A California union’s decision to host a meeting about US policy towards Cuba has prompted a congressional probe and renewed attacks on international solidarity, writes CAMERON HARRISON
Charlotte Despard: suffragist, communist, Irish republican
Taking up social work after being widowed transformed a Victorian liberal into a lifelong fighter for causes as wide-ranging as Sinn Fein and Indian independence to the right of women to drink in pubs, writes MAT COWARD
ICON OF STRUGGLE: Charlotte Despard speaks to a crowd in Trafalgar Square, June 1910
The Baltic state is set to reverse its constitutional prohibition on nuclear weapons and foreign bases as part of accelerated Nato war preparations, warns TOM UNTERRAINER
Long-term underfunding and state neglect, while simultaneously probation services have been undermined, have intensified the prison crises, argues SOLOMON HUGHES
Holyrood incompetence has cost jobs and put the future of Clydeside’s Ferguson Marine shipyard into jeopardy. Its future should have been assured, argues KENNY MACASKILL
With the agitated debate now raging in the media about the early release schemes, Prison Officers Association general secretary STEVE GILLAN gives the view of those who work in the sector
The hounding of the late Jason Arday is an all too familiar experience for many black people. ROGER McKENZIE calls for collective action to combat what can feel like personal isolation
THE right to a pint was one of the campaigns taken up by the Women’s Freedom League during the first world war. Wartime saw an influx of female customers into Britain’s pubs.
Many women had spare money for the first time, as they had taken over higher-paid industrial jobs previously held by the men who were now away fighting.
Besides, a couple of hours in a warm, friendly pub must have been a lot more enticing than spending a lonely evening at home, worrying about or even mourning the missing husband, brother or son.
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MAT COWARD introduces some of the electoral oddballs of the political fringe who remain one of the liveliest features of British democracy, despite efforts to abolish them
Long before modern labour movements, England’s farmworkers fought back against their oppression – and for some, like Elizabeth Studham, the price was exile to Australia. MAT COWARD tells the story
A WWI hero, renowned ornithologist, medical doctor, trade union organiser and founder member of the Communist Party of Great Britain all rolled in one. MAT COWARD tells the story of a life so improbable it was once dismissed as fiction
MAT COWARD tells the story of the eccentric founder of a short-lived but striking experiment in ‘vital democracy,’ who became best known for giving away his estate to the nation