THE NEW WORKER

The Weekly paper of the New Communist Party of Britain
Week commencing 23rd March 2018

Lead story

TURKS TAKE AFRIN

by our Arab Affairs correspondent

TURKISH FORCES have taken the Syrian Kurdish city of Afrin, which was abandoned by the Kurdish militia this week. The Turks and their Arab ‘Free Syrian Army’ auxiliaries now control most of what had been the western wing of ‘Rojava’ — the autonomous Kurdish region in northern Syria. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad visited a frontline area. meeting his soldiers and greeting civilians, in eastern Ghouta.

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20,000 defy ice and snow to march against racism

AROUND 20,000 anti-racists took to the streets of London, Glasgow and Cardiff last Saturday, despite of snow and icy winds, as part of the United Nations International Anti-Racism Day.

Read the full story here >> 20,000 defy ice and snow to march against racism

Editorial

A welcome victory

JENNIE FORMBY has won the race to be the next general secretary of the Labour Party. Ms Formby, a full-time officer of Unite, has been a Labour activist for years. Supported by Jeremy Corbyn, and backed by Unite and the GMB, she defeated her nearest rival in a secret ballot of Labour’s executive committee members by 35 votes to two.

Though the post is administrative and not political, the general secretary oversees Labour’s national campaigns and in the past the general secretary has used the powers of the post to apply the rule book as he or she sees fit. The previous incumbent, Iain McNicol, was directly in charge of the unelected and discredited “compliance unit” that purged thousands of pro-Corbyn members from the party, including prominent activists such as former London Mayor Ken Livingstone and others, on trumped-up charges of “anti-Semitism”.

One victim, former Momentum vice-chair Jackie Walker, who has been suspended by Labour for almost two years, welcomed the result saying: “Things are definitely changing in the party, but they are not changing fast enough for a lot of members who remain suspended or expelled based on trumped-up or false charges or simply because they are active supporters of Corbyn.

Read the full editorial here >> A welcome victory