Labour history news

Public inquiry into ‘Battle of Orgreave’ begins work

An independent statutory Orgreave Inquiry promised by the Labour Party in its 2024 general election manifesto has formally begun work following publication by the government of its terms of reference. The Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign, which has long campaigned for justice for those caught up in the events at the Orgreave coking plant at the height of the miners’ strike, said that while it … Continue reading Public inquiry into ‘Battle of Orgreave’ begins work

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Events

CfP: Edinburgh Companion to Modern Scottish Political History

Naomi Lloyd-Jones (History of Parliament) and Malcolm Petrie (University of St Andrews) have issued a call for papers for their new Companion to Modern Scottish Political History. Call for Papers deadline Monday 18 May 2026 The volume will represent a significant historiographical intervention, providing a comprehensive account of Scottish politics from the Union of 1707 to the early twenty-first century as well as a stimulating … Continue reading CfP: Edinburgh Companion to Modern Scottish Political History

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Bursary reports, Research bursaries

Theo Christodoulidis (University of Dundee) on industrial Dundee’s female migrant millworkers c.1841-1891.

My research investigates female migrant mill and factory workers housed at asylums and poorhouses in Dundee and its environs between 1841 and 1900. I have spent the last four years digging through primary sources, assessing and analysing recorded manifestations of anomic symptoms, and evidence of anomic experience, drawing on data principally from the Dundee Royal Lunatic Asylum, Montrose Asylum, the Dundee East poorhouse, and the … Continue reading Theo Christodoulidis (University of Dundee) on industrial Dundee’s female migrant millworkers c.1841-1891.

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Bursary reports, Research bursaries

John Russell (Queen Mary University of London) on the Labour Party’s reorientation in Middle Eastern policy following the Suez Crisis.

Financial support from the Society for the Study of Labour History allowed me to fund several research trips to the Labour History Archive and Study Centre at the People’s History Museum in Manchester in 2024 and 2025. These visits were used to research and draft the final chapters of my PhD thesis – an exploration of the Labour Party’s relationship with Zionism in the middle … Continue reading John Russell (Queen Mary University of London) on the Labour Party’s reorientation in Middle Eastern policy following the Suez Crisis.

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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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Events, Labour history news

Call for 2026 SHCG Journal and Conference Submissions 

The organisers are pleased to announce an open call for submissions to the 2026 editions of the Social History Curators Group journal and conference, under the theme of ‘The Long March – Strikes, Protests and Riots Through History’.   Inspired by the centenary of the 1926 General Strike, this year’s theme invites papers that examine how museums and heritage sites engage with stories of strike, protest, rebellion, and resistance. The organisers … Continue reading Call for 2026 SHCG Journal and Conference Submissions 

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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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Books etc

Book: A History of the Scottish Labour Party

A History of the Scottish Labour Party by Dr David Torrance, Edinburgh University Press, 2024. 320pp. The Scottish Labour Party – or rather the Labour Party in Scotland – was the dominant political party in Scotland from the 1950s until the early twenty-first century. It won the largest share of the vote at every UK general election between 1964 and 2010. While its electoral fortunes … Continue reading Book: A History of the Scottish Labour Party

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Labour History Review

Labour History Review essay prize 2026

Entries are invited for the Labour History Review postgraduate essay prize for 2026. The deadline for entries is 30 June 2026, and details are set out below. Download the entry form (Word document). The editors of Labour History Review established this essay prize with the purpose of encouraging a high standard of scholarship amongst postgraduate research students in the United Kingdom and abroad. The winner’s … Continue reading Labour History Review essay prize 2026

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