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 decade of Unite Community
JAMIE CALDWELL, a community organiser for Unite, looks back at the last 10 years of the labour movement's attempts to organise those out of work or in precarious employment in Scotland
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 is a year of anniversaries. A century ago, in 1921, the National Unemployed Workers Movement was established. Half a century ago, in 1971, the shipyard workers of the Clyde laid down their challenge built on unity to the Tory government on the principle of the right to work and took over the Clydeside shipyards for a year long work-in.
Ten years ago Unite Community was set up to provide organisation and power for those out of work or in precarious employment.
The common theme in all was, and is, organisation and courage — that, when united, those out of work, or threatened with loss of work, have the power to change their conditions and advance the interests of all workers.
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