Once the bustling heart of Christian pilgrimage, Bethlehem now faces shuttered hotels, empty streets and a shrinking Christian community, while Israel’s assault on Gaza and the tightening grip of occupation destroy hopes of peace at the birthplace of Christ, writes Father GEOFF BOTTOMS
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From folk concerts to council campaigns: a communist’s journey in 1960s Britain
In the third of four extracts from his new memoir, the Morning Star’s legendary former industrial reporter ROY JONES recounts standing for election for the CPGB — and booking Ewan MacColl, Peggy Seeger and The Beatles for gigs
The working-class town of Ellesmere Port, its skyline dominated by heavy industry, where Roy Jones and the Communist Party of Great Britain were active through the 1960s.
After years hidden away, Oldham’s memorial to six local volunteers who died fighting fascism in the Spanish civil war has been restored to public view, marking both a victory for campaigners and a renewed tribute to the town’s proud International Brigade heritage, says ROB HARGREAVES
The June 2025 attacks on Iran have heightened the risk of a wider war, exposed the fiction of a rules-based international order and left ordinary Iranians trapped between external aggression and internal repression, says the Committee for Defence of Iranian People’s Rights
While pretending to seek peace, Europe is heading toward a collision course with Russia – using security guarantees, troop deployments, expropriation and censorship as tools, writes SEVIM DAGDELEN
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
The long-term effects of chemical weapons such as Agent Orange mean that the impact of war lasts well beyond a ceasefire
THE formation of the Communist Party of Great Britain’s Ellesmere Port branch in 1963 marked a recovery in CPGB membership after the 1956 Hungarian uprising and Nikita Khrushchev’s denunciation of Stalin. Deep divisions in the party led to a loss of 20 per cent of the membership.
The questions around the USSR’s action in Hungary had led to a widespread debate and steps to more open discussions at meetings and in print (including the Daily Worker), the setting up of the discussion journal Marxism Today on socialism in Britain and abroad.
At the heart of the debate was the party’s adherence to democratic centralism which was scrutinised in a debate and special party congress on “inner-party democracy.”
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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
In the run-up to the Communist Party congress in November ROB GRIFFITHS outlines a few ideas regarding its participation in the elections of May 2026
