Postcards from the ILP’s ‘Coming of Age’ conference and celebration in Bradford on 11 April 1914, 11 years after the organisation was founded in the same city. The illustration declares socialism as ‘the hope of the world’ and is signed by Chairman J Keir Hardie and Secretary Francis Johnson. First issued 2015. Pack of...
Converting supporters and new members into active campaigners is the challenge for Labour today, but will Momentum help? asks MIKE DAVIS. Democratic socialism is back on the agenda. For the first time in 30 years members and supporters are talking about what socialism means in the 21st century. If the Corbyn leadership can be sustained...
GERRY LAVERY of Unite Community Leeds reports from a conference in Birmingham set up ‘to challenge the myths around welfare and build a coalition to fight for our safety net’. The well-attended conference on Saturday 31 October was called by Unite Community (Unite the Union’s community wing) and the Public Services and Commercial Services Union...
While recent rate increases are welcome, the Living Wage Foundation’s voluntary approach to employers is not working, says ERNIE JACQUES....
CATRIONA BURNESS marks the centenary of the Glasgow rent strikes with a narrative account of the life of Mary Barbour, the ILPer who lent her name to the ‘army’ of women who led resistance to profit-hungry property owners 100 years ago. The Remember Mary Barbour Association is campaigning to see a statue raised to Barbour...
The post-Corbyn re-organisation of internal Labour Party forces continued last week with the launch of Labour Together by prominent MPs and council leaders, including Jon Cruddas, Lisa Nandy, Steve Reed, Judith Blake and Nick Forbes. Coming just a fortnight after the formation of Momentum, Labour Together’s founders claim their aim is to “provide a space...
The team behind Jeremy Corbyn’s election as Labour Party leader have set up a grassroots network to create “a mass movement for real progressive change” from the energy and enthusiasm generated by his campaign. Described as “the successor entity to the Jeremy Corbyn for Leadership campaign”, Momentum is independent of the party leadership and wants...
Former Labour MP Harry Barnes has called for the party’s policy-making process to be overhauled to give all its members and supporters a chance to participate....
Election defeat and Corbyn’s victory framed the discussions at the ILP’s joint conference with Compass last weekend where the prospects of Labour’s renewal and signs of radical hope were uppermost in people’s minds....
Only time will tell whether Jeremy Corbyn’s election as Labour leader is the beginning of the party’s renewal or yet another stage in its decay. It’s a question of head as well as heart, says JONATHAN TIMBERS. Jeremy Corbyn’s overwhelming election vcitory by a new mass Labour Party could be a sign that public discourse...
The Labour leadership debate has posed some fundamental questions about Labour’s future, how it relates to the wider electorate and the purpose of the Party itself. It is vital that these political divisions do not cause irreparable damage to its future....
With only a few days to go before the Labour’s leadership election result is announced, TERRY JACQUES shares his reasons for taking the ‘difficult decision’ to vote for Jeremy Corbyn....