Brian Coney is a writer, editor, and musician living in Belfast. His writing has appeared in the Guardian, Rolling Stone, the Quietus, VICE, and other outlets.
Friedrich Engels was just 22 when he was sent to England to help run the family firm. His father hoped this would draw him away from radical ideas — but in industrial Manchester, young Friedrich instead saw the suffering, and the power, of a growing working class.
Born on this day in 1868, the republican socialist James Connolly was Ireland’s most famous revolutionary. Over a century after he was killed by the British, his writings on imperial violence and the capitalist degradation of human life are more relevant than ever.
The UK’s Royal College of Nursing hasn’t organized a single strike in its 103-year history. Now that’s changing as nurses across Northern Ireland take industrial action in response to years of neglect of the National Health Service.