Assistant general secretary of the General Federation of Trade Unions HENRY FOWLER reports on day 1 from the GFTU’s residential Summer School at Quorn Grange Hotel
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As in World War I, socialists standing for peace today are demonised – but we must raise our voices
JOHN McINALLY points to parallels between the inter-imperialist conflict that erupted 109 years ago today and the current war in Ukraine
A Ukrainian soldier shelters in a trench on the frontline in the Zaporizhzhia region, the site of heavy fighting with Russian troops, August 10 2023
Strike Map co-founder HENRY FOWLER discusses the significance of today’s joint union letter to video game giant Rockstar, demanding trade union recognition for its workers. Their conversation highlights how our movement can harness its collective power to rebuild union power across the private sector
The PM leaves office having squandered Labour’s electoral mandate and alienated its grassroots. He will not be missed, writes BRIAN LEISHMAN MP
Durham Miners’ Association chair STEPHEN GUY speaks to Ben Chacko about the Reform threat, what’s needed from Labour and why the Big Meeting will never lose its politics
Poland’s anger over Ukraine’s celebration of the Nazi collaborationist UPA reflects more than historical grievance, says KENNY COYLE
Can Andy Burnham’s programme deliver a productive economy – or merely a softer version of capitalism, asks VINCE MILLS
NO SERIOUS person, certainly no socialist, would disagree that the first world war was an inter-imperialist conflict between “great powers” in pursuit of markets, resources, and hegemony.
Isn’t hindsight a wonderful thing. At the time, one hundred and nine years ago today, the majority of socialists, trade union leaders and prominent “Marxists” abandoned international class solidarity, capitulated to war fever, embraced national chauvinism, effectively endorsing the industrialised slaughter of millions of workers of all combatant nations.
Socialists who opposed the war and exposed its real cause — imperialist profiteering — were marginalised and victimised. In Britain, John MacLean and other socialists were imprisoned under the Defence of the Realm Act.
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JOHN McINALLY sees little chance of change at Westminster, and calls on the left to get serious about building a real alternative
SEVIM DAGDELEN says European Nato states are escalating ever closer to direct conflict with a nuclear power, and sacrificing welfare states built up over a century to finance it
The defence secretary’s resignation reveals not a split over principle but a dispute over pace of military spending, as Britain’s political Establishment unites behind deeper Nato commitments, argues NICK WRIGHT
Western nations’ increasingly aggressive stance is not prompted by any increase in security threats against these countries — rather, it is caused by a desire to bring about regime changes against governments that pose a threat to the hegemony of imperialism, writes PRABHAT PATNAIK