Bermondsey ILPer Joe Cragie’s handwritten memoir was discovered by his family, Matthew and Marion Rowley, and transcribed by Graham Taylor. We reproduce it here as a supplement to Graham’s profile of Cragie and assessment of his role in supporting Ada and Alfred Salter’s Bermondsey Revolution....
The ILP: Past & Present – centenary edition
First published in 1993, the original edition of Barry Winter’s pamphlet provides a lively, frank and well-illustrated account of the ILP’s history – from its grass-roots origins in the 1890s to its role in the 1990s as a principled left pressure group within the Labour Party. Although it’s now sold out, you can still...
Israel-Palestine: Gaza, Ceasefires & the Labour Rift
The debate on Gaza within the Labour Party has polarised around the whether or not to support calls for a ceasefire. But this isn’t a binary choice, argues WILL BROWN, as recent developments show....
Can the Forde Report Save Labour’s Broad Church?
The idea of Labour as a broad based political church has been around as long as the party. But it’s come under attack in recent years like never before. NEIL RHODES considers how we can fight back....
ILP@Party Conference: Does Labour’s Broad Church Have a Future?
How should the left respond to the attack on the party’s broad church under the leadership of Keir Starmer? How can we defend Labour Party democracy? What kind of party do we want? Those are the questions under discussion at the ILP’s fringe meeting at this year’s Labour Party conference in Liverpool on Tuesday...
It’s My Party … and I’ll Cry if I Want To
Various Labour leaders have been and gone since she first joined the party more than 40 years ago, but come election time MARY HULL has always been an enthusiastic, door-knocking campaigner. This time is different. Here she explains why the Starmer leadership has tested her loyalty to the limit....
Beyond PR: Why Voting Reform Won’t Save the Left
As a lukewarm supporter of proportional representation, BEN SALTONSTALL is unimpressed by the left’s current enthusiasm for voting reform. PR matters as one part of a broader push for economic, social and democratic change, not because it will save the left....
A Legacy for the Future: The Case for Christian Socialism
If progressive politics is not ethical, how will it ever be attractive, asks CHRIS WILSON, for whom the Christian socialist tradition provides both inspiration and hope....
Labour, Lawson & the Attack on Party Democracy
Neal Lawson’s threatened explulsion from the Labour Party reveals a level of control freakery unprecedented in Labour history. The party’s long traditions of pluralism and tolerance must be upheld....
Democracy Derailed: The Jamie Driscoll Affair
The row over the exclusion of Jamie Driscoll from the longlist of candidates for North East Mayor has rapidly become a major issue in British politics. It does the Labour party no good at all, says DAVID CONNOLLY....
Estonia Calling
Russian aggression is a threat to democrats and progressives everywhere, argues GARY KENT. Just ask the Estonians....
ILP Profiles: Septimus Sweetman – East London’s ‘Eclectic Believer’
Digging through family history, RAYMOND SWEETMAN uncovered the story of his great uncle – an ILP pioneer and ‘middle ranking’ socialist whose long-lost tale deserves to be told....