Gavin McCann is researching a book on trade unions and education. Here he writes about his visit to the South Wales Miners’ Library in search of a lost culture of socialist education. ‘I was in a second-hand bookshop in Cambridge — it would have been 73-74 — and came across two volumes of the history of the mining industry. I thought, bloody hell, where has … Continue reading Gavin McCann on the libraries of the South Wales miners
My PhD research examines the development of anti-fascist activism within industrial communities in twentieth-century Britain. It explores localised anti-fascist movements and how factors such as class, employment, and education influenced political engagement. Focusing on two case studies, South Wales and North West England, the project examines the shared characteristics and distinctive experiences of anti-fascist activism across different industrial regions. While anti-fascism in Britain has received … Continue reading Harry Griffiths (Bangor) on anti-fascism in South Wales and the North West of England
It is one thing to read E. P. Thompson’s published, polished texts; it is quite another to handle the papers he once worked on, to see the rust left by paper clips, the gum pressed between pages, the coffee stains on letterheads, and the quirky cat he drew (surely the same cat he invoked in The Poverty of Theory, where he wrote with characteristic scorn, … Continue reading Bowen Ran (Rotterdam) on E. P. Thompson and the formation of The Making of the English Working Class
This report outlines my research on the spatial practices of Glasgow’s Showpeople, focusing on the domestic yards where they live between periods of travelling fairground work. These yards—often built into the city’s post-industrial landscape—are not simply resting places but complex working environments. They are shaped by Showpeople’s cultural knowledge, and wider urban pressures. My research details how these spaces are designed, maintained, and defended—what they … Continue reading Graham Skeate (KU Leuven & Edinburgh) on the life, labour and spaces of Glasgow Showpeople
My PhD investigates the lives and labours of social care workers in England and Wales between 1979 and 2010. Between 1979 and 1999, care assistants were the fastest growing sector of employment, increasing by 419%, while industrial jobs saw the greatest decline. Care work was, in many ways, the model of post-industrial working-class employment, characterised by low-paid, feminised, precarious, and emotionally demanding labour. My PhD … Continue reading Freya Willis (Oxford) on social care workers’ experiences of work, gender and class, 1979-2010
Jack Taylor reports on his research into 1940s’ attitudes to empire in the Labour Party policy apparatus and among the leading Labour figures of the era. In researching the Labour Party’s post-war imperial policy in the Middle East, I became interested in ideas around British expertise and experience in shaping political institutions. A Society for the Study of Labour History research bursary allowed me to … Continue reading The Labour Party and empire in the 1940s
I am currently working on a book titled A History of the Labour Party in Scotland (to be published by Edinburgh University Press) which will examine the party’s origins in late nineteenth-century working-class politics and trade unionism, through to the formation of a distinct and ‘national’ Scottish Advisory Committee during the First World War. It will then chart the breakthrough of the Red Clydesiders’ at … Continue reading David Torrance on researching the history of the Labour Party in Scotland
In 2015, I stumbled across the Amalgamated Housing Co-Operative in the Bronx, the northern-most borough of New York City. As a long-time housing worker, campaigner and trade unionist, I was intrigued by homes of such obvious quality that, I learned, had been built through the efforts of the labour movement. My interest deepened when, in 2021, I lived in the Bronx for six months as … Continue reading Glyn Robbins on Abraham Kazan and trade union housing co-ops in New York City
Having spent a long time studying Cuba from afar, I was thrilled to get the opportunity to visit and experience the country beyond the written word. My research looks at workers’ movements and imperialism in early twentieth century Cuba. With the help of funding from the Society for the Study of Labour History, I was able to visit the country to consult new archival material, … Continue reading Alex Doyle (Leeds) on the Cuban labour movement’s opposition to colonialism and imperialism, 1898-1914
My PhD researches the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) and its relationship with anti-militarist and pacifist ideas from the First World War. The thesis reassesses the political development of the CPGB by focusing on the conscientious objector cohort that joined the Party following its formation in 1920. I explore the impact of the 1917 Russian Revolutions on the largest anti-war group, the No-Conscription Fellowship … Continue reading James Squires (Sheffield Hallam) on the CPGB, anti-militarism and pacifism after the First World War
Society for the Study of Labour History 