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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Across the generations: the overlooked history of how older women influenced their younger sisters
SELINA TODD reflects on how sisterhood across the decades, far from being ‘natural’ or ‘easy,’ is an incredible achievement that women have constructed for themselves
Women working in a stocking factory shortly after the end of World War II; and (right) two supporters of the Women’s Liberation Movement just before handing in a petition at 10 Downing Street demanding equal rights with men, 1971
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
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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
IN 2005 I published a book called Young Women, Work and Family in England, 1918-1950 which revealed the militant activism of young female workers.
I’ve been thinking about it recently because the ongoing pandemic has revived debate about what automation and digitisation will mean for the workers of the future.
It’s reminiscent of 1930s debates about the introduction of mechanised production lines. Most politicians and journalists confidently assumed that most workers were destined to become automatons by the 1960s.
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