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Real power for the people of Wales

Welsh communists have a programme that could trounce Tory cuts and put our country on its feet, says TREVOR JONES

THE Con-Dem government at Westminster represents the most dangerous and parasitic elements of monopoly capital.

It is carrying out the biggest, most sustained attack on public services and working-class living standards in British history.

Welsh communists are demanding real power for the people of Wales in order to defeat this assault.

We have identified strategic areas in which, together with our allies in the labour and progressive movements, can challenge big business in the interests of the workers and people.

We call for the transformation of the National Assembly into a real “people’s parliament” for Wales, with control over taxation and revenue and with powers to raise social benefits levels and set a statutory living wage.

The Welsh government and parliament should have greater powers to intervene in the economy, challenging monopoly market forces and introducing long-term planning.

Extending the public sector and seeking planning agreements with companies receiving public money would ensure higher levels of investment and good quality employment.

In particular Wales is desperately short of research and development, underfunded by the British government and neglected by multinational corporations which see our country as a “smash and grab” location for state-subsidised factories and service centres.

Taking Cardiff airport into public ownership was a bold step by our Welsh Labour government, but it also highlights how much else now needs to be done — by public enterprise if need be — in terms of marketing, technical difficulties, efficient and low-cost supplies, skilling-up labour and so on.

Wales is a land rich in natural and precious resources. These need to be protected and utilised in a planned, sustainable way — not plundered and wasted by profit-mad corporations.

We also need a bigger drive for more power for workers and their unions in the workplace.

Backed up by legislation, a new approach to workers’ rights would guarantee the right to strike, enhance workplace democracy and enforce equal pay as well as other aspects of equality.

Successive British governments have shut down Remploy factories across Wales. The Welsh government and local authorities should take the lead in providing productive employment and dignity for all workers with disabilities.

And we must not only defend our public services, but seek to transform them into a democratic and accountable public sector.

Early this year, the Communist Party’s Welsh congress made clear its commitment to “fight any compulsory job losses and any loss of service due to the austerity agenda being forced on the Welsh government by Westminster.”

But that doesn’t mean that public services should stay as they are and stagnate.

The Welsh Labour government has put forward proposals to streamline and professionalise public services across the country.

This process not only needs to maximise the opportunities for, and minimise the threats to, public-sector employment.

It should also be accompanied by new innovative facilities to enhance dialogue and co-operation between the Welsh government, local councils, trade unions and service users.

Our programme Real Power For the People of Wales, soon to be published in a new edition, puts forward policies to ensure mass access to education, culture and the arts.

These include the introduction of a new Welsh language act to promote our native tongue and guarantee full rights for all Welsh speakers, free education from cradle to grave and measures to diversify and expand the print and broadcasting media.

Of course, the Welsh Communist Party recognises the priority that must be given to the present struggle to defend every social gain achieved over the past 150 years, all of which are now under threat.

We know how central the Wales TUC, trade unions and trades councils are to protecting everything that defines a civilised society.

Alongside our friends and allies, we are fully committed to building the People’s Assembly movement in cities, towns and villages across Wales.

But we also understand the value of having the vision of a better, socialist society. Real Power For the People of Wales is a guide to the action that will be necessary to achieve it.

 

Trevor Jones is secretary of the Welsh Communist Party.

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