Aslef general secretary DAVE CALFE looks at how rail workers and miners stood together against wage cuts 100 years ago – and why the legacy of collective action endures today
Latest editorial
To whom is Thatcher fanboy Starmer trying to appeal?
Instead of trying to woo Conservative voters by worshipping at the altar of the Iron Lady, Labour should instead look at the numbers who support a return to the post-war welfare state, writes NICK WRIGHT
Starmer’s substantive purpose is to convince our ruling class — principally the monopolies, banks, defence industry, the upper ranks of the Civil Service, the military and intelligence agencies and the big business media and; above all, the US and Nato, that Labour in government would be a reliable custodian of the existing system.
As Africa’s progressives aim to consolidate its anti-colonial programme, VIJAY PRASHAD reports on the US getting a military foothold in Ghana
KERRY FLECK explains how the annual event unites thousands in a celebration of workers’ power, culture and collective resistance
The former Nato chief stirred up dark historical undercurrents with his call to cut welfare for military spending, says SOLOMON HUGHES
The life of a modest Norfolk organiser contrasts with the dramatic rise and disappearance of a controversial figure in US labour, says MARK SEDDON
JACK YOUD explains how Salford City Council has taken on rogue landlords and won, setting an example to the rest of the country
WHEN Sir Keir Starmer said Margaret Thatcher had effected “meaningful change” he was, briefly, in accord with majority opinion.
If Thatcher transformed post-war Britain she was not the first. Clement Attlee, who led the post-war Labour government that introduced the National Health Service and nationalised the key industries — rail and road transport, coal and steel — that were essential if the profitability of British capitalism was to continue, was first.
His predecessor, Winston Churchill, wanted to preserve Britain’s imperial position and even set in motion plans to mobilise the defeated Wehrmacht once again against the Soviet Union.
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BEN CHACKO says in different ways, the centenary of the General Strike and that of Fidel Castro’s birth point to priority tasks for the British left in the coming year
Starmer sabotaged Labour with his second referendum campaign, mobilising a liberal backlash that sincerely felt progressive ideals were at stake — but the EU was then and is now an entity Britain should have nothing to do with, explains NICK WRIGHT
The Tories’ trouble is rooted in the British capitalist Establishment now being more disoriented and uncertain of its social mission than before, argues ANDREW MURRAY
