JOHN CALLOW tells of the rise, fall and rise again of a young martyr to the early French republic, Joseph Bara, whose short life was elevated by Robespierre and, later, others for its emotional and ideological appeal
John Callow


As the Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia rebuilds support through anti-cuts campaigns, the government seeks to silence it before October’s parliamentary elections through liberal totalitarianism, reports JOHN CALLOW

The problem with the National Museum’s exhibition on the communist-governed era is that the public liked it and the values it represented too much — looking at the beggars under the bridge outside, who can blame them, writes JOHN CALLOW

John Callow salutes the life and struggle of the gifted and persuasive educationalist who oversaw the unification of teaching unions and refoundation of the Communist Party

Tito's famous split with the USSR to walk the path of a mixed economy and the 'self-management' of production was the work of a former partisan hero whose transformative economic project's success still has much to teach us today, argues JOHN CALLOW

JOHN CALLOW tells the story of the innovative but little-known judge, Sir John Holt (1642-1710), and his influential judgements on witch trials