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 remarkable heritage of a leftie lord
MAT COWARD recalls the communist and pacifist aristocrat whose commitment made a difference in the Spanish civil war, the Blitz and WWII Europe
HIGHLY PRINCIPLED: (Left) Gavin Henderson, 2nd Baron Faringdon, November 1934; (right) Buscot Park, Oxfordshire where Communist Party branch meeting were held and Basque Civi War refugees found accomodation
[(L to R) Elliott & Fry Studio/CC - Daderot/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
WOULD you be awfully embarrassed to find yourself a member of the same secret communist cell as your own butler? I suppose it’s a situation very few of us will ever need to worry about, but allegedly this was an etiquette poser which Alexander Gavin Henderson, second Baron Faringdon, had to negotiate on a regular basis.
The story goes that Henderson’s butler was the local CP convener, while the baron himself was branch secretary. Meetings were held at Buscot Park, the ancestral pile; after serving dinner, the gentleman’s gentleman would take the liberty of discreetly reminding His Lordship that his presence was required in the library this evening.
Once the meeting began, Comrade Butler, in the chair, would instruct Comrade Henderson to read the minutes.
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