OUR DEMANDS MOST MODERATE ARE - WE ONLY WANT THE EARTH
Showing posts with label Socialist-Labour-Party. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Socialist-Labour-Party. Show all posts
15.4.11
SLP Policies - Scottish Election
The Socialist Labour Party was founded to fight for socialism. Unlike New Labour, SNP, Tories and Lib Dems in this election, Socialist Labour understands that: "It is capitalism, not the complexion of governments, which is responsible for the economic and social devastation which results in: the destruction of basic manufacturing industries, mass unemployment, homelessness, helplessness and despair. Only by dealing with the root cause - capitalism itself, can this devastation be stopped and a long term alternative be constructed." -Arthur Scargill, SLP Leader. Socialist Labour's programme: EMPLOYMENT FOR ALL. The scourge of unemployment can be tackled but only with radical policies: a four day week without loss of pay. a ban on all non-essential overtime. voluntary retirement at 55 on full pay. INDUSTRY. To deal with the immediate economic and social crisis we propose: regeneration of our manufacturing and production capacity. re-opening deep mined coal, engineering and shipbuilding works. rebuilding all industries that generate real wealth and opportunities for Scotland's battered communities. investment in renewable energy industries. ENVIRONMENT. Environmental concerns must go hand in hand with resurrecting our industry: an immediate end to the madness of nuclear power stations. clean coal technology with carbon capture and an end to open cast mining. development of renewable energy resources. HEALTH & SOCIAL SERVICES. Rebuilding and further development of our NHS and social services will be a high priority for Socialist Labour: universal access to free health and social services the right to health and social services enshrined in law. the abolition of private health schemes - no one should get rich from the suffering of others - private health care also undermines our NHS. HOUSING. To tackle the housing crisis and provide work for thousands of unemployed building workers: the building of thousands of new homes each year for the duration of the next Scottish Parliament. all empty properties to be identified, modernised and converted into homes. POVERTY. Recent surveys have told us that one third of children live in poverty. This is a national disgrace, we propose: the introduction of a national minimum wage based on two thirds median male earnings. no taxation on income below £15,000. the doubling of state pensions coupled with their linking to wages and the cost of living. EDUCATION. Our comprehensive, further and higher education system is under attack and faced with deep cuts from those in government who have benefitted from a free system in the past: free, high quality education for all. free access to lifelong education. abolition of the class privilege of private education. restoration of mandatory student grants and state benefits linked to minimum wage levels. PEACE. Socialist Labour is against war. This country has got involved in many wars that are not in the interests of the Scottish people and has caused death, misery and destruction across the world. We would campaign to end current wars, to bring troops home and oppose future wars of conquest and aggression on sovereign countries. We would: remove the Trident nuclear system from the Clyde and support unilateral nuclear disarmament. withdraw this country from the aggressive NATO military alliance. oppose the concept of a "European" army oppose the arms trade. INTERNATIONALISM. With today's world racked by unjust wars, we oppose all of Britain's racist asylum and immigration laws which condemn people seeking refuge to detention, imprisonment, torture or death. The Socialist Labour Party is committed to fighting racism and fascism wherever they occur. We would: oppose the illegal and unjust sanctions upon the Cuban people. support FAIR trade and oppose "free" trade policies imposed upon impoverished nations. develop international links with peace and environmental movements, trades union organisations and womens' movements. Socialist Labour has detailed policies on these and other issues - see www.socialist-labour-party.org.uk for full details.
VOTE SOCIALIST LABOUR PARTY ON THE 5TH MAY
On 5th May we ask you to vote for the Socialist Labour Party with your second or regional vote.
Why?
Because the SLP is committed to fighting for full employment, a free NHS and education system, a housing programme which guarantees everyone a home and the restoration of fairness in the workplace by repealing anti-Trades Union laws.
The SLP wants to see a socialist Scotland. We do not see the point in gaining autonomy for Scotland simply to give it away to the unelected and unaccountable European Union. EU bureaucrats in Brussels deny the Scottish Parliament the right to introduce common ownership and the rebuilding of industry, large and small, that has been butchered by the indifference of consecutive governments of ALL the main parties. The SLP is the only party campaigning to get Scotland out of the clutches of the EU.
The regional vote allows smaller parties the chance to gain enough support to get MSP's elected with as little as 5% of the vote. Socialist Labour MSP's in Holyrood will fight the coming deep cuts that will be imposed no matter which "main" party or coalition of parties forms the next Scottish government. We will work with local communities to campaign for more, not less, resources and services that are so essential to the life and soul of communities throughout Scotland.
Vote Socialist Labour Party - Regional Vote
14.9.10
Arthur Scargill Speech
Arthur Scargill, legendary leader of the National Union of Mineworkers during the Great Strike of 1984/85, spoke at a Socialist Labour Party public meeting in Barnsley on 6th September 2010. This is a recording of the speech and it makes excellent listening.
Working class people are under attack, our jobs, our wages and conditions, our pensions, our public services fought for over generations are all threatened. Youth unemployment is rising at an astronomical rate on top of an already record level while at the same time education opportunities are being cut...
It's time to fight back! It's time to stand up for the socialist society - the only viable long term alternative to a decaying capitalist system.
Working class people are under attack, our jobs, our wages and conditions, our pensions, our public services fought for over generations are all threatened. Youth unemployment is rising at an astronomical rate on top of an already record level while at the same time education opportunities are being cut...
It's time to fight back! It's time to stand up for the socialist society - the only viable long term alternative to a decaying capitalist system.
27.8.10
Chile's trapped miners
Even those who have done the dangerous work of mining can only imagine what the 33 men are going through in Chile
By Ken Capstick (NUM & SLP)
Guardian 25th August 2010.
The 33 miners trapped below ground in Chile’s San José mine since 5 August are suffering the worst nightmare of miners the world over, who will be sharing their pain and that of their families, desperately hoping the rescuers succeed.
I spent 38 years of my life working as a coalminer and many long hours underground. I will never forget leaving school and jumping for joy – we said it was “the end of bondage”. I was 15, it was Easter 1956. Normally we would get a week’s holiday – I got two days and then found myself feeling imprisoned in what seemed worse than any dungeon. Deafening noise, constantly moving machinery, little light with which to see, grimy surroundings and hard physical work was my lot in life.
I was out of bed by 4.30 in the morning, trudging to the pit with my father; weather conditions, however bad, never stopped him or most miners. Men would crush on to the cage, as it was known, and then there would be a sudden plunge into the shaft as it hurtled for almost half a mile into the depths of the Earth. The bricks of the shaft wall were just a blur – four Blackpool towers end-on-end would just about reach from top to bottom.
I would start work at 6am and work until 1.30pm. Looking back now I realise how dangerous it was. At the end of the shift I would wash in the pithead baths and catch the bus in the pit yard, known as the pit paddy, which circled the mining village and dropped everyone off near their homes. Mother had the dinner on the table. I often fell asleep eating it.
I finished my first five days, Monday to Friday, in what seemed like a year. Saturday was voluntary in those days. I told my father I wasn’t going. He told me I was.
There was constant danger, and supervision by older miners was essential. They took care of you, but not in a mollycoddling sort of way – it was rough justice if you didn’t do as you were told, back-chatted or got “too big for your boots”.
I became an electrician and worked in every part of the mine. It was regarded by other miners as a cushy number. It was, but only by comparison with the work they did. Conditions were often cramped, crawling on hands and knees, breathing foul air, coughing and spitting out black coal dust from deep in your lungs.
Miners didn’t suffer fools gladly: coalmining was harsh. Conditions could be freezing cold or boiling hot in different parts of the same mine. Miners worked often on their bellies, using a pick and shovel all day, doing crushingly hard work. They ended up with bronchitis and emphysema, industrial deafness, broken limbs, dust on the lungs and were called greedy by people who could never understand. And we have had our share of disasters that have killed hundreds of miners in the time it takes to say, “Look out”. Sometimes they would be torn to bits after being dragged into brutal machinery, quite literally carried out in bags like chunks of mincemeat. It would be announced in passing on the news.
I once helped to carry a friend out of the mine. He was dead. He had been buried by a large fall of ground. We worked feverishly to get him out. That was 40 years ago. I laid a wreath at the altar in memory of him recently. It never goes away.
Eight miners have died in Britain’s coalmines in the past four years.
www.bbc.co.uk/bradford/sense_of_place/lofthouse_colliery_disaster.shtmlan inrush of water killed seven. Their comrades worked for a solid fortnight before being forced to leave them buried where they died.
Miners depend on each other for their own safety, which creates an unbreakable bond of camaraderie. Some might find it strange that a coalmine echoes to the sound of laughter. If I miss anything, it is the humour.
A miner is a miner wherever he works. Sometimes I spent 18 hours at a stretch in a coalmine, but can only imagine what it must be like for those fellow miners trapped in the unimaginable darkness of the San José gold and copper mine.
Leadership will be a vital element, someone experienced who they trust and respect, with the authority and mental strength to maintain his own morale as well as that of the others. I have met many men of that calibre. And in San José, 670 metres underground, it seems a natural leader has emerged – 54-year-old shift foreman Luis Urzúa.
If you have ever called a miner greedy, say a prayer with me tonight for those in Chile who, if reports are accurate, look like being there until Christmas.
Ends
By Ken Capstick (NUM & SLP)
Guardian 25th August 2010.
The 33 miners trapped below ground in Chile’s San José mine since 5 August are suffering the worst nightmare of miners the world over, who will be sharing their pain and that of their families, desperately hoping the rescuers succeed.
I spent 38 years of my life working as a coalminer and many long hours underground. I will never forget leaving school and jumping for joy – we said it was “the end of bondage”. I was 15, it was Easter 1956. Normally we would get a week’s holiday – I got two days and then found myself feeling imprisoned in what seemed worse than any dungeon. Deafening noise, constantly moving machinery, little light with which to see, grimy surroundings and hard physical work was my lot in life.
I was out of bed by 4.30 in the morning, trudging to the pit with my father; weather conditions, however bad, never stopped him or most miners. Men would crush on to the cage, as it was known, and then there would be a sudden plunge into the shaft as it hurtled for almost half a mile into the depths of the Earth. The bricks of the shaft wall were just a blur – four Blackpool towers end-on-end would just about reach from top to bottom.
I would start work at 6am and work until 1.30pm. Looking back now I realise how dangerous it was. At the end of the shift I would wash in the pithead baths and catch the bus in the pit yard, known as the pit paddy, which circled the mining village and dropped everyone off near their homes. Mother had the dinner on the table. I often fell asleep eating it.
I finished my first five days, Monday to Friday, in what seemed like a year. Saturday was voluntary in those days. I told my father I wasn’t going. He told me I was.
There was constant danger, and supervision by older miners was essential. They took care of you, but not in a mollycoddling sort of way – it was rough justice if you didn’t do as you were told, back-chatted or got “too big for your boots”.
I became an electrician and worked in every part of the mine. It was regarded by other miners as a cushy number. It was, but only by comparison with the work they did. Conditions were often cramped, crawling on hands and knees, breathing foul air, coughing and spitting out black coal dust from deep in your lungs.
Miners didn’t suffer fools gladly: coalmining was harsh. Conditions could be freezing cold or boiling hot in different parts of the same mine. Miners worked often on their bellies, using a pick and shovel all day, doing crushingly hard work. They ended up with bronchitis and emphysema, industrial deafness, broken limbs, dust on the lungs and were called greedy by people who could never understand. And we have had our share of disasters that have killed hundreds of miners in the time it takes to say, “Look out”. Sometimes they would be torn to bits after being dragged into brutal machinery, quite literally carried out in bags like chunks of mincemeat. It would be announced in passing on the news.
I once helped to carry a friend out of the mine. He was dead. He had been buried by a large fall of ground. We worked feverishly to get him out. That was 40 years ago. I laid a wreath at the altar in memory of him recently. It never goes away.
Eight miners have died in Britain’s coalmines in the past four years.
www.bbc.co.uk/bradford/sense_of_place/lofthouse_colliery_disaster.shtmlan inrush of water killed seven. Their comrades worked for a solid fortnight before being forced to leave them buried where they died.
Miners depend on each other for their own safety, which creates an unbreakable bond of camaraderie. Some might find it strange that a coalmine echoes to the sound of laughter. If I miss anything, it is the humour.
A miner is a miner wherever he works. Sometimes I spent 18 hours at a stretch in a coalmine, but can only imagine what it must be like for those fellow miners trapped in the unimaginable darkness of the San José gold and copper mine.
Leadership will be a vital element, someone experienced who they trust and respect, with the authority and mental strength to maintain his own morale as well as that of the others. I have met many men of that calibre. And in San José, 670 metres underground, it seems a natural leader has emerged – 54-year-old shift foreman Luis Urzúa.
If you have ever called a miner greedy, say a prayer with me tonight for those in Chile who, if reports are accurate, look like being there until Christmas.
Ends
8.6.09
SOCIALIST LABOUR PARTY EUROPEAN ELECTION RESULT
The Socialist Labour Party has achieved a stunning vote in the European Union elections. It has polled more than 20,000 more votes than the coalition known as NO2EU which was supported by the RMT, CPB and a variety of other so called "Left organisations". All who really want the UK to remain in the European Union.
The Socialist Labour Party was the only Socialist Party in this election which called for the total withdrawal from the European Union and at the same time called for the building of a campaign to establish Socialism in the U.K.
Socialist Labour Party Leader, Arthur Scargill, said that "the result was a substantial increase on the Party's performance in the 1999 European Union election and represents a lesson that all those who claim to be socialist but who seek to remain within the European Union which is the epitome of Capitalism and the free movement of capital and labour".
Arthur Scargill congratulated all comrades within the Socialist Labour Party and in particular the magnificent achievement of our comrades in Scotland whose policies won the support of all those who want to shake off the shackles not only of the European Union but also of a rotten, corrupt, bankrupt capitalist society.
Ends.
The Socialist Labour Party was the only Socialist Party in this election which called for the total withdrawal from the European Union and at the same time called for the building of a campaign to establish Socialism in the U.K.
Socialist Labour Party Leader, Arthur Scargill, said that "the result was a substantial increase on the Party's performance in the 1999 European Union election and represents a lesson that all those who claim to be socialist but who seek to remain within the European Union which is the epitome of Capitalism and the free movement of capital and labour".
Arthur Scargill congratulated all comrades within the Socialist Labour Party and in particular the magnificent achievement of our comrades in Scotland whose policies won the support of all those who want to shake off the shackles not only of the European Union but also of a rotten, corrupt, bankrupt capitalist society.
Ends.
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