Republican Labour Education Forum

09/10/2026

https://replabedfrm.substack.com/p/tony-benns-commonwealth-is-it-relevant?r=2jp3ce&utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web

Discussion with Larry O’Hara and Steve Freeman on the relevance of Tony Benn’s Commonwealth.

13/09/2026

RLEF meeting with Adam Ramsay: Abolish Westminster.
Monday September 14th at 7pm. Zoom Registration link: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/h3O4W5QOTsOlpCQbIge2NA

29/08/2026

About the Leveller John Lilburne who wrote 'The Agreement of the People' after the English civil war. On this day in 1657:

1657 August 29. Died at Eltham, colonel John Lilburne, and two days afterwards his body was brought to London, and buried in the Quakers' yard. He was the son of Richard Lilburne, and born at East Thickley, in the county of Durham, in the year 1618. Being a younger son he was bred a clothier, but abandoned his profession in 1636 and became assistant to Dr. Bastwick.

Under his direction he went to Holland, and superintended the printing of the Merry Liturgy, for which and other presumed offences he was, on his return, pilloried, whipped, fined, and loaded with irons, by order of the tyrannical court which' assembled in the star chamber. In 1641, he was released by parliament, and became a distinguished soldier, and, in 1644, he was advanced to the rank of lieutenant-colonel.

His undaunted spirit in defence of liberty occasioned him many sufferings. From the confident and secret friend of Cromwell, he became his accuser and enemy, when the former began to violate the principles which he had flown to arms to support.
Firm and unbending in his politics, he was twice tried for high treason, but acquitted by the juries, whose authority he boldly vindicated. "The jury," he observed, " by law are not only judges of the fact, but of the law also ; and you that call yourselves judges of the law, are no more but Norman intruders ; and, in truth, if the jury please, are no more but cyphers to pronounce their verdict"

After his second trial, he was ordered to leave the kingdom, but obtained permission to remain on his brother becoming security for his peaceable behaviour. Hume represents him as the "most turbulent, but most upright and courageous of human kind ;" and Sir Henry Martin, as of such a contentious disposition, that " if there were none living but him, John would be against Lilburne, and Lilburm' against John" His character has been diversely estimated.”
With acknowledgement to The Geordie Diary.

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.