From London’s holly-sellers to Engels’s flaming Christmas centrepiece, the plum pudding was more than festive fare in Victorian Britain, says KEITH FLETT
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Can co-operatives play a role in a transition to socialism?
You remove the boss and the owners, leaving workers equal in management and production: job done? Not quite, but co-ops should not be casually dismissed either, explains the MARX MEMORIAL LIBRARY
NO FANTASY: Co-operatives can be part of the normal running of everyday capitalism without any obvious progressive political agenda
Once the bustling heart of Christian pilgrimage, Bethlehem now faces shuttered hotels, empty streets and a shrinking Christian community, while Israel’s assault on Gaza and the tightening grip of occupation destroy hopes of peace at the birthplace of Christ, writes Father GEOFF BOTTOMS
From a lockdown digital project to a vital tool for class solidarity, ROBERT POOLE and HENRY FOWLER reflect on half-a-decade of struggle
After years hidden away, Oldham’s memorial to six local volunteers who died fighting fascism in the Spanish civil war has been restored to public view, marking both a victory for campaigners and a renewed tribute to the town’s proud International Brigade heritage, says ROB HARGREAVES
The June 2025 attacks on Iran have heightened the risk of a wider war, exposed the fiction of a rules-based international order and left ordinary Iranians trapped between external aggression and internal repression, says the Committee for Defence of Iranian People’s Rights
While pretending to seek peace, Europe is heading toward a collision course with Russia – using security guarantees, troop deployments, expropriation and censorship as tools, writes SEVIM DAGDELEN
A WWI hero, renowned ornithologist, medical doctor, trade union organiser and founder member of the Communist Party of Great Britain all rolled in one. MAT COWARD tells the story of a life so improbable it was once dismissed as fiction
MANY socialists are members of co-operatives — from choosing to shop in their local Co-op supermarket or banking with the Nationwide Building Society, to playing a more active part in housing or other co-operatives.
For many, whatever their view of the quality of the goods and services, their membership provides the satisfaction of engaging with a body that is not solely concerned with making a profit for its shareholders.
But what role can co-operatives play beyond this, for example helping to secure a better, socialist, future?
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