Fownhope’s Heart of Oak Society traces its roots to the age of friendly societies, when communities provided their own safety net. Its anniversary celebrations reveal a tradition still very much alive, says MARK SEDDON
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The woman who paved the way for anti-sexual harassment law
BERNADETTE HYLAND introduces Audrey White, shop worker and TGWU member, whose picketing over male harassment led to the creation of rights we enjoy today
ANGUS REID explains the significance of Cuba’s egalitarian in letter and spirit Family Code and the pertinent lessons it holds for democracies anywhere in the world
Special report by PEOPLE’S WORLD
NICK WRIGHT considers how the isolation of Israel and a new film on the controversial Italian communist leader are creating new reference points for Italy’s left
CARLOS MARTINEZ says Cuba’s achievements in the face of a criminal blockade are startling, but the island’s future if the United States succeeds in crushing it looks bleak
AMNON BROWNFIELD STEIN reports that far-right MPs who mobbed the event organised by Hadash may have helped raise awareness of the brutality of the Israeli right
MOST accounts of trade union struggles in the 1980s are dominated by the miners’ strike, but a dispute took place in 1983 which has been largely forgotten. It was a victory for one woman, her union and the many people who stood in solidarity with her on the picket line outside the Lady at Lord John women’s clothes shop in Liverpool city centre.
Central to the dispute was Audrey White, the shop manager, who had a political background rooted in the Labour Party, and was the only person in her workplace who was a member of a trade union, the Transport and General Workers Union.
What started out for White as a complaint by her female shop assistants about the behaviour of a drunk male manager in the shop led to her becoming a national figure campaigning against what became known as sexual harassment at work.
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JOHN LANG recalls how Murdoch used scabbing electricians and even devised a fake newspaper to force a confrontation with printers – then sacked them all
RON JACOBS welcomes a timely homage to one of the IWW and CPUSA’s most effective orators
