Britain

The 20th National Shop Stewards Network (NSSN) conference took place in London last Saturday. In the centenary year of the British 1926 General Strike, just days after Keir Starmer’s resignation as Labour prime minister, and […]

Two years on from a ‘landslide’ general election victory, British Labour Prime Minister Keir Starmer has resigned. Whether through contest or coronation, Andy Burnham is set to be Labour leader and Prime Minister by September […]

The Socialist Party, the England & Wales section of the CWI, organises caucuses of party members in most British trade unions. CWI trade unionists work as part of ‘broad left’ organisations wherever possible, collaborating with […]

As expected, Labour suffered a crushing defeat at the election for the Senedd (Welsh Parliament) on 7 May. Labour won just nine seats out of 96 in a newly extended Senedd, down from 30 seats […]

Scottish Parliament, Welsh Assembly and English local election analysis 2026 will be remembered as the year that Britain’s existing political order finally fell apart. The two main parties that have governed Britain in the interests […]

2026 marks the centenary of Britain’s general strike. From 4-12 May 1926, workers tasted power, in what is the most important event yet in the history of the British working class. Ian Pattison describes events. socialistworld.net […]

Hundreds of thousands of people took part in the anti-far right Together demonstration on 28 March in London. The driving force behind the mass turnout was a desire to show that far-right ideas and politics are […]

In another humiliating setback for dKeir Starmer’s Labour in Britain, High Court judges have ruled that the proscription of Palestine Action last year was ‘unlawful’. The proscription of Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation made […]

Keir Starmer started the new year with net approval ratings (-66 points) lower than any prime minister since polling records begun in the 1970s. The sordid revelations from the Epstein files, going to the heart […]

The first six of the Filton 24 to go on trial have walked free. The activists, who allegedly broke into and sabotaged an Elbit Systems factory near Bristol which produces weapons for the Israeli military, […]

The largest hunger strike on these islands since the 1981 Republican prisoners’ protest in the Maze prison in the north of Ireland is barely being registered by the mass media. The Filton hunger strikers are […]

Labour chancellor Rachel Reeves’s Budget on 27 November re-emphasised the burning need for mass working-class opposition to Labour austerity. That need, increasingly acutely felt, was at the root of the explosion of enthusiasm for Jeremy Corbyn […]

The formation of ‘Your Party’ was announced just five months ago. Now, thousands are preparing for its founding conference in Liverpool 29-30 November. The conference is likely to involve around 4,000 attendees, short of the […]

The declaration for a new party announced by Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana began with a bang, with 800,000 signing up in support. Since then, of course, public divisions at the top have dampened some […]

Keir Starmer’s Labour government is preparing yet more austerity in the Autumn Budget while Reform rises in the polls. But with the recent clashes at the summit of ‘Your Party’ and the published timetable for […]

Editorial of Socialism Today No. 291, monthly magazine of the Socialist Party. Originally published on 2 October 2025. Barely two months after Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana’s July 24 joint announcement of “a new kind […]

After a week of public disagreement between the two left MPs – Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana – who launched the call for ‘Your Party’, the show is back on the road. It is now […]

Workers’ movement must urgently respond! The ‘Unite the Kingdom’ march in London on 13 September sounds a warning that the workers’ movement must urgently respond to. Police estimate that 110,000 took to the streets in […]

Hundreds of deaths in Gaza from malnutrition, almost half of them children. Hundreds of people slaughtered while seeking food. And now the Israeli military says it is preparing for the forcible displacement of one million […]

In one week, more than 700,000 people have signed up to the yourparty.uk website to support Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana’s initiative to build a new left party. The party doesn’t yet exist, and so there is […]

On 21 July over one thousand trade unionists – on Zoom and via a live feed – met to discuss the fight for a new workers’ party. The meeting arose from a petition for trade […]

Just a year into Labour prime minister Keir Starmer’s rule in Britain and his ‘huge parliamentary majority’ has fallen apart. Elected with the lowest share of the electorate of any government since universal suffrage was […]

The British Labour party suffered a humiliating defeat in the 1 May local elections, exposing the deep unpopularity of the Keir Starmer government. But far from cutting across electoral support for Nigel Farage’s right-populist Reform […]

On 18 May, up to half a million people marched against the slaughter in Gaza and the starvation policy imposed on the Strip by the right wing Israeli government. Days later, the UK Labour government […]

A supposedly ‘historic’ trade deal between the US and UK was signed on 8 May, the first the US had agreed with any country following the chaos unleashed by Trump’s sweeping tariffs in April. Many […]

Fight for a united working-class struggle against all oppressions and for socialism The Supreme Court ruling on Wednesday 16 April 2025 proves yet again that minority rights are not secure in a society in which […]

This is a government focused on serving its capitalist masters. That was one clear message from Labour’s Spring Statement. The second is that the working class must organise to defy the expectation that it will […]

Taking place in a ‘new era’ of unprecedented political volatility and turmoil, epitomised by Trump’s second presidency, 290 attended the Socialist Party’s three-day congress in Coventry, 15-17 March 2025. “The most important meeting of the […]

Below are three reports of recent successes won by Socialist Party (CWI England & Wales) members in union elections.   Victory for socialist Marco Tesei in University and College Union Left must organise to fight […]

Keir Starmer, Britain’s Prime Minister, is everyday revealing the extent to which he is determined to govern in the interests of the capitalist bosses. His party, the Labour Party, was founded by the trade unions […]

Employment Rights Bill: Unions must fight to strengthen workers’ rights Trade union leaders have been lining up to extol the Labour government’s Employment Rights Bill, as secretary of state for business and trade Jonathan Reynolds […]

There has been a litany of incidents of horrific violence against women and girls in Britain in recent years. The scale of misogyny in London’s Metropolitan Police is on full view following the jailing of […]

Keir Starmer’s New Labour government has only reached its eighth month in office but the cracks are beginning to show around numerous issues, including oil field licensing, foreign policy, and Starmer’s increasingly strident anti-migrant rhetoric. […]

It was apt that Sir Keir Starmer, the UK prime minister, staged his Labour government’s December ‘relaunch’ at Pinewood Studios, where the old comedy ‘Carry On’ movies were filmed. Starmer was hoping to breathe new […]

“This is not a Liz Truss moment”, declared a former director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), referring to the brief period of the Tory prime minister Liz Truss’s time in office, as the pound […]

2024 saw the historic defeat of the once-most successful capitalist party in the world. The Tory Party vote at the general election collapsed, leading to the worst result in its 200-year history and its lowest-ever […]

Still dazed and disoriented from July’s UK general election humiliation, the Tories have a new leader, Kemi Badenoch – product of yet another leadership election fiasco. Surrounding her is a Conservative and Unionist Party – […]

Donald Trump has been elected again, this time as the candidate with the most votes. Millions of people in the US and worldwide are looking on in trepidation as he announces a series of ultra-right […]

“Things will get worse before they get better.” “The Tories left an even bigger mess than we realised.” “There’s a £22 billion black hole” – or is that £40 billion now? How many more ways […]

Alan Hardman was the first printer of the Militant (the predecessor newspaper of Socialist – weekly of the Socialist Party England & Wales (CWI)) and produced hundreds of political cartoons for publication in our party […]

What do you make of Keir Starmer’s first 100 days in office, which came to an end on 12 October? His Labour Party had a +6 ‘net favourability’ rating upon taking office. 90 days in […]

On Saturday 5 October 2024, the Socialist Party (CWI England & Wales) took part in the biggest anti-war demonstration since the first months of the onslaught on Gaza, marching on 10 Downing Street, the New […]

Steelworkers in Community and GMB unions  in Wales are awaiting the results of a vote on whether to accept a settlement with Tata Steel. Unite the Union representatives decided that the terms were not good […]

From Socialism Today, magazine of the Socialist Party (CWI England & Wales). Originally published under the title “Boy Trouble”. Recently there has been a proliferation of articles, books, reports and surveys looking at boys and young […]

Two months into the new Labour government, the Trades Union Congress (TUC – which brings together 5.5 million workers in trade unions across the public and private sector) held its annual Congress. At a time […]

One month after Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour party was ‘swept to power’ by a paltry 20% of the electorate – the lowest support base of any government since the introduction of universal male suffrage in […]

After over a week of horrific violent racist and Islamophobic attacks, huge numbers took to the streets in counter-protests on 7 August. Millions of Black and Asian people, especially Muslims, have been living in fear. […]

Tens of thousands of anti-racist counter-protesters took to the streets over the last week across Britain and the North of Ireland in response to a wave of attacks against immigrants by far right mobs. On […]

For working class unity not division! Horrific scenes played out at the weekend (3-4 August) in Britain as hundreds of people gathered outside hotels housing asylum seekers in Rotherham and Hull, throwing bricks and bottles, […]

Sir Keir Starmer’s New Labour spent the election campaign endlessly repeating that they would have to make ‘tough choices’ in office. Now they are doubling down, claiming to be surprised at the terrible £22 billion […]

Is British prime minister Keir Starmer going to “give the unions what they want”? That was the question put to him about the whole swathe of public-sector pay deals, with recommendations due in the next […]

A recent BBC interview with the president of Guyana, Irfaan Ali, has racked up millions of views. In it, he calls out the hypocrisy of the interviewer questioning his government’s plans to extract billions of […]

Volatile Period Opens Up Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour Party has been swept into power in Britain – by 20.1% of the electorate, the lowest share for any incoming government since the first ever election fought […]

Not just booted out. The Tories (Conservative Party) have been crushed. The electorate has punished them for fourteen years of austerity, attacks on the working class, lies and corruption. Less than seven million people went […]

The UK general elections take place on 4th July. As well as an expected Tory party meltdown and a Labour majority, the Green party is on course to possibly win more seats. Many voters regard […]

With the UK general election less than a month away Labour Party leader, Keir Starmer, remains on course for Downing Street. “Things can maybe get a bit better”, was how the Economist magazine summed up […]

Queen Mary: ‘We won’t pack up and give up!’ QMUL student, Tower Hamlets Socialist Party As we go into another week of the Queen Mary University student encampment for Palestine, East London, it’s becoming clear […]

It is highly likely that a Keir Starmer-led Labour government will form in Britain after the general election on 4 July. But what will it inherit? An ailing economy with stagnant growth and productivity well […]

Fourteen years of Tory government look set to come to an end on 4 July, 2024. Fourteen years of the super-rich raking in £billions, while the rest of us suffer falling living standards and crumbling […]

Keir Starmer’s announcement of six commitments for an incoming Labour government fall woefully short of promising real change after over 14 years of Tory misrule in Britain. Adding insult to injury, Labour leaders claim it […]

The infected blood inquiry in the UK published its final report on 20 May. It has detailed how thousands of people have died and many more exposed to contaminated blood, a scandal made worse by […]

As the Socialist [weekly paper of the Socialist Party – CWI England & Wales] goes to press, British trade union leaders meet with leaders of the Labour Party to discuss its ‘New Deal for Working […]

If anything, the beating the Tories took in the 2 May  local elections in parts of England and Wales was even greater than predicted, as voters vented their fury at the government. In the simultaneous […]

University students across the United States have set up encampments to protest against the brutal onslaught on the Palestinian people by the Israeli state after the US Government agreed an extra $15 billion for the […]

The strike wave of the last two years in Britain and in other European countries has taken levels of industrial action to a scale not seen since the 1980s. A new generation of trade union […]

The crisis-ridden saga of Thames Water in Britain continues. Recent news suggests that a promised £3 billion of further investment into the company may be withheld, threatening the possibility that it will be unable to […]

‘Coal not dole’ was the cry across Britain as 180,000 members of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) in 180 pits began walking out on strike in March 1984. It became a long, bitter industrial […]

This  month marks the 40th anniversary of the start of the heroic miners’ strike in Britain. The eventual defeat of the miners, mainly due to the role of the TUC and Labour Party leaderships, has […]

Meeting on the eve of a general election which will usher in a new period of class struggle, delegates from our many Socialist Party branches across England and Wales met in London to discuss, debate […]

The Rochdale parliamentary by-election in northern England on 29 February could not have delivered a more emphatic rejection of the capitalist establishment and its tame politicians if it had been a scripted drama. George Galloway […]

The shambolic end to the UK parliamentary debate on Gaza on Wednesday 21 February reflected the pressure being felt from the anti-war movement on the Tories and Labour, and the widespread anger at their refusal […]

The left-wing Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) has announced its support for George Galloway’s ‘insurgent campaign’ against the establishment politicians in next week’s Rochdale by-election in Britain. The TUSC national chairperson Dave Nellist, a former […]

Keir Starmer’s New Labour in Britain is on course to win the general election as the only available governmental alternative to prime minister Rushi Sunak’s hated Tory government. Nonetheless, millions will not be able to […]

Labour Winter Business Conference 2024, like last year’s British Labour Party conference, represented a further tightening of the ties between big business and the Labour leadership. Sponsored by HSBC and Bloomberg, £1,000 per head tickets […]

Hundreds of thousands people took to the streets of London and other towns and cities on 13 January 2024 in the first mass protests of the year against the ongoing slaughter of the Palestinians. The […]

Tragically our slogan on “No trust in Tata” has been borne out by the January 19 announcement that the two blast furnaces in Port Talbot will be shut down with potential job losses up to […]

Internationally 2023 saw unimaginable horror being suffered by Palestinians in Gaza, the continuation of the grinding Ukraine war with hundreds of thousands of casualties, and a COP28 conference that failed to agree any proposals that […]

After a hard-fought campaign the results of the PCS general secretary and assistant general secretary elections have been announced. Fran Heathcote has been elected general secretary with 10,340 votes. Marion Lloyd, a Socialist Party member […]

Socialism 2023 was a weekend attended by hundreds of people who want to change the world. Many have been involved in the strike wave. Many found out about the event on the anti-war demos – […]

After the start of the initial four-day Israeli ceasefire, aid workers who entered the Gaza Strip reported scenes of humanitarian catastrophe. Devastating injuries, overwhelmed hospitals, over 50,000 buildings destroyed or damaged, a dire shortage of […]

The vast majority of people are looking on in ever-growing horror as the destruction escalates in Gaza – as IDF forces assault al-Shifa Hospital and helicopters drop leaflets in south Gaza telling people to evacuate […]

‘Cruella’ Braverman is out! The anti-war movement – whose demonstrations she tried and failed to ban – has scored a victory! She has been ditched as Tory Home Secretary just 13 months after having been […]

The horrific images of the Israeli state’s brutal assault on Gaza have sparked an intense debate across the trade union movement and in individual unions about the attitude the workers’ movement must take to the […]

Nominations have closed in the elections for Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) general secretary and AGS elections. In a stunning outcome, Socialist Party member Marion Lloyd, standing for general secretary with the support of […]

Outside this year’s Tory conference in Manchester, 3,000 members of various health unions, mainly consultants and junior doctors, gathered. They set out their determination to keep up strike action throughout the autumn and winter if […]

The Rutherglen and Hamilton West by-election was a massive vote of no confidence in the main pro-capitalist parties. Despite intense attention from the media and the political establishment, and major resources expended by Labour and […]

The current strike wave, which erupted more than a year ago with national strike action by railworkers in the RMT union, marks the beginning of a new era in the class struggle in Britain. At last […]

By 1983 , Militant, the predecessor of the Socialist Party (CWI England & Wales), was growing ever more influential, especially through the Labour Party Young Socialists (LPYS) and on Merseyside, as well as other places. […]

Over 330 National Union of Journalists (NUJ) members in over 100 National World newspapers and websites across Britain and Northern Ireland struck on 18 September. The company imposed a 4.5% pay rise. That is despite […]

It seems simpler to list the things which work in Britain in 2023 than to list what’s broken. Public services are literally crumbling. Prices everywhere for workers and young people continue to spiral above our […]

Statistics recently published by the Trades Union Congress (TUC) show unemployment among black and minority ethnic (BAME) people was at 6.9% in 2022, over double the unemployment rate of white people – 3.2%. The unemployment […]

The next UK government is likely to be a Labour government led by Keir Starmer. The huge lead that Starmer currently enjoys is not a vote of confidence in him, the current leadership of the […]

The UK civil service trade union, PCS, is balloting its members on its response to a government pay offer. Socialist Party (CWI) members in PCS are part of the Broad Left Network (BLN), campaigning for […]

Facing a potential electoral landslide against them, the Tories are desperate. Hundreds of Tory MPs threatened with losing their jobs are desperately clawing to find a ledge to cling onto. Narrowly holding onto Boris Johnson’s […]

“Voters were pissed off with us”. That response of a Tory MP to two crushing by-election defeats on 20 July was putting it mildly. A 24% swing from the Tories to Labour in Selby and […]

In May, the Oxford Union Debating Society, with its £150-a-year membership fee, met to discuss the class basis of politics. Dave Nellist, former Labour MP and now a member of the Socialist Party’s national committee, […]

As we go to press, Rishi Sunak is trumpeting his upcoming ‘big’ announcement on the NHS. The idea that this out-of-touch millionaire head of a dysfunctional government and a party tearing itself apart can save […]

‘Brilliant. And serious.’ ‘Exactly what’s needed at this point in time – now we need to get out there!’ These words were echoed by many of the hundreds in attendance at the conference of the […]

“Unite or die” because our party is facing an “existential threat”, Rishi Sunak, the British Prime Minister, warned the Tories nine months ago when he first became their leader and therefore – without the electorate […]

After the British Labour Party national executive committee voted 22-12 to ban its former left-wing leader, Jeremy Corbyn, from standing as a Labour candidate in the next general election, HANNAH SELL looks at the fight […]

On Monday 22 May, with trade unionists demonstrating outside parliament, Tory MPs voted the anti-strike ‘Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Bill’ through the House of Commons, meaning that is set to become law within weeks. Fire, […]

Prepare for a workers’ stand in the general election People want ‘Tories out’. That is the bleedingly obvious lesson from the 4 May local election results. The Tories (i.e. the ruling Conservative Party) set their […]

Editorial of the Socialist (issue 1225), paper of the Socialist Party (CWI England & Wales) “Lose trust in democracy and democracy dies. Lose trust in capitalism and it fails too.” This was the warning given […]

The Labour National Executive Committee (NEC)’s decision, by 22-12, that Jeremy Corbyn ‘will not be endorsed as a Labour Party candidate at the next general election’ was the latest demonstration by Starmer that his ‘New […]

The day before the March 2023 meeting of Labour’s National Executive, Labour leader Keir Starmer declared to the press that he would be putting a motion to the meeting reiterating his insistence that Jeremy Corbyn, […]

As tens of thousands of workers brought much of London to a standstill on 15 March – alongside hundreds of thousands more, around 600,000 striking in total – chancellor Jeremy Hunt announced his something-of-a-nothing budget. […]

New forces joined the fray for the biggest day yet in Britain’s strike wave, on Budget Day 15 March. Junior doctors in the British Medical Association (BMA) walked out for the first time since 2016, […]

Rising strike action and economic and political crises are central features of the situation in Britain. How will these processes develop in the period ahead? Below we post the draft British perspectives document written for […]

A recent opinion poll, published in the right-wing Daily Telegraph (UK) newspaper, predicted that the Tories, currently the ruling party in Britain, will win just 45 seats at the next election, leaving them in third […]

The strike wave has raised the prospect of the weak and divided Tory government of Rishi Sunak, the third Conservative prime minister in a year, being forced out of office by mass struggle. But is […]

Wednesday 1st February has been the biggest day of action yet in the growing strike wave over pay, terms, and conditions in Britain, with five unions taking national action: Education unions NEU and UCU, rail […]

The 1 February strike will see up to 500,000 workers taking national strike action across five unions: NEU, UCU, PCS, Aslef and RMT. It is the biggest single day of workers’ action yet in the […]

A new report has found that Britain, one of the richest countries on the planet, is becoming a hostile place to have children. The Observer reports: “Even if both parents work full time at the […]

The massive vote to strike by education workers in schools in the National Education Union (NEU) is a potential game changer in the strike wave. The NEU is the biggest national union so far to […]

The Aragalaya (Sinhalese for “struggle”) protests in Sri Lanka, fuelled by a cost-of-living crisis, inspired students and young people across the world. People saw images of masses of protesters taking over the presidential palace and […]

Tory Prime Minster Rishi Sunak’s new year message included finally declaring his intention to bring in yet more anti-union laws. A bill was introduced to Parliament on 10 January. This must be seen by the […]

2023 is beginning as 2022 ended, with significant nationwide strike action in Britain, this time of railway workers in RMT and Aslef. Postal workers continue their fight against Royal Mail bosses and are gearing up for a […]

The Socialist Party (CWI England & Wales) enters 2023 full of optimism. The reasons for pessimism or even despair are obvious. 2022 was a year of dramatically falling living standards, frightening climate change, and the […]

Over recent months the Tory Party in Britain has teetered on the brink of collapse. First Boris Johnson was ousted as prime minister amidst an avalanche of scandals. His replacement, Liz Truss, lasted just 45 […]

“The history of this time will ask: ‘Where were you in 22?’” To cheers from striking UCU members in higher education and Royal Mail workers from CWU, RMT General Secretary Mick Lynch called out Starmer […]

On Sunday 4 December, the British rail union RMT was presented with a set of proposals from the Rail Delivery Group of private employers, supposedly to enable progress towards a settlement of our long-running dispute over […]

‘Timetable of trouble: the wave of strikes set to hit the Tories this winter…’Could Britain be facing a general strike this winter?’ Just two of the headlines in the Guardian newspaper (London) last week that […]

The ‘Winter of Discontent 2022’ is on. Forty-four years after millions of workers went on strike in the one of the biggest periods of struggle since the 1926 General Strike, the phrase has continued to […]

The Socialism 2022 event, held in London, was a huge success. That isn’t just down to the great turnout of over 700 people present and more online, with a big proportion attending their first Socialism […]

Sir Keir Starmer’s leader’s speech at this year’s Labour Party conference “was more John McDonnell than Tony Blair”, the former shadow chancellor under Jeremy Corbyn told the fringe meeting organised at the Liverpool gathering by […]

Over 70,000 University and College Union (UCU) members will strike in all UK universities on 24, 25 and 30 November. The workers are picketing on 24 and 25 November and then heading to London for […]

Working class striking back, capitalist crisis and the case for socialism Rally for Socialism Saturday 19 November 5.30-7.30 pm (UK time) Watch the live broadcast here: www.youtube.com/video/u6ssbFZXc2k/   The rally is part of the ‘Socialism […]

The final days of the Truss-led Tory government revealed a deeper than ever, jaw-dropping level of crisis in the Tory party. Following the total collapse of Liz Truss’s shortest-ever Tory leadership, the party’s MPs were […]

The following is the editorial of ‘The socialist’ Weekly paper of the Socialist Party in England and Wales.  This was Published on Monday 17 October before the resignations of home secretary Suella Braverman and prime […]

UK Prime Minister Liz Truss’ announcement of an estimated £150 billion bailout for the energy industry is not enough to even lower our bills. In fact, on 1 October the average typical household bill doubled […]

How will we afford to keep the heating on? This is a question facing thousands of working-class households this winter, even after the British Tory government’s colossal energy bosses bailout, writes Bea Gardner. The poorer […]

The recent killing of Chris Kaba by the police in London was the latest in a long list of tragic cases exposing the many problems in policing, including police racism, writes Deji Olayinka, South West […]

Faced with the chronically sick, deteriorating British economy, the Tories in government have swung from one path of crisis to another, comments The Socialist newspaper. Having failed over and over again to come up with […]

On Saturday, 1st October, the biggest strike coordination yet in 2022 in Britain took place in the struggle against the cost-of-living crisis, Socialist Party (CWI England & Wales) reports.  Around 170,000 workers in the unions […]

Not only will the Tory budget promote Britain to a pole position as the most unequal country in Europe, but it will also accelerate the existing crises of the cost of living, of the Tory […]

On 17 and 18 September, the Socialist Party (CWI England & Wales) national committee met to discuss the political situation and our priorities for the autumn. Here we outline the main themes from the first […]

On 9 April 1992, the Conservative Party won a general election with a record-breaking 14 million votes. On 2 May 1997, it lost the next general election, with its standing shattered by the events that […]

The death of Queen Elizabeth has momentarily pushed aside all other issues in the national media. For the majority of the population, the pressing problems of how to pay the bills cannot be pushed aside, […]

People gathered at Parliament Square, in London, on 10 September to demand justice for Chris Kaba, who was shot and killed by the Metropolitan Police on Monday 5 September in South London. Chris Kaba was […]

With even TV presenters in Britain talking about the possibilities of a general strike, things are definitely changing. In this article from the September 2022 issue of Socialism Today (monthly magazine of the Socialist Party, […]

Never before has a prime minister taken office with as little support as Liz Truss. Her only achievement is being less unpopular than Rishi Sunak with the tiny electorate of the Tory party membership.  For […]

In an inspiring show of strength, just under 2,000 dockers at Felixstowe port, in Suffolk, brought 48% of UK freight imports to a standstill in their eight-day strike. The strike, called by their union Unite, […]

In the past few months the pages of the Socialist have been packed with reports of strikes throughout Britain. Significantly, hundreds of thousands of railway, telecoms and postal workers are taking nationwide action. These strikes […]

Over 1,000 journalists in the Reach Group across Britain and Ireland, began a campaign of strike action on Wednesday 31 August following the breakdown of talks between the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) and the […]

Royal Mail workers are taking their first national strike action since 2009, in what is looking like being an extremely bitter dispute. The dates are Friday 26 and Wednesday 31 August, followed by Thursday 8 […]

Around 50,000 RMT members will take further strike action this month in our disputes over jobs, pay, pensions and conditions. On the mainline, members working for 14 Train Operating Companies (TOCs) and Network Rail (NR) […]

There is nothing inevitable about the dire predictions for rising poverty coming to pass. The mass inability to pay energy bills that are on the cards, with the illness, suffering and even deaths that will […]

The Socialist (newspaper of the CWI in England & Wales) spoke to Amazon workers who have taken action recently in a struggle for better pay. socialistworld.net Tilbury Socialist Party members stood with ‘John Doe’ (not […]

As more rail and other strikes take place, Tory Transport Secretary Grant Shapps and would-be Tory prime ministers Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss are threatening even more anti-union laws. On the campaign trail to the […]

Between Wednesday 27 July and Monday 1st, August national strike action took place in Britain for four days, organised by three trade unions (RMT, Aslef, and CWU) – in defence of their members’ living standards […]

With a 12.9% pay increase and Coventry council agreeing that the bogus charges against Unite the Union’s senior shop steward Pete Randle would not be pursued, Coventry’s HGV drivers have achieved a significant win. This […]

The annual Gala has been a feature in Durham almost every year since 1871 – a chance to witness union organisations march for a celebration of workers’ pride. Labour leader Keir Starmer didn’t speak. A […]

Organise to get them all out All strike together for a pay rise Build a new mass workers’ party Join the socialists On the morning of Friday 13 December 2019, as the country awoke to […]

This year’s National Shop Stewards Network (NSSN) conference takes place at a crucial stage, as Boris Johnson’s Tory government reels from one crisis to another. The RMT rail strike has acted as a lightning rod, […]

During the Covid crisis the combined wealth of the billionaires in the UK rose 21.7% to £597 billion. Yet the Tory government and capitalist media complain about workers on the railways fighting for an increase […]

Tens of thousands will take to the streets of  London on Saturday 18 June as part of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) demonstration on the cost-of-living crisis; the first mass trade union demonstration for many […]

The problems of the airline industry predate the pandemic and stretch back to privatisation in the 1980s. In the post-war period, governments invested billions in the creation of the worldwide airline industry. This investment was […]

One hundred and forty-eight Tory MPs have finally moved against UK Prime Minister, Boris Johnson. It is not growing poverty, soaring energy bills, or Johnson’s endless parties and lies that have pushed them to act: […]

According to the Roman poet Juvenal, the ancient Roman emperors aimed to placate their subjects with “bread and circuses”. It would seem that the capitalist class in Britain is hoping for a similar effect with […]

Tory chancellor Rishi Sunak’s screeching windfall tax U-turn was a vain attempt to cut across growing anger at falling living standards, and the mass protests that could result. As even the right-wing Sunday Times pointed […]

The Socialist Party (CWI England & Wales) congress took place from 14 to 16 May in London – the first since February 2020 because of Covid. Congress is the most important democratic decision-making body of […]

March 17th 2022 will now always be synonymous with P&O as far as trade union activists are concerned, with the vicious assault on the workers’ jobs and contracts carried out on that day. The company […]

£40 billion. That’s the eye-watering sum oil giants BP and Shell are set to make this year alone. A year that has seen a dire cost-of-living crisis hit the working class so significantly that over […]

On local elections day, 5 May, none of the main parties offered any escape from the escalating, unrelenting cost-of-living crisis. No surprise then that the turnout was low. Those who did vote gave a snapshot […]

Two weeks ago, the editorial of the Socialist commented on the fines given to Boris Johnson, Rishi Sunak and other MPs for breaking their own Covid rules, and on the blatant tax avoidance of Sunak’s family. We […]

The Socialist Party (C WI England & Wales) is part of the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC), an anti-austerity electoral alliance, including the RMT transport union. TUSC will be standing hundreds of candidates in […]

Two months ago, there was a rising pile of ‘no-confidence’ letters in Prime Minister Boris Johnson from Tory MPs. Shaken by the Downing Street ‘partygate’ revelations, those MPs felt they had to echo public disgust […]

This year, 2022, is predicted to see the biggest fall in living standards in the UK since 1956. Inflation, according to the Retail Price Index, is already at 8.2% and is expected to rise further […]

Just as Gate Gourmet workers were dismissed by megaphone 17 years ago, the cold brutality of the bosses was shown by P&O ferry company last Thursday when they sacked 800 of their employees by Zoom. […]

The London tube strike in London got off to a solid start on 1 March as workers in the The National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) on the Underground in all grades […]

The National Union of Students (NUS) in Britain has called a national student strike on 2 March in response to growing anger at our rotten university system – one in which students are exploited as […]

While bad weather batters Britain, another storm is raging. A growing number of workers are taking action as the cost of living squeeze tightens. This is the most significant strike wave for over a decade. […]

The strike wave that has developed in Britain during the last few months of 2021 is growing in 2022. It has claimed significant victories for workers. The stored-up anger that has developed through the Covid […]

Every day Boris Johnson and his government are more and more mired in scandal. As we go to press the findings of the inquiry into ‘Partygate’ revelations have not yet been made public and are […]

The Covid pandemic and its effects have deepened an already existing social crisis. Ravaged by years of cuts and privatisation, public services have been unable to meet the needs of working-class communities. In a period […]

Transport union RMT members working for London Underground have voted overwhelmingly for strike action to defend jobs, conditions, and our pensions. RMT balloted over 10,000 members on London Underground, getting a 94% yes vote for […]

The future of Boris Johnson’s prime ministership appears to be hanging by a thinner and thinner thread. The revelations of Downing Street parties in 2020 as millions suffered during the pandemic – against a backdrop […]

On New Year’s Eve, Buckingham Palace announced that former Labour prime minister Tony Blair would be rewarded with the Knight Companion of the Most Noble Order of the Garter by the Queen. Should we be […]

Tony Blair has joined current British Labour Party leader Keir Starmer in being knighted – rewarded for his services to the bosses’ establishment. The former Labour prime minister, who was in office between 1997 and […]

“One more strike and he’s out”, declared longstanding Tory MP Roger Gale in the wake of the kicking his party got from voters in the Shropshire North byelection, previously held by the Tories for almost […]

The decision of the British High Court to grant the extradition of Julian Assange to the United States criminalises journalism and is a blow to human rights. The Court granted a US government appeal against […]

As local authorities begin discussing their spending plans for 2022-2023, which they will finally agree on at budget-setting meetings in February or March, we can already see the scale of cuts that are being prepared. […]

The proportion of voters, 63%, who think that capitalist politicians “are just in it for themselves” is at its highest since the MPs’ expenses scandal in 2009. No wonder. The money-grubbing approach of many MPs […]

Socialism 2021, a weekend event of debates and discussion in London organised by the Socialist Party (CWI England & Wales), brimmed with determination. Determination to overcome the obstacles of time, resources, technical hitches, and the […]

The victory of Sharon Graham as general secretary of Unite, amongst the biggest trade unions in the UK and Ireland and undoubtedly the most influential industrially and politically, has struck the labour movement as a […]

A combination of the rising cost of living, low pay, tax increases, and fuel and food shortages has led some commentators in the British establishment media to talk about the possibility of a new ‘winter […]

In September, the Tory government in Britain briefly dipped below Labour in opinion polls, as workers faced a winter of Tory rule featuring pay restraint, soaring prices, tax hikes and shortages. Boris Johnson’s Tory Party […]

“The decision taken by delegates who predominantly live in what’s regarded as Labour red wall seats shows how far the Labour Party has travelled away from the aims and hopes of working-class organisations like ours”. […]

The person who said New Labour was “intensely relaxed about people getting filthy rich” is now intensely happy about the results of this year’s Labour Party conference. Architect of Blairism, Lord Peter Mandelson, is “just […]

In addressing TUC Congress, Sir Keir Starmer claimed that “Labour will always stand with the unions”, standing “shoulder to shoulder” with them over vicious attacks such as ‘fire and rehire’. But the reality is very […]

The National Shop Stewards Network (NSSN) rallies and lobbies of the TUC Congress have been an annual fixture since the first in 2010. They have become the most important pre-Congress event, reflecting the demands of […]

On 11 September 2001 the infamous 9/11 al-Qaeda terrorist attacks on US soil prompted the then US president George W Bush and British PM Tony Blair to instigate a Western military invasion and occupation of […]

CHRISTINE THOMAS reviews a recent book by FT journalist Philip Stephens charting the post-war demise of British capitalism – and the despair of the class he represents at its prospects post-Brexit, in a crisis-ridden international […]

Sharon Graham has won the Unite general secretary election. Her success is being celebrated by many members who saw her left candidature as the most likely to build and organise the union industrially as workers […]

The nationality and borders bill has had its second reading in the UK’s parliament. Home Secretary, Priti Patel, said that this bill will give British people control back over borders and that the Tories’ priorities […]

The news that Labour’s national executive committee (NEC) has proscribed, aka expelled, a number of left-leaning groups that have clung desperately onto the Labour Party came as little surprise. Since the resignation of Corbyn, and […]

Paul Heron looks at the recent victory in the battle for justice for the Shrewsbury pickets. This was a landmark case from the 1970s in Britain – of political policing against the working class movement.  […]

Labour managed to narrowly hold onto to Batley and Spen in the parliamentary by-election on 1 July, scraping in by 323 votes. The Labour leadership is sighing with relief. In reality, however, this result is […]

The NHS protests around the country on 3 July should be the start of building a mass campaign for decent pay and to save the NHS. Well over a million people work in the NHS. […]

In April of this year, the Ministry of Justice released a report responding to the ‘growing mental health crisis’ for women in prison. It revealed that there was a 13% rise in the number of […]

Up to 200 striking workers, trade union reps, campaigners and socialists met virtually on 20 June as the National Shop Stewards Network (NSSN) held its 2021 summer conference. The NSSN conference is the biggest annual […]

In a recent landmark ruling, the Upper Tribunal – responsible for judicial reviews of the UK’s Home Office decisions – has proposed new ‘country guidance’ used for determining asylum cases of refugees from Sri Lanka. […]

“Boris Johnson’s withdrawal agreement with the European Union, which would “effectively leave Northern Ireland within the EU’s economic jurisdiction” following the UK’s exit, “will dangerously escalate sectarian tensions; spilling over into Britain too as in […]

The postponement of the 2020 elections meant that 6 May 2021 was a bumper election day, including more than 4,000 council seats, thirteen directly-elected mayors, the London assembly, plus the Scottish parliament and Welsh Senedd. […]

Corrupt politicians with their snouts in the trough are nothing new. From ‘cash for questions’ under Tory prime minister John Major, to ‘honours’ for business people under New Labour leader Tony Blair, and then the […]

Labour Party leader, Keir Starmer, launched the party’s campaign for the May local and mayoral elections in England on March 11 by majoring on Boris Johnson’s plan for a 1% rise-but-real-terms-pay-cut for nurses and other […]

April 2021 marks the 40th anniversary of the riots in Brixton, south London, against police racism, unemployment, and poverty. Today, the report from the Tory government’s Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities dismisses systemic racism […]

The report by the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities has concluded that claims of institutional racism are “not borne out” and that the UK should be seen as “a model for other white-majority countries”. […]

On 27 and 28 March, the Socialist Party’s national committee met to discuss political developments in Britain and the tasks of the Socialist Party in the coming months. While the Covid pandemic continues to ravage […]

On 23 March, the Court of Appeal exonerated my clients Ricky Tomlinson, Arthur Murray and the ‘Shrewsbury 24.’ They were trade unionists arrested for their involvement in the 1972 national builders’ strike. In 1973, Ricky […]

The British Tory government’s ‘factsheet’ on the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill explains that it will “strengthen police powers to tackle non-violent protests that have a significant disruptive effect on the public or on […]

The challenge to the London Metropolitan Police’s ban on a vigil in the memory of Sarah Everard, who was abducted and murdered last week, was rejected in the high court on Friday 12 March. The […]

Grief, shock and an outpouring of anger have been unleashed by the appalling abduction and murder of Sarah Everard, in London, earlier this week. Her killing has shone a spotlight on the extent of violence, […]

The first UK death from Covid-19 was recorded on 2 March 2020. Twelve months and over 120,000 deaths later, most people have been through greater upheavals than since the second world war. The UK has […]

Labour Party leader Keir Starmer’s speech, supposedly setting out his vision for Britain, did nothing to counter the criticism that he is dull. It contained virtually no policy proposals. Nonetheless, it played another role, more […]

On 14 February, the National Shop Stewards Network (NSSN) hosted its fifth online meeting of workplace trade union reps and workers during the pandemic. NSSN chair Rob Williams introduced the meeting explaining: “This is a […]

This Land – The Story of a Movement, by Owen Jones, is an important account of the rise and fall of Jeremy Corbyn, his army of supporters, and his colossal effect on the labour movement. […]

The government’s inquiry into the Grenfell Tower fire disaster in London, on June 2017, in which 72 people died, has resumed. The inquiry has been agonising for the survivors and bereaved. Fire safety problems are […]

Over 550 attended the online conference of the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) on 7 February in preparation for the local elections in May. Dave Nellist, TUSC national spokesperson, was in the chair. He […]

The Tories have made yet another U-turn. This time over their proposed review of employment laws and regulations post-Brexit. The 12 Labour Party-affiliated unions had issued a statement on ‘the Tory threat to our workplace […]

With Trump gone, capitalist governments worldwide are queuing up to establish friendly relations with Joe Biden, the new US president.  While it is a bit awkward for Boris Johnson, who was once described by Biden […]

The WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, won a partial victory in his long battle to avoid extradition from Britain to the US. District Judge Baraister, at the Old Bailey court, ruled earlier this week against Assange’s […]

We can’t believe a word this Tory government says. We can’t trust a thing it does. Going into lockdown 3, working-class people can only rely on our own strength and organisation. This is the lesson […]

The world was united in misery in 2020. Too many deaths from the pandemic, job losses, pay cuts and poverty were the experience in virtually every country on the planet. Britain, as the year ends, […]

Earlier this year, publishers Pluto Press released a new book looking back at the defeat of Margaret Thatcher’s poll tax – ‘Can’t Pay, Won’t Pay: The Fight to Stop the Poll Tax’ by Simon Hannah. […]

Almost six years after it was set up, the first phase of the Undercover Policing Inquiry – the Mitting Inquiry – finally took place for fourteen days from 2 November 2020. An opening statement to […]

In any battle, the tactical details and their timing always have an element of the accidental and unexpected in them. Keir Starmer’s suspension of Jeremy Corbyn from the Labour Party on October 29 and – […]

“Devolution is a disaster” were the reported words of Tory Prime Minister Boris Johnson, referring to the Scottish government and “Tony Blair’s biggest mistake”. In fact, Blair was a reluctant devolutionist. He would rather not […]

The Tory government Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s spending review should be a wake-up call to the trade union leaders. Even from the capitalists’ point of view, there was no immediate need to impose a pay cut  […]

‘Socialism 2020 ‘ – Marxist discussion and debate over four days, hosted by the Socialist Party (CWI England & Wales) – broke previous records on ticket sales, in the response to the finance appeal to […]

‘Socialism 2020’, hosted by the Socialist Party (CWI England & Wales), takes place from today, Friday 20 November, to Monday 23 November. It will provide a Marxist analysis and explanation of many of the different […]

Almost six years after its establishment, the public inquiry into undercover policing has finally begun. It was set up by Theresa May, then home secretary (interior minister), to head off growing pressure following a series […]

The ‘spycops’ inquiry has finally opened in Britain, six years after Theresa May, then Tory home secretary, set it up. May was forced into establishing the inquiry when one ex-police spy, Peter Francis, went public […]

No Tory-negotiated trade deals will defend the interests of the working class. However, as Prime Minister Boris Johnson plays hardball in the eleventh-hour negotiations on what will replace Britain’s current arrangements with the European Union […]

Jeremy Corbyn has been suspended from membership of the Labour Party for saying that antisemitism within Labour has been “dramatically overstated for political reasons”. He has broken no rule and has always opposed antisemitism. He […]

Back at the start of 2020, in order to win the Labour leadership, Keir Starmer tried to dress up in some of former leader Jeremy Corbyn’s clothes, claiming he wanted ‘unity’ with all wings of […]

‘Project Big Picture’ – a plan initially put forward by Manchester United and Liverpool football clubs, and discussed by the English Premier League – is a plan put forward ostensibly to offer the football industry […]

Unite the union’s executive council has voted to cut its affiliation fee to the Sir Keir Starmer-led Labour Party by 10% – the equivalent of 55,000 affiliated members. It is reported that the BFAWU (bakers’ […]

“MI5 confronts terror threat from left-wing extremists,” screamed a headline in the Times on 3 October. This right-wing propaganda is designed to tar socialists with the same brush as the far-right and jihadist organisations. In […]

While Tory government ministers warn of an exponential rise of the coronavirus, the same magnitude could be applied to the level of anger against them over their handling of the pandemic. An overwhelming majority of […]

“We need a call to arms. That’s why I call on everyone to write to the press and lobby their MPs”. This was the ‘clarion call’ of Trades Union Congress general secretary Frances O’Grady at […]

Thousands of university and college students are returning to further and higher education campuses despite warnings this will lead to significant outbreaks of Covid-19. The University and College Union (UCU) and other education unions are […]

When no less than three former Tory prime ministers line up to attack Johnson’s government, when the Justice Secretary says – while supporting the proposed government legislation – he would resign if it is actually […]

The Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) national steering committee, meeting on 2 September, has agreed to resume standing candidates in elections, starting in the contests scheduled for next May. TUSC was established in 2010 […]

This government is “the blind leading the blind”. It has to stop making “stuff up now on the hoof”. It cannot continue to say “one thing on Monday, changing its mind on Tuesday, something different […]

Record numbers of 18-year-olds in the UK have applied to go to university this September. Applications are up 1.6% for UK students and 10% for international students. Despite record numbers, university bosses are making massive […]

Protests and anger by school students have forced the Tories into a humiliating double U-turn over A-level and GCSE exam results’ grade moderation. The retreat arrived like the slow collapse of a set of dominoes […]

Back in March, when the spread of the coronavirus pandemic was accelerating globally, the Socialist newspaper explained that “a newly-spreading virus is a danger that can befall any society. The question facing the world today, […]

“We have been the key workers during the pandemic, but now the Labour-led council is sacking and reappointing all of us on worse terms and conditions. They are attacking us at the earliest opportunity”. These […]

Like every aspect of the government’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic, Rishi Sunak’s “plan for jobs” is more headline than substance, and doomed to fail in its stated aims. The Tory chancellor’s summer statement set […]

A fantastic virtual meeting of up to 300 trade union reps, workers, campaigners, socialists, and international visitors took place on the 4 July as the National Shop Stewards Network (NSSN) held its 2020 summer conference. […]

The end of World War Two left behind a world in upheaval. Demobilised troops and a war-weary population demanded a better future. Resistance movements in Europe published programmes demanding nationalisation. Workers’ strikes broke out across […]

When Keir Starmer was elected Labour Party leader in Britain, the Socialist Party warned that it represented “a qualitative step in the capitalist class’s campaign to make the Labour Party once again, as it was […]

Mark Drakeford’s Welsh Labour government has made much of the “four nations approach” to tackling the Covid-19 crisis, claiming to plot a different course to the UK’s Tory Westminster government. But the reality is that […]

Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests have continued across Britain. Boris Johnson’s announcement of yet another review – revealingly into what he calls the “sense of victimisation” of black, Asian and minority ethnic people – will […]

“We have outgrown you, despite your best efforts to keep us in the same place. You are in power, but you are outmoded. You’re the old form of human. And the new form is coming […]

Just six months ago, Boris Johnson swanned into office as British Prime Minister, with the biggest Tory parliamentary majority since 1987. The Socialist newspaper, in our special edition produced the day after the general election, […]

Following the killing on 25 May of unarmed black man George Floyd by Minneapolis police, there has been an outpouring of anger against systemic racism and widening inequalities in the USA. It was only after […]

The figures for Covid-19 deaths in Britain, broken down by ethnicity, caused widespread shock and anger when they were released on 7 May by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). After adjusting for age, black […]

With planning, personal protective equipment (PPE), ventilators, and other key products should have been easy to provide. Yet as each day goes by, the scale of the government’s unpreparedness for the Covid-19 crisis becomes more […]

“Meet the new messaging: same as the old messaging. Only even vaguer and more confusing. Not so much 15 minutes of TV fame as uncomfortably like watching someone have a breakdown in front of you. […]

World War Two saw both civilians and soldiers exposed to the horrors of total war. When it was over there was a determination not to return to the horrors of poverty that had characterised the […]

This week will mark seven weeks since Britain entered lockdown. It appears that the death rate from Covid-19 is finally starting to fall. Nonetheless, the official number of deaths is now higher than every European […]

There is a growing scientific consensus that successful management of the coronavirus crisis requires a comprehensive plan – combining mass testing, contact tracing, and supported isolation of potentially infected individuals. But a managed plan of […]

Overworked, underpaid, struggling to afford the basics – this is true of the situation facing many ‘key workers’ that the Covid-19 lockdown has so clearly demonstrated society is dependent on. This was also the situation […]

In the space of one week, the trade union movement is marking two of its most important annual days – International Workers’ Memorial Day, on 28 April, and May Day on 1 May. Coming as […]

Twenty six transport workers have died from covid-19 in London, the majority were bus drivers. Now London bus drivers have forced Transport for London (TfL) and bus companies to implement safety measures to protect them […]

A leaked internal Labour report, a mammoth 851 pages in length, has detailed internal sabotage by senior party officials of former Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn’s attempts to radicalise Labour policies. The report – ‘The […]

The coronavirus pandemic in the UK has not yet passed its peak. Hundreds are still dying every day, and yet the pressure is mounting for the Tories to announce an ‘exit strategy’. But where is […]

As coronavirus deaths continue to mount at a terrifying rate – the UK Tory government’s responsibility for worsening the crisis is becoming clearer every day. We are reading heartbreaking stories of NHS staff dying in […]

Keir Starmer, as was widely predicted, has been elected leader of the Labour Party. He won on the first round with 56.2% of the vote. Almost half a million people voted in the election, and […]

In the early stages of a war or national emergency, there is often a mood to pull together in the ‘national’ interest, and the idea that ‘party politics’ should be put to one side. An […]

On 31 March 1990, a massive demonstration surged into central London. It was the culmination of months of organisation and defiance of the Tory government’s hated poll tax by millions of overwhelmingly working-class people. The […]

All that seemed solid now seems to be melting. This is the effect of the coronavirus crisis. The governing Tories in the UK cut – but now they spend. They privatised – but now they […]

A newly spreading virus is a danger that can befall any society. The question facing the world today, however, is what kind of society can best meet such a challenge. As the coronavirus pandemic spreads, […]

The following ‘workers’ charter’ to deal with the coronavirus crisis and workplace related issues, is produced by Socialist Party (England & Wales section of the CWI). The charter outlines a fighting programme for the current […]

British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, won the general election, last December, by trying to pose as a ‘man of the people’. Despite the rhetoric the first budget of his premiership showed clearly that, like all […]

Nine weeks after the first Covid-19 coronavirus patient was identified in Wuhan it had spread to 98 countries. This is much faster than the 2003 Sars coronavirus outbreak, which eventually spread to 37 countries. However, […]

The biggest one-day fall in stock markets since the financial crisis; an oil price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia; and the fastest drop in the cost of oil for 30 years. The impact of […]

Girls and young women involved in research into sexual harassment say they aren’t shocked by its results (The State of Girl’s Rights in the UK at plan.uk.org). The research found that as many as two-thirds […]

The Socialist Party national congress on 29 February and 1 March was a big success. Three hundred branch delegates and visitors attended and participated in the democratic discussion and debate. They included members with decades […]

As new coronavirus infections gather pace – in Britain and around the world – British Tory Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, claims the country is “well-prepared with a fantastic NHS.”  Who’s he kidding? NHS performance this […]

The Labour Campaign for Trans Rights (LCTR) has intervened in the party’s leadership contest, calling on candidates to back its 12-point pledge. Rebecca Long-Bailey and Lisa Nandy have done so. The oppression trans people suffer […]

After the UK general election, last December, the unions and their members are facing serious challenges – not least a Boris Johnson-led Tory government with a working majority. What is the state of play with […]

Brexit Day has been and gone. Now Johnson is promising the “dawn of a new era”. According to the Tories’ optimistic script, a ‘Brexit bounce’ will mean more investment, more jobs and more money to […]

As expected, UK Tory Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, approved Chinese tech giant Huawei gaining licences to build 5G web network infrastructure in Britain. Huawei is currently the largest provider of 5G technology, and already provides […]

Tory Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, elated by his election victory and refreshed from his Caribbean holiday, now faces, in the words of a newspaper journalist, a long-postponed “rendezvous with reality”. Having secured a predictable majority […]

The nomination stage of the Labour leadership contest is in full swing, but without the enthusiasm within and beyond the party’s rank and file that marked the surge behind Jeremy Corbyn when he stood for […]

The Guardian newspaper has revealed that the logos of over eighty different left-wing, environmental and animal rights groups – including that of the Socialist Party – have been included in a guidance document circulated by […]

Tory Prime Minister Boris Johnson says austerity is over. But who believes this pathological liar? As London mayor and Tory MP, Johnson promoted cuts to council services and supported tax cuts for the super-rich. The […]

The process to elect a new leader of the Labour Party is underway and poses an essential question. What will happen to the potential, opened up by Jeremy Corbyn’s unexpected leadership victory in 2015, to […]

The nomination process for the Labour Party’s leadership and deputy leadership contests has begun, with the ballot to take place from 21 February to 2 April. After doing its best over years to denigrate Jeremy […]

The Queen’s Speech in parliament on Thursday 19 December, outlining the policies of the new Tory government, included an outrageous attack by prime minister Boris Johnson on the right to strike. Johnson intends to introduce […]

The Tories have won a substantial parliamentary majority in the general election in the UK. Tory leader Boris Johnson’s victory speech talked about being a ‘one-nation Conservative’ and promised increased spending on the NHS. This […]

Whatever the result on 12 December, polling day in the general election in Britain, we know one thing for certain – for working-class and young people the fight will not be over. Across the world, […]

Friday 29 November saw the broadcast of the first ever election debate over climate change – no doubt arranged in response to the global mobilisation of young people protesting for immediate action to be taken […]

While the week before, a You Gov poll pointed towards a 68 majority for the Tories, on 2 December an ICM poll put them on 42% and Labour on 35%, just seven points behind. A […]

Corbyn’s manifesto offers a glimpse of jobs, homes and public services for the 99%, protection for our environment – and making the capitalist class pay. No wonder the boss class and their representatives in politics […]

“The only certain outcome of the general election”, argued the Socialism Today editorial published two weeks before the last contest (issue No.209, June 2017), “is that none of the contradictions besetting the political and social […]

The ruling by the High Court against the Communication Workers Union (CWU) voids its national strike ballot in Royal Mail. It is a massive attack on the union, its postal worker members, and the whole […]

A study into the press coverage of Jeremy Corbyn, Labour’s left leader, in 2015 by the London School of Economics media department has found, unsurprisingly, that is was overwhelmingly biased against him. Of all the […]

‘Socialism 2019’, a weekend of discussion and debate, held in central London on 2 and 3 November, came as the parliamentary logjam finally burst apart into a general election. As Paula Mitchell told the opening […]

Boris Johnson and his bosses’ Brexit deal remain suspended in mid-air. Unable to govern, Johnson’s only way out has been a high-risk gamble on a general election, hoping against hope that it will win him […]

The Tory party chose Boris Johnson as its leader because he promised to deliver Brexit by 31 October 2019, even if it meant leaving without a deal. When push came to shove, however, in a […]

As ‘Brexit Day’ on 31 October approaches, the roller coaster crisis for British capitalism intensifies. Spokespeople of big business – the majority of whom want to remain in the EU – are ramping up the […]

We are sad to inform our readers, members of the Socialist Party and the broader labour movement, of the death, at 80 years of age, of Tony Mulhearn; a titan, a courageous leader of the […]

The Socialist Party described the Leave vote in 2016 as a revolt against the capitalist establishment, a working-class ‘cry of rage’ against mass poverty and savage austerity while the rich get richer. A Tory-led Brexit, […]

The Supreme Court ruling that Johnson’s prorogation of parliament was unlawful has, for now, knocked the dramatic events preceding it at Labour Party conference off the top news spot. This swirling of events is the […]

The routine is pretty well routine now. At Trade Union Congress, Labour Party leader, Jeremy Corbyn, attempts to break through the Brexit fog with a stance that has the potential to unite Leave and Remain […]

The British Conservative Party, once among the most successful capitalist parties on the planet, are shattering into pieces before our eyes. The Tory party’s weakness and splits are far from new. Now, however, quantity has […]

This editorial was written at the start of a week which promised one of the biggest battles in parliament ever – a major showdown between parliament and the prime minister. Since the following editorial was […]

Boris Johnson, the Eton-educated millionaire and Trump wannabe, got to number ten with the votes of just ninety thousand members of the Tory Party, less than 0.25% of the electorate. Now he is using his […]

A rising sense of panic is gripping the strategists of British capitalism as the 31 October Brexit deadline draws ever closer. “Britain’s exit from the European Union without a withdrawal deal would be an unequivocal […]

On Sunday 21 July over 200 delegates at a special conference of the Socialist Party in England and Wales voted overwhelmingly, 83.2% to 16.8%, (173 – 35 with 0 abstentions), to sponsor an international conference […]

Boris Johnson’s victory in this summer’s Tory party leadership election will probably turn out to be the most predictable political event of 2019.

The hall was again packed for the 2019 annual conference of the National Shop Stewards Network (NSSN), the rank-and-file trade union organisation set up initially by the RMT transport union and its late, and missed, […]

On Sunday 21 July over 200 delegates at a special conference of the Socialist Party (England/Wales) voted overwhelmingly, 173 – 35 with 0 abstentions, to sponsor an international conference to reconstitute the Committee for a […]

And then there were two. The Tories are entering the final stage of their leadership contest, with the choice between Boris Johnson, the want-to-be British Trump, and Jeremy Hunt, the NHS wrecker. Given this crisis, […]

Since February, every month this year, there has been a big protest of young people outside Parliament and in town centres around the country. The “youth strikes 4 climate” have brought thousands of young teenagers […]

First there were 13. As the Socialist went to press at least one of the remaining six candidates will be knocked out of the Tory leadership election. By the end of the week, votes by […]

The promise of the Corbyn insurgency that began in 2015 is in danger. The triumph of the left-wing backbench outsider in the Labour leadership election four years ago opened up the prospect of overturning Tony […]

“There is a real question about whether democratic capitalism is working, when it is only working for part of the population”. This was the warning of capitalist economist Angus Deaton launching his review for the […]

Socialist Party members in civil service union PCS are disappointed to announce that Chris Baugh did not get re-elected to the position of PCS assistant general secretary.

The recent meeting of Labour’s national executive committee, called to finalise the party’s European Union election manifesto, brought out the division over the EU bosses’ club.

Courage, determination and ingenuity have been on display among the thousands of people coming together in the creative and colourful protests coordinated by Extinction Rebellion in London and elsewhere.

After seven years of self-imposed exile in the Ecuadorian embassy in London, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was dragged from his place of asylum and arrested by the Metropolitan police. This followed the revoking of his […]

It has been reported that politicians across Europe are glued to their TV screens watching the disaster movie unfolding in Westminster. “It is better than anything on Netflix”, one former Polish president declared. A more […]

Yet again as we go to press, the immediate future of the plans for Britain leaving the EU remains unclear. Three attempts at passing May’s Withdrawal Agreement couldn’t resolve it. Two rounds of MPs voting […]

The Tories imploding over Brexit: general election now! For a Corbyn government with socialist policies One in ten British adults says they trust MPs to do the right thing by the country over Brexit. Why so […]

With just ten days until the date of departure from the EU at the time of writing, there is unprecedented daily turmoil in parliament on what will happen. The government’s position has become so intractable […]

Thirty five years ago, on 5 March 1984, Yorkshire miners walked out on strike against Tory government plans to impose a massive programme of pit closures. They saw it as the first step to a […]

On 15 February, tens of thousands of school and college students walked out of their lessons to join protests across Britain to demand action over climate change and environmental destruction.

On 14 February, British prime minister, Theresa May, suffered her tenth parliamentary defeat over Brexit. The Tory party is split down the middle. May’s government is on the brink of collapse. Yet it is at […]

Talk of a split by Blairite Remainer MPs has increased, with the Observer newspaper reporting on 3 February that “rebel Labour MPs are set to quit the party and form centre group”.

Already this week, two women will have died due to domestic violence. By the end of the week, there will have been five domestic violence-related deaths. 

The following article was published prior to last night’s vote in the House of Commons, which saw a huge defeat for the Tory government’s attempt to pass its Brexit deal.Socialistworld.net The Tories are at each […]

Parliament reconvened after the Christmas break with no let-up in the government’s crisis over the coming Brexit vote. Theresa May’s deal with the EU is still opposed by most MPs, most members of the Tory […]

Here we publish photos of a banner-drop protest organised by Socialist Party (CWI in England & Wales) members on Tuesday, which received some media coverage.

Corbyn and unions must mobilise workers to kick them out

The clock is continuing to tick for British Prime Minister Theresa May and the Tories. The stakes are high for everyone – May and the Tories and behind them the British capitalist establishment. But also […]

On 11 December, after a five-day House of Commons debate, Theresa May’s Brexit deal will be put to a parliamentary vote. Among the multitude of divisions and rows, what all sides can agree on is […]

May’s government is on the brink of collapse. The prospect of May getting her Tory Brexit deal through parliament currently appears slim.

Huge confidence in the working class to change society

PCS civil service union Assistant General Secretary (AGS) Chris Baugh, elected three times since 2004, has won at least eight nomination meetings in his campaign to be the Left Unity AGS candidate for a fourth […]

On 20 October hundreds of thousands marched through the streets of London demanding a ‘peoples’ vote’ on Brexit. The motivations of those who marched were varied. Some were marching to show their internationalism and opposition […]

The Tory government hangs by a thread. Its disastrous Brexit policy threatens to blow it apart and widespread desperation and anger at seemingly endless austerity could erupt at any moment. There’s still time, argues PETER […]

If a variant of British Prime Minister Theresa May’s Chequers proposal eventually becomes a Brexit deal, it will mean Britain remaining subject to much of the EU’s austerity-promoting and privatising neoliberalism. On the other hand, […]

The Tories are afraid. They are afraid of what lies immediately ahead in the Brexit negotiations. They are afraid that their party will be torn apart by the process. They are afraid of a general […]

Ten pounds an hour minimum wage; workers’ rights from day one of employment; end of zero-hour contracts; an end to council cuts. Thirty hours free childcare. Water, rail, mail and energy brought into public ownership; […]

The UK is scheduled to formally withdraw from the structures and treaties of the European Union (EU) on 29 March 2019, less than six months’ time.But Brexit, a summary term for the renegotiation of British […]

For international solidarity against all oppression and racism • Tories Out! General election now• Blairites out! Mandatory reselection now

• Organise against the Blairites • International working class solidarity against all oppression and racism

The dispute within the left of Britain’s largest civil service union raises key issues for the whole labour movement. Above all, the need for democratic, lay-member control of fighting trade unions. HANNAH SELL and ROB […]

There is no rest for the wicked. British Prime Minister Theresa May had to cut short her Italian holiday to visit the French president, Emmanuel Macron, at his Mediterranean castle retreat.

The Alternative Models of Ownership report, launched in June 2017, days after the general election, was commissioned by shadow chancellor John McDonnell. Although it is not, in itself, official Labour Party policy, many of the […]

As the Brexit white paper staggered its way through the House of Commons, the crisis in the Tory party has just deepened and deepened.

A human tide swept central London on 13 July in a historic mobilisation against the racist, sexist billionaire president of the US, Donald Trump, who was visiting the UK. It is estimated that more than […]

Theresa May is clinging to power by a thread. For the first time since 1982 two cabinet ministers have resigned within 24 hours, as the Brexit civil war has ignited into a full scale conflict. […]

Bitterly divided, chaos ridden, vulnerable to potential rupture: these are all descriptions that could, in many respects, be accurately applied to both the Conservative and Labour parliamentary parties today. Recent weeks in politics have been […]

The horror of the fire at Grenfell Tower one year ago, on 14 June 2017, will be etched on the consciousness of working class people for a very long time. None more so than the […]

As the deadlock at the top of the Tory Party continues, Tory MPs are reported to be telling their constituency parties to prepare for another snap general election.

The following is a statement on the issues of antisemitism and Jeremy Corbyn by Socialist Struggle Movement, (CWI in Israel/Palestine)

The third round of local elections since Jeremy Corbyn was elected leader of the Labour Party took place on 3 May 2018. In their wake, inevitably, capitalist politicians of every hue are attempting to use […]

Fight for socialism!

Jeremy Corbyn is broadly right and his pro-capitalist critics both within the Tory government and their Labour fifth column in the Parliamentary Labour Party are wrong and lying in their responses to the recent use […]

“Those who say that the European Union is a neoliberal plot are, of course, largely right” admitted financial journalist and billionaire Simon Nixon in the Times last autumn.

The Socialist Party (CWI England & Wales), publishers of Socialism Today, campaigned for a Leave vote in the June 2016 EU referendum. The European Union is a bosses’ club, at bottom an institutionalisation of a series […]

Tesco worker and Socialist Party member Amy Murphy has been elected president of the shop workers’ union Usdaw.

Limited readmittances, tenants’ ballots, “municipal socialism”

The abolition of ‘Clause IV Part IV’ – the socialist clause in the Labour Party’s constitution introduced in the aftermath of the Russian revolution – was carried out by Tony Blair in 1995. It symbolised […]

Outsourcing, PFI, privatisation, as in Carillion, is ‘reverse socialism’. It is nothing other than a highly efficient wealth transfusion system. We need a movement to kick out these profiteers from public services with compensation only […]

Demand action to save jobs and services

Ambulances queued upoutside A&Es. Trolleys carrying people in need of care stacked end-to-end in corridors. Long-awaited operations cancelled. Sick people lying on cold, hard floors because no beds are available. The winter NHS crisis has […]

  “Biggest fall in living standards for a generation.” “Sharp rise in child poverty as cuts bite.” “700,000 young people and pensioners join ranks of Britain’s poor in four years.” “Stoke proposes £1000 fine for […]

“If this Tory parody of a government is so shambolic, so chronically divided, so utterly directionless, then why no astronomical Labour lead in the polls?” Owen Jones askedin the Guardian on 29 November. He then […]

The world’s super-rich own vast sums of wealth and squirrel it away in whatever ways they can find. That’s nothing new.

Symptom of a rotten system

The Tories are on the ropes: publicly humiliated at their conference, precariously holding onto power, split over Europe and split on Theresa May’s leadership. Meanwhile, Jeremy Corbyn continues to further his position and policies in […]

Action against capitalist establishment sabotage still needed

As the Labour Party goes into its third annual conference with Jeremy Corbyn as leader, are his anti-austerity policies closer to being realised? Is the party being transformed in a socialist direction?

Article first posted on the Socialist Party website

Birmingham’s bin workers once again have had to strike to stop job losses and pay cuts, after the Labour council reneged on a previously agreed deal. Disgracefully the council has issued 113 redundancy notices to […]

A second reply to Rob Sewell of the IMT group Rob Sewell’s second article in answer to our reply to him on the question of the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union’s position on affiliation […]

Theresa May’s four-week holiday is drawing to a close. She is returning to an autumn of watching her party tear itself apart over the EU. Following her humiliating general election campaign she is really is […]

Decisive break with capitalism needed

Who controls the Labour Party remains unresolved, with the pro-capitalist right wing using the structures established under the long years of Blairism to preserve its position while plotting its next move. The left-led trade unions […]

All who attended the Tories Out demonstration on 1st July, in London, will have been given a huge boost of confidence that the anger and determination exists to bring down the weak and wobbly Tory […]

As more details emerge and the death toll rises, it becomes clearer and clearer what a terrible disaster this is. The fire spread with horrifying speed and witnesses describe heart-breaking scenes as people desperately tried […]

The fire at Grenfell Tower in West London spread with horrific speed and witnesses have described heart-rending scenes as residents attempted to escape. This is a terrible tragedy and there has naturally been an outpouring […]

Organise, strike, resist, to fight for Corbyn’s policies

‘Theresa Dismay’, ‘Gamble backfired’. These are the headlines today in the scurrilous Sun and Daily Mail, right-wing rags that have spent the whole election campaign raining down vicious attacks on Corbyn in the vain hope […]

The only certain outcome of the general election – two weeks away as we go to press – is that none of the contradictions besetting the political and social relations that sustain British capitalism will […]

Less than two weeks after the horrific Manchester bombing another atrocity has taken place, this time on London Bridge and in Borough Market. Seven people, out enjoying a summer Saturday night in London, were killed, […]

The closing of the opinion polls, even after the horrific Manchester bombing, has confounded all wings of the capitalist establishment. The Blairites in Labour are a key part of this coalition and they are just […]

Why a socialist approach to the EU is the only way forward

Young people out enjoying themselves were instead faced with one of the worst kinds of horror imaginable when a bomb was exploded in the foyer of the 21,000-capacity Manchester Arena. Twenty two people were killed […]

An important step in the right direction – Mobilise to fight for socialist change

The results of the 4 May county council and metro mayor elections will have disappointed many supporters of Jeremy Corbyn. They must act to sound the alarm – Jeremy Corbyn can win this election but only with […]

When Bob Crow died in March 2014 the trade union movement in Britain lost one of its best known and most determined fighters. He was far from being only an industrial militant, however. Bob was […]

“The dividing lines in this election could not be clearer”, declared Jeremy Corbyn as he launched Labour’s general election campaign. He went on: “It is the establishment that complains I don’t play by the rules: by […]

Theresa May has called a general election for one reason – not the reason she gave – but because of the government’s weakness in face of a rising tide of anger in British society. Workers […]

Fight for a socialist Brexit.Talk of Britain ‘going to war’ with Spain, European politicians telling each other not to ‘lose their cool’ – it could all seem rather surreal. But the Gibraltar tensions that have […]

Unite against terror, racism and war. A wave of shock has followed yet another horrific terrorist attack. This time in the centre of London, yesterday’s mowing down of people using a vehicle comes after atrocities using vehicles […]

Up to 250,000 march in national protest, organised from below. For hours they poured off coaches and out of Euston and other stations as over 100,000 people – some estimates were as high as 250,000 – […]

Corbyn needs to stand up to Brexit rebels. During February many council budget-setting meetings are taking place across the country, slashing millions more pounds off vital services.

What approach should socialists take? The idea of welfare benefits being replaced by a ‘universal basic income’ (UBI) has resurfaced in recent years – a welcome discussion because it raises the fundamental right of everyone to […]

Novelisation of attempts to undermine and overthrow Wilson’s Labour government

During the second leadership campaign, Jeremy Corbyn spoke of his ambition to have ministers for peace and disarmament in a future Labour government…

Capitalist establishment in disarray