The annual commemoration of anti-fascist volunteers who fought fascism in Spain now includes a key contribution from Italian comrades
Riots, class politics and democracy: all is not as it seems
ANDREW MURRAY reviews studies on the motivations of last August's rioters and dwindling support for 'democracy' in its modern Western incarnation

CLASS politics. Easy to invoke, sometimes challenging to apply.
No fewer than four separate opinion surveys in the last fortnight have brought this home.
The first, the work of the Children’s Commissioner, found that working-class youth involved in last summer’s anti-migrant riots were largely animated not by racism but by hatred of the police and frustration at lack of opportunities.
More from this author

ANDREW MURRAY casts an eye over past upheavals and asks whether the left can find a fire escape before the world goes up in flames

But Business Secretary downplays prospect of full nationalisation and declines to extend emergency assistance to Port Talbot or Grangemouth

ANDREW MURRAY wonders whether recent opinion polling and a fresh local authority by-election result in Ilford are an indication that the time is ripe for the left to make inroads