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 workers fought US slavery and earned Abraham Lincoln’s gratitude
PETER LAZENBY reports on how trade unionists in Manchester are to celebrate the role of the city’s cotton industry workers in the fight for the abolition of slavery in the US civil war
SOLIDARITY ACROSS THE POND: This Abraham Lincoln statue in Manchester was created by George Barnard, and is a replica
of one in Cincinnati, Ohio. It was presented by Charles Phelps Taft, the son of US president William Howard Taft.Some wit called it the “stomach ache statue” because of the placement of the hands
[Keith Edkins/CC] 
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
IN a little-known square behind Manchester Town Hall stands a statue of US president Abraham Lincoln.
Although it is hidden away, it represents a huge event in the radical history of Manchester — when thousands of workers supported an embargo of cotton during the US civil war, helping end slavery in the US but at a cost of idle mills and hunger to workers in Lancashire’s cotton industry.
Sunday is the anniversary of the date in 1863 when Lincoln wrote a letter to “the working men of Manchester” in acknowledgement of their support for the embargo of cotton from the southern Confederate states as the US civil war raged.
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