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.
Commentary

In tune: Think Positive, Act Positive, Vote Labour

Not all songs in labour history turn out to be very inspiring, as this definite dud from the 1983 general election shows all too well, says Mark Crail Think Positive, Act Positive, Vote LabourPerformer unknown (writer unknown, 1983) The song you are about to hear was written for the 1983 general election campaign. Fortunately, someone at Labour Party headquarters had the common sense to block … Continue reading In tune: Think Positive, Act Positive, Vote Labour

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Commentary

In tune: The Manchester Rambler

Our series on labour history and song continues with a Ewan MacColl classic on access to the land that still resonates today, as Hazel Perry remarks The Manchester RamblerEwan MacColl (Ewan McColl, 1932) I can’t remember the first time I heard The Manchester Rambler however, I did hear it many times when attending the ninetieth anniversary celebrations of the Kinder Scout Mass Trespass in Hayfield … Continue reading In tune: The Manchester Rambler

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Commentary

In tune: The Old Poacher’s Song

Jim Connell is best known as the writer of The Red Flag, but his poem The Old Poacher’s Song, set to music and performed by Francis Devine, harks back to the rural Irish radicalism of his youth, says Mike Mecham. The Old Poacher’s Song Francis Devine (Jim Connell, 1900) Irish socialist Jim Connell (1852-1929) is best known as the writer of The Red Flag, an … Continue reading In tune: The Old Poacher’s Song

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Bursary reports, Research bursaries

Eleanor Strangways (Loughborough) on British and French anarchists and anti-imperialist movements in Africa

My PhD research seeks to examine the relationship between anarchism and imperialism, and looks specifically at the interaction between anarchists in Britain and France and the anti-imperial movements and intellectuals across Africa from 1945-1970.   In the summer of 2023, thanks to a bursary from the Society for the Study of Labour History, I had the opportunity to visit two international archive centres: the International Institute … Continue reading Eleanor Strangways (Loughborough) on British and French anarchists and anti-imperialist movements in Africa

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Labour history news

Historical Studies in Industrial Relations, 2023

The new issue of Historical Studies in Industrial Relations (44, 2023) looks at a British printers’ strike for the 40-hour week in 1959 that ended in victory and then spread to other manual workers. In ‘Girls, Wives, Factory Lives: 50 years on’, Anna Pollert revisits her 1970s ethnographic study of women’s working lives at the Churchman tobacco factory in Bristol to discuss her qualitative methodology … Continue reading Historical Studies in Industrial Relations, 2023

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Commentary

In tune: The Ballad of Joe Hill

Continuing our series of songs in labour history, Keith Laybourn discusses a protest ballad performed throughout the twentieth century and into the twenty-first by some of the biggest names in American music. ‘I Dreamed, I Saw Joe Hill Last Night’ is often known as ‘The Ballad of Joe Hill’. I first came across this ballad in the 1960s through a combination of events. From the … Continue reading In tune: The Ballad of Joe Hill

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Events

CfP: Beyond the Fragments: 45 Years On

Call for papers: Beyond the Fragments: 45 Years On Friday 28 June 2024People’s History Museum, ManchesterKeynote speakers: Sheila Rowbotham, Lynne Segal, and Hilary Wainwright 2024 marks the forty-fifth anniversary of the publication of the seminal socialist-feminist text Beyond the Fragments: Feminism and the Making of Socialism. Within its pages, activists Sheila Rowbotham, Lynne Segal and Hilary Wainwright wove sharp political analysis and personal reflections in … Continue reading CfP: Beyond the Fragments: 45 Years On

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