The Tories introduced the 50% strike ballot threshold to make industrial action harder. MATT WRACK argues that a Labour government has no justification for leaving it on the statute book
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Tumultuous times for the left in Europe
With the left coalition NUPES rapidly disintegrating in France and the formation of a new party led by Sahra Wagenknecht in Germany, it’s been a dramatic recent period for Europe’s progressive forces. NICK WRIGHT assesses the situation
Jean-Luc Melenchon of France Insoumise (left); Sahra Wagenknecht formerly of Die Linke (centre); and the French Communist Party’s Fabien Roussel (right)
In the wake of Ann Widdecombe’s murder, JOHN GREEN wonders whether the government will really get to grips with the root cause of these attacks on our MPs
The new PM’s opening addresses offered hope, council homes and reform — but little detail on how any of it will be delivered, warns CLAUDIA WEBBE
Despite the screeching from the right-wing media, Burnham’s speech chimed with the public mood - and socialists should take advantage, says Morning Star editor BEN CHACKO
Scotland's Labour leader cannot continue to evade responsibility for the party's decline, argues LAUREN HARPER
Nature as well as society works dialectically, asserts the Marx Memorial Library and Workers’ School
LAST weekend saw big upsets on the left in France and Germany. The economic crisis that goes with Europe’s submission to the US strategy of tension with Russia — with its openly proclaimed objective of limiting Chinese influence — expresses itself in a political crisis that has inevitably drawn in the left.
In France the political status of Marine Le Pen and the Rassemblement National (RN) is enhanced, with a poll conducted last month that revealed her as the second-most popular politician in the country.
The poll, commissioned by Liberation, showed RN at 20 per cent, ahead of Emmanuel Macron’s party Renaissance on 15 per cent, with the left alliance, NUPES, led by Jean Luc Melenchon on 14 per cent. The remnants of Gaullism in Les Republicains were at 13 per cent.
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