In-depth analysis

Warsaw Ghetto fighters surrender

The Warsaw Ghetto uprising: a desperate last stand against the Nazis

In April 1943 the Nazis began their final assault on the Warsaw Ghetto, where 40,000 Jews were making a last desperate, heroic stand against Nazi barbarians determined to annihilate them. A mere remnant of Warsaw's once-large Jewish population, they had decided that it is better to die on your feet, fighting, than to die on your knees, unresisting. The Warsaw Ghetto was the first instance of an uprising by "civilians" in occupied Europe during the Second World War. Joan Trevor tells the story.

polling on Scottish independence

Scotland and the "second referendum"

The SNP victory – or SNP-Green victory – in the Holyrood election of 6 May 2021 was a mandate for a second referendum on Scottish independence.

The fact that the SNP did not get an absolute majority of seats or an absolute majority of the popular vote is irrelevant.

The Holyrood voting system is designed to stop one party gaining an absolute majority of seats (and the SNP fell only seat short of that). And no one ever argued that the 1945 Labour government had no mandate because it failed to win 50% of the popular vote.

Photograph shows a Russian Socialist Movement banner on a demonstration; the banner reads "Russia without Putin, Russia for workers" in Russian

For Russia's left, the "Navalny protests" are not about Navalny

Loretta Marie Perera reports from Moscow.

An aversion to Russia’s leading opposition politician, Alexei Navalny, is a sentiment shared by many of the feminists, socialists, leftists, and anti-capitalists who joined tens of thousands in protests around Russia starting on Saturday, January 23.

“I disagree with many things about Navalny’s politics: his attitude to migrants, feminism, LGBT,” said Daria, 33, who protested in St. Petersburg. But for many, Daria included, there is a bigger enemy to reckon with.

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