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 political economy of trade: a crucial issue for the left
Global South governments’ sovereignty and ability to decide future economic policy are severely compromised by signing free trade agreements, whose terms are heavily weighted in favour of the already wealthy countries of the global North, writes BERT SCHOUWENBURG
A rally demanding changes to the Trump administration’s revised North American Free Trade Agreement at the House Triangle in Washington DC, 2017
[Sally King/Public Citizen/Creative Commons] 
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
ON NOVEMBER 26, the Morning Star editorial suggested that we should follow the century-old nostrum of German economist, Rudolf Hilferding in avoiding the “bourgeois dilemma” of protectionism or free trade and concentrate instead on building a socialist society.
Whether or not they knew anything of Hilferding’s writings, the Zapatista Liberation Army in the Mexican state of Chiapas had different ideas when they launched an armed insurrection on January 1 1994 to coincide with the commencement of Nafta, the North American Free Trade Agreement, promulgated between the governments of the US, Canada and Mexico.
The Zapatistas predicted that a tri-country agreement completely liberalising trade in goods and services spelt disaster for them and the rural working class, and they were not wrong. Mexican farmers had no hope of competing with subsidised products from north of the border and 1.3 million agricultural jobs were lost. In a country where corn (maize) is not merely a crop, but a deep cultural symbol tied to daily life, the effect of Nafta was catastrophic.
More from this author
We must remember Morocco’s land grab of the Sahrawi people’s territory continues with French and British support, writes BERT SCHOUWENBURG, looking into the origins of the annexation
Cristina Kirchner’s imprisonment follows a familiar pattern across Latin America, where courts silence popular leaders — but massive street protests in her support might make this move an Establishment own goal, writes BERT SCHOUWENBURG
With turnout plummeting and faith in Parliament collapsing, BERT SCHOUWENBURG explains how radical local government reform — including devolved taxation and removal of party politics from town halls — could restore power to communities currently ignored by profit-obsessed MPs
After brutal police crackdowns on pensioners and the forced approval of secret IMF deals, trade unions are finally responding to grassroots pressure and fighting back against savage neoliberal reforms, reports BERT SCHOUWENBURG
