The Spark

the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist

“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx

England:
Yellow Vests at the Tower of London

Jan 21, 2019

Translated from Lutte Ouvrière, the newspaper of the revolutionary workers group of that name active in France.

The workers who guard Tower of London visitors went on strike on December 21. HRP, which is contracted to manage the royal palaces, wants the workers to pay more for their pensions. The younger workers will lose the most because the pension was supposed to compensate for the low wages.

So for the first time in 55 years, Tower of London visitors were welcomed by strike pickets. The Beefeaters have that name because in the 15th century, they got a daily ration of beef for guarding the crown jewels. Have they had enough of eating “mad cow”?! In any case, instead of their famous red uniforms they wore yellow safety vests like the protesters in France.

Management didn’t budge, so the guards and other HRP workers decided to do more job actions on December 28 and January 2.

Hopefully the Beefeaters—now the Yellow Jackets—will win and inspire other British workers. Just like in France, they have every reason to say “enough”!