With the death of Pope Francis, the world loses not only a church leader but also a moral compass
The Cato Street 205th anniversary – an alternative tradition of protest
The legacy of an 1820 conspiracy in revenge for Peterloo resonates down the ages, argues KEITH FLETT
A cartoon depiction of the arrest of the Cato Street Conspirators
LYNNE WALSH previews the Bristol Radical History Conference this weekend
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Ecuador’s election wasn’t free — and its people will pay the price under President Noboa
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IT IS 205 years since the Cato Street conspiracy was “uncovered” on February 23 1820 and the leaders duly despatched at the scaffold or to Australia.
It warrants a section in EP Thompson’s classic account of the Making of the English Working Class (1963) but until recently has been largely overlooked both by mainstream and left historians.
The conspirators, who, like others before them, had been infiltrated by government spies — a reminder that spycops are nothing new — planned to attack a “Cabinet dinner” in central London, murder the prime minister, home secretary etc and display their heads on poles.
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From bemoaning London’s ‘cockneys’ invading seaside towns to negotiating holiday rents, the founders of scientific socialism maintained a wry detachment from Victorian Easter customs while using the break for health and politics, writes KEITH FLETT
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