SWP’s open letter on left unity: how the left is responding

The SWP have issued an open letter on left unity which we print below with links to responses from different left groups. Comments welcome.

Labour’s vote collapsed to a historic low in last week’s elections as the right made gains. The Tories under David Cameron are now set to win the next general election.

The British National Party (BNP) secured two seats in the European parliament. Never before have fascists achieved such a success in Britain.

The result has sent a shockwave across the labour and anti-fascist movements, and the left.

The meltdown of the Labour vote and the civil war engulfing the party poses a question – where do we go from here?

The fascists pose a threat to working class organisations, black, Asian and other residents of this country – who BNP führer Nick Griffin dubs “alien” – our civil liberties and much else.

History teaches us that fascism can be fought and stopped, but only if we unite to resist it.

The SWP firmly believes that the first priority is to build even greater unity and resistance to the fascists over the coming months and years.

The BNP believes it has created the momentum for it to achieve a breakthrough. We have to break its momentum.

The success of the anti-Nazi festival in Stoke and the numbers of people who joined in anti-fascist campaigning shows the basis is there for a powerful movement against the Nazis.

The Nazis’ success will encourage those within the BNP urging a “return to the streets”.

This would mean marches targeting multiracial areas and increased racist attacks. We need to be ready to mobilise to stop that occurring.

Griffin predicted a “perfect storm” would secure the BNP’s success. The first part of that storm he identified was the impact of the recession.

The BNP’s policies of scapegoating migrants, black and Asian people will divide working people and make it easier to drive through sackings, and attacks on services and pensions.

Unity is not a luxury. It is a necessity. If we do not stand together we will pay the price for a crisis we did not cause.

The second lesson from the European elections is that we need a united fightback to save jobs and services.

If Cameron is elected he will attempt to drive through policies of austerity at the expense of the vast majority of the British people.

But the Tories’ vote fell last week and they are nervous about pushing through attacks.

Shadow chancellor George Osborne told business leaders, “After three months in power we will be the most unpopular government since the war.”

We need to prepare for battle.

But there is a third and vital issue facing the left and the wider working class. The crisis that has engulfed Westminster benefited the BNP.

The revelations of corruption, which cabinet members were involved in, were too much for many Labour voters, who could not bring themselves to vote for the party.

One answer to the problem is to say that we should swallow everything New Labour has done and back it to keep David Cameron, and the BNP, out.

Yet it would take a miracle for Gordon Brown to be elected back into Downing Street.

The danger is that by simply clinging on we would be pulled down with the wreckage of New Labour.

Mark Serwotka, the general secretary of the PCS civil service workers’ union, has asked how, come the general election, can we ask working people to cast a ballot for ministers like Pat McFadden.

McFadden is pushing through the privatisation of the post office.

Serwotka proposes that trade unions should stand candidates.

Those who campaigned against the BNP in the elections know that when they said to people, “Don’t vote Nazi” they were often then asked who people should vote for.

The fact that there is no single, united left alternative to Labour means there was no clear answer available.

The European election results demonstrate that the left of Labour vote was small, fragmented and dispersed.

The Greens did not make significant gains either. The mass of Labour voters simply did not vote. We cannot afford a repeat of that.

The SWP is all too aware of the differences and difficulties involved in constructing such an alternative.

We do not believe we have all the answers or a perfect prescription for a left wing alternative.

But we do believe we have to urgently start a debate and begin planning to come together to offer such an alternative at the next election, with the awareness that Gordon Brown might not survive his full term.

One simple step would be to convene a conference of all those committed to presenting candidates representing working class interests at the next election.

The SWP is prepared to help initiate such a gathering and to commit its forces to such a project.

We look forward to your response.

For more information or to show your support email us stating your name, what organisations/campaigns/unions you are a member of, and any positions you hold in these to -
openletter@swp.org.uk

Response from Permanent Revolution.

Response from Socialist Party.

Response from the AWL.

Response from Workers Power.

Crisis in Iran: the view from HOPI

A recent Cardiff Radical Socialist Forum discussed Iran, and the problems socialists face in confronting both the imperialist threat and a reactionary Iranian regime exploiting that threat. With the country in turmoil following the recent ‘election’, Hands Off the People of Iran give their verdict (nb this view is not necessarily shared by all supporters of CRSF and comment is welcomed):

June 14 2009
Support for the mass protests against Ahmadinejad’s re-election! But we should have no illusions that Massouvi would have been any better

Yassamine Mather, chair of Hands Off the People of Iran, assesses the highly fluid situation in Iran:

It is no surprise that the highly contested results of the presidential elections in Iran have sparked unrest in Tehran and other cities across Iran. The level of cheating on display seems crazy even by the standards of Iran’s Islamic Republic regime. Clearly, the results are the final proof that confirms that the whole electoral process is deeply undemocratic and rigged from top to bottom:

* Ahmadinejad was declared winner by the official media even before some polling stations had closed
* His final result was almost identical to what the (rigged) polls predicted all the way through the elections. This percentage did not ever vary by more than three percent
* Hundreds of candidates were barred from standing in the first place.

The main ‘reformist’ candidate Mir-Hossain Moussavi has declared the elections a “charade” and claimed Iran was moving towards tyranny. Thousands of protesters (not all of them backers of Moussavi) have taken to the streets to demonstrate against the re-election of Ahmadinejad.

Of course, Hopi condemns the arrest of over 900 demonstrators and 100 leading ‘reformists’, most of the latter ones supporters and collaborators of Moussavi.

But we should not forget that Moussavi does not consider the nine previous presidential elections in Iran’s Islamic Republic – most of them with very dubious results – a “charade”. In the 2009 election, he did not bat an eyelid when the Council of Guardians disqualified over 400 candidates. He did not think the process was a “charade” when the supreme religious leader intervened time and time again to defend Ahmadinejad.

Even now, although he is furious about loosing the elections, he is not calling on the Iranian people to support him. Instead, he is addressing the ‘Religious centres of Guidance’ (elite shia Ayatollahs) to denounce the result. He is no fan of democracy and mass movements. Like his predecessor Mohammad Khatami, Moussavi is well aware that the survival of the ‘Islamic order’ is in his interests. That is why, even when he is clearly a victim of the supreme leader’s lunacy, he cannot rock the boat.
Massouvi’s terrible past

After all, irrespective of the illusions of their supporters, Moussavi and the other reformist candidate, Mehdi Karroubi, are no radical opponents of the regime. For eight years, Moussavi served as prime minister of the Islamic republic – during some of the darkest days of this regime. He was deeply involved in the arms-for-hostages deals with the Reagan administration in the1980s, what came to be known as ‘Irangate’. He also played a prominent role in the brutal wave of repression in the 1980s that killed a generation of Iranian leftists. During this period, thousands of socialists and communists were jailed, with many of them executed while in prison.

Moussavi has attempted to refashion himself as a ‘conservative reformer’ or a ‘reformist conservative’ by expressing his allegiance to the supreme leader and by claiming to have initiated Iran’s nuclear programme, which he promised to continue. He also criticised the release of British navy personal in 2007 as “a humiliating surrender”. Defending his government’s anti-Western credentials, Ahmadinejad claimed that “prime minister Tony Blair had sent a letter to apologise to Iran”. Within a few hours, the foreign office in London issued a stern denial that such a letter was ever sent. Moussavi tried to exploit this ‘weakness’.

But he clearly failed. The supreme leader could not tolerate his former protégé Moussavi. Although his politics are almost indistinguishable from those of Ahmadinejad, he was just a bit too ‘progressive’ on two points:

* He promised to be more liberal over women’s dress code and said he would expand women’s rights –within the parameters proscribed by the religious state, of course
* He promised to use more diplomatic language and a more amenable attitude in dealings with the West, especially the USA. Despite this diplomatic ‘packaging’, however, he remains committed to defending Iran’s nuclear program (including the right to enrich uranium)

Mass protests

These elections were a “charade” from the day they started. All four candidates are supporters of the existing system. All support the existing neo-liberal policies and privatisations. All four are in favour of Iran’s nuclear programme.

But we should not underestimate the anger of the Iranian population against this blatant manipulation of the results. Iranians had to choose between the lesser of two evils – and when the worst was declared winner, they showed their contempt for the system by huge demonstrations culminating in the massive protests of June 13 2009.

Until early June, most Iranians had shown little interest in these elections, as they knew that neither candidate would lead to real change. But it was the live TV debates that changed the apathy. The debates betweeen Ahmadinejad – Moussavi and Ahmadinejad -Karroubi have been unique events in the history of the official media of the Islamic Republic. The debates confirmed what most Iranians know through their personal experiences – but which they have not yet heard on the official media:

* Ahmadinejad stated that Iran had been ruled for 24 years (up to his presidency) by a clique akin to an economic and political mafia. ‘Elite’ clerics such as the reformers Rafsanjani and Khatami had “forgotten their constituents” and were corrupt
* Moussavi stated that the economy has been in a terrible state, particularly in the last four years

The situation in Iran is very fluid. Over 900 protesters and 100 ‘reformist’ leaders have been arrested, including the brother of former president Khatami. Moussavi and his wife have gone underground. There are signs of the beginning of an internal coup. Thirty years after the Iranian revolution, if Iran’s supreme leader believes he can suppress the opposition, he will be making precisely the kind of mistake that led to the overthrow of the Shah’s regime in 1979. The foundations of the Islamic Republic regime are shaking.

The protests of June 13 were the largest demonstrations since 1979. After the euphoria of the last two weeks, when Iranians participated in their millions in demonstrations and political meetings, no state – however brutal – will be able to control the situation. The events of the last few weeks show that there is real hope that the Iranian people can get rid of this regime – be it in the guise of Ahmadinejad or the no less undemocratic and corrupt ‘reformists’.

Strike threat pays off as Rob Williams reinstated

The threat of an all-out indefinite strike this Thursday by workers at the Linamar car plant in Swansea (formerly Visteon) has paid dividends. Linamar have reinstated sacked union convenor Rob Williams, an active socialist whose links with other threatened car plants made him a key target for bosses set on breaking union organisation.

The vote for strike action was overwhelming. It came on the back of a disgraceful campaign of intimidation by bosses, including foremen threatening workers with the sack if they took action in support of Rob. Clearly the bosses’ tactics have backfired.

This victory should serve as inspiration for all threatened car workers, trade unionists, left activists and any person concerned with the way workers are being made to pay for a crisis created by bankers. The recent Euro elections showed how the BNP and others on the far right are benefiting from the betrayal of workers by Labour: if we are to reverse this trend then we must rebuild the fighting organisations of the working class. That will not happen without significant victories in the class struggle. And as the Linamar workers have shown, no weapon is more powerful than the threat of all-out indefinite strike action, especially when backed by the threat of solidarity action at Linamar’s suppliers in the USA. In a period when national chauvinism has reared its ugly head in the labour movement, this was a timely reminder of the need for workers to unite internationally to combat a multinational enemy.

No2eu – yes to what?

With Euro elections imminent, the electoral coalition founded by Bob Crow and the RMT leadership has generated intense debate on the left: for some, such as the Socialist Party and the Communist Party of Britain, it is a workers’ initiative which must be supported. To others, no2eu is nothing short of a disaster, a sop to national chauvinism devoid of socialist principles.

The next meeting of the socialist forum in Cardiff, on Thurs 28 May, will address the issue.

The meeting will take place upstairs at the Owain Glyndwr, by St John’s Church, Cardiff, from 7.30pm. As usual we will seek to have an open, informed and comradely discussion.

Below are some of the blogs discussing no2eu:
Boffy blog
A Very Public Sociologist
Shiraz Socialist
Serge’s Fist

Support Rob Williams!

Rob Williams, Unite convenor at Linamar (formerly Visteon and before that Ford’s) car components plant in Swansea was sacked last Tuesday 28 April, but subsequently reinstated (ableit on the basis of suspension) after some 100 union members walked off the production lines and prevented his forcible removal from the plant by management and police.

His sacking and current suspension on pay will be discussed again at a meeting between Unite officials and Linamar management in London on Wednesday 6 May.

Rob is a Socialist Party member and vice-chair of the National Shop Stewards Network, who actively supported the Visteon workers’ resistance, visiting all three factories over the course of the past month or so.

Support the lobby of “Unite” headquarters, 128 Theobalds Road, London (nearest tube station: Holborn, WC2) from 9.30AM on Wednesday 6 May or watch this space for further details of local action in South Wales.

Visteon: the fight goes on

Below is an interview with Piers Hood, Deputy Convenor at the Enfield Visteon plant, where workers continue to fight against their arbitrary dismissal.

How did your occupation begin?

It began with all the workers, approximately a 100 strong meeting at the gates. We worked our way round the sides gates and forced our way through an exit, got ourselves onto the roof and the paint shop which is on the second floor. This way we could barricade the four exits, and we had a walk way so that we could get food and drink and people could come and go because we could control the gate. It was sort of a spontaneous thing, it wasn’t really planned. We didn’t have much supplies and it just went from there.

How did you organise once you were in?

We had a core of convenors and ex-convenors and people that could be relied on who would discuss regularly what we needed to do next and then we would have mass meetings of the occupation to decide and vote on things. Using the media was important. Having people on the outside to keep things going and bringing in messages of support was key to morale. If you can get laptops and things like that then it means you can keep lines of communication. Knowing your rights such as Squatters Rights is good and we delayed eviction for a few days. Everyone got stuck in, cleaning, cooking and doing shift duty and everyone was up for it, especially the women in our factory.

We were up on the roof and it was very cold at night. Of course it’s hard work and some people like to sleep a lot and others don’t sleep at all, but we all worked together. There was a lot of camaraderie and jokes and to be honest it was a great experience that I doubt I’ll have again in my lifetime.

Why did you feel that you had to occupy the plant in the first place?

Basically we had no other option but to do that. We were told there was no money in the kitty to come to us and people were so angry and felt that it was the only thing we could do and it felt right to do it. There was no other option and we were forced to do it. Once we heard Belfast had occupied we decided to join them. Unfortunately Basildon were blocked by the police and never got in.

What reasons did Visteon give for the closure of the factory?

The day before on the Tuesday we was all called upstairs at 2 o’clock and people in suits walked in who were the receivers, KPMG. We were made redundant in about six minutes flat and we was told to come back the next day to pick up our personal affects. There was no notice, no consultation with the union and we were told that we would have to claim any redundancy pay from the government so the taxpayer was footing for it.

It had been engineered by Visteon who had got us into this position because they had deliberately been losing money and running the business so badly to make it go that way.

Visteon claim that they are in receivership because of the economic crisis and you found yourself in this place because there was nothing they could do. What would you say to that?

They fiddled the figures so we have found since that money has been moved from one place to another because they still kept two separate entities; Visteon Engineering Services (VES) and VCTC (managing and marketing). VES is an engineering company and even though we weren’t having anything engineered they were still draining off millions of pounds so that money would stay in the global corporation. There were other ways, creative accounting and such. They sold two presses and claimed they only made £5000 and we have since spoken to an engineer who saw the paper work with £40,000 on it, so where has all the money gone? It’s all been fiddled. I’m sure KPMG would like to see the paperwork. On every level it has been corrupt and engineered and fiddled.

There’s a rumour that Steve Gawne, director of Visteon UK has another business in the waiting.

Steve Gawne, whilst he was the UK director of Visteon UK has set up another company. I have seen the paperwork, and this new company is based at Basildon and we have heard the core business is the LP59 Freelander, which is what we make here. We believe he is either going to open this factory up again at Enfield or possibly Basildon, or definitely get the machinery out and move it somewhere else. It seems to us that he is guilty of fraud and there are all sorts of things he has been up to. He has reneged on European Works Council Agreements and it needs looking at by the lawyers. The paper trail goes way back. We have found links that Ford were complicit in this and knew what they were doing. It has opened a whole can of worms and it needs legal work really, and hopefully the union will do that for us.

What are your demands?

The bottom line for us is to honour our Ford contracts and give us a proper redundancy deal in line with Southampton, for example who have recently had to make people redundant. We want our pensions protected because our pensions have now gone into PPF, which means they will be frozen until you are 65. We’ll have to see what they offer. Some people might take to it, some won’t. At the end of the day we will have to have a vote on it and see. At the end of the day they should pay us what they owe us.

What about the demand that you get your jobs back?

That has been mentioned. The plan might be to re-open the plant anyway and they would probably expect us to reapply for our jobs on 60% of the money we was on before. Some people are after flow-back to Ford Dagenham. Ford would have to have VRs (voluntary redundancies) from their plant and then we would ‘back fill’ those jobs which is dependent on whether Ford will pay out VR package for Ford Workers.

You were forced to come out of the factory on Thursday 9 April. Why did you end up leaving the factory and ending the occupation?

Me and Kevin Nolan, the Convenor, ended up going to the High Court and were issued committal orders and costs etc. It was a bit touch and go. The union did come through with a good legal team and over the negotiations which probably suited the union more than our people was that me and Kevin weren’t allowed in because we would be instantly arrested and go to prison and we had to stay out. But we was given a few days grace until Thursday 12 o’clock so that Kevin Nolan could fly out to New York and have a meeting with the American bosses on the Wednesday and return on the Thursday morning and everyone would come out with a big publicity fanfare.

Quite a few people after felt that they wanted to stay, but in the end everyone came out. It might not have been the most ideal situation because we were getting more publicity when we was in there.

So even though they got you out on 9 April, the fight’s not over is it?

As soon as we came out we went straight into 24 hour pickets and initially there was three gates on the far side of the plant and now, because they are trying to get workers back in, there is another gate on the far side that we have to cover. We have been out picketing Dagenham Motors, which is a car sales chain owned by Ford. So we are just trying to escalate things a bit and we will see what happens tomorrow at the meeting with the Americans. If things don’t go our way at the meeting we have other options and things we could do to escalate the action.

What are sort of support are you asking from workers in Fords and Jaguar who receive your components?

We have already been given support from VNJWC (Visteon National Joint Works Committee) that is where the Ford convenors meet. Myself and two other ex-convenors from Visteon met with them and they have given us 100 per cent support. What we need now is getting Ford workers to reject Visteon work, which has been bandied around but whether it has actually started happening yet I don’t know. I heard in America that Ford workers might reject Visteon work. It’s fine saying things but they have got to actually back it up and apply the pressure on Ford motor company.

What would you say about the role of the Unite officials?

Patchy at best. We are chasing up today for some funds. People are struggling with food and things and it’s hard. When we first came out, there was a lot of press there and the officials were there dishing the Unite flags out and taking the adulation and when it all calms down they disappear and we do get a bit disenchanted with them, me included. With the court case we did finally get looked after but it took a while and they did have to give them a boot up the arse to be honest. Sometimes they have been good and other times they have been wishy-washy at best.

Britain has some of the most draconian anti-union laws that make it difficult to take effective action. Do you think union leaders should be playing by the book at the moment?

It seems to get anywhere you have to do something a bit outrageous or break the law. If you do what you just allowed to do, you don’t seem to really get anywhere because the laws make it so difficult. So you have got to up the ante to get anything. You need strong union leaders to force things through and at the moment they seem hand in glove with the Labour government. It is disappointing sometimes. People do feel let down; they have paid their subs all year round and they just go missing when you actually need them.

Latest figures put unemployment at 2 million. The crisis is getting worse. What do you think of the Labour government’s response?

As far as I can see, the government aren’t interested at all. Our MP was down for the first day, and we’ve never seen him since. I understand that he did ask a question in the Houses of Parliament when there was no one there. No ministers have got involved or said anything. I might be wrong since I have been locked up in a plant and haven’t seen much news. Generally they seem totally apathetic and that they want it to happen. It’s almost as if they want certain companies to shut down to clear the way for others. Over the last ten years Enfield has suffered massive job losses here and elsewhere and no one in government seems to be bothered at all.

What would your alternative to redundancies and closures be?

I would love for the place to be kept open. But I don’t see it happening with this government. I can understand why workers at Fords are worried but if we don’t do something we’ll get steam-rollered. It seems that any manufacturing now is being pulled out the Eastern Block or further a field. You have got to maintain some kind of manufacturing, you can’t just have service industries. It’s almost like shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted because there is nothing much left. I’m not just talking about the car industry. Most other industries have been virtually annihilated.

Some of the workers have been discussing the idea that if the car market has collapsed under the pressure of the credit crunch, that the workers could direct production to other things. Is that a practical possibility?

For the last few years when we was being told how much money we had been losing we would say to them we can quite easily be making anything else. We make components made of plastic; there are lots of things we could make. But we know they weren’t interested.

What has kept you going over the last few weeks?

From the trade unions we have had fantastic support from the NUT, RMT, CWU, it’s been really fantastic all the way through. On top of that we have had the Socialist Wokers Party and the Socialist Party and other socialists who have probably given more support than our union to be honest. And just local people who have turned up and given us money and food. In the occupation they were passing food through the bars on the gate and throwing food over. It’s been fantastic all the way through. It’s really opened our eyes up for what people can do for other people when they feel that they are in difficulty and how we just all pull together.

What message would you give to workers facing job losses and unemployment?

These bosses, the lot of them, expect you just to take it. You have got to get your people together and you have to take action and as soon as possible. You can’t take what’s been dished out because it’s just gonna get worse and worse. If it comes to it, occupations or a protest is what seems to get results. What ever happens you have got to get together, organise and do something. Don’t just sit there and take it.

Send messages of support to: visteonoccupation@googlemail.com

Protest against Splott incinerator Weds 15 April

From Cardiff FOE:

Stop the Cardiff Incinerator

On Wednesday 15 April, Cardiff councillors are planning to decide whether or not a massive incinerator can be built between Splott and Cardiff Bay.

If they say yes, it will burn waste from across south Wales. This would mean more pollution, more lorries in Cardiff and more waste of valuable resources.

Show your opposition.

Join the peaceful demonstration before the planning committee meeting. Meet at 1.30 pm on Wednesday 15 April at the front entrance of City Hall in Cathays Park.

Bring placards, gas-masks, family and friends!

Make sure your councillors know how you feel.

For more information go to Cardiff FOE.

Press release from G20 witnesses to Ian Tomlinson death

The following statement has been made from witnesses to the death of Ian Tomlinson:

Various participants in the City of London demonstrations on April 1st have come forward as witnesses to the collapse of a man later identified by authorities as Ian Tomlinson. Four different university students witnessed the collapse of Mr. Tomlinson. “He stumbled towards us from the direction of police and protestors and collapsed,” said Peter Apps. “I saw a demonstrator who was a first aider attend to the person who had collapsed. The man was late 40s, had tattoos on his hands, and was wearing a Millwall shirt.”

While the first aider was helping the man, another demonstrator with a megaphone was calling the police over so that they could help.

Natalie Langford, a student at Queen Mary, said “there was a police charge. A lot of people ran in our direction. The woman giving first aid stood in the path of the crowd.” The running people, seeing a guy on the ground, went around them.

Another demonstrator had already called 999 and was getting medical advice from the ambulance dispatcher. “Four police with two police medics came. They told her [the first aider] to ‘move along’.”, said Peter Apps. “Then they pushed her forcibly away from him. They refused to listen to her [the first aider] when she tried to explain his condition.”

The first aider, who did not wish to be named, said “The police surrounded the collapsed man. I was standing with the person who’d called 999. The ambulance dispatcher wanted to talk to the police, the phone was being held out to them, but the police refused.”

Another witness, Elias Stoakes, added “we didn’t see them [the police] perform CPR.”

Other people who had tried to stay with the collapsed man were also pushed away.

All of the witnesses deny the allegation that many missiles were thrown.

According to Peter Apps, “one bottle was thrown, but it didn’t come close to the police. Nothing was thrown afterwards as other demonstrators told the person to stop. The person who threw the bottle probably didn’t realize that someone was behind the ring of police.” All the witnesses said that the demonstrators were concerned for the well-being of the collapsed man once they realized that there was an injured person.

Natalie Langford said “when the ambulance arrived the protestors got straight out of the way.”

These witnesses are happy to give media statements.

They can be contacted through this press liasion email: g20witnesses@gmail.com

Stop press: evidence to IPCC accuses police of attacking Ian Tomlinson before his death.

Death at G20 protest

The following eyewitness account is taken from the ‘Infantile and Disorderly’ blog:

Today’s demonstration outside the bank of England was directionless and leaderless, but otherwise vibrant. It was also marred by severe police brutality, certainly the worst protesters have experienced this year, eclipsing the police violence at January’s Gaza protests. Today one man died. Seven were taken to hospital. Tens were given medical assistance. After the wave of police brutality that occurred at around 7.30pm when hemmed-in protesters – thirsty, hungry and cold – attempted to break through the police cordon and escape, many were left bleeding. A number had head wounds. One young man knelt on the ground with his head in his hands. Another sat on the floor crying.

I was knocked to the ground and trampled underneath others who were trying to flee the police batons. A well-built man dragged me to my feet; it was painful but I’m grateful to have escaped with nothing worse than bruises. Following the crush, riot police ran into the mass of protesters, hitting people with both their batons and their shields. Many protesters were shaken and dazed. Easy targets. This early on, little is known about the man who died on the demonstration. I saw an unconscious man taken away by ambulance- I can’t say whether this was him, or indeed whether he was killed in the crush, from a police baton, or from something else entirely. Already, however, the police appear to be covering up their role in the violence, portraying protesters as mindless hooligans and removing the media focus from their own thuggish attacks against unarmed protesters.

Following the attack I have described above, reinforcements of riot police arrived to guard every exit. The last chance at escape has been lost, and protesters were subsequently detained for another 1.5 hours. Even then, we were only allowed out 1-by-1, with each protester being escorted away by their own police officer (and led past barking and snarling police dogs…) Most were searched and several of the so-called “trouble makers” arrested.

The police had also set about decimating Climate Camp, while many of the Climate Campers were otherwise engaged (being beaten by cops) outside the banks.

Please note: there have been minor edits to this article to remove any suggestion that the man who died was directly attacked by the police.

As G20 meet, time to make capitalism history

This is the text of the leaflet produced by Permanent Revolution for the G20 summit protests:

The G20 meeting in the UK next week brings together the leaders of countries that account for 80% of the world economy. They are contemplating the fate of their capitalist economy as it falls into the abyss.

The contraction of credit and the end to debt–financed spending has forced a major downturn in output – there only about half as many cars coming off the global production lines as this time last year. The countries that are being hit hardest are those most dependent on exports such as Germany and Japan; global exports are 25% lower than this time last year.

The G20 gathering will try to convince the world that they are in control of events and collectively taking the action needed to pull the economy out of its nosedive. Specifically, there will be proposals to coordinate another “fiscal stimulus” (tax cuts and spending programmes) to lift demand in Europe and USA. They will agree ideas fornew, tougher regulations on the banking sector and promise steps to rein in tax havens.

They may try to boost resources available to the IMF to bail out stricken states. They will also try and conceal the significant differences existing between them (especially between Brown-Obama and the Eurozone) over how much more money can be found to shore up capitalism without saddling governments with huge debts and storing up massive problems for the future.

Depression?

We are currently living through the sharpest industrial and trade contraction since at least the Second World War, surpassing in depth, breadth and duration the 1974-75 and 1980-82 global recessions. The social consequences are devastating for many, pushing unemployment rates up towards 8-10% in many G20 countries and in some cases, such as Spain, 15% and higher. G20 ministers are keen to pre-empt a longer depression.

There is no doubt they are aware of the consequences of repeating the disastrous policies adopted by their predecessors in the 1930s, following the 1929 crash.

Then governments cut spending in order to balance government budgets as their revenues fell after 1929. Money and credit supply contracted 40-50% in five years. Then, states set up barriers to trade that sharply contracted international commerce and output.

The consequences were brutal. In the USA between 1929-33 industrial output more than halved and real GDP contracted by almost 30%. The unemployment rate surged to 25%. From 1929 to mid-1933 prices fell by nearly 30%. There were widespread bank failures, and defaults and bankruptcies by businesses and households.

The global depression shattered the social and political fabric of Europe and America, sparking huge class struggles, civil and inter-state wars. The G20 leaders are haunted by the thought that history could repeat itself. So they have adopted policies opposite to those of the 1930s.

Eurozone governments have put together substantial bank rescue packages: bank guarantees worth 18% of GDP, capital injections amounting to more than 200bn (2.3% of GDP) and asset purchase programmes worth more than Euro 100bn (more than 1% of GDP). The UK government has spent hundreds of billions of pounds on bank rescues and debt guarantees. In the US a $1tr “toxic assets” programme has just been agreed to get bad debts off the banks’ books to try and kick-start lending.

On top of this EU states have outlined spending and tax cuts packages for 2009-10 worth Euro 154bn (1.7% of GDP). The Obama and Brown plans are on a similar scale.

The G20 meeting will also warn against national protectionism. In the 1930s tit-for tat tariffs cut the global value of imports by 70% in the four years to 1933. Nothing on this scale is underway or being mooted by major governments. US Congress flirtedwith “buy American” clauses in one package and EU states are channelling funds to car firms against EU rules. India has raised tariffs on steel imports. But so far this is small beer, although non-tariff barriers are likely to multiply in the years ahead.

Too little, too late?

The immediate problem facing the G20 leaders is not that they will engage in a trade war, but rather that their interventions – significant as they have been so far – are simply not enough to stop the recession getting worse.

It is reliably estimated that there are more than $3.5tr worth of bad debts lurking in the financial system, far more than government programmes are designed to cope with. Moreover, the G20 has so far adopted a private market strategy and will only take over banks when absolutely forced to.

In general governments have sought to give the banks incentives to sort their problems out, yet so far they are refusing to be “incentivised”. Credit is slow to expand and as a result the world’s workers and poor are faced with a longer and deeper recession.

We are paying the price of the criminal recklessness of the capitalist bankers and politicians. Unemployment is ruining lives, leading to homes being repossessed. In the UK we are already passed the two million mark and a further million will certainly follow them into the job centres this year for a fruitless interview. School leavers have little chance of getting a job this summer.

Even if the various policies succeed in putting a floor under the economic collapse and a recovery of some sort sets in by the end of the year, the various G20 governments will be saddled with huge debts for years to come. The billions they have handed over to the bankers will be clawed back from us in the form of higher taxes, public sector jobs and service cuts, and pay freezes.

Feeble response

In the face of this what are our trade union leaders doing? On today’s demonstration they will denounce the bankers, the bosses and the bonuses. They will moan that Labour should be doing more and quicker to help keep people at work and from losing their homes. They will mouth their usual platitudes about the need to fight back. But on Monday morning it will be business as usual, negotiating redundancies, short-time working and pay cuts, as they have done at Toyota and elsewhere.

In contrast, in France millions took to the streets in co-ordinated strike action in January and again last week, with mass demonstrations up and down the country. In Britain the trade union leaders’ main priority is to get Brown and Labour reelected next year. As such they will refuse to organise mass strikes and demonstrations à la France which may eject Brown from office or boost Cameron in the polls.

Jobs, justice, climate

The slogan of today’s protest is “Jobs, justice, climate”. Addressing each of these in an integrated, revolutionary way can cut short the economic slump, remove the major causes of the capitalist crisis and tackle the biggest threat to the future of the planet – climate change.

* Nationalise the financial sector without compensation!

The banks are told by government to lend to firms and households while at the same time instructed to build up their capital reserves against future risks. This is a contradiction that cannot be resolved in a commercial banking system, one driven by profit maximisation.
The G20 governments must immediately nationalise all the major banks and the shadow banking system (hedge funds etc) to put the credit and investment tools in the hands of a centralised agency. Only then can all the resources of the economy be brought to bear on job creation and welfare provision and an end put to the scandal of bosses bonuses while millions are being thrown out of work as a result of their actions.

* For a red-green new deal!

Instead of negotiating cuts in pay in a vain attempt to “save jobs” our trade union leaders should be fighting for a massive expansion of jobs in renewable energy industries. Instead of short time working in the car industry we need to convert plant and equipment from these carbon-emitters to produce technologies to halt climate change. Every sacked worker needs to be retrained on full pay to build armies of home insulators, turbine builders, solar panel manufacturers and fitters, renewable energy engineers and researchers. Sweden, a country of 10 million has 400,000 people working in clean energy industries; the UK has a few thousand. We need billions of pounds and millions of workers employed to wean the economy off carbon in the next 10 years. This investment can be paid for by a huge wealth and profit tax on the capitalist wreckers; any attempt at avoidance or off-shoring should be met with complete expropriation of the companies involved.

* No to an enhanced IMF!

Ten years ago many developing world countries in Asia were in deep recession after the Asian financial crisis of 1997. Then the IMF weighed in with its “help” – emergency aid to stabilise their currencies while country after country slashed their welfare programmes and jobs and sold off their state companies to the west in order to “balance the books”. Now it’s the turn of eastern Europe to get the IMF treatment. Countries like Latvia have had their currencies “stabilised” by IMF injections; in return the IMF demands these countries balance their budgets – the very thing deemed wrong-headed for the EU or US right now. And this means swingeing 30% pay cuts and spending pared to the bone. So much for justice. If fiscal stimuli are needed to reflate economies in the EU and US then smaller countries in Asia, Europe and Africa (which did not create the toxic assets or set the reckless rules for financial markets) must get the same assistance. We demand that unconditional aid be given to sustain jobs, food programmes and development projects in countries that are victims of the recklessness and greed of Europe and the US .

* A workers’ answer – socialism!

The capitalist politicians that instructed us in the virtues of the free market, that did the bidding of the bankers as they insisted on “light touch regulation”, bringing us to this present ruinous situation, cannot be trusted to oversee the process of recovery.

Their reforms will be too timid to tame the bankers and will end up preparing future crises. Only a string of revolutionary workers’ governments across the globe, not a cabal of G20 ministers, can tackle the root cause of the present misery: capitalism itself. These must be governments that originate out of mass upheavals, building on the events in France, based on accountable, popular organisations forged in the heat of struggle. Governments made up not of pampered parliamentarians, but of ordinary workers’ leaders. Governments that are instruments based on the power of the working class and use the present crisis to destroy the rule of private property in commerce, finance and industry that threatens to disfigure the lives of millions.

If we want an end to the crisis and not a crisis without end, this is the bold socialist step that we must take together.

Comments from other groups and individuals on the G20 summit are welcome.