In trying to change society the ILP has, throughout its history, been challenging the ‘common sense’ ideas of the time....
‘A triumph for activism’
The Working Class Movement Library, which houses some of the ILP archives, has won the national Museums at Night contest to stage an international artist event in May. The Salford-based library beat Quay Arts on the Isle of Wight and the Guernsey Museum in a public vote described as 'a triumph of activism' by its...
Vote for the hidden treasure of the working class
The Working Class Movement Library, which houses some of the ILP archives, has been shortlisted in the Arts Council-funded Museums at Night competition to win an artist to appear in an event at the library in May. Museums at Night is an annual after-hours celebration when hundreds of museums, galleries, libraries, archives and heritage...
Mitchell foundation to launch in Bradford
The newly-formed Hannah Mitchell Foundation is holding its public launch in the Banqueting Hall of Bradford City Hall, at 1.15pm on Friday 9 March....
Orwell anniversary trip to Catalonia
The Porta de la Historia co-operative is organising a weekend trip to Catalonia to commemorate the 75th anniversary of George Orwell’s wounding outside Huesca....
The ILP: Past & Present (1993)
4. War & After The ILP in the 30s Despite its numerical decline, the ILP remained a significant political force throughout the thirties. In addition, it retained a small but vocal parliamentary presence until Jimmy Maxton’s death in 1946. But, if disaffiliation appeared to resolved the ILP’s dilemma about its role as a left...
It was 119 years ago today
It was on this day, 13th January, 119 years ago that 120 or so young, working class, mainly male delegates gathered at the Labour Institute in Bradford to found the Independent Labour Party. ...
Hannah Mitchell Inspires the North
PAUL SALVESON traces the life of early ILPer Hannah Mitchell and explains why her kind of politics is still an inspiration today. When I was getting interested in working class history, back in the early 1970s, I was fascinated by a book called The Hard Way Up. It was written by a Northern working class...
The ILP: Past & Present (1993)
3. Labour’s Rise & Disaffiliation Labour’s Rise From 1918 Labour’s star was in the ascendant. Within four years it held over 140 parliamentary seats and it began to eclipse the Liberals. Other factors lay behind Labour’s rise. In 1918, under the influence of both Sidney Webb, the leading Fabian, and Arthur Henderson, the Labour...
The ILP: Past & Present (1993)
Strongholds of the ILP The ILP had branches across Britain. In some places, it was not only strong but influential. Growth depended heavily on local political and economic conditions, and on the qualities and energies of the people drawn to the “rising sun of socialism”. England & Wales The first strongholds of the ILP...
The ILP: Past & Present (1993)
Socialism did not begin with the ILP. But the ILP created a unique blend of socialism. Not only did it achieve independent representation for labour and links with the trade unions, it also worked outside the formal political structures....
The ILP: Past & Present (1993)
From the beginning, the ILP accepted women and men as equal members and, as early as 1895, it supported the extension of the vote to both women and men....