Robinson successfully defended his school from closure, fought for the unification of the teaching unions, mentored future trade union leaders and transformed teaching at the Marx Memorial Library, writes JOHN FOSTER
China’s ‘common prosperity’ agenda
China’s rich apparently don’t like it, Western commentators call it suicidal — so what exactly is this ‘common prosperity’ that Xi Jinping is promoting in his third term as leader? In part two of three-part series, JENNY CLEGG explains
China’s immediate priority is to upgrade its technology. Escaping the dead end of trading cheap labour exports for high-end imports means pouring investment into skills and science, innovating new technologies to drive the industrialisation of the future.
A judge in a German court ruled that the ban activity imposed on renowned Dr Ghassan Abu-Sittah was unlawful, reports LEON WYSTRYCHOWSKI
At the very moment Britain faces poverty, housing and climate crises requiring radical solutions, the liberal press promotes ideologically narrow books while marginalising authors who offer the most accurate understanding of change, writes IAN SINCLAIR
From Gaza protest bans to proscribing Palestine Action, political elites are showing a crisis of confidence as they abandon Roy Jenkins’s apologetic approach for Suella Braverman’s aggressive ‘hate march’ rhetoric, writes PAUL DONOVAN
ANSELM ELDERGILL examines the legal case behind this weekend’s Tolpuddle Martyrs’ Festival and the lessons for today
Ben Chacko talks to RMT leader EDDIE DEMPSEY about how the key to fixing broken Britain lies in collective sectoral bargaining, restoring unions’ ability to take solidarity strike action and bringing about the much-vaunted ‘wave of insourcing’
The summer of 1950 saw Labour abandon further nationalisation while escalating Korean War spending from £2.3m to £4.7m, as the government meekly accepted capitalism’s licence and became Washington’s yes-man, writes JOHN ELLISON
FIRST mentioned by Mao Zedong in 1953 in China’s transition to socialism, the phrase “common prosperity” was also used by Deng Xiaoping — his call for some to “get rich first” always qualified with the phrase “so that they can help others to catch up.”
Now Xi is taking “common prosperity” as a defining feature of China’s socialist modernisation — at the core of the two-stage plan, laying a basic socialist foundation by 2035 to then advance to modern socialism by 2049, the 100th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China.
The gap between rich and poor is to be reduced, but what common prosperity is not is an equalisation of incomes or a radical redistribution from the rich to the poor. Xi talks rather of increasing the incomes of low-income earners and expanding the size of the middle-income group.
More from this author
JENNY CLEGG reports from a Chinese peace conference bringing together defence ministers, US think tanks and global South leaders, where speakers warned that the erosion of multilateralism risks regional hotspots exploding into wider war
Western media dismisses the National People’s Congress while ignoring its extensive consultation processes, massive public participation mechanisms, and a tiered structure involving millions of deputies, explains JENNY CLEGG
JENNY CLEGG sets out and then responds to eight key doubts about the Brics+ alliance in light of the developments at Kazan, arguing it represents a significant challenge to US hegemony and provides a path towards a multipolar world
JENNY CLEGG pays tribute to a remarkable woman who was a pioneer in bringing about greater understanding between China and the West
