The party’s internal enforcer built his sinister influence in the shadows – but nemesis now appears to be at hand, says ANDREW MURRAY
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Defining the kilogram: a massive question
The International Prototpe of a Kilogram is getting old and fat, 130 years and 50 micrograms overweight to be precise. But how to replace it? SCIENCE AND SOCIETY explain
Britain’s housing crisis is no accident but a political choice, says CLAUDIA WEBBE
JOANNE THOMAS welcomes the Employment Rights Act as an instrument for the much-needed revitalisation of trade union membership and activism
On May 4, the MML opens its doors to marchers and visitors alike, celebrating a living tradition of working-class struggle. MEIRIAN JUMP invites readers to come along and explore the building and its collections
Studying the works of Karl Marx is a necessity if we are to fully comprehend the crises that surround us, says MATT WILLGRESS ahead of a Marx Matters event this weekend
On Workers Memorial Day, EDDIE DEMPSEY calls for immediate action on our railways to make the network safer for all
HOW much is one kilogram? The answer, it turns out, is “about one kilogram…but not quite.” In just a few months, the definition of 1kg will be fundamentally changed, thanks to an international conference of scientists in Paris last November.
The International Prototype of a Kilogram
Defining 1kg might seem like an abstract philosophical question, but it’s also a practical one. When Marx wrote Das Kapital, he explained “A sugar-loaf being a body, is heavy, and therefore has weight: but we can neither see nor touch this weight” (Chapter 1). To weigh anything requires a system of standards for measurement.
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