"Battle of Cable Street" Veteran Urges Support for TUC March on 26th

Max Levitas who marched against the fascists in Cable Street in 1936 joined our Labour Party and Trade Union stall in Stratford on Saturday to pledge support for the TUC March for an Alternative on the 26th.

Max (picture) is now 95 and was a Communist Party Councillor in Whitechapel from 1945 to 1958. At Cable Street he marched alongside Phil Piratin (on of the first Communist MP's and father of one of my former UNISON branch secretaries).

He still comes shopping to Stratford twice a month and takes the 25 bus here and back.

I have seen Max speak at events in the past and once even knocked on his door while canvassing for Labour.  He is still proud to be a Communist but says he would usually vote for Labour if there was not a real Communist standing and is pleased to see the Labour Party out campaigning.  He will be there on the TUC March on the 26th.

Max warned us about the threat to the Labour Movement from those who have their own agenda and will try their best to wreck and split us.  Of course, I haven't a clue who he means?

UNISON London Regional Council AGM 2011

This morning is my third Labour Movement AGM in less than a week.  I have at least 4 more before the end of the Month.  At the London Regional Council AGM, the forces of light and reason will be battling with those of the destructive left who wish to destroy any chance of building real unity in the movement against the cuts - for example they want to hand all powers over Council finances to highly paid Chief officers to do as they see fit. 

I think we need now more than ever a Sensible Left lay leadership in the region who can unite the union across all our Service Groups and face the coming challenges of cuts, privatisation, reorganisations and direct attacks on our union.  We need an experienced, successful and proven leadership who will put the union first.  

So support Gloria and her team.

Gloria Hanson - Regional Convenor
Conroy Lawrence - Deputy Regional Convenor
John Gray - Regional Finance Convenor
Monica Hirst - Regional Equalities Convenor
Lynn Bentley - Regional Publicity Officer
Emma Rolland - Regional Young Members Convenor

UPDATE: Victory for Sensible Left slate. Full sweep. Report to follow.

Council budgets and unallocated reserves in London

"Dear Jon
I am responding on behalf of the council administration. I appreciate your appeal is sent in the spirit of a constructive suggestion, and I will respond in the same vane.

Firstly, Labour councillors are as angry about the Tory led Coalition Government’s attack on local government as Unison is, and as I am sure all Lambeth employees are. None of us came into politics to cut services or withdraw from helping the vulnerable in our community. But we can’t ignore the reality of our funding being cut by a third amounting to £79 million over three years. As a responsible administration elected in May with a strong mandate from Lambeth residents, we have a duty to them to deliver a balanced and legal budget to enable the council to continue to serve the most vulnerable and deliver basis services. As Labour politicians we will of course also do everything in our power to fight back against the government cuts agenda (as you say, to make them adopt an alternative economic strategy) or cause a General Election.

Secondly, on the issue of reserves. The argument you are putting to us is the same as Coalition Government ministers have been making. They are implying it is a ‘choice’ council’s have, namely, the Government has drastically cut funding to councils by a third so we should use reserves to fill the gap created by them. This is rank hypocrisy on their part given they are creating the most risky financial environment for public services since the creation of the welfare state. In this environment financial reserves are needed more than ever.

Lambeth’s ‘General Fund Reserves’ as at 31st March 2010 were as you state £28.1m. You don’t need to be an accountant to understand that the purpose of a ‘general reserve’ is to give some measure of financial cushion to absorb unexpected disasters or funding emergencies. The general professional ‘rule of thumb’ has been a general reserve of +/- 10% of our net budget, which for Lambeth currently means about £30m. Last financial year alone Lambeth has two service areas, Temporary Accommodation and Parking that overspent £10 million – it was only with good overall financial management that other service areas under spent to cover this, needing a £3 million call on reserves. Given Lambeth provides approximately 600 services, you can see how financial risks can arise unexpectedly, and had it not been for our ability to absorb the shock, we might have had to close a service down completely.

Thirdly, as regard financial risks the council is carrying. The risk assessment around delivering £37 million Government cuts package is estimated at about 20%, which may need a call on reserves; we may be forced to lose over 1,000 jobs with the consequent redundancy costs, which the Government is not paying for; there still could be unexpected disasters or emergencies; there is a risk that the Council may overspend this year by some £4m (although I have been tough with managers that they need to manage within their budgets); and there is also a low probability of any under spends that could be added to reserves. The overall conclusion is we need some ‘reserves’ to enable us to absorb financial shocks and help deliver transformation in the future.

Fourth, our accounts & reserves are subject to rigorous challenge by the District Auditor, External Auditor and we receive professional advice from the Council’s Section 151 officer (Chief Financial Officer) in regard to the level of reserves. The council will now be carrying a significant level of new financial risk and for that reason we need to structurally reduce what we spend to match our funding from government. All using reserves does is buy you a little time, not replace or resolve the structural funding problem.

Finally, be careful how you interpret the figures you quote – I am told that Wandsworth Council only a few years ago was told off by the District Auditor for having £600 million (yes, £600,000,000 – 200% of their net budget in ‘unallocated reserves’!) and boroughs like K&C had 100’s of millions, both due to their ‘Thatcher endowment’ in the late 1980’s, which has rigged the local government funding formula in their favour for decades. We can only guess how this money has been ‘reclassified’ or spent!

Hope this helps you understand were we are coming from on this issue.

Best regards,

Paul McGlone
Cabinet Member for Finance & Resources"

(Guest post by Citizen Smith)

People's Front of Judea - request for nomination to UNISON NEC

Dear Colleagues,

I am writing to ask your UNISON branch to consider nominating me in the forthcoming election to UNISON's National Executive Council (NEC). I am seeking re-election in the Male seat to represent the Greater Judea Region.

I am the Secretary of the People's Front of Judea local government branch and have represented Judea on our NEC since 03AD. I believe that the experience which I have gained and the enthusiasm which I have not lost together mean that I could play a valuable role as an NEC member in what will be our most challenging times.

I am asking you to nominate me to continue to represent you on the NEC because of what I will do if elected.

Most importantly, I will continue to report regularly and transparently to Judea UNISON branches about what happens at meetings of our NEC. I regularly circulate full reports by email, which supplement the brief official reports made available on the website. I also publish my reports online on a blog.....

To be valid, nominations need to be made at a quorate meeting of your branch or branch committee during the nomination period. The nomination period will open on 11 January 2011 and close at 5pm on Friday 18 February 2011. Copies of the nomination forms will be available on UNISON's website from 4 January.

Many thanks for taking the time to read this message and, I hope, to pass it on to your Branch Committee.

Yours in solidarity,

Not a raving Trot

(honest, cross my heart, I'm not xxx but I am, really, honest, a proper working class warrior against the ruling class and all their stooges in the workers movement - and born and bred in Brighton)

Trot on the Pull

Enjoy! Hat tip Hilary via Facebook

UPDATE: Mrs Stroppy Osler has shared this and linked to my best mate ever, Dave Osler, and his posts on Top Ten Trotskyist chat up lines here and here.

March in March: Not before

I was copied into an email by mistake and was somewhat concerned to find that one of my union’s NEC members, was so keen to support a motion calling for a "National Demo" against the cuts before Xmas, that he advised another branch secretary to basically make something up to try and get it qualify as an emergency motion and therefore get round the democratically agreed deadlines.

The TUC is planning what they hope will be a successful and massive demo in London against the cuts on March 26 2011. Now, it there is an entirely legitimate view in the Labour Movement that we are being too cautious and there should be a national demo before March. I respect this view from some because it is genuinely felt and there is no ulterior motives. Unlike some.

The real alternative view (as explained in detail here) is that we must ensure that the March in March is an outstanding success and everything should be done to build for this. We cannot afford for it to be badly supported or a flop. We must aim for millions to attend. This is going to take time, energy and money. What we cannot do is to allow anything to interfere in building this demo nor can we afford to be diverted by attempts to bounce the unions in trying to organise two demos simply for the sake of demos.

Some folk believe that such demos are the means will that enable their little groupings to leave the lost deposit brigades in the next General Elections. However, for the rest of us on planet earth, a poorly supported “National Demo” in December would fatally undermine March 26th. We already have a job of work to do with our own existing members about why these cuts are wrong and not necessary.

What we should all be doing now is building the union, building the membership, building the steward network, building the links within the wider Labour movement and preparing for the long fight ahead. The aim must be to defeat this coalitions by democratic not “despicable” means and bring about an alternative (Labour) government as soon as is possible.

I think that if there had been a really genuine and widespread call for such a demo next month then you would have thought that someone would have genuinely thought it was important enough to have actually written a motion and got their branch or service group to agree to it without resorting to sly secretive daftness which discredits their national office. IMO.

(Picture is of the oldest trade union banner in existence - the 1821 Tinplaters workers in the Peoples Museum Manchester - could we get a copy made to lead the March in March?)

Ultra Left's cunning plan to smash CONDEMS

It is good to know that our would be Vanguardistic masters have this cunning plan to save working people from the CONDEM crisis (and of course to bring about the necessary revolution).

Being entirely removed from real working people they are inevitably squabbling amongst themselves about the correct order and sequence to place knitting-needles-in-nostrils and already proclaiming betrayal about the date the underpants need to be placed-on-head.

What some folk don't understand is that trade unionists don't want to take time off work to be patronised and lectured by Grandstanding poseurs.  Until they "get" this then all they will do is to further divide and weaken us.  Empty and futile protests in favour of a brave new dialectic world must be put aside as we engage in a desperate real life struggle to defend the poor and the vulnerable.

In my next post I won't be so bitter and twisted and will post on someone who has a real, practical and intelligent way forward.

Sunday Secretarianism: SPEW gives up on Trots are "orrible, repugant and not worthy" EAT

In February an Employment Tribunal Claim that UNISON discriminated against Trotskyites was thrown out by the tribunal.

The finding by the tribunal was after several different hearings and listening to witnesses and thousands of pages of evidence. 

The Tribunal found that there was no case to answer.

"there was no case to answer since the allegation was outside the regulations (and not capable of being discriminative), it was also “out of time” and even if it was within the regulations and in time it found that no discrimination had taken place".

"They found that the SPEW Trotskyism was “not compatible with human dignity” section 131; they found that SPEW members held “Extreme and repugnant views” section 133; Trotskyism is “not a belief that qualifies for protection from discrimination" section 134; “The claimant views conflict with the fundamental rights of others, and the dignity of others, and are not worthy of respect... in a democratic society". Section 135".

SPEW (Socialist Party England and Wales) whose members took this action have now withdrawn their appeal against this judgement - so we assume they now accept how repugnant et al their views and practices are!

SPEW are also currently trying to sue UNISON in yet another legal claim.  Despite the fact that when they lost the last one they called the judicial system all the names under the sun, they are now asking the "class prejudice" courts to back them! 

Wot complete and utter hypocrites me thinks.

Friday Puzzle - Who is Nick going on about?

"I was in fact having this debate with a 'commrade' from Lambeth last night (he happened to be there in the same pub as me) this lefty who is as good looking as Nora Batty and has the wit and charm of Robert Mugabe, was arguing that we (those of us in the Labour party) should regain the party before we start supporting any leaders better still, in his opinion, leave the Labour project and join a real (in his Mugabian reasoning) party. This is the kind of person of course who would rather spend time and energy arguing with the other 28.4 ultra left versions of the far left than concentrate on achieving change and therefore and that way help those wo need it most?"

The World of Nick Venedi

Any ideas?

Update: Nick has clarified his comments here

"Never was so much owed by so many to so few"

The 70th "anniversary" of the Battle of Britain was marked today by a reading of the famous Churchill "few" speech by actor Robert Hardy in Whitehall. 

Hearing his stirring words were actual veterans of the conflict and (Newham born) Dame Vera Lynn.

This was followed by a flypast by  Spitfire and Hurricane fighter planes.

If it was not for their incredible bravery and self sacrifice of the (whole) RAF at this time it would have been very likely that we would have been defeated in the Second world war and would all been subject to Nazi rule.

I hope all members of the Nazi BNP feel deeply ashamed of themselves on such a day.

Equally those cowardly armchair warriors on the ultra left who sneer on those who actually had the courage to put themselves in harms way and actually fight fascism.

Two sides of the same debased coin.

"THE PROBLEM with the Socialist Workers Party"

"THE PROBLEM with the Socialist Workers Party, the old joke goes, is that hardly any of its members are workers, even fewer are socialists and none of them knows how to party".

The Guardian, March 29, 1991

Hat tip thingy Harry's Place
 
(Special day tomorrow folks!)
 
:)