ROB WARZYNIAK recalls the emblematic 1906 book, The Jungle, in its analysis of the crisis presently engulfing the US Food and Drug Administration
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The strike that changed the nature of Labour politics
JOHN FOSTER looks at how the 1919 general strike which began in the Clydeside shipyards ignited a Britain-wide struggle
Troops on guard at a bus station; each bus had a police escort during the strike
Welsh wanderings showcase fiery destruction, alternative water ways and revive memories of a local mining legend, writes MARK SEDDON
As thousands die in the eastern DRC, a global health emergency is being starved of funds, says S KRISHNASWAMY
MAT COWARD explains how in the 17th century a row over whether to kneel at communion became a battle over religion, class and royal power
Renewed illusions in social democratic reformism are sprouting as a result of Andy Burnham’s rhetoric, but material conditions are already intruding into the debate, argues NICK WRIGHT
Andy Burnham could learn a few lessons from a previous Labour government in the pre-privatisation era on how to tackle water shortages, writes KEITH FLETT
ONE HUNDRED years ago, on January 27 1919, workers in Scotland struck work to secure a 40-hour week. The strike was called by the Scottish Trade Union Congress, Glasgow Trades and Labour Council — then one of the biggest in Britain with 200 delegates — and the Clyde Workers Committee representing the shop stewards’ movement.
It was a political strike. It demanded action by the government to limit hours of work — and thereby to create more jobs and halt the return of mass unemployment. Millions of men were being discharged from the army and tens of thousands of women from the munitions factories.
The longer-term objective was to protect the bargaining power which trade unionists had built up during the full employment of the war years and particularly the power of the shop stewards’ movement.
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