The Labour left today could do with a few members like Ada Salter, the quietly-spoken, peace-loving ILPer whose pioneering work transformed south-east London in the early decades of the 20th century. MATTHEW BROWN attended the first Ada Salter Day. There have been many reasons in recent weeks to yearn for a different kind of...
Labour in Crisis: A Statement from the ILP
The Labour Party is in mortal danger and the post-referendum crisis that now engulfs it genuinely threatens its very existence as a viable force in British politics....
London to Celebrate Ada Salter Day
Ada Salter’s 150th birthday will be celebrated in south east London on the weekend of 15-16 July with a series of events to mark the extraordinary legacy of this pioneering ILPer on the people and politics of Bermondsey, London and the country....
Ada Salter and the Origins of Ethical Socialism
In writing his lauded biography of ILPer Ada Salter, GRAHAM TAYLOR began to wonder about the ILP’s ethical socialism. In a recent lecture to the Socialist History Society, he traced the history of those ideas and values which the Salters epitomised through their lives in south east London. I must start with a confession. When...
The ILP and the Spanish Civil War
Even after 80 years the role of the ILP in the Spanish Civil War is still a controversial topic. Its role was minor, says CHRISTOPHER HALL, but the contribution and sacrifice of ILP volunteers deserves to be remembered. George Orwell’s ‘Homage to Catalonia’ is still the most famous and most read book about the Spanish...
Hunting for the Real Keir Hardie
We should remember ‘diverse Keir Hardies’, argues DAVID HOWELL, versions of the ILP founder that stretch beyond the simplicities of socialist canonisation and patronising dismissal, but never attain the dubious establishment honour of ‘national treasure’....
ILP Profiles: David Rhys Jones – Welsh Socialist Pioneer
MARTIN WRIGHT assesses the life and contribution of David Rhys Jones, a little-known ILPer and early campaigner for Welsh socialism....
The Housing Crisis and the Struggle for Affordable Homes
The government’s housing policies are aimed directly at people with the fewest resources and the lowest resistance, says ELLEN ROBOTTOM – which means community campaigns such as hers are more vital than ever. In his discussion of the Housing and Planning Bill, Dr Quintin Bradley explored an increasingly familiar characteristic of ‘welfare’ policy: namely, that...
Ada Salter Talk at Marx Memorial Library
Author Graham Taylor will deliver a Socialist History Society lecture on the pioneering ILPer and feminist Ada Salter at London’s Marx Memorial Library on Tuesday 26 April....
The Left, the ILP and the Corbyn Leadership
JONATHAN TIMBERS wants to kickstart the left (and the ILP) into discussing the major challenges facing Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership. We all have responsibility to come up with some answers....
Walter Ayles Plaque to be Unveiled
A blue plaque to commemorate ILPer and conscientious objector Walter Ayles will be unveiled in Bristol on Sunday 17 April, exactly 100 years to the day since he was arrested for campaigning against the Military Service Act of 1916....
Salters Play to Tour London
Politic Man, Alison Mead’s play about pioneering ILPers Ada and Alf Salter, is all set to go ahead with performances lined up at venues across London in May and June....