The annual commemoration of anti-fascist volunteers who fought fascism in Spain now includes a key contribution from Italian comrades
Latest editorial
Reviving the Kinder Scout mass trespass in 2025
This year’s march and swim in a reservoir in the Peak District will continue the fight for 'access for all' in a nation where 92 per cent of land remains inaccessible to the public, writes SHAILA SHOBNAM
he famous trek up the Kinder Scout in Derbyshire in 1932
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
IF you have walked the rolling hills of the Peak District, a quiet debt is owed to the working-class youth of the Young Communist League (YCL). The quiet Derbyshire village of Hayfield, beneath Kinder Scout, stands as a symbol of the working class’s fight for land justice in Britain, where they challenged the elite and, against the odds, began to win.
From the 1600s onwards, England’s land was threatened by enclosure. In 1897, Hayfield residents, supported by the Peak and Northern Footpaths Society, won a legal battle to reopen the path, signalling resistance to private property-owner privilege.
Inspired by earlier acts like George Overstall’s imprisonment in 1873 and the Winter Hill Trespass, the 1932 Kinder Scout Trespass, led by the YCL and ramblers, marked a pivotal moment. Around 600 participants defied gamekeepers, linking land access to socialist struggle and crystallising the fight for public rights to land.
Similar stories
A green campaigner’s new book argues that large landowners have used their self-proclaimed role as ‘stewards of the countryside’ to deflect attention from the environmental damage that their activities cause. Professor CHRISTOPHER RODGERS reports
NICK WRIGHT sets the record straight on the controversy that has been whipped up by wealthy right-wing windbags like Clarkson and Farage, which will only really affect a tiny minority of super-rich land hoarders
PAUL DONOVAN applauds a highly important book that appears at a crucial time in the present biodiversity and climate crisis
