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.
Labour History Review

How British was Larkinism? Big Jim Larkin and the British Labour Movement, 1907–1914

Author: Emmet O’ConnorThis is the abstract of an article published in Labour History Review (2023), 88, (3), 199-219. Read more. Born in Liverpool in 1874, Big Jim Larkin always insisted that he was Irish. No historian has ever challenged him on the claim, or seen him as anything other than a uniquely Irish figure. And yet there was a British dimension to Larkin’s outlook. Liverpool gave him a … Continue reading How British was Larkinism? Big Jim Larkin and the British Labour Movement, 1907–1914

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Labour History Review

‘Sunderland Has Lost a Figure That Will Go Down in History’: Marion Phillips in the North East of England, 1923–1932

Author: Sarah HellawellThis is the abstract of an article published in Labour History Review (2023), 88, (3), 221-243. Read more. Selected as the Labour Party’s chief woman officer in 1918, Dr Marion Phillips played a prominent role in the British labour women’s movement before, during and after the Great War. However, her brief stint as Labour MP for Sunderland between 1929 and 1931 has not attracted the same … Continue reading ‘Sunderland Has Lost a Figure That Will Go Down in History’: Marion Phillips in the North East of England, 1923–1932

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Labour History Review

Of Red Flags and Red Dragons: Welsh Labour History in Retrospect and Prospect

Author: Martin WrightThis is the abstract of an article published in Labour History Review (2023), 88, (3), 245-272. Read more. Welsh labour historiography has been dominated by the history of the south Wales miners, with the north Wales quarrymen occupying second place, and other groups of workers having received less attention. This is partly due to the dominant assumptions of labour historians which are tied up with ideas … Continue reading Of Red Flags and Red Dragons: Welsh Labour History in Retrospect and Prospect

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Labour History Review

Obituary: Dick Geary (1945–2021)

Author: Chris WrigleyThis is the abstract of an article published in Labour History Review (2023), 88, (3), 273-278. Read more. Richard John Geary was born in Leicester on 17 December 1945. He was a historian of international reputation. He spent much time in Germany, Australia, and Brazil. ‘Dick Geary legend – once met, never forgotten’, as Ian Kershaw put it at the start of his oration at Dick’s … Continue reading Obituary: Dick Geary (1945–2021)

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Labour History Review

Book reviews in Labour History Review Volume 88 (2023), Issue 3

The books listed below are reviewed in Labour History Review (2023), 88, (3), 279-293. Read more. Hester Barron reviews Agnes Arnold-Forster and Alison Moulds (eds), Feelings and Work in Modern History: Emotional Labour and Emotions about Labour, London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2022, pp. xii + 265, h/b, £85, ISBN 978 13501 97183 Micaela Panes reviews Daryl Leeworthy, Causes in Common: Welsh Women and the Struggle for Social Democracy, Cardiff: University of Wales … Continue reading Book reviews in Labour History Review Volume 88 (2023), Issue 3

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Commentary

In tune: Bandiera Rossa

This stirring anthem of the Italian Left was also once popular with Labour Party activists, as Mark Crail recalls. Bandiera Rossa(Music, traditional; lyrics, Carlo Tuzzi, 1908) Bandiera Rossa may share its title with The Red Flag, but there the similarities end. There is no room here for dungeons dark or gallows grim, let alone any martyred dead. The Italian labour movement’s anthem is, rather, an … Continue reading In tune: Bandiera Rossa

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Commentary

In tune: March of the Women

Janette Martin takes us back to the early years of the twentieth century and the fight for the franchise with a rousing suffragette anthem. March of the WomenEiddwen Harrhy (Ethel Smyth and Cicely Hamilton, 1910) March of the Women is a rousing number that became the official anthem of the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU). Perfect for marching and for large meetings, it was … Continue reading In tune: March of the Women

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Labour history news

Scottish Labour History, 2023

The new issue of Scottish Labour History for 2023 is out now, with more than 250 pages of notices and reports, articles, shorter ‘profiles in Scottish labour history’ and an extensive book reviews section. Published by the Scottish Labour History Society, volume 58 opens with an introduction by Gregor Gall and Jim Phillips, who note the one hundredth anniversary on 23 November of the death … Continue reading Scottish Labour History, 2023

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Commentary

In tune: Wham Rap! (Enjoy What You Do)

In a period when heteronormative masculinity was in crisis, Wham! redefined young masculinity as having fun, having camaraderie, and removing identity from work. And as Vic Clarke argues, what they said in the 1980s still resonates today. Wham Rap! (Enjoy What You Do)Wham! (George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley, 1983) In 1982, Margaret Thatcher’s government entered the military into the Falklands War, Terrence Higgins became one … Continue reading In tune: Wham Rap! (Enjoy What You Do)

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Commentary

In tune: Captain Swing

This modern take on the Swing Riots of the 1830s raised eyebrows when Graham Moore performed it in Whitby Conservative Club, recalls Keith Laybourn. Captain SwingGraham Moore (Graham Moore, 1995) In folk clubs circles, Graham Moore’s name is synonymous with songs of protest. Some may know him as a leading folk singer of fifty years standing, some as a co-founder of the Tolpuddle Martyrs annual … Continue reading In tune: Captain Swing

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