The pre-war ILP plays a leading role in two new books of contrasting types – one a novel set in north east England, the other a radical ramblers’ guide to the capital. MATTHEW BROWN follows the literary and geographical traces of our past....
One Man Against the War
HOLLIE BUSH tells the tale of Alf Myers, an ILPer and ironstone miner from a small Teesside village, whose refusal to fight in World War One almost cost him his life. Many lived through the conflict of World War One. Some fought in it, some lived it out on the home front – in Teesside,...
The ILP’s Story and What it Tells Us
The story of the Independent Labour Party and what it teaches us will be under discussion in Wakefield on Saturday 9 May....
Remembering Bristol’s Anti-War Hero
Until recently Walter Ayles was almost a forgotten figure in Bristol. But a new group is reminding the city of a man who opposed the First World War from its jingoistic beginning to its bitter end. COLIN THOMAS explains why the group is campaigning for a blue plaque to honour his memory. Bristol’s Remembering...
Red Flag Over Bermondsey
A new play about the remarkable London ILPer, Ada Salter, will be performed live in Birmingham for the first time next Saturday, 21 March, before it sets out on a tour of venues across the country over the next few months....
Growing Up in an ILP Household
It is with great sadness that we learned recently of the death of the ILP’s oldest member, Jennie Cuthbert. Jennie died peacefully in her sleep on Monday 9 March. Her lifelong membership of the ILP provided a living link between the modern organisation and the party’s earliest decades. ...
Housing and the Class Struggle
Housing, home ownership and the right to an affordable home are set to be big issues at this year’s general election, and they will be the focus of discussion at the next Wakefield Socialist History Group meeting this Saturday, 28 February....
The Breaking and Making of Guernica
‘Guernica – the destruction of a town and the creation of a masterpiece’ is the theme for this year’s International Brigade Memorial Trust annual conference in Manchester on Saturday 7 March....
Urgent Appeal from the Working Class Movement Library
The Working Class Movement Library in Salford, home to some of the ILP’s archives, has launched an urgent appeal to raise funds....
Full Reading of Salters Play
A full reading of Alison Mead’s play ‘Politic Man’, about pioneering ILPers Alf and Ada Salter, will be staged in Kent on Monday 24 November....
WWI: Lest We Forget
One hundred years on from the start of World War One, PAUL SIMPSON remembers the tale of a Durham ILPer and conscientious objector who died in prison for his anti-war beliefs. As we approach Remembrance Day on the centenary of the outbreak of the First World War, I am reminded of an account I read...
WWI: Communities of Resistance
Cyril Pearce will introduce ideas from his forthcoming book on British conscientious objectors in a talk at the Experience Barnsley Museum and Discovery Centre on Saturday 8 November....