Assistant general secretary of the General Federation of Trade Unions HENRY FOWLER reports on day 1 from the GFTU’s residential Summer School at Quorn Grange Hotel
Latest editorial
Back to a liberal future or forward to progress with Labour?
'Centrism' not only ignores but erases the history of injustice and class struggle that surrounds us, writes THOMAS LEWIS RUSSO
A Liberal poster from the 1920s
Strike Map co-founder HENRY FOWLER discusses the significance of today’s joint union letter to video game giant Rockstar, demanding trade union recognition for its workers. Their conversation highlights how our movement can harness its collective power to rebuild union power across the private sector
The PM leaves office having squandered Labour’s electoral mandate and alienated its grassroots. He will not be missed, writes BRIAN LEISHMAN MP
Durham Miners’ Association chair STEPHEN GUY speaks to Ben Chacko about the Reform threat, what’s needed from Labour and why the Big Meeting will never lose its politics
Poland’s anger over Ukraine’s celebration of the Nazi collaborationist UPA reflects more than historical grievance, says KENNY COYLE
Can Andy Burnham’s programme deliver a productive economy – or merely a softer version of capitalism, asks VINCE MILLS
EVER since Jeremy Corbyn was first elected as leader of the Labour Party, so-called “centrist” columnists and politicians in Scotland and across Britain have sneered at the very idea of an avowed socialist holding that position.
In 2018, a columnist in The Herald denounced Labour as the “fruitcake opposition” without any apparent need to justify this. Jo Swinson, the new Liberal Democrat leader, recently deployed the term “socialist” against Jeremy Corbyn as an insult and declared that the left-right divide is no longer relevant.
There is a persistent reflex from the centrist tendency to deny the legitimacy of the very expression of socialist thought. History, from this perfunctory glance, is an “Eraflix” platform with passing fads through the ages. The old tales of struggle and socialism are so passe when the Lib Dems have a flashy new drama to sell.
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