An area of open ground in north Manchester once hosted meetings with Keir Hardie and Emmeline Pankhurst, and became the focus of a battle for political freedom. ROD PETERS tells the tale. Boggart Hole Clough in the 1890s covered some 147 acres of rough grass, sandy slopes, fields and natural woods. The geography of the...
Cable Street Anniversary Prompts Call for Support
Hope not Hate have marked the 81st anniversary of the Battle of Cable Street with a call for donations towards its current day efforts to “present a steadfast and united opposition to fascism”. The day on 4 October 1936 when the people of the east end of London united to halt Oswald Mosley and his...
The World Transformed
Momentum is promising “the largest fringe event ever” at Labour Party conference in Brighton this month when it hosts a four-day festival called The World Transformed 2017....
Campaign to Honour Spanish Civil War Heroes
Sculptor Frank Casey is aiming to raise £5,000 through a crowdfunding campaign to cast busts of Spanish Civil War heroes Bob Smillie and John Cornford....
Fear and Hope in a Divided Country
England is both an increasingly tolerant and open society and a more divided place, according to the latest ‘Fear and Hope’ survey published this week by Hope not Hate. In its fourth survey of attitudes to race, faith, belonging and identity since 2011, the anti-extremist campaign group finds that England is more tolerant and open...
Mary Barbour Statue to be Built in Govan
A statue honouring legendary campaigner and pioneering ILPer Mary Barbour will be unveiled later this year in Glasgow where she campaigned for tenants’ rights more than 100 years ago....
The Big Conversation
Local campaign group Sheffield for Democracy is hosting one of many public events in MP Paul Blomfield’s annual Big Conversation....
Labour Saves Itself, and Restores Hope
Labour’s unexpected ‘success’ in last week’s general election has been greeted with relief and joy across the left. But we need words of caution as well as cheers, says WILL BROWN, for there is still much to do to turn this opportunity into a real transformative victory. Given what seemed possible a few weeks ago,...
The Progressive Alliance and a War of Position
Is the Progressive Alliance an idea whose time has come? GERRY LAVERY thinks so after reading a new Compass pamphlet on the election initiative. The call for a Progressive Alliance starts from the idea that our electoral system gives the Conservatives a built-in advantage and enables them to govern nationally even though most people do...
‘Common Sense’ and Benefit Sanctions
In an extensive discussion paper, Unite Community member GERRY LAVERY considers how Antonio Gramsci’s ideas could help challenge popular attitudes towards benefit claimants and the fight to end government sanctions. Here, he provides a brief introduction....
Election 2017: The Choice is Simple
For A-level student student ROBIN EDEN, the Tories’ attack on the National Health Service makes the choice at the coming general election a straightforward one....
Co-op Members to Vote on Political Link – Again!
Co-op members are once again being asked to vote on the Group’s political link to the Co-operative Party, established by the movement exactly 100 years ago....