The annual commemoration of anti-fascist volunteers who fought fascism in Spain now includes a key contribution from Italian comrades
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The case of the West End Riots
MAT COWARD remembers when the Conservative HQ at the Carlton Club got engulfed in some street-based class warfare
End of the meeting in Trafalgar Square (illustration from the Illustrated London News)
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
THERE are some riots you just can’t help chuckling at, even if you’re not the sort of person usually given to inappropriate levity. The circumstances which led to the stoning of the Carlton Club, on February 8 1886, would surely be enough to make even the soberest cadre crack a tiny smile.
It began with a pressure group affiliated to the Conservative Party, called the Fair-Trade League, holding a rally in Trafalgar Square to demand “Free Trade within the Empire and Protection against the World.”
Interpreting this as an attempt to win working-class support for conservatism, the Social Democratic Federation, Britain’s earliest self-styled Marxist party, called its own demonstration — same time, same place. It argued that the unemployment then blighting the nation was caused by capitalism, not by beastly foreigners, and could be ameliorated by government support for new co-operative businesses.
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