New Internationalist

Trade union education is in the doldrums. It generally lacks modern ways of teaching and is full of outdated content and avoids history, economics and politics. This book demonstrates clearly that what is delivered in trade union education, and how it is delivered, have to be reformed and modernised. It successfully shows also how all trade unionists all over the world are educators in one way or another. Chapters cover the history, context and challenges in trade union education, the power of popular education techniques, trade union activism, community and social movements, practical examples of transformative new work and learning tips, learning materials and all those areas relevant to delivering impactful education.

War correspondent Colin Frere is on assignment in Malia, a Southeast Asian state consumed by civil conflict and revolution. He is abducted by the Communist guerrillas – actually by prearrangement. His mission is to understand the rebels and their charismatic leader – not least because his own elder brother once fought alongside them. But he soon finds that idealism trumps journalistic detachment and he becomes an active soldier in the revolutionary cause. His journey and that of his adopted country involves heroism, romance, comradeship – and ultimately betrayal.

Heroes in the Evening Mist was the last novel by the prolific author William Ash, who died in 2014, and it has hitherto been unpublished. Ash was born in Texas but fought as a Spitfire pilot in the Second World War before spending three years in a German prisoner-of-war camp. His repeated attempts to escape made him one of the models for the character played by Steve McQueen in the film The Great Escape and were chronicled in his best-selling memoir Under the Wire. He was a lifelong socialist and his final work shows a rare sympathetic engagement not only with the cause of post-colonial liberation but also with the problems faced by revolutionary governments once they have won power.

An old union rep, Joe, and his granddaughter, Arushi, spend a few pleasant days together going over the history of the labour movement. Over tea and sandwiches in his studio they consider the whole wide sweep and points of connection throughout history.

Starting way back with the 14th-century Peasants' Revolt, taking in the Levellers and the Luddites, the expansion of the unions in the 19th century, the height of their power in the 70s, and the great conflicts and decline of the 80s.

With a mix of serious research and family jokes Joe and Arushi go into the complicated history, the ideological battles, the class conflict, a consideration of what unions are for, and what the future of unions may be.

Characters from the Tolpuddle Martyrs of the nineteenth century to the women working for US firm Trico in the 1970s, from the early struggles for organization to the ongoing fight against zero-hours contracts, speak out here in seven plays collected in Volume One. The plays had tremendous reception in performance over the years, and are all printed here for the permanent record for the first time and to encourage new productions.