A new Left Book Club will launch this autumn in an attempt to revitalise progressive politics in Britain, much as the original LBC did in the 1930s and 1940s....
Why Mhairi Black is Right
In case anyone missed it, here is a link to “the great maiden speech” made by the SNP MP, Mhairi Black. ERNIE JACQUES is among those who believe Labour should support her call for a parliamentary coalition against the cuts....
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,...
Celebrating the History of the Derbyshire Miners
A series of events celebrating the history of the Derbyshire miners are being held in Chesterfield this June, culminating with a ceremony to mark the centenary of the town’s statues of founding miners’ leaders and Labour MPs, James Haslam and William Harvey....
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...
Chartist Unveils its Anti-Austerity Manifesto
In a period awash with party election manifestoes, the left magazine and campaign group, Chartist, has unveiled its own manifesto for “a properly democratic socialist alternative to austerity”. Chartist’s 2015 manifesto is a revised version of one published by its editorial board in 2007 – “the year before financial capitalism fell in on itself”. “Capitalism...
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. ...
One afternoon, 100 Speakers, One Hell-of-an Experience
BARRY WINTER was intrigued, confused and stimulated by the recent Compass carnival in London, the second of its ‘Change: How?’ events....
Kilburn Manifesto: The Conference
Tickets are still available for the Soundings one-day conference in London on 21 February 2015 to celebrate the completion of the Kilburn Manifesto and to discuss and develop its ideas....
Second ‘Change: How?’ Compass Festival Announced
Compass is holding its second ‘Change: How? Festival of Ideas’ in London on Sunday 8 February – a day-long event billed as ‘100 extraordinary people; 100 possible futures; 100 days before a nation decides’....