From Palestine, to racism, to fiscal rules and migrant rights, DIANE ABBOTT surveys some of the main themes of Labour conference this week
The pieces are in place for rebuilding the socialist left in 2024
Morning Star editor BEN CHACKO says militant unions and a growing peace movement create the conditions for a fight to put socialist politics back on the map after four bleak years
We must remember how the CPGB led anti-fascist movement defeated Mosley’s BUF in September 1936 and apply the lessons of mass mobilisation and open, unapologetic confrontation to the rise of the far right today, writes DYLAN MURPHY
On the anniversary of the Battle of Cable Street, DAVID ROSENBERG reflects on his encounters with those who were there that day in 1936 – and suggests two urgent tasks for the anti-fascists of today
The basic human requirement of having a roof over one’s head is being undermined by West Northamptonshire Council – but local anti-cuts campaigners are rising above the divisive Farageist rhetoric to build unity and fight back, reports DAVID CONWAY
BEN CHACKO hears from a variety of speakers at Labour conference about the broken political system, the hatred propagated by super-wealthy tycoons, the importance of physically mobilising against the far right and the role of unions and working people in fighting back
Morning Star campaigns manager CALVIN TUCKER encourages readers to get behind our five-year plan to keep the Star shining brightly as the paper approaches its 100th anniversary
THIS month marked four years since the defeat of the most serious challenge to British capitalism in decades — Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour leadership.
The coming year marks four decades since the start of the great miners’ strike of 1984-85, whose defeat signalled the decisive victory of Thatcher’s neoliberal project in Britain, prompting a sharp acceleration of her government’s privatisation drive (we lost public control of British Telecom, British Aerospace, British Petroleum, British Gas, British Steel, British Airways, Rolls-Royce and, at the tail-end of her decade in power, the municipally owned water and electricity boards).
Defeat of the miners ushered in a long period of decline for unions. There are less than half as many trade union members in Britain now as in 1980; less than a quarter of workers are covered by collective bargaining agreements, compared to more than half in 1980; the number and size of strikes declined too.
More from this author
Morning Star editor BEN CHACKO reports from the start of Kunming’s Belt and Road media forum, where 200 journalists from 71 countries celebrated a new openness and optimism, forged by China’s enormous contribution to global development
Morning Star editor BEN CHACKO reports on TUC Congress discussions on how to confront the far right and rebuild the left’s appeal to workers
