Ed Miliband to speak at TUC rally on the 26th

[Lyev]

Ed Miliband to speak TUC anti-cuts rally next month

Labour leader to make speech at conclusion of what is expected to be biggest union protest in many years

The Labour leader, Ed Miliband (http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/edmiliband), will speak at a major union rally against cuts next month.

Miliband is not expected to join the march, organised by the TUC (http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/tuc) for 26 March, but a senior party source said he planned to speak at the conclusion of the rally in Hyde Park, central London.

The source brushed off Conservative allegations of "dithering" over whether Miliband would attend, insisting the leader had made his plans clear at a press conference last month.

"We have been saying for some time that Ed is planning to speak at the TUC rally," the source said.

Under the banner "March for the Alternative: Jobs, Growth, Justice", the TUC national demonstration against cuts is expected to attract tens of thousands of people to what will be the biggest union protest in many years.

Many of those marching from the Embankment to Hyde Park are expected to be public service workers angry over the pay freeze and job losses resulting from the government's drive to eliminate the deficit by cutting public spending.

Miliband's shadow cabinet colleague Peter Hain sent out a message on Twitter to say: "Will be joining TUC massive March 26th protest in London against the cuts. Hope you do too."

The Conservative chairman, Lady Warsi, responded: "Peter Hain, the man Ed Miliband picked to chair his policy review, is siding with deficit deniers by announcing he will be attending the TUC rally.

"Ed Miliband needs to stop dithering and make up his mind whether he will be joining his shadow cabinet colleague at the rally.

"Will he support the government's plan to clear up the mess that Labour left, or will he side with his deficit-denying union paymasters?

"Ed Miliband is siding with the deficit deniers. He's supporting a rally which wants to see the deficit reduced over decades when the Institute for Fiscal Studies, the governor of the Bank of England and the CBI said the bulk of it needs to be dealt with in the current Parliament.

"This shows that Ed Miliband and Labour do not have one shred of economic credibility.

"We thought Ed Miliband and Ed Balls backed Alistair Darling's plan to make £2bn fewer cuts than the coalition in eight weeks' time.

"But Ed Miliband maxed out the credit card and now he's refusing to deal with the terrible mess he and Labour left behind."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2011/feb/10/ed-miliband-speak-tuc-rally
________________________

Slimey opportunist bastard.

[Queercommie Girl]

The British working class misses his father.

[brigadista]

was it on revleft i read?

"Ralph Miliband argued that the Labour Party would never deliver socialism for the working class.Now his son has become Labour leader in order to prove it"

maybe he is worried he will get the same response as Aaron Porter...

[Queercommie Girl]

was it on revleft i read?

"Ralph Miliband argued that the Labour Party would never deliver socialism for the working class.Now his son has become Labour leader in order to prove it"

maybe he is worried he will get the same response as Aaron Porter...

http://www.revleft.com/vb/ralph-milibands-marxism-t149644/index.html

[brigadista]

respect and credit to Bob the Builder!!

baroness warsi isnt even listened to by her own party so she can pipe down

[Quail]

It really bothers me when members of the Labour party are given a platform at anti-cuts rallies. In fact, it bothers me when members of any political party are given a platform because they just use the struggle to promote themselves. "Slimy opportunist bastard" is about right.

[Hit The North]

How disgusting is it that the Tories are using this phrase "deficit deniers", with its obvious connotation of "holocaust deniers"?

As for Ed, I'm glad he's speaking at this event as it gives us the chance to put some pressure on him. The lazy fucker should be forced to walk on the march though, as a condition of being allowed to speak. :rolleyes:

[brigadista]

Ed has NOTHING to say they have their own cuts agenda and sit like dummies in the debates, im no labour supporter I loathe them but they are not even putting up a fight...i'm up for a heckle..

[bricolage]

prepare your eggs.

[The Grey Blur]

this is good in that it will attract a lot of people along who would not otherwise feel happy to commit to it (i'm mostly thinking of older, or semi-political people). and not all of them are bourgeois opportunists.

[Vampire Lobster]

hey let's all give ad space for bourgeois politicians together today!

Though seriously, the anti-cut cause is very imporant and the more mainstream it gets, the better. Just as long as people still remember that Labour social democracy and Ed Miliband are not really the solutions we're looking for.

[Queercommie Girl]

hey let's all give ad space for bourgeois politicians together today!

Though seriously, the anti-cut cause is very imporant and the more mainstream it gets, the better. Just as long as people still remember that Labour social democracy and Ed Miliband are not really the solutions we're looking for.

Ed Miliband isn't a Social Democrat.

He might have a social democratic coating, but underneath he is just another neo-liberal, just not as extreme as David Cameron.

Real Social Democrats would be people like Tony Benn.

[Vampire Lobster]

Ed Miliband isn't a Social Democrat.

He might have a social democratic coating, but underneath he is just another neo-liberal, just not as extreme as David Cameron.

Real Social Democrats would be people like Tony Benn.

To be honest, I don't know the British politics well enough to know how left the left of Labour party is in reality, so I'll stand corrected for now.

[Queercommie Girl]

To be honest, I don't know the British politics well enough to know how left the left of Labour party is in reality, so I'll stand corrected for now.

Have a look at that SWP article on Ralph Miliband I posted, it's in this thread.

Ralph Miliband was in-between the Labour Left and the Trotskyists.

Objectively, people like Tony Benn (the genuine Labour Left) are certainly no less "socialist" than Hugo Chavez in the economic sense, and in the political sense are actually even more democratic.

[Arlekino]

"Question Time". I fed up of Labour left biggest deaths. That what conservatives telling to us.

[Dimentio]

How disgusting is it that the Tories are using this phrase "deficit deniers", with its obvious connotation of "holocaust deniers"?

As for Ed, I'm glad he's speaking at this event as it gives us the chance to put some pressure on him. The lazy fucker should be forced to walk on the march though, as a condition of being allowed to speak. :rolleyes:

You evil... denier!

[red flag over teeside]

The Labour left has no strategy to defeat the cuts all they seem to be campaigning for is humane cuts. Lets have an alternative which groups all workers on our terrain and aims for strikes. Labour & TUC offers no alternative lets argue for soverign assemblies controlled by all workers and lets build class wide strikes rather than marching. Capitalists dont care if we march they do care when we strike.

[Queercommie Girl]

The Labour left has no strategy to defeat the cuts all they seem to be campaigning for is humane cuts. Lets have an alternative which groups all workers on our terrain and aims for strikes. Labour & TUC offers no alternative lets argue for soverign assemblies controlled by all workers and lets build class wide strikes rather than marching. Capitalists dont care if we march they do care when we strike.

The Labour Left in the genuine sense doesn't really exist anymore today. Ed Miliband is certainly a right Labourite.

[Vladimir Innit Lenin]

Ed Miliband isn't a Social Democrat.

He might have a social democratic coating, but underneath he is just another neo-liberal, just not as extreme as David Cameron.

Real Social Democrats would be people like Tony Benn.

Tony Benn is a Democratic Socialist. I'd say Ed Miliband is a right-Social Democrat, but I guess that's just picking hairs.

I draw the line of sympathy and parliamentary support at Democratic Socialists like Tony Benn, Corbyn, McDonnell, Galloway etc.

There's little to gain from Ed Miliband. As honest a man as he seems, he's just another Capitalist in all honesty, we shouldn't expect anything of him, so we shouldn't be disappointed that he's been completely ineffective against cuts.

[Queercommie Girl]

Tony Benn is a Democratic Socialist. I'd say Ed Miliband is a right-Social Democrat, but I guess that's just picking hairs.

I draw the line of sympathy and parliamentary support at Democratic Socialists like Tony Benn, Corbyn, McDonnell, Galloway etc.

There's little to gain from Ed Miliband. As honest a man as he seems, he's just another Capitalist in all honesty, we shouldn't expect anything of him, so we shouldn't be disappointed that he's been completely ineffective against cuts.

Well, he is the "lesser evil" compared with the liberal-conservative co-alition that's in power at the moment. And I'd rather have him than someone like Obama.

But Ed Miliband is not a genuine Social Democrat, despite some left-wing rhetoric.

[red flag over teeside]

Problem for the working class is that no pro capitalist party such as the LP either left or right can even amerolate the consequences of a capitalism that is in a deep structural crisis. The key is to agitate amongst workers to get them to see that the only solution to unemployment, poverty, war etc is to be found in our own actions and our own class organisations. The austerity cuts will not be defeated by TUC inspired marches or hoping the LP in parliament will defeat the cuts it will only come about when as workers we take strike action across the class and under our own control in soverign assemblies.

[Queercommie Girl]

Problem for the working class is that no pro capitalist party such as the LP either left or right can even amerolate the consequences of a capitalism that is in a deep structural crisis. The key is to agitate amongst workers to get them to see that the only solution to unemployment, poverty, war etc is to be found in our own actions and our own class organisations. The austerity cuts will not be defeated by TUC inspired marches or hoping the LP in parliament will defeat the cuts it will only come about when as workers we take strike action across the class and under our own control in soverign assemblies.

The TUC leadership may have pro-capitalist stances, but to completely reject trade unionism, which still has a working class base by and large, is clearly irrational.

It is also irrational to completely reject parliamentary politics. Socialists should organise genuine leftist forces in election campaigns, like the CWI has done in Ireland with the United Left Alliance, if only to push for more influence in society in general.

In advanced capitalist countries, such is the only correct transitional strategy for all Marxists: Struggle for trade union democracy against the pro-capitalist leadership and take part in both election campaigns under the banner of a mass worker's party as well as direct struggles on the street and in the workplace.

[Vanguard1917]

Lol. With friends like him...