While slashing welfare and public services, Labour’s spring statement delivers a bonanza for death-dealing bomb merchants. We now see the true and terrible face of austerity 2.0, writes MICHAEL BURKE
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Still fighting anti-trade union laws: the IER and CTUF at Tolpuddle
Almost two hundred years on from the Tolpuddle Martyrs, the trade union movement is still having to fight attempts to delegitimise and criminalise its activities, writes BEN SELLERS
Detailing the deluge of delusion and dishonesty pushed by the pro-war camp, IAN SINCLAIR identifies four key tactics corporate journalists use to confuse audiences and suppress opposition to the proxy war in the east
From ‘moral duty’ to ‘military Keynesianism,’ Labour manipulates language to justify slashing welfare but pouring billions into warfare, condemning communities like Glasgow South West to deeper poverty, writes MATT KERR
With politicians dismissing constituents’ fears of global war, the peace movement must look beyond Parliament to prevent catastrophe, writes TOM MORRISON
The mass movement supporting Palestine represents potential political power that the left must now embrace as central to its strategy, writes HUGH LANNING, ahead of this Saturday’s Socialism or Barbarism day school in London
Health Secretary Wes Streeting taking £53k from Tory-linked recruiter and outsourcer Peter Hearn’s OPD Group is a great example of how Labour’s rich donors shape policies targeting the poor – not their wealth, writes SOLOMON HUGHES
MAT COWARD recalls the communist and pacifist aristocrat whose commitment made a difference in the Spanish civil war, the Blitz and WWII Europe
THE Tolpuddle Martyrs, a group of agricultural labourers, were charged with taking an illegal oath 189 years ago. This was a promise of solidarity to each other in their struggle against landowners extracting every last drop of profit they could from the workers’ labour.
The Tolpuddle Martyrs’ arrest and deportation to Australia in 1834 was an early emblem of how the powerful would treat the free organisation of workers for centuries to come. Freedom of association and of assembly, the right to protest, the right to strike and freedom of speech have been a constant battle since.
And here we are, in 2023, fighting the same battles again. The government’s Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Bill is in its final stages, and unamended, it will all but outlaw the right to strike — a right that has been severely restricted by a succession of anti-trade union laws over several decades.
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Everything we’ve seen so far from Starmer and Reeves indicates that they remain committed to the economic orthodoxy of cuts imposed by the Tories – which is why we need to revitalise the anti-austerity movement, says BEN SELLERS of the People’s Assembly
BEN SELLERS explains why Britain needs a People’s Charter now
We don’t need a weak 2p tax bribe and councils collapsing nationwide: we need to build a mighty coalition to fight austerity and deliver public services for all, writes BEN SELLERS, national secretary of the People’s Assembly
As living standards tumble, we mustn’t be fooled into thinking this is the natural order of things. By getting together we can fight back, writes BEN SELLERS
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KEITH FLETT uncovers the links between Dorset landowners, Caribbean plantations, slavery and the prosecution of trade unionists, revealing a darker side to the Tolpuddle Martyrs’ story
Unison South West regional secretary KERRY BAIGENT charts the recent successes for industrial action and organising in her area, and outlines the challenges ahead, urging Labour to deliver on workers’ rights and social care
With a Labour government now in power it’s time to rebuild in the interests of working people, says MICK LYNCH