The latest copy of Unity!, the Communist Party's monthly journal for the labour, women's, anti-racist and peace movements

Download and read Unity! here

We note with relief that Maccabi Tel Aviv fans have been banned from attending a match against Aston Villa in Birmingham next month. According to research by the New Israel Foundation, Maccabi Tel Aviv has one of the most racist fan bases of any football team in Israel, with the teams Black and Arab players regularly facing racial abuse from fans.

As we approach the 50th anniversary of the Grunwick strike, the excellent show We are the Lions, Mr Manager, is coming to Coventry's Albany Theatre on 6th/7th of November. It's well worth seeing.

In 1976, six workers walked out of Grunwick Film Processing Laboratory and Factory in Willesden. They staged a strike against their poor working conditions, demanding the right to join a union.

Less than two years later, those six had been joined by 20,000 supporters in an historic dispute fighting for better rights for poorly treated workers.

Coventry TUC presents the 2025 Tom Mann Memorial lecture, which commemorates the birth in Coventry of Tom Mann who went on to lead the engineering and transport unions over a hundred years ago. This year's lecture will take place on Friday, 5th December at the Methodist Central Hall, Warwick Lane, Coventry.

The lecture will be given by the country's leading human rights lawyer Michael Mansfield KC on a history of protest, today faced with growing restrictions, entitled 'Suppressed Democracy'.

Saturday 13th September
Assemble 12pm
Russell Square
London
WC1B 5EH

March to Whitehall

Coventry and Warwickshire Communist Party will have a stall on:

Jordan Well,
Coventry

Monday 15th September,
11.15 a.m. until 12.30 p.m.

Students and staff are welcome to come along and meet Party members and receive a Communist Party / Young Communist League 'goody bag'.

Events in Wellesbourne, Warwickshire, in 1872 triggered a huge uprising in rural trade unionism led by Joseph Arch, champion of the rural labourer. His efforts have been recognised many times. Not least when the obelisk in his memory at his grave in Barford was erected in 1922, and again in 1952 where the shelter was erected on the spot where he launched the union of agricultural labourers in 1872 in Wellesbourne.

Wednesday, 24th September, 2025, 7pm

Coventry Friends Meeting House,
Hill Street,
CV1 4AN

Gawain Little, General Secretary of the General Federation of Trade Unions, will speak about the huge threats posed by Reform UK.

(all text from leaflet) Between August 2022 and July 2024, GMB Union membership at Amazon's BHX4 Coventry warehouse skyrocketed with 37 days of strike action resulting in a 28.5% pay rise. Yet despite this, the union narrowly lost a ballot that would have {forced Amazon to grant formal recognition. Based on ethnographic research and reflective essays from worker-leaders and organisers, this book offers a rich case study of the factors contributing to the union's successes and setbacks.

Full information on the Strike Map page.

After a successful Megapicket on May 9th, to shut down the Lifford Lane Depot, Trades Unions are organising "Megapicket II" for Friday July 25th.

Megapicket II will be staged across 5 sites on the same day.

It is hoped to mobilise people from Trades Unions, campaign and community groups from around the country - most importantly from the Midlands.

The picket lines will start at 6am at:

• Atlas Depot, B11 2AS
• Lifford Lane Depot, B30 3JJ
• Perry Barr Depot, B42 2TU
• Ryton site (Cov), CV8 3EJ
• Veolia Incinerator, B11 2BA

For the full information, go to the page on the Strike Map website.