23 November
The first recorded strike in history is said to have taken place on this day in 1170 BCE, during the sixth month of the 29th year of the reign of Rameses III.
Workers in the Valley of the Kings necropolis in Egypt downed tools after the government failed to pay them their agreed grain allowance for 20 days. It was to take several stoppages before they eventually won all that was owed to them.
They say the pharaohs built the pyramids.
Do you think one pharaoh dropped one bead of sweat?
We built the pyramids for the pharaohs
And we’re building for them yet.
– Anna Louise Strong
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#232: Rue Britannia ● The legacy of the British Empire ● An interview with Priyamvada Gopal ● The People’s Olympics ● An interview with Neville Southall ● Agribusiness in India ● Deliveroo’s disastrous IPO ● Latest book reviews ● And much more!
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The Socialist Olympics of 1936
Radical workers’ sporting organisations and the 1936 People’s Olympiad illustrate the role of sport in fighting oppression, writes Uma Arruga i López.
Review – You’re History: The Twelve Strangest Women in Music
Lesley Chow argues for a new kind of music criticism that re-evaluates women musicians and "meaningless" music, writes Rhian E Jones
Lying through their legacy-speak
Olympic ‘legacy’ has greased the path for enormous, upward transfer of wealth to the global propertied classes, writes Jules Boykoff
SWexit: What are exit schemes for sex workers missing?
If earning money is a fundamental reason for entering the sex industry, it is also essential to leaving it, writes Marin Scarlett.
Failure to deliver
Major financial institutions have cited Deliveroo’s employment practices for its disastrous public share launch. Alice Martin and Tom Powdrill look at what went wrong and what it might mean for workers’ rights
Power on the picket line: remembering the Burnsall Strike
Almost 30 years on, Sarbjit Johal recalls supporting the strike, which consisted of mostly Punjabi women workers
