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....
Unbalanced Britain: Benn to put Education in the Spotlight
Education will come under the spotlight at the ILP’s next Unbalanced Britain seminar on 4 March when writer and campaigner Melissa Benn will speak about the Labour Party’s response to the last decade of education reforms....
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...
Salters Play to Open in London
A new play about pioneering ILPers Ada and Alfred Salter is heading to south east London next month after a long battle for funding by its writer and director, Alison Mead....
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...
Refugees, Women and the Grunwick Strike
The co-author of a seminal account of “the strike that changed the rules of the game” will be giving a special one-off talk at Canary Wharf in London’s Docklands on Sunday 27 November to mark the publication of a second edition of his book about the dispute, Grunwick: The Workers’ Story....
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...
Radical Readings for Salford’s Radical Library
Actors Christopher Eccleston, Sheila Hancock, Julie Hesmondhalgh, Mike Joyce and Maxine Peake will all be reading extracts from radical works of literature and history as part of the Working Class Movement LIbrary’s second ‘Radical Readings’ fundraiser on Sunday 27 November....
Historic Cable Street Pamphlet Republished
The ILP has republished a first-hand account of the Battle of Cable Street to mark the 80th anniversary of the day in 1936 when the people of London’s east end united to halt Oswald Mosley and his British Union of Fascists (BUF) from marching through Stepney....