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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‘Youth will transform the whole world’
Ahead of the RMT young members conference this weekend, ALEX GORDON explains why young workers’ involvement is key to our movement’s success
INVESTING IN YOUTH: RMT picket
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
THIS weekend RMT young members from across Britain are gathering in Hastings for our union’s annual young members’ conference.
Hastings is a fitting venue for a meeting of trade unionists. It was of course, the model for the town of “Mugsborough” in Robert Tressell’s classic socialist novel, The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists.
As our young trade union members gather to debate the issues most important to them, it is a salutary reminder that those who have the most at stake in the current trade union battles over the Tory cost-of-greed crisis are young people.
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