Labour Council Leader Nick Forbes claims that the Parents Against Cuts campaign, which is fighting the proposed cuts to Sure Start children’s centres in Newcastle upon Tyne, is a front for the ‘Revolutionary Communist Party’ (RCP) (‘Cuts, cuts and more cuts’, Evening Chronicle 18 December 2014). Given that the RCP was disbanded in 1997, we assume Forbes is referring to the Revolutionary Communist Group. We are proud to be part of Parents Against Cuts, but Newcastle parents didn’t need us to tell them to organise a campaign: they understand the devastating impact these cuts will have on their families, and they know that determined resistance is their only chance of stopping them. It seems that Nick Forbes is getting desperate and is trying to split the campaign. What he is really afraid of is any working class opposition to the cuts he is implementing – but as a Labour politician he cannot say people are wrong to oppose the cuts without looking ridiculous, so he concentrates his fire on communists. We will continue to support campaigns like Parents Against Cuts that are building genuine resistance to austerity and encourage others to do so.
Revolutionary Communist Group, Newcastle branch
