party play an important role in the south west.

Socialist Party on the recession and banking crisis

Below are two videos taken of an introduction given by South West Socialist Party regional secretary Robin Clapp at a Bristol branch meeting on the current economic crisis.

Part One -



Part Two -



More videos from South West Socialist Party can be found here.

Excellent result for Socialist candidate in USDAW election

Socialist Party member Robbie Segal shook the entire shopworkers' union USDAW by gaining 40% of the vote for General Secretary in the ballot result announced today. Robbie is a Tesco worker who on shoe-string resources with a tiny band of activists in a David and Goliath battle faced the entire USDAW official machine. The whole right wing union full time bureaucracy was mobilised to crush her, but she still managed to gain over 18,000 votes winning the moral victory by far.

The incumbent, John Hannett, had the entire union behind him - except the members. He appears in the union journal and other union publications every month. Robbie was virtually unknown to most of the members other than those that have known her first-hand as a fighter over the years.

As an example, three NEC members were flown into the Central London branch meeting to argue against one Socialist Party member to secure the nomination of all the London branches for Hannett.

But Robbie's programme clearly appealed to the members by calling for an £8 minimum wage for all, no to partnership between the union and the employers- as there is in Tesco, for democracy within the union, and for an alternative to New Labour for ordinary people to have a party that genuinely represents them.

Robbie also pledged to reject the £100,000 Hannett took and to continue on her Tesco wage.

The result is in no way a ringing endorsement of the current leadership. The low turnout of 13.2% reflected the fact that Hannett did his very best to subdue the issue, by calling a summer election, calling no debates with Robbie and producing no other material other than the ballot paper and a letter to the branches demanding their support. Hannett's support cannot be seen as a vote of confidence in his performance in the job. In fact, quite the opposite.

This result, for a clearly socialist candidate in the USDAW General Secretary election is testimony to the changing mood in the unions.

USDAW has for many years been the bastion of the right wing with an avid New Labourite leadership. John Hannett pulled all the stops out to use the union bureaucratic machine in his favour for this election. Robbie's brave stand, under continual threats from the right wing, has given a voice to the ordinary members. This must be built for the future.

John Hannett: 27,320

Robbie Segal (Socialist candidate): 18,673

Total number that voted: 46,002 (out of 348,278 members)

To view Robbie's election video, go to www.socialistparty.org.uk/vids/robbie_segal.wmv

USDAW national public meeting to discuss the election results and plan for future action is this Saturday, 20th September, Lucas Arms, 245A Gray's Inn Road, London WC1X 8QZ. Nearest station, Kings Cross St Pancras. If you are interested in going to this meeting, you can contact Robbie by emailing robbie@robbiesegal.org or by phoning 07776 195 563.

Exeter Socialist Party meeting - Tuesday 16th September

This coming Tuesday's Exeter branch meeting will be a busy one, discussing various activities, including coming worker's struggles, combatting the BNP and building in the College and at the University. There will also be a discussion introduced by WH, the subject being 'Socialism and Internationalism are intertwined'.

The meeting starts at 7.30pm and will be held as always in the Exeter Community Centre, on St David's Hill. For more details please contact us at socialistpartydevon@gmail.com.

The real housing crisis - low wages, high rents and mortgages

Research published by the Halifax Bank has named four Devon districts as having the least affordable housing in the country. North Devon comes out worse, with the average house prices being 9.1 times the average yearly wage. East Devon, Teignbridge and the South Hams are the others in the top 10 named by Halifax. Devon (and Cornwall, which also figures in the top 10) suffers from a combination of low wages, lack of social housing, and extensive second home ownership.

The shire counties were the test bed for the mass privatisation of council housing via 'Arms-Length Management Organisations' or ALMOs, also known as Housing Associations. The then Tory government thought that it would be easier to push through in rural areas, which generally it was. New Labour has taken this to the large towns and cities, where it has met with a mixture of success and fierce resistance.

An exception in rural Devon (Exeter still has substantial council housing) is Mid Devon, where a local campaign, with significant involvement from a Socialist Party member in Tiverton, stopped the proposed privatisation of council housing stock. Needless to say, Mid Devon is not included among the most unaffordable districts.

Very little social housing is built now, and any that is built is unlikely to make much inroads into the waiting list of 1.6 million people who would like it. This number doesn't include those who don't add themselves to the waiting list, because they know that realistically they will never get it.

Thatcher's scheme of allowing council tenants to buy their homes (Right To Buy) decimated the national council housing stock. Many of the council homes sold have ended up in the hands of unscrupulous speculators who have been part of the 'buy to let' trend encouraged by the years of house price increases and readily available credit from banks. Both of these conditions are now largely a thing of the past, but the vast polarisation of wealth that the Tories and New Labour have helped to increase means that there are still plenty of private landlords out there, renting out rooms in shared houses to individuals families that ten years ago would have been able to live in a three bed semi for the same rent.

We now have a situation where it is incredibly difficult to either buy a house or rent one cheaply from the council, putting more and more people at the mercy of these unregulated landlords. The real housing crisis in Britain today is not the declining house prices, a problem mainly for the middle classes who see where they live as an investment rather than a place to live. It is the countless workers and their families who have to work increasingly harder to pay extortionate rents and mortgages on quite modest dwellings. It is the sheer shortage of housing that in rural areas in Devon mean people cannot live where they grew up or work, and in urban areas mean increased tensions as racist politicians, not limited to the BNP but including New Labour, exploit it to stir up divisions amongst the working class.

Hypocritically, the Tories and the Liberal Democrats have criticised the Government in the wake of the report, but they are equally to blame. The housing policies of the three main parties are fundamentally the same when they have power at national and local level.

The Socialist Party (and it's predecessor Militant) is quite different, as the record of Liverpool City Council in the 1980s, in which Militant councillors played a leading role in a Labour administration, shows. The city's council housing stock was comprehensively modernised, with families moved from tenements and flats to houses with front and back gardens, in addition to thousands of houses and flats being improved.

The demands we have today are very reasonable:

- A mass national house building programme, the homes to be of a high standard, with gardens, and with a range of sizes.

- The houses to be owned by the local council, who will not be permitted to sell them. All income from rents to be ringfenced and used for maintenance, upkeep and the construction of new homes.

- Council lease to allow for the homes to be passed from generation to generation, security of tenure, and for residents to modify and decorate their homes without having to jump through bureaucratic hoops.

- Housing estates and new towns to have dedicated public transport links such as train stations and bus stops and routes.

- Infrastructure such as schools, GP and dental surgeries, health centres, parks, Post Offices and local shops to be built alongside new housing.

- End to council tax rebate for second homes. Nationalisation of any homes that are not the primary house of a person or family, with compensation provided on the basis of proven need.

- Increase the minimum wage to £8 per hour and restore trade union rights to enable workers to fight for better economic and social conditions.

- For the creation of a new workers' party to campaign for these demands, and lead the fightback against neo-liberalism, privatisation and the rule of profit in general.

Successful first meeting of North Devon Socialist Party

Last Thursday marked the first meeting of the Socialist Party’s new North Devon branch. New members from Barnstaple (pictured left) and Braunton, a mixture of youth and experience, met in Barnstaple Library to listen to an introduction given by Robin Clapp, the South West regional secretary.

The introduction was wide ranging, from the current economic situation to the role of the Socialist Party locally, nationally and (for the CWI) internationally. This was followed by a discussion of how the Socialist Party could work in the current climate to get our ideas across and shape events, which all who attended contributed to. There was agreement with Robin’s point about our work, in workplaces, colleges, and the wider world, was about a dialogue with working class people, listening being as important as getting our own views and analysis of events across.

We discussed how the party would build in North Devon, a large rural area with dispersed population, low union membership and no real history of left activity. It was agreed that our activities needed to be centred around helping youth and workers to organise, at the local Further Education College, individual workplaces and unions and through setting up a local branch of the National Shop Stewards Network. In addition to leading the fightback against low pay and exploitation at work, the point was raised that young people in particular need help in combatting the growing authoritarianism of the police and local councils.

Ambitious but achievable targets have been set for raising fighting fund and attending national and regional events, new members being very keen to learn more and get active. We are a small branch, aware of the challenges as well as opportunities of working as socialists in Britain in 2008. We are optimistic about the impact we can have in North Devon, while realising that it will take consistent hard work and patience to achieve what we want to.

Coastguards strike over bank holiday in pay protest

On 23 August, 700 PCS members in the Maritime and Coastguard Agency went on a 48-hour strike over pay. Sean Brogan, an ex-marine radio officer, from Teignmouth, Devon, reports:

The refusal of this government to negotiate with those workers who watch out for the safety of lives at sea led to closure of the Brixham station in south Devon over the busiest bank holiday of the year.

Wages are £9,000 below the equivalent in the ambulance service after six year's service. With a starting salary of £12,000, how can anyone expect to live never mind find accommodation?

Emergency workers face very strong dilemmas when choosing to go on strike. The 'right' and the 'good' sit in judgement condemning such action as immoral and unjustified.

MPs seem to need five times as much as us to live on, never mind the expenses of ten times that amount and the free meals that are thrown in.

The refusal of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency to have meaningful negotiations over pay is part of New Labour's strategy to make workers pay for the recession. The myth that wage increases cause inflation was buried by Marx 150 years ago but just like they did in the 1970s, the rich and their representatives are desperate to blame anyone but themselves for inflation.

They are prepared to allow our coastguard stations to be manned by managers with very little operational experience, putting lives at risk.

Russia and Georgia - new articles

Two new essential articles are now on the Devon Socialist Party articles website.

Written by our sister organisation in Russia, it concerns Georgia and our analysis of the recent conflict there. Please take the time to visit the site and read the articles.

Making football fairer - one way to help level the playing field

At the moment, the success of a football club is largely determined by its resources. In the Premier League and Football League, this means that clubs without a rich chairman or very large stadium cannot hope to compete at the very highest level. Clubs promoted to the Premiership have the main ambition of staying there rather than actually winning anything.

The top four, who all qualify for the Champions League, is effectively the preserve of the same four clubs every season. The seperation of this top four from the rest of the league has even led to bookmakers offering odds on who will be the ‘best of the rest’ and finish fifth. Everton fans enjoyed winning that particular ‘league’ last season. Outside of the top two divisions, Leagues One and Two seem to be determined by who has received points deductions for financial problems, and how severe those deductions are. Luton’s decent record of a win, a draw and a defeat has translated into -26 points so far. They will need to get the sort of points a play off contender would accrue just to stay in the league.

While there are certain reforms that could redress the balance slightly, nothing short of the replacement of capitalism with socialism could make the Premier and Football League game resemble fairness. At non-league level though, the financial resources are more evenly spread. There are the odd clubs who have a wealthy owner which propels them artificially to success, but this is generally unsustainable and eventually the club either goes bust or sinks to a more ‘natural’ level. Truro fans should enjoy it while it lasts. Generally at non-league level the success of a club rests on using limited resources well. This means clubs rely on the efforts of volunteers, and also on the gate money that they receive. Expenditures that would be insignificant to a Football League club tend to make up a high percentage of outgoings. Travel to away games is a case in point.

For a competition to be fair, certain factors have to be equal. For example, athletes competing in the 100m sprint have to start at the same position and cross the same finishing line. The lanes have to be of the same width. But not all factors have to be equal. The clothes and shoes worn don’t have to be. Nor do the athletes’ training and dietary regimes. It is a subjective judgment what needs to be kept equal for fairness, but it generally involves factors that the actions of the individual or team competing cannot change.

In football things that a club can change (or influence) are the environment (ground etc.), attendances, coaching and management, tactics, style of play and players. Something a club cannot change is its geographical location. Sure, it can move from one part of town to another, but it generally does not move town or county. The obvious exception to this is the MK Dons, the plastic football club which usurped Wimbledon’s place in the Football League. Since AFC Wimbledon is generally recognised to be the same club as the Wimbledon which won the FA Cup in 1988, and MK Dons an ugly American-style franchise the product of an egomaniac and a town that could not be bothered to actually earn a place in the Football League by winning promotions, it can be ignored. Football clubs are rooted in their own particular area, be it a village, suburb, whole town or even district. They cannot be moved out of that particular area, and if they are they can no longer be considered to be that same club, but a newly founded one.

Travel costs are a product of (an unchangeable) geographical location and are far from equal between clubs at the moment. They therefore be considered to be something which would need to be kept roughly the same. Money taken up in paying for travel will likely take money away from other areas of the club, such as player wages or expenses, coaching and ground improvements. They may also necessitate the increasing of admission prices. Travel costs often put clubs off seeking promotion. Bideford AFC, stung by their financial problems in the 1970s largely caused by travel costs when they were in the Southern League, have not sought promotion to a higher level despite success in recent years. Clubs in Cornwall are also reluctant to seek promotion for this same reason. The fact that the only Cornish club to do so in recent years, Truro City, have been bankrolled by a multimillionaire, confirms this.

So, can the burden of travel costs be shared more fairly? A possible solution is outlined below:

1. Mileages between clubs in a league are calculated. The total mileage per season can then be worked out, then divided that by the number of weeks in the season, and then by the number of clubs in the league.

2. Every week, the cost of a mile’s travel will be calculated using the latest fuel prices. This will be necessary to take account of changing fuel prices.

3. Every club whose average mileage per week is less than the average for the entire league will pay a sum into a central pot, administered by the league, equivalent to how much they are below, multiplied by the fuel costs for team travel determined for that week.

4. Every club whose average mileage per week is above the average for the whole league gets paid the difference, multiplied by the fuel costs determined for that week out of the central pot.

The advantages of this scheme are many. An unchangeable and unfair situation which can contribute to the success or failure of a team is taken out the equation. The geographically well positioned team pays the same fuel costs as the geographically isolated team. Teams will be more likely to be promoted because of what happens on the pitch rather than an accident of geography. Another advantage is that the scheme will be easy to administer, only requiring an Excel spreadsheet and a league chequebook. There may be opposition from the teams who are currently at an unfair advantage, but they will have few legitimate arguments about the fairness and simplicity of the scheme.

Socialists seek to transform society in a profound way by removing capitalism, the system which relies on the exploitation of the many to provide riches for the few, producing inequality, authoritarianism, instability and war. We seek to replace that with socialism, based on cooperation and collaboration, equality, liberty and democracy in every aspect of human society. But we also seek to improve things in the here and now. Sport is an essential part of society, and there is nothing wrong with healthy competitiveness, and the rollercoaster of emotions that supporting a football team can bring. It is only right that we seek to make things fairer now, and one small way to do is what I have outlined in this article.

Devon Socialist Party will be sending these proposals to Philip Hiscox, Secretary of the South West Peninsula League, a competition for teams across Devon and Cornwall.