Bursary reports, MA & BA bursaries

Steven Cox (Liverpool John Moores) on the legacy of Labour Party Young Socialists

My dissertation focuses on the individual and political legacy of the Labour Party Young Socialists (LPYS) with particular emphasis on the period 1979 – 1991. This period covers the ideological polarisation of Britain under Thatcher’s premiership. It was also a time when the LPYS grew dramatically to nearly 600 branches by 1985, only to contract and ultimately be closed down by the Labour Party in … Continue reading Steven Cox (Liverpool John Moores) on the legacy of Labour Party Young Socialists

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Commentary

Blood in the Wear: the Sunderland sailors’ strike and the 1825 North Sands massacre

Buried in the records of the Durham Assizes are the proceedings of a coroner’s inquest on the body of a sailor named Thomas Aird. The document reveals details of a dramatic but little-known seamen’s strike that was brutally suppressed by troops under orders from a Sunderland magistrate. In an article for The National Archives website, Dr Joe Cozens, nineteenth century social and political records researcher … Continue reading Blood in the Wear: the Sunderland sailors’ strike and the 1825 North Sands massacre

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Labour history news

Historical Studies in Industrial Relations: the General Strike of 1926

A special virtual issue of Historical Studies in Industrial Relations dealing with the General Strike and mining lockout of 1926 has been published to the Liverpool University Press website. Drawing on articles published in the journal over recent years, it includes an open access selective bibliography compiled by John McIlroy, Alan Campbell, Keith Laybourn, and Quentin Outram running to twenty-four pages. The virtual issue also … Continue reading Historical Studies in Industrial Relations: the General Strike of 1926

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Labour history news

Home Secretary sets up statutory inquiry into 1984 ‘Battle of Orgreave’

The government has announced an independent statutory inquiry into the 1984 ‘Battle of Orgreave’, a key event in the year-long miners’ strike during which thousands of police and miners clashed, leaving 120 people injured. In all, 95 pickets at the South Yorkshire coking plant were arrested and charged with riot and violent disorder. But all charges were dropped after evidence was discredited. There has since been … Continue reading Home Secretary sets up statutory inquiry into 1984 ‘Battle of Orgreave’

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Events

Chartism Day 2025: book now

Chartism Day 2025 will take place on Saturday, 6 September at Heritage Quay, University of Huddersfield. Book your ticket now on Eventbrite PAPERSProfessor Peter Gurney: The Chartist Revolution: an argumentDr Joan Allen Daniel O’Connell, the Chartists and contested understandings of the language of emancipation, 1819-1840Dr Dave Steele: The Powerful Crowd: reputational power and Chartist meetingsProfessor Stephen Milner: Pre-modern Italy and the working class: the renaissance … Continue reading Chartism Day 2025: book now

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Labour History Review

Labour History Review Volume 90 (2025), issue 2

Labour History Review Volume 90 (2025), Issue 2 has now been published. The journal appears both in hard copy and online formats. In this issue… Keith Laybourn and Neil Pye investigate the early political involvement of Eric Heffer in the Communist Party of Great Britain and Socialist Workers’ Federation, and reveal how his experiences and reading shaped his later politics as a leading figure on … Continue reading Labour History Review Volume 90 (2025), issue 2

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Labour History Review

A Rebel with a Cause: Eric Heffer, the Marxist Years, 1938-1958

Author: Keith Laybourn and Neil PyeThis is the abstract of an article published in Labour History Review (2025), 90, (2). Read this article. Eric Heffer, who rose to the top of the Labour Party’s left-wing hierarchy in the 1970s and 1980s, spent much of his early political career in the Communist Party of Great Britain and, after being expelled in 1948, in the Socialist Workers’ Federation, an anti-Communist … Continue reading A Rebel with a Cause: Eric Heffer, the Marxist Years, 1938-1958

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Labour History Review

‘The Workers’ Stately Home’: Wortley Hall in Post-War Britain

Author: Michael BaileyThis is the abstract of an article published in Labour History Review (2025), 90, (2). Read this article. Although there are relatively large bodies of interrelated literature concerning trade unions, industrial politics, workers’ education and leisure in post-war Britain, little has been written about the importance of Wortley Hall (also known as ‘The Workers’ Stately Home’ or ‘Labour’s Home’) as a popular educational and holiday centre … Continue reading ‘The Workers’ Stately Home’: Wortley Hall in Post-War Britain

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Labour History Review

Domestic Service and the Labour Movement in Franco-Era Spain: The Young Christian Workers and the Struggles of Domestic Workers (1960–1976)

Author: Diego LatorreThis is the abstract of an article published in Labour History Review (2025), 90, (2). Read this article. The 1960s and 1970s in Spain were a period of intense social mobilization against Franco’s dictatorship. The clandestine and democratic labour movement was the main political agent behind efforts to improve working conditions and to achieve a political transition towards democracy in Spain. However, within this context, domestic … Continue reading Domestic Service and the Labour Movement in Franco-Era Spain: The Young Christian Workers and the Struggles of Domestic Workers (1960–1976)

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