by Martin Levy

For the first time since UCUwas formed, Congress ismeeting outside England – nota moment too soon, for aunion that covers fourdifferent jurisdictions. It’s alsohighly appropriate,considering the fracturing ofBritain’s society which thegeneral election hasdemonstrated.

‘Divide and rule’ is one of theoldest tricks in the book and onecleverly played, with mass mediasupport, by the Tories and UKIP inthe election – on the one handagainst Scots, and on the otheragainst migrants.  Englishnationalism is now out of thebottle, as Owen Jones wrote justbefore polling day. 

Unless the labour and tradeunion movement can harness thepositive aspects of our various

national cultures – including thoseof our minority communities – thena united resistance to Torygovernment policies will be nighimpossible.

The Communist Party calls forprogressive federalism – a nationalParliament for Wales as well asScotland, regional assemblies inEngland where demand exists, andall these as well as a federalWestminster Parliament to beelected by STV (single transferablevote) in multi-memberconstituencies.

Without unity we shall not beable to fight effectively. It matterslittle how much fiscal autonomy theScottish Parliament gets – all will bein much the same boat. The broadterms will be set by theWestminster government, acting onbehalf of their City friends in thebig banks, hedge funds and privateequity companies. And those termsmean austerity and privatisation.

Even before the election, aserious assault had been unleashedon further education in all ourjurisdictions.  This will likely nowintensify. While resistance muststart in every workplace, it will onlybe successful if it is built across thesector and the nations, workingwith other unions like Unison andthe EIS, and winning support fromthe community at large.

The same constraints may notapply in higher education, but wehave recently seen threatened joblosses at Aberdeen, Dundee,Surrey and London Metropolitanuniversities and a major regressivepolicy at Warwick, the introductionof TeachHigher to put causal staffon inferior terms and conditions. Itwill be open season in the wholesector if these attacks go through.Branches and members need to begiven support to develop theconfidence that they can win.

continued overleaf

Communist Party

For unity, broad alliancesand progressive advance

unity!

SOLIDARITY

by Alex Gordon

AS WE remember the 70thanniversary of the victoryover fascism, bellicose anti-Russian rhetoric from NATOand EU leaders (egged on byUK government ministers) ispromoting the rehabilitationof virulent fascism acrosscentral and eastern Europe,while banning communist andleft wing parties fromstanding in elections.

German political weekly DerSpiegel reports: 'The EU hasprovided Ukraine with €30 millionto build and renovate migrantdetention centres.... Brussels isapparently hoping that the systemwill reduce the number of asylumseekers in Europe — withoutattracting too much attention.'

The resistible rise of Neo-nazisthrough some of Ukraine's rulingpolitical parties and theirintegration of known fascists intokey state positions is no accident.Promoting russophobic racism inCentral Europe is integral to theUS neocon strategy known as the‘pivot to Asia’.

This reliance on far right partiesand paramilitaries — until recentlyseen as fringe lunatics andholocaust deniers — echoes USforeign policy in Central and SouthAmerica for many years.

On 2 May 2014 (theanniversary of the day in 1933when German Nazis attackedtrade union centres acrossGermany), a premeditated

massacre of over 40 tradeunionists and antifascists inOdessa's Trade Union House wascarried out by members of theUkrainian fascist 'Right Sector'while police looked on. Over ayear later not one arrest, norprosecution of the perpetrators ofthe massacre has taken place.

On 1 January 2015 in Kievranks of torch-bearing neo-nazismarched in honour of StepanBandera, who murderedthousands of Ukrainian Jews andPoles during WW2.

In March 2015, 35 Britishmilitary personnel began trainingmembers of the Ukrainian army.Over 300 US military advisors arecurrently assisting Ukrainian'punishment battalions' in the so-called Anti-Terrorist Operationagainst the cities of Donetsk andLuhansk in the Donbas region.

Far-right groups ‘Right Sector’and Svoboda do not even botherto hide their racism — but as alliesof the pro-EU regime in thecountry are politely ignored byWestern governments and media.

Ukraine's president Poroshenkoand prime minister Yatseniukopenly pander to radical rightwingers in their party electoral listsor support them in single-mandateconstituencies.

In 2014 Poroshenko declared14 October the 'day of thedefender of Ukraine' tocommemorate the 'heroes' of thewartime Ukrainian Insurgent Army(UPA) which collaborated withnazis and carried out atrocitiesagainst Poles, Jews and communistpartisans.

A number of commanders ofthe Aidar Battalion, accused byAmnesty International of carryingour 'war crimes' includingabductions, unlawful detention, ill-treatment, theft, extortion andpossible executions, were electedto Ukraine's parliament lastNovember.

Immediately after the electionthe openly neo-Nazi deputycommander of the AzovRegiment, Vadim Troyan, wasappointed head of the KievDistrict Police.

Western media minimise therole of Ukrainian neo-Nazis, but inno other country in the world dodeclared neo-Nazis controlsecurity services and holdpositions in Ministries andParliament.

Trade unionists in Britain muststand resolutely against NATO'swar against the people of theDonbas and call for an end to theuse of British troops. Mostimportantly though we must offerour support to antifascists inUkraine resisting the stateterrorism, conscription, andneoliberal economic restructuringproject of Ukraine's right winggovernment. H

Alex Gordon is a member of thesteering committee of SARU(Solidarity with the antifascistresistance in the Ukraine)

Contact SARU onhttps://ukraineantifascistsolidarity.wordpress.com or follow theiractivity on Twitter @UkraineAntifa

continued from page oneBROAD ALLIANCES

In both sectors, we can certainlyexpect an intensified attack onactivists by managementsemboldened at the Toryvictory. And, whether defendingcolleagues, resisting redundancies orfighting for higher pay, we shall needto address the level of membershipengagement within the union toensure that we win ballots underany new rules.

The issue of professional teacherunity needs to be raised here. If, asseems possible, a merger takesplace between the NUT and theATL, then UCU must be involved atsome level, so that we are notexcluded from the movementforward. There is more that unitesteachers across all sectors thandivides us. 

Campaigns against privatisationand for more public funding areessential, but not enough.  We needto draw people into struggle whowould not automatically identifywith us and reach outside the left'scomfort zone. We need to do thisin our own union and in the widermovement. We need to build broadalliances that unite the labourmovement and which reach out intoour communities. We can't assumethat people will simply automaticallyrespond to austerity withprogressive fighting instinct.

The People’s Assembly AgainstAusterity is the embryo of such abroad alliance. Supported by manynational unions, including UCU, andbringing in a large number ofcommunity activists, it still needs todeepen the involvement of rank-and-file trade unionists, with unionbranches embedded in the work oflocal People’s Assembly groups. Itexposes austerity as a fraud onbehalf of the very wealthy.

However, we can’t be contentsimply with defending the status quoante – the ruling class’s attack is tooall-encompassing and too far-reaching. In UCU, with colleagues inthe other teaching unions, we alsohave to redevelop our ideas onwhat education is for and take thoseinto the wider community. TheCommunist Party’s pamphlet,Education for the People, identifieswhat would be needed to renewprogressive advance. H

Martin Levy is a member of theUCU NEC and edits theCommunist Party’s theoretical anddiscussion journal, CommunistReview.

Buy and read the Morning StarPrint edition £1 weekdays, £1.20 week-ends.Subscribe to e-edition attwww.morningstaronline.co.uk

MORNING STAR

by Ben Chacko

WHEN THE first DailyWorker rolled off the pressesin 1930, Britain was reelingfrom the Great Depression.

Working people faced soaringunemployment and hunger.Politicians and the monopolymedia demanded savage cuts towages and public spending in thename of balancing the books.Sound familiar?

The Daily Worker was foundedto counter that narrative, toprovide a voice for the millionsand not the millionaires.

On its first day a reporterphoned from the Daily Herald toask if it would come out again aday later. Eighty-five years on, ourname may have changed - we'vebeen the Morning Star since 1966 -but we're still here and still true tothat mission.

The Star is a co-operative - theonly co-operatively ownednational daily in the country. Thatmeans we answer only to ourreaders, not to some tax-dodgingnon-dom press baron.

Eleven trade unionorganisations are represented on

our elected managementcommittee. 

We remain the authentic voiceof working people in struggle -reporting on the stories the restof the press won't touch, whetherthat was last year's People's Marchfor the NHS, the battle ofLondon's Focus E15 mums foraffordable housing in the capitalor, most recently, the electionstories and candidates the rest ofthe media censored.

We're the only paper to standshoulder to shoulder with thetrade union movement,backing workers takingindustrial action to secure thepay and conditions theydeserve.

And we're the only paperto expose the lies andpropaganda of the rulingclass, opposing imperialismand fighting for peace andsocialism across the world.

The Morning Star isproud of the role it playsin the labour movementand as the sole voice forsocialism in the Britishmedia.

We’re proud of the way we'reevolving, with the paper publishinga wide range of contributors fromacross the left. In 2015 our paperis bigger, brighter and better thanever.

But we need more readers,whether of the printed paper orof our new e-edition, in order tomake that voice - the voice ofresistance - heard louder andmore widely and to ensure we'restill championing the rights ofworking people after another 85years.

If you aren’t yet a reader of theworld's only English-languagesocialist daily - what's stoppingyou? H

Ben Chacko is acting editor of theMorning Star

The daily miracle ... alive and kicking at 85

CLASS ENEMY

by Robert Griffiths

THE TORIES now have a‘green light’ to intensifythe ruling class offensive

on every front signalling arenewed assault on workingclass living standards, publicservices and democraticrights, while renewal ofBritain’s Trident nuclearweapons system willaccelerate a new arms raceand threaten world peace.

Local government and our hard-won welfare state are in danger ofbeing hacked to death by a freshand even bigger round of cuts,while workers face vicious attackson their human rights, not leasttheir employment and trade unionrights.

Labour’s election campaignlacked courage and clarity, nosurprise given that its manifestofailed to represent the realinterests of millions of workingclass electors – something theyquite clearly sensed it.

With the assistance of the massmedia, Cameron and Osbornewere able to perpetuate the mythsthat a profligate Labourgovernment had crashed theeconomy, that austerity is essentialand that Britain’s recovery is thespectacularly successful result.

One of the most crucial factorsin Labour’s defeat was its refusal toconfront monopoly capitalism withpolicies for public ownership,economic planning andmodernisation and a massiveredistribution of wealth across afederal Britain.

As soon as Cameron was back

in No 10 the floodgates opened atLabour HQ with a procession ofNew Labour relics and othershoping to lead the party to victoryin five years time.

But this is not the time for aparliamentary fatalism that we’vegot to wait five years before wecan seat the Tories. The potentialdoes exist to build a broad-based,people’s alliance against Tory bigbusiness rule, drawing together thetrade unions, workers on benefits,the unemployed, tenants, carersand peace campaigners. 

The London and Glasgowdemonstrations against austerityon Saturday 20 June, organised bythe People's Assembly and theScottish TUC, arethe beginning ofa huge fight-back against a regimevoted in by only one-quarter of theelectorate.

We have to hit the groundrunning as working people arelikely to face a ‘bltizkrieg’ by theparty of the ruling class to get theirdraconian policies through beforeConservative divisions over theEuropean Union come to the foreas the referendum on Britain’smembership draws nearer.

The strategic objective ofBritain’s communists is now tobuild a coalition with othersocialists, trade unionists and peacecampaigners to project thedemocratic, working-class andinternationalist case against EUmembership. The left and labourmovement must not allow the Toryand UKIP right to monopolise theanti-EU case with their reactionaryanti-regulation and anti-foreignerarguments. H

Robert Griffiths is generalsecretary of the Communist Party

Revolt against big business rule

www.communist-party.org.uk

From theCommunist Party

education for the peoplethe struggle fordemocratic education

Download the entire document athttp://tinyurl.com/pyovans

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return to Communist Party Ruskin House 23 Coombe Road CroydonCR0 1BD office@communist-party.org.uk 02086861659 H UCU

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TTIP

by John Foster

THE European Union posestwo very significant threats;the first to workers and theirrights to collective bargainingand the second whichprecludes individual memberstates from retaining publicownership or providing anyform of state aid to industry.

Articles 120 and 121 of theLisbon Treaty specifically requiremember states to enable wagesetting that takes account ofdiffering levels of productivity andperformance between firms andregions – in other words, to outlawcollective bargaining proceduresacross nations and industries.

And this is no empty gesture.The European Commission iscurrently making it a very strongcondition for the Greek bailout.Other countries such as Cyprus,Spain and Italy are being forced todismantle existing collectivebargaining structures and slashlabour rights.

Remember the EU asserts thefreedom of capital, not the freedomof workers to organise. Unless tradeunionists expose and challenge theEU on this, the legal drive to erodeworkers’ rights will only get worse

This also applies to the EU’sassault on public ownership. TheSingle European Act andsubsequent directives all require thephasing out of ‘state aid’ to industryand an end to public sector‘monopolies’. Yet unlessgovernments retain powers tointervene economically, and toactively develop their industries,most national economies,particularly Britain’s, are doomed todecline.

Again the EU Commission isusing the financial crisis to enforcemassive privatisation programmesfrom Greece to Portugal, Mostrecently, we have seen a centuries-old public service, the Royal Mail,sold off at a knock down price toprivateers

Trade unionists need tochallenge all the comfort talk aboutthe EU. It’s not the worker’s friend.It’s a false friend, the persuader forbig business and, as in Greece, itsbrutal enforcer.

Months after the Greek election,the EU and the InternationalMonetary Fund are still waiting forthe government to agree their termsbefore handing out a cent of newbailout funds. Not that they will bethe life line that they might appearto be. After all, only 15 billion euros(less than 4 per cent) of the pre-election bailout went into the Greekeconomy while 395 billion wasrepaid to external bank creditors inGermany, France, Britain and theUS.

Within Europe, the Tories willcontinue to give full support to theausterity policies of the ‘Troika’ (theEuropean Commission, EuropeanCentral Bank and the IMF). It isalso backing the secretive EU-UStrade deal – TTIP (the TransatlanticTrade and Investment Partnership) –which will threaten jobs, hard-wonworking conditions andenvironmental protections, as wellas enforcing privatisation of morepublic services.

Through TTIP, the EU will beopening up the public sector to for-profit venture companies. TheTreaty will make it virtuallyimpossible for member states toregulate the number of providers inany one ‘market’, developaccreditation procedures or imposequality standards. Under investor-state dispute settlement provisions,foreign investors will be able tochallenge regulatory or policymeasures and sue ‘host’ nations.

Since the first May Dayorganised to commemorate thosekilled in Chicago in 1886demanding an eight hour day,workers have fought for generationsto secure their democratic right toregulate and control capital. The EUand TTIP now directly threatenthose rights. H

John Foster is the CommunistParty’s international secretary

COMMUNIST PARTY

THE DESIRE for a futurebased on peace, co-operation, community,

solidarity and common wealthhas long inspired the peoplesof the countries of the BritishIsles. The Communist Partycontinues that living,revolutionary tradition. Ourparty is a product, first andforemost, of the British labourmovement. Its roots lie deepin Britain’s trade unions,socialist societies and otherworking class organisations.

In the late 20th century, theCommunist Party led the fightagainst anti-trade union laws.

The Liaison Committee for theDefence of Trade Unions unitedcommunist and non-communistmilitants in mass one-day stoppagesin 1968, 1970 and 1971. The last ofthese moved the TUC to call a one-day General Strike, therebydefeating the legislation. PowerfulCommunist and broad leftorganisations were built in manyworkplaces and unions.

These very successes of theCommunist Party made it aparticular target of the capitalistclass. In recent years, the party hasworked tirelessly to rebuildmembership and organisation intrades unions and mass movementsalongside many socialists andothers.

Increasingly, the labourmovement has noted that the

communist ideas count. What is distinctive about the

Communist Party? It is the Marxistanalysis of the dominant structuresand ideas of society combined withdeep roots in the working class andits connection with a world widemovement for revolutionarychange.

Trans-national corporations –acting through internationalinstitutions such as the EuropeanUnion, the International MonetaryFund, the World TradeOrganisation, the World Bank andNATO ensure the rich get richer asbillions of people go withoutadequate food, shelter, clean wateror health and education services.

The need for popular resistanceand class struggle, for the workingclass to take state power is as greatas ever. But this requires theory aswell as practice, organisation as wellas education.

Communist trades unionistsorganise together – within ourunions and acrosss the labourmovement as a whole – to make adifference. Join us!

The battle of ideas is crucial anda commitment to the Morning Star,the daily paper of the left is apractical necessity for anyone whoaims to challenge ruling class ideas.Read and buy the paper and asktrade union bodies to take out orexpand shareholdings in the PPPS.If you want to link up with us, wantmore information or offer help,email: tradeunion@communist-party.org.uk H

If not you, who?If not now, when?

The European Union,TTIP and all that!