Month: August 2010
How capitalism works
Capitalism is based on the private ownership of production - the firms, workplaces and finance system. Under capitalism everything is a commodity that can be bought and sold. Basic necessities like food, water, clothing and housing all must be paid for and are a source of profit to the bosses or capitalist class - sold for more than they cost to produce or supply.
Heinous abuse & denial of rights, we need Total separation of Church and State
The need for a total separation of the church from the state has long been argued for by socialists and the Socialist Party. Recent developments, both in Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland but also internationally, have put this issue centre stage in political debate. Socialistparty.net argues that the separation of church and state is long overdue.
70th anniversary of the assasination of Leon Trotsky
Seventy years ago the greatest living revolutionary of the time, Leon Trotsky, was murdered by Josef Stalin’s hit man Ramon Mercader. There had been a number of failed previous attempts on Trotsky’s life but this time a fatal blow from an ‘ice pick’ successfully destroyed the ‘brain’ of the working class and the symbol of implacable opposition to capitalism and totalitarian Stalinism. This event, celebrated in the Kremlin by Stalin and the bureaucratic elite he represented, also brought joy to the capitalist governments of Europe, America and the world.
Pakistan: The economic impact of devastating floods
The full economic costs of the devastation caused by the floods- the worst in many years- in Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa, South Punjab, parts of Baluchistan and Sindh, will not be known for some time. But they are likely to be substantial, both for the people affected by the deluge and for Pakistan’s cash-starved government.
Will we see a clone of the mummified political corpse of the PDs with rumoured new party?
It’s a measure of the stagnation of establishment politics in this State that some media circles are reacting with frissons of excitement to rumours that former Progressive Democrat Leader Michael McDowell might form a new political party.
Pakistan: Unprecedented devastation caused by floods – poor suffer the most
Appeal for workers’ solidarity!
Socialistparty.net appeals for an urgent response to the solidarity appeal, for badly-needed aid and solidarity to help the victims of the recent flood devastation in Pakistan. Activists from the Progressive Workers’ Federation of Pakistan and the TURCP, despite having been badly affected by the disaster, have been heroically struggling to organise aid for those affected in the last weeks.
To make donation see the appeal below the following article
South Africa: 1.3 million public servants in one-day warning strike
Longer strike may follow after negotiations on Thursday
Approximately 20,000 workers marched in Tshwane and 15,000 in Cape Town on Tuesday, 10 August, as 1.3 million public sector workers, organised in the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) and the smaller Independent Labour Caucus (ILC) and Federation Unions of SA (Fedusa), shut down public services like schools and hospitals almost completely. In other towns pickets were held.
Call for international protests against the multi-national Vinci Construction company
Stop the destruction of the Khimkinskii forest – Stop brutal attacks against socialists and environmental activists
Socialists and environmental activists in Russia are campaigning against the construction of a road through the Khimkinskii forest, which is one of the major greenbelt forests near Moscow. Following recent brutal attacks against CWI (sister party of the Socialist Party in Russia) members in Moscow on 7 August and also against an environmentalist activists’ camp, the CWI in Russia calls on socialists, trade unionists and environmental activists worldwide to take protest action against Vinci Construction. This French based multi-national company is currently the main contractor on this 43 kilometer stretch of the proposed new Moscow St Petersburg highway, a contract worth 1 billion euros.
Education for all!
Education cuts show that the government is willing to do anything to ensure that their friends, the wealthy elite who caused this crisis, get a bailout even if it means that thousands of young people will not receive the opportunity of a full and comprehensive education. Many third level institutions are at crisis point due to underfunding, lay-offs and cuts to classes.
Step up action to stop government disability cuts
The cutbacks to disability services, accessed by over 25,000 people across the country, represents a new low in the government’s slash and burn policies. Not content with laying waste to the economy to facilitate bailing out the banks, the government is now sticking the boot into the most vulnerable section of society.
