From Colin Fox’s blog

Dear comrades,

What is happening in Scotland confirms the fact that in all countries in Europe workers are suffering under the same blows from the bourgeoisie. The attacks against public services as a whole in a view to their privatization are just an example among many. The project to privatise the Royal Mail,which is taking place at the same time as that of privatising La Poste in France, proves it. We are, therefore, in complete solidarity with the struggle you are carrying out to prevent it.

In France, resistance to this privatisation plan has been organised around a large front of trade union, political and social organisations. Such a gathering of forces, which is absolutely exceptional, has resulted in the creation of local or regional committees around the country.

The purpose of these committees is to carry out an information campaign to mobilise the whole of the population, not just the workers of La Poste. We will not hide from you the difficulties we have encountered. As the government is for ever setting back the date to concretes this project, many people are under the impression that the privatisation of La Poste is something to happen sometime in the far future.

However, we all know how important it is to start the mobilisation from now, and not to wait.

At the same time, the series of wild strikes that have been taking place at La Poste show that the mood might change very quickly. I have myself taken part in a strike which lasted several weeks in my section. We demanded better pay and better working conditions. This is but one concrete way of fighting against privatisation!

So, comrades, we all wish you good luck in your struggle: when faced with a world economic crisis without precedent, it is urgent for all workers to unite and resist together.Long life to a Europe in which workers fight back together!Brotherly anti-capitalist greetings,

Olivier Besancenot

Postier Porte parole du NPA

If they can’t even be trusted to not tamper with the boxes in their own internal elections how can we trust them not to do the same with ballot boxes at local and national level?

SSP members are reminded that the elections for the European candidate list will be taking place over the next week or so. The regional hustings in Dundee and Edinburgh are taking place this Sunday – contact your branch or branch secretary if you have not received details.

Following the Maryfield by election the make-up of Dundee City Council changed. Made up of 29 councillors, the SNP now had 14, one short of a majority and with an even stronger democratic mandate to take power. One independent councillor, Depute Lord Provost Ian Borthwick had previously stated that it was undemocratic for Labour (now 9) the Lib Dems (2) and Tories (3) to exclude the SNP from the convenership roles and being in charge.

The rumour mill was in full force and all eyes were on Borthwick to see if he would walk the walk having talked the talk. Distracted Dundonians didn’t expect the resignation of Lord Provost John Letford from the Labour councillors group and the party. This reduced the Labour group of councillors to 8 causing their spokesmen to go into a mud slinging rage.

According to Jim McGovern, Letford has overnight lost all his principles. Ironically he mocks him for previously stating what was at his core – Labour and the Trade Union Movement. He falsely concludes that because he left Labour this can no longer be true. It may be no longer true, but it is also possible that if he still has this at his core that’s the very reason he can no longer stay in the Labour Party. Twenty Four hours later his vitriolic attack had changed into the Labour losing an argument position of Draw the line under it and move on

Kevin Keenan, leader of the Labour group of councillors flip flopped all week long. From publicly requesting Letfords return to the Labour group (now unprincipled or not) to in desperation trying to hold an olive branch to the SNP by pledging to support one of their councillors to be made Lord Provost. Whether both these plans could be carried out at the same time was irrelevant, they were pure spin from the Labour group.

Other local Labour members from former councillors Jill Shimi, Chic Farquhar and former rent a quote MP Ernie Ross were wheeled out to sling mud too.

What’s interesting about those slinging the mud is only one of them is a Labour councillor. The other seven councillors have been strangely silent on the proposed change in administration.

The last twist in the saga before the council meeting to redraw up power was some claims about an OBE. Letford insists Kevin Keenan had urged him to stand down and he would arrange for him to have an OBE. A series of denials from those involved make it unclear what actually happened, but this would have been a large carrot to someone Keenan described as the biggest unionist I know. That Letford sees his best chance to be the Queens representative in the city has more chance by supporting the SNP than it does Labour says something about both of those parties. For Labour it is the final signpost in their demise in the city. For the SNP it shows how their politics lie on both independence and republicanism if they are making deals with the biggest unionist known to the leader of the Labour Party in order to keep the chains of office.

Ernie Ross had also made the bizarre claim that Labour are a democratic socialist party. Wrong on both counts Mr Ross! Why are the Labour Party fighting over the chains of office rather than trying to break them when in power if either of these propositions were true?

The two independents, Borthwick and Letford were expected to vote with the SNP, keeping their Depute/Lord Provost roles.

At the council meeting Ian Borthwick proposed to delay the meeting to try and have a majority administration of everyone. Apparently the recession means this is necessary. The issue that flagged up this change was not the economy going in to recession but the Lord Provost resigning from his former party. Seconded by the Tories it was lost to the votes of the SNP and John Letford.

The SNP had put forward this idea in 2003 and 2007, as had John Letford in private. Now it looked like the SNP would be in power, the undemocratic coalition who had kept them out of power and looked like losing it suddenly warmed to the idea.

The SNP then proposed John Letford and Ian Borthwick for Lord Provost and Depute as expected. Labour countered with a proposal for one of their councillors to be Lord Provost. Their third preference for the position in a week.

The SNP proposal won through with the support on John Letford with The Tories and Ian Borthwick abstaining.

Immediately all the Labour councillors raised their dissent at the decision. They subsequently opposed the decision to label committees as X Opposition instead of Labour, Lib Democrat etc. It should be pointed out that 20 minutes previously they had demanded the council choose from across the board for the best people for positions but were having trouble with doing that amongst the opposition – showing how unworkable their proposal was in the first place.

What does this mean for the people of Dundee. Well we have finally removed Labour from office, although at what cost? Look next door to Angus to see the actions of the SNP in power. They were one of the longest to hold out to the Nursery Nurses and gave one of the worst offers.

More recently they are attempting to claw back half a days wages from teachers. These teachers left school on an in service day due to the heavy snow. Buses were stopping and schools were closing across Dundee and the surrounding area. People were being advised left and right to get home safely whilst they could. The Council were holding a meeting in Forfar and decided to abandon it and go home as it was too dangerous for them to stay in the town. The teachers in Forfar apparently were in no danger of being stranded and should not have. (see comment below)

Or in other words, as happened in transition nationally between Tories and Labour in 1997, expect no noticeable positive difference.

Beating both the BBC and SNP to the news – the Lord Provost and Depute Lord Provost are staying as John Letford and Ian Borthwick. Borthwick did not vote for himself as Depute!

The proposal from SNP for Borthwick and Letford to stay in their roles and the SNP to take convenership roles won 15 votes, the SNP and John Letford. The Labour proposal with Richard McCready as Lord Provost won 10 votes, Labour and The Liberal Democrats. The Tories and Ian Borthwick abstained.

The people of Dundee can now look forward to an even more anti-trade union administration than the discredited former regime.

According to the Herald the Lib Dems have failed to meet the deadline for a commission at Holyrood.

Fair enough you might think.

Except it was a commission they were architects of.

The excuse is of course that they need some more time to think of what to submit.

The topic of the commission is a federal UK, which the Liberal Democrats have been in favour of for decades!

So they set up a commission to investigate of of their flagship policies but haven’t thought about it enough to submit something to the group.

No wonder they do things like claim they support scrapping the Council Tax, then vote against SSP bills to scrap the council tax.

The Scottish Peoples Charter is being launched this weeked

Scottish Peoples Charter

We need Change. We need Hope.

We need a fair Scotland and a [fair] Britain.

A fair economy for a fairer society

Progressive taxes without loopholes or tax havens. We must own and control the main banks. Guarantee all pensions, mortgages and savings. Tie pensions and benefits to wages. Give pensioners free transport and heating. Increase the minimum wage.

More and better jobs:

Defend and improve employment. Make a massive investment in new jobs particularly in green technology for our childrens’ sake.

Decent homes for all:

Create 250,000 new publicly owned homes in Scotland over the next five years. Stop the repossessions. Control rents.

Save and improve our services:

Energy, Telecommunications, Water and Transport to be owned by all of us. Remove profit making from the NHS. Support our public service staff.

For fairness and justice:

Equality for all. Together against all racism and discrimination. Equal pay for women. End child poverty. Give young people a future. Free child and youth facilities, education and training for all. Repeal the anti-trade union laws to fight poverty and inequality.

A better future starts now:

No more blood and money for war. Bring the troops home. No more £billions for nuclear weapons. No replacement for Trident. We want massive investment for a greener, safer world. Get rid of the debt economy in Britain and cancel the debts of the poor of the planet.

The Scottish Socialist Party today accused the SNP government of a cowardly manifesto u-turn, abandoning pensioners and low paid workers in favour of the rich and business interests who bankroll their party after Finance Secretary John Swinney told MSPs that legislation to introduce a local income tax would not be introduced in the current parliament.

This is not the first time the SNP has abandoned opposition to the Council tax and watched hundreds of thousands of pensioners and low paid workers who stood to benefit most from abolition of the Council tax lose out.

SSP national co-spokesperson Colin Fox said today;

The SNP’ cowardly manifesto u-turn means that the super rich businessmen like Brian Souter who bankroll the SNP with their bonuses will continue to benefit while pensioners, low paid workers and millions of those worst affected by the current economic recession, like the thousands of sacked Woolworths workers who would have at least enjoyed some financial relief with the reduction in their Council tax bills, will continue to be hammered by this unfair Tory tax

The SNP has again failed to capitalise on the majority support across Scotland for abolishing the Council tax. They have now given up the idea without a fight or even a vote in Parliament.

How different their approach to that of the Scottish Socialist Party on this issue.

The SSP, with just 6 MSP‘s, were able to make far greater headway. Our Bill to abolish the Council tax, a bill which incidentally the SNP voted down [on Feb 1st 2006] attracted considerable support across civic Scotland.

The SNP‘s subsequent local income tax plan with its regressive 3p across the board charge attracted much less enthusiasm. Our local income tax replacement by contrast was graduated to ensure the better off paid more as their income went up and the poorer were exempt.

Due to the resignation of a Labour councillor in Dundee for the Maryfield ward a by-election has been triggered. The BBC are reporting this as being held on the 12th March.

In 1838 the Peoples Charter was published
It stipulated 6 demands:

• Suffrage for all men age 21 and over (not to be confused with Universal Suffrage)
• Equal-sized electoral districts
• Voting by secret ballot
• An end to the need for a property qualification for Parliament
• Pay for Members of Parliament
• Annual election of Parliament

Recently representatives of various left organisations in Britain have been meeting to discuss a new Peoples Charter. The latest version of it is below. Once finalised and agreed there will be a campaign to gain support for these basic aims. What do you think – when published will you sign it? Discuss below.

The People’s Charter – A Charter for Change

Britain is in the grip of an economic crisis. So is the world.
Every time there is a slump the politicians and financiers seem mystified as to how the system has failed. But boom and bust is the way it works. It’s not stable.

When the economy grows, banks, corporations and speculators, driven only by greed, gamble other people’s money in their global casino. When they lose ‘confidence’ in their profit making schemes and panic, the bubble bursts and we pay the price.

Redundancies throw hundreds of thousands on to the dole. Savings are lost. Homes are repossessed. Pensions lose value. Workers are put on short time. Wages and conditions are cut. Public services are slashed.

Government is spending billions of pounds of our money bailing the banks and big business out of their crisis.
Its not right and we didn’t vote for it.

Those £billions are our money. And our children’s. We want that money better spent.
We have launched a People’s Charter. It sets out what must be done to get out of this crisis and put the people first, before the interests of bankers and speculators.
We need one million signatures to show we mean business. So sign and support the Charter – on line, at work, in your community.

Together we can get the changes we need. Can we do it? Yes we can!

A fair economy for a fairer Britain. Take the leading banking, insurance and mortgage industries fully into democratic public ownership run for the benefit of all. Regain control of the Bank of England and keep interest rates low. Tightly regulate the City markets to facilitate lending and to stop speculation and takeovers against the public interest. Ban hedge funds, raids on pension funds, asset-stripping and corporate tax loopholes. Restructure the tax system so big business and the wealthy pay more and ordinary people pay less.

More and better jobs. Existing jobs must be protected. Public and private investment must create new jobs paying decent money. In particular in manufacturing, construction and green technology. More jobs mean more spending power to stimulate the economy, increased tax revenue and fewer people on benefit. Build full employment. Reduce hours, not pay, to create more jobs. Raise the minimum wage to half national median earnings and end the lower rate for young workers.

Decent homes for all. Stop the repossessions and keep people in their homes. Offer ‘no interest’ loans. Control rents. We need 3 million new homes. Give local government the power and money to build and renovate affordable quality homes and buy empty ones, ending the housing shortage, and creating jobs.

Protect and improve our public services – no cuts. Save public money: bring energy, transport, water, post and telecommunications back into public ownership. End corporate profiteering in health, education, social and other public services. Stop the EU privatisation Directives.

Fairness and Justice. Free heating and transport for every pensioner. Link state pensions and benefits to average earnings. Protect pension schemes and restore the lost value of private pensions. End child poverty by increasing child benefits and tax credits and providing free nurseries and crèches. Enforce equal pay for women. End racism and discrimination in all its forms. No scapegoating of migrant workers.

Invest in young people and give them a real stake in the future. Provide youth, community, arts and cultural centres, sports facilities, and clubs for all. Guarantee training, apprenticeships and education with grants for everyone and no fees.

Restore union rights to allow them the freedom to fight the crisis and to protect workers.
Build a secure and sustainable future for all.

End the cost of war in blood and money. Bring our troops home. Don’t waste £billions on a new generation of nuclear weapons. And beyond the current economic disaster, climate change threatens us all. Our future must be based on massive investment for a greener, safer world now. Debt is crushing millions of people forcing them to move and producing war, famine and misery. Get rid of the debt economy in Britain and cancel the debts of the poor of the planet.

A better future for all the people of the world.

There has been a lot of media reporting of the Free School Meals deal by the SNP.

As welcome as it is, it doesn’t mention the role played by the SSP for years initiating this policy. The policy which was voted down by the majority of the SNP and Labour MSPs at the time, with a few honourable exceptions.

David Osler helps redress this oversight.

Special thanks go to Fix Garvie, who the North East region selected as our top regional candidate in 2007 for her role in the campaign, as well as the others in the SSP and elsewhere for making this policy real.