Trade unions need to step up and force a turn in the policies of the labour movement to effectively confront the far-right threat, argues NICK WRIGHT
YOU might well be tempted to set up The National Anti-Sweating League after getting stuck in a tunnel on the rush-hour Northern Line, but a century ago “sweating” had a particular meaning.
In 1899, the House of Lords committee on sweating (look, I’m sorry, but if you're going to giggle every time, we'll be here forever) defined sweatshop labour by three criteria: it was underpaid, the hours were excessive, and the working conditions were unhealthy.
The point being that they meant bad pay, long days and crap conditions that were dramatically worse than the already dreadful norm.
MAT COWARD writes on Ghost Runner John Tarrant
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



