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
From WWI to today, Germans must resist the war agenda
The same vested interests have survived from over a century ago, now allied to the US but still hellbent on war with Russia, writes VICTOR GROSSMAN
A pro-Palestinian rally in Duesseldorf, November 4
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
AS they have just done, the US celebrates Veterans Day every November. Now all leading German parties also want such a “Veteranentag” to honour all those past patriots who wore uniforms, voluntarily or not, and certainly to inspire many more reluctant young men or women to put on boots and shoulder arms.
Not so many may recall that the earlier “Armistice Day” marked the end of World War I. Far fewer know that the kaiser’s abdication and total surrender were basically achieved on November 9 because German navy sailors, soldiers and shipyard workers, led by a communist machinist, joined in a mutiny and strike.
Their revolt even seemed headed toward a socialist revolution — but the leaders of the Social Democratic Party, who had buried all their principles in 1914 by voting for money for the kaiser’s war, to “patriotically save civilised Germany from those tyrannical Russians,” deflected or betrayed all hopes for a major change in 1918-21 with their secret deal with the top brass, who had led and lost the war, and with the profit-swollen but now frightened millionaires.
More from this author
In part two of May’s Berlin Bulletin, VICTOR GROSSMAN, having assessed the policies of the new government, looks at how the opposition is faring
In part one of his Berlin bulletin, VICTOR GROSSMAN assesses the economic and political difficulties facing the new Merz government — and a regrettable ruling-class consensus on the solutions
VICTOR GROSSMAN believes peace in Ukraine needs to come before anything else and abhors the EU's insane drive to keep the war going on
VICTOR GROSSMAN reports, with a little chuckle, on how US readiness to work with Russia, not just on peace for Ukraine, has thrown a spanner into the German electoral machine
