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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A united front against Tory austerity and authoritarianism
Linking up existing strike actions with demands for housing, fuel, food and decent work holds the key to rebuilding class consciousness today, argues RMT national president ALEX GORDON
BRAVING THE ELEMENTS: Nurses are among those who have been out on the picket lines in recent days
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
IN THE last weeks of December 2022, Britain saw strike action by over a million workers.
Trade unions representing posties, university lecturers, rail workers, nurses, ambulance drivers, driving examiners, bus drivers, staff in the UK Border Force and at the Highways and Environment Agencies have all taken industrial action in concert with each other.
The defiant mood of striking workers standing on picket lines in sub-zero temperatures has been reinforced by a sense that they are part of a swelling movement across Britain. The organised working class is leading a national debate over what kind of a society we want to live in.
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