US-based labour and social movements authors and organisers Robert Ovetz and James Tracy interview DANIEL GROSS about his new book, Unions of Our Own: Eight Building Blocks to Change Work and the World
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A working-class Christmas 175 years ago
Modern Christmas as we know it, with its trees, dinner menu, cards and time off from work, only dates back to the early days of modern socialism as we know it, writes KEITH FLETT, checking in on Marx, Engels and the Chartists in the 1800s
A Marx and Engles statue covered in snow
[Ingo Steinbach / Creative Commons]
JOHN CALLOW introduces the work of Geoffrey Trease, who placed ordinary people at the centre of his historical fiction for children, creating adventurous stories to inspire the possibilities of social change
The Isle of Wight’s Victorian holiday boom drew visitors from across Europe, including the founders of scientific socialism, writes KEITH FLETT
The campaign against the Bank of England’s ongoing theft of Venezuelan gold is gaining support across the labour movement and beyond, writes MATT WILLGRESS
Unless ministers match reform with investment, the profession and the people it serves will continue to bear the cost, says KATE RAMSDEN
Claims that Nicaragua has abolished elections followed a headline that stripped Daniel Ortega’s remarks of their historical and political context. The full speech tells a different story, says BECCA RENK FOSTER
IN 2024, the Christmas period is marked by eating and drinking for those who can afford it and a lot of hard work by those who need to earn money for even the most modest celebration.
Looking back 175 years to 1849, when market capitalism was still a relatively new system, we find much the same pattern.
Until the 1871 Bank Holidays Act, there was no official time off at Christmas, hence Scrooge reluctantly allowing his clerk the day off on December 25 in Dickens’s Christmas Carol.
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