Workers' Liberty
@workersliberty.bsky.social
Fighting as part of the labour movement for a socialist alternative to capitalism & Stalinism. Website: https://workersliberty.org/
It is the 70th anniversary of Béla Lugosi’s death. His career as Dracula, and his decline into drug addiction and alcoholism, have tended to overshadow his anti-fascist and trade union activity. workersliberty.org/story/2026-0...
Béla Lugosi, 1882-1956, trade union organiser
It is the 70th anniversary of Béla Lugosi’s death. Ask just about anyone what Béla Lugosi is famous for, and you will probably get one or two replies: his performance as Dracula and his appearance in…
workersliberty.org
“Be on the right side of history” is an aphorism that has become all but meaningless through overuse. But even if it had not had its meaning wrung from it by social-media saturation, it ought to be retired. workersliberty.org/story/2026-0...
The "Right Side of History"?
“Be on the right side of history” is an aphorism that has become all but meaningless through overuse. But even if it had not had its meaning wrung from it by social-media saturation, it ought to be…
workersliberty.org
Diary of a tubeworker: All down to service control workersliberty.org/story/2026-0...
All down to service control
The radio goes off, and you glance at it, wondering what they want from you. You are already out of service, running into the depot. This almost certainly means they’re finding more work for you. The…
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Sharon Graham has been reelected as general secretary of Unite the union. She received more than double the votes (68,694) of her rival Simon Dubbins (31,130). The turnout was 10.31%, down on previous years. workersliberty.org/story/2026-0...
Sharon Graham re-elected in Unite
Sharon Graham has been reelected as general secretary of Unite the union.
workersliberty.org
Ballot papers for the Scottish Labour Party leadership election will be issued from 28 August. The ballot will close on 17 September. There will be two names on the ballot paper: North East MSP Michael Marra, and South Scotland MSP Joe Fagan. workersliberty.org/story/2026-0...
Poor choice for Scottish Labour leader
Ballot papers for the Scottish Labour Party leadership election will be issued from 28 August. The ballot will close on 17 September.
workersliberty.org
There’s zero discussion on the left of how the media would function in a socialist society. It must represent genuine freedom of expression. workersliberty.org/story/2026-0...
Public service broadcasting and us
The only time I appeared on television was way back in 1976, as a representative of the Merseyside Anti-Fascist Committee. I helped to organise a programme on “racialism”, as racism was termed then,…
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France: Zucman proposes a minimum tax of 2% of wealth on all fortunes of $100 million or more, about 1,800 households. It would raise €20 billion a year. The essence is to stop the super-rich escaping income tax as they largely do at present. workersliberty.org/story/2026-0...
A wealth tax? A Zucman tax
In France, the talk is of a "Zucman tax", not of a "wealth tax". France already has a wealth tax of sorts (but only on real estate). More to the point, it had a wider wealth tax from 1981 to 2017,…
workersliberty.org
We are launching a three-month campaign to raise £15,000, ending at Ideas for Freedom on the weekend of 21-22 November. We have no big money backers or crypto-billionaires to help fund our work. workersliberty.org/story/2026-0...
Raising £15,000 by November
With this paper, we are launching a three-month campaign to raise £15,000, ending at Ideas for Freedom on the weekend of 21-22 November. We have no big money backers or crypto-billionaires to help…
workersliberty.org
In line with the rest of the movement Unison has had a decline in its activist base. The union members and activists in local government are older than average local government workers. Unless we can recruit more reps we face an existential crisis. workersliberty.org/story/2026-0...
Rebuilding union strength in local government
Unison members in local government will receive a pay increase of 3.3%, against a claim for £3,000 or 10%, whichever was the greater. Pay in local government has gone down by 25% since 2009, in the…
workersliberty.org
Musk is, like say Henry Ford, talented in some areas, but mostly unstable. Like Ford, he has huge economic power; and, unlike Ford, he has had and may regain personal political power, as an attack-dog for Trumpism. workersliberty.org/story/2026-0...
Musk and feral Trumpism
Quinn Slobodian's and Ben Tarnoff's book Muskism tells well the life so far of Elon Musk.
workersliberty.org
In his Prison Notebooks Gramsci referred several times to Luxemburg's article Stillstand und Fortschritt im Marxismus. I will try here to relate Gramsci's interest in it to the broader development of his thinking workersliberty.org/story/2026-0...
Making a new "philosophical movement"
My article "Rosa Luxemburg on renewing Marxism" mentioned at the end the interest shown by Antonio Gramsci (1891-1937) in Rosa Luxemburg's 1903 Vorwärts article "Stillstand und Fortschritt im…
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In chapters 6 and 7 of Capital Volume One, Marx lays out his theory of capitalist exploitation. workersliberty.org/story/2026-0...
Capital, chapters six and seven
By 1867 Karl Marx was fairly well-known in the European and US workers’ movements, through his activity in the First International, founded in September 1864.
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This first book of a new series from the SWP is, in general theory, a rehash of writings by John Rees and Alex Callinicos for the SWP's "anti-imperialist turn" after 1986-7 on Israel-Palestine and the 1980-8 Iran-Iraq war. workersliberty.org/story/2026-0...
Apologetics ride out
The SWP, publishers of Socialist Worker (SW), have published a new book on imperialism, Death Rides Out, by Tomáš Tengely-Evans, editor of SW.
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Andy Burnham has been Labour Leader and Prime Minister for just over a month, and it is one month now until Labour’s 2026 annual conference on 27-30 September in Liverpool. workersliberty.org/story/2026-0...
Burnham is still “Labour right”. How will the left respond?
As I write, Andy Burnham has been Labour Leader and Prime Minister for just over a month, and it is one month now until Labour’s 2026 annual conference on 27-30 September in Liverpool. There is…
workersliberty.org
Chow Hang-tung defended herself in court, asking if shouting the slogan "end one party rule" is now a criminal offence in Hong Kong. The court’s verdict answered Yes to her question. workersliberty.org/story/2026-0...
Free Lee, Chow and all HK political prisoners!
Two former leaders of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, Lee Cheuk-yan and Chow Hang-tung, were found guilty by the Hong Kong High Court on 21 August of…
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Writing about the crimes of a sex offender like Simon Levy, is difficult, but the Socialist Party’s response exposes a number of political problems with their approach. workersliberty.org/story/2026-0...
More money for prisons is no answer
Writing about the crimes of a sex offender like Simon Levy, jailed on 13 August for killing two women and raping a third while on bail for sexual assault offences is difficult, but the Socialist…
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Paul Conrathe, a right-wing Christian lawyer, has written to the TUC calling on them to ensure that all affiliated Unions uphold “sex-based rights” in their elections. workersliberty.org/story/2026-0...
Fight this bid to ban union trans-inclusivity!
Paul Conrathe, the right-wing Christian lawyer who has spearheaded legal cases against both abortion and trans rights, and whose firm acted for Stephen Flaherty, has written to the TUC following the…
workersliberty.org
Taliban authorities banned girls from secondary education in September 2021. A UNICEF report says that Afghanistan faces a dual crisis: losing trained female professionals while preventing the next generation from replacing them. workersliberty.org/story/2026-0...
Afghan women suffer from both Taliban and Trump
A new UNICEF analysis, The Cost of Inaction on Girls’ Education and Women’s Labour Force Participation in Afghanistan, has found that female representation in the civil service fell from 21 per cent…
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The row about Cambridge professor Jason Arday moved fast from reasonable questions to reckless vilification. “Black Leaders in Higher Education”, a group of Black professors, university managers, etc., has produced a measured statement. workersliberty.org/story/2026-0...
Arday: from questions to vilification
The row about Cambridge professor Jason Arday moved fast from reasonable questions to reckless vilification. “Black Leaders in Higher Education” , a group of Black professors, university managers,…
workersliberty.org
“Climate tipping points” are a key way to frame the dangers that human activity presents to the stability of the climate. workersliberty.org/story/2026-0...
How close are the “tipping points”?
“Climate tipping points” (CTPs) are a key way to frame the dangers that human activity presents to the stability of the climate. Climatological and ecological earth systems that humanity relies on…
workersliberty.org
The new Campaign against Fees, Cuts and Debt is making plans for the coming term. Labour conference is coming up and gives students an opportunity to demonstrate that we are up for the fight. workersliberty.org/story/2026-0...
Students get ready for the term
The new student Campaign against Fees, Cuts, and Debt is making plans for the coming term. A conference on 31 July and 1 August brought together activists from around the country. That campaign is…
workersliberty.org
Angela Rayner has an opportunity to resolve the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government dispute, proving that she can listen to workers rather than just make speeches about workers’ rights. workersliberty.org/story/2026-0...
Rayner agrees to meet MHCLG PCS
The long running dispute of the PCS civil service union with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) continues. The dispute is focussed on office closures and their…
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Climate change is coming faster, not slower, than expert predictions. Keeping it within manageable limits, let alone reversing it, demands stopping fossil-fuel development now. workersliberty.org/story/2026-0...
Stop Rosebank and Jackdaw
Public consultations on updated plans for the Jackdaw gas field east of Aberdeen and the bigger Rosebank oil and gas field north of Shetland closed on 10 August 2026 (Jackdaw) and 17 August…
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In August 1932, Reg Groves, Harry Wicks and Henry Sara were summoned to the regional office of the Communist Party of Great Britain. They were there to answer charges for producing and circulating a paper of the Left Opposition in Britain. workersliberty.org/story/2026-0...
How British Trotskyism began
In August 1932 Reg Groves, Harry Wicks and Henry Sara were summoned to the regional office of the Communist Party of Great Britain. They were there to answer charges. The three, along with other CPGB…
workersliberty.org
Donald Trump is afraid of losing in the 3 November midterm elections, which will replace the whole of the House of Representatives and one-third of the Senate. workersliberty.org/story/2026-0...
Trump scrabbles to avoid mid-terms setback
Donald Trump is afraid of losing in the 3 November midterm elections which replace the whole of the House of Representatives and one-third of the Senate. At a recent rally he claimed “I’m going to be…
workersliberty.org
As the battle lines are relatively static, Ukraine and Russia are increasingly locked into a war to destroy economic and civilian targets. It is the wrong fight for Ukraine to choose, and is not one it is well-placed to win. workersliberty.org/story/2026-0...
Support Ukraine; oppose targeting civilians
As the battlelines are relatively static, Ukraine and Russia are increasingly locked into a war to destroy economic, civilian targets. It is the wrong fight for Ukraine to choose, and is not one it…
workersliberty.org
There has been an approximately 35-fold increase in convictions in Russia for “espionage” and “treason” since the start of the war. workersliberty.org/story/2026-0...
Crackdown sharpens in Russia
In April of this year six members of the anti-war youth movement Vesna (“Spring”) were sentenced to between six and twelve years in prison. The charges against them included “disseminating false…
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Western Sahara remains Africa’s last major unresolved colonial question. workersliberty.org/story/2026-0...
Self-determination for Western Sahara
Western Sahara remains Africa’s last major unresolved colonial question. When Spain relinquished control of the territory in 1975, it handed the territory to Morocco and Mauritania despite an…
workersliberty.org
The Morning Star of 13 August was pretty much a Fidel Castro fanzine, with an editorial and a further eight pages of breathless adulation to Fidel and Fidelismo. workersliberty.org/story/2026-0...
Eulogising Castro… and re-writing Cuban history
Fidel Castro, it is said, opposed personality cults and prohibited naming streets, public squares or institutions after himself. He likewise banned statues and monuments in his likeness. So we can…
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Unite members at the RNLI lifeboat manufacturing site in East Cowes remain in dispute over the closing of the site and redundancies. workersliberty.org/story/2026-0...
RNLI strikers increase pressure on bosses
Unite members at the RNLI lifeboat manufacturing site in East Cowes remain in dispute over the closing of the site and redundancies. Following our report in Solidarity 772 there have been two more…
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