JEREMY CORBYN’S victory inthe Labour Party leadershipcontest opens a new stage in the

political struggle.It is a shift of great significance — but

only the beginning. Who can now doubtthat Corbyn, with his calm message ofhope, has sparked mass support forLabour.

The Corbyn campaign demonstratedthat the age of lookalike, sound-alike,think-alike politicians is dead. The veryidea that a party prepared to abandon itscore values for temporary electoral gaincan somehow be inspirational now looksdistinctly ludicrous.

Key to Jeremy Corbyn’s success washis own record in defending workingclass interests; against racism andoppression; in defence of liberation,peace and against imperialist war. Anti-austerity campaigning led by the People’sAssembly, opposition to the ToryWelfare Bill and the decision of majorLabour-affiliated unions such as Unite,Unison and CWU – responding topressure from their own members — toback the only socialist candidate werevital factors in the success of JeremyCorbyn’s campaign.

Turning point in the contest was hisprincipled stand against Labour frontbench support for plans to slash thewelfare budget — in contrast to thevacillating and timidity of his opponents,

His opposition to proposals to sell offsocial housing and military action in Syriabroadened his appeal.

Trade union support for the Corbynprogramme was mobilised over his vocalopposition to Tory plans to curb politicaland industrial protest, choke off unionfunds and out-law ballots which supportstrike action.

The out-standing role played by theMorning Star in recent politicaldevelopments is beginning to find somereflection in the mass media and in it'srising circulation. Jeremy Corbyn is aregular columnist to Britain’s onlysocialist daily newspaper and the MorningStar backed his campaign from thebeginning.

Labour’s new leadership and policyadvances made by socialists, communistsand their allies at the September TUCconference opens up the prospect of abroad Labour movement offensiveagainst the minority Tory governmentwith the prospect of bringing it downbefore its fixed term ends.

We have precedent in the way inwhich mass working class action broughtdown the Heath government.

Standing the way is the millionairepress and an unholy alliance of bankers,big business and bureaucrats with astate machine that is geared to protractthe wealth and privileges of Britain’sparasitic ruling class.

Labour in conference this week cangive the answer to turncoats likeMandelson and the right wing rump thatwants to turn back from the progressivepath Labour has taken.

Communist Party @ Labour Party conference 2015 Workers of all lands, unite!Se

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2015 unity!

Building aneconomy forthe people Analternativeeconomic andpolitical strategyfor 21st CenturyBritain Contributorsinclude MarkBaimbridge; BrianBurkitt; Mary Davis;John Foster;Marjorie Mayo;Jonathan Michie;Seumas Milne;Andrew Murray;Roger Seifert; PremSikka; and PhilipWhyman £6.95 ISBN 978-1-907464-08-9

Things can only get better

by Kevin Halpin

ACTION CAN defeat antitrade-union legislation anddefend our freedom and

democracy. It’s a fight that must bewaged and which, in my experience,can be won - it’s not going to beeasy, but then it never was.

We have a massive advantage this timeround, unlike the early 1970s theleadership of the movement - includingthe TUC -have made clear their outrightopposition to the Tories Trade Union Billand are prepared to fight to the death.So, thankfully it’s not longer the case thatCongress House will call on the localpolice to move trade union memberslobbying outside for ‘disturbing thepeace’, as happened to me on more thanone occasion.

Over the past 35 years blood-chillingreferences to the 'bad old days' of the1970s have been used by new Labourand old Tories to warn of the dangers ofunions that are 'too strong'. But what wasthe reality? Certainly, unions were neverstrong enough (even if they had wantedto be) to sack a single employer, let alonethousands of people at once; or to selloff or shut down a company withoutwarning; or to issue a death sentence to awhole local community.

The impression given of the ‘70s is thatmass meetings were held every day,taking instant (‘wild cat’) action at theinstigation of a small number of unionagitators. As one who was there, andothers will confirm this, I can tell you thatthis picture is nonsense. Just as frequently,mass meetings voted against action.When workers came out, it was usually

because they were fed up with beingtreated like machines, to be speeded upand driven to the limit, or as casual labourto be picked up and discarded at will.

There are three particular features ofthe current bill. It singles out public sectortrade unionis in order to weaken theirfight in defence of services, jobs and pay.It seeks to undermine collectivebargaining, and is intent on silencing thepolitical voice of the organised workingclass (building onlast year’s ‘gagging’laws).

Leading trade union lawyers KeithEwing and John Hendy QC have said thatthese measures will not be defeated incourt rooms or lecture theatres but inpolitical and industrial arenas.

I couldn’t agree more! Onwards andupwards.

Kevin Halpin, formerly industrial organiserof the Communist Party, was foundingchairperson of the rank-and-file LiaisonCommittee for the Defence of TradesUnions (now merged into the Campaign forTrade Union Freedom). His role was pivotalin defending the rights of workers from

both Labour and Conservativegovernments.

After his victimisation by Ford after 14years as an AEU convenor, he was clearlyon the engineering employers ‘blacklist’being turned down for for work by 48companies in three years, at which time

the manager of the Dagenham LabourExchange, convincedthat he’d never getback into engineering, suggested he retrainas a hairdresser. An offer he refused andfinally, thanks to union colleagues, foundwork in London’s ship-repair yards until(under Thatcher’s de-industrialisation) the

docks closed when hewent on to LondonUndergroundbecoming chair andconvenor of the jointtrades unionscommittee.

Labour must kill the anti-union Bill

New timesby Ben Chacko

HOW QUICKLY the politicalmood can shift — as thislong summer was

beginning, most of us were still inshock that the Tories had scraped aparliamentary majority.

Those who had an eye to spare on thefuture viewed a Labour leadership racethat seemed to promise nothing but asuccession of washed-out Blairitesapologising to the rich for failing to bowlow enough in May.

The scene is now transformed. JeremyCorbyn — a weekly Morning Starcolumnist for over a decade — hasbecome the first socialist leader of theLabour Party in a generation.

During the the election period, heinspired hundreds of thousands ofpeople, many very young, to take part in apolitics that had seemed irrelevant to theirlives before.

After decades of defeat, Jeremy has puthope back on the agenda. But theEstablishment response has beenhysterical. Take a look at the billionaire-owned British press and a man who hasfought for peace, justice and equality forhis whole life is being slandered as a friendof terrorists and foreign dictators andeven, most disgustingly, as a potentialtraitor.

The mud-slinging has spread across allnational papers; the Guardian and theIndependent at times joined in. Only theMorning Star has given Jeremy Corbyn itsfull support, right from the start of thecampaign. That’s because, unlike the restof the media, we’re not here to critiquethis or that aspect of a politicalestablishment we basically support.

We oppose the capitalist system. Andwe’re the only daily paper that campaignsfor a different sort of politics day in, dayout. We’re able to do this because we’renot owned by a fat-cat press baron but byour own readers. Anyone can buy a share,meaning anyone can have a say at theannual AGM meetings which hold me andthe paper’s leadership to account.

We also have a unique bond with thetrade union movement. Nine nationaltrade unions have seats on ourmanagement committee — representingmore than half the trade union membersin the country. In a very real sense, we arethe paper of the labour movement.

It’s no surprise, then, that the MorningStar has also been at the forefront ofbattling the most vicious attack on labourrights taking place anywhere in Europetoday — the Tory trade union Bill whichseeks to make strike action all butimpossible and allow bosses to bus in scablabour whenever they want.

In this, our 85th year our most preciousvoice in the media has gone from strengthto strength, rolling out themed bumpereditions on topics of acute importance toworking people, from the TransatlanticTrade and Investment Partnership to thefight to save the NHS, covering a greaterrange of grassroots struggle than beforeand ensuring we tell the stories that reallymatter to working people. And after adifficult decade our circulation is beginningto rise. But we can’t do it without you —our paper has a long way to go not just toreach the audience we need but to secureour own future in a cut-throat capitalistworld.

If you’re not a dailyreader, why not give ita try?

Ben Chacko is editor ofthe Morning Star

by John Foster

HE WILL do so for three reasons. Firstly,because the City of London demands it: City-based banks, mainly from the US, control

two-thirds of all financial services across theEuropean Union.

Second, because the United States governmentdemands it: Philip Gordon, US Assistant Secretary ofState for Eurasia, made this clear last year. The USwants Britain as its spokesperson within the EUCouncil.

Third, and most important of all, because Cameronwants to ensure that his drive to destroy the publicsector and enforce a fully neo-liberal market economycannot be reversed.

The Labour Party led by Jeremy Corbyn is at lastadopting real policies for the redevelopment of theBritish economy: public ownership of railways andenergy; active intervention to assist manufacturingindustry; investment in skills, and stable long-termemployment.

None of this will be possible if Britain remains inthe EU. Public ownership of transport: railways comeunder the 4th Railway Package which requires furtherfragmentation of services with compulsorycompetitive tendering.

Public ownership of energy: the EU’s 3rd EnergyPackage of 2009 again requires competitive tenderingand fragmentation.

A public sector investment bank: this would also bedisallowed by state aid and competition rules. In2009 the EU agreed the rescue of the Royal Bank ofScotland as an emergency measure but laid downstrict conditions for the sale of subsidiaries and atimetable for return to the private sector (EU IP-09-1915).

State aid for industry: this is strictly prohibited – asany trade unionist fighting against closure will havediscovered.

Whether or not Cameron manages to negotiate optouts from the now much diluted directives on WorkingTime and Agency Workers, the EU itself directlythreatens long-term stable employment.

It poses individual contracts and ‘flexicurity’against collective bargaining. And it does so becauseits neo-liberal economic model relies onunemployment as the ultimate regulator – quiteclearly mandated by the zero deficit budget rule of the2012 Fiscal Compact.

That’s why in Greece, Italy, Spain and Portugal theEU demanded an end to contractual guarantees ofemployment. And all this is before the EU-negotiatedTTIP gives big business powers to challenge anynational legislation that infringes their ability tomaximise profit.

Would leaving the EU threaten jobs inmanufacturing ? All the evidence points the otherway. The 2014 Civitas study shows that in almost allcases British exports over the past twenty years didbetter in countries outside the EU.

The result is that today EU countries export farmore to Britain than they import – by a third – whichmeans that the EU would be very keen to negotiate acontinuing trade treaty to secure equal terms. But thereal issue is far more fundamental. It is aboutdemocracy.

Do we want Cameron’s neo-liberalregime to last for ever or do wewant the Labour Party to have thepower to change it ?

John Foster is the Communist Party’sinternational secretary

Info: tuaeu.co.uk

by Robert Griffiths

BRITAIN’S FINANCIAL deficit soared inAugust to £12bn, the biggest for threeyears. Yet there has been no collapse in

the bond, stock or currency markets. That’s because the central objective of ruling class

and Tory strategy is not to eliminate the deficit – butto boost the profits of Britain’s monopolycorporations and expand their profit base.

Hence the focus on privatisation, not least in theeducation and health services, as well as policies toslash public spending, cut business taxes, restrict tradeunion rights, increase the state retirement age, reducepension rights and increase the power of transnationalcorporations through trade and investment treatiessuch as TTIP.

This strategy is supported by the EU Commission,the European Central Bank and the IMF.

The alternative should begin with reversing theausterity programme.   Higher state pensions andbenefits, greater funding for public services and realinvestment in infrastructure – especially in councilhousing, transport and R&D – would boost demandand prepare the ground for economic modernisation.

A short term rise in state borrowing to replace PFIand similar schemes would lead to lower costs forbuilding and managing public sector projects.  Butmost extra government spending should be funded byprogressive taxation and the proceeds of economicgrowth itself.

A ‘Robin Hood’ tax on City financial transactionscould raise £20bn a year – ten times more than theChancellor’s paltry bank levy. Cuts in corporation taxshould be reversed and ‘windfall’ taxes imposed onmonopoly super-profits.

While a return to top income tax rates of 50 oreven 60 and 70 per cent would raise some extrarevenue, a 1 per cent Wealth Tax on the richest tenthof the population would raise £42bn year – more thanhalf the government’s spending deficit alone.

A robust mechanism for the redistribution of wealthbetween the nations and regions is essential. Powerful,properly funded local training and developmentagencies should be established, preferably under thecontrol of directly elected English regional assembliesand the Scottish and Welsh parliaments.

Planning agreements with companies receiving stateaid should set levels of job creation, pay, equalities,pensions, training and trade union representation, withextra incentives for R&D investment. Priority shouldbe given to local private, cooperative and municipalenterprise, rather than bribing transnational firms.

A National Investment Bank could direct some ofthe huge cash surpluses owned by non-financialcompanies (around £27bn according to the Bank ofEngland) into productive industry.

Central government policies should restructurethe British economy away from property andfinancial services and towards manufacturing,construction, new technology and high quality publicservices.

Control of interest rates should be repatriatedfrom the Bank of England and kept low in order tofavour exports and investment borrowing.   Vitalsectors of the economy such as energy, publictransport and finance will have to be taken intopublic ownership in order to ensure that investmentand environmental targets are established and met.

A left government with such a left wingprogramme would provoke enormous opposition.The basic treaties and institutions of the EU wouldbe used to try to block it at every significant turn.

An alternative political strategy would thereforebe required which embraces the struggle for statepower, for the revolutionarytransition to socialism as a moredemocratic and productive kindof society.

Robert Griffiths is general secretaryof the Communist Party

Trident; factsby Alan Mackinnon

EVEN THE military sees thatreplacing these WMDs is awaste of resources and needs

huge cuts elsewhere to fund it.The case for scrapping Britain’s

nuclear weapons system becomesever stronger. Five years of austerityhas cut living standards by overeight per cent across Britainresulting in a huge increase inpoverty, insecurity and inequality.

The government is as determinedas ever to press ahead with thedevelopment of a new generation ofnuclear weapons.

The key task across Britain is towork with the existing anti-Tridentopposition in the militaryestablishment, within all politicalparties, the trade unions, the faithcommunities and the anti-austeritymovement to build a broad andpowerful alliance of political forcesthat can kill off the project once andfor all.

A crucial part of this will bebroadening and deepening supportin the trade union movement. Oneof the key arguments used to justifyTrident is that it brings employmentto thousands of workers. But theevidence suggests otherwise.

The government’s own austerityprogramme has squeezed thedefence budget as it has othersectors, forcing cuts in the size ofthe army from 102,000 to 82,000and cuts in conventional defencemanufacturing.

An analysis by the Royal UnitedServices Institute (RUSI) hasrevealed a black hole in the defencebudget of at least £25 billion whichwill require says the Financial Times(October 6 2014), the number ofnew Type-26 Frigates to be built tobe cut from 13 to eight, threateninglong-term employment at the Clydeyards.

Other cuts in military hardwareand jobs in defence manufacturingwill follow. And this is happeningprecisely because spending onTrident is due to soar — already [in2014] it was over £2bn a year andlikely to consume over a third of thedefence equipment budget for adecade.

In other words, spending onTrident comes at the expense, notjust of jobs and services designed tomeet human needs, but also at theexpense of jobs.

Moreover, the number of jobs atScotland’s nuclear bases whichdepend on Trident has beenexaggerated. In response to aFreedom of Information request,the MoD wrote to Scottish CND on22 October 2012 saying that therewere 520 civilian jobs at HMNBClyde which were ‘directly relianton Trident’— a far cry from the11,000 figure which is often cited bythe supporters of Trident.H The debate around Trident is moving upLabour’s agenda and, as its contribution,Unity! is reprinting a slightly edited versionof an article, by the late Alan Mackinon,Secretary of Scottish CNDwhich first appearedunder the titleImagining A Britainwithout Trident in theMorning Star on 9December 2014.

A year from now David Cameron will be calling for a‘Yes’ vote on membership of the European Union

There is an alternative