Republican Labour Education Forum

31/07/2026

https://www.instagram.com/reel/Da8YrEhhmJG/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==

19/06/2026

Andy Burnham trounced Reform in Makerfield and talked of change starting now. We’ve heard that one before. Before anyone gets carried away, there are inconvenient questions about Gaza, the bond markets, neoliberal economics and his New Labour past still waiting to be answered.

14/06/2026

On this day, 14 June 1381, during the peasants’ revolt in England, Wat Tyler’s rebel army of some 50,000 to 100,000 people captured London Bridge and the Tower of London. There they killed the chancellor, Archbishop Simon of Sudbury, and the treasurer, Sir Robert Hales. (Content note: sexual assault)
The rebellion had broken out in May in protest at the imposition of a poll tax on everyone aged fifteen and over, which exacerbated the economic hardship of workers and the poor. People were also enraged by the brutality of tax inspectors, who measured people’s p***c hair to determine their age, which was seen as state-sanctioned sexual assault, particularly in the case of girls and women. The rebellion soon developed into a deep and sophisticated social movement demanding radical changes to feudal society and peaked with the taking of the Tower.
On June 15, Wat Tyler attended a parley with the king Richard II, where he was murdered. Realising his weak position, Richard promised the rebels that he would implement many of their demands, including the abolition of the tax, and even the abolition of forced labor and serfdom, but, while the poll tax was ended, once the rebels had dispersed and returned home, they were no longer a threat, so Richard reneged on all of his other pledges and hanged 1,500 of them. It was a brutal but important lesson not to trust the promises of the powerful.
This is one of hundreds of stories featured in our first book, Working Class History: Everyday Acts of Resistance & Rebellion, available here: https://shop.workingclasshistory.com/products/working-class-history-everyday-acts-resistance-rebellion-book

31/05/2026

https://theleftlane.media/from-mobile-phone-contract-to-millstone-the-great-student-loan-mis-selling-scandal/

School leavers were once shown cheerful adverts comparing student loan repayments to taking out a mobile contract. Now, 20 years on, a damning Treasury select committee inquiry suggests that what was sold as a manageable investment in their future was, for many, anything but, as Jenny Curtis reports...

23/05/2026

https://theleftlane.media/why-jeremy-corbyn-should-step-down-as-your-party-leader/

With leadership speculation currently rife in UK politics, in this long read article, Alan Story argues that Jeremy Corbyn should relinquish his position as the leader of Your Party – and the sooner the better.

16/05/2026

https://theleftlane.media/thucydides-in-beijing-can-the-us-and-china-avoid-the-trap/

Despite the US president hailing “fantastic deals”, beyond the pomp and ceremony, Trump’s much-hyped summit with China’s president Xi Jinping didn’t achieve that much. Brian Green assesses the state of the world’s most important bilateral relationship.

14/05/2026

https://theleftlane.media/we-need-trade-unions-prepared-to-fight-and-class-politics-to-defeat-reform/

In the second article in our series on Reform and how to defeat them, former trade union leader John McInally calls for a return to class politics to push back the right.

13/05/2026

https://theleftlane.media/why-did-reform-surge-and-how-do-we-counter-it/

The rise in support for Reform is a worrying development and needs to be addressed. In this first article in a series for The Left Lane, Carol Taylor looks at some of the key factors that have led to the electoral growth of Reform and, crucially, what tactics, strategy and approach are needed to def...

06/05/2026

https://theleftlane.media/woman-took-ten-years-to-get-nhs-funding-for-her-sterilisation/

Ombudsman overrules double standards of local health body and highlights “the power of the patient voice”.