At its recent AGM the Society for the Study of Labour History voted in favour of creating five new Vice Presidents to honour contributions made in the field of labour history. Professor Malcolm ChaseProfessor Hamish FraserProfessor Angela JohnProfessor Chris WrigleyProfessor Eileen Yeo These new appointments will join existing Vice Presidents: Baron Asa Briggs, John Halstead, Professor John F. C. Harrison Continue reading New SSLH Vice Presidents
The Society was sorry to hear of the death of Eddie Cass. Eddie played an important part in guiding The People’s History museum after its arrival in Manchester and had wide ranging scholarly interests. An obituary written by Alan Fowler for the Guardian can be read here. Continue reading Eddie Cass (1937-2014)
The Archives and Resources Committee of the Society for the Study of Labour History has produced a brief, practical guide for Labour Party branches, co-operative societies and trade unions on preserving their historical records. It advises organisations to keep minutes, reports and financial records, along with publications, photographs, and mementos such as banners and badges. Download the guide in PDF format. Continue reading Keeping your records safe
The Friends of Edward Carpenter are a small group of people who are dedicated to establishing a permanent memorial to Edward Carpenter in Sheffield City Centre, recognising his historical and social importance and unique association with the city. Edward Carpenter (1844 -1929) was a significant cultural and political activist, who advocated the ‘Simplification of Life’ and put his beliefs into practice. He campaigned throughout his life on … Continue reading Edward Carpenter
The book offers an original perspective on the significance of both racism and anti-racism in the making of the English working class across two centuries. While racism became a powerful structuring force within this social class from as early as the mid-Victorian period, this book also traces the episodic emergence of currents of working class anti-racism. Through an insistence that race is central to the … Continue reading Racism, Class and the Racialized Outsider
The Society has issued a a letter in support of the Working Class Movement Library in Salford after recent accusations made in an election pamphlet by Robin Garrido. Garrido, a councillor and leader of Salford Conservative party, claims that the WCML “is not a proper accessible library, you need to make an appointment to visit. Also you can’t borrow books like you can at an ordinary library.” … Continue reading Maxine Peake and the SSLH support the WCML
Long before the arrival of the ‘Empire Windrush’ after the Second World War, Liverpool was widely known for its polyglot population, its boisterous ‘sailortown’ and cosmopolitan profile of transients, sojourners and settlers. Regarding Britain as the mother country, ‘coloured’ colonials arrived in Liverpool for what they thought to be internal migration into a common British world. What they encountered, however, was very different. Their legal … Continue reading Before the Windrush
My doctoral research, ‘States of Exception: emergency government and the construction of “enemies within” in Britain and Germany during the First World War’, is a comparative study of emergency measures under the Defence of the Realm Act and the state of siege during the Great War. These emergency laws gave wartime governments extraordinary powers that were primarily used to deal with strike movements and anti-war … Continue reading André Keil (Northumbria) on the ‘enemy within’ in First World War Britain and Germany
At the time of writing, seventy-five MPs have signed an Early Day Motion proposing that the House of Commons celebrates the 175th anniversary of the launch of the People’s Charter in 1838. Signatories include MPs from the Conservative, Democratic Unionist, Labour, Liberal Democrat, Plaid Cymru, Scottish Nationalist, and Social Democratic and Labour parties. The motion, whose primary sponsor is Dr Hywel Francis (MP for Aberavon), … Continue reading 175 years of the People’s Charter
The Society for the Study of Labour History is delighted to announce that Professor Keith Laybourn has agreed to be President of the Society. Previously this post was occupied by Eric Hobsbawm who died earlier this year. As a leading labour historian Keith has written and edited 46 books and about 75 articles. Much of his early research was on the Labour Party and the … Continue reading New president for the SSLH
Society for the Study of Labour History 