A new book on Durham Coalfield communities is a timely testament to working class resilience, says MARY HULL, bringing together evocative tales of ‘marras’, meetings, strikes and marches as well as banners, brass bands and allotments.
Full of hope and laughter, sadness and anger, it’s a fitting tribute to the area’s rich and radical history, a living heritage that has never been more relevant.
Our friend and comrade Barry Winter, former ILP secretary and editor, has died at the age of 80. NEIL RHODES remembers a teacher, writer and thinker who embodied the organisation’s commitment to political honesty and unwavering humanity.
As a church minister, CHRIS WILSON at least knows “the boss” is OK, although “the middle management can be a real problem”. Clergy need trade unions as much as any other workers, he says.
After a week of parliamentary rebellion and government chaos, ERNIE JACQUES assesses the outcome and impact of Labour’s ‘crazy’ welfare proposals.
The success of Sheffield Renewables has shown how attitudes to energy policy can be changed with local engagement and a co-operative business model that offers much more than profit. DAVE BERRY explains.
Sick of waiting for free markets and trickle-down economics to make us all better off, ERNIE JACQUES looks for hope in the legacy of a northern factory owner and philanthropist whose social reforms inspired the welfare state.
Four MPs have signed an Early Day Motion in the House of Commons to recognise Barry Winter for his “pioneering political and intellectual work over seven decades as a writer and organiser” with the ILP.
With the world in crisis and the UK government floundering in response to the rise of the populist right both here and abroad, WILL BROWN assesses the challenge for the left and asks what it means for the ILP.
Pioneering south Wales ILPer Minnie Pallister was one of the most important feminists, pacifists, socialists and journalists of the 20th century. But her life and legacy have been largely forgotten in recent decades. Author ALUN BURGE aims to put that right.
Comment
Labour, the Left & the Far Right
With the world in crisis and the UK government floundering in response to the rise of the populist right both here and abroad, WILL BROWN assesses the challenge for the left and asks what it means for the ILP.