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 day after Jeremy Corbyn’s speech at Labour conference the Financial Times ran an editorial headlined “Corbyn’s Labour cannot be trusted to govern.”
This was not mainly voting guidance for big city investors, it was more a declaration of war. With the spectre of a Corbyn government haunting the British political scene, it is a major worry how little discussion there is on the left about the kind of kickback to expect if a Corbyn government gets elected.
Such complacency is nothing new. Britain has long self-presented as the cradle of democracy and the home of gradualism, compromise and the small, neutral state. Up to now much of the British left has bought this story and embraced gradual change through the institutions.

As US hegemony crumbles and Trump becomes ever more unpredictable, European powers cling to the pact’s militarist agenda in a bid to disguise their own increasing irrelevance, writes CHRIS NINEHAM


