Choices!

           As the world stumbles and lurches inextricably to a world war situation, what should we the ordinary people of this broken and bleeding world do? We have to find that answer quickly as time is running out, the choices being offered by the system will not bode well for us the ordinary people, or for the planet. We have to think outside this corrupt, unjust and brutal system of capitalism.

A message from Liverpool NWBCW

 

No War but the Class War
LIVERPOOL
          Russia's invasion of Ukraine is bringing the world ever closer to its boiling point. Once again the working class across the world are being asked to take sides in a conflict from which we have nothing to gain and everything to lose. On the one hand Russia, attempting to reclaim what it has lost since the collapse of the USSR. On the other hand NATO, attempting to draw Ukraine further into its sphere of influence. In the background, imperialist line ups are solidifying, with the EU states rallying behind the US, and Russia turning to China. While the war in Ukraine represents an escalation in the drive to generalised war, it is not the only battleground right now. Whether it's Syria, Yemen or Palestine, the capitalist class are pitting workers against each other across the world. All in search for financial revenues, raw materials and cheap labour power.
        Nationalism – that ideological weapon of divide and rule – calls us to kill and die for a cause which is not ours. Alongside military conflict, we are in the midst of a class war with our living and working conditions as the sacrifice on the altar of profitability. Through austerity we were forced to pay for the 2008 financial crash. But the global economy has never quite recovered. Even before the pandemic properly arrived, billions were being pumped into markets every day to keep them afloat and another recession was being predicted. The pandemic was only the spark that lit the flame. Now under the cover of restructuring, we are once again expected to pay for the crisis. Across workplaces we are seeing wages falling behind inflation, sackings, fire and rehire, pension and benefit cuts, and various other assaults on our class.
        Meanwhile at home we face food and fuel price rises, higher rents, more bills and more taxes. All the while the rich grow richer. And the war, as it upsets supply chains even further, will make the situation even worse. Finally, let's not forget the climate crisis. Floods, fires and extreme weather events are gradually making whole swathes of the planet uninhabitable. The ruling class continues to treat the planet like their private backyard with little consideration for the biodiversity and environmental underpinnings of life on earth. And, let's face it, the capitalist conditions which created Covid 19 and allowed it to spread, killing millions, are still in place. The threat of future pandemics looms large. War, poverty, crisis and disease are creating whole generations of people scarred by a system tending towards barbarism: refugees, friends and families of those fallen ill, maimed and killed, the unemployed and the homeless. This is a war on multiple fronts against all workers and the future of humanity. But we can resist. Attempts to defend our living and working conditions can sow the seeds of a wider movement which recognises that capitalism – the current system of production characterised by the existence of private property, wage labour, money and states – is the source of the problem.

Read the full article HERE: 

 

Visit ann arky's home at https://spiritofrevolt.info    

KTB Anger.

KILL THE BILL.

            In the UK, January 15th. 2022 was marked by protests across the country as people in towns and cities took to the streets to voice their anger. Righteous anger at a Boris Johnson sidekick Priti Patel, would be fascist, with a burning desire and plans to lead a totalitarian government. Her crime and punishment bill, is the biggest step the UK is preparing to take into that world of total control over the population. Protesting will be virtually impossible under this new legislation. any noisy gathering, any inconvenience to commerce, any annoyance perceived by someone, could see you arrested No matter how they dress this legislation up, its intentions are to stop protests to get you off the streets and to silently and submissively accept what the powers that be throw at you. Protest is not a crime, nor a privilege to be granted by our lords and masters, protest is our democratic right and we must defend this, or see it taken from us. It is easier to fight to hold what you have, than to try to fight to get back what has been taken from you. Make no mistake, this bill takes the few shreds of democracy we have, trashes them for as long as the legislation stands. 

Some photos from Glasgow's George Square,15th. Jan. 2022.

Central London

Liverpool.

Manchester.

Visit ann arky's home at https://spiritofrevolt.info

Opinion.

My Humble Opinion From What I’ve Seen.
        Why I think protests against closures are bound to fail. Councils are by law prevented from running a deficit, they are compelled to balance the books, and the financial structure is engineered so that each year, because of inflation, rising wages (meagrely) maintenance and repairs etc. they have to make savings, “efficiency saving” which translates into closures and/or lay-offs of staff. Barmulloch community centre is closing, let’s suppose that the whole district mobiles to such an extent that the council concedes and keeps it open, it still has to look elsewhere to swing its axe to balance that inefficient budget. Should the council decide, to hell we will run a deficit for a few years and try and sort this out, then the government sends in its “managers” to run the city over the heads of the people. Remember Derek Hatton and Liverpool in the 80’s. 

  

 

     On a national government front, the game is rigged in favour of the large financial institutions who have the power to bring a country to economic disaster. Some 30 years ago approximately, these same financial institutions decided that privatisation was the best way to re-capitalise the system and more or less dictated to states that they had to follow this policy or find themselves outside the financial markets, economic doom. Of course they can force the issue in other ways, remember Greece 2010, Greece according to the EU financial mafia, was carrying too much debt, so sent in a team of their financial managers to sort it out, over the heads of the elected government, how it should be tackled, ordering the privatisation of lots of Greece’s profitable assets, altering labour laws etc. while loading them up with more debt, “the bailout”, so the privatisation policy continues merrily on its way. This debt of course has to be paid by the people. Some ten years on by 2017, unemployment in Greece was still at 22% and one third of the population still living below the poverty line, conditions haven’t changed much since then, this is how states repay their debt to the financial Mafia. You’re appealing to the minions who are forced to follow the rules set my the financial Mafia. They may now and again get some bubble gum and popcorn, but those who dictate the direction of the governments are sitting in their grand mansion counting their pieces of gold, and they like what they have and are not in any shape or form going to change the system that has given them such wealth, power and privileges. They will gladly bring down a country, should they not play be their rules. The UK is not immune, remember 16th September 1992, Black Wednesday? UK joined the European Exchange Rate against the wishes of the financial Mafia, who then engineered a fall of the pound to such an extent that the Chancellor raised interest rates three times in one day in an attempt to save the pound from becoming worthless, eventually gave up and withdrew from the European Exchange Rate. Privatisation is the direction set out and being implemented, and it is not going to stop because you shout at a councillor. Public assets will be disposed of one way or another, either by phoney community takeover or straight privatisation and placards are not going to stop the relentless march of the corporate world to gain all public assets of any worth.
        So what should we do? I suppose be anarchists and have one aim and one aim only, not to appeal to the system to be fairer, not to encourage people to follow a doomed path of asking to be treated fairly, but work hell for leather on destroying the system completely. The system will not change in any dramatic manner by dialogue, appeals and petitions, the system can cope very well with these methods of protest, and if the powers that be think these are getting too nasty for their liking, they have the armoury to stifle it, police, judiciary, prison system. 

           I tend to think that people of Peru and Colombia are getting close to the direction by burning police stations, banks, corporate buildings and looting supermarkets, but first you have to flood the streets with your anarchist ideas, literature, meetings, stalls etc. until there is enough of the population who have finally realised, the system has to be destroyed, not petitioned, if we want a free, fair, just, sustainable world, that sees to the needs of all our people. 

Visit ann arky's home at https://spiritofrevolt.info     

Help The Homeless, Go To Prison!!!

        Once again that part of the state apparatus known as the judicial system shows its inhumane face. A group of people decide to help the homeless, so the occupy an empty building, set up places for the homeless to sleep, organise a street kitchen to help feed, run an advice centre to help homeless people find their way through the maze of bureaucracy that can exclude them form what they are entitled to, and what does this system do? It evicts them and then imprisons those trying to help the homeless. They were obviously stopping somebody or other from making money from the homeless, so they had to be punished.

This from Streets Kitchen:

      Five Activists who had occupied Liverpool’s old Bank of England building to provide shelter and feed the city’s homeless people have been jailed for almost 3 months each.
       The Love Activists moved into the unoccupied building in the middle of April to set up a support centre for Liverpool’s homeless people, incorporating places to sleep, an advice centre and a street kitchen, from where they were evicted in the early hours of 12 May and the homeless activists arrested.

      The defendants were charged in relation to the occupation of the old bank building in Castle Street, Liverpool city centre, as part of a protest over lack of support for the homeless and government austerity.

      John Hall, 50; John Rice, 22; Chelsea Stafford, 19; James Jones, 20, and James Allanson, 20, all pleaded guilty to trespass while a possession order was in place.

        The court also heard a minimum of £91,573 was spent in policing the protest, while the operation to arrest the protesters cost around £27,000. Almost all this budget was used in paying overtime to officers so as to create a heavy oppressive police presence around the building where they used a dispersal order to clear supporters away from the building and, the activists said, were refusing to allow supplies to be taken into the building.

        The Love Activists’ occupation had growing support among residents and businesses of Liverpool. A poll on the Liverpool Echo website at that time gave a majority of those asked believing the group should stand firm against their eviction order.

Read the full article HERE:

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

MUTINY, POLICE STRIKES AND REVOLUTION!!

     As the financial Mafia continue their plunder of the public purse in countries across Europe, and austerity bites ever deeper into the daily life of the ordinary people, there are calls for strike action. Professionals, private and public sector workers, disabled, pensioners and unemployed are all calling for action against this policy of enforced deprivation. However, there are sections of society that we don't associate with direct/strike action against the state, the military and the police. Though these groups are somehow seen by most as outside that sort of action and that they are the bulwarks of the state, history tells us a different story. Britain around the 1900's was a very rebellious country and in 1919 20,000 British soldiers went on strike and occupied Southampton Docks. 

From Libcom 1919: The Southampton mutiny:

     Following the massacre of World War I, a reminder of the strength of ordinary soldiers came from Southampton, in the middle of January 1919, when 20,000 soldiers went on strike and took over the docks. Robertson, Commander in Chief of the Home Forces, sent General Trenchard to restore military authority. Trenchard had witnessed several mutinies in the French Army and was quite prepared to employ the most ruthless measures. Nevertheless he underestimated the men as he approached the dockgate and attempted to address a reluctant audience. A chorus of boos and catcalls accompanied his remarks. The meeting came to an undignified end when a group of men took hold of him and gave him a going over before ejecting him. Said Trenchard:

"It was most unpleasant.. . It was the only time in my life I'd been really hustled. They said they did not want to listen to me. They told me to get out and stay out."

Continue READING:

        Then we have the police strike of 1919 which took place in Liverpool.

Again from that wealth of information Libcom.

The 1919 Liverpool Police strike. By Pat O'Mara:

   Shortly after the Lusitania riots came the Liverpool Police strike.* Perhaps the bobbies had just cause for bitterness, for theirs were the only wages that hadn’t skyrocketed with the war. I thought they were getting ample pay at the time but, like everyone else – excluding the manufacturer, who was the first to raise the cry of traitor to a striker – they wanted much more. It required a piece of legislation to raise the salaries of the bobbies and, as none was forthcoming, they became very restless and finally, in direct opposition to the advice of their superiors who pointed out the severity with which such an unpatriotic act would be dealt, they struck.

Continue READING:

      Conditions have changed since then, but we are heading into uncharted waters as far as corporate capitalism is concerned. Greece is in turmoil as the fabric of society breaks down. There are mass protests in Spain, Portugal and Italy and anger is rising in other countries across Europe. There has been struggles and unrest a plenty since 1919 but will/can the situation turn the people into a revolutionary force that once and for all destroys this stinking system of greed, repression and exploitation?
Another quote from Libcom:

      How near was Britain to a full scale revolution during these weeks? This must remain a matter for speculation. The Army was in disarray: soldiers and sailors councils and demobilisation clubs were being formed. Delegates from various camps were beginning to combine their efforts and resources. The number of strikes in Liverpool and Glasgow were increasing. There were riots in Glasgow and troops sent to occupy the streets were beginning to fraternise with the strikers and demonstrators. There were riots in Belfast and a national railway strike was imminent. From August 1918 until mid-1919 even the police force was affected by militant strike action.

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AUSTERITY AND REPRESSION, PARTNERS!!

         As the austerity plans of the financial Mafia bite ever deeper, so the repression comes on harder. The state will always see the population as something that has to be controlled and in the “good times” it is relatively easy as people would rather get on with their lives than than take to the streets to change things. However as living conditions begin to deteriorate and more and more people are beginning to hurt, so the control becomes more difficult, complaint turns to anger, anger turns to protest and if the controllers can't get the lid on it, protest turns to insurrection. We should have no illusions about the extent the state will go to keep the established order in place. No matter how much democracy they preach, if the people look like they are gaining in their desire to change things, then the kid gloves come off and the full force of the state's armoury comes into play. In this country we don't need to go too far back in our history to see the extent of force the state will use. 1911 the dockers strike, troops on the streets, and two protesters shot by the military in Liverpool, 1919, 40 hour strike, Glasgow, machine guns on the roofs around George Square, soldiers with fixed bayonets on the streets and at the docks, tanks stationed in warehouses in the East End of the city. In this so called democracy, the will of the people is the last thing the establishment will tolerate.

        Today in Europe, Greece is at the forefront of the financial Mafia's plunder of public assets and as the anger of the people takes to the streets so the Greek police are given a free hand to brutally intimidate, repress and attempt to break the spirit of the Greek people. Our mainstream media seldom covers what is happening on the streets in Europe, we seldom see a mention of the police brutality in Greece, but it is there in force on a daily basis. The population of Greece is less than 11 million, approximately a sixth of the UK, yet in that country on average one person a week dies in Greek prisons or in a Greek police cell. The cold bloody shooting by a police officer of 15 year old Alexis Grigoropoulos to the weekly deaths in custody, is testimony to the brutality of the Greek state apparatus, we should never swallow the media crap that our police are somehow different, given the order the brutality level will rise.

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WORKERS KNOW YOUR HISTORY - GLASGOW WEAVERS STRIKE.

         We should never forget that in any industrial struggle you are not only fighting your employer, but the powers that be. The authorities will always throw the full extent of their power in support of the employer and against the workers. You elect them and they support your employer, that's how the system works. That power can be police intimidation/brutality/provocation, to bringing the troops onto the streets to crush the resistance of the group in dispute. Britain is no different in that respect, we have had the troops on the streets on numerous occasions. Troops were put on the streets in Liverpool during the 1911 dockers strike, resulting in two strikers being shot dead on the street. Later in Glasgow 1919 during the 40 hour week struggle, once again the state brought troops on to the streets. That event in Glasgow became known as Bloody Friday. We can go away back to what was probably the first organised strike in the country and the then authorities ran true to form and brought the troops out against the strikers, that was the 1787 Glasgow weavers strike. Don't ever expect "YOUR" elected representatives to support you in any workers dispute, they support the system, which is one of exploitation and business orientated, your are just the replaceable wee cogs in their greed machine.

Memorial at The Weavers Cemetery Calton Glasgow.

  

GLASGOW’S WEAVERS’ STRIKE, 1787

BACKGROUND.

Glasgow’s population at this period was around 60,000. Weaving was the main occupation in Glasgow and surrounding districts after the collapse of the tobacco trade due to the American War of Independence. The movement for parliamentary reform was still a seed in people’s hearts. It took the French Revolution to cause it to shoot and grow. Attempts by workers to unite in defence of their living standards were deemed an offence under common law. The weavers’ strike of 1787 was the first recorded strike in Glasgow’s history.

Around June 1787 the Glasgow weavers and those of surrounding areas learned that the payments for weaving muslin were to be cut. This would be the second cut to the weavers income in eight months. Many meetings were held around the districts and on June the 30th 1787 seven thousand attended a meeting on Glasgow Green. On the 4th of July terms of a unanimous resolution from the meeting appeared in a letter printed in the Glasgow Mercury. The letter was sent by James Mirrie on behalf of the committee appointed by the weavers. The letter pointed out that the cut suggested by the manufacturers would bring weavers income down by one-fourth while other trades had been rightfully rising in face of an increase in house rents and other means of subsistence. It also stated that they would not 'offer violence to any man or his work'.

STRIKE.

The strike started in June and lasted through July, August, September in to October. Calton was a district then just outside Glasgow’s boundary. Most of the population of the district were weavers. Around mid-day on Monday 3rd September, the authorities of Glasgow learned that a large crowd of weavers had formed at Calton near the city boundary at Gallowgate. The Lord Provost and Magistrates arrived to disperse the crowd but were driven back by stones thrown by the weavers. Later in the day the authorities were informed that the weavers were again assembling and proposed to march to Glasgow Cathedral.

RIOT ACT.

The 39th Regiment of Foot, under the command of Colonel Kellet was sent. With them went the Lord Provost, the Sheriff-Substitute, a Magistrate and others intent on dispersing the weavers. The groups met at a spot near Drygate Bridge. The soldiers were ordered to open fire, 3 weavers were killed outright and three were mortally wounded. A considerable number were wounded. How many can only be guessed at.

It is now accepted that the Riot Act was not read, it is claimed that the Sheriff-Substitute was preparing to read the Riot Act when the soldiers opened fire in self defence. After the riot Magistrates offered rewards for information leading to the arrest of activists. As well as James Granger, one of the main organisers of the strike, others were arrested but not brought to trial. On the 4th September the Magistrates brought in another regiment from Beith.

Towards the end of September Colonel Kellet and Major Powlet were presented with the freedom of the city. At the Tontine Tavern a dinner was given for the officers. Each soldier stationed in Glasgow was given a new pair of shoes and stockings.

TRIAL AND SENTENCE.

James Granger’s trial, he was then aged 38, married and had six children, took place in Edinburgh in the year 1788. It was the first case of “forming illegal combinations” in Scotland. He was found guilty on Tuesday 22nd July and sentenced on Friday 25th The sentence was that he be carried to the Tollbooth, to remain there until the 13th August, on which day he would be publicly whipped through the streets of the city at the hands of the Common Executioner; that he should then be set at liberty and allowed till the 15th October to settle his affairs, after which he is to banish himself from Scotland for seven years, under the usual certifications, in case of his again returning during that term. A severe price to pay for trying to prevent a wage cut. James Granger returned and took part in the 1811-1812 strike and lived to the age of 75.

      This was the scene at Glasgow Trongate 1919 after the events of the 40 hour week strike which resulted in what became know as "Bloody Friday", look closely and you will see the troops have "fixed bayonets".

More on Glasgow's working class history can be found HERE.

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COULD THIS BE THE START OF SOMETING BIG??

        

         Occupy LA begins this Saturday Oct 1st! We are Occupying LA in solidarity with Occupy Wall St. (A Peaceful Occupation)

Starting at 10:00am in Pershing Square, marching to City Hall Map Join Us - Bring a sleeping bag, food, supplies, friends!

         The Middle East protests are applauded by the West, protests have been spreading across Europe and now we have them in New York and Los Angelos, could this be the start of something big? I can't wait to hear the Western media ring out the praises of all those brave people facing the wrath of the state machinery. I don't expect anybody to be shot in the West, just pepper sprayed, roughed-up, beaten and arrested, perhaps a few tasered. However, the West is not totally innocent in the field of bring troops on to the streets to handle unrest, Liverpool and Glasgow can testify to that.

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BNP NOT WELCOME HERE.

          The Nazi BNP is planning to hold a protest, outside the BBC’s Question Time, this Thursday 29^th September, when it is filmed at the Contemporary Urban Centre in Liverpool.

Join the counter protest, from 5pm Thursday 29^th September 2011, outside the CUC, Greenland street (off Jamaica street ) L1 0BS.

         Everyone, please turn out to demonstrate against racism and fascism and to congratulate the BBC, on refusing to have Nick Griffin on BBC’s Question Time. At this point in time, the police are trying to stop this demonstration, so we need the largest numbers turning up, to ensure everyone in Britain knows that the BNP is NOT welcome in Merseyside.

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IT'S OUR HEALTH SERVICE - TAKE IT BACK.

          What are you doing in your area, get organised, numbers can change society. You either take it or you fight back. We can create a better society based on the needs of all our people, smashing this system of feeding the rich parasites. Surely the measure of a civilised society is the way it caters for those in most need, and a fair and free health service is a prerequisite of any decent society.  

JOINT TRADE UNION RALLY

to protect the NHS

In conjunction with Trades Council Coalition against the Cuts

Outside the Royal Liverpool Hospital

Tuesday 6^th September 2011

at 12 Midday – 2 PM

BE THERE!

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WORLD'S BIGGEST WORKING CLASS MUSIC FESTIVAL,

3 weeks time the Working Class Life & Music Festival begins.

LET'S GET DOON THERE.

    The amazing 9 day programme of events makes the festival the largest celebration of working people on the planet.
Here's a taster of what's to come.

Fri 22nd - folk legend Leon Rosselson with support from Rich Mans Ruin, National Museums 800 Lives Exhibition at Radio Merseyside, Another Day In Liverpool photo exhibition.

Sat 23rd - Almanac's Radical City night at The Everyman Theatre, award winning actor Tayo Aluko's new show From Africa To The White House, Ken Loach's Navigators at The Casa featuring two of the actors in a Q&A, Kaya's Under The Influence, The Suitcase Ensemble's Railway Cabaret, Liverpool Music Barcamp for DIY musicians, The Leaving Of Liverpool at The Maritime Museum, AFC Liverpool v Eccleshall football match, Liverpool Socialist Singers flashmob workshop, and Metal's Edge Hill Archive Exhibition.

Sun 24th - A Night of Musical Comedy featuring award winning duo Jollyboat, Rathole Roadshow at The Zanzibar, Saturday Night Sunday Morning special screening at Crosby Plaza cinema, biographer Dave Harker on writer Robert Tressell, political historian Ron Noon on the 1911 Transport Strike.

Mon 25th - Great Stories' charming social documentary My Fifties Liverpool at FACT, Radical Rogues and Reformers Irish Heritage Walking Tour, Liverpool Socialist Singers workshop and fete, Philosophy in Pubs at The Crown host the first in a range of specially themed discussions, Mouth of the Mersey's Storytelling Club tell some working class tales at Studio 2.

Tue 26th - Acoustic Night at the Unity, The Radical Route Walking Tour of Liverpool's history as a city of protest, more musings from the Philosophy in Pubs gang at Keith's Wine Bar and The Victoria Hotel.

Wed 27th - Radio 4 poet Luke Wright at The Unity, Liverpool Socialist Singers in concert with Vinny T Spen and Claire Mooney, MESH Culture's Cool Kids at Tabac, Traditional Irish Ceili at St Michael's Irish Centre.

PEACE MAN.

Thu 28th - folk legend Roy Bailey at the Woody Guthrie Folk Club supported by local folk songwriter Alun Parry, more from Philosophy in Pubs at the Half Way House and The Vernon Arms.

Fri 29th - Michael Weston King at Liverpool Philharmonic, a community forum on art, culture and class at The Tate, a lecture on Robert Tressell by Stuart Borthwick, a traditional Irish music session at St. Michael's Irish Centre.

Sat 30th - Scottish folk star Dick Gaughan at the Liverpool Philharmonic, Rub A Dub Dub reggae night featuring We The Undersigned, News From Nowhere's 37th Birthday Party, the final match of the season as AFC Liverpool face AFC Blackpool in a promotion decider.

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