Our annual review of labour history anniversaries takes in the shifting legal framework for trade unions, the first legislation on sex discrimination and equal pay, and the lead up to the General Strike. It starts, however, in 1775 with Thomas Paine, the author of The Rights of Man, and ends in 2000 with the Human Rights Act coming into force. Continue reading Ten labour history anniversaries in 2025
Labour history societies throughout the UK and beyond have published the year-end editions of their journals for 2025. Here we offer a summary of their contents. The round-up includes the journals of : North West Labour History SocietyNorth East Labour History SocietyScottish Labour History SocietyIrish Labour History SocietyAustralian Labour History Society North West History Journal – North West Labour History Society The front cover of … Continue reading Labour history journals round-up, 2024
The Labour History Review index for issues published in 2024 (volume 89) has been added to the website. It is now possible to access copies of the index for every issue of the Society for the Study of Labour History Bulletin (published from 1960 to 1989) and for Labour History Review (from 1990 to date). The index is compiled by Dr Mike Mecham. It is … Continue reading Labour History Review index 2024
Earlier this year, a one-day conference was held to mark 45 years since the publication of the seminal socialist-feminist text, Beyond the Fragments: Feminism and the Making of Socialism. Co-authored by Sheila Rowbotham, Lynne Segal and Hilary Wainwright, the book argued that the Women’s Liberation Movement offered a unique insight for socialist organising at the end of the 1970s, found not just in theory, but … Continue reading Beyond the Fragments: 45 Years On
In the final part of our series on meetings with figures from labour history, Quentin Outram tells the story of miners’ leader Thomas Hepburn’s encounter with mine owner Lord Londonderry, and the two men’s very different lives. Thomas Hepburn (1796-1864) and Charles William Vane, formerly Stewart, 3rd Marquess of Londonderry, KG, GCB, GCH, PC (1778-1854) ‘Where is this great man of yours, your leader Hepburn?’ … Continue reading Class Encounters: Thomas Hepburn, pitmen’s union leader
In the twelfth of our series on meetings with figures from labour history, Gregory Billam encounters Walter Hannington of the National Unemployed Workers’ Movement. Walter Hannington was a young toolmaker from Camden, best known as the National Secretary of the National Unemployed Workers’ Movement (NUWM) during the interwar period. The 1930s, often popularly referred to as the ‘Hungry Thirties’, was a period marked by high … Continue reading Class Encounters: Walter Hannington, unemployed workers activist
In the eleventh of our series on meetings with figures from labour history, Jane Donaldson encounters co-operator, government minister and peer A.V. Alexander. My place of work at the Co-op Archives in Holyoake House in Manchester is among many buildings in an area still known sometimes as the Co-operative Quarter and I am surrounded by collections which tell the history of the co-operative movement. Holyoake … Continue reading Class Encounters: A.V. Alexander, co-operator
In the tenth of our series on meetings with figures from labour history, Liz Wood encounters the Shropshire-born nurse and anti-Franco activist Gwendolyn de Puertas. I first encountered the distinctively named Gertrude Gwendolyn Adams de Puertas about twelve years ago, when digitising Trades Union Congress archives on the Spanish Civil War. Gwendolyn Adams, a Shropshire plumber’s daughter and teenage milliner’s apprentice, was born in 1895. … Continue reading Class Encounters: Gwendolyn Adams de Puertas, Spanish civil war activist
In the ninth of our series on meetings with figures from labour history, Mick Moreton encounters the Wobblies trade union organiser Joseph Ettor Although not a figure from British labour history, my wish would be to meet Joseph Ettor (1885-1948), an American organiser for the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) during the Lawrence ‘Bread and Roses’ strike of 1912. I would ask him about … Continue reading Class Encounters: Joseph Ettor, IWW organiser
In the eighth of our series on meetings with figures from labour history, Keith Flett encounters the Black London Chartist leader William Cuffay. William Cuffay (1788-1870) was born in Medway to a local woman and a descendant of slaves who had come to the area as a sailor. He worked as a tailor in London and became active in the Chartist movement to the extent … Continue reading Class Encounters: William Cuffay, Chartist
