Right to Work Statement

Coalition of Resistance had a statement (published in The Guardian as a letter) signed by al list of luminaries, now Right to Work has a statement signed by a list of luminaries.

Here it is.
“We wish to state our outright opposition to the current policy of austerity being pursued by the current coalition government. David Cameron and Nick Clegg, George Osborne and Danny Alexander, are cutting public services, forcing up the retirement age, freezing pay, targeting benefits, reducing pensions, reducing access to higher education and enforcing further privatisation in the NHS and our schools.

Far from us “all being in it together” Britain is scarred by poverty and inequality levels which are among the highest in Western Europe. In contrast the City of London and the corporate board rooms continue with their bonus culture and obscene pay and financial awards. Britain is the seventh wealthiest society in the world but has the sixth worst inequality among OECD countries
The majority will pay for the largesse of the few and for the casino economics of the 2000’s.
The budget deficit is not “our” debt. It is the result of bailing out the bankers. If the money needs to be recouped there are alternatives but these are shunned in a pan-European race to deflation and austerity.

Accordingly we wish to state our support for the demonstration initiated by the Right to Work Campaign outside the Tory Party conference in Birmingham on Sunday 3 October. This has already been backed by three national trade unions (the PCS, NUJ and UCU), the Labour Representation Committee and a number of local trade union and campaigning organisations.

Diane Abbott MP,
Chris Bambery, Secretary Right to Work campaign,
Tony Benn,
Paul Brandon, Chair Right to Work Campaign,
Jeremy Corbyn MP,
Katy Clark MP,
Bob Holman,
Caroline Lucas MP,
John McDonnell MP,
China Mieville,
Pete Murray, President NUJ,
Mark Serwotka, General Secretary PCS,
Elaine Smith MSP,
Sandra White MSP.
Darren Johnson AM,
Yasmin Qureshi MP”

Not quite as many as the Coalition managed and nothing to do with building from top down i'm sure.

Axeman's Jazz debate.

The New Left Project is a very good blogospheric project. This week they have launched a debate about the politics of the left response to the cuts starting with an interesting piece, 'The Axeman's Jazz' (what a great title) by Richard Seymour. Seymour is author (among other interesting things) of The Meaning of David Cameron, published by the excellent Zero Books just before the election. This excellent and interesting book (or pamphlet with a book price, but mustn't grumble) had its moment in that precise conjuncture. I enjoyed reading it, had some criticisms - but so did the review in Socialist Review and it is always good to see critical debate (see response and discussion on Lenin's Tomb) . So it is good to see the analysis being extended into the new period marked by the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government.

Seymour's conclusion, for a left looking to and working in the trade unions, and more specifically
"a multi-party, multi-organisation, trade union-based united front, the sole criterion for unity within it being agreement on the objective of preventing the cuts and advancing alternatives." is very attractive. Followers of Richard Seymour's blog Lenin's Tomb, or observers of the SWP will wonder if this is the Right to Work Campaign, or whether RTW would be part of something bigger, if something bigger came along. Seymour's final sentence: "If we can achieve this much unity, and obstruct the cuts agenda, we will also create a crisis for the government that will throw wide open the debate about the real alternatives to the defunct policies of the last thirty years." does provide a pleasing vista - but note the 'if', and haven't we heard this before?