Recession 'part of attack on our rights'

That was the warning from the Communist Part of Britain as it highlighted the growing fightback against George Osborne's austerity campaign.

Greater Midlands CPB secretary Graham Stevenson said the Chancellor's "refusal to shift in the face of a triple-dip recession is more than besieged incompetence."

He told the party's political committee on Wednesday night that the government's strategy was to "undermine the strength of pay bargainers by creating a tight labour market out of unemployment and aggressive management."

Mr Stevenson pointed to strikes in recent weeks among teachers, BBC journalists, Two Sisters Foods workers, Isle of Man bus drivers, Tesco contract drivers, contract cleaners at Tyne Metro - as well as mass marches to save the NHS and oppose cuts - as signs the Con-Dems won't be allowed to get away with it.

But he warned that even though benefit cuts and the bedroom tax will "rob even more from most households," not enough people "accept the possibility of being able to win - and yet this is the only option."

The CPB offered solidarity "with the Greeks in their fight against EU-enforced austerity and privatisation" and welcomed Hugo Chavez's return to Venezuela amid continent-wide opposition to neoliberalism.

It backed Mr Stevenson's call to plan for "generalised strike action to turn back the ruling-class offensive" and also urged "full steam ahead for the People's Assembly on Saturday June 22, starting now to bring together broad-based local campaign committees."