Get Involved!

Leicestershire Solidarity Group (LSG) is a group of people living in both the city and wider county who see a real need for genuine working class organisation in the area.  By this, we're talking about the kind of organisation that means ordinary people stick together to get things done and defend ourselves from the powers that be - that is, from employers, national or local government, or anyone else who tries to divide working class people according to our race, sex, age, disability, employment status, sexuality or cultural background.

And in case you're not sure what we mean by working class, we mean from the least well off to those who might even see themselves as 'middle class' but are in reality, just financially better off working class people.  Those we don't include are people who get rich off other people's backs, or try to push the rest of us around. 

If we want things to improve, we have to stand up to those who want to rip us off or shove us around, but we have to stand up together.  In other words, we need a bit of solidarity.  And that's what LSG is all about.

Here's some of the things we're interested in focussing on:

• Working people need to stick together and fight together.  We want to see greater grassroots workers' organisation in the county.  Whatever your workplace, whichever trade union you belong to (or even if you're not in a union), let's work together to find ways of fighting more effectively.
• Unemployment is on the increase and this is all part of the global capitalist crisis.  Yet the government and big business wants to punish claimants further.  Our unemployed members are interested in working with others to organise a fighting Claimants' Union to defend unwaged workers from these attacks. Also, attacks on those on Incapacity is closely connected to attacks on all unwaged people and we need to defend ourselves together.
• Cuts, cuts, cuts - although the big public sector strikes are officially about pensions, we all know that in reality, it's mostly about resistance to cuts.  While the government is happy to bail out greedy bankers, dish out hefty backhanders to their rich mates, splash out over £80 million on fireworks for the Olympic opening ceremony or funnel millions into senseless wars overseas, we are told 'there is no alternative' to the extensive cuts programme.  We know better and will work with others to fight this.

And that's not all.  There are plenty of other issues such as fighting increasing privatisation, building strong anti-racist initiatives, doing something about fuel poverty, building strong residents' organisations to counter dodgy private landlords or poor or insufficient social housing.

All these are issues that are vitally important for us to get stuck into and will best be served by a real fighting organisation, controlled directly by those involved in it.  And when we talk about fighting, we mean direct action by all of us together, such as unofficial industrial action, occupations, civil disobedience and other tactics that do not involve professional intermediaries, bureaucrats or politicos.

Membership of LSG is open to anyone who agrees with this:

"LSG is independent of any political party or group.  Its aim is to work towards the empowerment of working class people locally, whether public or private sector workers, unemployed or unwaged.  Its activities include the encouragement of grassroots activity within the workplace, between different workplaces and industries and in the wider local community."

We are an active group and want active members who will muck in and share the load with other LSG members.  So if this sounds like you, what are you waiting for?  Get in touch!  If you want to be involved in the activities of Leicestershire Solidarity Group, then send an email to leicestersolidarity@gmail.com