The Zine UK

Wortley Hall. A fortress of reclaimed stone standing in the Yorkshire dirt. This is the workers' stately home, a physical manifestation of space seized back from the masters. From 6 to 10 April 2026, the silence of the manicured gardens will be dismantled. Cultures in Resistance (CiR) is not a retreat. It is a five day residential siege on the status quo where art is the ammunition and the collective is the weapon.

Music and culture are not the side show here. They are the engine. The week opens on Monday with the unveiling of Jamie Dodds' majestic triptych of Jimmy Reid and the Upper Clyde Shipbuilders. It is art that breathes the dignity of industrial struggle. TheZineUK is heading north because the music is the movement. Our own Caffy will be taking the stage to speak on the vital necessity of independent media in an era of digital censorship and corporate noise.

The nights are filled with the sound of the front line. Monday night features Music and Protest with Ríoghnach Connolly. And as if you’re not treated enough, TheZineUK favourites Craic Killers will bring their raw, sonic defiance to the hall. This is the unifying power of the beat meeting the steel of the strike. The craic is a revolutionary act.

The intellectual infrastructure is provided by Manifesto Press. They are an independent publishing cooperative rooted in the British labour movement and trade unionism. Its primary function is the production of political education materials that challenge the dominant narratives of capitalist culture. The press operates on a non-profit basis, ensuring that radical history and socialist theory remain accessible to the working class. By providing a platform for voices often excluded from mainstream publishing, they serve as vital infrastructure for the collective memory and intellectual development of the left. They do not just sell books. They forge the theory required for the front line. From the Hans Hess archives to radical histories of the trade union movement, Manifesto Press represents the collective ownership of the word. They are the ink in the veins of the resistance, ensuring that our history is written by the people who lived it.

Explore their tools of the trade at manifestopress.coop

I will be there in the thick of it. During Session Five on Wednesday afternoon, I am interrogating the intersection of Art and Labour in the age of AI. Alongside Phil Katz and the Italian union federation CGIL, we will ask if the algorithm is the new enclosure. We are looking at how technology attempts to fence in the worker's imagination and how we break those fences down. The struggle for space is moving into the digital realm, and we must be ready to occupy it.

The programme is a five-day laboratory of rebellion. Taring Padi (a collective of art workers founded in Yogyakarta, Indonesia in 1998 by a group of progressive art students and activists) will lead puppet-making workshops on Tuesday, turning art into militant action.

Wednesday night brings film screenings of Oliver Tambo's London Recruits (Highly recommended!) and Unsung Hero: The Jack Jones Story. For younger rebels, Thinking Hands offers a five-day youth workshop for 6 to 16-year-olds in banner-making and performance. This is about ensuring the next generation knows how to hold a line and a paintbrush.

This is a once-in-a-generation gathering.

The Red Star is rising over Sheffield.

Join us at the barricades of culture.

Tickets are available now with deep discounts for Morning Star readers. Use code CIR23OFF for tickets or STARCIR26 for the shop.

Book your place here: hanshess.foundation/cultures-in-resistance

The evening events can be booked as stand-alone tickets at the Manifesto Press eventbrite page here https://tinyurl.com/ManifestoPressEventbrite

Follow Manifesto Press and the Hans Hess Foundation across social media and encourage friends, workmates and activists to subscribe to Manifesto Press News & Views e-newsletter at https://actionnetwork.org/forms/manifesto-mailing-list