Society for the Study of Labour History 2023 calendar

The Society for the Study of Labour History calendar for 2023 uses as an illustration the Labour Party poster, ‘To-morrow – When Labour Rules’, created by the artist and lithographer Gerald Spencer Pryse. The original poster was issued for the general election of December 1923, from which Labour emerged in second place, ahead of the Liberals, with 191 seats. The party went on to form … Continue reading Society for the Study of Labour History 2023 calendar

Tracing the Labour Research Department’s struggle against fascism in the archives of the TUC Library

The Labour Research Department has been at the forefront of an information war against the far right for the past hundred years. Jeff Howarth tells the story of this century-long struggle through the LRD publications to be found in the TUC Library. Throughout the twentieth century and now into the twenty-first, the trade union movement has monitored the activities of far-right groups in an attempt … Continue reading Tracing the Labour Research Department’s struggle against fascism in the archives of the TUC Library

Digitised and online: the papers of George Lansbury

As the first of George Lansbury’s papers go online, Daniel Payne sets out how LSE Library is digitising its vast archive of material relating to the former Labour Party leader, and introduces some of the treasures it contains. Starting with the first two volumes, which are available online now, LSE Library recently announced plans to digitise its entire George Lansbury archive. An early supporter of … Continue reading Digitised and online: the papers of George Lansbury

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

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

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

Partners in crime: labour historians in the Golden Age of detective fiction

Typically set in a sprawling country house and populated by a cast drawn from the landed gentry and the well-to-do, ‘Golden Age’ detective fiction is not the most obvious genre in which to find two of the country’s leading socialist intellectuals.  This was a world in which money, privilege and titles were taken for granted, servants were ever-present but hardly central to the plot, and … Continue reading Partners in crime: labour historians in the Golden Age of detective fiction

Communist women leaders in the 1920s and 1930s

Alan Campbell and John McIlroy share headline findings from their research into the lives of the women who sat on the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Great Britain in its first two decades. In two recent articles, we examine a small group of women active in the labour movement who participated in the leadership of British Communism between the foundation of the Communist … Continue reading Communist women leaders in the 1920s and 1930s

Emmet O’Connor on Jim Larkin: sign up now for the John Halstead Memorial Lecture

Dr Emmet O’Connor is to deliver the Society for the Study of Labour History’s first annual John Halstead Memorial Lecture on the topic of Jim Larkin, the Irish socialist and trade union leader. The event takes place on Saturday 29 October at 2.30pm, and all are invited to join us for the online event. REGISTRATION FOR THIS EVENT IS NOW CLOSED AbstractHow British was Big Jim Larkin? How … Continue reading Emmet O’Connor on Jim Larkin: sign up now for the John Halstead Memorial Lecture

Labour History Review Volume 87 (2022), Issue 2

Labour History Review Volume 87 (2022), Issue 2 has now been published. Contemporary images of the 1926 General Strike often show smiling volunteers good-naturedly going about the business of keeping the country running. In this issue of Labour History Review, Liam Ryan explores the involvement of often middle-class strike breakers in the period 1911-1926 and lifts the lid on the unexplored darker and often violent … Continue reading Labour History Review Volume 87 (2022), Issue 2