Bob Smillie: A Moving Tribute to a Brave Man

MARIADO HINOJOSA reports on a day of tribute and remembrance in Valencia on Tuesday 14 May when one of the ILP’s most prominent Spanish Civil War volunteers was honoured with a specially commissioned plaque in the cemetery that holds his grave. Like all stories of idealism and fraternity, this is also a story of love...

The Interwar ILP – Lessons for Today?

IAN BULLOCK assesses the record of the ILP between the wars and seeks to draw a few lessons for Labour and the left today. All in all, he says, the influence of the radical and democratic ILP on the Labour Party of the later 20th century was an extremely positive one....

Accessing the ILP Archives

The ILP archives at the London School of Economics is regarded as a “key heritage collection” by the library’s politics curator, DANIEL PAYNE. It contains a huge variety of fascinating material dating from the organisation’s birth 125 years ago, and covering much of its rich history as a significant force in shaping the outlook...

Between the Wars

The period between the two world wars was one of the most turbulent in political history. The events of that time had a profound impact on the ILP and the development of British left-wing politics, as Ian Bullock describes in his important new book, Under Siege, reviewed here by HARRY BARNES. After setting the scene...

Voting Behaviour

Behind the leadership of Emmeline Pankhurst were many lesser-known figures in the Votes for Women campaign in the north of England, some of them members of the ILP. ANTONIA CHARLESWORTH remembers their contribution to the fight for women’s suffrage and profiles one Lancashire ILPer who played her part. Manchester’s place in the history of...