Author: gregorybillam

Bursary reports, Research bursaries

Lewis Willcox (St Andrews) on the rural labour movement in Scotland, c.1918-1935.

The ‘Celtic Fringe’ is a somewhat unorthodox location for a labour historian to conduct archival research. Beyond the dynamics of agrarian protest between the 1880s and the 1920s, studied by historians such as Jim Hunter, Eric Hobsbawm, Iain Robertson, and Neville Kirk’s study of industrial unrest in Ballachulish, rural Scotland has received little attention from labour history. My PhD thesis aims to challenge the prevailing … Continue reading Lewis Willcox (St Andrews) on the rural labour movement in Scotland, c.1918-1935.

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Labour history news

Historical Studies in Industrial Relations 2025 now online

The latest issue of Historical Studies in Industrial Relations (Vol. 46, September 2025) is now available online via Liverpool University Press (subscription required). Table of contents Research Articles‘History through Literary Imagination: Portrayals of Worker Representation and Collective Action in Condition-of-England Novels, c.1830-1855’Michael Gold ‘The Rise and Demise of the Institute for Workers’ Control, 1964-1985′Alan Tuckman Essays‘Industrial Relations, 1975 to 2025’Richard Hyman ‘Michael Burawoy and the Manufacturing of … Continue reading Historical Studies in Industrial Relations 2025 now online

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Books etc, Commentary

Revisiting A.L. Morton

A.L. Morton and the Radical Tradition by James Crossley, Palgrave Macmillan, 2025. 432pp. In his heyday, the Marxist historian, literary critic and journalist A.L. Morton (1903-1987) was admired by and influenced, now more famous contemporaries such as Eric Hobsbawm and Christopher Hill. While his most popular work, A People’s History of England (1938), still remains in print across several languages, apart from a small coterie … Continue reading Revisiting A.L. Morton

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Labour history news

Charles Glyde’s The Bradford Socialist Vanguard is now available online

Researchers and labour historians can now get access to The Bradford Socialist Vanguard via The British Newspaper Archive. Launched in 1908 by its editor Charles Glyde, the paper was to ‘be run in the interest of the wage-earners’ as an alternative to ‘chaotic capitalism’. Originaly costing just one halfpenny as a monthly edition, it is available in two runs from 1908-10 and 1912-1920. The Bradford … Continue reading Charles Glyde’s The Bradford Socialist Vanguard is now available online

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Labour history news

ILHS publishes directory of historic trade unions online

The Historical Directory of Trade Unions in Ireland, first published in 2017 by the Irish Labour History Society and the Working Class Movement Library, is now online. Both the original 616-page directory, edited by Francis Devine and John B. Smethurst, and a substantial 38-page update compiled by Devine, can be found on the ILHS website, and are free to download in PDF format. The directory, … Continue reading ILHS publishes directory of historic trade unions online

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