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
Julian Assange and Tolpuddle: two great miscarriages of justice
HELEN MERCER explains the parallels between the two cases, and why the Committee to Defend Julian Assange will be at the festival this year
A sculpture called Anything To Say, which features life-sized bronze figures of whistleblowers (left-right) Edward Snowden, Julian Assange and Chelsea Manning, each standing on their own individual chair, is unveiled at Parliament Square, London, June 24, 2023
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
“Give me the freedom to think, to speak and to argue freely, according to conscience above all other liberties” — George Loveless, leader of the Tolpuddle Martyrs,1834.
“One of the best ways to achieve justice is to expose injustice” Julian Assange, imprisoned on remand in Belmarsh for over four years.
THE Tolpuddle Martyrs were trade unionists transported to Australia in 1834 for seeking higher wages. Julian Assange is an Australian journalist who faces imminent extradition from Britain to the US for publishing the truth about US war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan. At first sight, the two cases seem completely different.
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For Britain, direct military aid is just the tip of the iceberg compared to the spiralling energy crisis that has fueled inflation, driven millions into fuel poverty and inflated corporate profits, reveals HELEN MERCER
HELEN MERCER welcomes an account of how US labour leadership collaborated with the state and betrayed their membership
A look at the writing of war correspondent James Aldridge 40 years ago reminds us of the eastern perspective when a second front was finally opened on D-Day, 1944, says HELEN MERCER
HELEN MERCER casts an experienced eye over an ambitious exhibition that nevertheless contains painful gaps
