RADICAL WOMEN.

     

       This is a call from Radical Women to mark the 91st. anniversary of women getting the vote in the USA, 1920, approximately 8 years after their sisters in the UK. The problems the people face in America today are not unique to America, they are the same problems that the ordinary people the world over face. Where capitalism exists, the ordinary people are being exploited. As capitalism hits one of its recurring crisis the gloves come off and it is raw capitalism with all the brutality needed for it to survive. It can't survive without gross exploitation of the people. Like the article says, there is still much to fight for, the battle is not over yet, but with a mammoth effort of solidarity it could be.

        Happy Women's Rights Day! This August 26 celebrates women winning the vote in the U.S. 91 years ago. Today Radical Women honours the suffrage movement and its militant, multiracial fighters. These women--Sojourner Truth, Clara Lemlich, Francis Ellen Watkins Harper, Sarah Grimke, and so many more--rebelled against enforced second-class status to organize courageously for equal rights. We will be forever grateful for their work.

      Gaining access to the ballot did not eliminate oppression, however. The battle for justice continues. Many hard-earned gains of the feminist movement are being targeted in today's atmosphere of increasing bigotry and scape-goating.

        In response to the economic quagmire in the U.S., the right wing has launched a full-scale attack against women, queers, immigrants, people of colour, labour unions, and the working class as a whole. They label immigrant mothers an "invasion by birth canal," oppose gay marriage, and try to destroy ethnic studies. Politicians on both sides of the aisle advocate cutting funding for abortion and reproductive health services while eliminating the right of public workers, who are predominantly female and people of colour, to bargain collectively.

         It is no surprise that the Tea Party and Republicans have ridden this wave, but Democrats, who captured many women's support with campaign promises of relief, have blatantly exposed themselves as complicit promoters of these slash-and-burn politics. Congress' bipartisan debt-reduction super committee, for instance, is simply a cover to cut Medicare,
Medicaid, Social Security, education funding and a host of human services. Both capitalist parties are quick to abandon the facade of representing working class interests to cater to the wealthy and large corporations.

      The poor, women and people of colour are disproportionately among the hardest hit when services are reduced. Women, of course, bear the greatest burden for the welfare of their families and are forced to shoulder more tasks at home to compensate for service cutbacks.

        During these difficult times, organized fight-backs--with women at the forefront--are breaking out. Taking a cue from the rebellions in the Middle East, teachers in Wisconsin sparked a series of protests against Gov. Scott Walker's anti-union onslaught. Support from across the world poured in as intrepid unionists shut-down business as usual in Madison. Demonstrations and sit-ins at state capitals across the nation have demanded an end to union-busting, corporate give aways and balancing the budget on the backs
of poor people.

     Radical Women (RW) is deeply immersed in building this fight. In California, RW initiated Sisters United Front for Survival that calls for steeply taxing the rich and big businesses and shutting down wars to pay for vital services. Similarly, Sisters Organize for Survival, a grassroots project of Seattle Radical Women, led a "Flip the Funding" fight in Washington State. SOS issued an alternative budget based on the state meeting its obligation to help people survive, not boost corporate profits.

      Nationally, RW supported the Save Our Schools conference and march in Washington D.C. in July, where thousands of teachers, parents and community activists gathered to demand full funding and support for public education. RW garnered endorsements from over a dozen unions in four states and sent a contingent to D.C.

      Radical Women's strategy is to encourage united labor and community mobilizations to fight budget cuts and defend workers' rights. RW members have gone door-to-door, spoken at union meetings, made presentations to community groups, initiated demonstrations, hosted forums, mobilized people to testify before city, county and state
committees, launched petition campaigns, and more.

SOLIDARITY.

     Since Republicans and Democrats are part of the problem, the only way to exercise our democratic rights is to build an organized, militant, and feminist working-class movement that goes beyond voting for capitalist politicians. We need labour unions to step up to leadership and shake things up across the country, from taking capital buildings to calling general strikes. And how about building a feminist labour party that genuinely represents all workers' interests?

      We workers, union and non-union, female and male, create the wealth, and we should control it, too! There is no reason for us to tolerate the existence of a class of exploiters who use our labour just to enrich themselves at our expense. As long as capitalism is king, women, queers, people of colour, immigrants, and the entire working class, will get an ever shortening end of the stick.

     Radical Women has been engaged in the grassroots, feminist fight for an egalitarian socialist society since 1967. Join the struggle! You can learn more about RW's theory and program by reading The Radical Women Manifesto. Check out www.radicalwomen.org to learn what the chapter in your city is doing, and get involved. If we don't have a chapter in your area, contact RadicalWomenUS@gmail.com about building one. You can also
help us continue our work by donating here. A solution to these rocky times is within reach! We will save our future through a united labour and community struggle for a just, worker-controlled economic structure, and the time is now.

In solidarity,

Cee Fisher
Radical Women

UK ARMED POLICE??

            I am alarmed at the number of people who, recently, have died when confronted by the police. The shooting of Mr Duggan by an armed police unit that sparked the recent disturbances across England, has been followed by another spate of deaths. In the short period since the shooting two men have died after being hit by police tasers and another died after being pepper sprayed. We are supposed to pride ourselves in the fact that we have an unarmed police force on our streets, but with this evidence, it doesn't look that way. I'm sure that this recent spate of killings will do nothing to raise people's confidence in the police. As far as I am concerned these recent events indicate that we have an armed police force in this country, tasers are known to be lethal in a number of circumstances.

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AN EMPTY COMPOUND???

           

             Just a thought, I don't know about you but the information being reported from Tripoli doesn't seem to add up. It was being reported that there were fierce gun battles raging to take the "Compound" with strong resistance coming from those defending it, then there is the beakthrough. The "rebels" enter the "Compound" and we  don't see any Gaddaffi fighters surrender or wounded or dead, where did they go? All we see is the "rebels" looting an empty place and firing their guns in the air. Was there nobody in the "Compound" defending it? Did they all just march out through the doors before the "rebels" arrived? Where did they go with all their weapons, their wound and their dead, did they leave in a convoy through the occupied streets? As usual, in the fog of war, we never get told the truth, we get the usual media spin.

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DEADLY CARGO.

         Through the night, through our narrow country lanes a deadly nuclear cargo rolls from one end of the country to the other. Did you consent to have this illegal convoy of nuclear weapons of mass destruction pass by your home, your kids school, your local retail park? Are you told when it is going to pass, or are you, like most of the public, completely unaware of this government illegality? Perhaps one night you will go to sleep and that will be that, a little accident on the road and oblivian for an entire city. There are records of many small accidents with these convoys, but up until now we have been lucky, no nuclear explosion, but how far would you push your luck when dealing with the lives of thousands of people?

 Sleep well my love.

DEADLY CARGO from Camcorder Guerillas on Vimeo.

19 mins - Scotland / UK 2008

There's been some collateral damage!!

          Fully assembled nuclear convoys are regularly transported in secret convoys on ordinary roads, day and night right across Britain. The authorities are asking us to keep an eye out for suspicious looking bags at train stations. Nukewatch is asking us to keep an eye out for suspicious looking trucks carrying weapons of mass destruction on our motorways.

        Find out the chilling truth about these lethal convoys, how they are tracked by the people in the Nukewatch network.

Sound track by Zoviet France (en.wikipedia.org/​wiki/​Zoviet_France)

DVD Available with Spanish, Dutch, German, Finnish, Swedish and English subtitiles

nukewatch.org.uk

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EVERYBODY DESERVES A COUNTRY??

Dear friends,

             In 48 hours, the UN Security Council will meet again to discuss Palestine's bid to become the 194^th country.
Already 700,000 of us have joined the campaign. But we need more of us to shift key countries to vote in favour.
          Avaaz has made a powerful short video that tells the real story and why this is the best chance for peace.As violence sparks again and tensions rise in the Middle East, a new proposal for Palestinian independence is gaining steam across the globe -- if we can push it through the UN, it could open a new path to peace.
           But key governments are still on the fence and to tip them to support independence we need to ramp up public pressure. Many people don't feel they understand the situation well enough to take action. To help, Avaaz has made a new short video that tells the real story about the conflict. If enough people see it, sign the petition and forward it to everyone -- our leaders will be forced to listen.
          Almost 10 million of us are receiving this email. Let's change the conversation about the Middle East and build a tidal wave of support for Palestinian independence before the UN Security Council meets to discuss this initiative next week. Click below to watch the video, sign the petition, and forward this email to everyone:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/middle_east_peace_now/?vl

           While the majority of Palestinian and Israeli people want a solution to the conflict based on two states, the Israeli extremist government continues to approve the building of settlements in contested areas -- fueling hate and bloodshed. Despite repeated efforts, decades of US-led peace talks have failed to rein-in the peace killers and get an agreement. Right now, this independence proposal could be the best chance for years to break the stalemate, avoid another spiral into violence and level the playing field between the two parties to favour negotiations.
           Last month, the Palestinians presented their bid at the Security Council. Over 120 countries support them, but the US rejects the proposal, and is sending a clear message to its European allies that supporting the legitimate Palestinian bid will strain bilateral relations. It is now up to us to tell key European leaders that public opinion is behind this diplomatic non-violent push and that citizen opinion should influence policy choices, instead of the preferences of the American government.
Our campaign is exploding across the world -- Almost 700,000 of us joined the call in the first days! It has been on the front page of major news media, cited at the UN Security Council, and tweeted by the Palestinian president himself! Now let's make sure it resounds in the ears of key European leaders whose support is critical. Click below to watch the video, sign the petition if you haven't yet, and forward this email to everyone -- let's reach 1 million signers:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/middle_east_peace_now/?vl

         There is much misinformation about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and many of us feel unsure about getting involved. But this short film lays it out clearly and can empower us to act. As a nearly 10 million-strong global network in every country in the world, we have the chance to provoke a vote that could turn the tide on decades of violence.

With hope,
Alice, Pascal, Emma, Ricken, David, Rewan, and the Avaaz team

MORE INFORMATION:
Israeli settlement plan earns ire of U.S., Palestinian Authority (CNN)
http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/meast/08/16/israel.settlements/

Palestinians to present statehood bid to UN General Assembly (Guardian)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/aug/14/palestinian-statehood-un-general-assembly

Israeli minister: Cut ties with Palestinians (Associated Press)
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5ibKJgqvlCr_xCGw5Xb0kXhOiagjQ?docId=0b01e969e8504d42823abd51c2abf8fc

UN calls on Israel not to build new settlements in East Jerusalem (Ha'aretz)
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/un-calls-on-israel-not-to-build-new-settlements-in-east-jerusalem-1.378218

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ONLY BAD GUYS GET KILLED.

       The following information is taken from Wikipedie  where you will find links to all the detail given. The Western press never seem to notice casualities caused by there actions or those of their "rebel" group. According to our fair media, it is only Gaddafi that does the killing, we are always surgical and painless in our war efforts, and the people we support are good guys and would never do anything to harm anybody. It is the usual "fog-of-war" lies that the media peddle to keep you supporting the brutal wars, it is only bad guys that get killed. This will continue until we get rid of the state, its war machines and the partner in its festering marriage, corporate capitalism.

Deaths caused by anti-Gaddaffi forces.

        Among the security forces there had been more than 1,700 dead, including civilians in support of the government, alleged mercenaries and government soldiers. There have been many reports that members of the security forces have been killed by both the government and the opposition. Obviously as the fighting intensifies, so the death toll will riseon both sides, that's how we protect civilians.

        On February 18, two policemen were hanged by protesters in Benghazi. Also, on the same day, 50 alleged African mercenaries, mostly from Chad, were executed by the protesters in al-Baida. Some of them were killed when protestors burned down the police station in which they locked them up and at least 15 were lynched in front of the courthouse in al-Baida. The bodies of some of them were put on display and caught on video. By February 23, the government confirmed that 111 soldiers had been killed.On February 23, a group of 22 government soldiers attempted to make a breakout from an air base near Derna, which had been under siege for days by rebel fighters. Within hours, all of them were captured and eventually 12 of them were shot execution style while a 13th was hanged by the opposition forces. Between February 15 and May 22, 37 former government loyalists were killed in Benghazi in revenge killings by some opposition groups.

     Toward the end of the Battleof Misrata (February 18, 2011 – May 15, 2011), at least 27 sub-Saharan Africans from Mali, Niger or Chad, who were accused of being mercenaries, were executed by rebel forces.

Deaths caused by Coalition Forces. 

There's been some collateral damage?

        The Libyan official sources claimed that at least between 64 and 90 people were killed during the bombardments on the first two days of the U.N. intervention and another 150 had been wounded. The Vatican news agency confirmed that in Tripoli alone, at least 40 civilians died as a result of the bombing campaign. According to the Libyan Health office, the airstrikes killed 1,108 civilians and wounded 4,500 by July 13.

• On April 1, NATO airstrikes killed 14 rebel fighters and wounded seven more on the frontline at Brega.

• On April 7, news reports surfaced that NATO bombers killed 10–13 rebels and wounded 14–22 near the eastern oil town of Brega.
• On April 27, at least one NATO warplane attacked the Libyan rebel forces position near the besieged city of Misrata, killing 12 fighters and wounding five others.

• On May 13, 11 religious imams were killed and 50 others injured when a NATO airstrike struck a large gathering in Brega praying for peace in conflict-ridden Libya.

• On June 19, at least nine civilians were killed in a NATO airstrike on Tripoli. Reporters saw bodies being pulled out of a destroyed building. NATO acknowledged being responsible for the civilians deaths.

• On June 20, 15 civilians including three children were killed by another NATO airstrike on Sorman.
• On June 28, eight civilians were killed by a NATO airstrike on the town of Tawragha, 300 kilometres (190 miles) east of Tripoli.

• On July 25, 11 civilians were killed by a NATO airstrike on a medical clinic in Zlitan.

• On July 30, 3 journalists were killed and 15 wounded in Nato attacks against the Libyan state TV Al-Jamahiriya, which continued to broadcast after the attacks.

• On August 9, the Libyan government claimed that 85 civilians were killed in NATO airstrikes on Majer, a village near Zlitan. A NATO spokesman confirmed that they bombed Zliten at 11:45 p.m. on August 8, 2011 and 2:34 a.m. on August 9, 2011 but said that he was unable to confirm the casualties. The Libyan government declared three days of national mourning. Reporters were later taken to a hospital where they saw at least 30 dead bodies including the bodies of at least two young children. The Libyan government claimed that the bodies of others killed in the airstrikes were taken to other hospitals. Commander of the NATO military mission in Libya, Lieutenant General Charles Bouchard said "I cannot believe that 85 civilians were present when we struck in the wee hours of the morning, and given our intelligence. But I cannot assure you that there were none at all".
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NICE MEAL -- CRAP CONDITIONS!!

New York: Boathouse Restaurant workers strike against unfair labor practices

       60 employees of the Boathouse Restaurant in New York’s Central Park have walked off their jobs and were joined on the picket line by 37 of their co-workers who were illegally terminated in retaliation for organizing a union. In response to low wages, stolen overtime pay, long hours, no benefits, unsafe conditions, rampant favoritism, sexual harassment, ethnic discrimination, and management abuse 70% of the Boathouse staff signed union cards in January, and on January 27, the union petitioned the United States Government to hold a union representational election. Boathouse management immediately launched a campaign of terror against the employees.

        Management fired 37 workers for their support for the union and aggressively intimidated and threatened the remaining union supporters, many of whom are immigrants.

       The City of New York owns the boathouse; Dean Poll is the contracted operator. Under the terms of the operator's contractor, the New York City Parks Commission can cancel his contract and replace him with another operator. You can support the Boathouse workers by sending a message to the Parks Commissioner urging him to do just that! Click here to send a message.

For more information, read the full story here.

Ron Oswald
General Secretary, IUF

International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers' Associations (IUF)

8, rampe du Pont-Rouge
1213 Petit Lancy, Switzerland
Tel: +41 22 793 22 33
Fax: +41 22 793 22 38
website: www.iuf.org

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AFTER GADDAFFI????

STOP THE WAR COALITION22 August 2011
Email office@stopwar.org.uk
Tel: 020 7801 2768
Web: http://stopwar.org.uk
Twitter: http://twitter.com/STWuk
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/stopthewarcoalition

LIBYA AFTER GADAFFI: STATEMENT BY STOP THE WAR COALITION
The fall of the Gadaffi regime in Libya marks yet another turning point in what has been a truly remarkable year in the Middle East. The victory of the rebels, backed by Nato bombing in a six month campaign initiated by the British and French governments, also heralds the rehabilitation of a discredited doctrine -- that of 'humanitarian intervention' -- after the debacle of Iraq and Afghanistan.

The defeat of Gadaffi is now being used to justify military action on the grounds that it has helped the Arab revolutions. David Cameron declared outside Downing Street 22 August 2011, 'This has not been our revolution, but we can be proud that we have played our part.'

The hypocrisy of Cameron is staggering, given the role of British and other western governments in backing up dictators and despots in the region -- only halted in some places by the actions of the Arab people themselves.

The Nato intervention has not been for idealistic values. It has been about regime change, so that a leader more acceptable to western governments and business could replace Gadaffi.

Right to the end, NATO was bent on a military victory and bringing the Transitional National Council (TNC) -- the Benghazi administration -- to power in Libya by force of arms. All proposals for talks to achieve a political solution – whether from within Libya or outside - have been brushed aside.

While many Libyans may welcome the outcome, and will be glad to see the back of Gadaffi, it has a number of negative aspects.

From the international point of view, the most significant thing is that the government of another Arab state has been changed by external force applied by the big imperial powers. There is no real suggestion that the TNC could have come to power unaided. The NATO military intervention, stretching beyond breaking point the mandate given by the United Nations, has been decisive.

This will not be the end of the story. The experience of Iraq teaches that the overthrow of a regime under such circumstances by no means signifies the end of the war. Whether those who have supported Gadaffi will meekly accept the authority of a new government imposed under such circumstances is open to question.

Whatever happens, the deep divisions within Libyan society remain. Likewise, given that the TNC is an amalgam of forces, ranging from the democratic to the Islamist to leaders who are the direct employees of western interests, it may have neither the capacity to resolve existing differences nor the ability to prevent the emergence of new ones, within its own ranks.

David Cameron spelt out the close role Britain and the other western powers will expect to have in running Libya, and in how much detail they have been planned, including ‘stabilisation experts who have been planning for this moment…for months.’

Under these circumstances, the main demand must be an end to all forms of NATO interference in Libya – not just the end of the bombing, but the withdrawal of special forces and a halt to all forms of political interference. The only solution to the crisis in Libya will have to be a Libyan solution. Recent history, from Iraq to Afghanistan, teaches that too.

But beyond that, we must recognise the danger that even a passing 'success' in Libya may embolden the US, British and French governments to believe that the idea of 'liberal interventionism', discredited after Iraq, can be revived on a broader scale. Of course, however it ends the Libyan conflict has not gone as expected and none of the leaders of the aggression have dared introduce ground troops into the war. Nevertheless, the danger of extending the intervention to Syria as part of a programme to control and suppress the 'Arab Spring' is not inconceivable and must be mobilised against.

The old rulers will not be missed if and when they depart. The decisive issues – genuinely democratic and popular regimes across the Arab world, the exclusion of great power interference in the region and justice for the Palestinian people – remain in the balance and require our solidarity.

LINDSEY GERMAN, National Convenor, Stop the War Coalition
ANDREW MURRAY, National Chair, Stop the War Coalition--

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PRIORITIES--BUSINES IS BUSINESS.

       Before the guns have fallen silent the West is showing its true priorities. The following report from Reuters tells you the way the West thinks. the oil giants are already on the private jets to take control of Libya's resources. This is what the blood shed was all about, what happens to the people is of little interest to the Western powers, they can rot in hell as far as the Western corporate world is concerned. Business is business!!!

MILAN (Reuters) - Libya's leading foreign oil producer, Eni of Italy led the charge back into Libya on Monday as rebels swept into the Libyan capital Tripoli hailing the end of Muammar Gaddafi's rule.

Gaddafi's fall will reopen the doors to Africa's largest oil reserves with new players such as Qatar's national oil company and trading house Vitol set to compete with established European and U.S. companies.

Shares in European companies Italy's Eni, Austria's OMV and France's Total rose by 3-5 percent despite a $2 fall in the price of oil on hopes the firms would be able to quickly re-establish output from Libya.

Italy's Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said staff from Eni had arrived to look into a restart of oil facilities in the east of the country even as fighting between government troops and the rebels continued in Tripoli in the west.

"The facilities had been made by Italians, by (oil field services group) Saipem, and therefore it is clear that Eni will play a No. 1 role in the future," Frattini told state

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VICTORY ON NATO'S COAT-TAILS!!

       

           So it loooks like the "rebels" have won in Libya? The so called "rebels" seem to be a very fundamentalist group. There has been talk of them clearing some of the towns of black Libyans, those that settled there after the slave trade, that went through that area. Also what is never mentioned is the fact that Gaddaffi spent a lot of the oil revenue on free education, free health care and bring clean water to all the towns and villages. I wonder where the oil revenue will go after he’s gone? Any ideas?? When you hear them make comments like “I have a bullet here for Gaddaffi, and I can’t wait to use it on him” doesn’t sound much like a democrat to me. I believe that Libya will end up in chaos like Iraq, with the people suffering and violent faction and tribal conflict, but the oil will be secure in Western hands, just like Iraq. It can never be said that it was the Libyan people that over threw the Gaddaffi regime, it will have been some of the most powerful military nations in the world, it was achieved by massive air power from NATO, plus NATO helicopter gunships, and military advice with NATO advisers on the ground, costing the NATO powers hundred of millions of pounds of taxpayers money, and if you believe the nations of NATO done it all for the benefit of the Libyan people, then you’ll believe anything. Every uprising is not a move to democracy, as history has told us. In this corporate capitaist world, it is usually a move by the corporate world to control resources. 

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WORKERS KNOW YOUR HISTORY - CLYDE WORKERS COMMITTEE.

THE CLYDE WORKERS COMMITTEE.

THE SPARK, THE FORMING OF THE LWC.

In 1915 during a prolonged period of considerable economic hardship for most industrial workers, Clydeside engineering employers refused workers demands for a wage increase. The insatiable demand for war munitions had lead to a rapid rise in inflation and a savage attack on the living standards of the working class. Workers were demanding wage increases to offset these repressive conditions. At this time Weir’s of Cathcart was paying workers brought over from their American plant 6/- shillings a week more than workers in their Glasgow plant.

The dispute between workers and management at Weir’s very rapidly escalated into strike action. The strike was organised by a strike committee named the Labour Withholding Committee (LWC). This committee comprised of rank and file trade union members and shop stewards. It was they who remained in control of the strike rather than the officials from the Amalgamated Society of Engineers (ASE).

The strike started in February 1915 and lasted almost 3 weeks. At its peak 10,000 members of the ASE from 8 separate engineering works were on strike throughout Clydeside. The officials from the ASE denounced the strike and backed the government’s demands to resume work. It was this double pressure from the government and their own trade union that drove the workers from the various engineering works in Glasgow to form the LWC to give the workers a voice and to organise the strike to their wishes.

Although the strikers demands were not met, its importance is in the fact of it forming the LWC. A committee formed from rank and file union members that determined policy in the work place and refused to follow the directives from union officials when those directives conflicted with the demands of that rank and file.

THE MUNITIONS ACT.

The government alarmed by the February 1915 strike, summoned trade union leaders to a special conference. The result of this conference being the now notorious Treasury Agreement. The outcome of which was that all independent union rights and conditions including the right to strike, were abandoned for the duration of the war. It also allowed the employers to “dilute” labour. Meaning they could employ unskilled labour in skilled jobs to compensate for the growing labour shortage, due to the every increasing demand for munitions and the endless slaughter of young men at the front. The Munitions Act also made strikes illegal and restrictions of output a criminal offence. The Munitions Act also allowed for the setting up of Munitions Tribunals to deal with any transgressions of the act.

October 1915 saw one such tribunal, the outcome of which was that 3 shipwrights from Fairfield Shipyard on the Clyde, one of which was MacPherson, a Glasgow anarchist, were sentenced to one months imprisonment for their refusal to pay a fine imposed because of their strike action in support of two sacked workers. The imprisonment of the 3 shipwrights prompted the official union representatives to call for a public enquiry. However, the LWC, which had reformed after the February 1915 strike, were seeking immediate strike action. A rather shaky and uneasy peace remained while official union leaders and the rank and file LWC waited for the government’s response. With the lack of any response from the government, the LWC decided, with the full backing of the workers, to act on their own by issuing an ultimatum to the government; If the shipwrights were not released within 3 days there would be widespread industrial action throughout the Clydeside until their release.

Three days after the LWC ultimatum the shipwrights were released. It was later discovered the the imprisoned men’s fines had been paid. The general feeling among the LWC and others was that the fines had been paid by ASE officials in an attempt to prevent widespread industrial action on Clydeside over which they could exercise little or no control.

THE CLYDE WORKERS COMMITTEE.

This victory lead to the LWC deciding to form a permanent committee to resist the Munitions act. It was to be called the Clyde Workers Committee, (CWC) and organised on the same democratic principles as the LWC. It would have 250-300 delegates elected directly from the work place, it would meet weekly.

This was a seismic sift in the employee/ management working relationship on Clydeside. Up until then shop stewards in the industry merely existed as card inspectors and implementers of national and district committees policies. However, after the forming of the CWC in 1915, increasingly it was the workers through the CWC that controlled the policy on the shop floor and in negotiations, much to the consternation of the official trade unions. The CWC in 1915 stated; “We will support the officials just as long as they represent the workers, but we will act independently immediately they misrepresent them.”

As the CWC had no faith in the official trade union to protect the workers interests, when the government Dilution Commission, in January 1916, arrived in Glasgow to attempt to implement “dilution” in the munitions factories it was the CWC who sought to negotiate a more radical policy with the commission in an attempt to secure greater workers control over the process of “dilution”. Although by this time the CWC was responsible for representing the workforce in 29 Clydeside engineering works, the Dilution Commission refused to recognise its authority and declined the CWC’s offer to meet and discuss proposals for implementation.

ARREST AND DEPORTATION.

Between January and March 1916 the Dilution Commission met little or no opposition from workers and trade unions elsewhere on Clydeside. During this period it however little or no progress was made in the Clydeside engineering industry. A situation that the government felt that it could not tolerate much longer.

A management decision at Beardmore’s engineering works Parkhead Glasgow, to refuse shop stewards access to new “dilutees” brought about strike action in March 1916. In the following four days workers at three other munitions factories came out in sympathy with the Beardmore strikers. These events on Clydeside were creating a degree of nervousness in the government and the Dilution committee who were afraid that the actions of the syndicalist inspired CWC would impede munitions production and possibly spread to other areas.

On order of the government on March 24 1916, the military authorities arrested and deported Kirkwood, Haggerty, Shields, Wainright and Faulds, the Beardmore shop stewards. On the same day they arrested and deported McManus and Messer two shop stewards from Weir’s of Cathcart, one of the factories that came out on strike in Sympathy with the Beardmore strikers. On March 29 the military authorities again swooped and arrested and deported Glass, Bridges and Kennedy, 3 more shop stewards from Weir’s.

The shop stewards were sent to Edinburgh where they had to report to the police three times daily. These restrictions were kept in place until 14 June 1917. It was obvious to all that the arrested shop stewards had been abandoned by their official trade union, they were also refused any union benefit during the deportation. These deportations broke the resistance to the implementation of “dilution” in the Clydeside engineering industry, it also realised the government’s aim in bring about the demise of the CWC for the duration of the war.

Following the end of the war there was a fear of mass unemployment due to the demobilisation of the troops and the demise of the munitions factories. The common view held by the majority of workers in shipbuilding, engineering and mining was that a drastic cut in the number of hours in the working week, with the same war time pay levels was the only solution.

On January 1919 the CWC held a meeting of its shop stewards from shipbuilding and engineering, from this meeting the “Forty Hour” movement was born, and the decision was taken to go with the miners in their demand for a reduction to the weekly hours to help absorb the increase to the workforce and the reducing number of jobs.

More on Glasgow's workingclass history here STRUGGLEPEDIA. 

Further information; GlasgowDigital library.

Posted by John Couzin.

Thebook Radical Glasgow.

Thewebsite Radical Glasgow.

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LET THE PEOPLE TALK.

           It is always good to talk, an impromptue debate from people on the street in one of the areas affected by the disturbances. It is a bit of fresh air compared to the stuff that spews out of the mainstream media.

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SEEKING A LIVING WAGE IN THE UK?

    

       A call for solidarity, the cleaners at Heron Tower, employed by LCC need your support on Friday 19 August.

       These cleaners have been working under difficult conditions and have been struggling to get a living wage. After much bullying the management have agreed but have cut their hours and increased their workload. This is the usual response by lots of companies in the service sector. They must not get away with this form of modern day slavery.

        Please support them in their struggle for a living wage, they will be demonstrating at 110 Bishopsgate 5pm August 19, your support could make all the difference as these companies don't like their dirty work to be advertised in public, the more that turn up the less they like it.

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JUST A WEE THOUGHT!!

           

   

           Just a wee thought. The American taxpayer bailed out the American financial sector to the tune of $700 billion, that's a lot of money. What can you do with $700 billion. Well for starters, you could fund the two illegal wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, well almost, the total cost so far, to the American tax payers for these to brutal and inhumane wars is a staggering $750 billion, so you would need some more taxpayers petty cash. Or you could go a long way to sorting out the 850 million human beings who are starving in this world. Perhaps we could fix the 2.6 billion people who lack sewage services. Then of course there are those 800 million illiterate in the world, what would $700 billion do for that problem? Then in a loving way, we could sort out the problem of the 640 million children who lack adequate housing. The list could go on and on, there is so much we can do in this world to alleviate deprivation and suffering. If we add up the bail-outs across the developed world and threw it at the problems facing the deprived, what a wonderful change there would be, but no, we prefer to throw it at the bankers and the bond market, to try to unsure that they don't lose any of their billions that they have salted away. That's democracy for you!!

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FASCISM OR DEMOCRACY??

          What kind of democracy is it when the government minsters influence the courts sentencing policy along ideological lines? I thought that in a democracy the judiciary was meant to be independent and sentencing proportional. What we have in this country is the Prime Minister and some of his millionaire chums in the cabinet calling for sentences away out of all proportion to the actual crime committed, just so they can appeal to their fascist backwoods support and brandish their “tough-on-crime credentials. Four years prison for two young men who put a page on Facebook, is the usual, we will make an example of these young men and scare the shit out of all the other young people. In my book, that has no resemblance to justice. Throwing families out of their home because one member of that family has committed a crime, hardly fair, hardly proportional, and certainly not justice. We can be sure that our right-wing millionaire fascists will use the disturbances and whatever else they can, to further their agenda, more control over the ordinary people, tougher policing in the poorer communities, whole areas to be under curfew, and we will be told, it is all for our own good. No talk of sharing the wealth of this very rich country more equally, no talk of alleviating the poverty and deprivation in some of our communities. No, it will be more control and a tighter grip on what will become ghettos. In capitalism when there are no jobs and they are going through one of their frequent crisis, the people become a bit of a nuisance, so have to be contained so as to allow the better off to get on with their consumerism and the corporate world to get on with its looting and plundering. If we wish to have democracy, we have to get rid of the state and its bed partner, the corporate world. In this modern capitalist world, the state and the corporate world are one, they have merged into one body that has set out to control the world for the gain of the shareholders and the financial sector, it is called corporatism, Mussolini’s name for fascism.

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