History suggests apartheid ends not through appeals to conscience alone but through sustained economic and political pressure, says HUGH LANNING
Bogus self-employment epidemic collides with the coronavirus epidemic
MARK HARVEY of the Institute of Employment Rights argues that Britain has walked into a perfect storm due to employers forcing workers to register as self employed — with no responsibility toward them in times like the present crisis
As the US marks 250 years since the Declaration of Independence, the People’s World Editorial Collective argues that the real legacy of 1776 lies not in official celebrations but in centuries of popular struggles to make democracy a reality for all
Once a source of national pride, Cuba’s healthcare system declines as energy shortages deepen crisis, writes ANDREA RODRIGUEZ
Socialists, feminists and trade unionists gathered in Manchester to launch a network committed to evidence-based activism with a renewed emphasis on class and collective struggle. ANNA BARRETT reports
By making it simpler to support workers in struggle, Strike Map’s new Solidarity Fund aims to strengthen strikes when they need it most, write ROBERT POOLE and HENRY FOWLER
Only an ambitious programme of state-led investment can restore growth and improve living standards, argues MICHAEL BURKE
THE coronavirus infected self-employment chickens have come back to roost – in their millions.
In 1995, I wrote a pamphlet for the Institute of Employment Rights. It was called Towards the Insecurity Society. It showed how an epidemic of self-employment had exploded in the construction industry in the United Kingdom.
I argued that the growth of self-employed and insecure, casualised employment “promotes a pervading sense of insecurity. It also undermines the viability of the tax system on which the very existence of the welfare state is based.
It creates a vicious downward spiral, diminishing the revenues necessary for a welfare state whilst at the same time creating more people likely to be dependent on it: an insecurity society.”
Similar stories
Only an ambitious programme of state-led investment can restore growth and improve living standards, argues MICHAEL BURKE
PHILIP ENGLISH says military spending will not create the jobs young people need — instead, build an economy based around needs, not profit
The electorate see no evidence of the government’s promises of change, and the good jobs and decent pay that people are crying out for. Bold action is needed right now, warns SHARON GRAHAM