ANDY HEDGECOCK and MARIA DUARTE review Late Fame, The Death of Robin Hood, Leviticus, and Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass
Arise: Power, Strategy and Union Resurgence
Jane Holgate
Pluto Press, £16.99
TAKING her cue from Hobsbawm’s analysis of the decline in trade union power, Holgate seeks to address the same problem — namely why trade union power has continued to decline since 1979, and whether this means that trade unionism in the 21st century requires “a fundamental rethink about the structure and strategy of trade union organising.”
Holgate’s book centres on how trade unions organise and the main organising models that have been adopted during the past 40 or so years in response to union decline.
She analyses these models and finds them deficient in that they ignore what, for her, is the vital question — the locus of power.
Renewed illusions in social democratic reformism are sprouting as a result of Andy Burnham’s rhetoric, but material conditions are already intruding into the debate, argues NICK WRIGHT
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
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
Labour movement history in Britain shows workers secured reforms through collective pressure and political representation, rather than being gifted from above, writes KEITH FLETT



