The annual commemoration of anti-fascist volunteers who fought fascism in Spain now includes a key contribution from Italian comrades
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Levelling Up?
STEPHEN ARNELL marks 380 years of early social reformers, The Levellers
RADICAL: Participants at Levellers’ Day in Burford, 2017
The Islamic Republic’s suddenly weakened regional position exposes the nation to grave threats from US imperialism
DONG XUE explains why US tariffs hold no significant threat to China
ANSELM ELDERGILL asks whether artificial intelligence may decide legal cases in the future, in place of human judges, and how AI could reshape the legal landscape
Like pieces on a chess board, centrist parties lose ground as they accommodate rather than challenge far-right agendas — socialists must play things better, warns MATT KERR
Yanis Varoufakis and Jeremy Corbyn laid out a roadmap for peace, justice and equality as they celebrated the legacy of inspirational socialist Tony Benn, reports LINDA PENTZ GUNTER
The NEU’s annual conference promises heated debate, with motions on international politics, curriculum reform and union amalgamation likely to provoke strong reactions and challenge the status quo, writes Education for Tomorrow editor ROBERT POOLE
“I THINK the poorest has a life to live in England as the greatest. The poorest man in England is not bound to any government he has not had a voice in choosing” — Leveller leader Thomas Rainborough at The Putney Debates (1647).
The Oxford English Dictionary dates the first written use of the term for the political movement to 1644, in Marchamont Needham’s pamphlet, The Case for the Commonwealth of England Stated — although this may have been a retrospective conceit as the pamphlet was printed in 1650, but, for our purposes 1644 suits admirably.
Born from the tyrannical rule of Charles I and subsequent tumult of the English civil wars in the 1640s, proto-democratic semi-socialist republicans the Levellers were the first English political movement with a coherent manifesto, much of which anticipated later trade unions and political parties.
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