From Palestine, to racism, to fiscal rules and migrant rights, DIANE ABBOTT surveys some of the main themes of Labour conference this week
In Xi Jinping's China, is Chairman Mao back?
On the 130th anniversary of the founder of People's China's birth, BEN CHACKO asks whether media hype about Xi as a new Mao rings true – or whether the country's trajectory has really changed that much
Chairman Mao reading People's Daily in Hangzhou, 1961
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
BOXING Day marks 130 years since the birth of Chairman Mao — a revolutionary whose significance seems all the greater now given the rise of China.
China’s alleged reversion to Maoism under President Xi Jinping is a recurring theme in Western media. A year ago the Guardian was quoting the US-based academic Hu Ping on how Xi was “increasingly reverting to Mao” on domestic policy; outlets from the New York Times to Al Jazeera have referred to Xi as “the new Mao.”
China is certainly celebrating Mao this winter. A new film, When We Were Young, will depict his student years; a TV series, Kunpeng Strikes the Waves, will tell the story of his early activism and discovery of Marxism. The “kun” and “peng” are mythological creatures, or one creature, since the kun, a huge fish, transforms into the peng, a huge bird, whose flight, in the Taoist classic the Zhuangzi, causes storms lasting months and churns up the sea for hundreds of miles around: an indication of how great an impact Mao is deemed to have had on China’s history.
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