THE NEW WORKER

The Weekly paper of the New Communist Party of Britain
Week commencing 16th February 2018

Lead story

Syria fights against Israeli aggression

by our Arab Affairs correspondent

The Syrians gave Israel a bloody nose when their air-defences downed an Israeli warplane and hit another during an air-raid last weekend, and they’ve warned the Zionists of more “surprises” to come if Israel continues its provocations. Syrian air-defences also shot down 13 Israeli air-launched cruise missiles during the clash over the skies of the occupied Golan Heights on Saturday.

Russia has denounced the latest violation of Syrian sovereignty as “unacceptable” whilst urging all parties to exercise restraint, whilst Iran says it only maintains military advisors in Syria and that it has no bases in Syria. One Israeli F-16 was shot down and an F-15 hit as they returned from attacking what Tel Aviv claimed were Iranian bases responsible for launching a drone into the occupied Golan Heights last weekend. The two-man crew bailed out successfully but one of them is said to be badly injured

Read the full story here >> Syria fights against Israeli aggression

LRC debates preparing Labour for power

Members of the Labour Representation Committee (LRC) met for a special general meeting in London’s Conway Hall last Saturday to debate the LRC’s continuing role within the labour movement.

The modern LRC was founded in July 2004 by left-wing members of the Labour Party, trade unionists and others with the aim of restoring the party to its founding purpose of defending working-class interests, fighting for social democracy and the public ownership of the means of production and distribution. It was named after the committee that founded the Labour Party in February 1900

Read the full story here >> LRC debates preparing Labour for power

Editorial

Repossessing our utilities and services

The Labour Party held a conference in London last Saturday on Alternative Models of Ownership — a debate about the nuts and bolts of taking our privatised utilities and services back into public ownership, and doing it in such a way that a future Tory government would find it impossible to re-privatise them.

The neo-liberal policies that set off a plague of privatisations all around the globe have now shown themselves up as destroyers of public services and utilities. Their supporters claimed that they would be infinitely more efficient than the “bureaucratic” nationalised industries and would at the same time deliver unlimited wealth to millions of shareholders from all walks of life.

But it did not take long for the shares in British Telecom and British Gas and the council homes bought by their long-term tenants to get bought up by speculators and accumulate in the hands of the already wealthy venture capitalists, leaving the working-class share buyers and council tenants out in the cold.

Read the full editorial here >> Repossessing our utilities and services