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
‘Where’s the money coming from’?
Labour’s fiscal policy is already in trouble. But simply printing money is not a solution, says the Marx Memorial Library and Workers School
MONEY TALKS: A general view of City workers on Bank Street at Canary Wharf, London, 2007
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
CANVASSING for Jeremy Corbyn in 2017 a constant question was “Where’s the money coming from?”
One answer could be British money — sterling — a “hard” currency, “hard” because it can be used for trade across the globe, between every country with other “tough guy” currencies. Top of the list for total world foreign exchange reserves is the US dollar, with 57 per cent, the euro at 20 per cent, Japanese yen 5.81 per cent is no 3, sterling is no 4 with £588 billion 5.81 per cent. While movements in the value of hard currencies occur constantly, over time, they are mainly stable.
But money can itself fall victim to crises. In the US between 1980 and 1994 such crises were caused by excess land and house loans, speculation and poor underwriting. Well over 2,000 US banks bailed out or folded. Key to survival was the strength of the dollar and piles of “new greenbacks” with, crucially, political support from the US state.
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VINCE MILLS reflects on the Scottish independence referendum of 2014 which took place in a period of austerity following the great banking crash of 2007-08 and with deindustrialisation in full swing – a context of relevance today
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The ‘degrowth’ debate raises critical issues to which only a Marxist approach can provide answers, argues the Marx Memorial Library