ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER STRUGGLE

Is that why you don't sell many in Barrow?

OBSERVING THE PROLETARIAT

Just as I predicted, I am now in the process of 'off-loading' some activities to enable me to engage in other things.  Barrow Peace Council - wrapped up.  Furness Against the Cuts - wrapped up.  Barrow and Furness Pensioners' Association -  resigned.  Barrow Association of the National Union of Teachers and also Barrow and Furness Trades Union Council - 'in the balance'.  I finally cancelled the venue for a weekly Morning Star Readers and Supporters Group and abandoned the Saturday Morning Star town centre sales pitch at the market entrance (which I held on my own for four months) because two people (not Party members) who had indicated they wished to support this simply failed to turn up.   In addition, my physical condition and my wife's general state of health may also force me to discontinue the 150 mile round trip to attend the three-hour CPB Northern District Committee meetings at Carlisle and this is the only activity I shall really be sorry to miss.

The comment beneath the photograph was made by an elderly and quite disabled former engineer who had worked in Vickers Armstrong (engineering and ship building) as he purchased a copy of the paper.  We both laughed and he added "You won't get much sense out of them round here!"   

In all the weeks selling the paper I never ever sold a copy to the same person twice (nobody returned the following Saturday, or any other Saturday).  As I stood at the market entrance I was able to watch assorted members of the local population as they wandered about.  Some strode by most purposefully as if heading for a pressing engagement or a transaction of some importance (but, more likely, just to catch a bus)  Young lads would pass as if on auto-pilot whilst they focused their attention on a small hand-held device on which they made small jabbing movements with their thumbs, avoiding young women with a similar object pressed against an ear and who talked incessantly as they pushed before them a babybuggy loaded with child and shopping.  Middle-aged, bored, disinterested husbands waited for their wives outside 'bargain shops' and outlets offering 'special sales discounts'.  

Most men and women of all ages, but especially those in their twenties to fifties, would only become animated when, in sunlight, they caught sight of their own reflection in the large window of a store - young women would appraise their figures and their outfits and young men would assess their 'style' and one or two would roll a tee-shirt sleeve just a bit higher so they may show off their latest tattoo or suddenly square their shoulders and puff up their chests to appear 'more manly'.  Yes, members of the Furnesss public certainly know what is important to them - until, one day soon, they begin to be deprived of the things they currently take for granted such as benefits, allowances, a roof over their heads, heating, lighting and food, social welfare and a free health service.  And that is how I was entertained when attempting to sell copies of the world's only English language national daily socialist newspaper in 'Lumpensville'.

And what of the Pensioners' Association?  Well, its constitution clearly states it is 'a campaigning organisation'.  Over a period of four years I did my best to involve members in campaigns to defend their pensions, their bus passes, their standards of health care and they just could not be bothered to make any effort whatsoever.  In the months before resigning I had begun to refer to the members as the 'Grub and Grumble Graveside Club' because they did not want a campaigning organisation and were determined to turn it into a pensioners' social club for entertainments such as raffles and bingo with tea and biscuits to pass the time whilst waiting to drop off their perches.  They didn't want me going on about the Retail Price Index and the Consumer Price Index, or maltreatment of the elderly in hospitals and care homes, or the privatisation of the National Health service - as one member said "You make us depressed and we come here to be cheered up!"  

Now, there is a really sad part to all this: the secretary of the organisation is no mug - she knows what the situation is.  Ordinary monthly meetings attract an attendance of around eleven or thirteen members yet subsidised 'dinners' (such as the Christmas lunch) attract thirty or forty!  When the annual Pensioners' Parliament is held in Blackpool, members queue up for the cheap deal four nights hotel accomodation and the vast majority use this as a holiday and have no interest in the parliament.  Members of the association want to use it solely for what they can get out of it and are not prepared to put anything back in (in terms of time, effort or money).  In many ways it is just like the situation with Barrow and Furness Trades Union Council (monthly correspondence club for nodding donkeys) except the secretary of the pensioners is heartbroken and the secretary of the TU council is very contented.......but more about sly nodding donkeys in the next posting.      

THE REGULAR GRIND CONTINUES

LEAFLET CAMPAIGN BARROW STATION 5 NOV 2012 

SUCCESSFUL EVENT DESPITE DOWNPOURS
Pouring rain did not hinder leaflet distribution at Barrow railway station on the morning of 1st November.  Photos were taken during all too brief gaps in the heavy showers and members of the public willingly accepted the leaflets that were offered to them.  Some, having read the leaflet, actually thanked the assembled trade unionists for the work of trying to save the rail service before rushing off to board their train taking them to their place of employment.

The dozen or so campaigners who began at 5.45am were joined by others as the morning brightened and the rain eased until, at 8.30 (just thirty minutes before the end of the campaign) a reporter and photographer from the local press arrived and 'interviews' were earnestly conducted.  Three activists of Barrow Trades Union Council (RMT and NUT delegates plus GMB member and Unite Against Fascism organiser) attended throughout but the secretary and chairman were absent.

IF LEADERS FAIL TO LEAD, THERE IS NO LEADERSHIP.
In an earlier posting I mentioned the failure of the secretary of Barrow Trades Union Council to attend a public meeting to promote the work of the organisation and the refusal of the chairman to speak at the event.  Frankly, I cannot understand this attitude yet it is one that seems to be common to most organisations here in south Cumbria - persons get themselves elected (or appointed) to positions of responsibility and then utterly fail to honour that responsibility.

Take, for example, the secretary of Cumbria Unison, Deborah Hamilton, - responsible, since 2009 for co-ordinating the anti-austerity campaign in the area from Barrow to Kendal - who, except for a very brief appearance at Barrow market entrance one very wet Saturday - has never ever played any part in the campaign.....a campaign organised and sustained for three years by just three pensioners without any assistance from any other organisation.  Churches did not wish to know.  Charities would not assist for fear of being considered 'political' which could threaten their funding status. The Trades Union Council was not interested and the local Labour Party could not support an anti-austerity campaign because, if elected, it would impose an austerity programme of its own!

Appeals to the secretary of Barrow TU Council to promote support for the anti-cuts campaign were steadfastly ignored but, some eighteen months later, following two articles in the local paper in which the secretary appealed for TU delegates to support the local TUC or risk him having to 'wrap it up', the pensioners (each a member of a trade union) decided to assist the Trades Council.  More delegates responded and it seemed that Barrow TUC had been saved from extinction.  There were, however, ominous warning signs.....nobody would accept the position of treasurer.  The chairman elected at that very first meeting never ever made another appearance!  And so the local TUC limped through that year with the secretary doubling up as treasurer also.

The following year (current) saw the election of a chairman, George Appleton (former secretary of the now defunct Ulverston TUC) but still no treasurer - thus the unsatisfactory arrangement of a joint secretary/treasurer is set to continue.

In a previous posting I described the farcical pantomimes of  two Barrow TUC meetings
and do not need to repeat these here.  They arose because of illiteracy and lack of firm leadership and this situation prevails.  As both the chairman and secretary are now both in their 60s it is doubtful that even an intensive remedial course in English would improve their comprehension but they may still have the capacity to understand that they must contribute more if the council is to be saved for the future.

Currently, the secretary and chairman appear to believe that the secretary is merely a clerk and the chairman a conductor - the first handles correspondence and literature once a month and the second manages the agenda much the same way as a conductor manages an orchestra (except the orchestra here is comprised of musicians each playing from a different music sheet with the result that we end up with a discordant racket that nobody wants to listen to!)

Some local people get elected onto the local borough council and then do nothing except attend the occasional borough council meeting.  Fulltime, paid, TU officials rarely leave their offices and will not support local initiatives.  Elected officers of voluntary organisations do not wish to campaign on local issues.  Local politicians remain silent  as people's living standards plummet.  Yes, the message is clear - those who bask in their 'status', who like to mouth off for the local press and maybe get their mugshot published for all to see could not really give a toss about those they claim to represent.  And, of course, it will continue like this until those who put these people into these positions of responsibility decide to bring them to account.   

'FIGHT-BACK' MOTIVATION - WELL, WE TRIED.

Cde Greenshields, Chairman CPB

THE PUBLIC MEETING AT BARROW

and RMT leaflets at Barrow station.

When it was proposed that an executive member of the Communist Party of Britain could attend a public meeting at Barrow on 31st October I confess I was dubious about the outcome.  

Firstly, it was Hallowe'en and a night when locals would either be escorting their children around the streets begging for sugar-laden confections or attending a fancydress party and 'getting blathered'.  Secondly, the population is - well - disinclined to attend Public Meetings (For example: a recent Police Federation meeting held at Barrow, called to discuss the impact of a much reduced constabulary, attracted just FOUR members of the public....an Ulverston town councillor, the (then) secretary of Ulverston Trades Union Council who was accompanied by his wife, - and me.  

But then I considered it would be an opportunity - not just for a leading Party member to address a local audience - but for local Trade Unionist officials to put the case for two TUC initiatives: promoting activity as a follow-up to the 20th October 'A Future that Works' and generating campaigns supporting the People's Charter.

So, a list of willing TU speakers was drawn up - Craig Johnston, Cumbria relief officer of the RMT (Rail, Maritime and Transport union); Ryan Shaw, secretary of Cumbria PCS (Public and Commercial Services union); John Holden, national executive member of the UCU (University and College Union), and Robert Pointer, secretary of B&FTUC (Barrow and Furness Trades Union Council).  Leaflets were distributed around the town, an advertisement was placed in the local paper which resulted in the event appearing in a single columnX3cm 'news snippet'.  The 'Bay' radio station did not respond.  The 'political reporter' for the local paper, was invited to attend.  The Studio Theatre at the local Forum was booked.  Everything was ready, so what could possibly go wrong?

As the evening darkened, the wind increased and we were subjected to a massive and prolonged torrential rain-storm.  News was received that Bill Greenshields, travelling from Derby, was stuck in a traffic jam some forty miles away on the M6 motorway.  The train from Lancaster was running 30 minutes late.  Ryan Shaw (PCS) would be 'late' and there was no communication from Robert Pointer (B&FTUC) explaining why he hadn't shown up.  And twenty people were patiently waiting for the meeting to commence.  After twenty minutes had elapsed I really began to wish I could sing and/or play a musical instrument....or had prepared a 'stand up' comedy routine I could perform...just to fill in the time until our speakers were in place.  Alas, I possess no such skill.  And throughout this, neither Craig Johnston (RMT) nor John Holden (UCU) offered not a single word of complaint.  

At last, running some forty minutes late, the meeting got under way and each speaker delivered much food for thought.  No member of the public attending the event would have been left in any doubt about the seriousness of the political assault that was being mounted against the wellbeing and standard of living of Britain's working class and lower middleclass population and of the pressing need to mount a most determined opposition in political parties, trade unions, and 'pressure groups' such as peace organisations  and social and charity associations.

Was it a successful event?  Knowing my home town as well as I do I can say that, despite the initial setback and wimpish behaviour of the BFTUC secretary (still don't know why he failed to attend) and Stephen Forbes local GMB officer - who said he would attend (and didn't) but would 'leave the speaking to Bob' (Pointer) - then, yes, it was.  And the reporter from the local press failed to materialise.  Maybe there are some fully grown adults in this town who still cling to the belief that if they go out in the rain they will dissolve.  I'm tempted to remark that they are wet enough already........

Craig Johnston (RMT) explained the likely consequences for public rail travellers should the recommendations of the MacNulty report be adopted and announced that the following morning a leaflet campaign would be held outside Barrow's railway station from 5.45 until 9.00am.

Finally, financial contributions by the public almost completely covered the full cost of the room hire.

Now it remains to be seen what results, if any, arise from the meeting.  I won't be holding my breath filled with anticipation. 

NEW SIGNS OF BTUC ACTIVITY?

BARROW TUC MINIBUS CONTINGENT FOR THE EVENT

YET ANOTHER TUC DEMO - 20TH OCT 2012....

Maybe things are beginning to look up at Barrow TUC thanks to the initiative of Mandy (far right) who organised the minibus to take eleven local people to the TUC demonstration in London on 20th October.

Northern TUC provided £500 towards the £750 cost of bus hire and Barrow TUC coughed up the £250 difference to enable Barrow people to attend the demo free of charge - very helpful for any who were unemployed or on low wages.  This was, for Barrow, a good turnout - and exceeded my expectation by seven.  Even more encouraging was the sight of Barrow TUC secretary, Bob Pointer,(third from right) boarding the bus and giving his most sincere assurance that he would be a speaker at a Public Meeting to be held in Barrow on 31st October:  maybe he was finally becoming vertebral, growing intestines and developing a set of testicles - maybe he was now going to be fit to lead Barrow TUC in the struggles ahead!  And, on top of this, Barrow Association of the NUT (National Union of Teachers) had not only paid the Trades Council delegate fee for the past year but also the fee for the next twelve months!!  Clearly, I had to quickly revise my previous decision to wash my hands of the lot of them (but maintain a healthy scepticism, of course).

Two events are to follow: a Public Meeting, entitled 'Bring Down the Con-Dems: Britain Needs Socialism' and held at the Forum, Barrow on 31st October - this to back up the 20th Oct TUC demo 'A Future that Works' -  followed the next morning by an RMT (Rail, Maritime and Transport union) leaflet distribution to passengers at Barrow rail station from 5.45am until 9am.  Well, you know the common saying..."You wait for ages for a bus and then..."

The next meeting of Barrow Trades Union Council will be held on Tuesday 6th Nov so there will be plenty to report upon.

And the struggle continues.

NEVER SAY "NEVER AGAIN."

    ARE ANY WORDS REQUIRED HERE?

Early 21st Century

Late 19th Century

LAYING IT ON THE LINE

POLITICAL REPORT GIVEN AT RECENT MEETING OF THE NORTHERN DISTRICT COMMITTEE OF THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF BRITAIN 
CARLISLE, CUMBRIA, UK, 18th August 2012

Many parts of the world are in turmoil as the people of several nations confront the challenges that are placed before them. 

In South America the struggle to maintain the advances gained through the Bolivarian Revolution and the courageously sustained principled stand by the people of Cuba continue to thwart the undermining efforts of the counter-revolutionaries aided and abetted by the United States.  The 'Arab Spring' held out much hope and promise for the people of North Africa and the Middle East yet has resulted in frustration and disappointment.  In some cases, such as Libya, it created an opportunity for western direct military intervention just as it is now providing chances for covert action to achieve destabilisation and regime change in Syria.  Nato, led by the US continues to prop up puppet regimes in Iraq and Afghanistan whilst US drones inflict a terrible toll on the populations of  Afghanistan and Pakistan. The US ignores the Geneva Convention and the UN Human Rights Convention and maintains the concentration camp at Guantanamo Bay.  The US holds Bradley Manning in inhumane conditions for allegedly revealing 'state secrets' - namely, exposing US attrocities in Iraq - and this paranoid, psychopathic nation now seeks to get its hands on Julian Assange.

Meanwhile, Israel, with the backing of the US, Britain and some middle eastern Arab states, is seeking to find an excuse to launch an attack on Iran.  The people of Palestine continue their struggle for freeedom from Israeli occupation.  In Russia, the legitimacy of President Putin's election is being challenged.  In South Africa, over thirty protesting trade union miners were shot dead by police.

In Britain, a repeat of last year's 'London Riots' failed to materialise to the disappointment, one suspects, of the news media. Britain's unelected government, composed of a rich gang assisted by a nest of little helpers, is busy conducting an ideological campaign to dismantle every social gain enjoyed by the people of this country since 1945 namely, the Welfare State and the National Health Service.  This gang and its helpers are merely the servants of the group that is really in charge - the Ruling Class, and it is this class that remains in power whichever political party is elected to parliament.  This assault on the working class has been described as a 'blitzkrieg' but it is more like a Tory 'Operation Barbarossa' as it has been conducted with such speed and on such a wide front.  Unlike the initial Soviet resistence to the Nazi invasion, the response of the British working class is to roll over and hoist the white flag.  As for the battalions of organised workers in the Trade Unions, the response has been to call for a day's outing every six months or so for members to join together to parade through the streets with flags, banners, placards and balloons, blowing colourful plastic horns and shouting fray-edged slogans, flogging badges, tee shirts and handing out leaflets before returning to their coaches for the journey home where they can simply wait for the next outing to be arranged. 

The task before us is immense.  Our attempts to mobilise people to campaign against the arms trade, the succesor Trident submarine building programme, the development of new nuclear weapons, further military interventions, privatisation of the National Health Service, attacks on social services and welfare benefits, rising unemployment, homelessness, the rise of Fascist ideology, attacks on pensioners and the disabled, racism, blacklisting, corruption in banking, the media and the police force, loss of civil liberties, privatisation of the education service, raising the age of retirement, erosion of women's rights and the rights of the lesbian, gay and transgender community are exhausting.  In addition to the above however, we must also seek to build the Party, encourage support for the People's Charter and promote sales of the Morning Star.  We are indeed a tiny spark in a sea of darkness.

"Maybe the answers (to building an anti-monopoly alliance) are still out there." suggests comrade Graham Stevenson, chief organiser of the recent Bishopgate Conference, adding "We will need to find the means to force the Labour Party leadership to be part of the solution, not part of the problem by siding with the class enemy or even adopting its policies wholesale.  We will need to unify all those unions in struggle as well as forge an alliance between organised labour and the mass of the people." 

Perhaps we might begin to find our way towards those answers when we ask why trade unionists and trade union councils ignore policies agreed at annual conferences of the Trade Union Congress, why some Communist Party members do not purchase and read a daily copy of the Morning Star or contribute nothing in time, effort or money to their Party branch, why there exists a Communist Party of Britain, a New Communist Party,  a Communist Party of Great Britain, a Revolutionary Communist Group, a Communist Party of Britain (Marxist-Leninist) and a gaggle of other parties purporting to be Communist, Marxist, Socialist, etc.  If we cannot ourselves unite, how can we hope to unite the working class?  This, comrades, is a serious question and deserves a serious answer.

Finally, an indicator of class consciousness from that working class town, Barrow in Furness:
"A lot of people in this town don't think they're working class.  And the rest don't think."

GRAND FINALE AND HELLO FREEDOM!

Ship of Fools, Bosch,  1490/1500

ESCAPE FROM THE SHIP OF FOOLS
(with apologies to Hieronymous Bosch one of my favourite artists of the medieval period)


This posting will definitely bring to a close my dealings with both Barrow National Union of Teachers and Barrow Trades Union Council for reasons that will become obvious to any who choose to read further.


I realise this may be boring to many but what follows adequately illustrates why there is so little resistence to the Tory/LibDem cuts in this region and, as such, is a vehicle of enlightenment.


At the last meeting of Barrow Trades Union Council on Tuesday 1st May (MAY DAY!) the secretary produced his alternative letter.  Unfortunately, the very first paragraph contained the inappropriate use of a BIG WORD - disenfranchisement.  Read, if you will, this start to his long-winded rambling letter and make sense of it what you can. (I won't test your patience with the rest of it)


British Politics may be considered to be at a critical watershed, due to the effective disenfranchisement of the electorate by the continuing lobby by the vested interests of those who caused the financial debacle in the pusuit of thier own agendas. (Note: I have not corrected the spelling mistake - Muddz)  An attempt was made to draw attention to the misuse of 'disenfranchisement' but a health service delegate retorted she was not here (at BTUC) for 'politics' but to support Barrow Trades Union Council. What a ludicrous statement!!  Attempts to have the wrong word corrected were drowned out by a general hubbub of 'No politics!' that confused the chairman who then moved 'Next item on the agenda' and this brought an end to the din.  By this method, the mobsters of the Labour Party not only successfully ended any criticism of the lack of Labour Party opposition to the cuts but also any fightback that was expected of a party of opposition.  The dead hand of Labour will now dominate Barrow Trades Union Council until such time as a chairman possessing the strength of character to assert his will and insist on discipline at the meetings is found.  This is not currently the case so it is likely that the secretary may soon find himself sitting on his own at BTUC once more.


Following this last meeting, I determined it was high time to leave the asylum and to also abandon Barrow NUT as the delegate fee of £10 remained outstanding - to leave them all to stew in their own juice.  This wisdom of this decision was confirmed when, on the drive homeward, I found myself singing (I only ever dare sing to myself in the car!) :
Well I don't know why I came here tonight,
I got the feeling that something ain't right,
I'm so scared in case I fall off my chair
And I'm wondering how I'll get down the stairs,
Clowns to the left of me,
Jokers to the right, here I am,
Stuck in the middle with you.
Yes I'm stuck in the middle with you,
And I'm wondering what it is I should do
It's so hard to keep this smile on my face,
Losing control, yeah, I'm all over the place,
Clowns to the left of me, Jokers to the right,
Here I am, stuck in the middle with you.
Stealers Wheel "Stuck inthe Middle With You" from Reservoir Dogs soundtrack


So, with this song and the image of Bosch's 'Ship of Fools' in my head, my mind was made up.  Enough of the stupidity.  Enough of the incompetence, inefficiency and complacency.  I sent out notice to both organisations of termination of my interest in their affairs.  My efforts on behalf of Barrow & Furness Pensioners' Association together with Furness Against the Cuts will also follow suit.  


Look, I enjoy a comfortable pension, the mortgage on our home was completed some years ago and our children have grown up and lead independent, secure and healthy lives of their own - so why am I using my time campaigning on behalf of those who don't even care what happens to themselves let alone anyone else?  What an idiot I have been these last few years - but no more!  Yes, work to promote the Party and those willing to stand up to fight for their class but no more dealings with apathetic dolts and complacent oafs.  No more involvement with the hapless and helpless led by the hopeless.  Goodbye to all that.