The Revolution Will Not Be Amortized
"Besides, in those days they had been slaves and now they were free, and that made all the difference, as Squealer did not fail to point out."
- Animal Farm
Come the Revolution - the New Cross 'revolutionary community cafe' based inside an estate agent - has triggered an industrial dispute.
At launch, the proprietors promised that they were different from the plutocrats who ran other local cafes telling us:
"Lewisham People Before Profit, is about empowering people from all sectors of our community, it deserves support, will really make a difference, and show that you can run a viable business run for people, not shareholders."
Now, it seems that its low, low prices come at a terrible cost - revolution is fomenting at Come the Revolution. On Facebook, Matt Collins writes:
"We are a group of workers who have unionised a local cafe. Following a campaign to win minimum hours contracts which would provide secure employment for all workers at the cafe, our union rep and a number of other union members have been victimised and summarily sacked.
"At a time when there is an average of 35 people chasing each job vacancy in Lewisham, and trade unionists are the only people taking effective action to stop the cuts, we feel it is vital to take a stand and fight for our jobs.
We can’t win this fight alone and so we’re calling upon the unemployed, trade unionists and the community of Lewisham to get behind our campaign.
To hear our case and find out what you can do to support our struggle to win back our jobs, and improve our terms and conditions of employment, please come to our public meeting at the Amersham Arms, March 30th, 7.30pm."
And so, the Marxist dialectic unfolds.
With thanks to Monkeyboy on the Deptford Forum.