IAN BULLOCK marks the centenary of the Russian Revolution by arguing that the profoundly anti-political stance that took root among Leninists had dire and lasting consequences for socialism in the west....
The Strike that Changed the Rules
BARRY WINTER reviews the second edition of Jack Dromey and Graham Taylor’s book about the Grunwick dispute which has been republished by Lawrence & Wishart to mark the strike’s 40th anniversary. Forty years ago an amazing trade-union struggle took place in Brent in north London. Beginning very locally at the Grunwick Photo Processing Plant in...
Hall’s Political Writings to be Published in January
A new selection of the late Stuart Hall’s political writings is to be published in January by Lawrence & Wishart, and is available now for pre-order from the publisher’s website....
New Labour and the Roots of Labour’s Crisis, Part 2
HARRY BARNES continues his investigation of the state of Labour, looking at the failures of the Miliband leadership, the basis for Jeremy Corbyn’s triumph and the prospects for party unity. I have never met Ed Miliband and only went to hear one or two of his platform speeches. However, I do feel that he was...
Orgreave: Still Waiting for Justice
The news that there will not be a public inquiry into the events at Orgreave during the 1984-85 miners’ strike was described by Labour’s Andy Burnham as ‘an estabishment stitch-up’. GERRY LAVERY recalls what happened 32 years ago and reports on the campaigners’ fights for justice. The news that there will not be a public...
A Visit to Glen Cottage
STEVE THOMPSON visited a Lancashire youth hostel this summer and found a memorial to one of the ILP’s founders and pioneers that is now fighting to survive. For a long time I have intended to get to know more about Lancashire, so in June this year I looked up a youth hostel in the county...
New Labour and the Roots of Labour’s Crisis, Part 1
In the first of a two-part examination of the state of the Labour Party, HARRY BARNES looks at the roots of Jeremy Corbyn’s rise and the Party’s turmoil. He begins with New Labour’s emergence after the death of John Smith. I start by referring to a period during my own time as an MP when...
They Did Not Pass
They Did Not Pass: 300,000 Workers Say NO to Mosley is a contemporary ILP account of the Battle of Cable Street on 4 October 1936 when the people of the east end of London united to halt Oswald Mosley and his British Union of Fascists (BUF) from marching through Stepney. The ILP was one...
Corbyn Urged to Speak Out on Syria
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has been urged to speak out against “the ongoing slaughter of civilians by Russian and Assad-regime forces in Syria” by party members, Momentum activists and socialists, including many self-declared Corbyn supporters. Signatories to the open letter, published online on 3 October, declare their “wholehearted” agreement with Corbyn’s opposition to militarism and...
The Housing Crisis Analysed
The ILP has launched a new pamphlet based on its Unbalanced Britain seminar on the housing crisis held in Leeds in March this year....
Peace in the Party? The Candidates’ Plans for Unity
On 22 August, former Labour MP HARRY BARNES wrote a letter to the Guardian posing a challenge to the two candidates for the Labour Party leadership. He wrote: “Before I fill in my Labour party ballot paper, I would like to know … how (if elected) they will bring about peace and reconciliation within the...
Labour on the Brink: What Future for the Party?
With an unprecedented level of uncertainty about Labour’s future, the ILP is organising a conference for members and friends at the Rose Bowl in Leeds on 15 October to discuss the crisis and how to pull the Party together. Book now....