By refusing to recognise a Palestinian state and continuing to supply Israel with weapons, Meloni has provoked an uprising that is without precedent in the history of solidarity with Palestine — and it could change Italy profoundly too, writes RAMZY BAROUD
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
The new angle from private firms shmoozing their way into public contracts was the much-trumpeted arrival of ‘artificial intelligence’ — and no-one seemed to have heard the numerous criticisms of this unproven miracle cure, reports SOLOMON HUGHES
With the ceasefire and peace process now firmly in place for almost a decade, Colombia’s peace court has begun issuing its first sentences against both sides over human rights violations during the armed conflict, reports NICK MACWILLIAM
As war between Iran and the West looms once more, NAVID SHOMALI sounds the alarm bell and calls on the peace movement in Britain and internationally to mobilise for action before it is too late
A day of strike action is set to be unleashed today, against tax injustice, attacks on pensions and the anti-democratic manoeuvrings of Macron, writes BILL GREENSHIELDS
Once again, working people have been betrayed with false promises about jobs in an industry that is actually making climate change worse, writes LINDA PENTZ GUNTER
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.
More from this author
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
Aslef general secretary MICK WHELAN writes for the Morning Star on the eve of the TUC in Brighton, about the pay offer from the DfT, relations with the Labour government, and the union’s motion at Congress calling for the renationalisation of rail freight
