Twenty Years Ago...

...in the NEW WORKER


Rolls Royce workers lobbied shareholders of the aerospace group last week.
Some workers who own shares entered the group’s annual general meeting to make their criticisms.
The 34,000 workforce had been angered when the company issued them contract termination notices in order to impose a pay freeze.
Threats of legal action and industrial action forced the company to back off, but it still wants the pay freeze and 6,000 aerospace job cuts.
Trade union negotiators were meeting the company as we went to press.
Workers at the Leavesden site, which is threatened with closure at a cost of 1,760 jobs, are preparing detailed proposals for keeping at least the engine plant open.
Rolls plans to sell the site, which it recently purchased from the Ministry of Defence, a move reminiscent of the British Aerospace-Royal Ordinance scandal.
Lord Tombs, Roll’s chairman, announced he would cut his salary by 10 per cent, from £150,000 to £135,000 in 1991.

Soviet soldiers have clashed with nationalist militias in renewed tension in the Baltic states.
No-one was killed but the Lithuanian and Latvian authorities claim Soviet soldiers held their militiamen at gunpoint and then burnt down the border check-points which they have illegally set up across their frontiers.
The Soviet forces, Black-Berets from the Interior Ministry, were involved in bloody clashes with nationalist groups last year.
The nationalist regimes have demanded their withdrawal from the Baltic region.
In Moscow attention is focusing on the forthcoming Russian Federation elections.
Yeltsin is leading a high-profile campaign, promising to retire from public life if his challenge fails.
His rival, Soviet President Gorbachov, is trying to remain in the limelight by giving publicity to the private visit of former British premier Margaret Thatcher, who has arrived fresh from a similar jaunt in South Africa.

TWENTY YEARS AGO...

...in the NEW WORKER


THE NATIONAL Association of Local Government Officers last Monday resumed pay talks with employers on behalf of 500,000 local government members.
They are claiming a rise of 12 per cent of the Council of Europe decency threshold of £9,330, whichever is greater. Around 38 per cent of their members are paid less than this threshold.
Nalgo is also seeking to make the adult rate payable at 18 instead of 21, reductions in the working week and increases in annual leave.
This claim was first submitted in January, giving the employers a long period of consultation on the claim and the unions expected a first offer by the beginning of May.
So far the employers have made no offer and are divided on whether or not to make an offer by the end of this month.
This would be likely to anger the membership and lead to calls for strike action as happened in 1989, when a programme of one-day stoppages and selective strikes by Nalgo members won a substantial pay award.

****

YUGOSLAVIA stands on the brink of civil war, despite the talks between the Serbian and Croat leaderships and the army has demanded sweeping powers to stop the ethnic violence.
Fighting between Croat and Serbian nationalist militias led to many deaths last week. At least one soldier died in clashes with Croat nationalists. The national army, in which most officers are Serbs, may also disintegrate if the crisis worsens.
Hungary is believed to be arming the Croat militias who accuse Romania of backing the Serbian-Montenegran front.
Yugoslavia’s constitution provides for a presidency that rotates among the individual republics and is virtually nominal.
Yugoslavia’s worsening economy and its unworkable federal constitution have produced a situation like that in the Lebanon with nationalists leaders from every community and religious group set on establishing local centres of power.

The Scottish Elections

By our Scottish Political Correspondent

IN THE AFTERMATH of last year’s general election, in which Labour reversed the trend in England, members thought they had a fair chance of reversing the 2007 Scottish Parliamentary elections that saw the Scottish National Party form a minority administration with 47 MSPs, only one more than Labour’s 46. When the formal campaign for the 2011 election began this seemed unlikely as Labour’s lead in the polls faded away. After an insipid and accident-prone campaign by Labour it was clear that former Royal Bank of Scotland economist, First Minister Alex Salmond, was staying put in his official residence.
However it was not until the early hours of Friday morning that the extent of Labour’s defeat and the Nationalist triumph became clear. The final results saw the SNP secure an overall majority with 69 seats, Labour came a distant second with 37, the Tories had 17 (two down from 2007), the Liberal Democrats, despite frantic efforts to distance themselves from the coalition, dropped to five seats from their former 16. Two Greens and an Independent (a former Nationalist) retained their seats.
Labour lost a lot more than the reduction of nine MSPs implies. As only 73 MSPs were elected for constituencies with another 56 being elected on a top-up party list system some of their losses were compensated by gains on the lists. Under this system the former Tory leader lost his Edinburgh constituency seat, but will reappear as a regional list MSP. However, none of the Labour constituency MSPs were also on the regional lists, so those new Labour MSPs are not exactly inspiring figures or intellectual heavyweights.
Remarkably the percentage of people voting Labour declined only by a microscopic 0.5 per cent, but the fact that only one in 200 voters deserted Labour was of no help as the SNP vacuumed up votes from disaffected voters from all other parties, thus causing Labour to lose the sort of seat where they used to weigh the Labour votes.
As has became the norm in the three previous elections to what comedian Billy Connolly called the “pretendy wee parliament,” the election saw only about half the electorate inspired to rise from their sofas to the polling stations. Turnout was particularly low in working class areas; in one Glasgow constituency turnout was a just under 35 per cent. The highest turnout was 63 per cent in a leafy former Tory seat won by Labour.
On the fringes of the election those standing for left-wing parties did not make any significant impact. Arthur Scargill’s Socialist Labour Party, the Scottish Socialist Party and their former comrades in Solidarity stood in all the regional lists. Political train spotters can find full details of their votes at the bottom of the results tables among those for the Pensioners, Christians, UKIP and single issue candidates.
Curiously enough, of these three left parties the one which did the best was the SLP which, in contrast to the other two, has virtually no visible presence in Scotland. In Glasgow George Galloway, standing as a Solidarity-backed opponent of the cuts failed to win a seat, doubtless much to the relief of the remaining Labour MSPs whom Galloway cruelly, but accurately, described as having a struggle to become nonentities.
In Donald Dewar’s old constituency of Glasgow Anniesland, the incumbent Labour MSP lost to the SNP by a mere seven votes. This was the sole seat in Scotland contested by the Communist Party of Britain, whose candidate who polled 245 votes. He was quoted in the Morning Star as saying “... the defeat of Bill Butler, a consistent left-wing Labour MSP, is a blow to the whole left in Scotland”. That may be the case, but if so why oppose him in an election? In the west of Scotland there were many right-wing MSPs who would have been better targets.
The fascists, in the form of the BNP and the curious Scottish Homeland Party (who want to prevent Turkey joining the European Union, hardly a vital issue to Scots) all did badly. However the BNP’s small vote was always greater that the two Trotskyite parties.
Until a dramatic change of tack in the last week of the campaign, Labour more or less ignored the SNP and spent most of its time and energy attacking the Con-Dem Coalition. Given that David Cameron was not actually standing this was a big mistake. Labour’s few attacks on the SNP focussed on their plans to hold a referendum on separating from England as being a distraction from more mundane economic questions. Opposing such a vote was clearly an error, given that if a referendum actually been called it would have seen a resounding defeat for the Nationalists.
What of the future? The insipid Labour leader Iain Gray, who only just survived election night, is standing down as leader. The pool of talent to replace him is not great. For what it matters, the leader of the Liberal Democrats also fell upon his sword, leaving four other MSPs in the running. This leadership contest is unlikely to be riveting viewing.
Trying very hard not to gloat, El Presidento, Alex Salmond in his victory speech, claimed that he would “govern for all the ambitions for Scotland and all people who imagine that we can live in a better land”. These pieties bring to mind Margaret Thatcher’s quoting St Francis on the steps of Downing Street when she was first elected Prime Minister and promising to end strife.
Salmond’s previous administration did indeed introduce some welcome minor reforms such as abolishing prescription charges for the few not covered by exemptions, but his main policies are not progressive. He and his normally Tory backers want the Scottish Parliament to have control of taxation in order to reduce Corporation Tax on multi-national businesses. Tellingly, shortly before the election Salmond’s main attacks on the Tories focussed on their plans to levy a tax on oil companies.

Fifty Years of Human Spaceflight!

Review



By Theo Russell

Yuri Gagarin - The First Spaceman by Vix Southgate; First Orbit, directed by Christopher Riley; Little Eagles, by Rona Munro.

SPACE enthusiasts and scientists from around the world came together last month in a global celebration of the new era of space exploration which began with Yuri Gagarin’s historic flight, on 12th April 1961.
Writers, broadcasters and scientists from Britain were at the forefront of several projects aimed at giving Gagarin’s flight the momentous commemmoration it deserves, and to encourage young people to learn about space exploration and astronomy.
Yuri Gagarin – The First Spaceman is a comic, or graphic novel, style book detailing the flight as it happened, aimed at schoolchildren by Vix Southgate. Vix is an author and illustrator specialising in science-based stories, and also administrator of Yurigagarin50.org, a website promoting Gagarin events around the world.
The book, which combines text and comic strip, recounts that Gagarin was an ordinary boy who witnessed his village being occupied by the German invaders, and grew up to be a skilled worker.
“He grew up as a farm boy and saw the horrors of war. He went to live in Moscow to become better educated and he trained to become a foundryman at a steelworks. He went on to technical school and joined a flying school, later becoming a pilot in the Soviet military. He joined the space programme and became the first man in space.”
Vix’s website (http://www.vixsouthgate.co.uk/) also contains valuable resources designed for school teachers and links to websites Gagarin space exploration and astronomy.
YuriGagarin50.org contains lots of fascinating information about the Russian astronaut, his space flight and his visit to Britain in 1961 and pulls together other people’s memories of the day.
The film First Orbit, launched on YouTube 12th April is a remarkable international collaboration directed by Christopher Riley. It opened on over 1,000 screens around the world in more than 75 countries, including UNESCO HQ in Paris, Boeing HQ in Seattle, and the European Space Agency’s Columbus Control Centre near Munich. It has now been viewed over 2.8 million times on in almost every country on Earth.
The film, which took almost five years to bring together, is a collaboration between the European Space Agency, Roscosmos, Nasa and the ISS.
It combines original footage of Gagarin’s training and flight with film shot by Italian astronaut and photographer Paolo Nespoli from the International Space Station (ISS), matching as closely as possible the orbit followed by Gagarin's Vostok 1 spaceship.
It also uses historic audio recordings of the entire mission, which many thought to be lost, and is probably the first time it has been heard outside of Russia.
The music accompanying the stunning shots of the earth from space was composed by British musician Philip Sheppard, who also wrote the music for the Olympic Handover Ceremony at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
First Orbit can also be downloaded from the website by anyone applying for permission to show it to a group of people.
The ISS is itself in many ways a continuation of the Soviet space programme, and its full name in the space industry is “ISS-Zarya”. Zarya, “dawn” in Russian, was the first module of the ISS. It was launched in 1998 from the same cosmodrome – the famous Baikonur in Kazakhstan – as Vostok 1.
While the United States has provided most of the funding and built most of the modules, the ISS is a genuine international undertaking involving Russia, the European Space Agency, Japan and Canada. Five of its 15 modules are Russian-built and another, Nauka (Science) is due to be added next year.
The Russian space agency, Roscosmos, regards the ISS as the continuation of a "permanent Soviet human presence in low-Earth orbit", and there can be no doubt that it would have taken many more years to develop without the pioneering work of the Salyut and Mir space stations on long-duration human spaceflight.
While the Soviet Union clearly saw the military potential in developing space flight from the beginning, it also actively pursued the use of space flight for peaceful scientific purposes. Today, 50 years after Gagarin’s flight, Russia and many other countries still oppose the militarisation of space.
One addition to the contributions made by Vix Southgate and First Orbit to the Gagarin celebrations, the play Little Eagles recounts the life of Sergei Korolyev, the extraordinary genius and Chief Designer behind the Soviet space programme. The play, by Rona Munro, is being performed by the Royal Shakespeare Company at the Hampstead Theatre, North London, until 7th May.
The 50th anniversary of Gagarin’s flight not only marks the beginning of a new era in human history, but reminds us of the positive contribution and the peaceful international cooperation still being made possible through the exploration of space. Projects such as First Orbit and Yuri Gagarin – The First Spaceman and Little Eagles are helping to bring those inspiring ideals to a new generation.

photo: Vix Southgate

Twenty Years Ago

...in the NEW WORKER


Politicians began arriving at Belfast’s Stormont Castle last Tuesday to make preliminary arrangements for talks on the political future of the occupied Six Counties of northern Ireland. The talks are billed in most of the media as “historic”.
Much is being made of the participation of both unionist and nationalist parties. The Financial Times said: “It is the first time nationalists and unionists have sat at the same table for 15 years”.
The talks will be opened by the British Government’s northern Ireland Secretary Peter Brooke and the Irish Government is expected to take part at a later date.
Speaking at a meeting of Sinn Fein’s Executive Committee, Sinn Fein president and West Belfast MP Gerry Adams said:
“Contrary to media reports and political criticism Sinn Fein is not critical of the current British process simply because we are not involved. If it held out hope of a permanent and peaceful solution we would welcome it.
But we are not naive ... We believe in Irish independence not only for ideological or even patriotic and democratic reasons – it also makes sense.
Partition and British involvement has not worked. It has been a catalyst for conflict. Irish Independence, an end to the British connection, can be a catalyst for peace and justice
This is the stated view of all other Irish political parties except Unionists. This is the basis on which we judge the Brooke process.
Our collective experience persuades republicans that in spite of Brooke’s November speech in which he claimed Britain has no ‘selfish, strategic or economic’ interest in the north, it is in reality Britain which is setting the agenda setting the current political agenda underpinned by a re-affirmation of the Unionist veto”.

******************************

Twenty Years Ago

...in the NEW WORKER






The Trades Union Congress may agree the affiliation of the Electrical and Plumbing Industries Trade Union this week.
The 4,000 strong EPIU was formed when the EEPTU was expelled from the TUC in 1988. The EPIU was given observer status in 1989 but was refused full membership.
The TUC says the EPIU is now self sufficient and no longer dependent on other unions. Holding sections for EPIU members set up by the TGWU, MSF and GNB general unions will be disbanded.
Some members of the general council had hoped a way could be found for the EEPTU to return but that is extremely unlikely.
Leading members of both the AEU engineering union and UCATT building workers union want merger with EEPTU. A rat race could develop to carve it up.

Mikhail Gorbachov has returned empty-handed from Japan to face renewed demands from all quarters for his resignation.
The visit was a failure. Gorbachov had been seeking some £15 billion worth of Japanese aid to stave off the economic collapse of the Soviet Union.
But he was unable to meet the Japanese demand for the return of some or all of the Kurile islands, which Tokyo has set as their price for propping up his ailing regime.
The Japanese government had been expecting a major concession from the Soviet side over the Kurile islands, whose strategic and economic importance and history as part of Russia until 1905 led to their re-incorporation into the Soviet Union after the victory over Japan in 1945.
Many suspect the Soviet leader had privately indicated his willingness to meet Japan’s demands. But the intervention of his rival, Boris Yelstin who controls the Russian Federation made this impossible.

******************************

Historic opportunity for communists

By New Worker correspondent

COMMUNIST and workers’ parties from all over Europe met in Brussels on 11th and 12th April to exchange views on the response of the movement to social and political processes across the continent. Representatives of 38 parties from 31 countries, including the New Communist Party of Britain, took part in the conference held in the European Parliament in the Belgian capital. Mirta Castro, head of the Cuban delegation to the European Parliament, ambassador to Belgium and Luxemburg and representative of the Communist Party of Cuba, was also present at the meeting.
The conference was opened by Aleka Papariga, the general secretary of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE), who said that there was now a historic opportunity to direct the thoughts and actions of the peoples in struggle towards working class power.
But she stressed that that even if a pro-people majority in parliament was elected in one country and a government was formed on this basis, it would still not be able to overcome the limits of the basic laws of capitalism if it did not resolve the central issue of the socialisation of the basic means of production, withdrawal from the EU and Nato, nationwide planning and workers’ control from the bottom up.
NCP general secretary Andy Brooks represented the party at the conference and in his intervention he stressed the NCP’s opposition to the imperialist attack on Libya and its support for the massive anti-cuts protest in London last March. He called for mass industrial action against the cuts to build the resistance to the ruling class offensive.

Brussels European Communist and Workers Parties Conference April 2011

Joint Statement

The communist and workers parties which participated in the European Communist Meeting in Brussels, 11-12 April, exchanged their views on the ongoing deep crisis of the capitalist system and denounce the imperialist aggression against Libya. This war, in the conditions of the capitalist crisis, is a continuation of the barbaric assault which capital has unleashed at the expense of the working class and the popular strata of our countries through savage anti-people measures. The imperialist intervention of the USA, NATO, and the EU in Libya is yet another crime of the imperialists at the expense of the peoples. The false pretexts which the imperialists use cannot conceal the truth that the inter-imperialist competition for the control of natural resources in Africa, the Middle East, the Eastern Mediterranean and the Caspian is intensifying. We demand the cessation of the imperialist war, that the bases be closed and every kind of assistance for the implementation of the imperialist plans be stopped. Also in the case of Libya we consider that the people must have the right to choose its path of development on its own, without foreign interventions.

At the same time in the name of “competitiveness” with other imperialist powers, the bourgeois class of the countries of Europe generalises the anti-worker measures. They reduce wages and pensions in the name of the crisis in order to ensure the profitability of capital. In many countries savage reductions of labour and trade union rights are being promoted, unemployment is on the rise, the right to strike and other trade union freedoms are being undermined, xenophobia is strengthening while the poor farmers are being wiped out in favour of the big farmers and monopoly groups. The historical limits of capitalism are being demonstrated objectively, as it cannot solve the basic problems of the peoples.

The bourgeois class is very well aware of the fact that the main enemies of their strategy, the main opponents of the capitalist system are the communist and workers’ parties. For that reason in many countries they intensify the anticommunist threats, persecutions and bans.

However, there is only one way for the peoples. Only through the struggles of the workers for the working class- people’s problems, for the political power of the working class, we can pave the way for social progress, for socialism.

The communist and workers’ parties of Europe are against the membership of new countries in NATO, struggle for the withdrawal of their countries from NATO having as a goal the dismantlement of NATO.

We salute the massive struggles of the class-oriented movement that are taking place in many European countries. The peoples are benefited by the growth of the current that challenges the anti-people political line, the imperialist organisations, and the capitalist path of development itself.

The communist and workers’ parties which participated in the meeting decided to further intensify their activity and coordination.


СОВМЕСТНОЕ ЗАЯВЛЕНИЕ

Коммунистические и рабочие партии, принявшие участие в Европейской коммунистической встрече, организованной в Брюсселе 11-12 апреля, обменялись мнениями относительно развивающегося, глубокого кризиса и осудили империалистическую агрессию против Ливии. В условиях капиталистического кризиса, эта война является продолжением варварского наступления капитала на рабочий класс и народные слои наших стран, посредством применения жёстких антинародных мер. Империалистическая интервенция США, НАТО и ЕС в Ливии – очередное преступление империалистов против народов. Лживые предлоги империалистов не могут скрыть истины – обострения межимпериалистической конкуренции за контроль над природными ресурсами Африки, Ближнего Востока, Восточного Средиземноморья и Каспийского моря. Мы требуем прекращения империалистической войны, закрытия военных баз и отказа от участия в реализации империалистических планов. И в случае Ливии, мы считаем, то народ должен избрать собственный путь развития без давления иностранных империалистических интервенций.

В то же время для обеспечения конкурентоспособности по отношению к другим империалистическим державам, буржуазный класс в странах Европы осуществляет антирабочие меры. Во многих странах, как членах ЕС, так и в других для обеспечения высоких прибылей капитала сокращаются зарплаты и пенсии. Попираются трудовые и профсоюзные права, растёт безработица, урезаются право на забастовку и профсоюзные свободы, усиливается ксенофобия, в интересах крупных землевладельцев и монополий разоряются бедные крестьяне. Налицо объективные доказательства исторической ограниченности капитализма, его неспособность решать основные проблемы народа.

Буржуазный класс прекрасно знает, что основной противник его стратегии, основной враг капиталистической системы – это коммунистические партии. Поэтому во многих странах отмечается рост угроз, гонений в отношении коммунистов и вводятся запреты на коммунистическую идеологию.

Но для народов нет другого пути. Только борьба трудящихся за трудовые и народные права, за политическую власть рабочего класса открывает путь к социальному прогрессу, к социализму.

Коммунистические и рабочие партии Европы выступают против вступления новых стран в НАТО, борются за выход своих стран из НАТО, имея целью развал НАТО.

Мы приветствуем массовую борьбу рабочих и народа, борьбу классового рабочего движения, которая ведется во многих европейских странах. В интересах всех трудящихся, чтобы народы стали решительней оспаривать антинародную политику, империалистические организации и сам капиталистический способ развития.

Коммунистические и рабочие партии, принявшие участие во Встрече решили усилить свою деятельность и координацию.

Parties

1. Communist Party of Styria [Austria]
2. Communist Party of Belarus
3. Workers' Party of Belgium
4. New Communist Party of Britain
5. Communist Party of Britain
6. Party of the Bulgarian Communists
7. AKEL-Cyprus
8. Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia
9. Communist Party in Denmark
10. Communist Party of Denmark
11. Communist Party of Estonia
12. Finland Communist Workers’ Party for Peace and Socialism
13. Pole of Rebirth of Communistes in France
14. Union of Revolutionary Communistes of France URCF
15. German Communist Party(DKP)
16. Communist Party of Greece
17. Hungarian Workers' Communist Party
18. The Workers' Party of Ireland
19. Communist Party of Ireland
20. Communist Peoples' Left, Italy
21. Socialist Party of Latvia
22. Communist Party of Luxembourg
23. Movement of People's Resistance, Moldavia
24. New Communist Party of the Netherlands
25. Communist Party of Norway
26. Communist Party of Poland
27. Communist Party of Russian Federation
28. Communist Workers' Party of Russia - Revolutionary Party of Communists
29. Communist Party of Soviet Union
30. New Communist Party of Yugoslavia
31. Communist Party of Slovakia
32. Communist Party of Peoples of Spain
33. Communist Party of Sweden
34. Party of Labour, Switzerland
35. Communist Party of Turkey
36. (EMEP), Turkey
37. Union of Communists of Ukraine

Brussels conference: Resolution on Belarus

RESOLUTION ON BELARUS

The communist and workers’ parties and organizations which participated in the European communist meeting held in Brussels 11-12 April 2011 condemn the bombing of the Minsk metro, which caused the death and injury of dozens of people. With this motion we express our grief for the victims of this act and our condemnation of the continuing plans of destabilization, which are being elaborated with the intervention of the USA, the EU and NATO.

We express our support for the right of every people to choose its own path of development, without foreign imperialist interference.


РЕЗОЛЮЦИЯ ПО БЕЛОРУССИИ

Коммунистические и рабочие партии и организации, принявшие участие в Европейской коммунистической встрече, состоявшейся в Брюсселе 11-12 апреля 2011 г. осуждают взрыв в метро Минска, в результате которого погибли и получили ранения десятки человек. В этой резолюции мы выражаем скорбь по поводу жертв этого действия и осуждаем планы по дестабилизации в стране, вынашиваемые при помощи США, ЕС и НАТО.
Мы поддерживаем право каждого народа самостоятельно избирать свой путь развития, без иностранных империалистических вмешательств.


======
1. Communist Party of Styria [Austria]
2. Communist Party of Belarus
3. Workers' Party of Belgium
4. New Communist Party of Britain
5. Communist Party of Britain
6. Party of the Bulgarian Communists
7. Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia
8. Communist Party in Denmark
9. Communist Party of Denmark
10. Communist Party of Estonia
11. Finland Communist Workers’ Party for Peace and Socialism
12. Pole of Rebirth of Communistes in France
13. Union of Revolutionary Communistes of France URCF
14. German Communist Party(DKP)
15. Communist Party of Greece
16. Hungarian Workers' Communist Party
17. The Workers' Party of Ireland
18. Communist Party of Ireland
19. Communist Peoples' Left, Italy
20. Socialist Party of Latvia
21. Communist Party of Luxembourg
22. Movement of People's Resistance, Moldavia
23. New Communist Party of the Netherlands
24. Communist Party of Norway
25. Communist Party of Poland
26. Portuguese Communist Party
27. Communist Party of Russian Federation
28. Communist Workers' Party of Russia - Revolutionary Party of Communists
29. Communist Party of Soviet Union
30. New Communist Party of Yugoslavia
31. Communist Party of Slovakia
32. Communist Party of Peoples of Spain
33. Communist Party of Sweden
34. Party of Labour, Switzerland
35. Communist Party of Turkey
36. (EMEP), Turkey
37. Union of Communists of Ukraine

Brussels Conference: Support for the New Communist Party of Yugoslavia

Support for the New Communist Party of Yugoslavia

The Communist and Workers’ parties which participated in the European Communist Meeting held in Brussels 11-12 April 2011 raise their voices in intense protest at the systematic persecution and discrimination against the New Communist Party of Yugoslavia (NCPY).

At the order of the Serbian government the Central Committee of the NCPY is obliged to vacate its only offices in Belgrade within eight days. Despite the fact that the main offices of the NCPY have been locate there for the last 20 years from the moment of its foundation. And at the same time, the Serbian authorities have not provided the NCPY with any other location to move its offices to.

We demand the immediate cessation of the persecution against the NCPY.

Hands off the NCPY!


=================
В поддержку Новой коммунистической партии Югославии

Коммунистические и рабочие партии, принявшие участие в Европейской коммунистической встрече, организованной в Брюсселе 11-12 апреля, выражают свой резкий протест против систематического преследования и дискриминации направленной против Новой коммунистической партии Югославии (НКПЮ).

По приказу правительства Сербии, Центральный комитет НКПЮ должен за восемь дней покинуть свой единственный штаб в Белграде. Несмотря на то, что в последние 20 лет, со дня формирования НКПЮ, штаб-квартира партии размещалась в этом здании. Одновременно, власть Сербии не представила НКПЮ никакого другого помещения под штаб.

Эти действия правительства Сербии направлены против НКПЮ, которая давно является частью международного коммунистического движения.

Мы требуем немедленно прекратить преследования против НКПЮ!

Руки прочь от НКПЮ!


The Parties

1. Communist Party of Styria [Austria]
2. Communist Party of Belarus
3. Workers' Party of Belgium
4. New Communist Party of Britain
5. Communist Party of Britain
6. Party of the Bulgarian Communists
7. AKEL-Cyprus
8. Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia
9. Communist Party in Denmark
10. Communist Party of Denmark
11. Communist Party of Estonia
12. Finland Communist Workers’ Party for Peace and Socialism
13. Pole of Rebirth of Communistes in France
14. Union of Revolutionary Communistes of France URCF
15. German Communist Party(DKP)
16. Communist Party of Greece
17. Hungarian Workers' Communist Party
18. The Workers' Party of Ireland
19. Communist Party of Ireland
20. Communist Peoples' Left, Italy
21. Socialist Party of Latvia
22. Communist Party of Luxembourg
23. Movement of People's Resistance, Moldavia
24. New Communist Party of the Netherlands
25. Communist Party of Norway
26. Communist Party of Poland
27. Portuguese Communist Party
28. Communist Party of Russian Federation
29. Communist Workers' Party of Russia - Revolutionary Party of Communists
30. Communist Party of Soviet Union
31. New Communist Party of Yugoslavia
32. Communist Party of Slovakia
33. Communist Party of Peoples of Spain
34. Communist Party of Sweden
35. Party of Labour, Switzerland
36. Communist Party of Turkey
37. (EMEP), Turkey
38. Union of Communists of Ukraine

Joint Statement on Solidarity with the Palestinian People

The International Meeting on "The Palestinian Problem and the Solidarity of the Left to the Struggle of the Heroic People of Palestine" organised on 25-26 February, 2011, in Nicosia, Cyprus by AKEL, with the participation of the Communist and Left parties and liberation organizations listed below, condemns the continuous crimes committed against the Palestinian people, demands the immediate end of the Israeli occupation of Palestine and calls for the recognition of the Palestinian state on the borders of June 4th 1967.

Talks between Palestine and Israel are in a complete deadlock due to the Israeli intransigent policy aiming to perpetuate the occupation and to destroy any possibility for the establishment of an independent, sovereign, viable Palestinian state. Israeli aggressive and intransigent policy has been tolerated and supported by the United States and by the complicity of EU and in particular by a number of EU member-states and institutions. The new NATO dogma, adopted in Lisbon, constitutes upgrading of the alliance of aggressiveness; hence it becomes even more dangerous for the peoples in the region and the world.

Forty four years after the occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza Strip, Israel, violating international law, pursues unabatedly its expansionist policies continuing the building of settlements, colonizing East Jerusalem and the West Bank, evicting Palestinians, demolishing Palestinian houses, stealing away the land, water and resources that belong to the Palestinian people. A policy reminiscent of ethnic cleansing. Almost seven years after the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice declared that the construction by Israel of the wall of shame to be contrary to International Law, Israel continues to fortify the wall tearing apart the Palestinian land and society, leaving the Palestinian towns and villages without land and water, dividing communities, separating the farmers from their land, the patients from the hospitals, and the schoolchildren from their schools. Two years after the Israeli war on Gaza in December 2008 that resulted in the death of over 1,350 citizens wounded thousands of innocent civilians including women, children and elderly, destroyed homes, properties and infrastructure that still lay in ruins, the humanitarian tragedy remains. The residents of Gaza are still deprived of the most basic goods and services. The Israeli attack on Gaza is in reality an aggression against the entire Palestinian people.

Almost five years after the siege of Gaza, and despite the slight slackening of it, more than one million Palestinians continue to live in conditions of an open air prison. The daily attacks by the Israeli occupation army against the unarmed Palestinian population defending its land and right to freedom and statehood cause daily victims that constitute a constant bleeding and war crimes mainly silenced by the international press.

In view of the above, the representatives of the participating Parties and Organisations consider that these policies and facts close all doors and opportunities in front of a just and comprehensive solution of the Palestinian problem and in the Middle East in general.

Based on the above, the signatories wish to declare the following:

(1) We reaffirm our support for and solidarity with the Palestinian people in their struggle to regain their legitimate and inalienable national rights, including the right to self-determination and the establishment of an independent and sovereign state on the borders of June 4, 1967, with Al-Quds (East Jerusalem) as its capital, as well as the right of return for all Palestinian refugees in accordance with U.N. Resolution 194;

(2) We demand the immediate end of the Israeli occupation of all Palestinian and Arab lands, including Syrian Golan heights and the remaining Lebanon Shebaa Farms, that are illegally under the control of Israel since 1967; we call the international community to proceed with the recognition of an independent Palestinian state on the 1967 borders, with the implementation of UN resolutions;

(3) We condemn the racist character of the Zionist movement and its plans and atrocities against the Palestinian people and we express our full support to the right of the Palestinians in resistance against the occupation;

(4) We condemn the Israeli intransigent policy vis-à-vis the talks and continual creation of faits accomplis mainly through the settlement policy that resulted to a deadlock for which Israel is fully responsible;

(5) We condemn the support of imperialist forces towards Israel that encourages the continuation and escalation of its criminal policies. Using the veto right in the security council of the U.N by USA concerning the Israeli settlements, is a recent example of this support by imperialist forces to Israel; We also condemn the political forces that are keeping equal distances between the victim and the victimizer, by accepting or even supporting the aggressive policy of Israel.

(6) We demand the immediate full lifting of the siege of Gaza, the re-opening of borders, the opening of the Rafah crossing by Egypt and the rapid reconstruction of all that was damaged or destroyed by this unjustifiable aggression and hold Israel accountable for all the damages; the Goldstone report and recommendations that considers Israel responsible for war crimes and possible crimes against humanity, must be implemented and Israel’s impunity should be stopped; the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem are part of the future Palestinian state and any division between them would render a Palestinian state non-viable and is unacceptable.

(7) We strongly condemn the perpetuated construction of the racist wall as well as of the colonial settlements in the occupied West Bank which violate all relevant UN resolutions and constitute a flagrant violation of International Law. We demand the immediate removal of the wall and all the settlements.

(8) We demand the immediate release from custody of all the freedom prisoners in Israeli detention, including women, children, elderly and elected representatives.

(9) We extend our solidarity to the forces in Israeli society resisting and denouncing the criminal Israeli policies against the Palestinians and against democracy

(10) We urge all sections of Palestinian national movement to advance the national dialog and to work seriously and in a responsible manner toward ending the internal split and re-establishing Palestinian national unity. This process should be aiming at strengthening the role of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) as the legitimate and sole recognized representative of the Palestinian people and also at reforming the role and status of the PLO, on democratic bases, with an open door to all those Palestinian forces or organizations desiring to join it. In this respect, we welcome the announcement of Presidential, legislative and local elections ahead of the possible declaration of Palestinian state

(11) We declare our decisiveness to be a vital part of the international campaign to support the goal of international recognition of the Palestinian state. In the above framework, until September 2011 we shall proceed with the following concrete initiatives:
(a) To carry out an international campaign for raising signatures of support to the aim of international recognition of the Palestinian state within the 1967 borders; (b) After coordination with the GUE-NGL group, to organize a meeting in the European Parliament in order to raise the issue of international recognition of the Palestinian state;
(c) To organize an international visit of solidarity to West Bank, in which the main goal will also be the effort for international recognition of the Palestinian state; (d) To undertake several other initiatives, on the national or regional levels, by individual parties within the above political framework.

1 Brazil Brazilian Communist Party

2 Brazil Communist Party of Brazil

3 Cyprus AKEL

4 Denmark Communist Party in Denmark

5 Denmark Red Green Alliance

6 Georgia Unified Communist Party of Georgia

7 Germany German Communist Party (DKP)

8 Greece Democratic Left

9 Greece Communist Party of Greece (KKE)

10 Hungary Hungarian Communist Workers' Party

11 India Communist Party

12 Iran Tudeh Party

13 Iraq Iraqi Communist Party

14 Ireland Communist Party of Ireland

15 Israel Communist Party of Israel

16 Italy Italian Communists

17 Luxemburg Communist Party of Luxemburg

18 Malta Communist Party of Malta

19 Mexico Mexican Communists

20 Morocco Party of Progress and Socialism

21 Netherlands New Communist Party of Netherlands

22 Pakistan Communist Party of Pakistan

23 Palestine Palestinian Peoples Party

24 Palestine Communist Party of Palestine

25 Russia Communist Party of the Russian Federation

26 Sudan Sudanese Communist Party

27 Sweden Communist Party of Sweden

28 Tunisia Ettajdid Movement

29 Turkey Turkish Communist Party

30 UK New Communist Party of Britain

Condemn the Armed Intervention in Libya!

Joint Statement of the New Communist Party of Britain and the
Revolutionary Communist Party of Britain (Marxist-Leninist)

Our two parties call on the working class and people to condemn the British government as well as the governments of the US, France, Canada and other countries for the military attacks on Libya. The Members of Parliament who this week voted overwhelmingly in support of what amount to crimes against peace must also be condemned. These attacks, which have included bombardment from the air and sea using the military might of some of the most powerful armed forces in the world, are being carried out under a UN mandate and with the alleged aim of protecting civilians. However, it is clear to the whole world that they are a cynical attempt to bring about regime change, as part of an attempt to re-divide the natural resources of this country and gain strategic advantage in the region. The attacks have already led to many civilian deaths as well as the destruction of the resources and infrastructure of the Libyan people.

There can be no justification for such barbaric attacks, carried out on a daily basis with overwhelming force against a sovereign country. The fact that Anglo-American war chieftains have openly admitted that they are seeking regime change and the assassination of Colonel Gaddafi makes a mockery of any claim that armed aggression is being carried for humanitarian reasons. The UN Charter was originally conceived in order to prevent crimes against peace and provides no basis for foreign intervention carried out in order to support armed rebellions. The Anglo-US imperialists and the other big powers who shout the loudest about the rule of law and their “universal values” have once again shown that they adhere to no other principle but “might is right”. They put the defence of their own neo-liberal interests first, while international law and the UN itself can be manipulated or ignored as best suits their purposes.

The hypocrisy and deceit of the British government and its allies, broadcast through the monopoly-controlled media has now reached unprecedented levels. On the one hand, the government claims that it is the greatest champion of those protesting against reactionary regimes in North Africa and the Middle East and, on the other, claims that it has reacted in Libya because these same reactionary regimes organised in the League of Arab States have called on it to do so. Armed intervention in Libya is also in stark contrast to the complete disregard that the Anglo-Americans and their allies have shown for the civilian population of Palestine, who have been driven from their homeland or massacred on an almost daily basis for the over sixty years.

The military attack on Libya show that Britain and the other big powers will let no international norm stand in the way of intervening militarily in pursuit of their interests. It shows that the big powers are still intent on dominating world affairs and dictating matters in their interests, as well as contending to divide up the world’s resources between them. It is not for nothing that Cameron and Hague speak about the great opportunity presented by the recent uprisings in North Africa and the Middle East. In these circumstances, they seek to consolidate and strengthen their position throughout the region, impose political and economic arrangements that are to their liking and divert the aspirations and struggles of the people from threatening their interests. Justice-loving people can be under no illusion that Britain and the other big powers are supporters of the people’s empowerment and sovereignty.

The military attacks on Libya and the continued interference of the Britain and its allies throughout the region must cease. Now is the time to demand and organise for an anti-war government in Britain!

Hands Off Libya!

End All Use of Force and Armed Intervention!


26th March 2011

Twenty Years Ago...

...in the NEW WORKER


Workers from every British Aerospace factory in Britain joined together in a 3,000 strong march to Parliament on Wednesday, to lobby for jobs and against plant closure.
Just days before, BAe announced it will axe 4,700 jobs at seven plants, in addition to the 5,000 jobs that will go with the closure of Preston and Kingston.
Immediate demands at the lobby focussed on BAe, but with unemployment accelerating in every sector, they reflect the feelings of workers throughout the country.
The BAe workers fight has opened the way for the Labour and trade union movement to act now and stop the slaughter of British industry as a whole.
Alex Ferry, general secretary of the Confederation of Shipbuilding and Engineering Unions demanded the Tory government take a political decision and intervene to save industry.
In the last 25 years the number of defence industry jobs has been halved to 620,000 even while arms spending rocketed.

A new movement against unemployment and poverty is sweeping eastern Germany.
Mass demonstrations, which began in Leipzig, are now being held throughout what was once the German Democratic Republic, organised by trade union officials and with the support of the opposition Social Democrats.
Social Democrat leader Hans-Jochen Vogel joined calls for Chancellor Kohl’s resignation at an 80,000 strong rally in Leipzig.
Demonstrations are now being held there every Monday. Anti-government protests have also taken place in Berlin, Dresden and Zwickau.
Leipzig had been the centre of the anti-communist movement which led the opposition which brought down the socialist government of Erich Honecker.
Now the city is on its last legs. The birthrate has dropped by 40 per cent and the number of marriages has slumped by over 60 per cent. Divorces are rocketing as are crime and political violence from Nazi skin-head gangs.

Joint statement against imperialist aggression in Libya

Joint Statement of Communist and Workers' Parties Against imperialist aggression in Libya
The imperialist killers headed by the USA, France, Britain and NATO as a whole and with the approval of the UN started a new imperialist war. This time in Libya.

Their allegedly humanitarian pretexts are completely misleading! They throw dust into peoples' eyes! Their real goals are the hydrocarbons in Libya.

We, the Communist and Workers' parties condemn the military imperialist intervention. The people of Libya must determine their future on their own, without foreign imperialist interventions.

We call on the peoples to react and demand the immediate cessation of the bombings and of the imperialist intervention!


1.Algerian Party For Democracy And Socialism, PADS
2.Communist Party of Armenia
3.Communist Party of Azerbaijan
4.Communist Party of Australia
5.Communist Party of Bangladesh
6.Workers’ Party of Bangladesh
7.Communist Party of Belarus
8.Workers’ Party of Belgium
9.Brazilian Communist Party
10.Communist Party of Brazil
11.Communist Party of Britain
12.New Communist Party of Britain
13.Party of the Bulgarian Communists
14.Communist Party of Canada
15.Communist Party of Chile
16.Socialist Worker`s Party of Croatia
17.Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia
18.Communist Party of Denmark
19.Communist Party in Denmark
20.Communist Party of Estonia
21.Communist Party of Finland
22.Hungarian Communist Workers’ Party
23.Unified CP of Georgia
24.Communist Party of Greece
25.Communist Party of India
26.Communist Party of India [Marxist]
27.Tudeh Party of Iran
28.Communist Party of Ireland
29.Workers’ Party of Ireland
30.Party of the Italian Communists
31.Communist Party of Kazakhstan
32.Socialist Party of Latvia
33.Lebanese Communist Party
34.Communist Party of Luxembourg
35.Communist Party of Malta
36.Communist Party of Mexico
37.Popular Socialist Party of Mexico
38.New Communist Party of Netherlands
39.Communist Party of Norway
40.Communist Party of Pakistan
41.Communist Party of Poland
42.Portuguese Communist Party
43.Communist Party of Russian Federation
44.Communist Workers' Party of Russia – Revolutionary Party of Communists
45.UCP- CPSU
46.Communist Party of Soviet Union
47.New Communist Party of Yugoslavia
48.Party of the Communists of Serbia
49.Communist Party of Slovakia
50.Communist Party of Sri-Lanka
51.Communist Party of the Peoples of Spain
52.Syrian Communist Party
53.Communist Party of Sweden
54.Communist Party of Turkey
55.Labour Party (EMEP), Turkey
56.Communist Party of Ukraine
57.Union of Communists of Ukraine
58.Communist Party of Venezuela
Other Parties


1. Pôle de Renaissance Communiste en France

2. Galician People's Union

3. Communists-People's Left (Italy)

WFTU condemns attack on Libya

WORLD FEDERATION OF TRADE UNIONS

Athens, Greece 20/03/2011



PRESS RELEASE



''THE WORLD FEDERATION OF TRADE UNION condemns the military aggression of the imperialists against Libya.
In the eastern Mediterranean, the Middle East, the North Africa the dangerous developments, the conflicts and the competition between the various imperialist compounds are targeting the petroleum of Libya, the natural gas of the countries in North Africa and the control of strategic points rich in raw materials.
This competition leads to economic and spy wars or in warfare like nowadays in Libya.

The European Union, the USA, France, England and their allies argue that their attacking Libya to implement the decisions of the UN.
They are hypocrites and liars!
Why are they not doing the same for the resolution about the Cyprus issue? Why are they not doing the same to implement dozens of the UN resolutions for Palestine? Why are they not doing the same to implement the resolutions of the UN to stop the embargo against Cuba?
We demand the immediate ceasing of the military aggression against Libya. We express our internationalist solidarity to the people of Libya.






The Secretariat









40, ZAN MOREAS STREET, ATHENS 11745 GREECE
Tel. +302109214417, +302109236700, Fax +30210 9214517
www.wftucentral.org E-mails: info@wftucentral.org, international@wftucentral.org

Twenty Years Ago...

...in the New Worker



THE TORIES are in disarray after the people of this country have defeated the poll tax – the flagship of this Tory administration. But they have not abandoned their ambition to demolish local democracy.
As we go to press Environment Secretary Michael Heseltine is expected to announce the poll tax is to be scrapped and replaced with a property tax. But at the same time a whole tier of elected local government, the shire counties are expected to follow the Greater London Council into abolition.
The Government is expected to increase the financial incentives to schools to opt out of local authority control while squeezing funds to the local education authorities. In this way most of the funding – and control – of education will move from local to central government.
The Tories have hinted they will keep some form of minimal "head" tax.
The divisions within the Tory Party are still wide open. Former local government minister Rhodes Boyson believes the only objection to the poll tax is its size and thinks it should stay, with all education removed from local authority budgets.

************************

AMID mounting popular discontent the Kuwaiti government leadership resigned this week although real power remains in the hands of the Sabah family.
The return of the Emir and his entourage was greeted with a noted lack of enthusiasm from his subjects who still have no running water or electricity.
But Kuwaiti mechanics and the United States Army Corps of Engineers have been working 16-hours-a-day to restore his palace. Four hundred workers have installed hundreds of gold-plated French bath-room fixtures and door-knobs as well as power and running water to make the Emir feel at home.
A reign of terror is sweeping Kuwait with thousands of Palestinians and Kuwaitis being rounded up by the Emir's gunmen on charges of collaboration with Iraq.

Twenty Years Ago...

...in the New Worker


The Dalai Lama, former priest-king of feudal Tibet, is stepping up his campaign against Peking. And in his exile centre of Dharmsala, in India, he warned that unless Peking accepts his terms he will withdraw his offer to compromise.
In 1988, the Buddhist leader offered to accept Chinese control of Tibet’s foreign and defence policy in return for the restoration of his priestly autocracy in Tibet. The offer was ignored by Peking, which never recognised that Tibet has ever been sovereign, a position held by the former Kuomintang Government of Chiang Kai-Chek as well.
The restoration of his backward, feudal rule is out of the question as far as People’s China is concerned.
The Dalai Lama is in Britain this week to drum up support for his cause but Prime Minister John Major has rejected some Tory calls for a meeting as this would jeopardise relations with China.

Three quarters of all children with jobs are employed illegally according to a survey of 2,000 children by the Low Pay Unit and Birmingham City Council published last week.
About two million children work in their spare time, most of them illegally and some for as little as seven pence an hour.
Furthermore over 600,000 are likely to have had an accident at work.
The survey found that 43 per cent of children have a job other than baby-sitting, washing cars or running errands.
A quarter are under 13 and not supposed to work at all. Fewer than a tenth were registered as the law requires.
Many are employed in work prohibited to children, for example in pubs and on building sites.
One 11 year old worked cleaning a pub and off-licence for 55p a hour and a 12 year old boy worked 18 hours a week in a sweetshop for 44p an hour.

Twenty Years Ago...

...in the New Worker

If the Tories win the next general election they may implement a policy of pressurising nearly all of Britain’s schools to opt-out of local authority control within five years.
The confidential proposals are being considered for the Tory manifesto it was revealed last week.
They will give huge incentives to encourage schools to leave local authority control.
A member of the manifest working party said “The recommendation does not use the word compulsory but its effect will be the same.
“By the end of the next parliament the aim is to ensure there is hardly a school left under local authority control”.
A spokesman for the National Union of Teachers told the New Worker that already the Government is bringing enormous pressure on schools to opt-out.
The Government is severely restricting what local authorities can spend on schools while offering the schools the funding they desperately need if they will opt-out.

Reactionary politicians have formed a new centre party which will be ready to contest the Polish general elections set for this May.
Its programme will be based on Catholic social teaching and capitalism. The congress was welcomed by President Walesa and the Roman Catholic Bishops’ Conference.
The Catholic hierarchy made the ending of the country’s abortion laws a major issue in the forthcoming elections. A Bishop’s letter called for support of the abortion law reform bill which is now going through the country’s parliament.
It will provide for jail sentences of up to two years for doctors and accomplices who carry out abortions except in cases of pregnancies resulting from rape, incest or if an abortion is recommended on medical grounds.
The Bishops want to eliminate the exceptions. Under the former socialist government abortions were legal and according to recent opinion polls some 57 per cent want it to remain that way.

Twenty Years Ago...

...in the New Worker




Hundreds of thousands of people are taking to the streets throughout Europe against the Gulf War. In Czechoslovakia information is only now beginning to filter through the dense wall of official censorship.

The state mass media, reflecting unquestioning government support for the “American ally” churn out American war propaganda day and night, continuously reminding the public of the divine mission of the “Allied” troops in their crusade against the Iraqi “evil”.

Speculation has now begun to appear over the actual purpose of the 200-strong Czechoslovak army unit to the Gulf for active service. Despite government claims to the contrary, this was tantamount to a declaration of war against Iraq, a strange act for a regime that claims to oppose the use of violence for solving political disputes.



Poverty pay among Britain’s farm workers is increasing. The wage gap between farm and factory is widening.

Farm workers will lobby their wage negotiators and MPs on Tuesday 12 March to demand a £180 a week basic rate and a reduction in the working week from 40 to 35 hours.

The employers claim that times are hard and say the proposed cuts in farm support make it impossible to increase wages.

The big farmers can afford to pay decent wages says the agricultural workers section of the Transport and General Workers Union.

The big farmers are getting richer – output and efficiency are up and land values have increased. Labour costs are low, compared with machinery, pesticides and fertilisers. The loss of jobs on the land is keeping the wage bill relatively low.

The wage demand is no threat to hard-pressed small farmers and can only lift the standard of living in rural areas.

The claim is on behalf of full-time hired workers, the main type of farm worker in England and Wales.

Twenty Years Ago...

...in the New Worker


The newly privatised water and electricity industries are about to introduce sharp increases in their charges.

Rises in water bills will average just over 15 per cent while electricity bills will rise by 13 per cent.

But big industrial users of electricity could face 25 per cent rises because Energy Secretary George Wakeham has refused to extend a deal for cheap power.

He claimed it would be uncompetitive and breach European Community rules.

Among those worse hit will be steel and chemical companies already hit by the recession.

The Government chose the image of Frankenstein to sell shares as they privatised the electricity industry.

Now it seems their monster creation will be holding industrial and domestic users to ransom.

The electricity companies are planning their rise based on a formula that allows them to charge the rate of inflation – and they are taking last October’s figure of 10.9 per cent – plus a certain percentage.



Russian deputy premier, Gennady Filshin, has been forced to resign following charges that he was involved in large-scale currency deals.

Filshin was associated with the British businessman who has been held on suspicion of fraud. The scandal erupted after it was said that the withdrawal of 50 and 100 rouble notes was rushed to prevent a speculative coup led by western banks with the ultimate intention of ruining the government.

Filshin insists he was hoping to revive Russian industry, but his enemies say his plans would have simply striped Russia of all its assets.

The Government of the Russian Federation is led by Yeltsin’s anti-communist Democratic Russia bloc and Filshin’s departure is seen as a victory for the communist fightback.