PCS general secretary FRAN HEATHCOTE explains why opposing war is inseparable from defending jobs, wages and public services – and why readers should come to the London Peace Conference on Saturday June 20

As protests erupt over Henry Nowak’s murder, ANDREW MURRAY argues that anger is being exploited to advance a wider racist and anti-immigration agenda

CARLOS MARTINEZ explains the sound case for car manufacturing co-operation with China

Claudia Webbe pays tribute tribute to KANYA KING CBE, February 12 1964 to June 3 2026

The National Emergency Briefing outlines the need for urgent action to address environmental crisis, says PAUL DONOVAN, warning that there’s no time to indulge the arguments of the fossil-fuel-funded climate-change deniers

The Committee for the Defence of Iranian People’s Rights warns of escalation danger in Iran war

Campaigners say criticism of Labour MP Stephen Morgan’s position on Gaza has been met with police intervention and cancelled opportunities for debate. HESTER WOLFE reports

Trade unionists from Liverpool and Greater Manchester travelled to Bologna and the Monte Sole region to find out about the struggle against fascism and Nazi occupation. ROB MacDONALD reports

Behind the headlines on immigration lies a workforce delivering vital care across Scotland and beyond. FAVOUR DAVIDKING explains why reform of the sponsorship system is urgently needed

Campaigners from across the continent will gather in Brussels on June 14 to oppose Europe’s accelerating militarisation and cuts to public services, write MAGGIE SIMPSON and BOB ORAM of No Cold War Britain

The Milburn review presents itself as a plan to help young people into work, but Dr DYLAN MURPHY argues it is laying the groundwork for a harsher benefits regime

The ITUC has warned that a decline in labour rights is threatening democracy, writes MARK GRUENBERG

Statement from the Communist Party of Britain

Carrots often seen as a tricky vegetable to grow, but a few simple strategies can make all the difference, says MAT COWARD

The Ivors Academy’s hike in entry fees could turn this respected peer-assessed event into an exclusive preserve for those wealthy enough to compete, warns BEN LUNN

National co-ordinator for General Strike 100, HENRY FOWLER, continues his nationwide tour of partner organisations by visiting the Modern Records Centre at Warwick University

While recent trade union growth figures are welcome, in order to sustain and deepen this trend, we need a return class-conscious organising, argues NATHAN HENNEBRY

Peter Murrell’s weakness for the allure of prestige goods is symptomatic of modern consumer culture, says MATT KERR

GEOFF BOTTOMS recalls meeting Fidel Castro in the ’90s after joining a Pastors for Peace caravan to Cuba, and reflects on how international support is still vital to help the island withstand economic warfare

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

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

Special report by PEOPLE’S WORLD

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

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

VIJAY PRASHAD examines the desperate actions and violent actions of Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir

RAMZY BAROUD decries the rats of Gaza, the rodent and human type. Both abound as profiteering from tragedy reaches obscene levels

When gas company bosses gorged on assets, the GMB union fought back with the help of a 20-stone saddleback sow. MAT COWARD tells the story

Born on this day in 1931, the heroic revolutionary faces a dangerous new wave of White House aggression. We must treat his birthday as a rallying cry to resist the illegal siege of Cuba, writes ROGER McKENZIE

New workplace rights are welcome, but the survival of the trade union movement will be determined not in Westminster but in workplaces across the country, argues JOHN CARSON

ROGER McKENZIE highlights how health workers in DRC are struggling to contain a deadly Ebola outbreak in a region already suffering conflict, aid cuts and a legacy of imperialist degradation

Associate Professor BUI QUANG TUAN explains how modernisation and growth are helping to unlock new foreign investment in the Vietnamese economy

JOHN REES looks at why the June 20 international anti-war conference is such a vital initiative

A remarkable excavation in the Netherlands has raised hopes of locating the grave of Louis XIV’s famed captain of the King’s Musketeers. JOHN CALLOW introduces the real figure behind the hero of Dumas’s novels

Even after the disaster of the Iraq war, Blair remains a persistent voice for military intervention, says STEPHEN ARNELL

By helping drive through a historic reduction in working hours, Brazil’s president has reconnected with organised labour in a way that the European left would do well to note, says SARA VIVACQUA

KENNY MacASKILL looks at the depth of the corruption tolerated within the Scottish National Party and the efforts to keep it from public scrutiny

Esmond Romilly horrified Britain’s Establishment by turning from privileged schoolboy to anti-fascist fighter, writes MAT COWARD

The Morning Star’s AGM tour comes at a critical moment for both the British left and the newspaper itself, as it battles political fragmentation and media industry upheaval. Editor BEN CHACKO issues a clarion call to readers to play their part in the coming period

Nearly two decades after leaving office, the former PM is still trumpeting the same futile militarism and failed free market dogmas. The question naturally arises: why does anyone still listen to him, says ANDREW MURRAY

DIANE ABBOTT debunks claims made politicians drumming up support for an enhanced militarisation of the British economy

Very modest growth in membership serves to underline the need for a change of recruiting strategies, posits NIGEL FLANAGAN

The growing argument that welfare must be sacrificed for ‘security’ is built on nothing but myth, argues MICHAEL BURKE

FRANCISCO DOMINGUEZ and ROGER D HARRIS highlight how the priority for internationalists should be defending Venezuela’s government against external aggression

The Greater Manchester mayor has shifted left over the years — but his record still shows a tendency to wobble when pressure comes from the right, says SOLOMON HUGHES

DAVID RABY charts the ever increasing US attempts at intervention in Mexico’s internal affairs

RAMZY BAROUD explains why Israel’s political collapse cannot be separated from its war crimes

The real ‘humanitarian threat’ isn’t Cuba but the United States, where poverty, lack of healthcare and illiteracy abound, writes LINDA PENTZ GUNTER

ROGER McKENZIE draws attention to the much-neglected oral traditions of the global South that define the identity – and therefore the liberation – of its custodians

Established as a landmark victory for the climate movement, the CCC promised to hold governments to account. Today, it is understating the danger of climate chaos and impeding the radical action needed, says IAN SINCLAIR

Labour movement history in Britain shows workers secured reforms through collective pressure and political representation, rather than being gifted from above, writes KEITH FLETT

CLAUDIA WEBBE looks at how Britain’s Nato ally has upped the stakes in its effort to silence domestic dissenting voices

The US president’s adventurism in Iran began as a display of overwhelming force but has swiftly become a lesson in over-reach, says ANDREW MURRAY

Cuban ambassador to Britain ISMARA VARGAS WALTER speaks to Morning Star editor Ben Chacko about the desperate situation caused by the US siege and the growing risk of war

CAMERON HARRISON reports on the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists convention in Atlanta

MIKE SCOTT says we would be happier, healthier and richer as a country if we cut military spending and stopped cleaving to Washington

NATHAN HENNEBRY says the Scottish TUC rightly recognises the extreme disparities of wealth and power built into the system, but hasn’t linked austerity to the war drive causing it

The racist Republican tactic of redistricting to keep Trump and his base in power is turning the clock back to the 1950s, writes LINDA PENTZ GUNTER

Marx and Engels incorporated in their writings a critique of the way that capitalism destroys the environment but it is only in the last half century that environmental concerns have become an integral part of the fight for socialism, writes the Marx Memorial Library and Workers’ School

ROGER D HARRIS and SARA FLOUNDERS challenge propaganda against the blockaded socialist island

The HS2 debacle exposes what happens when public infrastructure is handed to private contractors – especially when set against China’s state-led high-speed rail success, says CARLOS MARTINEZ

With a political crisis engulfing the Labour Party, the case for PR is back on the agenda. TONY BURKE argues trade unions must now engage on changes to our voting system

YVETTE WILLIAMS and JOE DELANEY dissect the institutional dawdling that rubbed salt into the Grenfell open wounds prolonging the agony of survivors

A lifelong communist and community organiser, Pinder helped shape anti-racist and anti-colonial activism in Britain while dedicating himself to youth work and collective struggle, writes David Horsley

After battling hills, rain and injury in a three-day cycle ride ending at the CWU conference, MATT KERR reflects on why class unity remains the answer to injustice

Through marches, music, schools and political debate, campaigners in Tower Hamlets are using the 90th anniversary of Cable Street to inspire resistance to modern racism. GLYN ROBBINS explains

Decommissioned railway tracks have been ‘repossessed’ by nature with wild birds the prominent protagonists, writes MARK SEDDON

Ignorance of working-class history leaves working people open to deceptive narratives, demagogy and political manipulation, writes SAN SENIK

ROGER MCKENZIE recalls the one-in-a-generation communist leader murdered at the dawn of a new South Africa 33 years ago last April 10

HAZEL PRING and MAX DICKINSON introduce The Angry Summer Project, a fringe for the TUC Cymru Congress

Delegates rejected calls to disaffiliate after a passionate three-hour debate, while warning the Labour leadership that working-class members demand change

TUC Cymru’s programme offers a potential roadmap for co-operation between Labour and Plaid Cymru on jobs, services and economic democracy, says DAI MORGAN

Western accounts portray the Stasi as an agent of repression, but behind the stereotype, many East German security officers saw themselves as defenders of an anti-fascist socialist project under constant attack from the West, argues NICK WRIGHT

JENNY CLEGG looks at the key points that defined the China-US relationship, for now

HOLLY TURNER, DR EMMA RUNSWICK, JORDAN RIVERA and PAULA DUNNE reflect on their joint union fringe meeting at this week’s Royal College of Nursing Congress in Liverpool

This week the Welsh trade union movement comes together in Llandudno for TUC Cymru congress to debate motions and consider priorities for the next two years. JESS TURNER sets the stage

Blocked fertiliser exports and an extreme climate fluctuation may spell disaster for global food production, write ROX MIDDLETON, LIAM SHAW and MIRIAM GAUNTLETT

The 1797 slaughter of protesters and bystanders in Tranent exposed the brutality of the British state during a period of democratic repression, says KENNY MacASKILL

Trump’s drive for ‘regime change’ in Cuba has deepened the crisis across the island – while Venezuela has reaffirmed its commitment to Bolivarian solidarity, says FRANCISCO DOMINGUEZ

Unity and solidarity remain the key to defending workers, strengthening democracy and shaping a fairer Wales, write JULIE COOK and LINSEY IMMS

The ghosts of Custer’s doomed campaign haunt a modern America still devoted to waging imperialist war, says STEPHEN ARNELL

The Employment Rights Act marks a major victory for workers, but without stronger enforcement and collective organisation, its promises may fall short, says ALICE BOWMAN

Election of a new leadership at Hadash’s convention signals a renewed effort to forge a broad Arab-Jewish alliance in Israel, says AMNON BROWNFIELD STEIN

DAVE CALFE, general secretary of Aslef, the train drivers’ trade union, writes exclusively for the Morning Star as the union’s five-day annual conference opens in Birmingham

HENRY FOWLER, national co-ordinator for General Strike 100, continued his nationwide tour of partner organisations by joining campaigners and trade unionists in Brighton for the unveiling of a new blue plaque and a full day of commemorative events marking the centenary of the ‘Battle of Lewes Road’

If Labour continues to abandon the promise of economic hope and security, Reform will keep filling the vacuum in communities once considered its heartlands, argues IAN LAVERY MP

The FBU leader speaks to Ben Chacko about cuts, collapsing Starmerism and confronting the far right

The collapse of Streeting’s leadership challenge and an opening for Burnham’s potential path back to Parliament have accelerated the battle over what – if anything – Labour still stands for, writes ANDREW MURRAY

Salty fingers are a MAT COWARD staple and he believes they might be yours too

ANSELM ELDERGILL examines the relationship between law and the humanities

Beijing’s latest response to Washington’s economic coercion suggests major powers are no longer willing to play by Western rules, says CARLOS MARTINEZ

As debate grows inside the labour movement over how to respond to Reform UK, DIANE ABBOTT argues that silence on racism is politically disastrous

ANDREW DRAPER reports on the deliberate targeting and torture of Palestinian journalists by the Israeli state

Transparency records reveal senior trade officials held dinners and strategy meetings with the notorious lobbying firm even as controversy over its Epstein links deepened, says SOLOMON HUGHES

KEITH FLETT looks at a post-election London

What began as a purported ‘anti-drugs mission’ has evolved into a permanent regional military operation, write ROGER D HARRIS and JOHN PERRY 

Starmer promised a reset after Labour’s dire electoral performance, but the government’s programme still falls far short of the bold action needed, says ANDY McDONALD MP

Author Michael Rosen asked people how we confront a takeover by Reform. The Labour Party would do well to listen to the answers rather than shuffle more deckchairs on the Titanic, writes LINDA PENTZ GUNTER

ROGER McKENZIE looks at how ancient traditions practiced today can be the cornerstone of anti-imperialism in Africa

Mehmet Turkmen, president of Birtek-Sen, has been cleared of criminal charges after speaking out against the high rate of workplace injuries and deaths in Gaziantep’s textile and carpet industry. OZLEM TEMENA reports

The Starmer project is going up in smoke – but if the left cannot swiftly build a viable alternative, the country faces the grim reality of a hard-right takeover, says ANDREW MURRAY

The Met Police's refusal to act against British nationals accused of war crimes in Gaza is a green light for Israel's genocide, writes CLAUDIA WEBBE

POA general secretary STEVE GILLAN argues that while Labour’s 2025 Act was a step forward, a second wave of legislation is vital to restore the fundamental right to strike and end the exploitation of prison officers

FRED BAYER says the cuts to the congress cycle could be disastrous for the Scottish trade union movement

Over 100,000 people are expected on Brussels’s streets today. Ben Chacko speaks to Belgian Workers Party’s PETER MERTENS on wage and pensions attacks that have united the fightback

Scottish Labour's leaders cannot keep blaming Westminster for the collapse at the ballot box, says VINCE MILLS

Over 30 years since apartheid was abolished, nasty anti-migrant rhetoric sweeps the corporate media. The Commnunist Party is ready to fight back, says ROGER McKENZIE

Western Marxism is a particular version of Marxist theory developed in – and acceptable to – the capitalist nations of Europe and North America and largely divorced from political action, argues the MARX MEMORIAL LIBRARY

The new Scottish Parliament looks set to continue a cycle of managerial tinkering while public services face the axe, writes STEPHEN LOW

Berlin’s Soviet war memorials are becoming the latest front in a political struggle to ‘de-Sovietise’ German history. NICO POPP reports

On a tumultuous day in Welsh politics DAVID NICHOLSON looks at the key issues for progressives in Wales to grapple with the rise of the far right

Capturing the general strikes history is a vital part of our struggles today, posits HENRY FOWLER

ALAN SIMPSON says responses to the Golders Green attacks risk deepening divides across our country

Newly revealed documents reveal that MI5 taught Brazilian secret police the techniques deployed by the 1964-85 military dictatorship in horrific prisons like Rio de Janeiro’s House of Death. SARA VIVACQUA reports

It can be hard to discern conspiracy theory from reality and under the Trump regime the two might just be the same thing, writes Linda Pentz Gunter

CHRISTOPHE DOMEC speaks to the France Insoumise politician facing constant persecution from French authorities

State machinery was widely employed to secure favourable outcomes in India’s recent regional elections against three progressive regional governments who dared to challenge Narendra Modi, asserts VIJAY PRASHAD

KENNY MacASKILL remembers the woman who first translated The Communist Manifesto into English

It is too early to assume a US defeat in Iran — we must prepare for a long anti-war struggle, argues JOHN ROSS

ROGER McKENZIE says the ANC needs to respect South Africa’s Communists and their decision to stand independently at elections

Years of underfunding are eroding Scotland’s local services and deepening inequality in communities, says VINCE MILLS

The election offers a critical chance to shape the future of pay, care and community provision in Wales, says Unison’s JESS TURNER

As antisemitism grows, the labour movement must recommit to defence of minorities while navigating the complexities of Gaza and global politics, argues NICK WRIGHT

As Scotland heads to the polls, the main parties offer variations on the same script, says MATT KERR

When a computer program can outperform your human doctor, should you switch, ask ROX MIDDLETON, LIAM SHAW and MIRIAM GAUNTLETT

When only wealthier families can afford nursery, childcare becomes a class divide - financially and developmentally. REBECCA CARTER reports

David Nicholson spoke to BETH WINTER about her bid to become a Senedd member as an independent running on a community grassroots campaign

Disabled tenant RUTH HUNT found herself evicted by her landlord of 10 years after asking for repairs. She explains why the end of no-fault evictions is cause for celebration

Can the unity built between the Camden People’s Alliance and the Green Party make an electoral breakthrough on the PM’s home territory this week? ANDREW MURRAY talks to some of those involved

Plaid Cymru’s Caerffili by-election win raised hopes on the left — but the complex realities of Wales suggest the Senedd election may be far less predictable, argues CATRIN ASHTON

Politicians must seize the opportunity to act boldly and tackle land inequality, delivering power to local communities, writes Dr JOSH DOBLE

Banner-maker JEANNIE HARRISON explains how the Oxford Trades Council banner commemorating the General Strike centenary came into being and what it symbolises

MARY DAVIS reviews a concise history highlighting the strength of rank-and-file action and the limits of trade union leadership in Britain’s greatest industrial conflict

HENRY FOWLER, General Strike 100 national co-ordinator, continued his nationwide tour of partner organisations, joining the National Day of Celebration in Barnsley. The event was organised by Unite for a Workers Economy (Unite the Union), the Durham Miners Association, and the National Union of Mineworkers

Communist Party of Britain general secretary ALEX GORDON speaks to Ben Chacko about the coming economic storm, the relentless drive to war and the prospects of fighting back

The General Strike exposed the power of the working class — and the limits of its leadership, writes Dr DYLAN MURPHY

ADRIAN WEIR charts the intercontinental trade union solidarity with Cuba and its desperate predicament

A new strategy from the Together Alliance links the fight against racism to the wider struggle over austerity and inequality, says BILL GREENSHIELDS

Linking the General Strike 1926 to the struggles of workers today. General Strike 100 national co-ordinator HENRY FOWLER reflects on his recent visit to the Bristol Radical History Festival

LYNNE WALSH reports from the Bristol Radical History Festival, where the defiant tradition of resistance shaped by ordinary people was centre stage

A new wave of austerity is being prepared, and it’s workers who will be expected to pay for it, warns MICHAEL BURKE

DIANE ABBOTT looks at the perilous political cul-de-sac Labour finds itself in

DAVE WARD says the Employment Rights Act can be a platform to build back union power — but only if we can agree a common agenda

JACK YOUD explains how Salford City Council has taken on rogue landlords and won, setting an example to the rest of the country

The life of a modest Norfolk organiser contrasts with the dramatic rise and disappearance of a controversial figure in US labour, says MARK SEDDON

Aslef general secretary DAVE CALFE looks at how rail workers and miners stood together against wage cuts 100 years ago – and why the legacy of collective action endures today

As Africa’s progressives aim to consolidate its anti-colonial programme, VIJAY PRASHAD reports on the US getting a military foothold in Ghana

A new Solidarity Fund promises a more accessible way to support strikers, says SARAH WOOLLEY

Gavin O’Toole talks to anti-racism researcher HARRY SHUKMAN about the rise of the far right

Community members have begun carving cobbles for a future memorial to Sunderland International Brigaders. JULIO ROMERO reports on this growing city project

Inspectors have uncovered systemic failures at a Tory-linked institution in London, where students pay thousands but standards are undermined. SOLOMON HUGHES reports

The former Nato chief stirred up dark historical undercurrents with his call to cut welfare for military spending, says SOLOMON HUGHES

KERRY FLECK explains how the annual event unites thousands in a celebration of workers’ power, culture and collective resistance

ANN HENDERSON, of the FiLiA Trade Union Women’s Network, highlights the need for workplace action on stress, asbestos and sexual harassment — and more women leading on safety

The route to liberation does not lie in waiting for allies or chasing representation for its own sake – it requires consistent political strategy and collective struggle, writes ROGER McKENZIE

Global conflict and a gas-linked pricing system are driving up costs, despite a welcome shift towards renewables, explains MURAD QURESHI

From HMP Bronzefield, Palestine Action activist AMU GIB talks to Andrew Murray about why they are standing in local elections in north London, and the need to amplify voices that are often unheard

Welsh Labour leader ELUNED MORGAN explains how a vote for the party will deliver the progress and continuity the country needs on manufacturing, renewables, creative industries and more

JOANNE THOMAS welcomes the Employment Rights Act as an instrument for the much-needed revitalisation of trade union membership and activism

Studying the works of Karl Marx is a necessity if we are to fully comprehend the crises that surround us, says MATT WILLGRESS ahead of a Marx Matters event this weekend

The party’s internal enforcer built his sinister influence in the shadows – but nemesis now appears to be at hand, says ANDREW MURRAY

Britain’s housing crisis is no accident but a political choice, says CLAUDIA WEBBE

On May 4, the MML opens its doors to marchers and visitors alike, celebrating a living tradition of working-class struggle. MEIRIAN JUMP invites readers to come along and explore the building and its collections

JOANNE THOMAS argues that unions’ political voice remains vital to winning stronger rights and protections for working people

As STUC Congress moves to a biennial format, TOM MORRISON warns of concerns over shrinking lay power

On Workers Memorial Day, EDDIE DEMPSEY calls for immediate action on our railways to make the network safer for all

Usdaw is working hard alongside its members to smash down barrriers facing neurodivergent workers, writes Joanne Thomas 

Nearly a century ago several hundred young workers went on a ramble in a mighty show of solidarity for public access to land, says WILL from YCL Yorkshire & East Midlands

Karl Marx’s Capital remains one of the most influential works of social science ever written and is much more than merely an historical document, repaying study today, writes the MARX MEMORIAL LIBRARY and Workers’ School.

There is no justification for spending colossal amounts of money on so-called defence — sacrificing our education, health and transport while they’re at it, says BERT SCHOUWENBURG

On the eve of the Communist Party of Ireland’s 27th congress JIMMY CORCORAN reiterates the principles that guided James Connolly

GEOFFREY BELL looks at the curiously unsupportive stance of British progressives of the Easter Rising

JOHN REES replies to Claudia Webbe

Why a defeat of the miners still haunts Britain’s rulers, says PHIL KATZ

But that’s OK, says MATT KERR, as talking is what will help us get things done

Volunteers have helped revive a pool steeped in England’s rural past and now bursting with life. MARK SEDDON takes a look

JAMES CROSSLEY enjoys a new book uncovering the life and legacy of Dona Torr, whose intellectual leadership shaped a generation of Communist historians

On the 110th anniversary of the Easter Rising, Ireland stands at another historic crossroads, writes DECLAN KEARNEY of Sinn Fein

This year marks the 110th anniversary of the 1916 Easter Rising. TOM GALLAHUE and ROBERT POOLE from Educators for a United Ireland discuss the role played by the Irish diaspora, and why the Rising remains relevant today

A row over Trotskyist factions exposes competing visions of organisation inside Your Party and the wider left, argues NICK WRIGHT

RHUN AP IORWERTH outlines Plaid Cymru’s immediate and medium-term policy goals

ANDREA BRADLEY highlights how a City of Glasgow College health and safety dispute is the subject of an STUC Congress emergency motion

A growing coalition, Cymru Together, is challenging traditional politics – calling for practical plans that connect climate action with economic justice, writes BETHAN SAYED

ROX MIDDLETON, LIAM SHAW and MIRIAM GAUNTLETT delve into the strange, active – and sometimes predatory – world of plants

While politicians fixate on defence budgets, the real answers lie in peace-building and economic justice, says ALAN SIMPSON

Speakers at the Morning Star’s recent conference highlighted historic and present-day activism while challenging far-right narratives and calling for solidarity with abuse survivors. LYNNE WALSH reports

CND and the Stop the War Coalition are calling for a mass protest this Saturday to end British complicity in illegal US strikes at RAF Fairford. SOPHIE BOLT explains

Labour government must urgently start to implement the policies on which it got elected, or it will face curtains, writes BRIAN LEISHMAN MP

Rising discontent is fuelling Reform UK’s advance ahead of crucial polls next month, but behind the insurgent branding lies an agenda of more cuts and austerity, says RUBY GIBSON

The labour movement must challenge the endless austerity narrative — and Unity Consulting will play its part to complement the work already being done by trade unions

A recent Union Street blaze showed firefighters at their best, but years of underfunding and job losses are stretching the service to its limits, writes JOHN McKENZIE

Dangerous conditions and political inaction still define the salmon industry, where BFAWU is pressing hard for change, says SARAH WOOLLEY

As the STUC gathers in an election year, the message to politicians is clear – continuing managed decline is unacceptable to Scotland’s workers, says ROZ FOYER

Concrete proposals are needed to bring about full integration of the rail system, with real protections for workers and an end to private operators, argues EDDIE DEMPSEY

Inspired by Ireland’s success, Equity urges all parties to support a basic income for artists that could unlock talent and boost the economy, says MARLENE CURRAN

A major new report highlights the the dire state of our prison system – and demands urgent action from government, explains PHIL FAIRLIE

Blending history, film and debate, the Bristol Radical History Festival will shine a light on class and resistance next weekend. LYNNE WALSH previews what’s on offer

The Pontiff has expressed outspoken opposition to war and ‘inhuman’ policies on immigration, undermining the president’s credibility among both allies and supporters alike, says GEOFF BOTTOMS

Israel’s bombardment of Lebanon is just the latest of its recurring cycles of aggression in the region, says VIJAY PRASHAD

Outsourcing is at the heart of inequality. Only collective unity in the trade union movement can topple the Establishment’s obsession with it, says SAM GURNEY

DIANE ABBOTT looks at how a declining US has resorted to globalised violence to salvage any vestiges of political and economic hegemony

By Henry Fowler, co-founder of Strike Map

By signing strategic defence agreements with Ukraine, the German government has reached a new dimension of war involvement, says SEVIM DAGDELEN

The British outsourcing giant quietly deleted mention of training US immigration agents after killings in Minneapolis intensified scrutiny of its controversial contracts. SOLOMON HUGHES reports

Bezalel Smotrich’s measures to extend Israeli property law into the West Bank are a continuation of a decades-long project to dispossess Palestinians and preclude statehood, argues HUGH LANNING 

Your Party’s new membership rules pose a deeper question about socialist organisation: should a party lead the working class, or be led by it, says CLAUDIA WEBBE

As war engulfs Iran, many expected China to step in as a rising superpower. Instead, Beijing has chosen diplomacy over confrontation – revealing a very different vision of global leadership, argues JENNY CLEGG

Mass strikes over cost-of-living protections have escalated into a broader confrontation over democracy, after the government moved to impose a pay freeze by decree, writes KIVANC ELIACIK

Born from exclusion and resistance, black British art has carved out creative space to tell untold stories and challenge racism, says ROGER McKENZIE

Israel's brutality in Lebanon, combined with efforts to draw the Lebanese government into negotiations, are part of a strategy to delegitimise resistance to occupation and apartheid, argues RAMZY BAROUD

KEITH FLETT looks at the state’s efforts to limit protest rights from the 19th century to today’s repression of the Palestine movement

The government has few aces up its sleeve when it comes to managing popular anger, argues ANDREW MURRAY

Cuts are sweeping campuses as cash-strapped universities slash staff and politicians fail to act on a growing funding emergency. VINCE MILLS reports

The new BBC director-general now faces a test of public scrutiny, with his record at McKinsey and lack of newsroom experience under the spotlight, says STEPHEN ARNELL

From Vietnam to Iran, US leaders repeat a failed strategy of terror bombing – one that history shows cannot break a determined, resilient society, says DYLAN MURPHY