US-based labour and social movements authors and organisers Robert Ovetz and James Tracy interview DANIEL GROSS about his new book, Unions of Our Own: Eight Building Blocks to Change Work and the World
MAY DAY is, worldwide, a labour and socialist festival. It has been marked in Britain since the first London May Day demonstrations in the 1890s.
As Eric Hobsbawm and Terence Ranger wrote, traditions are invented. In Britain at the moment there is an official May Day public holiday held on the first Monday after the actual date, which often sees marches and rallies.
We have Michael Foot and the 1974-79 Labour government to thank for that, although Margaret Thatcher recorded in her papers that she also enjoyed a day off, despite disapproving of its stated purpose.
JOHN CALLOW introduces the work of Geoffrey Trease, who placed ordinary people at the centre of his historical fiction for children, creating adventurous stories to inspire the possibilities of social change
KEITH FLETT looks at geographical roots of working-class activism in Britain
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
It’s not just the Starmer regime: the workers of Britain have always faced legal affronts on their right to assemble and dissent, and the Labour Party especially has meddled with our freedoms from its earliest days, writes KEITH FLETT



