To defend Puerto Rico’s right to peace is to defend Venezuela’s right to exist, argues MICHELLE ELLNER
Why the trade union link still matters to the Labour Party
The Labour Party emerged out of the trade union movement and that link is of continuing importance and great relevance today, writes MICK WHELAN
Keir Hardie (1856-1915) - British Labour leader and politician, born in Scotland; the first parliamentary leader of the Labour Party
Despite the apocalyptic destruction RAMZY BAROUD points to Gaza’s triumph of spirit against the architecture of genocide
We are demanding action from our politicians to deliver justice, fairness and decency throughout our communities – join us, says ROZ FOYER
After NGOs and the EU, UN condemns Germany’s crackdown on Palestine Solidarity, writes LEON WYSTRYCHOWSKI
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
Once again Tower Hamlets is being targeted by anti-Islam campaigners, this time a revamped and radicalised version of Ukip — the far-right event is now banned by the police, but we’ll be assembling this Saturday to make sure they stay away, says JAYDEE SEAFORTH
ON a couple of bitterly cold winter days back in 1900 – Monday and Tuesday February 26-27 – a group of men in heavy woollen suits, coats, and scarves met at the Congregational Memorial Hall on Farringdon Street, in central London, just around the corner from what is now Aslef’s head office, to set up the Labour Representation Committee.
The 129 delegates present represented a broad range of working-class and left-wing opinion – from trade union activists to the Independent Labour Party, Social Democratic Federation and Fabian Society.
They were all disenchanted with the Liberal Party and approved a plan, proposed by Keir Hardie, to get ordinary people into Parliament to “promote legislation in the direct interests of labour” – meaning working-class men and women impatient for better pay and working conditions, proper holidays, decent pensions, and unemployment benefit.
The Labour Representation Committee was formed at the end of the Victorian era, when millions of men worked in mills and mines and factories and shipyards.
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Two-hundred years ago, on September 27 1825, the world’s first passenger railway line was opened between Stockton and Darlington. MICK WHELAN, general secretary of Aslef, the train drivers’ union, reflects on the history – and the future – of Britain’s railway industry
On the eve of the 157th Trades Union Congress, MICK WHELAN, general secretary of Aslef, the train drivers’ union, celebrates victory in his campaign to get dignity for drivers at work
As the labour movement meets to remember the Tolpuddle Martyrs, MICK WHELAN, general secretary of train drivers’ union Aslef, says it’s an appropriate moment to remind the Labour government to listen to the trade unions a little more
The formation of the Labour Representation Committee in 1900 marked the beginning of interconnected and contested strategies — parliamentary and industrial — seeking ways to advance working-class interests, writes KEITH FLETT