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- Jun 1, 2011I've included below letters to The Socialist and Socialist Worker. Neither have so far been published. They don't have as open and interesting letters pages as the Weekly Worker; I think I'll compose a letter on this subject to that newspaper for next week's edition.---The strike over pensions by the NUT, ATL, UCU and PCS unions on 30 June should be turned into a public sector general strike, rather than waiting for the TUC to call one in the autumn.The National Shop Stewards Network is key - it should decide at its 11 June conference to organise unofficial action in public sector unions like Unison (whose June conference comes too late for a ballot) which are not balloting for 30 June industrial action.Maybe even the pressure from below can inspire other groups of working and middle class people employed by the state, such as the police (banned from striking) or psychologists and psychiatrists in the NHS (I'm thinking of setting up an Independent Union of Psychologists and Psychiatrists, being a psychology expert as the developer of an artificial intelligence/simulation language SDML).---At least four unions (UCU, ATL, NUT and PCS) are balloting or have balloted for strike action on 30 June over pensions. At their conferences, over 99% of delegates have voted in favour of such action. This coordinated strike action should be turned into a one-day public sector general strike, by trying to get other public sector unions to ballot on that day.If the union leaderships stall, individual branches could ballot (as is happening with one Unison branch as I've read in last week's Socialist Worker). But even more importantly, left-wingers within the unions (individually and as part of organisations like Unison United Left and the National Shop Stewards Network) should organise unofficial action from below. Maybe a mass sick-in can be suggested on that day - if any workers get disciplined, they will have a million or so strikers willing and ready to offer solidarity!Those like the Socialist Party who call for the TUC to organise a general strike in the autumn are being too pessimistic. Let's create a mass movement involving all genuine socialist and anarcho-syndicalist organisations prepared to turn 30 June into the day the UK socialist revolution starts!PS I distributed about 350-400 newsletters in support of Michael Lavalette, or the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition, in Preston. Michael only lost by about 100 votes, and I discovered when I went to a polling station in the evening, Labour distributing leaflets with reasons on it for people to vote Labour. They were eventually removed by a polling station official. This is illegal under electoral law and I am prepared to testify in court to help get the result overturned and the election re-run.
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Steve Wallis: revolutionarysocialiststeve@...http://www.PRsocialism.org - Foundation for Proportional Representation-based Socialismhttp://facebook.com/socialiststephen - the main site I currrently use for social networkinghttp://twitter.com/socialiststeve - my tweets are mainly on politics or football (you don't need to join Twitter to view them)http://www.revolutionaryplatform.net/newforum - my web-based forumhttp://soundcloud.com/stephen-wallis - best site I know for musichttp://reverbnation.com/socialiststeve - my new musical poetry sitehttp://youtube.com/user/galaxiasteve - for videoshttp://myspace.com/galaxiasteve - for music and videoshttp://bebo.com/SteveW519 and http://socialiststeve.multiply.com - other social networking siteshttp://www.revolutiondestroyed.net - my ongoing on-line autobiography "Revolution Destroyed? Have I ensured that a world socialist revolution will never happen?"