27.10.2010

Top-heavy anti-cuts rally in Swansea

Eight comrades from the audience were only allowed a minute each, says Gareth Phillips

The October 23 ‘Turning the tide’ anti-cuts rally was the largest such labour and trade union event held in Swansea for a number of years. However, it was a top-heavy affair, with 13 platform speakers and just eight comrades called from the 300-strong audience for their allotted minute. The most enthusiastic applause was reserved for those who called for opposition to all the government’s proposed cuts.

The platform speakers, including Swansea’s two MPs and a variety of local and national trade union representatives, took up over two and a half hours and unsurprisingly all spoke of the need to resist the austerity measures. Ronnie Job (Swansea Trades Council) and Mark Serwotka (PCS general secretary) went further than most in condemning the notion that the cuts were simply ‘too much, too soon’. They called for rank-and-file resistance and stressed the importance of unity within a single anti-cuts campaign. Comrade Serwotka was among the most forthright in urging “industrial action wherever necessary” in order to “defend working class rights throughout the country”.