Weekly Worker 884 Thursday October 06 2011
Cuts and cat-fights
The Conservative Party's annual conference produced a lot of empty rhetoric, a few concessions for the right and one clanger from the front benches, writes James Turley - but no surprises
As I write, commentary on the ongoing Conservative Party conference is focused not on David Cameron’s ‘can-do optimism’, not on the news that effectively the wheels have fallen off George Osborne’s economic strategy, with the estimate for UK economic growth over April-June cut to 0.1%, and not even on the impending euro zone catastrophe. No, it has been focused on a cat called Maya.
The young moggy, who would no doubt be astonished to find herself the centre of a minor spat among cabinet ministers, is owned by an anonymous Bolivian immigrant and his girlfriend; the man faced a deportation order, and fought it successfully on the basis of his human right to a family life, enshrined in the European Convention on Human Rights. Part (I stress part) of the supporting evidence was that he and his girlfriend owned and looked after a pet cat. [read more]
LettersLeft rut; Greenwash; Energy primary; Refreshing; De jure; Jarrow fatigue; Petty stuff;
Besancenot: go beyond outdated national borders
Last weekend's Europe Against Austerity event adopted the aim of a 'day of industrial action' across the continent in 2012. Peter Manson reports on the conference's strengths and weaknesses
Explaining the longevity of the theocratic regime
It is riven with contradictions, corrupt, internationally isolated and opposed by the majority of its own people. Yet the Iranian regime survives. Yassamine Mather looks at the long history of struggle against the Islamic Republic
Imputed consciousness and left organisations
Andy Wilson was part of a panel of three comrades who addressed the CPGB's Communist University in a session entitled 'They fuck you up, the left'. This is an edited version of his speech
Saving labour or capital?
Does the rate of profit tend to fall? The traditional Marxist argument upon which this theoretical proposition is based is badly flawed, argues Moshe Machover
A second go at unity
Our history: attempts at communist unity did not end with the CPGB's founding congress.
Building for November 30
Chris Strafford reports from protests at the Conservative Party conference
Suffocating lack of democracy
Delegate Jim Moody gives his impressions of the Liverpool Labour Party conference
Web of intrigue
Robbie Rix hopes there's light at the end of the tunnel
Weekly Worker 884 is available for download as a pdf file.
More videos from Communist University are available on our vimeo web channel.
Web of intrigue
Robbie Rix hopes there's light at the end of the tunnel
“What is happening about the CPGB website?” I was asked the other day. Well, comrade, although it is over two years since our site was subject to a vicious cyber attack, there is still no firm date for our promised relaunch.
This is an ongoing handicap that the Weekly Worker has to endure. Although our online archive going back to 2000 has been available for some considerable time, it is still riddled with errors. However, there is light at the end of the tunnel. After all the other ‘firm dates’ for a relaunch I don’t want to be too specific, but …
A couple of years back we were regularly attracting 20,000 or more internet readers every week. But nowadays we are down in the teens - in fact last week we fell below 12,000 (11,982, to be exact). Nevertheless, it has to be said we now have a firmer hard core of supporters who are prepared to put their hands in their pockets and back us financially.
That was admirably illustrated by the success of our standing orders appeal, which ended in August with pledges for an extra £313 a month. The last few of those are still being realised - in this week’s post there was a completed form from comrade CF, who doubled his quarterly payment from £10 to £20 (that translates into an extra £3 a month).
Largely because of this new regular income, our fighting fund is looking better than ever. For example the last two days of September brought in an additional £25, taking our final total to £1,326 - in other words, we exceeded our £1,250 target by £101.
I am hopeful of doing even better in October if the evidence of the first few days are anything to go by. Standing orders landing in the Weekly Worker account at the beginning of the month amounted to £250 - thanks to all 15 comrades, whose contributions included four of £30 and one each of £25 and £20. I also received three cheques in the post - thanks to comrade RI, who added a magnificent £50 to his subscription, and FJ, who doubled his six-month sub by adding £25. Then there was another £25 from RG, who was too modest even to send us a covering note.
Thank you all! After just five days our October fund stands at exactly £350. The question that intrigues me is, by how much will we exceed our target this month? That’s almost as intriguing as “When will the website be relaunched?”
Click here to download a standing order form - regular income is particular important in order to plan ahead. Even £5/month can help!
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