Haunted by Andrey Vyshinsky’s Ghost
Last week I sent out a message to tens of thousands of trade unionists alerting them to two bits of news. The good news, I reported, was that some workers in Poland had won a…
Solidarity
Starmer, Biden and the picket line
The distinction often made by socialists between “liberal parties” and “labour parties” has been undermined somewhat by recent developments on both sides of the Atlantic. Here in the U.K., much has been of Labour leader…
The Totalitarians at Tolpuddle
This year I attended the Tolpuddle Martyrs Festival in Dorset for the very first time. It was on the bucket list for a Canadian friend and as I’d never been before, I thought – why…
In Georgia, workers challenge a Russian oligarch
Mikhail Fridman is one of the wealthiest men in Russia and a close associate of Vladimir Putin. He was included in the earliest lists of individuals sanctioned by the West for his complicity in the…
In a divided world, the labour movement is united on Ukraine
Last week, the Governing Body of the International Labour Organization (ILO), passed a resolution strongly condemning Russian aggression in Ukraine. The resolution was not passed unanimously. The vote reflected divisions not only between countries but…
Why banning RT is a bad idea
A few years ago, when I was working on the Bernie Sanders campaign, one of our volunteers came to me with an interesting proposal. It turned out that he worked in London for Russia Today…
DSA needs to learn the lessons of SDS
Sixty years ago, the United States was still in the grip of the McCarthy era. The Attorney General would regularly update his list of “subversive” organisations. Communists and other leftists were denied platforms in many…
ITUC: Kick Putin’s union out
According to its website, the Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Russia (FNPR) is “a national trade union centre independent of the state, political and business structures.” Founded in 1990, it is the successor to…
Yes to Nato
There is a saying that generals are always ready to fight the last war. The same may be said of political leaders. The difference is that they are ready to stop the last war, and…
For Lithuania’s workers, enough is finally enough
When the Soviet Union came crashing down three decades ago, among the very first republics to declare independence were the three Baltic states – Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. This made sense as they had been…