The revolution capitalists still fear"A spectre is haunting Europe — the spectre of communism", wrote Karl Marx and Frederick Engels in the Communist Manifesto in 1848. The same spectre continues to haunt the entire capitalist
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Women and revolution: myth and history On the eve of the 82nd anniversary of Russia's 1917 revolution, socialist revolution remains significant for women's liberation. An analysis of Russia's experience collapses the myth that women's
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Slavery George Bernard Shaw is famous for saying that under socialism no-one would be allowed to be poor. Guild socialist G.D.H. Cole, when asked what was the greatest evil, responded: not poverty, but slavery. It is tempting to remark that the
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Can the market plan? In information technology, few issues appear as boring as telecommunications policy and the related field of electromagnetic bandwidth (the internet equivalent of TV and radio airwaves) allocation. To keep the subject dull, its
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Actively Radical TV — Sydney community television's progressive current affairs producers tackle the hard issues from the activist's point of view. CTS Sydney (UHF 31), every Sunday, 9-11pm. Ph 9565 5522. Access News — Melbourne community TV,
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The rich people's gamesSYDNEY — Any hopes that the 2000 Olympics would live up to their billing as the "people's games" were dashed on October 26 when SOCOG, the body responsible for running the games, revealed how few tickets
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How the PKI weakened itself facing the militaryThe Indonesian Communist Party's (PKI) shift in the 1950s from a strategy of independently organising and mobilising its working-class and rural supporters to one of trying to
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The radical 'yes' web site A new web site has been established to promote the radical "yes" case. Set up by the Democratic Socialists, the web site (<;) features articles from 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ Weekly and
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Forty acres and a mule By Brandon Astor Jones "The federal government chose them from thousands of applicants for the colour of their skin (white), their poverty level (the bottom) and their physical ability to clear land and farm." — Anne
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International efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions are faltering as representatives from 166 nations meet in Bonn, Germany, from October 25 to November 5 to debate proposals to reduce greenhouse emissions and reduce global
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On November 6, under pain of a $50 fine, we will all be marched off to the polling booths to vote on whether Australia is to become a republic. The absence of popular excitement is deafening, and with good reason: the choice before us has been
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Most Labor Party voters at the last election hoped that the ALP would resist the Coalition agenda. Instead, the Labor "opposition" is preparing a deal with the government to pass its package of corporate tax cuts. The
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SYDNEY — Despite growing protests from supporters and their own members, leaders of the NSW Greens are still supporting some of the anti-democratic changes to NSW's electoral laws proposed by the Carr Labor
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JAKARTA — The newly elected President Abdurrahman Wahid (Gus Dur) announced his cabinet on October 26. Like the combination of Wahid as president and Megawati Sukarnoputri as vice-president, the cabinet's composition represents a
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There is a considerable amount of deliberate obscurity, and even outright lying, in discussions of inflation by the establishment media, governments and international organisations like the International Monetary Fund. That is why it
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... and vote 'no' to the preamble The same does not apply to the proposed preamble to the Constitution, which is purely an exercise in hypocrisy and nationalism. Its adoption would not benefit the working class or the left in any way, and Green
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EELiving on my Reillys, Rileys etc. &d& Back when the Rileys were top of the pile, the family coat of arms used to mean something — like a logo for genetic material. It can be viewed as an abstract representation of a double helix.
News
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Industrial relations minister Peter Reith is preparing a "third wave" of federal anti-union legislation even before parliament has finished dealing with his "second wave". The second wave legislation to amend the federal
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BRISBANE — Activists picketed the Law Courts here on October 25 about homophobia in the legal system after two men convicted of bombing the Townsville Aids Council office were sentenced to only nine months in prison. Joanne Ball,
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Kathy Newnam and Marina Carman November 7 is the anniversary of the victory of the Russian Revolution in 1917. Vladimir Ilyich Lenin combined practical leadership of that revolution with important theoretical contributions to socialists'
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Pangea unwelcome in Perth PERTH — Four hundred people attended a Pangea Unwelcome rally, held at the Esplanade here on October 27. The midday rally, across the road from Pangea's new office, was organised by the Anti-Uranium Coalition of Western
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Performance pay takes a tumble at ANTACANBERRA — The practice of paying performance bonuses rather than wage rises in the Australian Public Service was dealt a small but significant blow recently. Staff in the Australian
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Kumarangk demonstration plannedADELAIDE — Activists opposing the building of the bridge to Kumarangk (Hindmarsh Island) are planning a series of peaceful actions, following a green light to construction work given by the courts
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Many people the world over make a choice not to eat meat — because they don't like it, because it makes them feel sick or because they can't afford it. While not all vegetarians hold this view, some argue that
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GEELONG — After six days on the picket line, 10 workers at the Geelong site of Metalcorp Recyclers won the right to be recognised as a union site and to take action on health and safety concerns. They achieved an enterprise
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ueensland teachers plan strikeBRISBANE — State school teachers here are considering a strike or work bans in an effort to force Education Queensland to negotiate on the pay claim the union lodged almost four months ago.
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Unionists 'living underground'BRISBANE — Unionists on October 27 held a picket outside a public hearing of the Senate inquiry into the federal government's second wave workplace relations bill, being conducted in the City Hall
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BRISBANE — The National Tertiary Education Industry Union (NTEU) won an important victory at the University of Queensland on October 28. The academic, research and teaching staff voted decisively (62.5%) against UQ management's
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ACT cuts college fundingCANBERRA — Secondary colleges in the ACT plan to cut courses and student services, and increase class sizes, because of a $1.8 million funding cut by the ACT government. Canberra's eight colleges
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Wollongong University electionsWOLLONGONG — Wollongong University student representative council elections were held October 19-21. The Collective Action ticket won the main SRC positions uncontested, most general
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BANKSTOWN — On October 27, the students association at the University of Western Sydney (UWS) Macarthur Bankstown campus organised a rally as part of a campaign around a student log of claims. A rally of 300 students on October 20
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The national officials of the Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU), threatened by a rank and file ticket in the union's elections, have resorted to rumour-mongering in an effort to protect their cosy bureaucratic niche. The
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Left activists discuss the green movementMELBOURNE — On October 27, 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ Weekly hosted another lively debate as part of its Politics in the Pub series in Comrades Bar. More than 40 people gathered to hear
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Public service anger over performance pay bonusesCANBERRA — Staff in the commonwealth Department of Health and Aged Care will soon be voting on their next certified agreement. An unpopular attempt to introduce performance pay
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SYDNEY — Community Action Against Homophobia (CAAH) was established to organise against attempts by the Liberty Christian Ministry (LCM) to hold a "Coming out of homosexuality" conference here on September 25. The conference
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On October 29, thousands of women and their men supporters took to Australia's streets in Reclaim the Night marches. Reclaim the Night was started in the 1970s by women in England who were told by the police to stay inside after a string of violent
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SYDNEY — Student activists organised a protest here on October 30 when they got wind of the following policy motion being put to a vote at a Liberal Party convention at the University of New South Wales: "That the Liberal Party calls upon both the
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NTEU strikes to 'stop the rot'WOLLONGONG — Academics at the University of Wollongong struck on October 26-28 to protest against the erosion of working conditions and quality of higher education. The strike, dubbed "Stop the
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Back from the dead "You never kill the inflation dragon, but it's subdued at the moment." — Treasurer Peter Costello, who three months ago declared the "dragon" dead. And their wallets "In telling these [bank] stories, Lawsie will invite
World
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Philippine left unites and claims the streetsManila — A broad alliance consisting of the "white forces" of the Catholic Church, the "yellow forces" of the supporters of the former president Cory Aquino and the "red forces"
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MOSCOW — Early in September, the main theme of political forecasts in Russia was the supposedly imminent resignation of President Boris Yeltsin. Anyone with even the slightest knowledge of Yeltsin, however, regarded all this
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On October 25, the United Nations Security Council passed a resolution adopting the proposal by Secretary-General Kofi Annan for the creation of the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET). It is expected that
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As New York City health officials struggle to curb the spread of encephalitis among its citizens, Physicians for Social Responsibility warned on September 21 that outbreaks of this and other mosquito-borne diseases will be on the rise
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Indonesian trade union seeks legal recognition Indonesia's economic crisis has, over the last two years, dramatically increased levels of unemployment and reduced the capacity of Indonesian workers to meet basic living costs. At the same time, the
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Johannesburg workers march against privatisationAround 20,000 members of the South African Municipal Workers Union (SAMWU) paralysed the streets of Johannesburg on October 26 to protest against the African National
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Cuba's favourable geographic position, with little change in the sun's intensity from January to December, permits it to tap a clean and renewable energy source throughout the entire country equivalent to 20 billion tons of oil
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On October 22, 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ Weekly's SAM KING and EDI RUSLAN spoke in Jakarta with NELSON CORREIA, a representative of the Socialist Party of Timor (PST), about the party's view on East Timor's new transitional government. The PST is pushing for
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Stay of execution for Mumia Abu-Jamal On October 26, federal Judge William Yohn granted the framed African-American journalist and former Black Panther Mumia Abu-Jamal a minimum six months' stay of execution, bringing the possibility of a retrial
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Human rights 'under attack' in AcehMELBOURNE — Despite the winning of freedom in East Timor, the people of Aceh in Indonesia still face an uncertain future and human rights are still under attack, according to Acehnese
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Mexican students' epic struggle in dangerMEXICO CITY — Commandeered buses flying red and black flags and Che Guevara portraits sped through the city on October 2, ferrying students to a demonstration commemorating the 1968
Culture
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Karl Marx: the personal and the political Karl Marx: An Illustrated HistoryBy Werner BlumenbergVerso, 1998175 pages, $49.95 (hb) Review by Phil Shannon Karl Marx's mother complained her son wrote Capital rather than made it. She was disappointed
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Mzwakhe Mbuli, the "people's poet of South Africa", faces new charges of robbery and shooting on the eve of an appeal. Mbuli's supporters have denounced the new charges as a further frame-up designed to silence the respected
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'Take today what tomorrow never brings' Review by Leigh Hughes The Battle of Los AngelesRage Against the MachineEpic Records through Sony After a long absence, Rage Against the Machine has blasted back onto the political music scene with its
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Queen Cheryl's Song By Peter Hicksand Geoff Francis Seems the dummy-spitting season in the ALP starts around January each year — and ends in December. Reithy's best mate has gone and done it again. We wish her every success in her new post, but
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A timely look backwards Stop Uranium Mining! Australia's decade of protest, 1975-85By Greg AdamsonResistance Books, 199947pp., $4.95 (pb)Available at Resistance Bookshops, or send payment (plus $2 postage) to PO Box 515, Broadway 2007 Review by
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Black 47: not your usual diddly diddly dee Live in New York CityBlack 47Gadfly RecordsE-mail <gadfly1@aol.com> for details or order from <; Review by Bill Nevins 1847 was the year of starvation that drove