Building unity against the cuts posted by Richard Seymour

My final rejoinder to the cuts debate on the New Left Project this week should be published soon - later today, or early tomorrow (here it is!). But I thought this latest from Alex Callinicos in Socialist Worker was a useful contribution, as it ties in with some of the arguments raised by Tom Denning, Kevin Blowe and Andrew Fisher during the debate. Responding to the article led by Tony Benn in The Guardian this week, Callinicos argues that it is essential to acknowledge the array of already-existing national and local initiatives, including Right to Work, the People's Charter, the Labour Representation Committee (of which Fisher is joint-secretary), the individual trade union responses, the local protests and anti-cuts committees. Unity has to be accomplished in practise among these: "Unity can’t just be proclaimed from above. It has to be built from below as well."

Next stop, then: Tory party conference, 3rd October.

Labels: capitalism, neoliberalism, new labour, socialism, spending cuts, tories