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
How to provoke a bread riot
MAT COWARD tells the story of how rising food prices in 1800 sparked six days of protests at the Corn Exchange, as Londoners demanded affordable food and challenged mind-bogglingly stupid government policies about bread
The Corn Exchange 1808
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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
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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
THE ruling class — every ruling class, everywhere and everywhen — fears little else the way it fears rising food prices. People will put up with a lot, but when they can’t afford to eat, they do tend to set fire to things. Food riots can end regimes.
At the turn of the 18th into the 19th century, the price of bread in Britain reached historic highs. This was in a time when bread made up by far the greatest part of most people’s diets and used up most of their income. The consequent desperation of the population led to Parliament passing the Stale Bread Act and the Brown Bread Act — as well as to a superbly literate riot in the City of London.
The hunger protests reached the capital during the night of September 13-14 1800, which was Saturday into Sunday, when unknown hands attached placards to the Monument reading:
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