SUPPORT for the 248-mile Young Socialists March for Jobs from London to the Liverpool TUC Congress grew on its second day, as Bedfordshire firefighters supported the march through Luton.
The Young Socialists are demanding the TUC Congress calls an indefinite general strike to bring this rotten government down.
The marchers were greeted with cheers as they entered Luton town centre, shouting: ‘Stop Fire Station Closures – Occupy Now!’ and ‘From London to Liverpool Young Socialists Decree – Youth Demand Jobs, We won’t Work for Free!’
There was an impromptu rally outside Luton Town Hall.
Jamie Newell, FBU Brigade Secretary for Bedfordshire, told News Line: ‘I call on the leadership of the unions to be daring enough to make a proper fight. There is a lot of talk about a general strike. Instead of talking about it they should just get on and do it.
‘Unite leader McCluskey at the People’s Assembly Rally on June 21st, said that you can only call a general strike once you’ve raised psyche of the membership. But that sounds like a cop-out to me, because if you just called the strike the membership would just walk out the door.
‘The bottom line is that the government are happy to let people march as long as they keep raising taxes and turning up for work, but if they called a general strike it would force the fight on them. The most important thing is to see young people taking part in this march from London to Liverpool. It’s their generation which will have to put up with the world we leave them.
‘That’s why we have a moral obligation to leave them a better world than the one we inherited.
‘The ideology of austerity is to undo decades of workers’ rights, that have been fought for and won over generations.
‘The three pillars of social change are civil disobedience, direct action and economic withdrawal.
‘The TUC has an obligation to lead that fight and if they won’t then we have to force them from the bottom up.
‘The Young Socialists March is an example of all three of these principles in action and that’s why I fully support their march and am marching with them.’
Jonathan Polley, a teacher and member of NASUWT, said: ‘I work with the youth of today and everyone, no matter what their ability, is being pushed into university, getting themselves into massive debt and the jobs that are available after graduation are either not well paid enough or simply not there.
‘We are going to end up in a situation like in Spain where they have a massive youth unemployment. I support the march for jobs, because the Young Socialists are fighting for the youth of today to have prospects.’
Jonathan’s wife, Tylean Polley, a music teacher and member of Left Unity and BECTU, said: ‘I believe that education must be free. In a world where you need a degree for any job you do, university fees must be abolished.
‘That’s why I support the YS March for Jobs. The working class should come out on an indefinite general strike. I am a socialist and I am definitely against capitalism.’
The Young Socialists march stopped at Studley Road, Luton, Fire Station, where the whole watch met the marchers with a big cheer that went up.
