Workers' Liberty

13/08/2026

In 1993, then leading Tory Michael Howard declared "prison works", as part of a "lock them up" response to crime in the UK which paralleled the huge expansion of the prison population in the USA at the time. His mindset is still around.

In 1993, then leading Tory Michael Howard declared "prison works", as part of a "lock them up" response to crime in the UK which paralleled the huge expansion of the prison population in the USA at the time. His mindset is still around.

13/08/2026

The working class needs more council housing. Progress depends on government action. We have our own class politics here: to secure the basics of life for the working class as social rights, not strokes of good luck in the property market.

Two million council homes have been sold off since 1980, and 14,000 more just in the year to April 2026. The government’s Social Housing Bill will limit “Right to Buy”. It should be scrapped, not just limited.

Council housing has a forced inflation-plus-1% rent rise each year, which should be scrapped too, but decreasing rent income due to decreased council stock has left councils with a “historic” Housing Revenue Account debt of £32 billion to cover. The labour movement should back Shelter’s demand for it to be cancelled. But the government, instead, has recently excluded councils from a new low-cost loan scheme for new house-building, available to private developers and to housing associations.

We must also demand a vast increase in cheap credit and outright grants to councils to build and to buy up and refurbish existing housing now privately-owned.

To finance 100,000 new homes might need up to £29 billion a year. A lot? That is just one per cent of total annual income, a small outlay to secure a basic of life for all.

Even if councils can borrow the money to build, they have difficulty getting land, often monopolised by large landowners looking for better returns on their property from luxury ventures. The government should nationalise all building land, making the common basis of society available for social purposes.

The labour movement should demand the refloating of Direct Labour Organisations and public ownership of the whole construction industry to create a nationalised operation capable of training teenagers and others in the skills and offering long-term job security with union rates and conditions.

Andy Burnham has talked about more council house-building, but almost not at all about how to achieve it. Workers' Liberty will work to mobilise the whole labour movement, including the unions, to get the achievement.

12/08/2026

In general, Marxists tend to be sceptical about the concept of common sense, but sometimes, like Antonio Gramsci, we recognise good sense (“buon senso”) as the rational core within common sense.

In general, Marxists tend to be sceptical about the concept of common sense, but sometimes, like Antonio Gramsci, we recognise good sense (“buon senso”) as the rational core within common sense.

12/08/2026

By misunderstanding the most basic political facts about the Islamist Iranian dictatorship, US President and imperialist bin fire Donald Trump has made himself responsible for the deaths of a lot of people.

Donald Trump: “It is a four week [war to defeat Iran]. Four weeks, or less” (early March) “We’ll finish Iran off pretty soon” (late July) “We’ve had regime change already, they’re all dead” (late March) “I never cared about regime change [in Iran]” (June) “We’ve totally des...

12/08/2026

Whilst this article is mainly about Finland's Housing First programme, and future articles will look in detail at Andy Burnham's pledge to build more council housing, I first want to say something about the sacking of Steve Reed as Housing Secretary.

Whilst this article is mainly about Finland's Housing First programme, and future articles will look in detail at Andy Burnham's pledge to build more council housing, I first want to say something about the sacking of Steve Reed as Housing Secretary.

12/08/2026

Intervening in Labour conference 2026.

Labour Party conference is 27-30 September in Liverpool. Most delegates arrive, and the Labour women's conference is held, on 26 September.

12/08/2026

The working class needs more council housing. Progress depends on government action.

You are seeing this because the administrator of this website has set up Anubis to protect the server against the scourge of AI companies aggressively scraping websites. This can and does cause downtime for the websites, which makes their resources inaccessible for everyone.

12/08/2026

New issue of Solidarity out now!

Mass Council House Building Now

11/08/2026

60 years of Workers’ Liberty

Workers’ Liberty, the organisation which hosts Ideas for Freedom, descends from a grouping founded in 1966. In the 60 years since, our ideas have developed and evolved, reconsidering and rejecting some of the assumptions we began with, whilst retaining core commitments to anti-Stalinist, democratic, class-struggle socialism. A stream of sessions at this year’s Ideas for Freedom will reflect on 60 years of our tendency and discuss the evolution of our ideas.

Ideas for Freedom, a weekend of discussion, debate, and education, takes place on 21-22 November at Camden School for Girls, Sandall Rd, London NW5 2DB.

Early Bird tickets (until 3 October) are £40 waged, £20 low-waged and students, £7 unwaged. Solidarity price (weekend): £70. Day and half-day tickets available from the end of September. Tickets inclusive of lunches, drinks and snacks now available (£58/32/15). Tickets and more info at bit.ly/ideas26

For more information, help with travel, register for a creche space or crash accommodation email [email protected]

10/08/2026

The past we inherit, the future we build

Some sessions at Ideas for Freedom will look back on the history of our movement, to find inspiration and lessons for today. These include Robert Bau on ‘Red Vienna’, the radical experiment in socialist municipal government in Austria’s capital in the early 1920s, and author Edd Mustill discussing his book ‘Britain’s Revolutionary Summer’, reflecting on the centenary of the 1926 General Strike.

Ideas for Freedom, a weekend of discussion, debate, and education, takes place on 21-22 November at Camden School for Girls, Sandall Rd, London NW5 2DB.

Early Bird tickets (until 3 October) are £40 waged, £20 low-waged and students, £7 unwaged. Solidarity price (weekend): £70. Day and half-day tickets available from the end of September. Tickets inclusive of lunches, drinks and snacks now available (£58/32/15). Tickets and more info at bit.ly/ideas26

For more information, help with travel, register for a creche space or crash accommodation email [email protected]