ConDem Cuts

At a recent meeting of the Manchester Branch of the National Shop Stewards Network, I was criticised for having the temerity to suggest that endorsing a progressive penal policy, including supporting the release of many thousands of prisoners who have been locked up for minor and trivial offences,  is the right approach. Apparently the Prison Officers Association sponsor the NSSN, and my comments were deemed as "out of order" since they implied a cut in Prison staff and the closure of prisons.

As an anarchist I have a somewhat nuanced perspective of the campaign against the cuts. Any significant cuts in the state bureaucracy and moves towards a small state should surely be welcomed. Statist socialists, either of the Marxist or Fabian hue, seem ready to oppose any diminution in the State sector including the Army, Navy, Airforce, Defence and Armaments, Police etc.

I would like to posit a rather iconoclastic perspective which hopefully will lead to an informed discussion about the cuts: why not put forward our own deficit reduction plan, i.e. Anarchist Cuts. Lets cut Defence spending by 80% and focus on civil defence rather than wasting tens of billions on useless armaments and war fighting. Lets cut the spending on the Courts, Police, Prisons and the whole apparatus of "Law and Order".   Furthermore lets cut the massive State Bureaucracy, especially the managerial and elite strata.

Anarchists need to be creative and proactive in response to the current economic situation. Knee jerk reactions by the traditional authoritarian left in opposing any cuts at all solves nothing. It's important to put forward a vision for the future which entails models of workers and community control from the bottom up based on social co-operation and mutual aid. The antiquated paradigm of state control no longer has any resonance given the experience of the Soviet Union and its satellites. Laissez-faire capitalism or the free market has also manifestly failed at the present time.

The historical experiences of the CNT in Spain during the Spanish Civil War provide an example of the way forward Workers Control, not state control,  offers an answer to the current economic and social quagmire. Anarchists and anarcho-syndicalists need to be bold and be prepared to argue for their ideas and translate them into practice.

Groucho Marx

Manchester and Salford Film Coop is showing the film Duck Soup in January 2011. This film stars the Marx Brothers and it so threatened the Fascist Dictator Benito Mussolini that he barred it from Italy. According to the writer J B Priestley "Karl Marx showed us how the dispossessed would finally take possession . But I think the brothers Marx do it better". Antonin Artaud described their films as " a hymn to anarchy and whole hearted revolt". Groucho can loosely be described as a libertarian socialist, and he supported Heywood Broun when he stood for Congress in the Manhattan district of New York on the socialist ticket. Other supporters include George Gershwin, Fred Astaire, Harpo Marx and Helen Hayes.

Groucho was dismissive of the Hollywood Communists. He described them as "the kind of Hypocrites who would sing in between laps around their swimming pool". Nevertheless Groucho opposed the witch hunts of McCarthy and the House Un-American Activities Committee. He supported the Committee for the lst Amendment in defence of freedom of speech.

An underground newspaper in the San Francisco Bay Area asked Groucho for his views on Nixon, the US President. "Do you think theres any hope for Nixon?" The reply- "No I think the only hope this country has is Nixons assassination". He was investigated by the FBI and listed in their files as a political threat to the President.

Groucho once referred to the United States as the "United Snakes" on a quiz show and contributed to an anti-fascist rally in the 1930s.

Finally Groucho Marx influenced the French students in May 68 in Paris. Grafitti read "je suis marxiste, tendance Groucho". He also quipped "Military Intelligence is a contradiction in terms"

The Film Coop shows monthly films at the Kings Arms, Bloom Street, Salford.

BOSSES CALL FOR MORE ANTI-TRADE UNION LAWS & Lawyers rub their hands

GREEDY LAWYERS and bolshy bosses are ganging up with exotic politicians like the bleach blond Boris Johnson, to call for what the Financial Times (FT) today describes as 'tougher anti-strike laws'. A survey carried out by the Law Firm DLA Piper found that three-quarters of employers polled backed stronger anti-strike legislation. It also found that 90% of executives in both the public and private sector anticipate 'a lot more industrial action in the months ahead'.

The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) – the bosses' union – is calling for a change in the law to only let strikes go ahead if 40% of balloted members support them, as well as a majority of those voting. David Bradley, DLA's Piper's Head of Employment Law, said: 'the study's findings provide strong encouragement for the government from business leaders to tighten the laws around strike action.'

If this happens it will bring legal challenges from trade unions under the European Convention of Human Rights, as David Bradley notes. Brian Groom, Business & Employment Editor of the FT writes: 'the coalition government has no plans to change the laws on industrial action ballots', despite incitement from colourful conservatives like Boris Johnson. Mr Johnson very likely finds RMT strikes by Bob Crow's underground workers boring, with the dreary Londoners forming queues along the Thames for launches to take them up and down the river hoping to reach their places of work and business. Far better, from Boris's point of view, to close off this orderly form of protest – the strike and the peaceful picket – that forms a social safety valve for disgruntled workers, and to open the door to the more dramatic alternative of the street riot. The street riot, in the form of the Poll Tax Riot - was the unintended consequence and ultimate culmination of the original anti-trade union laws enacted by the Thatcher administration. Besides the riot, which Thatcher brought back to our English streets perhaps for the first time since the 19th Century, another unintended consequence of the Thatcher laws and of the shift to the streets from the workplace of social conflict was the increasing adjournment of militant shop stewards and the union representatives to the Courtroom and the Tribunal to seek legal redress instead of negotiated settlements. Thus the bosses, by getting rid of the workplace strike and factory occupation, has given us something more bloody and socially disruptive on the one hand in the street riot, and on the other a peaceful utopia for the legal profession to exploit in the Courts and Tribunals.

DLA Piper lawyer, Mr Bradley, claimed: '... private sector employers feared they could suffer “contagion” from strikes in the public sector'; if they supply the public sector they might be hit as a knock-on effect or if militant public sector workers transfer to the private sector they might bring their militant behaviour with them. He told the FT: 'employers would not necessarily find it easy to challenge co-ordinated strikes on the grounds that they were political.' Mr Bradley argued: 'As long as there was a legitimate trade dispute over terms and conditions, unions had considerable discretion about the timing of strikes.'

No wonder Mr Bradley's law firm has gone from strength to strength in recent decades since Mrs Thatcher's anti-trade union laws: a random perusal by Northern Voices shows it to be one of the largest law firms in the world with over 3,500 lawyers and revenues of $2.25 billion in 2008/09 and 69 offices across 30 countries. One of their members, Paul Burnley, head of the Corporate Defence group in Leeds, defends companies and their boards of directors in 'high-profile health and safety investigations: he is an expert in crisis management and acted for companies like Hickson & Welch in the Castleford Disaster; Associated Octel in the gas explosion at Ellesmere Port; the Leeds/Bradford air disaster at Dunkeswick and more recently for Jarvis in the Potters Bar disaster.' Sir Nigel Knowles from Sheffield is chief executive officer (CEO) of DLA Piper and he says that he will 'Face up to the people lobbing grenades into the arena — and remove them'. Saying 'Stay true to your roots', he told an interviewer in 2008: 'Among all the international expansion, I’ve made sure that our relationship with those Yorkshire clients that have been loyal to our Leeds office has stayed strong. Bradford & Bingley were an early client of ours, who have gone on to become a FTSE 100 company. We’ve grown together.' Bradford & Bingley, let's recall, was nationalised later in 2008, a victim of the credit crunch and has now been taken over by Banco Santander. Another DLA Piper partner, Michael McKee, was asked in an interview on Sky TV on July this year about criminal behaviour connected with the collapse of the banks and interviewer, Jeff Randall, asked: 'Just because the CEO gets a big bonus when a bank goes down, that doesn't mean he was a bank robber, not literally?' To which McKee replied: 'Absolutely'.

It's not bad for some!

NEW CHARTER TENANT VOWS TO FIGHT ELECTION BAN!

Steve Fisher's quest to become a tenant director of New Charter Homes is rapidly degenerating into a ludicrous farce, a kind of Brechtian theatre of the absurd.

In June we reported that Mr. Fisher (53), pictured above, who has lived at his present address for the last 26 years and has been a New Charter tenant for ten years, had been told by New Charter boss John Ardern that his nomination to stand for election as a tenant director would not be accepted because the company considered him too 'adversarial'. To be precise, four years ago, New Charter took civil legal action against Fisher and sought an injunction to compel him to tidy-up his natural wildlife garden. When he successfully fought the action as 'litigant in person' and went to the press complaining of the injustice of his landlord's actions, New Charter became so incensed by the press criticism that they went kicking and screaming to their legal department, who in turn, threatened the local Tameside Advertiser with legal action.

Since his scrape with New Charter in 2006, Fisher, has been effectively placed under a cordon sanitaire by the housing company. In 2007 he was designated by them as a 'prolific complainant' and the following year, he was banned from entering and speaking to New Charter staff apart from reporting repairs. His only contact with the company is now through his go-between John Ardern, who took the original decision not to accept his nomination as a tenant director.

Mr. Fisher is not taking this lying down and yet again, he`s invoked the company's complaints procedure. He is after all a 'prolific complainant' and must live up to his well earned reputation. Last month he was told by Tony Powell, Executive Director of Neigbourhoods that he upheld the original decision which was in the 'best interests of the company'. He also told him: "Your attempts to involve the media and engage other people through the internet against New Charter also have influenced my decision". And he also adds: "The subsequent e-mails sent by yourself to Mr. Ardern ... contained a number of profanities and allegations of impropriety by the company". Referring to other communications he says: "In other e-mails which I have seen you have made a comment about 'Pope Danny McLoughlin' and referred to other tenants (not specified) as 'nodding donkeys'".

In his dealings with New Charter Mr. Fisher has obviously trodden on some big corns. But Steve Fisher unlike many people nowadays, is not a 'Yes Man'. He does not doff his cap even to his landlord. He`s not the kind of person that housing companies like to pack their Boards with. While it might not 'be in the best interests of the company' to accept his nomination, so what! Mr. Fisher's concern is with what is in the 'best interests' of the tenants, not the company. As a New Charter tenant he therefore sought to stand in an election and to be judged by his peers and not by some middle-class over paid lackies of a housing company who have taken exception to his frankness and his use of the internet and the media. There`s obviously no room for democracy within New Charter despite what they say, and this issue looks like it's going all the way to the Housing Ombudsman.

100 years ago: French Railway Workers' Derail Trains

AS Northerners we tend continually to look South for inspiration and backwards for inspiration. 75 years ago 150 Welsh miners occupied a pit at Nine Mile Point in Monmouthshire: see below. But 100 years ago, during the syndicalist phase in their history, French railway workers derailed trains on the 12th, October 1910. On that day, bands on strikers on the Western Railway began to render the operation of the line impossible by cutting the signal and telephone wires, throwing the points out of order, and stopping all possible traffic by placing obstructions on the line or derailing engines and trucks. Just after 8 O'Clock in the morning strikers armed with clubs and iron bars invaded the line between Asnières and Bois-Colombes. By about half past ten 300 strikers broke into Colombes station and chucked benches on the line so as to prevent the Argenteuil trains from running. Minutes later they stopped the Cherbourg mail train and a train from Mantes. They quickly uncoupled both locomotives and derailed them on the points, completely blocking both lines.

75 years ago: when the Welsh Miners stayed down the pit

WHEN the Chilean miners emerge from the San Jose mine - it is 10.30pm and the twenty-fifth miner has just got out - it is also the 75th anniversary, almost to the day, of a pit occupation by 150 Welsh miners employed at Nine Mile Point in 1935, one of the biggest collieries in Monmouthshire. On October 12th, 1935; this protest against the employment of 88 non-union miners began. The unionised miners responded with an occupation of the pit and hunger strike. When at the end of their morning shift the elevator came for them to return to the surface the men refused to leave the mine, declaring that they did not intend to leave until the non-union men had been discharged. They said that they would stay underground without food, will sleep in their ordinary clothes at their usual work places and would not communicate with the outside world until their demands were met.

Myth of General Strike

Syndicalist Bedfellows Seduced

YESTERDAY the Global Edition of the New York Times ran a story about last month's general strike in Spain entitled 'For Spanish labor, a dance of discontent'. The general tenor of this report tended to support the sceptical position taken by the syndicalists at the National Shop Stewards' Network (NSSN) steering committee meeting last weekend in London, when they challenged the proposal put by the Socialist Workers' Party members on this committee to work for a 24-hour general strike. This report says the Spanish 'general strike' was according to the analysts 'a well-choreographed dance in which unions could show their discontent with the measures (of the Spanish Government) without significantly damaging their natural ally, the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party government of Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, whose popularity is at its weakest point since being elected.' I think that the argument of the British syndicalists to these types of 'general strikes' is that at worst they risk bringing the weapon of the general strike into disrepute in the eyes of the working class, and, at best, are a safety valve weakening serious social unrest. They are not like the British Poll Tax Riot, sometimes referred to over here these days by militants on the left, which was unpredictable and seriously shook the regime but they are a kind of fancy shadow boxing and the leaders of the NSSN should understand this. The vain hope expressed by the SWP mover of the motion in London that he wished that Britain was like Spain and had had six 'general strikes' since 1979, shows the mindless misunderstanding of some on the British left of Spanish politics because, in a way, last month's Spanish general strike demonstrated the impotence of the Spanish trade union movement.

Indeed, most accounts claim that the Spanish strike was not a 'rousing success' and in interviews given after the strike commentators note a certain curious 'concord in which the unions declared victory but could not point to specific concessions they expected to win from the government - while the Spanish labor minister praised the union's bargaining skills'. The Spanish Government measures have cut severance pay for fired workers and made it easier for companies to put workers on less hours in response to temporary drops in demand. There has been a reduction in the collective bargaining power of the unions as well. The unions also oppose the threat in the Socialist Government's proposed budget to raise the pension age from 65 to 67.

The Spanish 'general strike' was called on the 29th, September to co-ordinate with the other European demonstrations but it seemed to turn into pockets of unrest and protest across the continent and didn't have the impact of the Greek struggles earlier in the year. Nor are the Spanish workers united in their struggles, our sources inform us that in Madrid there were three separate demonstrations during the 'general strike': one by the main unions - the UGT and Workers' Commissions; one by the anarchist CNT; and another by the anarcho-syndicalist CGT. But Spain still has 20% unemployment according to the official statistics, though these figures do not take account of the normally thriving black economy in Spain; hence, the Socialist Government is in a weak position and a poll last week in the newspaper El Pais showed the Socialists trialing the conservative Popular Party by 15%.

The problem is that the British left is so aware of its own weakness that it feels a necessity to play-up the events in Spain or Greece to create for itself an ideal type example to aim to remedy our own situation, but very often they not comparing like-with-like and are usually using foreign appearances to overlook and escape from the very real nature of our own situation. In the end on the left we are often seduced by our own slogans and apparently exotic foreign events, and things like the myth of the general strike; which requires more thought and consideration than the SWP proposal offered us at last weekend's NSSN steering committee meeting.

UPDATE: this post is now attracting responses from SWP members, whose comments can be read after the full post here. Click here to read SWP supporter Geoff Brown's post on his blog.

Northern Voices @ 2010 London Anarchist Bookfair

On Saturday 23rd October, Northern Voices will have a stall at the annual London Anarchist Bookfair. This is the biggest annual event for Anarchists (of all persuasions) from all over the country, and abroad as well, and unlike the Manchester one, we're not banned from it!

On the day, you can chat to us about the magazine, buy current and back issues and perhaps, if you feel you have something to say, talk to us about contributing to the next and subsequent issues. We will also have information about the Northern Anarchist Network.

The Bookfair is being held at Queen Mary & Westfield College, Mile End Road, London, E1 4NS (click here for a map) between 10.00 am and 7.00 pm on Saturday 23rd October. There are lots of meetings happening all day, as well as films and cabaret, and a list of stalls (who have websites) can be found here.

We look forward to seeing you there.

National Shop Stewards Network: Syndicalists vote against general strike?

YESTERDAY, a proposal from Socialist Workers' Party (SWP) members of the steering committee of the National Shop Stewards Network (NSSN) to 'campaign for a 24 hour general strike' was opposed by syndicalists on the committee on grounds that it was an absurd and premature proposition in the current climate. In the end the vote went against the syndicalists, but it was significant because this was the first time an organised section from the libertarian left has made an independent intervention. The syndicalists also issued a statement which declared: 'Syndicalists are opposed to the cynical use of the NSSN as a vehicle for sectarian aims. Talk about rebuilding the Labour Party Left or building alternative parties is a diversion ... it ignores the fact that militant trade union activity is a political power in itself. We believe that these distractions will only slow us down in reaching our goals of a strong working class able to defend itself and make significant gains. (The) NSSN is a broad-based organisation the class struggle and narrow political agendas must not be allowed to sap energy or hamper progress in the struggle.' (a full copy of this statement will appear in a comment on this post shortly).

These syndicalists, who have support in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Northumbria in the far North through the centres of our civilising industrial culture in Manchester and the West Midlands, down to the smoky city that is London and the wild South West, are trying to set an agenda outside the urban street-theatre of party politics with its rent-a-crowd and ridiculous resolutions such as the general strike proposal. They are in a sense the phantoms of freshness on the political left, far different from the traditional old left like the SWP and the Socialist Party, and even at odds with their would be allies among the Anarchist Federation and the Solidarity Federation. Their aim is to bring some sense and serious purpose to the British political left.

A syndicalist lass named Becca from Birmingham was elevated to the new post in charge of 'Fund-raising and affiliations' which became a 'job-share' with another lass named Suzanne from London. In the course of the meeting Becca drew the meeting's attention to the election address of Dave Chapple, Chair of the NSSN, which outlined what he thought the new officers and steering committee members should be doing:

1. Mapping of ... potential militant NSSN support in the 'upper' part of our movement: trade union national officers, national executive members, regional officials, branch officers and local reps;
2. Mapping all well-organised workplaces by union and location.
3. Recording and contacting all workplaces & Branches that take local, national or unofficial industrial action.
4. Drawing up and carrying out an action plan to build the NSSN within different unions, different cities & regions, and different types of union rep.
5. Establishing a sound financial branch affiliation base.

Dave Chapple then asks: 'How can we grow without this information.'

A business-like approach on the libertarian syndicalist left! How different from the left party politicians and how different from the dilettantes who one sees shifting from one talking-shop to another among the affiliates of Manchester Anarchist Federation and the Manchester Solidarity Federation. It is far too early to say if these new young syndicalists will get anywhere, much less transform British politics, but today, as the Conservatives meet for their national Conference in Birmingham, it is a time for turning over stones to see what's underneath. The NSSN syndicalists have made a start.

Not invited to the Manchester Anarchist Bookfair

For some reason as yet unknown to us, Northern Voices has not been invited to the Manchester Anarchist Bookfair. But worry not, you can still buy the latest issue of Northern Voices as well as back issues, plus our other publications on the Northern Anarchist Network stall.

The Bookfair is being held at the Dancehouse Theatre, which is located on Oxford Road (opposite the BBC building) between 11.00 am and 5.00 pm tomorrow, Saturday 2nd October. There's food and talks too (as well as lots of other stalls), so plenty to keep you occupied if you're in town.

Hope to see you there.

Puny Anti-Cuts Protests in UK: Jonnie come lately in Spain

JUDGING by the anti-cuts protest outside Salford Town Hall on Wednesday the British working class, even in the public sector, are not angry enough about the Coalition Government's threats of cuts in the public sector - yet. Even the well known local trade union leader, Alex McFadden, didn't turn up: according to the rumours he was off networking with the Council to get another grant for the Salford Unemployed Centre in Eccles.

In Europe, the Spaniards led the field with a nationwide general strike. The trade unions estimated about 70% participation in the strike. Workers in Spain's heavy industry backed the strike lowering industrial power usage to 20% of normal. Valencia and some other main ports were shut, but the transport network, including the Madrid subway, were unaffected by the strike.

In Madrid the big shops stayed open with one fishmonger saying: 'This is a pantomime staged by union leaders to show that they still can play a role' and he added, 'If they had really meant to intervene, they would have done something when the economy started to collapse, rather than keeping their mouths shut until it's too late.'

Sandalio Gómez, a labour relations pundit, said: that few Spaniards understood 'why a strike is now being held 3 months after the labour market reform was actually approved', and he claimed 'The unions still have an important role but they have become far too institutionalised, reliant on government subsidies rather than membership fees - and that has left their leaders out of touch with the reality of workers' lives' and this had reduced their credibility. The International Herald Tribune suggested that these protests, unlike the ones in Greece in May, had been less traumatic for the European governments.

General Strike in Spain: lunchtime protest in Salford

THE rain today did not deter the 100 local authority workers who demonstrated against the proposed cuts to public services by the Coalition Government outside Salford Town Hall in Swinton. Ray Walker, Branch Secretary of Unison, addressed the protest from the Town Hall steps. Salford Trades Council raised their huge red banner held by Alex Halligan and Steve North, and smaller flags of the GMB union and Unison were on show. Political groups like the local Green Party and the odd anarchist were in evidence as were some supporters of the National Shop Stewards Network. Today, of course, was a European day of action with a 'General Strike' in Spain and other actions in Greece, Ireland, and Brussels. Spain has had six 'General Strikes' (four of 24 hours; one of half a day; one of 1 hour) since the death of General Franco in 1975 only one, in 1988, which paralysed the country. These Spanish 'general strikes' are safety valves and what we would call token strikes, they are more effective than a day of action but not much more. But, it is doubtful that the British TUC could even call a successful Day of Action at the moment.

Buy Northern Voices12 with more stories on the Salford areas and with our special regular feature 'Salford Spy': price £1.50, out next month, from certain select newsagents in Swinton, Walkden, Eccles and Salford or write for postal subscription: £10 for the next 5 issues to Northern Voices: c/o 52, Todmorden Road, Burnley, Lancashire BB10 4AH.

LABOUR LIVING IN 'CLOUD CUCKOO-LAND'

'I know thee not old man.': Prince Hal in Henry IV [part II]

IT was like a play by Bertold Brecht when two weeks ago Dave Harker, of North East National Shop Stewards Network, declared to a large fringe meeting on the Blacklist: 'Anyone who asks us to vote Labour must be living in Cloud Cuckoo-Land'. This was met with spontaneous applause much to the dismay of the left-wing MP on the platform: John McDonnell. Mr McDonnell MP had urged voting Labour in the midst of his oration to the campaigners against the blacklist and another speaker on the platform went on to say it is 'a pity he was not one of the candidates for Labour leader'.

But 'Cloud Cuckoo-land' is still, not an easy realm to escape from for many on the left, and the big unions still spend millions supporting the Labour Party. Will they get their money's worth this time? The political pundits are not yet tipping the restoration of trade union rights to the pre-Margaret Thatcher situation, which is something unions like UNITE have been demanding. The best thing on offer from the new Labour leadership, at the moment, seems to be a 'Living Wage; right to request flexible working for all workers'.

This falls far short of what last March, Tony Woodley and Derek Simpson, the leaders of UNITE the UNION, were calling for when they said the last Labour Government had let the labour movement down by failing to do away with Thatcher's anti-trade union laws. Yet in second quarter of 2010, UNITE gave the Labour Party £1.67 million; this compares with £1.2 million that Unison gave the party and £1.05 million donated by the GMB.

At the TUC Conference in Manchester a local group calling themselves the 'northern syndicalists' issued a 'Trade Unionist Review' arguing that:

'After the General Strike in 1926 the Baldwin Government, like Thatcher in the 1980s, had been eager to exploit its victory and in May 1927 it introduced a bill to amend the Trades Disputes Act of 1906. Its main clause made illegal the sympathy strike or “any strike designed or calculated to coerce the government”... The historian, A.J.P. Taylor, writes of this Act (the Trade Disputes & Trade Union Act) that, unlike Thatcher's anti-union laws, “it was fiercely contested in the house of commons, and its repeal followed close on Labour's victory in 1945”. The northern syndicalist Review adds: 'No such attempt at repeal of Thatcher's anti-union laws followed the election of Blair in 1997, indeed the Labour Government, that was in office with an absolute majority up to May this year, dismissed trade union demands for change in the law.'

Today it would be a rash inmate of the Labour Party realm of Cloud Cuckoo-Land, who should risk forecasting any repeal of the laws that inhibit trade unions as a result of last weekends election of Ed Miliband as Labour leader. Indeed, John McTernan, political secretary to Tony Blair 2005 to 2007, wrote in the Telegraph yesterday that now that Ed Miliband has got the job 'he never needs to do anything for them (the unions) ever again.' Mr McTernan says he should tackle Derek Simpson as the newly crowned Henry V dealt with Falstaff when he came to Court looking for favours: 'I know thee not old man.'

CONVENTION OF THE LEFT or is it FUNERAL OF THE LEFT?

NOTHING to frighten the horses in the Labour leadership election at the Manchester's conference centre with the election of Ed Milliband yesterday. And, nothing to trouble the status quo at the Convention of the Left across the road at the Friends Meeting House. So the party which can only select between Oxbridge graduates confronts a Cabinet full of millionaires, while the far left in the Friends Meeting House yesterday acted, at times, as if it was at the Funeral of the Left addressed by a downbeat John McDonnell MP, he who never gets enough nominations, warning us all of a 'long haul' and that he didn't think the Liberals would split away from the government.

The organisers of the Convention of the Left, with John Nicholson sounding hoarse and looking haggard, did their best to cheer up the throng of some eighty or so dispirited revellers at the event going on about Right to Work campaigns and Stop the Cuts. It all sounded thoroughly so 1980s. Is David Cameron really the new Thatcher? It all seems a bit overwrought. Thatcher was a lower middle-class grocer's daughter with all the bitterness of those particular social animals - the Midland shopkeepers- while Cameron has that English upper-class air. That's why I can't agree with Laurens Otter's analysis below and don't believe Cameron wants to grind down the poor and if we accept Professor Robert Skidelsky's thesis it is the markets that rule us and not the government (see Financial Times: June 17th, 2010: 'Once again we must ask: "Who governs?"'). Thus the consensus across the mainstream political spectrum, even that of the Milliband brothers, is that ultimately we have to please the international bankers and investors.

The Convention of the Left was full of hopes and vain expectations, and the spirit of Mr Micawber that 'Something will turn up' to transform the situation: a Poll Tax type riot perhaps or maybe the climate camp warriors will come to our rescue? One workshop was asked to define what the 'Left' was? Mostly for most that meant 'More of the State', look at what happens when you get a downsized State – look at the USA and Katrina; but some, like a film-maker and former anarcho-punk from Hackney called Sean pointed to Detroit, where people on their own initiative are transforming the depressed city by growing crops amid the desolation. Others, like a lad formerly from Big Flame, seemed to have misgivings the 'More State' solution.

Barry Woodling, who described himself as an anarcho-syndicalist, caused a stir when he drew attention to the decision of Castro and Cuba to set about reducing the size of the workforce employed by the State: The International Herald Tribune [18/09/10] reported: '... the Cuban government's recent eye-popping announcement that it will reduce the government work force by 10% and expect the hundreds of thousands of laid-off workers to find places in a new system that has a resemblance to free enterprise.' Screams came back from old codgers declaring: 'You read the wrong papers!' Barry battled on declaring that the National Shop Stewards Network, that had held a Lobby at the TUC conference two weeks ago that featured on SKY TV, offered a radical alternative to the current stale politics of the left. Meanwhile, I'm worried that I'll lose my bus pass.

BIG CUTS AT BURY COUNCIL

Bury Council has told its trade unions that they intend to cut take-home pay by locking staff out for 3 days without pay next Christmas. They also intend to further restrict take home pay by removing incremental progression for the next three years.

At the same time, proposed changes to the Management Board will see two senior managers benefiting from an additional £94,000 to their salaries. The Chief Executive of Bury Council, Mark Sanders, who last year denied that there had been evidence of blacklisting on the The Rock - a controversial construction site in Bury - told the Bury Times that he was resigning because he thought 'it was important that we all share in some of that pain ...' He also said he wanted to get to know his wife. He told the paper he wasn't being 'sanctimonious' and assured us 'There's no conspiracy under the surface here. There's not something going to jump out and bite you.' The locked-out workforce next Christmas may not agree!

Buy Northern Voices12 price £1.50, out next month, from certain select newsagents in Bury or write for postal subscription: £10 for the next 5 issues to Northern Voices: c/o 52, Todmorden Road, Burnley, Lancashire BB10 4AH.

The Coalition: Return of Maggie Thatcher? by Laurens Otter

The argument here owes something to the proposition put forward by former miner Dave Douglass in the 3rd volume of his autobiography entitled 'GHOST DANCERS': price £12.95, published by Christie Books PO Box 35, Hastings, East Sussex, TN34 1ZS'. Dave Douglass was a branch official in the NUM and a member of its Yorkshire Executive during the miners strike of 1984/5 and his book will be reviewed in Northern Voices 12; out next month.

---

There are obvious resemblances between the present Coalition Government and the Thatcher era; perhaps most relevant is that:

Thatcher came to power with what, some leftists then suspected, and now, in retrospect and after some government admissions, all agree was a preplanned scheme to provoke a showdown with the miners. They would be forced either to strike at a time of the government's choosing – when large stocks of fuel had been stockpiled and a press and Public Relations scheme had already prepared the ground – or alternatively, to suffer salami-slicing to reduce not only their pay and conditions, but also their future action.

Cameron has come to power and appears to be goading what remains of an active trade union movement in much the same way, with the same intent, and the fact that Liberals have agreed to join him in the Coalition does not contradict this, nor will it necessarily impede such a strategy and throughout he wishes to rub their faces in the shit by making them support a variety of right-wing policies, in the knowledge that they dare not break the alliance and go into opposition.

Thatcher was elected at a time when a number of articulate liberal middle class intellectuals were campaigning against nuclear power and were sympathetic to the miners; had they continued their activity, their testimony about the evils of nuclear power might well have been enough to sway the struggle in the miners favour. They didn't because in the year prior to the strike there were a significant number of curious deaths in such circles.

These were sufficiently worthy of suspicion as to cause those who took an interest in such matters to think they have been state murders, but not so far that there was any certainty, so that the Governmental party and venal press could dismiss the suspicions as mere conspiracy theory. It seems fair to expect a similar series of unexplained deaths.

LOOKING BACK ON THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR

'A louse is a louse and a bomb is a bomb, even though what you are fighting for happens to be just.' from George Orwell's essay 'Looking Back on the Spanish War' written in the Autumn of 1942.

Last night, Charles Jepson of the National Clarion Cycling Club 1895 welcomed the recent decision of Tameside Council to award a blue plaque to James Keogh, an international brigade volunteer, who died in action in the Spanish Civil War in March 1938 in a confrontation in northern Spain with Italian troops. Mr Jepson was speaking to a group of local people at the Tameside Local Studies & Archives Centre on Old Street, Ashton-u-Lyne on 'Tameside People who served in the Spanish Civil War'. The event was organised by local archivist Alice Lock. Present at the talk were officers from Tameside Trade Union Council and Louise Atkinson, the Tameside Arts & Events Manager.

Charles Jepson spoke of the courage of young James Keogh, who lived on Wellington Street, Ashton, and the other young men from the Tameside area, who served in Spain fighting for what they saw as freedom and democracy. His younger sister, Claire Jackson, still lives in Stalybridge. Another man from Dukinfield, Albert Godwin, who served with James in Spain was captured by the enemy and is believed to have been forced, at one stage, to dig his own grave: in the end Albert and the others who went from Tameside survived the war. No grave nor James Keogh's remains, have ever been found, despite a visit by James's nephew, Mike Harrison, a couple of years ago.

Louise Atkinson of the Tameside Arts & Events Unit, has written that she 'anticipate(s) the plaque (to James Keogh) will be unveiled around Autumn/Winter 2011' and that the plaque will 'include reference to “all other volunteers” from the area that also fought in the Spanish Civil War'. At the last meeting of Tameside TUC, that nominated James for the blue plaque two years ago, the Council's decision was welcomed.

Mr Jepson's talk was a workmanlike and well balanced account of the Civil War. In the end, he echoed George Orwell assessment in his essay 'Looking Back on the Spanish War' that: 'The outcome of the Spanish war was settled in London, Paris, Rome, Berlin – at any rate not in Spain' and that General Franco's forces 'won because they were stronger; they had modern arms and the others hadn't.' Spain in 1936, was one of only three democracies remaining in western Europe – Britain and France being the other two, and it had a legitimate right to international support. James Keogh and the others who fought in Spain, including George Orwell, understood this. Most people in this country, including in the trade union and Labour movement, choose to ignore this preferring a policy of appeasement and non-intervention, and Tory critics of Germany, like Winston Churchill and Harold Nicholson, were still in the political wilderness. Only after Munich did public opinion change on this.

Buy Northern Voices12 price £1.50, out next month, from certain select Ashton and Tameside newsagents & in the Local Studies Archive at Ashton Library, for more on James Keogh and other local heroes of the Spanish Civil War.

BIG CYRIL

The political pundits say he was the best thing to come out of
Rochdale since Gracie Fields

After his death on September 3rd, the (Rochdale) Observer say their offices were inundated with tributes to Sir Cyril following the news - from friends and rivals alike ...

Nick Clegg, deputy Prime Minister and Liberal Democrat leader: "Cyril Smith was a larger-than-life character and one of the most recognisable and likeable politicians of his day.
"Everybody in Rochdale knew him not only as their MP but also as a friend.
"Rochdale and Britain have sadly lost one of their great MPs, and I think we can safely say there will never be an MP quite like Cyril Smith again."

Jimmy Cricket, comedian and long-time friend of Sir Cyril: "Cyril was a giant who loomed over the political landscape of Rochdale for over two decades.
“He was synonymous with the town, like the Co-op and Gracie Fields...”

Lord (David) Steel of Aikwood, leader of the Liberals from 1976 until 1988: “Cyril was first and foremost Mr Rochdale..."

See the sinister side of Cyril in our next issue - Northern Voices12: out in October

Surgeon Calls on Hospital Bosses to Quit!

"We are a clean safe hospital" declared Christine Green the chief executive of Tameside Hospital at the hospital`s AGM on Wednesday. The beleaguered Mrs. Green who is facing demands for her to quit her £144,000 post would like us all to forget the past.

In 2006, local coroner John Pollard, denounced the standard of care at Tameside hospital as 'absolutely despicable' and 'chaotic'. The hospital responded by reporting him to the Office for Judicial Complaints. In 2007, the Fielding Inquiry also found that "the quality of care...over a number of years had been seriously deficient." In 2009, it was revealed that the hospital had death rates which were amongst the worst in the country.This July, Mrs. Green, told members of the Tameside Council health scrutiny panel:

"People are very relieved to find that Tameside hospital is not a killer hospital. If we keep reliving history, we wont move forward. We`ve got to get over our history..we've got to make sure everyone is saying the right things, that we're moving forward."

Alas, for Mrs. Green, not everyone who attended the hospital's AGM on Wednesday, were keen to say what she wanted to hear. Rod McCord her nemesis from the Tameside Hospital Action Group (THAG,)called on Mrs. Greeen and the Board to resign. He told the meeting:

"We're still saddled with the same old discredited management." Referring to the hospital's annual report, he added:

"By no stretch of the most febrile imagination could it be said that the reports by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and Monitor, were 'very positive evaluations'. The CQC reported chronic understaffing and recommended immediate recruitment of staff under threat of legal action. The Monitor report,(which looked at clinical governance)had also commented that a good Board functioned without the need for regulatory intervention."

Although hospital mangement did their best to pack the meeting with lackeys who were only too keen to do Mrs. Green's bidding, they were visibly shocked when Milton Pena, (pictured above)consultant orthopaedic surgeon at the hospital, told the meeting:

"I support the petition for the Board to resign. I have no confidence in the Board. I`ve reported the Trust on three separate occasions to the Health Care Commssion." In 2005, Mr. Pena went public telling the press that elderly and vulnerable patients were being put at risk due to a lack of nursing staff on the wards and were being left unattended for hours. Hospital management responded by disciplining him for speaking out about his concerns.

Outside the building, Mr. Pena, posed for photographs with Liz Degnen, who is campaigning for the dismissal of Mrs. Green and the Board at Tameside hospital. Speaking to the Manchester Evening News, she said:

"I'm pleased Mr. Pena has been bold enough to support our campaign. It takes guts to do what he has done and I think a lot of people admire him for his courage."

SEXUAL ABUSE: Cyril Smith's Family vs Private Eye

THIS WEEKEND the family of Cyril Smith clashed with Private Eye about the image of the former Rochdale MP after the magazine repeated sexual abuse allegations originally published in the Rochdale Alternative Paper (RAP) in May 1979 (the text of the article can be read by clicking on the 'read more' link, below). At the time it had been claimed in RAP that one youth at the Cambridge House boys' hostel that Cyril had 'told me to take my trousers down and hit me four or five times on my bare buttocks' and another said Smith 'had given me a kind of medical examination... he held my testicles and told me to cough.'

In the Rochdale Observer yesterday Cyril's brother Norman castigated these reports in Private Eye saying: 'He (Cyril) thought of nothing else than the people of Rochdale.' He claimed: 'These allegations were proved completely untrue and were dropped.' That, alas, is not how many people remember it! None of the evidence was tested or seriously challenged. At the time RAP's editors declared in conclusion:
'It is not RAP’s function to pronounce on guilt or innocence. We do however believe that the investigation of 1970 should have resulted in a court case. We cannot but believe, like many of the men we interviewed, that had the allegations involved a less prominent person, it would have had exactly that result... Private preferences are, and should remain, personal business. The use of public position for personal gratification at the cost of exploitation of others must be prevented.'

Only last year, one of the former editors of RAP assured me that the paper had a mountain of evidence to prove their case regarding Cyril's behaviour. In the print version of Northern Voices 8 (in the Winter 2007/08 issue) we had suggested that Cyril Smith may have been the subject, along with Jeremy Thorpe, Harold Wilson and others, of a special branch operation called 'Clockwork Orange'. There was a paragraph in RAP's original report of May 1979 that suggested such an interest:

'(7) SPECIAL BRANCH

The file, kept since at Preston, the HQ of Lancashire Constabulary, came to the centre of national events in February/March 1974. Then there was discussion of a possible coalition between the Conservatives and the Liberals. The possibility, if that happened, of leading Liberals holding Ministerial posts, prompted the Special Branch to acquire a copy of the Preston file on Smith which was taken, with special security precautions, to London.'