INTRODUCTION TO CUTS AWARENESS IN FURNESS

DISMAL PUBLIC RESPONSE TO CUTS 
HERE IN FURNESS
It is said a picture is as good as a thousand words so maybe I ought to just leave these in place and sign out.....


But, if I did that, you wouldn't know what they were about and that would be unsatisfactory.


                                                                                 


 The top picture is of the meeting by Cumbria        
Local Police Authority (public police service 'watchdog') held to inform the public about measures to be taken to cushion the service against the imposed government cuts in funding provision.

Occupying the tables at the front are two members of the LPA and two senior police officers.  Two members of the local police force are sitting on the front row.  The next row shows an Ulverston town councillor being interviewed by a member of the local press, and the row behind them contains the secretary of Ulverston Trades Union Council and his wife.  Two other attendees are missing from the photograph: the local press photographer who completed his task and departed, and the person taking the picture - me! 


The majority opinion at this meeting was that measures to reduce waste and improve efficiency were to be welcomedbut some did not agree with the 'More can be done with less' government propaganda slogan.


The bottom picture shows attendance at the Cumbria County Council 'Public Consultation' meeting held at the same venue (Forum 28, Barrow) as the PLA meeting but in a different studio theatre.  It's hardly a case of 'standing room only', is it?!


Generally, the gathering consisted of persons having a special interest they wished to see preserved - even if this meant others got dumped on.  Interest was maintained by the application of a colourful Powerpoint presentation, a roving microphone and provision of an individual electronic voting device for each member of the audience.


Members of the public were allowed to promote their own particular area of interest but not a single person asked the most obvious question - "Why are we discussing these austerity measures when it was not us who caused the problem?" Which could have quickly been followed by the demand - "Let those responsible for creating this mess pay to clear it up!" 


Meanwhile, the secretary of Barrow and Furness Pensioners' Association ought to have secured a venue for an anti-cuts public meeting and be busy contacting various potential speakers for the event......

INNOCENT YOUTHFUL ENTHUSIASM AND BELIEF IN HONESTY

PARKVIEW SCHOOL PUPILS TAKE DIRECT ACTION

DETERMINED CAMPAIGN
FAILS TO HALT SCHOOLS
BEING HANDED OVER TO PRIVATE BUSINESS IN
BARROW.
Despite enormous pressure placed upon pupils of Parkview school, the majority defied their teachers and walked out onto the playing fields to express their opposition to the formation of an academy that would absorb their school and two other schools in the town


Concerned parents formed a committee to organise a campaign to oppose the proposed amalgamation of three local secondary schools to form an academy.  It was a carefully organised campaign and public meetings were well attended.  


Several local people were elected to the local borough council on an 'anti-academy' ticket and there was much coverage in the local press.  


The campaigners, of course, could not compete with the financial and material resources of those in favour of the academy - especially when the government of the day (New Labour) had promised to hand over 40 million pounds for the scheme if it was accepted....but NOTHING to upgrade the existing schools if the academy offer was refused. 


Borough and county councillors of all political hue drooled at the mouth and local school governors dribbled wetly at such a prospect for here was prime building-site land being offered up for the taking.  Not only that, but think of the highly lucrative contracts for supplying and maintaining the equipment of the new school......whilst the dumb local tax payers paid to run it without having any say in the matter!


And what of the teachers' unions?  Well, they were opposed to the formation of an academy and would have supported any teachers taking 'industrial action' against the scheme - but no Barrow teachers chose to do so.  Their pupils showed them the way but they did not follow.


The campaign 'fizzled out'  and Furness Academy came in to being because local people could not, or would not, continue to support the campaign opposing it.  The adults of Barrow sold out the future democratic education of their children because doing nothing was easier than resisting the plans of the profiteers.  


If nothing else, these blogs depict the genuine level of moral integrity of the local - adult - population and this probably explains why locals will willingly support building the new submersible launch platforms for American weapons of mass destruction, accept the transportation of nuclear material through their town and, in the region, condone the burial of highly radio-active nuclear waste in the countryside. Wage slaves take what they are given and are grateful for what they receive.  

PUPILS CAMPAIGN AGAINST ACADEMY IMPOSITION

NORTHERN TUC ANTICUTS AT BASSENTHWAITE

AND AUGUST HAD PROMISED SO MUCH!
Northern Region Trades Union Congress invited trade unionists and members of community organisations to attend a meeting at the Crown Hotel, Bassenthwaite last August.  Plans to resist  government- proposed cuts to Public Services would begin by dividing the county into three areas: North, Central and South.


Cumbria South, incorporating Barrow, Ulverston and Kendal, would have as its co-ordinator Deborah Hamilton, fulltime Unison officer for Cumbria.  No representatives of the shipbuilding trade unions or of Barrow Trades Union Council attended.  


Shamefully, apart from a single, very wet,  one-hour leaflet distribution in Barrow (see posting 1st Oct "Unions and Pensioners Unite Against Cuts") there has been no co-ordination in any part of the South since then.  


In November, a group of concerned people in the Kendal area decided they could no longer tolerate the absence of any trade union initiative and held a meeting of their own at the Shakespeare Centre on the evening of Wednesday 17th. (A similar meeting was held at Lancaster the following evening)  Both meetings were well-attended and Steering Committees were established.


AntiCuts campaigns are now being conducted in Carlisle, Workington, Kendal and Lancaster but here, in Furness, there is no activity because not a single organisation or group of people is prepared to call a meeting to plan action against the cuts.  There had been some expectation that Barrow & Furness Pensioners' Association, following months of campaigning on behalf of the People's Charter, might do so but this proved to be one step too far; the proposal was met with resigned defeatism and dismissed as 'impractical for Barrow' by its secretary.


Thus, in Furness, the way is now clear for any opportunist group (which has never expressed any interest or made any effort in the past eight months) to seize the moment and pour forth shouting against the cuts as if this is something recently announced. 


Two such groups spring to mind:  the egotistical councillor Hamezeian could declare himself 'The People's Hero' and with the assistance of the 'little helpers' of his local Socialist People's Party (he's got more 'little helpers' than Santa) and a very supportive spread in the local (capitalist) press, mount a self-promotional campaign dressed up as concern for the local community.  And guess who would be Chairman of any subsequent action committee........


Or the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) might call a public meeting.  The author of this blog is not anti-SWP.  The local SWP group actively campaigns on behalf of Unite Against Fascism (UAF).  Indeed, many of the aims of that organisation are shared here - it's just SWP strategies that can be a bit of a problem.


The SWP has called upon councillors to ignore the government and allow a budget deficit to be run up.  All very good revolutionary stuff, you might think.  Until you realise that  councillors would be held personally liable for payment of the debt and that failure to cough up would result in a term of imprisonment.  And the SWP response?  Then councillors should be prepared to go to prison!


Morecambe Bay & Lancaster Communist Party Of Britain (CPB) does not call for any councillors to be political martyrs but suggests that if councillors really have no desire to be held responsible for implementing savage cuts on their community then they should resign.
This would have two interesting outcomes: it would free them from unpopularity or risk of imprisonment and it would create a local political crisis, placing it straight into the lap of the government. And if the majority of councillors throughout the land did that same thing then it would become a national political crisis and, probably, the end of this slimey coalition gang now occupying the Houses of Parliament. They would be 'unable to govern in the same old way' and the Boss Class would be presented with a genuine crisis of democracy.  (See the posting  'What is a revolutionary situation?')


Perhaps the difference in strategy between the SWP and the CPB is now understood.

BARROW STUDENT AT LONDON 'RIOT'

UNIONS DITHER AS STUDENTS LEAD BY EXAMPLE


At its 2010 conference, the British Trade Union Congress agreed to hold a national demonstration against 'the cuts' in...............................March 2011.  It's fortunate they're not in charge of the fire or ambulance services! 


But, in fact, we do have an emergency situation and just another peaceful, civilised, 'carnival atmosphere' march in the capital (which the boss class can ignore and about which the news media may provide the odd paragraph/two minute broadcast) will be of little consequence for such demonstrations are as effective as having a picnic on the Thames Embankment.


Clearly, there is now a realisation that just holding parades and waving banners is ineffective and that something further is required if the authorities are to be made to sit up and take notice and that even modest damage to property is guaranteed to achieve this - especially if there are people around with devices to record the event and pass on 'dramatic' footage to the press and TV when it can then be described as 'mindless violence', 'thuggish vandalism', etc.  I can imagine that smashing a few windows is a good way of releasing some pent up frustration. At least no cars were overturned or buses hijacked and set on fire: well, not this time.


Barrovian, Ben Martin, a student studying for a degree in multimedia journalism at Bournemouth University attended the National Union of Students demonstration alongside about 300 other students from his university and was able to provide a first hand report.  He said some people were being deliberately antagonistic and getting the crowd worked up.  He went on to say that some people said the violence undid the good work (of the demo) but added that every aspect of the cuts is happening right now to him and his fellow students and they regard this as a violence made against them.  He declared that as far as he was concerned, it was a case of responding to violence with violence. He believed the NUS would be unlikely to call another mass demonstration and that further campaigns would be conducted at a 'local' university campus level. Ben's account was reported in full in an article published in the November 13th edition of the North West Evening Mail.


Public meetings against the cuts are being held on Wednesday 17th November at the Shakespeare Centre, Kendal, at 7pm and on Thursday 18th November at Lancaster Town Hall, at 7.30pm.


Meanwhile, in Furness.......................................................... 


  

PEOPLE'S CHARTER CAMPAIGN CONTINUES

PENSIONERS STILL LEAD PROTEST IN BARROW
Again, the photograph is deceptive; the place seems deserted!  But, in fact, this is the upper end of the main shopping street in the town on a Saturday when it was quite busy.


As usual, just three pensioners set up and manned the stall from 11am until 1pm with no assistance or support from any local Trade Union or union members.  Barrow Trades Union Council was absent.




Words from an old song were used to introduce the day's campaign:
"It's the same the whole world over,
Ain't it all a bleedin' shame?
It's the rich what gets the pleasure;
It's the poor what takes the blame!"


And in highlighting some of the cut-back measures already outlined before the results of the Spending Review are announced next week, members of the public were urged to tune in to their radios and TVs next Wednesday to hear what this government has in store for them - a bit like Christmas except that instead of being told what gifts we are to receive we'll be told what 'gifts' are to be taken away from us.


Weather permitting, Barrow pensioners have confirmed they will hold another stall next Saturday - with, or without, union support (sorry, there are no prizes for guessing which one it is likely to be!) 
  
There is no evidence of any People's Charter campaign in Ulverston or any other town or village in Furness.  The Insular Peninsula sleeps on..........

IS A REVOLUTIONARY SITUATION DEVELOPING?

WHAT'S A 'REVOLUTIONARY SITUATION'?
A revolutionary situation is a build-up of social/political conditions necessary for revolution.


Its symptoms may change at various stages in history but in all cases it presupposes a profound crisis of the old system.  It can be brought about by economic shocks, failures of government policy (such as the collapse of a military adventure), or national or racial conflicts leading to a sharp aggravation of social contradictions, etc.


Lenin defined these symptoms as follows:
1.  a crisis among the upper classes, when it is impossible for them to maintain their rule without any change,
2.  the suffering and want of the oppressed classes have grown more acute than usual,
3.  as a consequence of the above causes, there is a considerable increase in the activity of the masses who, in peace time, uncomplainingly allow themselves to be robbed and exploited but, in turbulent times (such as a severe financial crisis) are drawn by all the circumstances into independent historical action.
V. I. Lenin   Collected Works Volume 21 pp213-14


Think now of the draconian laws passed by the previous New Labour government and the errosion of civil liberties these brought about, the rising unemployment figures and the suffering that will result from the coalition government's austerity programme, British involvement in the military disaster in Afghanistan, and now the threat of yet another 'banking crisis' and all the boxes seem to be ticked for the creation of a revolutionary situation in Britain today.  So why isn't it happening? 


Lacking a politically educated, class conscious, advanced section of the proletariat means a revolutionary situation remains just that - a revolutionary situation (impotently without direction).  When will it become evident that the British working class has developed class consciousness?  Only when it supports the political parties that truly represent its interests. 


Until then, the proletariat will be prey to all manner of diversions such as soft porn comics masquerading as 'newspapers'; radio, TV and popular mass-produced culture dumbed down to the lowest common denominator; to intensive advertising campaigns for shoddy goods or the latest technological toys; to the religious messages of a better life after death and that joyous poverty has more merit than miserable wealth;  to a choice of political parties that claim to be different yet which all promise to maintain the capitalist system of greed and exploitation.  A politically educated working class would not tolerate this stinking mess but flush it down the nearest lavatory - where it belongs.
And that is why the ruling class will do everything in its power to keep the proletariat in political ignorance.


And once more to comrade Lenin -
" The division of any society into different political parties is revealed most clearly of all in times of profound crises shaking the whole country .... all phrase-mongering, all that is petty and extraneous, is brushed aside by the gravity of the struggle; the parties strain every nerve and appeal to the masses, and the masses, guided by their unerring
instinct and enlightened by the experience of an open struggle, follow the parties that represent the interests of a particular class."
V. I. Lenin  Collected Works  Volume 18 page 45


The party of the working class, the Communist Party, is the advanced, politically organised and active section of the working class - its vanguard.


All other organisations of the proletariat - trade unions, social, cultural and educational associations, etc. serve as necessary means in the class struggle but they cannot solve the fundamental problem - the problem of abolishing the capitalist system and carrying out a socialist revolution.


Only a Marxist-Leninist Party, which is the highest form of class political organisation of the proletariat, is capable of uniting the activities of all proletarian organisations and guiding them to the single aim of socialist revolution.

UNIONS AND PENSIONERS UNITE AGAINST CUTS

CAMPAIGNING DESPITE RAIN

At lunchtime on Wednesday 29th September, despite remorselessly pouring rain, pensioners and trade unionists covered the three entrances to Barrow's indoor market to distribute TUC leaflets about the proposed government cuts in public services.

It was encouraging to see full time Trade Union officials, Deborah Hamilton and Steve Forbes providing leadership by attending and supporting the campaign.

The photograph of a group at one market entrance suggests it was a rather forlorn affair but it was not: the weather failed to daunt the spirits of the campaigners and   a great number of leaflets were distributed in a short while.


Incredibly, not one member of the PCS was present.  This is the union that is supposed to be spearheading the anti-cuts campaign and whose members' jobs are to be culled in massive numbers!

It is true that the turn-out by other pensioners and trade union members was disappointing but the response by the public to the leaflets was most encouraging.  During brief conversations it was clear the public knows the proposed austerity measures that are about to be inflicted are grossly unfair to the poorer sections of society but they do not know what to do about it.

This is where Barrow Trades Union Council should step up to the mark.  Barrow Trades Union Council should be organising events such as public meetings with national speakers to inform the public about how this financial crisis happened and why the depth of the proposed cuts is unnecessary.  The public need to be made aware of a believable alternative strategy that would be much less devastating for family incomes and standard of life and would provide a programme to create jobs rather than cause massive unemployment and misery. Apart from a somewhat limp letter, written by the secretary of Barrow Trades Union Council and published in the local evening newspaper, Barrow TU Council has done precisely nothing.  Similarly, there is a 'mortuary' silence at Ulverston TU Council.

Barrow pensioners have been campaigning against the cuts - first proposed by the New Labour government - since before the general election last May by promoting the People's Charter. They have consistently invited trade unions to use this as a focal point for their own local campaign but to no avail. All the unions would have to do is turn up for a couple of hours on a Saturday lunchtime with their banners, placards and leaflets.  They would have no 'setting up' to do because the 'site' is already established.  However, if they really wanted to demonstrate determination and commitment, they could provide their own pasting table and loud hailer!  Only when such measures become evident will local trade unions convince pensioners and other members of the public that they really are capable of leading a determined campaign against the cuts.