TUC president and POA leader STEVE GILLAN speaks to Ben Chacko on the eve of Congress 2026
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Another dimension to the Tolpuddle story: colonialism
KEITH FLETT uncovers the links between Dorset landowners, Caribbean plantations, slavery and the prosecution of trade unionists, revealing a darker side to the Tolpuddle Martyrs’ story
A sketch of the Drax Hall plantation in Barbados
DOUG NICHOLLS welcomes a turning point at this year’s Congress, where many motions call for a co-ordinated plan to revive British industry, a perspective outlined in his new book
HOPE VIRGO of campaign Dump the Scales warns MPs voting today they should be alert to the threat legalised assisted death poses to people with eating disorders
The Together Alliance is hosting two summits, North and South, to build power and plan action against the scourge of racism peddled by the right. DANIEL KEBEDE urges mass participation
The drift toward militarisation in Europe is not inevitable, left-wing and peace movements can preserve sovereignty and prevent war, says DÁIRE HUGHES MP
Whatever differences exist among international sympathisers of the Bolivarian revolution about its current trajectory, they should unite against the imperialist power that is the source of an enforced retreat, argues ROGER D HARRIS
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
WILLIAM CUFFAY, the black leader of London Chartism in 1848, is a well-known figure in British history thanks in part to the pioneering work done by the later Peter Fryer with his book Staying Power.
There is now a good deal more research and published history about black people in Britain going back at least to Tudor times. Yet it remains the case that little is known about a black presence in the Chartist movement.
The presence of black workers who had come to Britain on navy or merchant ships, servants and others, meant there was a considerable black population in Victorian Britain.
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It may have become a traditional month for holidays, but episodes from early British labour movement history show that class struggle never takes time off, argues KEITH FLETT
BOB NEWLAND appreciates an important contribution to the debate about how slavery helped to build the wealth of Western companies and states
Labour movement history in Britain shows workers secured reforms through collective pressure and political representation, rather than being gifted from above, writes KEITH FLETT