A Chartist mosaic in Rogerstone, Newport
[Robin Drayton/Creative Commons]
Charles Lubselski pays tribute to a lifelong communist and supporter of the Daily Worker and Morning Star
Ten days after right-wing destabilisation attempts, Mexico’s leadership has emerged strengthened, securing historic labour and wage agreements, while opposition-backed protests have crumbled under scrutiny, says DAVID RABY
Fuelled by economic abandonment and a collapsing faith in politics, Farage’s party is transforming grievance into momentum north of the border, warns COLL McCAIL
A searing scrutiny hearing has uncovered thousands of undelivered appointments, vanishing data and a system in chaos – galvanising councillors, patients and activists to demand urgent reform and an NHS dentist for all, writes SIMON BRIGNELL
THE role of women in the Chartist movement has often been neglected, even though they ruffled the Establishment’s feathers in their work as Hen Chartists and Lady Insurrectionists.
This year’s Chartism Day conference, at the University of Reading, succeeded in shining a spotlight on key figures including Helen MacFarlane, Frances Wright, Susanna Fearnley, Mary Grassby, Elizabeth Hanson, Mary Ann Walker and Sarah Theobald.
The event, staged by the Society for the Study of Labour History (SSLH), platformed 16 speakers, although only two were women. The voices of long-dead female Chartists filled the room, thanks mainly to Dr Judy Cox, whose work has uncovered the tub-thumping speeches and excoriating quotes from the Hen Chartists, as they were dubbed by the press.
Witnessing a war of words at a meeting on tackling militarism at The World Transformed, BEN COWLES spoke to a union rep who is organising against war from inside the arms industry itself, to hear about worker-led solutions to ending weapons production
Sisters came together last weekend for the landmark launch of a new women’s group. ROS SITWELL reports
ROS SITWELL reports from the Morning Star conference on ‘Race, Sex and Class Liberation’ last weekend
LYNNE WALSH reports from the Morning Star’s Race, Sex and Class Liberation conference last weekend, which discussed the dangers of incipient fascism and the spiralling drive to war