After years hidden away, Oldham’s memorial to six local volunteers who died fighting fascism in the Spanish civil war has been restored to public view, marking both a victory for campaigners and a renewed tribute to the town’s proud International Brigade heritage, says ROB HARGREAVES
INEVITABLY, following the defeat of the Corbyn project and the sense of loss of a coherent left, there is much analysis of the period we are in and how we can build a socialist project in what are very difficult circumstances for the left.
There is a similarity between the period we are going through and the early ’70s and arguably mid-80s that the left, Marxist and non-Marxist alike, should consider when trying to develop a successful strategy and tactics, not just to defeat this Tory government, but lay the foundations for a movement for real change in the nations and regions of the UK.
The contours of the similarities of those periods are clear enough — an economic crisis, an increasingly unpopular but aggressive Tory government, in a context of international tension and conflict.
The Home Secretary’s recent letter suggests the Labour government may finally deliver on its nine-year manifesto commitment, writes KATE FLANNERY, but we must move quickly: as recently as 2024 Northumbria police destroyed miners’ strike documents



