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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'Unions need to broaden our horizons — and become the political leadership in this country'
DOUG NICHOLLS, who is stepping down as GFTU general secretary, talks to Morning Star editor Ben Chacko about the lessons of a lifetime in struggle
Doug Nicholls is retiring as GFTU general secretary
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
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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
Having been general secretary, first at the Community and Youth Workers Union and then at General Federation of Trade Unions, since 1987, you are retiring as Britain’s longest-serving general secretary. There have been significant changes in the movement over that time. What do you see as some of the strengths and weaknesses?
Unions are now more popular than at any time I have known. The public are behind the pay struggles in ways they never have been before. Remember in 1976 the big unions and TUC called a conference to argue that there should be pay restraint to avoid a spiral of inflation. No-one believes these days that higher wages are to blame for the cost of living crisis.
There’s ebb and flow of overt struggle but I’m minded of what one of the leaders of the revolt in 1381 said: “In time of peace, be not all men at war with them that be rich.”
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This ‘Big Meet’ our focus is building the next ‘Megapicket,’ say HENRY FOWLER and GAWAIN LITTLE of the General Federation of Trade Unions