Turn anger into action – Build for a 24-hour general strike
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.
Private companies are sitting on £750 billion in cash but this year we will all face a real-terms cut to our incomes as a result of attacks on wages, benefits, tax credits and changes to housing benefit.
The idea is that benefits shouldn’t rise faster than wages but the whole reason we claim these benefits is to subsidise the pitiful wages that companies pay. Couple this with the part time work that goes with the lowest pay and these benefits become essential to pay the bills.
Fuel bills have just risen by an average 8%, rail travel has increased by 4.2%, bus fares have increased by over 10 % and food prices are going through the roof.
Industrial action is the most potent weapon in the arsenal of the working class, which is why the Socialist Party Scotland is calling on the TUC and STUC to name the day for a 24 hour general strike.
We need to come together as a class with a united front across all sectors of industry to put an end to the endless cycle of low pay and cuts that the bosses and the Tories have locked us into.
But take a minute to ask yourself, who could we replace the Tories with?
The SNP, Labour and the Lib-Dems are all carrying out the austerity agenda that the Tories are proscribing.
At each stage of government they make cuts and blame it on the last lot and point fingers at each other saying ‘It was them’. We need to build a mass-workers party to fight for the needs of the majority, not a tiny elite.
If, like me, you are tired of listening to out of touch millionaires argue with each other about how best to cut your living standards, while bankers pay themselves millions in bonuses then sitting at home getting angry about it won’t change anything.
We have to build a party based on representing the needs of people like you and me. Get in touch with the Socialist Party Scotland to find out how to join the fight.
