Keir Hardie dedicated himself to ‘constant agitation’ and left a singular political legacy in the form of the Labour Party. David Connolly reviews What Would Keir Hardie Say?, a book of essays published last September to coincide with the centenary of Hardie’s death. Keir Hardie is an iconic figure in the history of the Labour...
What Attlee Can Teach Us About Charity and Socialism
Charitable giving keeps corporate capitalism and wealthy individuals in control, but adds nothing to the health of society, says STEVE THOMPSON. And so did Clement Attlee....
John McNair’s Spanish Diary
With the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, John McNair became the ILP’s representative in Barcelona, channelling money and medical supplies to support the republican cause and liaising with the ILP contingent which fought alongside the POUM militia. McNair’s graphic account of the war was reprinted in the ILP’s Socialist Leader in 1974 and later...
The Corbyn Effect
Converting supporters and new members into active campaigners is the challenge for Labour today, but will Momentum help? asks MIKE DAVIS. Democratic socialism is back on the agenda. For the first time in 30 years members and supporters are talking about what socialism means in the 21st century. If the Corbyn leadership can be sustained...
ILP Profiles: Mary Barbour – Govan’s Local Hero
CATRIONA BURNESS marks the centenary of the Glasgow rent strikes with a narrative account of the life of Mary Barbour, the ILPer who lent her name to the ‘army’ of women who led resistance to profit-hungry property owners 100 years ago. The Remember Mary Barbour Association is campaigning to see a statue raised to Barbour...
Remembering the Rent Strikes 100 Years On
The life of ILPer Mary Barbour will be centre stage at Glasgow’s Tron Theatre in November when a heralded play about the 1915 rent strikes returns to the city to mark the centenary of that historic struggle....
Which Way to Labour’s Radical Future?
Election defeat and Corbyn’s victory framed the discussions at the ILP’s joint conference with Compass last weekend where the prospects of Labour’s renewal and signs of radical hope were uppermost in people’s minds....
Keir Hardie Centenary Conference
The Working Class Movement Library will be marking the centenary of the death of James Keir Hardie with a conference to celebrate the impact he had on British society and the legacy he left for those who followed....
Keir Hardie: Evangelist and Strategist
In this chapter from a new book on Keir Hardie, BARRY WINTER argues that the Labour Party founder’s political life and ethical socialism can still serve as a beacon for the left in today’s increasingly unstable world....
Keir Hardie Centenary Celebrations
‘The Keir Hardie Factor’ at the Edinburgh Festival tomorrow (Thursday 27 August) is the first of a series of events being held across the country over the next month to mark the centenary of the Labour Party founder’s death on 26 September 1915....
The Revolt No-One Saw Coming
With support for Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour leadership campaign apparently growing by the day, what should the left make of this revolt from the blue? DAVID CONNOLLY crosses his fingers and pins his colours to the Corbyn mast....
Reading the Past
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....