Communists urge workers to show Tories who's boss

Communist Party trade union organiser Anita Halpin said: "This unelected, illegitimate Tory-led coalition must be told in no uncertain terms that the workers and peoples of Britain will not accept vicious attacks on the poor and public services."

But she warned that much more would be needed to stop cuts and privatisation.

"The TUC general council must begin to plan co-ordinated and general strike action, winning the case for it at every level of the trade union movement, while trades councils mobilise support and campaigning," Ms Halpin told the party's executive committee at the weekend.

She savaged policy announcements at the Tory conference including benefit cuts and the sale of employment rights for company shares, which she described as "the right to buy the sack."

Ms Halpin also condemned Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt's proposal to cut the time limit for abortion to 12 weeks, saying he "presumes to lecture women about their indivisible right to control their own bodies."

Meeting in Liverpool, the CP executive condemned the cover-up of Jimmy Savile's sex crimes as evidence that "Britain is ruled by a corrupt, arrogant elite that is drunk with wealth and power."

The CP leadership decided to:

• Publish 10,000 copies of a four-page Britain Needs Socialism tabloid for the October 20 demonstrations.
• Urge communists, socialists and trade unionists to ensure the distribution of 20,000 copies of the Star on Saturday.
• Condemn the award of the Nobel Peace Prize to the EU as "an insult to the innocent war dead of Yugoslavia, Afghanistan and Iraq."
• nWelcome the re-election of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and the increased vote for his Communist Party allies.