The high street has become something of a political football in recent years, with everyone from Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour to the Daily Mail proposing policies to resurrect what were once much loved spots in our towns. Auburn Langley says cuts to council services and a local democracy crisis means we can’t wait for solutions from on high - we need to organise to save our high streets…

The ghost of Labour’s militant past were conjured up when several figures referenced the Liverpool City Council’s famous defiance towards Thatcher in the 1980s at this week’s party conference in the city. Frances Curran, former MSP and member of Labour’s National Executive local government sub-committee for a time in the 1980s, says the council’s actions were heroic. She argues we shouldn’t feel queasy about commemorating politicians that fight for the working class and that there are plenty of lessons for socialists on both sides of the border…

Only days after Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said he “wasn’t ruling out” consenting to a second Scottish independence referendum, Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard seemed to signal this weekend it’s completely off the table if the party gets into power. But Rory Scothorne, writer and activist with Labour Campaign for Socialism, says Scottish Labour is ultimately still traumatised by the independence referendum and won’t be able to get over it until it develops a plan to transform the structures of the British state…

Having come under sustained pressure over several months, Labour has officially adopted the full IHRA definition of anti-semitism despite concerns from leading pro-Palestine campaigners. Kishore Lennon assesses what impact these concession will have on the pro-Palestine movement on both sides of the border...

This Monday, the first of many ConterCast debates will be held in association with Sunny Govan Radio. Conter ed team member and CommonSpace journalist David Jamieson will debate Labour activist and ex-candidate Laura Dover on the question: is Labour's road to socialism viable. In this piece, David Jamieson sets out why he believes socialists should resist the temptation to ‘pick a horse’, and instead develop a discussion around the crisis of the British state...

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn placed trade unions at the top of the news agenda this week by suggesting workers' rights and union principles be taught in schools. Gregor Gall, editor of Scottish Left Review, proposes the single most important thing a Labour government can do to resuscitate unions is by assigning every worker a union by default...

The Brexit fallout has had caused as much rancour on the left as it has on the right. John Webber offers an analysis of Labour and the SNP's current positions, the limitations of both and why he thinks left wing forces need to unite to fight back against capitalists who have hijacked the issue...

In light of recent events, words like 'Zionism' are back in the mainstream discourse. Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign activist Kishore Lennon says concerning developments at a grassroots level here in Scotland demonstrate that there's a long way to go...

Young activists continue to do amazing work on social inequalities. But SSP campaigners Róisín McLaren and Hugh Cullen argue there's still much to be done to raise class consciousness among the post-Thatcherite generation...