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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Standing up to anti-communism in Poland and worldwide
TOMASZ NOWAK of the London Young Communist League warns the growth of reactionary ideologies and political policing in eastern Europe cannot be seen in isolation
Young Communist League London protests in support of the KPP alongside members of the Greek KNE outside of the embassy of the Republic of Poland. In Manchester, the YCL protested outside the city’s Polish consulate.
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
ON DECEMBER 6 it was announced that Poland’s ruling Law and Justice Party (Prawo i Sprawiedliwosc — PiS) Justice Minister and Public Prosecutor General Zbigniew Ziobro had filed for the Constitutional Court to ban the Communist Party of Poland (KPP).
Ziobro has justified his actions by saying the KPP “are campaigning directly for a revolution similar to the October Revolution in Russia, after which the Bolsheviks took power. The goal is not only to seize power, but also nationalisation and collectivisation through the use of force.”
On top of this he says that “the KPP’s programme expresses support for the political system of the Soviet Union,” and “communist criminals such as Joseph Stalin and Felix Dzerzhinsky are also glorified.”
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MARK HAZELDEN criticises the Western narrative that the incident was an escalation of Russia’s confrontation with the West, given that Belarus, a Russian ally, warned Poland of off-course drones, and the drones were unarmed, cheap wooden decoys
Corbyn and Sultana’s ‘Your Party’ represents the first attempt at mass socialist organisation since the CPGB’s formation in 1921, argues DYLAN MURPHY
As the Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia rebuilds support through anti-cuts campaigns, the government seeks to silence it before October’s parliamentary elections through liberal totalitarianism, reports JOHN CALLOW