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
We choose to stay and we choose to fight
While VINCE MILLS laments the resignation of Neil Findlay from Scottish Labour, he explains why he won’t be joining him outside the party in the ongoing struggle for a socialist future
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
THERE IS no escaping it, Neil Findlay’s decision to leave the Labour Party on March 19 was a heavy blow for the Scottish Labour left. As reported in the Morning Star, his resignation letter was a stinging rebuke to the Labour Party leadership, citing the lengthening list of heartless decisions they have made in order advance the interests of corporate capital at the expense of the most vulnerable sections of the working class, with more to come.
More of that later, but can I first express my thanks to Neil, as a comrade and a friend for the important contribution he made to the left of Scottish politics in general and to the left of the Scottish Labour Party in particular.
His decision to stand for the leadership of the Scottish Labour Party against Jim Murphy in 2014, something he undertook only to advance the case of the left, was brave and unselfish. It allowed him to argue that the Scottish Labour Party with him as leader would have raised the minimum wage; accelerate council housebuilding; reduce the presence of the private sector in the NHS and give councils power to raise the revenue necessary to make a real impact in their localities.
More from this author
VINCE MILLS cautions over the perils and pitfalls of ‘a new left party’
VINCE MILLS says politicians of various parties are interpreting the result in self-serving ways, but it contains little comfort for the left
VINCE MILLS gathers some sobering facts that would inevitably be major obstacles to any such initiative
That Scotland was an active participant and beneficiary of colonialism and slavery is not a question of blame games and guilt peddling, but a crucial fact assessing the class nature of the questions of devolution and independence, writes VINCE MILLS
