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
Why Scotland needs public ownership
Just because Labour lost the election does not mean the Scottish labour movement can afford not to fight for its agenda of nationalisation, writes JOHN FOSTER
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
JOBS continue to be lost across Scotland. Within the last six months Cummings has announced the closure of its engine works in Cumbernauld and Devro has shut its manufacturing plant in Bellshill. In the banking sector the Bank of Scotland has announced a further 15 branch closures, Virgin Money seven and TSB seventeen. BiFab is reducing its three Scottish sites to a care and maintenance basis and IBM has put its 49 East Kilbride IT staff, contracted to Scottish Power, on notice.
All these firms have one thing in common. They are owned and controlled from outside Scotland. Twenty years ago at least some were still run from within Scotland: Devro, Bank of Scotland, Scottish Power.
Last year also saw the much more high-profile closure of the historic Caley rail workshops in Springburn. At that point the firm was ultimately owned by a German holding company, Mutares, that specialises in what is described as “equity engineering.” This is not engineering as you or I know it. It is about “engineering” firms — buying them, stripping assets, merging, concentrating and if possible securing monopoly niches for particular products.
More from this author
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
JOHN FOSTER examines how the late SNP leader shifted the party leftwards and upwards, bringing Scottish independence to the forefront while fundamentally failing to address deeper issues of class and corporate capture
Ahead of a TUC special Congress next weekend to fight Conservative anti-strike laws, JOHN FOSTER looks back to 1969 and 1972 when similar proposals were defeated through class solidarity and painstaking organising work
JOHN FOSTER recommends the down-to-earth realism of a political memoir that navigates the surreality of Scottish politics
