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

THE first Labour government was a minority government and lasted just nine months. Was it the product of a cunning Tory-Liberal plot or a wise decision by Labour to prove that it was “fit to govern?”
Against a background of post-war political and economic dislocation, Stanley Baldwin, the Tory prime minister, decided to call a snap election in December 1923.
The crisis facing Britain’s staple industries (coal, cotton and engineering), the impact of the Russian Revolution and a massive strike wave presented major problems for the ruling class and its political representatives (Tories and Liberals) in Parliament.



