Pete

In the age of empire, the British state always liked to keep in the colonies.

115 years ago today, in 1903, the (WSPU) was born at 62 Nelson Street, Moss Side, Manchester - the Pankhursts' family home.

Our is a beauty (I'm allowed to say so without being arrogant because I wasn't the one who designed it!). In the top right is a map of England with the route the marchers took in October 1936 from the North East to London.

When it comes to World War Two, if we think of the 'Home Front' we tend to just imagine the Blitz - German bombers over British cities, RAF bases on endless alert, down in the public air raid shelters and all that.

Ever since US President Harry Truman dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima in August 1945, instantly murdering 80,000 people - 30% of the city's population - the issue of nuclear weapons has exercised the conscience of the British Left.

Across history, radical movements for democratic change have often been led by members of the upper classes.

It takes a brave person to stand up and back a revolution. Sometimes it takes an even braver one to call out its weaknesses.

History gives us many examples of cities which have shown a special talent for producing radical politics. 'Rote Wien' (Red Vienna) was known as a socialist stronghold between the wars until the Nazis marched in.

In the early 1940s a Lakota Indian Chief, Henry Standing Bear, wrote to the Polish-American architect Korczak Ziolkowski and asked if he'd be willing to build a to commemorate Native American history.

One of the favourite lies told by Britain's imperial apologists is that the decolonisation of the British Empire was 'bloodless'.