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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Labour history news

The Making of the English Working Class: sixtieth anniversary broadcasts

This year sees the sixtieth anniversary of the publication of E.P. Thompson’s influential and much admired The Making of the English Working Class (Victor Gollancz, 1963). BBC Radio Three’s The Essay this week marks the event with a series of five programmes under the title ‘The Enormous Condescension of Posterity’ – a phrase taken from Thompson’s preface. The series runs nightly at 22:45 for 15 minutes from Monday … Continue reading The Making of the English Working Class: sixtieth anniversary broadcasts

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Commentary

In tune: Foster’s Mill

A song commemorating the Luddite attack on Foster’s Mill survives only in fragments but helps provide an insight into community solidarity in this early period of labour history, writes Joe Stanley. Foster’s MillBill Price (traditional) Most labour historians will be familiar with West Riding Luddism in 1812. E.P. Thompson paid particular attention to the movement, and stressed its political undertones, in chapter 14 of The … Continue reading In tune: Foster’s Mill

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Commentary

In tune: Des Métallos

In the third of our continuing series on labour history in song, Constance Bantman shares Massilia Sound System’s take on deindustrialization and gentrification in Marseille. Des MétallosMassilia Sound System (Massilia Sound System, 1995) Trust the famously political Marseillais reggae band Massilia Sound System to write a song dissecting the deindustrialization and gentrification of France’s second largest city and make a joyful banger out of it. … Continue reading In tune: Des Métallos

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