The victories that followed the American civil war and the 1960s civil rights era are once again under attack, echoing earlier efforts to roll back equality and redefine democracy, says JOE SIMS
LAST WEEK I chaired the Our Class, Our Culture event for the Morning Star, looking at how the trade union movement defeated anti-trade union laws and an anti-working-class government 50 years ago and the lessons we can learn for the present day.
It was inspiring to hear from Davie Cooper and George Kerr, both veterans of the Upper Clyde Shipbuilders work-in, about their experiences 50 years ago and how unity was won across the yards, across the trade union movement and across wider civic society.
Brenda Carson, a GMB convener and current chair of the STUC women’s committee, bridged the gap between then and now, speaking from her own experience of how memories of the past can inspire the present.
Half a century after transformative laws reshaped Britain, women’s rights are again contested. This International Women’s Day is a call to remember how change was won, and to organise to defend it, says KATE RAMSDEN
NICK TROY lauds the young staff at a hotel chain and cinema giant who are ready to take on the bosses for their rights
Working-class women lead the fight for fair work and equitable pay and against sexual harassment, the rise of the far right and years of failed austerity policies, writes ROZ FOYER
ANN HENDERSON on the exciting programme planned for this summer’s festival in the Scottish capital



