Author: EditorMC

I am a former journalist by trade, turned labour and family historian with a special interest in Chartism. I launched the Chartist Ancestors website since 2003, and am currently a member of the Society for the Study of Labour History executive committee, managing its website and social media in my free time.
Events, Grants

Report: the history and legacy of the 1984/5 miners’ strike

Keith Gildart reports on a conference/symposium on the History and Legacy of the 1984/5 Miners’ Strike, held at the National Coal Mining Museum for England This year marked the fortieth anniversary of the end of the miners’ strike of 1984/5. This seismic event is now widely regarded as one of the key-turning points in post-war British history. In recent years a number of books, articles, … Continue reading Report: the history and legacy of the 1984/5 miners’ strike

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Labour History Review, SSLH news

Labour History Review celebrates 90th edition

We are pleased to announce that Labour History Review is celebrating the publication of its 90th edition. Published in association with Liverpool University Press, alongside the book series Studies in Labour History, LHR and its predecessor, the Society for the Study of Labour History Bulletin, has since 1960 explored the working lives and politics of ‘ordinary’ people and has played a key role in redefining social and political history. … Continue reading Labour History Review celebrates 90th edition

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Labour History Review

Labour History Review Volume 90 (2025), issue 1

Labour History Review Volume 90 (2025), Issue 1 has now been published. The journal appears both in hard copy and online formats.  In this issue… We begin with a round-table discussion of Keir Starmer’s Labour Government in historical perspective. The editors note that if, six months on, the signs might not be as positive as we would like, the election of Starmer’s Labour nevertheless represents … Continue reading Labour History Review Volume 90 (2025), issue 1

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Labour History Review

Round Table: The Starmer Labour Government in Historical Perspective

Contributors: Peter Gurney, Laura Beers, Lawrence Black, Malcolm Petrie, and Martin WrightThis is the abstract of an article published in Labour History Review (2025), 90, (1). Read more. The full text of this roundtable article is open access. The election of Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour Party on 5 July 2024 after fourteen years of Conservative (mis)rule may represent an important turning point in British political history. At any … Continue reading Round Table: The Starmer Labour Government in Historical Perspective

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Labour History Review

The Limits to Solidarity: Trade Union Responses to European Workers in Britain, 1945–1948

Author: Avram TaylorThis is the abstract of an article published in Labour History Review (2025), 90, (1). Read more. During the first years of the post-war Labour government (1945–8), three groups of foreign workers were incorporated into the labour force: prisoners of war (POWs), Polish soldiers who had fought with the British, and European volunteer workers (EVWs). This article examines the responses of the trade union movement to … Continue reading The Limits to Solidarity: Trade Union Responses to European Workers in Britain, 1945–1948

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Labour History Review

Workforce Disability and the 1949 ‘Ineffectives’ Strike in London Docks

Author: Jim PhillipsThis is the abstract of an article published in Labour History Review (2025), 90, (1). Read more. In April 1949 the employment of thirty-two registered dock workers in London was terminated because they were regarded as ‘ineffective’, incapable physically of performing the job. Their redundancies were briefly resisted through strike action. This ended when the Labour government threatened to prosecute strike leaders. The episode highlighted the … Continue reading Workforce Disability and the 1949 ‘Ineffectives’ Strike in London Docks

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Labour History Review

Professor John Samuel Shepherd (5 May 1942–20 November 2024): A Reflection

Author: Keith LaybournThis is the abstract of an article published in Labour History Review (2025), 90, (1). Read more. Professor John Samuel Shepherd has been one of the leading historians of British Labour history and of the British Labour Party for more than thirty years. He was something of a late developer who felt that he had had to overcome the constraints of his working-class background to pursue … Continue reading Professor John Samuel Shepherd (5 May 1942–20 November 2024): A Reflection

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Labour History Review

Book reviews in Labour History Review volume 90 (2025), Issue 1

The books listed below are reviewed in Labour History Review (2024), 89, (3). Read more. Joseph Stanley reviews John Sanders, Workers of Their Own Emancipation: Working-Class Leadership and Organisation in the West Riding Textile District, 1829–1839, London: Breviary Stuff Publications, 2024, pp. xii + 536, p/b, £24.99, ISBN 978 19161 58672 John Cunningham reviews Peter Gray, William Sharman Crawford and Ulster Radicalism, Dublin: UCD Press, 2023, pp. xix + 467, … Continue reading Book reviews in Labour History Review volume 90 (2025), Issue 1

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Events

Play: Chopped Liver and Unions

Manchester Jewish Museum is hosting a performance of the one-woman play Chopped Liver and Unions on Thursday 1 May to mark International Workers’ Day. The play is based on the life of Sara Wesker, a Jewish trade unionist and activist in the Communist Party of Great Britain who led the “singing strikers” walk-out at the Rego Factory in London’s Bethnal Green in 1928, stood on … Continue reading Play: Chopped Liver and Unions

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