Communising energy: power to the people!
Submitted by plasmatelly on Feb 18 2014 19:10
A brief critique of the existing model of heat production in Britain and a comparison with a communal system. If you thought things were rosy in the garden, think again...
Part of domestic living in Britain is receiving hot water and heating from a boiler that serves one property alone. In fact, around 93% of households have a single appliance in homes where typically the number of occupants per household is around 2.5. Natural gas is the majority fuel by far for all heat needs within homes and non-domestic buildings.
Charles Dickens - George Orwell
George Orwell's 1940 essay on Charles Dickens.
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Dickens is one of those writers who are well worth stealing. Even the burial of his body in Westminster Abbey was a species of theft, if you come to think of it.
The lump: an heretical analysis - Dave Lamb
Submitted by Steven. on Feb 16 2014 16:03
1974 pamphlet by Solidarity criticising the standard left and union response to "the lump": the paying of building workers by lump sums for a job instead of union rates on national terms and conditions. Deeply controversial at the time, it criticised the slogan "Defend the unions, smash the lump!" and pointed out that the building unions agreeing to enforce a government pay freeze in "national interest" bore much responsibility for the development.
The BLSP dispute: the story of the strike - Ken Weller
Submitted by Steven. on Feb 16 2014 15:28
A detailed account and analysis of an important strike at the British Light Steel Pressings plant against job cuts in 1961, which was undermined by the unions and eventually defeated.
Standard Triumph strike: the full facts - Solidarity
Submitted by Steven. on Feb 16 2014 12:58
An account and lessons of the unofficial strike by 126 workers at the Standard Triumph Service Depot 24 April-14 June, 1961. Written by George Jacobs, Ken Weller, Tom Hillier and Jim Petter and published as Solidarity pamphlet 5.
Self-management and the limits of recuperation: Solidarity discussion bulletin
A publication of discussion ongoing in Solidarity around the "ideology" of self-management in the group, including whether it could be recuperated into capitalism. The discussion followed publication of Maurice Brinton's Malaise on the left.
What next for engineers? - Ken Weller
1972 reprint by Big Flame of a Solidarity pamphlet by Ken Weller about the learnings for workers from the ten-week strike at Ford Dagenham in 1962, as Ford management begin to get tough at the Halewood plant.
The socialist programme - Socialism Reaffirmed
Second text by Socialism Reaffirmed, later renamed Solidarity, laying out a libertarian socialist programme. Breaking with the politics of social democracy and Trotskyism, it tries to set forth the tasks of the socialist revolution and aims at eliminating the road which the working class can take to emancipate itself. Published around 1960.
UK storms: a vision of the future
Submitted by Out of the Woods on Feb 14 2014 13:42
The UK has been hit by a series of strong storms throughout January and into February, with no end in sight. This offers a case study of capitalism under climate change.
The current string of back-to-back storms has been described as "an almost unprecedented natural crisis". We should point out that attribution of any single weather event, or even sequence of events, to climate change, is almost impossible. A common American analogy is to baseball.
On union scabbing
Submitted by Phil on Feb 13 2014 22:19
Some quick thoughts on the need to respect picket lines and the challenge of the anti-strike laws and multi-union workplaces.
As I detailed all the way back in October, a civil service senior management union has taken a stronger stance over key issues in HM Revenue & Customs than the 'left wing' union PCS.
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