The bard celebrates two other fine practitioners of the art, and laments a lost brewer
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'I see socialism and trade unionism as two sides of the same coin'
Ben Chacko talks to LEN McCLUSKEY about his new book Why You Should Be a Trade Unionist
HEART OF THE MATTER: Len McCluskey, General Secretary of Unite the Union (centre) and delegates voting on Labour’s Brexit policy during the Labour Party Conference in Brighton
This right-wing conspiracy theory is used to justify the coercive measures against gender, race and labour rights that best serve capitalism, attests GAVIN O’TOOLE
KENNY MONROSE recommends a new exhibition that highlights the significance of Black British music
ANGUS REID is bowled over by an exuberant film about the making of Keith Jarrett’s legendary concert
MARIA DUARTE, FIONA O’CONNOR and ANDY HEDGECOCK review Savage House, Enzo, Madfabulous, and Erupcja
CHRIS SEARLE recommends a work of love and deep admiration for a great musician
LEN McCLUSKEY’S slim volume Why You Should Be a Trade Unionist is a whistle-stop tour of its subject — the ethos, history and practical value of trade unionism.
Given the breadth of the issues it examines — from the birth of the Labour Party to the fight to organise precarious workers and from the Tolpuddle Martyrs to climate change — it’s amazing he managed to cram it all into 145 pages.
“It’s supposed to be brief,” McCluskey tells me when we meet to discuss the book. “There are lots of books on the history of the trade union movement. This was deliberately short in the hope it would attract young people, shop stewards, people coming into our organisations for the first time.
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