Events, Grants

The fragmentation of labour over imperial and racial issues, 1870s-1920s

Steven Parfitt reports from a conference at which he and other labour historians addressed issues of race and empire facing the seafarers’ union and outposts of the US Knights of Labor in Britain and elsewhere. Report on the Conference ‘Fragmented Powers: Confrontation and Cooperation in the English-speaking World’ From 23 to 25 June 2022, Yann Béliard, Joe Redmayne and I took part in the ‘Fragmented Powers’ conference, organised … Continue reading The fragmentation of labour over imperial and racial issues, 1870s-1920s

Unknown's avatarEditorMC
Commentary, Labour history news

Stalinism and ultra-leftism: a warning from history – the leadership of the CPGB, 1928-1934

Alan Campbell and John McIlroy share headline findings from their research into the leadership of the Communist Party of Great Britain during the Comintern’s Third Period, 1928–1934. In a recent article for Labor History, we continue our extended prosopographical study of leading British Communists between the wars. It reports on a survey of the 66 members who served on the Central Committee (CC) of the … Continue reading Stalinism and ultra-leftism: a warning from history – the leadership of the CPGB, 1928-1934

Unknown's avatarEditorMC
Documents & objects

Introducing Labour’s women MPs, 1929

When the Labour Party returned to power in 1929 to form its second minority government, the number of Labour women MPs doubled from four to nine. In this short newsreel, which would have been shown in cinemas all over the country, Margaret Bondfield introduces her colleagues – four of whom had been re-elected in the general election held on 30 May that year, and five … Continue reading Introducing Labour’s women MPs, 1929

Unknown's avatarEditorMC
Research bursaries

Petra Seitz (UCL) looks at office design and asks: where do you cry in an open plan office?

Where do you cry in an open plan office? This is the emotional question lingering in the back of my thoughts as I complete research into commercial office interior spaces and the relationship of these spaces to the labour process. My research seeks to revisit the history of office spaces, considering and unpicking the relationship between the design of office interiors and the experience of … Continue reading Petra Seitz (UCL) looks at office design and asks: where do you cry in an open plan office?

Unknown's avatarEditorMC
Books etc

Fighting Deindustrialisation: Scottish Women’s Factory Occupations, 1981-1982

The fight led by women workers against factory closures in early 1980s Scotland has been largely ignored in both popular and academic history, argues Andy Clark. His new book aims to bring their story in from the margins and restore the gender balance in accounts of the fight against deindustrialisation. Popular accounts of industrial closure and working-class resistance in the 1980s overwhelmingly focus on the … Continue reading Fighting Deindustrialisation: Scottish Women’s Factory Occupations, 1981-1982

Unknown's avatarEditorMC
Obituaries

Stephen Frederick Roberts (1958-2022)

Stephen Roberts, who has died aged 64, was a political, social and cultural historian of Victorian Britain whose focus over more than four decades was on Chartism and the city of Birmingham, two topics on which he was both expert and passionate. Stephen was born in Sutton Coldfield, and his commitment to and fascination with his home town was life long. He first encountered Chartism … Continue reading Stephen Frederick Roberts (1958-2022)

Unknown's avatarEditorMC
Labour History Review, SSLH news

LHR postgraduate essay prize 2023

Postgraduates are encouraged to submit articles for consideration for the 2023 essay prize to the editors of Labour History Review. This annual prize awards £500 for the best essay, which will be published in the LHR.  The essay prize is open to anyone currently registered for a higher research degree, in Britain or abroad, or to anyone who completed such a degree no earlier than February 2020. … Continue reading LHR postgraduate essay prize 2023

Unknown's avatarEditorMC
Labour history news

From New Dawn to Labour Prophet: taking union journals to a wider audience

Since shifting its approach on digitisation to make as many union journals as possible available online, the Modern Records Centre has managed to scan a vast quantity of material and make it available free of charge to researchers, as Liz Wood explains. After two years of steady scanning, the Modern Records Centre at the University of Warwick has hit the milestone of 100,000 pages of … Continue reading From New Dawn to Labour Prophet: taking union journals to a wider audience

Unknown's avatarEditorMC
Bursary reports, MA & BA bursaries

Jamie Ferris (Northumbria) on British reactions to the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan

National responses to an invasion are often thought about in simplified terms, seeing it as an outrage. This was even more true of invasions during the Cold War. Britain’s response to the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan is coloured by this Cold War lens, with anti-communist figures such as Margaret Thatcher condemning the war and following the USA in taking action against the USSR. My … Continue reading Jamie Ferris (Northumbria) on British reactions to the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan

Unknown's avatarEditorMC
Books etc

Bread not profits: a story of celebration and regret

Bread Not Profits: Provincial Working-Class Politics During the Irish RevolutionFrancis Devine & Fearghal Mac Bhloscaidh (eds), Dublin: Umiskin Press, May 2022, h/b €48.50, pb €40.00 (UK including postage) The latest collection from the estimable Umiskin [labour history] Press, of Dublin, is notable for carrying the story of Irish working class mobilisation beyond the metropolitan centres and into the regions of Ireland during the revolutionary period … Continue reading Bread not profits: a story of celebration and regret

Unknown's avatarEditorMC