47 Articles by:
Tom Blackburn is a Tribune columnist. He is a founding editor of New Socialist and lives in Greater Manchester.
As workers across the country fight for pay rises, Keir Starmer could have highlighted the failure of the Tories to tackle the cost of living crisis – instead, he started a massive public spat with the trade union movement.
The successors to Boris Johnson are already lining up – but none of the ghouls who might follow him will tackle the cost of living crisis that is tearing the country apart.
This summer of strikes amid a Tory-created collapse in living standards should be Labour’s moment to make the case for change. Instead, with interventions like David Lammy’s, the party is betraying the workers it’s meant to represent.
A celebration of royalty is a celebration of unearned status, intergenerational wealth and undemocratic politics. It is, in other words, doffing the cap to the ruling class – and the society they preside over.
The Labour leader’s Beergate gamble is a thin cover for the fact he has nothing to say on the cost of living crisis – and making personal integrity a central pillar of your politics is a risky strategy when you don’t have any.
Rachel Reeves’ admission that she’s ‘pleased’ Jeremy Corbyn isn’t prime minister was a betrayal of all those who campaigned for a Labour victory – and the policies they fought for.
Democracy is under threat, but it won’t be saved by centrist technocratic solutions – the only way to revive it is through the grassroots movements that elite liberals despise.
During austerity and Covid, workers were told they had to sacrifice for the good of the economy while the rich got richer – don’t let the ruling class fool you again.
Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves recently argued that bringing utilities into public ownership wasn’t ‘good value for money’ – but for millions of people, privatisation has led to higher bills and worse services.
2021 saw setbacks for the Left across much of the West, but victories in Latin America are a reminder that socialist policies continue to offer an alternative to a system in crisis.
Every day brings new reason to be furious at Tory rule. But little of this anger gets reflected by Labour MPs.
Three stalwarts of the Labour right – Margaret Hodge, Barry Sheerman, and Harriet Harman – are stepping down at the next election. But we should be just as worried about who might turn up in their place.
A new book explores the legend surrounding the disappearance of one-time socialist MP Victor Grayson – and offers a stark lesson in the political trajectories of those who leave the Left.
Labour’s financial crisis was made inevitable by Keir Starmer sacrificing loyal supporters and socialist policies to impress millionaire backers. Unfortunately for Labour’s leader, the super-rich already have a party that serves their interests.
Keir Starmer was elected to the Labour leadership on a pledge of party unity, but his actions since have shown that Labour’s right-wing cares more about defeating the Left than winning power.
In the run-up to party conference, Labour right-wingers are salivating at the prospect of another public war on the Left – but Neil Kinnock’s actual record as leader demonstrates why that is a dead end.
Twenty years ago, the far-right British National Party gained its first council seats in Burnley, Lancashire following a series of riots in Northern towns – a new book explores the lessons from their rise to prominence.
Keir Starmer’s Future Candidates Programme promises to bring ‘normal’ people into politics – but in reality, it is designed to produce handpicked MPs with no sense of connection to the party membership.
The Labour leadership’s ‘listening tour’ will do little to rebuild relationships with postindustrial communities – but it will provide plenty of opportunities to repeat right-wing attacks on the party’s progressive base.
Keir Starmer’s reshuffle of his top staff is an attempt to shift the blame for the party’s ongoing poor performance – but bringing in more Blair-era right-wingers will only make Labour’s problems worse.