Wealthy few join £500 a plate celebrations, while workers suffer
Twelve months hard Labour!
A YEAR AGO the whole labour movement celebrated the demise of John Major’s vicious
Tory government and the end of almost 20 years of brutal attacks on the working class.
Tony Blair’s government swept to office with Labour’s biggest ever majority,
leaving the rump Tory opposition splintered and demoralised. The new Labour team could
literally do anything they wanted: and what they wanted to do was … implement Tory
policies!
They have been ruthless, and consistent. They have offered "fairness" only to
the rich and the ruling class, while the "firmness" consists of attacking the
working class movement that created the Labour Party and put them in office.
12 months on we have student fees, but no moves for a minimum wage, no rights to union
recognition, no let-up in the cuts in health and local government, and no reprieve for the
asylum seekers and refugees. Nobody expected the Blair team to offer us socialism, but it
didn’t have to be this bad!
One welcome result is that there have been signs of a revival of anger, activity and
militancy in the labour movement. The few illusions in Blair have quickly begun to be
dispelled.
Fighting back for our rights is the best hope of winning real gains after 12 months of
frustration and betrayal.