> >New Worker Online Digest > >Week commencing 29th September, 2000. > >1) Editorial - Blair shaken not stirred. > >2) Lead story - A device to bewilder. > >3) Feature article - Low income families face eviction. > >4) International story - Eye of the storm in Prague. > >5) British news item - Brighton S24 counter-conference. > > >1) Editorial > >Blair shaken not stirred. > >THE last few weeks have been bitter pills for the Labour government to >swallow. The petrol protests were bad enough. Labour's slump in the opinion >polls and the row over pensions at Labour Party conference Were much worse. > > A few months ago Labour was light-years ahead of the Tories in the polls >and Tony Blair thought he could walk on water. Now Blair says he's the >listening man. Well he's going to have to listen some more if he thinks >tossing a few crumbs to pensioners and vague promises of future public >investment in education and the health service will restore Labour's >credibility with working people. > > Tony Blair's sweet words cannot dismiss the demand for the restoration of >the link between pensions and earnings. Neither does Chancellor Brown's >claim that the country cannot afford to return to Labour's state welfare >policies of the past. Their masters of spin tell us these were disastrous >days of "tax and spend" economics. > > Well, there's nothing wrong with that. We want much higher income taxes >for the rich, who've got plenty, and we certainly want more public money >spent on state welfare, the health service and public transport in the future. > > Pensioners are entitled to a state pension that is equal to a third of >average male earnings. They deserve affordable housing, free health care, >free travel and free educational activities. > > Britain is awash with wealth. This country is the fourth richest country >in the world. Shamefully, our state pensions are one of the lowest among >the developed countries. > > Working people want a modem free health service and the modern education >Blair constantly bleats about but does little to deliver in real terms for >the class. > > A few months ago Labour's leaders imagined that Brighton conference would >simply be a jamboree to rally the faithful for a general election next >year. Now they are beginning to heed the grass-roots warning that Labour's >core vote -- millions of workers throughout the country -- can no longer be >taken for granted. But we will need more than this to change the direction >of this Labour government. > > Blair acknowledged the new mood when he was forced to talk about a Labour >second-term "more radical than the first" at Brighton. Needless to say he >didn't spell out what he had in mind. What it will be depends on the >pressure exerted by the rank-andfile within the party and throughout the >labour movement as a whole. > > The divisions within the right-wing camp over Labour's future programme >are becoming more open. Union leaders are backing demands for more socially >orientated policies to restore what is still called the "Welfare State" in >some quarters. Some want an increase in public expenditure, a final halt to >privatisation and support for manufacturing industry. But all them see the >future in the context of acceptance of European Monetary Union and the >limits of the European super-state to come. > > It's opinion on the shop-floor, in the factories and offices and estates >which count and here there is resistance. The great movement in London >which propelled Ken Livingstone to the office of Mayor reflected it. > > Those on the ultra -left who dismiss the Labour Party as dead or just >another bourgeois party cannot explain it. The simple fact is that >Livingstone is a product of the Labour Party and his triumph was almost >entirely due to the support of London's Labour party activists and supporters. > > Livingstone's victory and the defeat of Blair's placeman marks the >beginning ofa new struggle within the movement. It's a fight to return to >the traditional policies of the labour movement, welfare, social-democracy >and social justice. > > It reflects the immense frustration of millions of working people who feel >powerless in a society which tells us we live in a democracy which elevates >individual and "human" rights. > > If we really did live in this sort of democracy then working people would >be at the fore, in Government in Parliament and on the judges' benches. In >fact few working people ever rise to the dizzy heights of bourgeois >democracy, and then only through the gravy-train of tokenism, treachery and >sell-out. > > We are "individuals" whose lives are dictated by the needs of the big >corporations and banks. We have "human rights" which count fornothing >against the needs of the ruling class who live on our backs. > > Only revolution can end the system of exploitation but the immediate >demand of the class for the restoration of the Welfare State are winnable >through the Labour Party. > > These demands can be won only if there is mass pressure from the labour >movement itself. The fight for a working class united trade union movement >is paramount. We need to defeat social-democracy in the labour movement and >replace the time-servers, careerists and collaborators with working class >leadership committed to the struggle for the advance of the class. > > We need militant working class leadership in the unions to lead the class >in defiance of the labour laws, to restore collective bargaining and defend >workers' rights. We need a militant workers' movement to expose isolate and >defeat those who claim to lead it. > > Demands for progressive legislation, a fighting trade union movement and a >class conscious labour movement go hand in hand with the fight to build the >revolutionary party and its influence within the working class. We must >encourage class consciousness and the socialist concept of human rights to >counter the bourgeois concept, which only applies to themselves. > > This is what Blair's got to hear. Then let him listen. But he must act. > > ********************* > >2) Lead story > >A device to bewilder. > >by Daphne Liddle > >"GORDON doesn't like to give in so he's found a device for bewildering," >Dame Barbara Castle said a the Labour Party conference in Brighton last >Monday. > > She was speaking after Chancellor Gordon Brown had given his speech to the >conference. He was trying to head off support for the pensioners' demand >for the restoration of the link between the basic state pension and average >male earnings by promising just about anything but that restoration. > > He pledged to raise the means tested minimum income guarantee for poor >pensioners from �78 to �90. Already he had pledged to raise the winter fuel >allowance from �100 to �150. The Labour leadership even admitted this >year's increase of just 75 pence on the basic pension was a mistake. > > They would do anything except restore that link because their long-term >aim remains the gradual withering and disappearance of the basic state >pension. This will force us all to rely on private pensions and they are >not reliable. > > This is the policy of the Tories that Labour is continuing because it is >the policy of the capitalists who really run this country and who want us >all to be forced to pay into private pension funds which they can use to >speculate and make themselves vast profits. > > But the pensioners refused to be bewildered and stuck to their guns. So >did the union leaders like John Edmonds of the general union GMB and Rodney >Bickestaffe of the public sector union Unison. Their members future >pensions are at stake and no amount of back-stage wrangling at the >conference could budge them. > > And on Wednesday conference voted by 60 per cent to back the pensioners' >demand - a resounding defeat for the Government and a set-back for >capitalism on a key issue. > > As he moved the motion, Rodney Bickerstaffe said that "pensioners deserve >better from the Government". And veteran campaigner Barbara Castle told the >conference that Britain is wealthy enough to give dignity to its >pensioners. She reminded delegates that if the link were restored, pension >rises would happen when wages - and income tax revenue - also rose, so >there would be no problem in the country affording it. > > The Government will not give way on restoring the link of course, just >yet. Gordon Brown has promised to the World Bank there will be no >pre-election sops in the form of more public spending -- even though his >coffers have plenty in them. And hat is a pledge he really will try to keep. > > But the pressure on him is mounting. The pensioners have conducted an >exemplary campaign, focusing on one simple demand until the whole nation, >including the national newspapers, cannot ignore them. > > The newspapers, like the Express and the Mirror which have "taken up the >pensioners' cause" are simply calling for higher pensions, trying to ignore >and divert attention from the single clear demand. They are also part of >capitalism's apparatus for bewildering -- but it is not working. > > The Government will need the support of the pensioners in the coming >general election and that election will have to take place next year if >capitalism's timetable for getting Britain into the European Single >Currency is to be met. So there is every reason to keep up pressure on this >issue. > > The Government had a rough ride on many other issues. It lost votes in >the transport debate as delegates voted for the compulsory introduction of >Automatic Train Protection -- rejected as too expensive by the train >companies and the Government and for the directors of train companies >guilty of negligence to be made liable for criminal prosecution after train >crashes. > > London Mayor Ken Livingstone presented a report on the future of the >London Underground at a fringe meeting, showing that the Government's plans >forpartial privatisation will not only be a very bad deal for taxpayers, >they will undermine the safety of passengers and Tube workers. > > Livingstone promised to take the Government to court if it goes ahead with >the plans while the RMT transport union warned that its members will strike >ratherthan accept plans which will compromise safety. > > The Government has suffered several rude shocks this year from the triumph >of Ken Livingstone in the London Mayoral election to the recent fuel >blockades in protest at rising taxes on petrol and Labour's dramatic fall >in the opinion polls. > > It has lost some of its arrogance and the spin doctors have been very hard >at work, presenting a new image of a more humble, listening government that >really cares. > > They have decided their best card is to remind people of how awful things >were under the Tories and what an awful prime minister William Hague would >make. > > Speeches from Government minister have begun to reflect some of the old >Labour values evoking the founding principles behind the NHS. > > Health Secretary Alan Milburn even quoted: "From each according to his >ability, to each according to his need" -- a tenet of socialism. > > He listed nightmares that have been visited on us by Tory governments such >as the NHS internal market, the run down in staffing and compulsory >competitive tendering of NHS leaning and catering services which have led >to dirty hospitals and rising levels of cross infection. > > He painted a wonderful picture. He claimed the internal market has now >disappeared - it has not. Local health authorities and doctors are still >bound by contract to certain hospital trusts and cannot send patients to >whichever hospital will serve them best. > > He claimed thousands of new nurses and doctors, now under training to >restore the NHS to its former glory. We shall have to wait and see. > > And he promised to get rid of CCT. It is a great promise but the new >generation of hospitals being built to replace those that are still being >closed will all be owned by the private sector under the Private Finance >Initiative. It is the private owners who will decide upon caterers and >cleaners. Milburn will have no power in this. > > Education Secretary David Blunkett has been promising guaranteed nursery >places for three-year-oIds. But he has said nothing about Labour >completing the Tory policy of abolishing student grants. The students are >now forced into dependence on bank loans - another nice little earner for >the capitalists. > > And the criteria by which schools can be deemed to be "failing" and >flung into the clutches of the profit-hungry Private sector are to be >tightened. Exam leagues tables must now show "added value" -- that pupils >not only do well but that their per formance is significantly im proved by >the school. > > This could encourage schools to play down the abilities and performance >of new pupils and will set schools in cut-throat competition with each other. > > This is a Government under pressure which can be pushed to the left. It >will not introduce socialism and it will continue to try to carry out >capitalist policies while trying to bewilder us with a different kind of >spin to that of the last three years. > > But it knows now that increasing numbers of people are seeing through the >spin, are refusing to be bewildered. The pensioners and the fuel protesters >have demonstrated that there is a lot more to democracy than just putting a >cross on a piece of paper evey five years that ordinary people can have an >impact on the Government. We do not have to just sit back and take >Government policy the same way we resign ourselves to the weather. > > Ordinary working people are beginning to realise they do have a lot of >power if they only act together in large enough numbers -- and this is very >bad new for the capitalist system and good news for the workers. > > ********************** > >3) Feature article > >Low income families face eviction. > >by Caroline Colebrook > >LOW INCOME families are facing eviction because private firms brought in by >some local authorities to process housing benefit claims are taking so long. > > A recent report from the local government ombudsman, Edward Osmotherly, >shows a dramatic 73 per cent increase in last-resort appeals by desperate >tenants, some of whom are near to suicide. > > Most of this increase related to four London boroughs who have privatised >the processing of HB claims: Southwark who use the firm CSL, Lambeth who >use Capita, Hackney and Islington, both of whom use IT Net. > > The report shows a staggering total of 17,555 complaints about HB >maladministration and that many of the complaints were justified. Sixty >nine percent of these appeals to the ombudsman led to a settlement. > > A showdown last year between Mr Osmotherly and Lambeth council failed to >prevent the number of complaints in the borough from doubling last year. >Lambeth admits this is "unacceptable". > > Capita has been massaging the figures concerning its backlog of work. It >ring-fenced all unprocessed claims and unopened mail, some 20,000 items >received before April and the counted everything that arrived after that as >"not part of the backlog". > > So as the firm was claiming that the backlog had been substantially >reduced, two rooms of unprocessed claims and unopened letters which arrived >after 1 April were found by a Benefit Fraud Investigation team. > > The BFI also slammed Southwark for "unlawful working practices" where it >found a backlog of 14,000 unprocessed claims in May 1999 one year after CSL >won the contract Just four months later the backlog had grown to 34,000. > > The CSL contract says that all calls should be answered in the first >minute but the investigators found that 31 per cent of caller have to hang >on so long they give up before the call is answered. > > Claimants sometimes had benefit stopped on grounds of fraud when their >"change of circumstance" letters had been lying in a huge pile of unopened >letters for months. > > Normally if a tenant is threatened with eviction before an HB claim is >settled, they only have to turn up to the eviction hearing at their local >court and show the documentation for the case to be thrown out and the >council to be castigated by the magistrates for wasting court time. > > Now, the New Worker has been told, the volume of such cases referred >through the courts is so great that court officials are dispensed to local >authority offices with a rubber stamp. > > Tenants are asked only whether or not the rents arrears have been cleared >before the eviction process is given the rubber stamp. Mr Osmotherly said >that in one case a pregnant woman was forced to leave her flat because her >benefit was four months late. She and her daughter are now living in a squat. > > "It's disgusting that I lost my home because of a backlog of paperwork," >she said. > > Age Concern has also reported an increase in calls from anxious >pensioners. Forty per cent of HB claims are from pensioners. > > The arrears involved in these backlogs mean that council figures are >distorted while housing associations are nearly being made bankrupt. >Private landlords are saying they can no longer afford to accept tenants on >benefits. > > The National Homeless Alliance says that HB arrears and maladministration >are one of the main causes of homelessness. > > The local authorities concerned do have the power to seize back the >administration of HB but so far none have done this. > > The situation is made worse by 115 changes that have been made by the >Government over the last 18 months to the way HB is regulated. > > ************************* > >4) International story > >Eye of the storm in Prague. > >by Steve Lawton > >THOUSANDS finally made it to Prague to demonstrate against the latest round >of international finance meetings this week, with the familiar pitched >battles being fought between riot police and a section of activists >attempting to reach the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) >buildings. > > By Tuesday night, the Czech government was said to be considering an Army >response. According to Prague Post six armoured personnel carriers, six >troop trucks, two fire engines, two Mi-17 helicopters and two W-3A Sokol >helicopters were on standby. > > Around 3,000 were said to be in running battles and over 500 have been >arrested. About 10,000 protesters in all reached Prague. > > Meanwhile inside, James Woolfonsohn, World Bank chief, stretched sincerity >to its limits when he acknowledged protesters' complaints about the >damaging effects of globalisation in the developing world, by telling the >seried ranks of billion-dollar suits inside that tackling poverty is what >they are all about. > > Perhaps the real problem was best inadvertently exposed by Frits >Bolkestein, the EU commissioner for the internal market and taxation, when >he said in the Wall Street Journal (in advance of his Prague speech) on >Monday: "Culturally, the opponents of globalisation see a process that >shapes a world in which many features are alike. Every major city has a >McDonald's; every major hotel gets CNN; every major cinema shows American >films. > > "This is why many people think of globalisation as a byword for >Americanisation, for which free trade and the current world market economy >is a mere vehicle." The broad range of the protests, which were in the main >conducted peacefully, suggests he recognises the underlying threat that a >broad and persistent mobilisation like this potentially represents. Even >Oxfam were represented on the streets. > > The ten days ofevents, organised by the Initiative Against Economic >Globalisation (INPEG) -- a broad network of Czech anarcho, environmental, >ecological and other groups -- began on 20 September. There was a Union of >Communist Youth contingent with the Czech Communist Party leader Miroslav >Grebenicek. > > Demonstrations, information campaigns, an art festival and a >counter-summit are all aimed at grabbing the world's, especially the >West's, attention. Predictably, the alternative platform was ignored in the >mass media, but increasingly activists are using the Internet to file news >for all with access to access. > > This sense of siege has an impact when capitalist crisis bites and the >glaring contradictions of the widening wealth divide incite more and more >to popular action. The combination of overproduction, oil price crisis, >failure to address the developing world's needs and persistent ever-richer >transnational dominance is provoking a reaction. > > The millions being spent by the Treasury to lift the Euro value is yet >another missile whizzing through (not MI6) but Chancellor Brown's pro-IMF >open market and privatisation defence in the face of these protests. No >big-wig meet goes unnoticed now, wherever it is, as Prime Minister Blair >and Chancellor Brown would have noted when they passed the large Brighton >Prague solidarity demonstration outside Labour Party conference this week. > > However much attempts are made to discredit the anti-capitalist actions as >either simply excuses for violent rampages or as a force unsupported by the >silent majority, the reality is different. > > In the Czech Republic a poll carried out by the IVVM agency concluded, >according to Radio Prague, that "the vast majority of Czechs agree with >many of the statements made by anti-globalisation demonstrators." It said, >for instance, that 91 per cent accepted the rich-poor divide was widening; >while 90 per cent said the same for the developed and the developing world >divide. > > That degree of sentiment also implies domestic discontent as a so-called >transitional economy! Another big-wig meet took place last Saturday, >between the finance ministers of the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, >Slovenia and Estonia. They were supposedly agreed, yet again, that it would >take just 3-5 years to satisfy the Maastricht criteria for joining the EU. > > What may be transitional is the connection dawning in many of these >countries that EU membership will seal their fate as marginalised >economies, compounded also by Nato's costly embrace. > > ********************* > >5) British news item > >Brighton S24 counter-conference. > >by Albert Williams > >A COUNTER conference of Labour supporters took place on Sunday 24 September >in Brighton, in spite of the intention to ban it. > > Very many obstacles were involved to obstruct it by the council and others. > > The main theme was privatisation and resistance but other sessions and >workshops continued throughout the day. > > There were many speakers including Tony Benn MP, Susan George, Bruce Kent >and Paul Foot. Speakers from abroad included Jose Villa from Bolivia and >Explo Nani Kofi from Africa. Many others made contributions from the floor. > > The event was an outstanding success and a number of New Workers were sold. > > A great many dedicated young people spoke and, after the event, some left >for Prague to join the demonstration there against the World Bank, >International Monetary Fund and globalisation. > > A very large gathering and parade on this theme took place that evening. > > Both these peaceful events were overwhelmingly policed by security guards >and police in full riot gear. There were many mounted police there with >batteries of video cameras. Many of the police had been bussed in from >neighbouring counties. > > ********************* > > >New Communist Party of Britain Homepage > >http://www.newcommunistparty.org.uk > >A news service for the Working Class! > >Workers of all countries Unite! > > > > > _______________________________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. 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