ON JULY 3, CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER Gordon Brown summed up his first budget as a "people's budget" and a "welfare-to-work" budget. These words belie the Labour government's intentions. In reality it is a "pay-the-rich" and an "attack the vulnerable" budget.

Margaret Thatcher in her day attempted to put a gloss of "people's capitalism" on wholesale privatisation and the promotion of the "free-market economy". The Thatcherite reforms, the Thatcherite counter-revolution itself paved the way for further serious capitalist crisis. Mrs Thatcher's advisers now advise the Labour Party. At the core of Thatcherism was the attack on the very notion of society. After New Labour's election coup, its first budget continues this attack in "new and innovative" ways, and taking a "long term view" to make sure that the economy is further "equipped" for the "global economy", and taking the first in a number of steps to "modernise the welfare state". Included in these plans is the pledge to restrict social spending to the targets set by Kenneth Clarke for the next two years.

This "long term view" was welcomed by the bourgeoisie who hailed it as a budget that honours the commitment of New Labour "to make the UK a good place to do business". The capitalists are also ecstatic at the cut in Corporation Tax to its "lowest level ever" and backdated to April 1997. The FTSE share index and sterling soared, and the banks and financial institutions were said to have given a "sigh of relief". One business leader described the Chancellor's proposals as a "good Tory budget". Joining in the chorus of praise was TUC General Secretary John Monks, who called it a "brilliant first budget".

The serious economic problems faced by the people cannot be addressed with such fiscal and monetary measures. But this was not Gordon Brown's aim. Far from addressing the problem of the £25 billion in interest payments this year on debt to the financial oligarchy – "more than we spend on schools" – he declared New Labour's "golden rule" would continue to borrow only to "invest"; but "current spending" which includes all the social investment for health, education, pensions, welfare benefits and so on would only "be met from taxation". He also announced a second "golden rule" that will put the economy further at the disposal of the debt by announcing a "five year deficit reduction plan".

The budget was also notable for viciously attacking the vulnerable sections of society. Young unemployed people aged between 18 to 25 who turn down a place on the "Welfare-to-Work" scheme under New Labour's "New Deal" programme are to lose their full benefits for up to a month. This will be repeated each subsequent time they "refuse" a job or training "offer". Lone parents whose youngest child is in the second term of full-time schooling will be "invited for job search interviews and offered help in finding work that suits their circumstances". So the government plans to force these sections to take non-existent jobs or undergo humiliating "training programmes" on pain of having benefits cut. The victims of the crisis are blamed for being parasitic and attention is diverted from the system which gives rise to such a crisis.

The budget underlines that the only legitimate claims on society which New Labour recognises are those of the financial oligarchy. Far from reversing the anti-social offensive of the last 18 years, New Labour is increasing the debt repayments to the financial oligarchy, whilst at the same time carrying out huge reductions in the investments which benefit the people. Workers' Weekly unreservedly condemns Gordon Brown's budget, and calls on the working class and people to take up and fight for the programme to Stop Paying the Rich – Increase Investments in Social Programmes!

A REGIONAL CONSULTATIVE FORUM was organised by the Central Committee of RCPB(ML) for Party activists and sympathisers in the London region on Sunday, June 22. Activists from other regions also participated. The purpose of the Forum was to involve all the activists in summing up the work in the region since the beginning of the year and to discuss how this work may be advanced in the second half of 1997. Because of the particular character of the work in London, it is an important factor in the success of the whole national programme summed up in the slogan to Improve the Content, Extend the Readership. In this respect, the Forum carried forward the initiatives taken at the turn of the year of involving Party activists in deliberating on the programme of the Party on an on-going basis.

The Forum proceeded by presentations on the tasks which had been set by the Party at the New Year and summing up their implementation, and on the new problems which had arisen in the course of the advance of the work as well as other problems still to be solved. Discussion then centred on how these problems could be tackled and the tasks which needed to be carried out to further advance the work. The Consultative Forum concluded with resolutions on the tasks involved in improving the content and extending the readership of Workers' Weekly in the second half of 1997.

In the presentations, it was recalled that the tasks set had centred around the project of developing the technical base within the programme of Improving the Content, Extending the Readership of Workers' Weekly, the importance of which lay in further strengthening the paper as the scaffolding around which the Party is built. This is linked with waging the class struggle against the class enemy and with the organising work of the Party, which at this time involves organising workers, as well as youth and students, women and others, to study, sell and write for Workers' Weekly. This work was a continuation of the work begun in January 1994 and the development of the draft general line and programme for the working class.

In the course of the six months, it was recalled, an important political consideration arose, which was that of providing a political call to the class with the imminent election of a Labour government. In response, RCPB(ML) put forward the political programme Stop Paying the Rich – Increase Investments in Social Programmes, around which the other demands of the working class centre. A call was given to all the communist and progressive forces to reject and unite against the "unity of the left with centre" which characterised the election coup through which Labour was brought to power by the bourgeoisie, and work was begun to develop this unity.

An important achievement in the first six months of 1997 is that Workers' Weekly is being published in printed broadsheet format, and that militants of the Party are organised into this work, through such forms as, for example, a journalists group under the direction of the Editorial Board. This achievement is a concrete victory of the programme to Improve the Content, Extend the Readership, and has inspired the Party circles. It gives rise to the struggle to regularise the newspaper on this new basis and further strengthen its content and seriously address the question of regular distribution of the paper.

The Forum in this context discussed and stressed the conscious factor and the necessity for the militants to strengthen their responsibility for the success of the work and fight for the implementation of the line of the Party. Within this, it is necessary to further professionalise the work, building on and consolidating the achievements of the first half of 1997 in a more organised and painstaking way. The Forum further discussed extending the readership, emphasising that this work is dialectically linked with improving the content of Workers' Weekly.

The Regional Consultative Forum was held in a spirited and united atmosphere, with all the participants contributing positively to the discussions in the spirit of tackling problems together. The discussion on the problems to be solved gave rise to important contributions by many comrades on the content of the resolutions. These resolutions on advancing the work, which are printed below, were passed unanimously.

1. On Extending the Readership

Recognising the necessity to Extend the Readership of Workers' Weekly, this regional consultative forum resolves to month by month increase the sales of Workers' Weekly according to a plan and develop a regular readership in this coming six month period. In particular it resolves to tackle the question of organising workers, youth and students and other sections to study, write for and disseminate the newspaper, and that all activists present at this forum take the lead in this work; it further resolves to take further initiatives to develop a network of readers of Workers' Weekly and increase the reports of the struggles of the workers and people in the localities so that these are reflected in the newspaper.

2. On Improving the Content

Being aware of the on-going struggle to Improve the Content of Workers' Weekly, all activists present at this regional consultative forum resolve to consciously participate in the work to raise the quality and quantity of the articles, and intensify the efforts to look to the future in solving the theoretical and ideological problems which arise in this work. Bearing in mind that no activist can remain aloof from this work and the direct link between strengthening Workers' Weekly and the struggle against the class enemy and its social props, this forum further resolves to sharpen the cutting edge of this work in waging the class struggle against the anti-social offensive in the context of the political programme to Stop Paying the Rich – Increase Investments in Social Programmes.

3. On Regularising the Newspaper

This regional consultative forum resolves to further strengthen and professionalise the technical and journalistic work in order to achieve and maintain the regularisation of Workers' Weekly on the basis of the highest possible quality of the form and content of the newspaper.

4. On the Raising of Finances

Conscious of the absolute necessity to continuously raise finance for the Party's work of preparing the subjective conditions for revolution, and in particular at this time for the demands of the programme to Improve the Content, Extend the Readership of Workers' Weekly which give rise to specific financial requirements for this project, this regional consultative forum resolves to raise an immediate sum (to be decided on) on the basis of the guideline that all who support the programme politically should also support it financially; it further resolves to raise the regular income in the region by a minimum of 20% in the immediate period.

THE END OF British colonial rule in Hong Kong took place at a time of increasing tension in east Asia, where the imperialist powers are intensifying their scramble to capture the Asian "tiger economies" and to politically dominate the peoples of Asia, the most populous continent.

In this context, the British government considers the ending of their rule over a part of China as a blow to their ambitions in that part of the world. Other imperialists, particularly the US, although officially "sympathising" with the British government, are rubbing their hands at a possible opportunity to take their own advantage of the situation. For example, whilst US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright joined Tony Blair and Robin Cook in boycotting the ceremony to swear in the new Provisional Legislature on July 1, a US White House official, referring to Britain's discomfort over Chinese troop deployment in Hong Kong between June 30 and July 1, said tersely, "They've always said that they were going to put Chinese troops where the British troops were. That's not unusual. It's their territory." Also in the context of imperialist rivalry, at the General Affairs Council of the European Union in Luxembourg on June 26, Foreign Secretary Cook failed to mobilise an EU boycott of the swearing in ceremony on July 1. But most importantly the world has changed in the past century and a half because amongst other factors the political developments operating in favour of the people's fight for their sovereignty and complete independence is getting stronger. The attempt of the British government to stage a last minute provocation against the People's Republic of China, by organising an international boycott of the Provisional Legislature swearing in, actually collapsed. Some countries, such as New Zealand and Australia, stated bluntly that they saw no point in pursuing a boycott when it was in their interests to build good relations with China.

In this region, whether one looks at the tensions on the Korean peninsula, the question of Taiwan or the recent updating of the "Guidelines for Japan-US Defence Cooperation", the imperialist threat poses the danger of war. With this in mind, Prime Minister Blair's programme to "make Britain great again" has a dangerous ring to it because it is a chauvinist policy to "rebuild" another British empire under the signboard of "competing in the global market". As if to prove his party's credentials as die-hard imperialists, Robin Cook, in a parting shot made in reference to the "handover" of Hong Kong, having stressed that British should be proud of what it had done in Hong Kong, said that this was not the end but just a stage in "our relationship" with this region of China. The Labour Party line is that the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the PRC represents a "bridge not a barrier" with the People's Republic. In other words, New Labour will continue to manoeuvre over Hong Kong in the interests of the British financial oligarchy.

The main point is not whether anyone in Britain is happy or unhappy about the return of Hong Kong to Chinese sovereignty, but that the colonial empire-building ambitions of the imperialists including the British pose a permanent threat to the desire of nations everywhere for national independence and sovereignty, and pose the ever-present danger of the violation of the equality of all nations, big or small.

The working class of Britain must take the lead in opposing these dangers and upholding the sovereignty of peoples, and must fight to put an end to the nefarious empire-building programme of the ruling circles of Britain.

ON JUNE 26, local people and health staff attended a meeting in Walthamstow, East London, organised by the "Health in Crisis!" Campaign. The meeting addressed the urgent need for proper funding for healthcare in the area, the high level of poverty and the impact of this on people's health needs.

A number of speakers representing the campaign, health professionals and local health staff demanded that funding be provided to meet the people's need for adequate health care. They condemned the introduction of the Private Finance Initiative into the health service, introducing criteria which have nothing to do with healthcare needs or with the views of health professionals. They also condemned the shifting of resources into the hands of the very rich. One speaker pointed out that in the last financial year £26.6 billion was paid to financial institutions in interest on the national debt. That is equivalent to over half the NHS budget. "Nobody is saying, why don't we look at this for funding for health which is so essential for all of us and our future," the speaker said.

Speaker after speaker gave facts and figures on the crisis in the health service, which is a telling indictment of the system which washes its hands of responsibility for the well-being of its members.

ON JUNE 23, the government of New Labour announced its plans for the Private Finance Initiative (PFI) (Public/Private Partnerships) after a speedy review by Malcolm Bates, Chairman of Pearl Group and Chairman of Premier Farnell, to determine what were the "obstacles in the way of bringing projects to fruition and how the whole process can be streamlined". Making the announcement, the Labour government's Paymaster General, Geoffrey Robinson MP, said: "We have promised to re-invigorate the PFI and that is what we have done. Malcolm Bates has applied a businessman's mind to this policy and produced specific recommendations which I accept in full." He said that the Treasury had started work that day on the recommendations and declared that the New Labour government would "make a reality of the PFI idea".

Even prior to the review's being completed, the government abolished the so-called "universal testing" to "stop the system being gummed up with hopeless projects". It has got government departments to focus their attention on "priority projects", has agreed with the Department of Health the publication of a Bill to "smooth the way for major PFI hospital projects" and negotiated with the Department of the Environment to introduce legislation that will "bring about a stream of projects in the local authority sector".

However, according to the new Paymaster General, "this was just the beginning", and now the review has been completed he has announced that there is an "immediate need for strong central input" and that a new "Treasury Private Finance Task Force" will be appointed which will be led by a Chief Executive and supported by six to eight Executives from the private sector. The Task Force will determine on behalf of the private sector and government the "commercial viability of all significant projects" before they are put out to the private tender. Among many new measures to streamline the PFI further to serve the interests of the private sector, the cost of bidding for such contracts will be "minimised" and in some cases "refunded", minimum contracts will be lengthened, planning authorities will be forced to review their procedures to "ensure good projects can go forward in a more efficient manner" and all the "vires" of public sector bodies (their powers), especially local authorities, which are "obstacles to progress" of the PFI will be dealt with by the new government and the new task force. So wide ranging and sweeping are these measures in the interest of the private sector take-over of public services that there is not even a phrase devoted to controlling or accountability of the services that will be handed over. Even the term PFI is to be retained by the government alongside its new term "public-private partnership".

PFI Projects

Only a few days ago, on July 3, the government announced the go-ahead for another 14 PFI building projects with a capital value of £1.3 billion. Health Minister Alan Milburn told journalists that the government was "unlocking the PFI gridlock". This programme is worth many billions of pounds more to the designers, financiers, builders and private operators over the 30 to 60-year life of these hospitals. The capitalist owners of the buildings will be paid by the government through the hospitals leasing the buildings, the leases being guaranteed regardless of the need for beds over the period of the lease, not to speak of the guaranteed profits through charging for staffing and contracting. The whole scheme becomes a source of payments to the rich. It should also be pointed out that although the go-ahead of the 14 projects has been much vaunted, the announcement also covered news of the biggest hospital cancellation programme ever, with a further 29 projects axed, representing the cancellation of much-needed health care programmes. This underlines how the PFI projects are focused on making maximum profits for the rich.

Paying the Rich

New Labour is presenting the re-invigoration of the PFI as the only way at this time to generate investment for the "public sector" without increasing "public spending". But its significance is that New Labour intends to carry on implementing the programme of paying the rich and withdrawing the notion that society must be responsible for the well-being of its members. According to the review which the government is implementing the "PFI demands a transformation of roles and responsibilities in public and private sectors. Government bodies are moving from being owners and operators of assets into becoming intelligent purchasers of long term services." In other words the next stage of the plan in the public sector is to move from the state being the provider of public services to the state "purchasing" public services directly from the bourgeoisie whose move into these sectors will be guaranteed by the Labour government providing guaranteed and lucrative profits from leasing these managed hospitals, schools, benefit offices and so on.

The re-invigoration of the PFI means that New Labour is poised to do what the Conservative government was unable to carry through for the bourgeoisie, to give the capitalists control of areas that should be the responsibility of society, who utilise them not only to make maximum capitalist profit, but so that jobs and conditions of the workers come under further attack.

ON SATURDAY, JUNE 28, the Annual Wolfe Tone Society Bobby Sands/James Connolly Commemoration was held at the Irish Centre in Camden Town, London. This meeting, organised by patriotic Irish people resident in Britain, took place at a time when the Irish people are faced with another provocative test by the British government of Tony Blair which, buoyed by its so-called election "landslide", believes it can achieve peace in Ireland according to its own yardstick. This yardstick simply means that the Republican forces must hand over their weapons to the British.

The meeting was addressed by a number of speakers, some from Irish patriotic organisations. The main speaker was Francie Molloy of Sinn Fein. Amongst other things his speech outlined the views of his organisation on the present stage of the struggle for peace and reunification in Ireland, and the problems they face and how they can be overcome. Sinn Fein, who won two seats and overall increased their vote in the May 1 General Election, refuse to accept the self-serving and provocative conditions laid down by the British government for the so-called "all-party talks" which ensure that the talks never take place with representatives of all concerned, thereby prolonging British colonial rule in the north of Ireland, a condition where more blood will inevitably be shed.

Francie Molloy pointed out that Sinn Fein was committed to the peace process, but that the commitment was to the achievement of a lasting peace. Peace, he said, was not a matter of the IRA simply giving up its armed struggle, of short-term gains or political advantage, it must be more than that. Peace must mean the achievement of justice, equality and freedom; freedom for the Irish people to decide their own future on their own terms without outside interference. He said that the achievement of peace was the responsibility of all forces involved. He said that the new British government appeared willing to move the peace process forward, but that no roadblocks should be put in the way of inclusive negotiations. No more false starts could be afforded. He said that decommissioning should mean taking the gun out of Irish politics altogether, not just Republican guns, but British army and RUC weapons as well as the 130,000 guns in the hands of Unionists. The weapons put into the hands of the loyalist gangs by the British government and used to kill those struggling for freedom and equality should be taken back. Electors had given it a mandate both north and south of the border. Those electors should be respected, he said, and their representatives treated with equality, including in the House of Commons.

Messages in support of the commemoration meeting were given by various progressive British organisations and others. A message from RCPB(ML) honouring the meeting was read out which amongst other things pointed out that it was more than ever important that we workers and progressive people here demanded British withdrawal from Ireland and an end to interference in its affairs as part of the struggle here for our own emancipation.

Prior to the main rally,workshops took place, and progressive literature was sold at a number of bookstalls.

News agencies report that, while the final round is still to be held on July 6, the Socialist Party led by Fatos Nano has already won a decisive victory in the first round of the Albanian elections held last Sunday. They predict that Nano will replace President Sali Berisha as head of state. Already several leading figures in the Berisha regime, particularly those heading security and finance, have fled the country. The referendum on whether there should be a monarchy in Albania was defeated by two to one.

The elections are being held in the teeth of massive popular opposition. The Albanian people have risen with arms against the oppressive Berisha regime and, in particular, the government sanctioned "pyramid" investment schemes which had robbed vast numbers of their life savings. Citizens Salvation Committees have been formed to organise affairs in many towns in the south and centre of the country. The demand has been the resignation of Berisha and the return of the people's money.

The present elections have been imposed on the Albanian people by the US and the EU powers, working mainly through the OSCE. They have been organised under the guns of the UN-backed 7,000-strong military intervention force and the foreign-trained and armed special forces and under the openly stated threat of the complete cut-off of all aid if the Albanian parties did not go along with the plan. They have been accompanied by the most virulent and slanderous distortions against the previous communist administrations and of the role of the communists once more active in the struggles of the people. The elections have gone ahead even against the advice of foreign election "experts" who said it was not possible to hold elections in the chaotic situation which existed. Even before the election took place, an EU declaration on June 27 stated that the Albanian parties must not only respect the results of the election but must accept the assessment of its validity from its own monitors.

It was the US and the EU powers who, after the fall of socialism, imposed on the Albanian people the "free market" economy, pluralism and human rights based on private property. It was they who installed the regime of Sali Berisha and masterminded its rigged elections and attacks on the rights of the people. Now, seeing the prospect of a people in revolt arms in hand, they are hell-bent on reimposing on the Albanian people that very political and economic system which has not only brought ruin and chaos to Albania, but denies people power over their lives and solves none of their problems in their own countries either! What are the "pyramid" schemes but a less sophisticated version of the other ways in which capitalism robs the people in order to pay the rich?

Workers and progressive people should demand that the US and EU powers cease their criminal interference in the affairs of the Albanian people. All foreign troops should be withdrawn. Disinterested aid should be given where necessary. The Albanian people should be left to sort out their own affairs.

THE 23rd annual G7 Economic Summit concluded in Denver on June 22, and this year included participation by Russia. The Denver Summit of Eight Final Communiqué begins by claiming that the various heads of state and government were discussing the steps which need to be taken to "ensure peace and prosperity" for the entire world. In fact, the summit itself reflected the sharpening rivalries between the major powers and the growing contention between them for sources of raw materials and cheap labour and new areas for the export of capital. This rivalry rather than leading to peace poses the danger of another world war.

The communique made it clear that the imperialists are targeting the continent of Africa as an area of expansion and that the exploitation of this part of the world will be facilitated amongst other means through what is termed "development assistance" and that imperialist intervention in the affairs of African countries will continue through various so-called "peacekeeping" initiatives, some of them undertaken by the UN.

Indeed there is much talk of "peacekeeping" and "conflict resolution" in the communique while at the same time open threats were issued against countries such as North Korea, China, Libya and Iran, which oppose the dictates of the imperialist powers or where important economic or strategic interests are at stake.

The British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, declared that he was "very pleased" with the communiqué and highlighted the fact that the other imperialists had openly supported the British government's threats to China over the future of Hong Kong. Blair also expressed his support for those measures contained in the communique relating to "employability" and what was referred to as "the responsiveness of labour markets to economic conditions" – that is, that workers adapt to the needs of the bourgeoisie in the global market. The British government clearly took a lead in this area. In this context, Blair announced that the next Summit, to be held in Britain next year, will concentrate on what he called "competitiveness in the modern global economy", again apparently with much of the initiative coming from Britain.

The Denver Summit was nothing more than a meeting of rapacious imperialist powers, those who are seeking to impose on the world their economic and political system and bourgeois human rights based on the defence of private property. The fact that the British government played a prominent role and that Blair declared that it was a "good summit" underlines the fact that the government of New Labour stands for the interests of the British monopoly capitalists not those of the people of Britain or of other countries.

CUBAN and international film showings, excursions within the capital and concerts by dance bands await the delegates to the 14th World Festival of Youth and Students, even before they take up lodging with families on July 27 and before the inauguration of the great event which will entail so many encounters, experiences and surprises.

Once all the delegates are in the Pan American Stadium, the international party will begin. The streets will be saturated with the festival spirit, reaching the neighbourhoods; the cultural centres will be filled with song and dance; and the Political Song Festival, recitals by internationally known figures and the carnival, all on Havana's Malecón, will complete the picture.

During the first three days of the Festival, there will be time for reflection and debate, at the Political Discussion Centres with its 12 scheduled themes and the Anti-Imperialist Tribunal. The dreams and opinions of the 6000 young people expected at the Festival may reveal themselves to be less idealistic, more realistic and mature than ten years ago, given the circumstances as this turn of the century.

When the 1st World Festival was held in Europe 50 years ago, the voice and support of the socialist countries made possible the realisation of certain dreams, such as pacifist actions and others favouring youth and student movements. In 1997, the Festival in Cuba will support new efforts on the part of young people and will ensure that there will always be a place for youth and students to meet and exchange experiences.

On August 1, the delegates will go to the Cuban provinces by train, bus and boat, divided into groups of 150 to 300. In the provinces, they will be able to get a clearer understanding of Cuban society today. They will visit some of the numerous spots of socio-economic, historical and cultural significance, and have the chance to experience Cuban hospitality and culture.

While they are in the provinces, encounters are planned with foreign students in Cuba, and there will be open tribunals and solidarity rallies. On August 3 there will be a sports and recreation fiesta, with participation of all the sports disciplines. There will be plenty of music and well-known athletes on hand.

When they return to Havana, there will be encounters by sector, which will be the most important exchanges during the Festival, since they will allow more specific and personal communication among the young people.

The Clubhouses will be the places receiving the largest number of visitors. Each one will belong to a particular region or continent and they will feature exhibitions and sales of representative goods. Parties and cultural events will also be held there. Anyone interested in learning about the customs and realities of particular countries will be able to visit the Continental Houses.

The Cuba Pavilion will offer a permanent exhibition of unpublished photos and facts related to Che Guevara, to whom the 14th Festival is dedicated.

On August 5, the delegates will have a somewhat ecological program, in which they will visit the Friendship Fair at ExpoCuba, including a tour of the Botanical Garden, Lenin Park and the National Zoo. In the afternoon the Solidarity March will take place, ending in Revolution Square. The Festival's closing ceremony will be held in front of the giant statue of José Martí there in the Square.

BY MARELYS VALENCIA ALMEIDA (Granma International staff writer)