Month: October 2015

Poland lurches to the right

31st October 2015 Socialist Action 0

The following article by Gavin Rae, on the elections to Poland’s parliament, was originally published by transform!

The recent parliamentary elections in Poland were historic, although unfortunately for all the wrong reasons. For the first time since 1989 a political party in Poland has won an overall majority in parliament, with the conservative nationalist Law and Justice Party (Prawo i Sprawiedliwość – PiS) winning over 37 per cent of the vote. Also for the first time in history, the left will have no representatives in parliament, meaning that Poland is presently the only country inside the European Union where there are no left MPs.

Refugees Welcome Here Rally: 6.30pm 4 Nov London

29th October 2015 Socialist Action 0

The approach of winter and the building of razor wire fences in Europe underlines the need to deepen the solidarity movement with refugees under the banner ‘Refugees Welcome Here.’ The attempts by far right groups like Pegida to use the suffering of refugees to whip up racism has also given an urgency to the need to step up the opposition to racism and fascism.

Right-wing hysteria as Corbyn consolidates team

28th October 2015 Socialist Action 0


By Jane West

The appointment of Seumas Milne as Labour’s director of strategy and communication is the second key appointment of Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership to come under particularly frenzied attack from the Tory media – the first being the appointment of John McDonnell as Shadow Chancellor. The reason is that each decisively indicated the fundamental orientation of the Corbyn leadership of the Labour Party and that it had no intention of backing down in the face of the hostility of the right.

Notes from the front – of the week 27/10/2015

27th October 2015 Socialist Action 0


Corbyn inflicts first defeat on Tories

On 26 October a Labour motion in the House of Lords dealt a blow to the government’s proposed tax credit cuts. By 289 votes to 272 it voted the cuts should be delayed and those affected compensated in full. As a result Tory Chancellor George Osborne has been forced to rethink the proposed cuts and has indicated he will announce changes to the plans in the Autumn Statement on 25 November.

Notes from the front – of the week 22/10/2015

22nd October 2015 Socialist Action 0


With Tories under pressure from Corbyn’s agenda Labour right continues to plot

After only five weeks as Leader Jeremy Corbyn’s shift in Labour’s agenda to oppose the Tory government’s proposed attacks on living standards has begun to pose some problems for Osborne and Cameron.

The last week saw the Tories face unexpectedly sharp problems on their proposed cut in tax credits.