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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Was the Revolution planned in London?
PETER FROST takes us back 110 years to London, where Russian exiles sow the seeds of October 1917
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
ONE hundred and ten years ago, in 1907, if Nigel Farage had been alive and walking through parts of East London he would have undoubtedly whined about the lack of English being spoken.
He would have heard Russian, German, Yiddish, Latvian, Lithuanian and many other tongues in the streets, cafes and pubs. A glance at the newspapers — just as right-wing and inaccurate as our media is these days — would have explained what this band of dastardly foreigners were up to.
Screaming headlines declared them to be not just revolutionaries, communists, anarchists, terrorists, even nihilists; but also arsonists, bombers and murderers.
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From hunting rare pamphlets at book sales to online panels and courses on trade unionism and class politics, the MML continues connecting archive treasures with the movements fighting for a better world, writes director MEIRIAN JUMP
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