OVER 100 workers, students and youth attended the Workers Revolutionary Party and Young Socialists Rally and Film marking 100 years since the General Strike at Elizabeth House in Finsbury Park in north London.
A powerful delegation of dozens of Unite Domestic Workers Branch members in their green campaign t-shirts attended with their banner.
Workers Revolutionary Party General Secretary Nash Campbell, who chaired the rally, said: ‘We’re marking 100th anniversary of the General Strike.
‘Now we need a general strike today to bring down this Labour government which supports the bosses and bring in a workers government and a socialist system.’
He introduced the first speaker, Valbona Hazizi, a GMB member at Maudsley Hospital in South East London, who told the rally: ‘I’m a catering assistant employed by the private company OCS and they are trying to cut the hours of more than 100 of us an to make us part time.
‘Over 200 of us in catering and cleaners at the hospital have been on strike for the past three days. We all want to be taken back in-house.
‘They are trying to cut the hours of caterers and cleaners and make the nurses serve patients’ their breakfasts and have the corridors only be cleaned one time a day in the morning.
‘When OCS took over they promised no redundancies but now they want to make many of us redundant. They sacked six people recently.
‘We’ve just done three days of strike action and the management has been trying to intimidate people and threaten them for striking.
‘I’ve worked at Maudsley for eight years. We all want to be returned to the NHS.’
The next speaker was Aabhinav Tyagi, Young Socialist Editor, who said: ‘A slogan of the general strike was “not a penny off the pay, not a minute on the day!” Why is a film about nine days in 1926 the most important thing for us to see today?
‘Labour Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper put the Palestine Action people in the same category as ISIS.
‘The show trials weren’t allowed to hear any of the reasons why they took action in the first place.
‘We’ve just witnessed the death knell for the two-party system in last week’s election.
‘Thatcher had a dream to close the pits, the steelworers, the docks. They were closed or sold off to foreign interests who now make the rules for Britain.
‘Now in the UK the Financial Control Authority (FCA) is going to be run by Israeli defence firm Palantir.
‘Emboldened by what it did in Venezuela, the US thought they could over the Iranian government in 24 hours.
‘Now Trump hasn’t got any way to save face. The US economic crisis is held by a bubble that is 17 times bigger than the one that produced the crisis in 2008.
‘The US economy is just waiting for the bubble to burst. War is the only way forward for them.
‘In the country and throughout the world an energy crisis is exploding. Last week, they announced they are withdrawing 5,000 soldiers from Germany.
‘It is inevitable that Iran will retaliate to all attacks. The only way the government in this country has responded is to clamp down on workers. Starmer is only going to ramp up attacks.
‘The Workers Revolutionary Party and Young Socialists are fighting for a socialist future.
‘We need a leadership that is ready to take power and work in the interests of the working class.’
The next speaker was Director of the Voice of Domestic Workers, Marissa Begonia, who said: ‘We are pleased to be here today to mark the general strike.
‘I am the founder and director of the Domestic Workers Branch of Unite. It is the first in the world. We have been organising since 2008.
‘I had to do research about the general strike that happened 100 years ago. I will read to you what I found out. 100 years ago workers in Britain stood not just for wages and today we honour that battle.
‘Today, behind closed doors, many domestic workers have no rights.
‘Let us be clear, in 2012 the UK created a visa system that punishes the rights of domestic workers.
‘Today, 100 years on from the general strike how can we allow a situation where working class people lose their rights and dignity?
‘We are organising, we are speaking out and fighting for the right to renew our visas.
‘100 years ago workers shut down the country. The fight for workers’ rights is not finished. A century after the general strike no worker should be denied basic rights.’
Marissa finished her speech by leading her members in a powerful chant: ‘What do we want? Rights and Dignity! We’re Domestic Workers – We fight for our Rights!’
Final speaker was WRP Central Committee member Frank Sweeney, who began by thanking Marissa and saying: ‘We fight for the abolition of all immigration laws.’
He went on: ‘Starmer is terrified of the working class. On this anniversary, we wanted to draw out the lessons of the General Strike for the international working class.
‘A huge lie has been perpetrated – that the working class was defeated. The working class was not defeated, it was betrayed.
‘Britain emerged from the First World War a wounded animal. In 1917, the working class took power for the first time in the world in the Russian Revolution.
‘In 1926, the union leaders were forced to call a general strike. When the union leaders talk about a general strike they oppose it.
‘The amazing thing happened in the general strike was that as soon as it took place the power of the working class showed itself.
‘Workers organised Councils of Action – in the Russian Revolution they were called Soviets.
‘The Councils of Action controlled production, they controlled the transport system, they organised food distribution.
‘When the strike was called off it was a body blow. There were more factories joining the strike at its end with more and more workers picketing more factories out.
‘The Councils of Action became the only authority, worrying the government more than anything. Possessing a Council of Action leaflet was illegal.
‘When we look at the situation today we know another general strike is coming.
‘The union leaders warn that their members were getting out of control.
‘After the strike was called off the miners were starved back to work.
‘The WRP is fighting to build a revolutionary leadership in the unions and among the youth.
‘The lesson of 1926 is that this leadership betrayed the working class. Build a leadership that is prepared for a general strike and a revolution and will not betray.’
The Film The General Strike – A Revolution Betrayed was then shown.
It’s a must see!
It contains lots of footage of people who actually participated in the strike and archive footage.
