DAVID NICHOLSON applauds the revival of a joyous production that deals with choirs, competitions and communism
Corbyn era under the microscope
JOHN GREEN recommends, with minor reservations, an in-depth analysis of events that shook Britain to its core
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn at a rally at Hoxton Docks in London, while on the 2019 general election campaign trail
New releases from Peruvian Ranil y Su Conjunto Tropical, Leve Leve: Sao Tome & Principe, and South African BCUC
MARY DAVIS welcomes a remarkable documentary about the general strike — politically spot on, and featuring accounts from the strikers themselves — that is available for screenings
MICHAL BONCZA and MARIA DUARTE review The Stranger, Undertone, and Outcome
WILL STONE applauds the anniversary tour of Pills 'n' Thrills and Bellyaches by Madchester icons, Shaun and Bez
JAN WOOLF invigilates images that meditate on Palestine, and the people who witness them
This is Only the Beginning — The Making of a New Left, from Anti-Austerity to the Fall of Corbyn
By Michael Chessum
Bloomsbury Academic, £20
MICHAEL CHESSUM cut his political teeth during the student and anti-austerity movements of the first two decades of this century.
He went on to become a member of Momentum’s steering committee and had been involved in various progressive organisations before joining Jeremy Corbyn’s group of advisers.
He writes passionately and eloquently. Here he examines how the emergence of Corbynism and its mass mobilisation came about and what we can learn from its rise and demise taking us on a roller-coaster ride through the history of rebellion and opposition during recent decades, both in Britain and abroad, capturing the excitement, the passion and the disappointments.
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MARTIN HALL welcomes a study of Britain’s relationship with the EU that sheds light on the way euroscepticism moved from the margins to the centre
In part II of a serialisation of his new book, JOHN McINALLY explores how witch-hunting drives took hold in the Civil Service as the cold war emerged in the wake of WWII
CLIVE HASWELL introduces the latest edition of Cardiff’s left-wing conference, which will take a broad and non-sectarian approach to who the left should vote for, welcoming approaches from all major progressive parties that hope to transform the world
JOHN GREEN welcomes an insider account of the achievements and failures of the transition to democracy in Portugal