Tag: Dave Nellist

A referendum day message from Dave Nellist

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A referendum day message from Dave Nellist

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Dave Nellist

Please read and share the message below from Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition Chair and Socialist Party member Dave Nellist about today’s EU referendum.

The European Union is Thatcherism being developed on a continental scale, a club for bosses designed to make it harder to fight capitalism.

Isn’t it odd that those who wouldn’t trust the UK Tories an inch somehow go all misty eyed about the undemocratic EU, where laws are made by the 28 heads of EU governments – 27 of which we didn’t elect – 2/3 of them Tories, and all of them in favour of implementing austerity!

The EU really should stand for Employers Union. It hasn’t given us equal pay, paid holiday or maternity rights, unions have had to fight for those things and unions will still have to fight to keep them.

If the EU was really on the side of workers there would be a minimum wage across the continent, something like €13 an hour, so people didn’t have to move thousands of miles to get a decent job. Instead the EU, together with the European Central Bank and the IMF, is implementing brutal austerity against the people of Spain, Portugal, Ireland and especially Greece.

So, if you hate austerity from Westminster or Brussels you get the chance to vote against both today!

Let’s vote Leave and remove an obstacle to nationalisation of rail, post, gas, electricity and steel. But don’t stop there – we need a new internationalism to combat the regional and global problems of poverty, forced migration, wars and global warming, one based on socialist planning and cooperation, not capitalist competition and markets.

And if we get Leave and David Cameron goes, let’s not worry about the debate on who should be the next leader of the Tory Party. Jeremy Corbyn and the unions should demand an immediate General Election so we can replace this Tory government with one on the side of working people!

Coventry Socialist Party will be holding an open meeting on June 29th discussing the aftermath of the referendum.

After the Referendum – now kick out the Tories! 29th June, 7.30, Charterhouse Club,
David Rd, Coventry, CV1 2BW

Dave Nellist interview on the EU

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Dave Nellist interview on the EU

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Former Coventry Labour MP Dave Nellist was interviewed at Warwick University by RaW media about the Socialist case for leaving the EU. He highlighted the inherently pro-capitalist nature of the EU, and how it could act as a barrier to socialist policies. The interview is below, please listen and share!

Dave Nellist debates the EU with UNISON regional secretary Ravi Subramanian

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Dave Nellist debates the EU with UNISON regional secretary Ravi Subramanian

Former Labour MP and Socialist councillor Dave Nellist

Dave Nellist

We are pleased to make available this debate on the EU referendum between Dave Nellist of the Socialist Party/ TUSC and Ravi Subramanian, the West Midlands regional secretary of the public sector union UNISON. The debate took place on BBC Coventry and Warwickshire radio.

Please have a listen by clicking on the Youtube clip below. Agree with Dave? Then fill in the form at the bottom of this post!

 

 

Hundreds attend Coventry vigil for Orlando victims

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Hundreds attend Coventry vigil for Orlando victims

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Socialist Party member Dan Crowter speaking at the vigil

Over 150 people attended a vigil in Coventry on Monday in solidarity with the victims of the horrific massacre in Orlando. At least 50 people died when a gunman opened fire in the Pulse nightclub, a local LGBT venue.

Vigils have been held across the UK and around the world, showing a united and defiant response to those who seek to spread hatred, fear and division. This mood was clearly present in Coventry, with defiant speeches urging us not to live in fear.

Coventry TUC President Jane Nellist spoke and expressed solidarity from the trade union movement in Coventry and pledged to fight to cut hate crime in our city.

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Socialist Party member Dan Crowter spoke at the vigil and said “I don’t just want equality under the law, I want liberation.” The only way to achieve that liberation, and to defeat LGBTphobia, Islamophobia and oppression is to fight against the capitalist system that causes it.

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Socialist Party members showing solidarity with Orlando and the LGBT+ community worldwide

Dave Nellist on the Sunday Politics – watch here!

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Dave Nellist on the Sunday Politics – watch here!

Former Labour MP and Socialist councillor Dave Nellist

Former Labour MP and Socialist councillor Dave Nellist

Dave Nellist, Socialist Party member and national chair of the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) appeared on the BBC Sunday Politics show. Dave makes the socialist case against the EU and also puts the record straight on the view being put forward by some of the big trade unions that it was the EU that gave us our workplace rights.

 Agree with Dave? Then fill in the form at the bottom of this page!

Former MP Dave Nellist to make the Socialist case against the EU

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Former MP Dave Nellist to make the Socialist case against the EU

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Dave Nellist

Dave Nellist, the former Coventry Labour MP and Socialist Party Councillor will be making the Socialist and left wing case against the European Union in a public meeting taking place in the city.

The meeting, organised by the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC), is part of a nationwide tour of events taking place in over 20 towns and cities across the UK. Other speakers at the meeting include Hannah Sell, the Deputy General Secretary of the Socialist Party, and Doug Nicholls from Trade Unionists Against the EU.

Dave, the National Chair of TUSC, said:

“The EU debate has been reduced in the establishment media to a clash between different wings of the Tory party. It’s Cameron vs Boris, they say – two old Etonians, with another ex-public schoolboy Nigel Farage in the ring too.
But what about if you’re outside the 1% elite? Struggling to get by on low wages, a zero-hour contract maybe, or facing soaring rents and under-funded public services? What are our interests in the debate?
TUSC is arguing for a leave vote in the June EU referendum. We stand in the tradition of people like the late Tony Benn, the left wing Labour MP, and former RMT leader Bob Crow, who was well known for his support for international workers’ solidarity while opposing the EU as a body that was pushing anti-worker and pro-austerity policies. Opposition to the EU was also the position of Jeremy Corbyn, until very recently. As TUSC we are pleased to campaign alongside ASLEF, RMT and BFAWU trade unions in campaigning for an ‘exit left’ vote.
TUSC’s core policies include the renationalisation of the railways, Royal Mail and other privatised public services, industries and utilities; defending the right to asylum and opposing racist immigration controls; and democratic public ownership of the banks and major companies. None of these policies are compatible with the EU treaties. So why should we give a vote of confidence to EU laws and institutions which, as Greece shows, would be used to try and block socialist policies?
TUSC stands for real internationalism. Many of our problems – from economic stagnation, endless wars, the appalling treatment of refugees, to planet-threatening global warming – can only be solved at an international level. If society remains organised as it is today, based on a capitalist economic system that puts private profit first and divided into competing nations, the prospects for humanity will be bleak indeed.
But that’s why we need a socialist Europe, not the ‘Employers’ Union’ that is the EU, with its austerity agenda.
Voting to exit the EU on June 23rd is a step towards defeating a weak and divided Tory government and building a movement that can unite with workers across Europe to fight for a different world.”

The meeting will take place on Thursday 2nd June, 7.30pm, Coventry Methodist Central Hall, Warwick Lane, Coventry City Centre, CV1 2HA.

Dave Nellist debates TUC leader Frances O’Grady on the EU

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Dave Nellist debates TUC leader Frances O’Grady on the EU

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Dave on the Daily Politics

On the Daily Politics today Dave Nellist, former Coventry Labour MP and Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) National Chair, debated the TUC General Secretary France O’Grady on the EU.

The TUC is campaigning for us to stay in the bosses EU, while Dave is leading the Socialist campaign for a leave vote. While Frances O’Grady praised the EU as a defender of workers rights, Dave pointed out that workers won those rights through trade union struggle.

Watch the clip below and please share – and if you want to find out more, come to The Socialist Case Against the EU meeting in Coventry on Thursday June 2nd, 7.30pm at the Methodist Central Hall.

Agree with Dave? Fill in the form below! 

 

Dave Nellist responds to Paul Mason on the EU

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Dave Nellist responds to Paul Mason on the EU

Dave Nellist

Dave Nellist, National Chair of TUSC

The below letter from Dave Nellist, former Coventry Labour MP and National Chair of the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC), was carried in the Guardian in response to an article from left-wing journalist Paul Mason on the EU. Mason argued that there is a case for a left-wing anti-EU campaign – “Lexit” – but not now. Dave and TUSC argue that the time for an “exit left” campaign is now!

“Paul Mason outlines several of the powerful, socialist arguments for a Leave vote in the EU referendum (the left-wing case for Brexit, Guardian 16 May).

To Paul’s list could be added the EU drive for market liberalisation, or outright privatisation, of services such as rail, post, energy and water, as well as the threat to a publicly owned NHS that the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership treaty (TTIP) poses.

But having explained how undemocratic and big business orientated the EU is – in effect, Thatcherism on a continental scale – Paul backs down and asks us to accept all that, because exit threatens a change of Tory leader. As if the marginal difference between David Cameron and Boris Johnson, in the context of all Paul has identified, is in any way fundamental.

David Cameron’s government was elected with only 24% support. It’s a government that is, in reality, weak and divided – maintained in office not by its own strength, but the weakness of the opposition, particularly at the top of the trade unions.

A Leave vote would topple David Cameron and further exacerbate the divisions inside the Tory party, not heal them. It could provide a perfect opportunity for Labour to demand not a mere change in Tory leader, but an immediate general election to choose a new government!

I campaigned in the past against the EU alongside labour movement giants like Tony Benn and Bob Crow, and I’m proud that TUSC is carrying on that struggle today, whilst faint hearts fall by the wayside.

Dave Nellist National Chair, Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition”

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Dave with Bob Crow at the launch of the No2EU campaign

If you want to find out more about the Socialist case for leaving the EU, come to “The Socialist Case Against the EU” meeting organised by the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition on Thursday 2nd June, 7.30pm at the Methodist Central Hall.

 

Thank you for voting TUSC

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Thank you for voting for TUSC!

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TUSC

Coventry Socialist Party and the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition would like to thank everyone who supported us in the local elections on Thursday. We won 3108 votes across the city. We would also like to thank all party members and supporters who campaigned for us, and the many people who helped us by leafleting, nominating our candidates, putting up posters, donating towards our election costs and much more.

There will be more detailed analysis to come, however what is clear is that we have increased our city wide vote by 25 per cent from the last set of comparable local elections in 2014 (2015 local elections were combined with the general election), where we received 2471 votes in Coventry.

We will post more detailed analysis in the coming days and weeks of the both the situation in Coventry and nationwide. To discuss the outcome of the elections and how we build the fight against austerity we have a public meeting on Thursday 12th May, 7.30pm, Methodist Central Hall, City Centre. The Facebook event is here

Are you one of the 3108 Socialist voters? If so we urge you to consider strengthening the anti-austerity and socialist voice by joining the Socialist Party. Please fill in the form below, and we will be in touch!

Vote for TUSC – no to austerity!

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Vote for TUSC – no to austerity!

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Vote TUSC!

As previously reported on this site, the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) is standing in all 18 seats in the local elections taking place on Thursday 5th May in Coventry.

We urge you to vote for the TUSC candidate in your ward to help build the opposition to the cuts being inflicted on to this city by the Tory government, and being dutifully implemented by the Coventry Labour council.

These cuts include closing libraries and replacing staff with unpaid volunteers, shutting play centres, making 1000 workers redundant within the council and closing public toilets across the city. Labour have also signed us up for George Osborne’s West Midlands Combined Authority without giving the people of Coventry a vote on the matter.

The Labour Council has increased its reserves to over £84 million; however they refuse to use any of this money to hold off the cuts and build a serious campaign to win back the money for Coventry which has been stolen by the Tories.

Our candidates include former Labour MP and Socialist Councillor Dave Nellist (St Michaels), leading libraries campaigner Sarah Smith  (Woodlands), Simon Evans (Foleshill) who organised the campaign in defence of the last two play centres in Coventry that have been threatened with closure, and community campaigner Rob McArdle (Lower Stoke). We are proud to have young workers, trade unionists and students as our candidates.

See the end of this article for the full list.

TUSC says:

  • No to cuts. No to austerity
  • £10 an hour minimum wage now. End zero-hour contracts
  • For a huge programme of decent jobs with a future
  • Kick privatisation and PFI out of the NHS – support the Junior Doctors
  • For free, quality education for all from nursery to university
  • Abolish fees now! Stop the academisation of our schools
  • For immediate introduction of rent and landlord controls
  • For a massive building programme of affordable, high quality, council homes
  • Use some of the £84 million of council reserves to buy time to hold off the cuts, to build a massive city wide campaign to win more money for Coventry. For Councillors who refuse to inflict Tory misery on our city
  • For Socialist change – so the wealth of this country benefits all, not just the super rich

List of candidates

Bablake – Dan Crowter; Binley and Willenhall – Terri Jay Hersey; Cheylesmore – Judy Griffiths; Earlsdon – Kieran Gangaram; Foleshill – Simon Evans; Henley – Jamie Edgar; Holbrook – Ryan Rochester; Longford – Jordan Jefferies; Lower Stoke – Rob McArdle; Radford – Dave Anderson; St Michaels – Dave Nellist; Sherbourne – Jim Hensman; Upper Stoke – Paul Smith; Wainbody – Ian Wardle; Westwood – Jim Donnelly; Whoberley – Rich Groves; Woodlands – Sarah Smith; Wyken – Greg Crabb