International Socialists (CWI Scotland)

On Sunday 12 May the Sunday People broke the tragic story of the suicide of a 53 year old woman, Stephanie Bottrill, who killed herself because of the bedroom tax. In a letter to her son she explained what had pushed her over the edge: "Don't blame yourself for me ending my life. The only people to blame are the government."

Almost 500 people attended an exhibition and tumultuous public meeting at the Adelphi hotel in Liverpool on Saturday 27 April to mark the 30th anniversary of the socialist Labour council.That council confronted Thatcher’s Tory government and defied its cuts and austerity. The meeting marvellously recreated the mood and fighting spirit of the 1980s in Liverpool. Loud applause and enthusiasm greeted every platform speaker and contribution from the floor.

Saturday 27th April saw over 250 delegates and visitors from across the length and breadth of Scotland attend the conference to found the 'All Scottish Anti Bedroom Tax Federation'. Delegates represented 70 local anti-bedroom tax campaigns. Also sending delegates were four trade union branches representing local government and Housing Association workers.

She was dubbed the Iron Lady, a description she wore with pride as she ruthlessly tried to solve the difficulties British capitalism found itself in by launching brutal attack after attack on the working class. However she was not invincible as Liverpool City Council and the All-Britain Anti-Poll Tax Federation demonstrated. Some common themes unite these two struggles – a clear set of demands, a clear strategy to achieve them and the involvement of the mass of working class people in active defiance. The role of Militant, the forerunner of the Socialist Party, was crucial in these important victories over Thatcher.

Cheers erupted from the pubs in the former mining towns and villages in Scotland when the news broke. Decades of economic decline, mass unemployment, poverty and deprivation would allow at least that when the news reported that Margaret Thatcher was dead. The legacy of brutal Thatcherism; shattered communities, generations thrown onto the scrapheap, meant there was no chance that her death would, or should, be received in any other way.

It is a human response to be sad when somebody dies. But many working class people will be celebrating her death because of the absolutely destructive and long lasting effect she had on the lives of millions of working class and poor people. She is seen by many as a kind of modern day Genghis Khan. Elected into office in 1979 she unleashed a ferocious assault on the living standards and democratic rights of working class people.

Mass opposition to the bedroom tax is growing by the day. Anti-bedroom tax protests attracted thousands of people in Glasgow and Edinburgh this weekend – reflecting the mass opposition to the hated ConDem policy. We carry reports from both demonstrations.  They came in their thousands to Glasgow Green, the place that 24 years earlier had witnessed a human avalanche of protest amid the arrival of the mass non-payment campaign that defeated the poll tax. Saturday March 30 2013, a different tax, a different Tory government, but again the working class was going to have it's say.

"I can’t afford to pay this, and I’ll not be moving either. We’ve spent years building a home but they don’t want us to have nice homes – they want us to live in rabbit hutches". "We fought to get a three bedroom house because we have two young children, a girl and a boy. Now because of their age we are told that we have to pay for an extra bedroom."

Thursday 18th September 2014 has now been named by the SNP government as the date of the independence referendum. It’s a vote that will take place against the backdrop of unprecedented economic stagnation facing Scottish and British capitalism and deepening austerity.

Over 100 people packed into the Glasgow City Unison Offices on March 13th for a public meeting to build for the  Anti-Bedroom Tax demonstration on March 30th. The meeting which brought together people from across the West of Scotland took the decision to launch a West Scotland Federation of Anti Bedroom Tax campaigns.

"At the numerous public meetings and door to door activity we have done across Dundee over the last 2 or 3 weeks we have been inundated with people's horror stories on how this is going to impact on them. Women saying they will face the choice of not heating their homes, not eating or cutting back on essentials for their children. People terrified of being forced out of their homes and don’t know where to turn to for help.

By Bruce Wallace. Posted 4th March 2013

Since the eruption of the Jimmy Saville case last year the Con/Dem government have been thankful for some brief respite from the glare of publicity alluding to a direct link between organised sexual abuse of children and leading British politicians. Now the scandal is threatening to blow up around Operation Fernbridge,  a Police investigation  into activities at the Elm Guesthouse in London during the 1980’s, where children from nearby local authority care homes were serially sexually abused.

Public Meetings, demonstrations, lobbies and a plethora of Faceboook and other social media campaigning has erupted in the wake of the imminent arrival of the Bedroom Tax. There is intense anger at this blatant attack on the poorest sections of society which is pushing many people who previously felt powerless in the face of the austerity juggernaut into campaigning activity.   

‘Austerity’ is discussed by politicians and the media in terms of it being a proper response to the financial situation that British and for that matter world capitalism finds itself.  It is all so reasonable and ‘scientific’. Austerity has become a ‘neutral’ word for the bosses and political leaders. Every now and then the true human cost of austerity is reported. George Scollan is just such a reminder of the human cost.

2013 will prove to be a very difficult year for the working class, if the ConDem government gets its way. The government and press like to paint a picture of undeserving 'scroungers and skivers' living a life of luxury on benefits, to justify cuts. But the cuts will hammer the poor and hard-working low and middle earners who are facing these attacks on our living standards, while the top rate of tax is cut for the real scroungers, the millionaires and the big companies.