Campaign news

Report from the Monster Corbyn Meeting

6th August 2015

Report from the Monster Corbyn Meeting on Monday August 3rd

By Chris Knight

I arrived at Camden Town Hall in good time. Scarcely had I got out my Labour Briefings than I was surrounded by people anxious to buy. It felt like Back to the Future, perhaps to 1984—except that even at the height of the miners’ strike, we never packed this massive building like this.

Ghosts from my political past came up, often surprised to realise that Briefing still existed, sometimes teasing me with ‘Labour Take the Power!’. That sounded amusing but somehow appropriate once again, at least to my ears. Shoving his microphone under my nose,

Michael Crick of Channel 4 News described himself as a subscriber who remembered me well. Who, he asked, was our current Class Traitor of the Month? Gate-crashing the interview, a nearby SWP-er said we should expel the Blairites. Speaking to the camera, I asked why he thought he had any right to tell Jeremy who to expel. Labour is a broad church in need of unity, not expulsions. I did concede that maybe a few Blairites might consider their position, which made Crick happy enough.

I sold fifty Briefings within twenty minutes. Discovering ten extra copies lying on a stall, I sold them even more quickly as people formed an orderly queue. Two longer queues, side by side, had by now completely encircled the entire block. The main hall plus all available overflow rooms were packed. We thronged outside until eventually our hero appeared on the roof of the FBU’s bus. He began by quoting the firefighters’ magnificent slogan: ‘We rescue people, not banks’. The crowd went wild.

I can’t report what happened inside because despite having a ticket, hundreds of us never got in.

Labour Briefing is the magazine of the LRC

Background

By Ian Hodson It’s great news that a mainstream political party has recognised the importance of taking positive action to raise pay. Since 2008, politicians from all parties along with many in the media, have pushed the narrative that society will somehow improve by imposing austerity and blaming minority groups for the state of the country’s finances. Sadly, many have fallen for this deception and the ‘look over there’ politics that has rose to prominence since the Conservatives returned to power in 2010. [continue...]

Folkestone United – coming together to support migrants Bridget Chapman, Folkestone United, reports [continue...]

No Witch-Hunts In The GMB, Reinstate Keith Henderson (The Online Petition) Keith Henderson Essex LRC member and former Regional Organiser of the GMB Union was dismissed from the GMB last December, Keith has always believed that the real reason for his dismissal was because of his socialist beliefs and the manifestation of his beliefs. [continue...]

Please see our Labour Briefing Website here: LabourBriefing.org [continue...]

The LRC is supporting a broad alliance of campaign groups and trade unions against the proposals in the Welfare Reform Bill (currently before Parliament) and putting forward our alternative based on social justice and welfare for all. [continue...]

Across the country working people are losing their jobs and their homes. Meanwhile the bankers who plunged us into this crisis have been bailed out with billions of pounds of our money. It’s time to fight back. Their Crisis Not Ours! is the LRC’s campaign to bring together workers, pensioners, the unemployed, students, those facing repossession and all those suffering because of an economic crisis that has been imposed on us. The campaign is supporting the demands of the People’s Charter. [continue...]

Rail bosses are using the recession as an excuse to attack jobs and conditions and cut back on services and essential rail works, and hike rail fares - as LEAP research suggested they would. Thousands of jobs are being threatened or have been lost. At the same time rail fat cats are raking in big profits and bonuses on the back of the most expensive fares in Europe. Make no mistake: as the recession worsens so will the attack on rail workers and rail services. [continue...]

The campaign calling on the Government to abandon its plans for privatisation of Royal Mail. The Government has introduced the Postal Services Bill to part-privatise the Royal Mail. With our affiliate union CWU we are fighting to Keep the Post Public! [continue...]

The campaign to demand the Government funds improvements to all existing council housing, and to start building first class council homes to address housing need. For more information see Defend Council Housing website. [continue...]