One hundred workers and youth won big support as they marched through south east London in defence of council housing on Saturday afternoon.
The march from the Walworth Road through the Aylesbury council estate, organised by the South East Council of Action, had tenants waving and cheering from their balconies.
The lead banner declared ‘Hands off our council housing. Kick out the privateers. We are not moving.’
Marchers kept up chants of ‘No demolitions, no evictions – save our homes!’, ‘Defend council housing – no privatisation!’, ‘Defend council jobs – bring the government down!’, ‘Youth demand a future – build more council homes!’
Some of the marchers spoke to News Line before setting off.
Francis O’Brien, Peckham YS, said: ‘It’s not right what the government are doing – kicking people out of their homes.
‘It’s just about money and making cuts. People should try to stop it and not leave their homes.
‘The trade unions should support the tenants and take action to stop evictions.’
Andy Bushell, a support worker, added: ‘I’d like to see some action about housing.
‘There’s a great need for social housing. All sorts of people are affected by the cuts and the Aylesbury estate demolition plans.
‘In some ways, leaseholders have more to lose. We have to fight the plan, unite the tenants and leaseholders.’
Samson Tadesse, a property maintenance worker, told News Line: ‘I’m supporting people in need to defend their homes.
‘The council has to stop demolitions and evicting people to redevelop the area in favour of private companies.
‘Everyone should get involved to stop this. The trade unions and all working class people should take action.
‘The government are not looking after the people, they are looking after the fat cats.
‘We should bring this government down and get a government run by the workers.’
YS editor Paul Lepper said: ‘The YS is supporting this march because this generation of young people aren’t going to have any council housing if the current council homes are knocked down.
‘It will be a generation without jobs, no guarantee of housing and on the streets. Youth will not accept this.
‘We need to smash this government and go forward to a workers government that will build council housing, not destroy it.’
Walworth resident Angela Evans said: ‘I’m trying to defend social housing, especially council housing.
‘This government has effectively done away with it. In fact, it started with Thatcher.
‘In Walworth, there is what they call regeneration. They plan to demolish the Aylesbury and Heygate estates and replace council houses with mostly homes for sale.
‘But they haven’t got the money to do that. We fear they are just going to leave the place to rot – one big building site.
‘So where are they going to house people? You’ll see a return of private housing and Rachmanism.
‘This so-called affordable housing – you have to have an income of £40,000 to afford affordable housing. There are not many people around here earning that.
‘We have to unite and stop them. We must unite and fight them, we are greater in numbers. It needs a general strike to bring this government down.’
Theresa Gondo, a student, said: ‘I heard about the government plans to tear down the estates. The council are being driven by government cuts.
‘The cuts are affecting the poorest people. We have to stop them.
‘People should refuse to leave their homes, and get the support of the trade unions.
‘The working class should unite and refuse to be affected by a situation which was started by the bourgeoisie.
‘We should get rid of this government and get one that fights for working class people.’
Mick Lyons of Aylesbury Tenants First told News Line: ‘I oppose the demolition of the estate. Regeneration is not working in the present way.
‘What we need is refurbishing not demolition. Refurbishing could be done for a fifth of the cost of demolition and rebuild.
‘They do this in Germany and France and it works. It creates jobs and makes it real that people have improved homes, not false promises.
‘I really appreciate that you’ve organised this march.’
Opening a meeting at the end of the march, Workers Revolutionary Party General Secretary Frank Sweeney said: ‘Behind this regeneration is privatisation.
‘We have a government that is waging war on the working class – the NHS and the whole of the Welfare State is under attack.
‘It’s like the oil wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, and now Libya.
‘The government is driven by the capitalist crisis. The only solution is to destroy capitalism.
‘The right to a council house is the greatest gain of the working class. It came out of great class battles when the working class raised itself out of the gutter.
‘Workers will always fight for council housing, the only thing is they have leaders who accept.
‘We gave a lead today, the response we got confirmed workers will fight.’
Chris Eames of Lewisham WRP told the meeting: ‘We are taking a stand to defend thousands of poor people who need a roof over their heads.
‘Across the country, we are seeing regeneration to let private providers move in. The plan is to destory the homes of tens of thousands of people.
‘It means thousands of homes will disappear and the developers will get the land for next to nothing.
‘What we are seeing is the return of the private landlords, Dickensian conditions. But the working class is fighting back.’
He added: ‘We are living in a capitalist system that cannot afford basic things.
‘We have to go beyond capitalism to defend the Welfare State, our health and homes.’
He warned: ‘Behind this is an attempt to destroy council housing. It’s all part of the attack on wages, the NHS and education – it’s a class war.
‘It’s building up to a general strike to bring this government down.
‘The Labour authorities were behind this regeneration, this is a betrayal.
‘It’s a coalition between the Tories, Lib Dems and their Labour helpers to put this area in the hands of private developers.’
He urged: ‘Build a tenants movement that will demand repairs are done, defend your homes. Build a Council of Action like we have here.
‘This is just the start of a struggle that is going to balloon.
‘Build council houses, get a future for young people, bring the government down.’
Young Socialists National Secretary Joshua Ogunleye said: ‘We’ve seen that Heygate tenants have been evicted and subjected to intimidation. This struggle led to this march.
‘The trade union leaders say build the alternative, reform the system. The only alternative under this system is poverty.
‘The solution is to defend council housing and go forward to socialism.’
