MATTHEW BROWN reviews two recent books on the early Labour movement – a hefty historical novel focused on the ILP; and a slim pamphlet on the 1924 government. There can’t be many novels that open on the morning of the ILP’s founding conference, let alone a contemporary one. But Bill Broady’s latest opus, The Night-Soil...
Radicals Remembered: Sheffield History from Below
The Sheffield-based co-operative resource centre, Principle 5, has published the sixth title in its series of pamphlets unearthing forgotten writings, writers and radical groups from the South Yorkshire city and its surroundings....
ILP Profiles: Minnie Pallister – The Extraordinary Life of a Forgotten Rebel
Pioneering south Wales ILPer Minnie Pallister was one of the most important feminists, pacifists, socialists and journalists of the 20th century. But her life and legacy have been largely forgotten in recent decades. Author ALUN BURGE aims to put that right....
Rethinking the Past, Revising the Future
Colm Murphy’s engaging new book on recent Labour history is an invaluable companion as the party contemplates another return to power, says GARY KENT. ...
Banners, Bands & the Big Meeting
MARY STRATFORD celebrates the return of Durham Miners’ Gala, explaining how it’s survived for more than 150 years and why it still matters to local people and the wider Labour movement. ‘It remains the greatest celebration of trade union and Labour movement values in the UK … and beyond.’...
The Long-Forgotten Words of a Co-operative Champion
Principle 5, the Sheffield-based co-operative resource centre, has published the latest in its series of re-discovered pamphlets from the history of the co-operative movement, called The Future of Co-operation, written originally in 1927 by Alice Honora Enfield....
Marching Altogether: Lessons of the Jarrow Crusade
MATT PERRY marks the 85th anniversary of the Jarrow Crusade with a call for the revival of the grassroots campaigning politics that roused the marchers on their month-long trek and helped Labour recover from electoral disaster in the 1930s....
The Pit Families’ Powerhouse: Remembering Anne Suddick
Anyone from Northumberland or County Durham involved in the 1984 miners’ strike will know the name of Anne Suddick, who died in January aged 72. Anne was a founding member of Women Against Pit Closures, set up the Durham Miners’ Support Group, and coordinated the Northumberland and Durham Justice for Mineworkers Campaign. MARY STRATFORD...
Historic ILP Paper to have Digital Future
One of the ILP’s earliest publications has been digitised and added to the British Newspaper Archive (BNA), according to the Scottish Labour History Society. ...