Progressive perspectives

Scottish Left Review marks its 150th issue.

The Educational Institute of Scotland has sponsored Scottish Left Review's March / April issue, this support from a key component of our country's labour movement meaning that every delegate to the Scottish Trades Union Congress will receive a copy when it meets in Dundee (22 to 26 April).

STUC General Secretary Roz Foyer contributes an agenda-setting piece to the issue.

Foyer recovers the language of 'taking back control' for ambitions to 'take control over capital, control over investment and control over the wealth we create', rather than 'flag waving, scapegoating, or nostalgia for a past that is never coming back'.

Trade union activity is highlighted in a series of articles, covering how UNISON members in the Forth Valley astounded one of Serco's HR bosses by resisting an attempt to restructure their pay in ways which they had got away with elsewhere; the sacking by Rockstar Games (famous for the Grand Theft Auto series) of computer games developers who had dared to organise a trade union branch; and the strategy being followed by a Unite branch to increase pensioners' income.

There are also pieces on the need to undercut the appeal of the far right by connecting to working peoples' justified and rational anger about material conditions, and channelling these in effective and progressive directions - and stimulating reflections on the important new film Everybody to Kenmure Street.

Other contributions include thoughtful pieces on workers' rights from candidates in the upcoming Scottish Parliament elections - Katy Clark, a serving Scottish Labour MSP, and Kate Campbell of the SNP, who is currently a councillor in Edinburgh.

As ever, the latest Scottish Left Review is not only a stimulating read, but a set of progressive calls to action.

Published 29 March 2026