National News
Gaza: Stop the slaughter
by New Worker correspondent
London comrades joined thousands of other Palestinian solidarity campaigners who rallied outside Downing Street in Whitehall on Monday to demand an end to Israeli aggression in Gaza. The emergency protest was called following reports that the Israelis had started to carpet bomb Rafah. Demonstrators called on the Sunak government to end arms sales to the Zionist state and as their numbers swelled the police were forced to close some of the roads near the Prime Minister’s residence
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Dog Collar Victory
by New Worker correspondent
Readers will be delighted to know that an important group of white collar workers who regularly work unsocial hours at the weekend have secured a seven per cent pay rise which will become effective in April. This was achieved by their union, Unite, who were satisfied with the offer despite originally claiming a 9.4 per cent rise when bosses offered a mere five per rise in the middle of last year
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A Right Royal Row
by New Worker correspondent
A long running strike by staff at the grand Royal Society of Arts is underway. On Monday several Fellows of the society including former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis, naturalist Chris Packham and others such as Jeremy Corbyn announced they were pulling out of RSA events in support of staff.
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Through Gritted Teeth
by New Worker correspondent
Last Friday shopworkers’ union Usdaw put out what must be a strong contender for the most grovelling union press release of the year. In it, current General Secretary Paddy Lillis “congratulated his predecessor John Hannett OBE, former General Secretary of Usdaw, on his elevation to the House of Lords”. Hannett retired in 2018 after 14 years as head of the union which employed him since 1985. Firmly on the Labour right he served on the Low Pay Commission, ACAS and the Trade Union and Labour Party Liaison Organisation (TULO). His elevation will solve at least one particular shopworker’s low pay problem
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The Year of the Dragon
by New Worker correspondent
Trafalgar Square was packed with revellers welcoming the Chinese New Year in the heart of the capital with a traditional Chinese parade and a host of other cultural events. The formal part of the celebrations opened with messages from King Charles and Rishi Sunak followed by speakers that included the Mayor of London Sadiq Khan, the Lord Mayor of Westminster and Chinese ambassador Zheng Zeguang.
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Welcoming the New Year at Drury Lane
by New Worker correspondent
NCP leader Andy Brooks joined members of London’s Chinese community for a Spring Festival celebration at the Theatre Royal on Monday.
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Banking on Zionist Apartheid
by New Worker correspondent
Don’t bank with Barclays. That was the message of the pickets outside Barclay’s bank in Clapham Junction last Saturday.
Barclays is bank-rolling Israel’s genocidal assault on Palestinians. The bank holds over £1 billion in shares, and provides over £3 billion in loans and underwriting to 9 companies whose weapons, components, and military technology are being used by Israel in its attacks on Palestinians.
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Scottish Political News
by our Scottish political affairs correspondent
“To lose one minister in one week, Mr Yousaf, may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose two looks like carelessness” was the quote of the week in which the SNP lost both a junior drugs minister as well as a full Cabinet minister.
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International News
EU noses into Indo-Pacific
by Mark Blacklock, Global Times
Western attitudes toward Asia can sometimes have an uncomfortable colonial feel, like the old European imperial powers which thought they could bring civilisation and Christianity to the East, on the heels of conquest. It can be patronising and even racist to think that your nation’s way of life, your culture and beliefs are superior to those of another. Today, this attitude can still be seen in the way the West does business
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Ukraine: General Syrsky, hero or villain?
by Ilya Tsukanov, Sputnik
The Western media have spent the better part of a day pumping up newly appointed Ukrainian Armed Forces Commander-in-Chief Alexander Syrsky as a modern-day Clausewitz, hailing him as the commander almost single-handedly responsible for the defence of Kiev during the first weeks of the conflict with Russia. Here’s what such reports are hiding.
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Russians advance in the Donbas
South Front
Amid the ongoing offensive on the Donbas front-lines, the Russian military continues precision strikes, destroying Ukrainian military and infrastructure facilities in the eastern and southern Ukrainian regions d in informal conversations with his compatriots in the political trenches
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Armed to the teeth
by Guillermo Alvarado, Radio Havana Cuba
Between 1st January and 24th January of this year, there were 24 mass shootings in the United States, one per day on average, which confirms that this is one of the most violent countries in the so-called developed world and also where it is much easier to acquire guns. In fact, it is much easier to acquire a revolver or a semi-automatic rifle and the corresponding license, than to obtain a license to drive a car.
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Features
A new start for the German left
by Victor Grossman , People’s World (USA)
Germany saw the official founding by about 450 delegates, in what was once East Germany’s handsome Cosmos movie theatre, of a new party, a break-away from the Linke (the Left). Named “Bündnis Sahra Wagenknecht” (Alliance Sahra Wagenknecht), it will count these delegates its only members until a regular congress is held after the crucial elections to the European Parliament in June
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The contributions of Mao Zedong to Marxism-Leninism
By J Sykes, Fightback News (USA)
Mao Zedong was one of the principal theorists of the science of revolution, Marxism-Leninism. Mao always stressed that it is the masses who make history, but like all Marxists he recognised the importance of leadership in revolutionary change. As the leader of the revolution in China, Mao made innumerable practical contributions both to the Chinese Revolution and to the international communist movement as a whole.
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