Labour movement history in Britain shows workers secured reforms through collective pressure and political representation, rather than being gifted from above, writes KEITH FLETT
THIRTY years ago today, Mikhail Gorbachev resigned as general secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) and Ukraine’s parliament ended that country’s status as a member of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
It was the beginning of the end of the Soviet Union.
Five days earlier, a faction in the CPSU leadership had revolted against president Gorbachev’s plans to sign a new union treaty to replace the federal but politically centralised Soviet Union.
CJ ATKINS commemorates one of the most dramatic moments in working-class history
BEN CHACKO welcomes a masterful analysis that puts class struggle back at the heart of our understanding of China’s revolution
KEVAN NELSON reports back from a delegation to the epic celebrations for the anniversary of Vietnam’s 1945 revolution, where British communists found a thriving, prosperous socialist country, brimming with ambition and well-earned national pride


