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
Roger Sutton: a champion of workers who never let go of the banner
From anti-apartheid work to uniting migrant workers, Sutton showed us how to build worker power, keeping socialism’s flame burning bright, and leaving London’s mighty May Day parade as his legacy, writes Phil Katz
AMONG COMRADES: Roger Sutton (third from right) in Paris catching a ride on the TGV
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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
THE loss of Roger Sutton, a key officer of the Greater London Association of Trades Councils (GLATUC) for over 43 years is a profound one for the labour movement. An honest, highly cultured, disciplined, and committed organiser, Sutton was dedicated to worker organisation, filling roles few could replicate. Like William Morris, of whom it was said he did the work of five men, the same was true of Sutton.
Sutton was both charming and fierce — when advocating for workers, always fair and democratic in his approach. A private individual, he kept his family and activist lives separate, often misunderstood as secretive.
He neither smoked nor drank, rarely socialising in pubs after meetings, which was standard for labour activists from the 1970s to the 1990s. I feel honoured to have fought alongside him for so long, sharing many experiences both in union struggles here and in internationalist activity.
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