This is a transcript of Roger Silverman's talk to the LLA Conference, 30th January 2021 Welcome to what could well prove a landmark conference. Hearty thanks for your support for the candidates of the LLA, and for my candidacy, in the recent elections for Labour’s National Executive Committee. In these elections we were opposed not just by the right wing, but also by the official left, which … [Read more...]
Black Lives Matter: Perspectives for the UK
WHY I AM STANDING FOR THE NEC
by Roger Silverman As an NEC member, I would campaign vigorously to restore the supremacy of party conference, uphold the democratic right of open selection of candidates for office, end arbitrary suspensions, and put forward radical socialist policies along the lines of the 2019 election manifesto. I was born into a Labour family and have been a lifelong party activist. My father was a … [Read more...]
Covid19 – Change the System!
The following statement was issued on 17th March by the Executive Committee of West Ham Constituency Labour Party. For socialists, the signs of capitalism’s failed response to a health crisis are glaringly plain for all to see. Boris Johnson flounders from one poorly judged decision to another, holding up his medical experts as a shield should he come under attack for any failures to deal … [Read more...]
Transforming Bradford
By Allan Brack reports on a radical cultural initiative Now more than ever, in the face of the most right-wing Tory Government in living memory and a world in turmoil, we need to radicalise and build a broad Labour Movement of solidarity, unity and strength. Alongside political debate and education, art and creativity have a huge role to play in combating the power of the media oligarchs, … [Read more...]
Editorial: On the Brink Spring 2020
This is no time for glib slogans. December’s election result is a serious setback. It clears the way for the most brutal Tory attacks yet seen on our living standards and our democratic rights, destroying the last remaining vestiges of the welfare state and plunging into despair a generation of youth desperate for the chance of a future. It also puts at risk the advances made in the last four … [Read more...]
UK Election 2019
This election was a big defeat for the Labour Party. There will be much debate and questioning in its aftermath. The enemies of socialism will do their best to use the election result to try and destroy the socialist message. Did Labour promise too much? Britain is the sixth richest country in the world. The Attlee government could afford to introduce and fund the NHS directly … [Read more...]
THE GREAT MINERS STRIKE: 35 YEARS ON
Article By John Dunn (Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign) Heard the one about the miners being defeated? 35 years ago the National Union of Mineworkers were fighting, as was later proven, a titanic fight for survival, not only for the union, but for the mining industry, their communities and ultimately for future generations. Now there is not a single pit left in Britain. Formerly … [Read more...]
Labour and Britain’s Crisis
Beneath the immediate crisis over whether, when and how Britain is to leave the European Union lies a deeper trend: the chronic decline and death agony of British capitalism. Where once it was the “workshop of the world”, today it is losing its last remnants of productive industry, most of them by now assembly plants owned by Japanese, Indian and other foreign companies. Where once it ruled “an … [Read more...]
Could there be a Coup?
In this article Roger Silverman briefly considers the issue of attempts to undermine a left-leaning Corbyn government. Chris Mullins' novel “A Very British Coup” does draw an authentic picture of the underhand practices of the British state, perfected over centuries of colonial rule. After all, most of the world's current and historic trouble spots are the direct legacy of the British Empire – … [Read more...]