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…

Yesterday, thousands of council-employed workers, joined by thousands more allies, marched for equal pay from Glasgow Green to George Square. The dispute has been ongoing for over a decade under multiple administrations, which has led to toxic party political disputes between Labour and the SNP. But Eve Livingston writes that these strikes are part of a much bigger picture…

Public transport and how it’s run is something of a political football in Scotland. However, beyond nationalisation, what concrete policy ideas should the left be looking at? In her fifth Conter Manifesto column, Eve Livingston looks at the feasibility of universally free public transport

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…

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...

With the Conservatives' incompetent handling of Brexit becoming more terrifying by the day, many on the left have become increasingly sympathetic to calls for a final vote on the Brexit deal between the UK and European Union. But Rory Steel of SNP Socialists says socialists, particularly on the pro-independence left, must reject the People's Vote campaign's demands for several reasons...

It's fallen off the news agenda since the right of return marches, but the need for solidarity with the Palestinian people has never been greater. Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign activist Kishore Lennon reflects on the urgent need to support the oppressed Palestinian people and argues that both members and figureheads in Labour and the SNP need to be doing much more...

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...

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...

Richard Leonard's victory over Anas Sarwar is a significant moment in Scottish Labour's history, signalling a shift towards adopting Jeremy Corbyn's UK-wide programme. Alasdair Clark argues Scottish socialists on both sides of the constitutional divide to consider rejoining Labour..