Workers' Liberty

MHCLG dispute wins talks Members of the PCS civil service union in the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) have entered a potentially critical stage in their long running dispute over: • Office…

The PCS civil service union has re-entered negotionations with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) over their long running dispute.

workersliberty.org/story/2025-1...

Museum workers out for nine weeks Workers at the National Coal Mining Museum for England have been on strike for nine weeks. Around 45 members of Unison, including mine guides, horsekeepers, and cleaners, are striking in a dispute…

Workers at the National Coal Mining Museum for England, members of Unison, have been on strike for nine weeks.

workersliberty.org/story/2025-1...

Sheffield University prepares for strikes Students have been back on campus in most parts of the UK only for a few weeks, but the rotten stench of cuts and underfunding has been lingering around since the last academic year, brewing over the…

Sheffield students in the Anti-Cuts coalition are preparing for the coming UCU strike; meanwhile more cuts hit unis everywhere.

workersliberty.org/story/2025-1...

A film centred on a library Eric Lee’s recent article on libraries re-kindled some happy memories of various libraries I have visited over the years. However, I can only think of one film (there must be more) which is centred…

Jean-Jacques Annaud’s film The Name of the Rose (1986), adapted from the novel by Umberto Eco.

workersliberty.org/story/2025-1...

Myanmar's 2025 sham election: a turning point? Since the 2021 military coup that overthrew democracy in Myanmar, various forms of resistance have emerged against the military dictatorship. These efforts, grouped together as the Spring Revolution,…

The election scheduled for late 2025 in Myanmar is widely viewed as a fraudulent spectacle rather than a genuine democratic exercise by the population inside Myanmar and the resistance groups.

workersliberty.org/story/2025-1...

How not to deal with signal failure “Go and wait on the platform”. The instructions from the Trains Manager don’t really make a lot of sense. “So there will be a train I can take back west?” “Go to the westbound and you will get…

Diary of a Railworker: Stuck, waiting for "further instructions".

workersliberty.org/story/2025-1...

New push to restore Birmingham bins deal Birmingham’s Labour council, under the command of commissioners sent by central government after it went into “Section 114”, has settled its outstanding equal pay claims. According to the Unite…

Birmingham’s Labour council has settled its outstanding equal pay claims — time to settle the dispute with refuse workers.

workersliberty.org/story/2025-1...

Janine Booth will speak about her new book, ‘Railworkers 200’, (£5 from www.workersliberty.org/rail200) — two hundred years of railway workers and their struggles, at Ideas for Freedom on Sunday 23 Nov.
⏰ IFF25, 22-23 Nov, Islington.
ℹ More + tickets: www.workersliberty.org/iff25

Buses: time to level up! The bus strikes in Greater Manchester are off again for now, following improved pay won by drivers’ strike action through their union Unite. Drivers at First Bus in Rochdale settled first, then…

An opportunity has been missed to link the pay fight more effectively across all companies involved in the Greater Manchester bus drivers' strike.

workersliberty.org/story/2025-1...

Letter: France Insoumise is one thing, NFP another The populist and Bonapartist model promoted by Melenchon since 2017 with the foundation of “France Insoumise” is not to be confused with the question of NFP – Nouveau Front Populaire.

Letter: The populist and Bonapartist model promoted by Mélenchon since 2017 with the foundation of “France Insoumise” is not to be confused with the question of NFP – Nouveau Front Populaire.

workersliberty.org/story/2025-1...

Tube pay: bosses budge, but we can win more We have no big money backers. We rely on sales and donations to keep us going.

London Underground has made a new offer for 2025-6 pay and conditions.

workersliberty.org/story/2025-1...

GFM workers wait on new offer Outsourced domestics, porters, kitchen, maintenance and reception staff at Newham Centre for Mental Health spent 12 October, the last day of their 26 day strike, protesting outside the London offices…

NHS workers employed by Grosvenor Facilities Management in Newham await the latest offer to settle their long-running strike.

workersliberty.org/story/2025-1...

Defeat the far right? Theory matters I've read a lot of good books recently, but How to Defeat the Far Right by Nick Lowles isn’t one of them. The book is only a history of Hope not Hate. And dull. Consider my reading (most of) this…

Book review: "I've read a lot of good books recently, but How to Defeat the Far Right by Nick Lowles isn’t one of them."

workersliberty.org/story/2025-1...

Railworkers 200 We have no big money backers. We rely on sales and donations to keep us going.

Railworkers 200: Two centuries of rail workers and their struggles

by Janine Booth

Buy at:
workersliberty.org/rail200

Ideas for Freedom sets its agenda The Workers' Liberty weekend school Ideas for Freedom 2025 starts on Friday 21 November, 7pm at the Indian YMCA, 41 Fitzroy Square, London W1T 6AQ. The weekend sessions, from 11am Saturday 22…

Ideas for Freedom 2025 starts on Friday 21 November, 7pm at the Indian YMCA, 41 Fitzroy Square, London W1T 6AQ. The weekend sessions, from 11am Saturday 22 November to 4:30pm Sunday 23 November, will be in Islington, North London.

workersliberty.org/story/2025-1...

Debate: Seven million on the street, but Trump still holds power Donald Trump loses all the polls, but President Trump has all the federal executive power. That is central. The build-up of support for the anti-Trump demonstrations is impressive. One estimate is…

"The Trumpites will not meekly surrender power to the Democrats.... the big question [now] is whether the labour movement, as the labour movement, will come to the fore against Trump. It must!"

workersliberty.org/story/2025-1...

What AI can do, and what it can’t A very effective marketing term. The phrase “artificial intelligence” has been used in computing since at least the 1950s. “AI” is now used as shorthand for “machine learning” and Large Language…

Everybody's talking about it, but what will it really mean for jobs, economy, our lives?

workersliberty.org/story/2025-1...

The real politics of Yuri Levchenko Picture: Svoboda in 2014 The appearance of Ukrainian politician Yuri Levchenko, founder of Narodovladdia (People’s Power), as a speaker at an international conference organised by the European…

Who is Yuri Levchenko, founder of the Ukrainian organisation Narodovladdia (People’s Power)?

workersliberty.org/story/2025-1...

The French left and the political crisis Emmanuel Macron’s new prime minister, Sebastian Lecornu, has won a reprieve in his second attempt to form a government. The Socialist Party abstained to allow him to survive a no-confidence vote, in…

How the French left is responding to the political crisis; their texts, with some commentary.

workersliberty.org/story/2025-1...

Prison violence and trans people Workers’ Liberty supports trans and gender-diverse (TGD) people’s rights. Some left feminists (sex based rights activists, SBRAs) see those as threatening women’s rights. This series of articles…

Prison violence and trans people

workersliberty.org/story/2025-1...

Democracy a long way off under Sharaa Syria is now electing its first Parliament since the fall of Assad. The electorate is 6,000 in regional subcommittees, overseen by an 11-person Supreme Committee, appointed by Ahmed al-Sharaa. Sharaa…

Syria is now electing its first Parliament since the fall of Assad.

workersliberty.org/story/2025-1...

Who will shape “Your Party”? To contribute positively, Jeremy Corbyn’s “Your Party” has to offer better than the Greens, who already exist and have a form of democratic structures, i.e. it has to offer working-class socialist…

To contribute positively “Your Party” has to offer better than the Greens i.e. it has to offer working-class socialist politics, class-struggle activity beyond elections, democratic structures and accountability of representatives

workersliberty.org/story/2025-1...

The fiascos of green capitalism Adrienne Buller’s 2022 book The Value of a Whale on the illusions of green capitalism seems somewhat outdated now in a world dominated by the “drill, baby, drill” policies of the Trump presidency.…

Review of The Value of a Whale by Adrienne Buller.

workersliberty.org/story/2025-1...

Ofer Cassif and campaigning inside Israel Ofer Cassif is a brave and principled man. He is a member of the Communist Party of Israel and part of Hadash (the Democratic Front for Peace and Equality) in the Israeli parliament, the Knesset.

The Morning Star carried an interview with Ofer Cassif on 7 October, which must count as one of the few articles on Israel-Palestine published by that paper that is worth reading.

workersliberty.org/story/2025-1...

A path to peace and equality Jasr Kawkby is a doctor based in London, originally from Gaza. He spoke at the London Friends of Standing Together rally on 5 October.

Jasr Kawkby is a doctor based in London, originally from Gaza. He spoke at the London Friends of Standing Together rally on 5 October.

workersliberty.org/story/2025-1...

Free Marwan Barghouti! As part of the first stages of the ceasefire plan, Israel has released almost 2,000 Palestinian detainees and prisoners from its jails. Around 1,700 were people held without charge, under the…

If the Israeli government genuinely wanted lasting peace it would release Barghouti and negotiate a peace settlement, based on ending the occupation and recognising a sovereign Palestinian state in the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem, with the PLO.

workersliberty.org/story/2025-1...

Peace: two states, equal rights! Writing in the Guardian, left-wing Israeli politician Ofer Cassif said: “If the UK government acknowledges the reality of settler violence and its grave implications on Palestinian life, why does it…

"Only when every human being’s dignity between the river and sea is respected can we truly say peace has been achieved."

workersliberty.org/story/2025-1...

Complete the ceasefire! The Gaza ceasefire remains fragile, with, as of 17 October, tensions escalating over the question of the return of the remains of hostages. Israel has claimed Hamas’s failure to return remains…

The Gaza ceasefire remains fragile, with, as of 17 October, tensions escalating over the question of the return of the remains of hostages. Meanwhile, Israel continues to intensify its settler-colonial project in the West Bank.

workersliberty.org/story/2025-1...

Green shoots in autumn Across the country there has been an uptick in our own public-facing Workers’ Liberty activity — we have been met with a greater interest in what we have to say, and we are carrying out that work…

Across the country there has been an uptick in our own public-facing Workers’ Liberty activity — we have been met with a greater interest in what we have to say, and we are carrying out that work with greater confidence.

workersliberty.org/story/2025-1...

Workers’ answers to far right The estimated 110-150,000-strong Unite the Kingdom march on 13 September has further boosted the far right in the UK. Anti-migrant protests outside hotels have continued, although with less…

Editorial: "Millions of working-class people are now open to scapegoating migrants and minority communities as a response to economic hardship. We need, but do not have, a mass labour-movement campaign to match the scale of the problem."

workersliberty.org/story/2025-1...