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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The march of the women – militancy beyond the myths
It’s widely believed that the suffragette campaign was violent – the truth is that the only untrammelled violence seen during the campaign came from the state, says LOUISE RAW
A police officer grabs a demonstrator as suffragettes protest outside Buckingham Palace in 1914
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
MRS BANKS in Mary Poppins has a lot to answer for. The wacky, well-off Edwardian mother and employer of the magical nanny, we saw her pop out for a bit of suffragetting as her modern “yummy mummy” counterpart might a hot yoga class.
The impression was that suffragettes were a bit silly — white, privileged, slightly irrational about their cause.
Mrs Banks was, in fact, the end product of the Establishment’s long-term approach to radical women which was — if it couldn’t ignore them — to belittle, demonise or imprison them.
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The Morning Star invites readers to join Jeremy Corbyn and others to celebrate a working-class female victory that echoes through the ages