The former Labour and Co-operative Party MP and MEP Stan Newens has died aged 91. Newens was a keen and knowledgeable labour historian throughout his adult life, and remained chair of the Labour Heritage group of which he had been a founder member until his death. Continue reading Stan Newens (1930-2021)
Co-editor Yann Béliard introduces the latest volume in the Studies in Labour History book series. In most studies of British decolonisation, the world of labour is neglected, the key roles being allocated to metropolitan statesmen and native elites. Instead this volume focuses on the role played by working people, their experiences, initiatives and organisations, in the dissolution of the British Empire, both in the metropole … Continue reading Workers of the Empire Unite: introducing book 15 in the Studies in Labour History series
“Independence is my happiness, the world is my country and my religion is to do good,” declared Thomas Paine in The Rights of Man. Yet by the end of his life, the Norfolk-born radical had been exiled from Britain, narrowly escaped the guillotine in revolutionary France, and was widely shunned in his adopted homeland by his former comrades-in-arms in the struggle for American independence. Paine … Continue reading Tom Paine’s graphic life story to be told anew with the support of the SSLH
The Society for the Study of Labour History is pleased to announce that it is to sponsor the Chartist William Cuffay as part of the People’s History Museum radical sponsor scheme. The decision further cements a long-standing relationship between the SSLH and the Manchester museum. Over recent years, the Society has sponsored Henry Hunt, the great radical orator best remembered as the main speaker at … Continue reading SSLH sponsors William Cuffay at the People’s History Museum
A ‘verbatim’ account of the trial of Henry Hunt and others arrested after Peterloo has been digitised with financial support from the SSLH. Continue reading SSLH-backed project brings Peterloo trial report online
More than 250 people signed up for a free online session on disaster planning for archivists and librarians hosted by the Marx Memorial Library on behalf of the Society for the Study of Labour History’s archives and resources committee. The event, which took place on 5 February 2020, was in part an opportunity to reflect on lessons learnt from the flood that hit the Marx … Continue reading Disaster planning for archivists and librarians
The Society for the Study of Labour History is adding its voice to calls for “fair funding” for the National Library of Wales. The move comes as the Library, which is home to many of the historic, artistic and intellectual treasures of Wales, and to important labour history collections, faces budget cuts which threaten 30 jobs, in addition to 100 already lost over the past … Continue reading SSLH backs fair funding call for National Library of Wales
What started as a personal project to help navigate Labour History Review more easily has produced an invaluable tool for labour historians, as Mike Mecham explains. As an Irish labour historian comparatively new to the field, I soon found Labour History Review to be an important research tool. It not only published material on a wide range of themes but was international in its coverage. … Continue reading Indexing Labour History Review to create a research tool for labour historians
Index entries for ‘The English Cabinet’ collection in Moscow’s Centre of Social and Political History are now available online. Continue reading ‘The English Cabinet’, Moscow
Labour History Review Volume 85 (2020), Issue 3 has now been published. This issue begins with a series of appreciations for the life of Malcolm Chase, who died in March 2020 aged just 63. Malcolm was professor of history at the University of Leeds, and a vice-president of the Society for the Study of Labour History. Though best known for his book Chartism: A New … Continue reading Labour History Review Volume 85 (2020), Issue 3
Society for the Study of Labour History 