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Carl Rowlands


Carl Rowlands is a teacher and writer based in Budapest and Vienna.

Carl Rowlands

Socialist hegemony: construction time again

Carl Rowlands 1st April 2024

Two books focused on Britain address shifting class configurations and go back to the drawing board on a hegemonic project.

Finding solid ground: gateways to municipal socialism

Carl Rowlands 20th September 2021

From interwar Vienna through 1980s London and beyond, municipalities are the crucible of compelling socialist initiatives.

Migrant workers and xenophobia in the UK labour movement

Carl Rowlands 29th January 2019

There has been a growing climate of xenophobia towards migrant workers in the UK in recent years. Unfortunately, parts of the labour movement have been complicit in it. The UK Labour Party leadership has been receiving a lot of criticism for its handling of Brexit. In its defence, a significant number of people in constituencies […]

Labour And Its Brexit Dilemma

Carl Rowlands 19th December 2016

The British Labour Party currently teeters on the brink, trapped between following many of its northern supporters in supporting an end to the freedom of movement, and following its voters in most large cities who voted strongly to remain in the EU and are becoming increasingly anxious at the prospect of a ‘hard Brexit.’ As […]

Understanding The Resistible Rise Of Central European Authoritarianism

Carl Rowlands 21st January 2016

Viktor Orbán has posed critical challenges to concepts of human rights and democracy in Europe since his election in 2010. But there is every sign that, rather than managing and curtailing the influence of Hungary’s far-right government, other European democracies are icreasingly susceptible to comparable social and cultural pressures. Over the last five years, Orbán’s […]

Corbyn’s New Model Labour Party: A More Social Europe

Carl Rowlands 6th October 2015

The British Labour Party is now the EU’s biggest, unequivocally anti-austerity movement, with a combined membership and supporter base of more than 600,000 people, and a short-term target of half a million full members. In the last few weeks, the British Labour Party has made a decision to offer unconditional support to a ‘Yes’ vote […]

The Culture Of Contentment

Carl Rowlands 27th May 2015

Arguably there has to be a ‘tipping point’ – a point beyond which social and economic crises bring forth political and social movements. The situation for many young people in Spain, Portugal, Italy and Greece is bleak and, this is now being reflected in the rise of new social and political movements around the semi-periphery […]

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With a comprehensive set of relevant indicators, presented in 85 graphs and tables, the 2025 Benchmarking Working Europe report examines how EU policies can reconcile economic, social and environmental goals to ensure long-term competitiveness. Considered a key reference, this publication is an invaluable resource for supporting European social dialogue.

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Ageing workforce
The evolution of working conditions in Europe

This episode of Eurofound Talks examines the evolving landscape of European working conditions, situated at the nexus of profound technological transformation.

Mary McCaughey speaks with Barbara Gerstenberger, Eurofound's Head of Unit for Working Life, who leverages insights from the 35-year history of the European Working Conditions Survey (EWCS).

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Spring Issues

The Summer issue of The Progressive Post is out!


It is time to take action and to forge a path towards a Socialist renewal.


European Socialists struggle to balance their responsibilities with the need to take bold positions and actions in the face of many major crises, while far-right political parties are increasingly gaining ground. Against this background, we offer European progressive forces food for thought on projecting themselves into the future.


Among this issue’s highlights, we discuss the transformative power of European Social Democracy, examine the far right’s efforts to redesign education systems to serve its own political agenda and highlight the growing threat of anti-gender movements to LGBTIQ+ rights – among other pressing topics.

READ THE MAGAZINE

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WSI Report

WSI Minimum Wage Report 2025

The trend towards significant nominal minimum wage increases is continuing this year. In view of falling inflation rates, this translates into a sizeable increase in purchasing power for minimum wage earners in most European countries. The background to this is the implementation of the European Minimum Wage Directive, which has led to a reorientation of minimum wage policy in many countries and is thus boosting the dynamics of minimum wages. Most EU countries are now following the reference values for adequate minimum wages enshrined in the directive, which are 60% of the median wage or 50 % of the average wage. However, for Germany, a structural increase is still necessary to make progress towards an adequate minimum wage.

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Cohesion Policy

S&D Position Paper on Cohesion Policy post-2027: a resilient future for European territorial equity

Cohesion Policy aims to promote harmonious development and reduce economic, social and territorial disparities between the regions of the Union, and the backwardness of the least favoured regions with a particular focus on rural areas, areas affected by industrial transition and regions suffering from severe and permanent natural or demographic handicaps, such as outermost regions, regions with very low population density, islands, cross-border and mountain regions.

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