Britain funds the policing of black culture 16 times better than the culture itself. The Diamond Jubilee is the moment to end that, argues CLAUDIA WEBBE
THE relationship between religion and Marxism has historically been an antagonistic one, with the former (at least with respect to its hierarchy) typically siding with the interests of the ruling class.
Organised religion helped legitimise and strengthen the position of society’s elites by espousing ideas that justified inequality as God’s will or which promised the poor and downtrodden a reward in the afterlife.
Such heavenly promises served to mollify proletarian resentment about their earthly oppression while duping them into accepting the status quo as part of a divine being’s master plan. Karl Marx wrote: “Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people.”
MAT COWARD explains how in the 17th century a row over whether to kneel at communion became a battle over religion, class and royal power
TOMASZ PIERSCIONEK is intrigued by a the changing significance of its vast areas of forest to Russia’s history
BEN CHACKO welcomes a masterful analysis that puts class struggle back at the heart of our understanding of China’s revolution
Your Party can become an antidote to Reform UK – but only by rooting itself in communities up and down the country, says CLAUDIA WEBBE



