Working people across Britain are fighting back against austerity, war, repression and exploitation. The challenge now is to unite those struggles, says Communist Party of Britain assistant general secretary JOHNNIE HUNTER
Why Teesside should get a memorial to international brigader Ron Dennison
TONY FOX relates the discoveries about a local volunteer who fought fascism that inspire a fundraising effort for a Teesside tribute
ULTIMATE SACRIFICE: Ron Dennison alias Bill Meredith can be seen in the British trenches after the
Battle of Jarama
Train drivers’ union Aslef general secretary DAVE CALFE speaks to Ben Chacko about his hopes that Burnham’s devolution agenda will include the importance of the railway
DIANE ABBOTT provides an analysis of the reasons for EU and British voters’ dramatic swing to the right
Some of the review’s proposals could make the benefits system less cruel and dehumanising. But its vague plans for services and non-cash support revive the threat that disabled people will lose control over the money we need to survive, writes DYLAN MURPHY
Believe it or not, there was a time when the US government built beautiful homes for working‑class Americans to deal with a housing shortage, writes ERAN BEN-JOSEPH
MAT COWARD has heaps of good advice on recycling garden and household waste over the winter
IN SPRING, in the presence of relatives of some of the Teesside Volunteers, we dedicated the Stockton International Brigade Memorial. This meant that on Teesside we had both the youngest and the oldest International Brigade memorials in the UK.
My friend Bob Beagrie, a Senior lecturer at Teesside University, performed at the dedication events that day; since 2020 he has regularly performed his poems at our annual commemorations. A collection of his poems inspired by the International Brigade entitled Romanceros is due to be published shortly. Whilst working on this collection, just six weeks after the dedication, Bob asked me about Thomas Carter; a volunteer from Hartlepool who is named on the Teesside memorial. I replied adding a eulogy written in 1937 by George Short, the Communist Party district secretary for Teesside.
After rereading the eulogy the line “In a letter from his commander, also of Teesside . . .” caught my eye because the only company commander from Teesside at this time was Bert Overton of No 4 Company and Thomas Carter was in No 2 Company. Bill Meredith would command No 2 Company but he was from Bellingham in Northumberland, not Teesside.
Similar stories
As the 90th anniversary of the outbreak of the Spanish civil war is marked, Teesside campaigners will gather to remember the local men and women who stood against fascism, explains TONY FOX
North East Volunteers for Liberty plan to mark a double anniversary in October for local heroes who stood firm against tyranny, writes TONY FOX
TONY FOX reports from a commemoration of the legendary Battle of Jarama in which four Stockton-on-Tees volunteers fell
TONY FOX invites readers to come and hear the story of the remarkable Liverpudlian International Brigader Alexander Foote