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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Crunch time is here for the labour movement
We need to flip the narrative from the defensive battles we have been forced to fight under the Tories to the real opportunities presented by a left-led Labour government, writes GAWAIN LITTLE
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
The next few months will prove crucial for the labour and trade union movement and for all working people. We are faced with two stark alternatives.
On the one hand, we have an unstable right-wing government, intent of enforcing decades of austerity onto working people. Our schools and our NHS have been opened up to private profit and, in or out of the EU, the vultures are circling. Our unions remain shackled by the most regressive anti-union laws in Europe.
On the other hand, we have the biggest opportunity for working people in a generation: the chance of a Labour government which will actually listen to the working class. A government which will end austerity and invest in our economy, which will bring our public services back into public ownership and control, which will abolish the unjust anti-union laws which tie one hand behind our back and replace them with pro-worker legislation, including the restoration of collective bargaining.
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