The London European Social Forum is just four months away.

This paper (Workers Power) has long championed the ESF. It is a tremendous opportunity to combine the very best methods of struggle, policies and organisational initiatives from across the continent and the world. In an era of globalisation and imperialist war, this internationalism is of vital importance if we are to win even local struggles against privatisation, racism and cuts. Read more...

Two decades have passed since the British miners launched a strike to defend their pits from a huge closure programme. The strike turned into one of the most decisive economic and political struggles of the twentieth century. Mark Hoskisson looks back at this contest between the British state and the thousands of working class men and women, whom the Tory prime minister of the time, Margaret Thatcher, famously described as “the enemy within”. Read more...

More than 100 representatives of various organisations met in the City Hall, London on 13-14 December for the first preparatory assembly for the 2004 European Social Forum. A wide variety of trade unions from Britain and the continent, NGOs, local and national social forums, and political organisations participated in a lively - indeed at times stormy - debate. The presence of militants and representatives from the RMT, Unison, the T&G etc. was a big step forward and their contributions added a note of practicality into the proceedings. Read more...

Hatred for Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair runs deep in the British working class movement. So why is there no mass political alternative to New Labour, asks Mark Hoskisson? Read more...

Tony Benn’s retirement marks the end of an era for the left. Dave Telfer examines his political career and assesses the current state of the Labour left Read more...

The Socialist Alliance and the anti-capitalist movement have prompted a new “turn” by the SWP, Britain’s biggest left wing group. Colin Lloyd and Mark Hoskisson survey the issues at stake. Read more...

In mid-November the Asylum and Immigration Act 1999 became law. Its provisions mean hardship, social isolation and effective criminalisation for asylum seekers. Linda Miller and Kate Foster explain that support for racist legislation is nothing new, either from the Labour Party or Britain’s trade union movement. Read more...

Sir Oswald Mosley, MP, split from Labour to form the New Party in March 1931, together with a group of left MPs. By October 1932 Mosley had transformed the party into the British Union of Fascists. Paul Morris recounts the events that led to his movement’s defeat. Read more...