TODAY the Prime Minister is to trigger Article 50 and begin negotiations over leaving the European Union — and that means the left needs to seriously up its game.
The EU question has obviously divided the labour movement.
Early last year the left was on the front foot: Labour had elected a socialist leader for the first time in decades, was seeing swings towards it in by-elections and was forcing government U-turns on everything from personal independence payments and tax credit cuts to dodgy prison deals with Saudi Arabia.
BEN CHACKO says in different ways, the centenary of the General Strike and that of Fidel Castro’s birth point to priority tasks for the British left in the coming year
JOHN CALLOW examines what went wrong for the Czech communist party in the recent parliamentary elections, where it failed to meet the threshold to return deputies and some now talk of the party abandoning its commitment to socialism
Starmer sabotaged Labour with his second referendum campaign, mobilising a liberal backlash that sincerely felt progressive ideals were at stake — but the EU was then and is now an entity Britain should have nothing to do with, explains NICK WRIGHT
Deep disillusionment with the Westminster cross-party consensus means rupture with the status quo is on the cards – bringing not only opportunities but also dangers, says NICK WRIGHT


