Keir Starmer has said ‘there is a deep rot in the heart of British institutions’. I assumed he meant the Labour Party and the fact that its MPs have declared tens of thousands of pounds of donations from energy companies since the election, the government subsequently hiking households’ energy bills by £149 a year on average.

As recently as 2023, Labour pledged an immediate freeze on prices. That’s changed now they are in office getting their MP’s salary of £91,000 plus travel, living, eating, heating and office costs covered, with cabinet ministers earning £158,000, also with cushy expenses.

MPs should take the average wage of a skilled worker, like Militant MP, now Socialist Party National Committee member, Dave Nellist did in the 1980s. We need a workers’ MP on a workers’ wage, not fat cats in suits who laugh in our faces every time they go to the bank at our expense.

To add insult to injury, last year the eye-watering bonuses of the ‘big six’ energy bosses totalled enough to power 23,000 homes for an entire year! By cutting CEO’s pay, companies like Shell and Paypoint could save money, they could also spend less paying for the breaking and entering of 4,000 homes to install prepayment meters.

And when they’re found to have broken so-called market rules on competition set by ineffectual government regulator Ofgem, they are told to donate a few million quid to Ofgem’s ‘voluntary redress fund’.

At 3am bank holiday Monday, a major fire consumed another London tower block covered in flammable cladding.

Residents pounded on their neighbours’ doors to get them to flee, reporting that no fire alarms could be heard.

80 people fled into the street in Dagenham, east London, relying on each other for their safety. Firefighters risked their own lives to save 20 more survivors from the seven-storey building. Many have lost all their possessions, their children traumatised for life.

The London Fire Brigade shed 27 fire appliances, closed ten fire stations and cut 552 firefighters when Boris Johnson was London Mayor. Labour’s Sadiq Khan has not reversed these cuts during his time in office, vital response times have increased to a record high.

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 1918 – violent protests and riots, instigated by far-right groups, broke out across the country. For those trapped in asylum-seekers’ hostels or mosques under brutal attack from gangs of rioters, the experience was terrifying. More generally, many Black, Asian and Muslim people feel that their safety is increasingly under threat. Tell Mama, a monitoring group tracking Islamophobic hate crimes, reported a five-fold increase in threats to Muslims compared to the same time last year.

The absolute numbers involved even peripherally in the riots were small, probably less than 15,000 nationwide. This is far fewer than those who came out on the streets in counter-protests or – for example – the many tens of thousands who peacefully marched for Gaza on the same Saturday as the right-wing riots started to spread, or the 50,000 who took part in Trans Pride the week before. Not one word, however, of the Gaza demo featured in the capitalist media; whereas the riots were at the top of the news bulletins every day for a week, adding to their momentum.

Unusually, however, the large anti-racist counter-protests on 7 August did top news reports, with overwhelmingly positive coverage, even from the most rabidly right-wing capitalist newspapers. In a total volte-face the headline on the front page of the Daily Mail, for example, was the ‘Night Anti-Hate Marchers Faced Down Thugs’. (8 August) This, of course, from the rag which, alongside numerous Tory politicians, has routinely referred to the overwhelmingly peaceful mass protests against the slaughter in Gaza over the past ten months as ‘hate marches’.

Personally I very much enjoy Orwells books, Down and Out in Paris and London has to be one of my favorite book of his just for the issues the book tackles and tackles well. Orwell goes headlong in to class structures depicting his day to day of his life as a tramp, the simple yet devastating way he got into that situation and the all in-composing despair of financial ruin.

Also the communist that drinks all the milk to spite his boss had me hard.

Then Orwell later writes Animal Farm...

The revolutionary mass movement in Bangladesh is at a critical juncture. A 17-member interim government has been established, including in it a few young leaders who emerged from the mass protests which toppled the government.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina fled the country on 6 August, protesters stormed her residence. But her party, the Awami League, and its allies involved in corruption, remain largely intact. Meanwhile, the equally corrupt and undemocratic opposition party, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), a right-wing party that has a history of implementing policies against workers and youth, is also waiting to seize any opportunity that arises.

The continuation of the current situation, without decisive action to transfer power to democratically controlled committees of protesters, workers, and the poor, could enable reactionary forces to gradually regain strength. The student protesters already had to intervene on 9 August when a full court was convened, which they saw as an attempted “judicial coup”, undermining the new interim government. The Chief Justice resigned only after protesters surrounded the court.

In a local branch meeting I attended last month, a young Socialist Party member suggested that we use alternative media instead of traditional books. They argued that newer, younger members may struggle to grasp or have the patience to read Marx, Engels, or even Lenin. The member suggested that we 'get with the times' and introduce new forms of media like audiobooks, films, and podcasts.

Personally, I was recommended State and Revolution as an introduction to socialism, but I am middle-aged and haven't had my brain zapped by TikTok and YouTube shorts. So, I ask for advice here: should we offer easier-to-digest media?

cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/15839927

Hello comrades, Torquay will see a Stop The Boats protest tomorrow evening 7th of August. for those living there stay safe as right wingers will be bussed up and down from all over Britain.

We: a coalition of trade unions and socialists as well as activists and other such leftist groups will counter protest Stop The Boats but we are only strong in numbers. I am asking if you disagree with these extremists and wish to struggle along side us please come and join.

And with sufficient numbers are voice will be heard.

for further information reach out through signal: squid_slime.37

Hello comrades, Torquay will see a Stop The Boats protest tomorrow evening 7th of August. for those living there stay safe as right wingers will be bussed up and down from all over Britain.

We: a coalition of trade unions and socialists as well as activists and other such leftist groups will counter protest Stop The Boats but we are only strong in numbers. I am asking if you disagree with these extremists and wish to struggle along side us please come and join.

And with sufficient numbers are voice will be heard.

It has also come to our attention that a protest is expected to take place on Thursday in Exeter.

I am currently organising to counter in my home city of Exeter.

for further information reach out through signal: squid_slime.37

Once again, I joined a counter-protest standing against the "stop the boats" demonstration. Similar to our efforts in Bristol, we significantly outnumbered them.

A diverse coalition of socialists from The Socialist Party (formerly Militant) and Socialist Workers Party, anarchists, anti-war groups, trade unions, and other activists gathered in the heart of Plymouth to express our disagreement with the protestors—a violent group who resorted to hurling stones, fireworks, unopened cans of beer that exploded on impact, empty glass bottles, and even an iPhone charger, which I will now use for its intended purpose (thanks for the freebie).

The right-wing protesters were aggressive, attempting to flank the police to engage in fights with us. Some even infiltrated our counter-protest, only to be forcefully removed by anarchists and police.

Organizing such a large demonstration was a Herculean effort, but it paid off. Unlike the counter-protest in Bristol, where vandalism and fighting were prominent, this time we showcased our strength through sheer numbers and organization. These right-winger are indeed a minority.

Transport union leader Mick Lynch has said union bosses need to do more to combat flaring anti-immigration protests across the UK and Ireland.

The RMT (National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers) boss, who has risen to prominence in recent years during public transport strikes in England, gave the annual Connolly Lecture on the opening day of Feile an Phobail at St Mary’s University College on Thursday.

The union leader’s comments come amid anti-immigrant disorder in the Southport area of England after three children were killed in a knife attack at a summer school.

Disorder has also been seen in recent months in the Republic with attacks against premises hosting asylum seekers in Dublin and other areas. This Saturday anti-immigrant protests have been organised in Belfast in response to the killings of Bebe King (6), Elsie Dot Stancombe (7) and Alice Dasilva Aguiar (9).

Far-right thugs in violent clashes with police as unrest spreads to cities across UK - by Independent

Violent outbreaks spread across the UK on Saturday with far-right thugs hurling bricks, bottles and chairs at the police as demonstrations broke out in more than half a dozen cities.

Home secretary Yvette Cooper condemned the “thuggery” and “criminal disorder” that has followed in the wake of the tragic Southport stabbings, warning that anyone involved in the ongoing violence “will pay the price”.

“Criminal violence and disorder has no place on Britain’s streets,” she said on Saturday afternoon following clashes in cities including Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds, Hull, Nottingham and Belfast.

This isn't a "thuggery" issue, this is a social media and class issue. Standing with Bristol's counter-protestors, who had outnumbered the right-wing protestors, I heard chants that weren't about unity but instead division, polarizing both sides further. "Fuck off nazi fascist" might sound good, might be somewhat correct, but a large number of the protestors on the right are working-class people who have been told by GB News that migrants are the cause of our woes. We need a loud and informed slogan that will pull them back.

TUSC and unions are using "Fight the bosses, not migrants - fund our NHS and services," a non-divisive slogan laying the blame where it truly belongs. Meanwhile, BBC's reporting has captured and repeated the anarchist slogan of "Refugees are welcome." This slogan is made to offend and to stir aggression in our division. We can't allow the capitalist media to spin our program and fight by giving them easy wins with vapid slogans.

We need a slogan for the workers. I will be in Plymouth tomorrow as part of a counter-protest led by the trade unions, and I will be chanting "Fight the bosses, not migrants," pushing for a workers' party.

Many Communication Workers Union (CWU) reps and members will now be thinking about what the union will do under the Starmer-led Labour government. Jeremy Corbyn’s popular manifesto promise had been to bring Royal Mail back into public ownership. This was agreed at Labour Party conference since, but was not in the manifesto.

Meanwhile, Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky, whose business already owns 25% of Royal Mail, is bidding to take it over.

The Labour manifesto stated: “Royal Mail remains a key part of the UK’s infrastructure. Labour will ensure that any proposed takeover is robustly scrutinised and that appropriate guarantees are forthcoming that protect the interests of the workforce, customers and the United Kingdom, including the need to maintain a comprehensive universal service obligation. Labour will also explore new business and governance models for Royal Mail so that workers and customers who rely on Royal Mail services can have a stronger voice in the governance and strategic direction of the company.”

Strikes do a few things.
1: they give workers what little dignity can be afforded to them in a capitalist system.
2: they show the flaw of our system.

When met with inflation that surpasses our wages what option is there other than to strike, and we can strike through many ways such as not paying our landlords on mass to impede plans to evict from or demolish our homes, we can strike paying utility's that raise our prices demonstrably, we can as civilian boycott all sorts of industry to demand change.
All strikes in one sence do fail, they'll give limited dignity ready to be steadily chipped away at giving way to a new struggle as we live in a system that function on indignity.

But in a socialist sense even the failed strikes are successful in other ways, they can show the inequality between worker and owner, renter and landlord, consumer and shareholder. Each strike is another nail in the coffin of capital and this is why we stand in solidarity with the people at Amazon, the ones working for Stagecoach and the G4S security at jobcenters earning near to minimal wage.

If you see a strike taking place then show them your civic support, bring drinks or have a chat, maybe even pick up a placard.