Tag: 1980s

Labour History Review

2023 Labour History Review Essay Prize Winner

Author: Manuel Herrera CrespoThis is the abstract of an article published in Labour History Review (2023), 88, (3), 47-72. Read more. ‘Porque no ha cambiado nada’: The International Confederation of Free Trade Unions and the End of the Cold War The relatively new bundle of scholarship gathered under the notion of a ‘global 1989’ has produced an innovative field of research that highlights the necessity of a global … Continue reading 2023 Labour History Review Essay Prize Winner

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Events, Grants

Conference report: Essex and the 1984-85 miners’ strike

Paul Topley reports on a one-day event that brought together Essex trade unionists and others involved in supporting the 1984-85 miners’ strike. A one-day conference on the role of the Essex labour movement in supporting striking miners during the strike of 1984-85 took place on Saturday 9 March. Organised by Essex Association of Trades Councils, with financial support from the Society for the Study of … Continue reading Conference report: Essex and the 1984-85 miners’ strike

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Labour history news

WCML gets £100k Big Flame grant

The Working Class Movement Library has been awarded £99,847 to fund a project opening up access to its records of the Big Flame revolutionary group. Started in Liverpool in 1970, Big Flame was a revolutionary socialist group with a feminist, anti-racist, internationalist vision that emphasized mass class engagement and prioritized non-sectarian, non-authoritarian community organizing and political methods. It spread to Manchester, Leeds, Birmingham, Nottingham and … Continue reading WCML gets £100k Big Flame grant

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Documents & objects, Labour history news

Forty years on: selections from the NUM archive mark the start of the miners’ strike

Forty years on from the start of the 1984-85 miners’ strike, a selection of material from the National Union of Mineworkers’ archive has gone online. Digitised and published by the Modern Records Centre at the University of Warwick, the selection runs to 95 leaflets, bulletins and other items of ephemera. The collection’s emphasis is on the NUM at local and national level, and the support … Continue reading Forty years on: selections from the NUM archive mark the start of the miners’ strike

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Books etc, Commentary

British society in crisis: from 1970s globalisation to the Brexit referendum

Britain has experienced continual crises for half a century, argues Neville Kirk. His new book examines the development of neo-liberal globalisation from the 1970s; the financial crash and its systemic effects from 2007 to 2009; and the ‘present crisis’ beginning in 2010. Here he introduces the book and the three crises at its heart. We currently live in a period often described, since 2022, as … Continue reading British society in crisis: from 1970s globalisation to the Brexit referendum

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Labour history news

Inside the archive of Labour MP Ann Clwyd

Rob Phillips outlines the work of the Welsh Political Archive to make a huge archive donated by the former Labour MP Ann Clwyd, who died in 2023, available to researchers. Ann Clwyd, former Labour MP for the Cynon Valley, enjoyed a long and colourful political career. Prior to her election at a by-election in 1984 she had been a Member of the European Parliament for … Continue reading Inside the archive of Labour MP Ann Clwyd

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Events

Event: Essex and the 1984-85 miners’ strike

Essex County Association of Trades Councils is organising a one-day conference on the role of local trade unionists and activists in supporting the miners during the year-long strike that began in 1984. The event takes place at Friends Meeting House, Chelmsford CM1 2QL on Saturday 9 March, and admission is free. Speakers include: Reserve a place. Continue reading Event: Essex and the 1984-85 miners’ strike

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Commentary

In tune: Bandiera Rossa

This stirring anthem of the Italian Left was also once popular with Labour Party activists, as Mark Crail recalls. Bandiera Rossa(Music, traditional; lyrics, Carlo Tuzzi, 1908) Bandiera Rossa may share its title with The Red Flag, but there the similarities end. There is no room here for dungeons dark or gallows grim, let alone any martyred dead. The Italian labour movement’s anthem is, rather, an … Continue reading In tune: Bandiera Rossa

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Commentary

In tune: Wham Rap! (Enjoy What You Do)

In a period when heteronormative masculinity was in crisis, Wham! redefined young masculinity as having fun, having camaraderie, and removing identity from work. And as Vic Clarke argues, what they said in the 1980s still resonates today. Wham Rap! (Enjoy What You Do)Wham! (George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley, 1983) In 1982, Margaret Thatcher’s government entered the military into the Falklands War, Terrence Higgins became one … Continue reading In tune: Wham Rap! (Enjoy What You Do)

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Commentary

In tune: Think Positive, Act Positive, Vote Labour

Not all songs in labour history turn out to be very inspiring, as this definite dud from the 1983 general election shows all too well, says Mark Crail Think Positive, Act Positive, Vote LabourPerformer unknown (writer unknown, 1983) The song you are about to hear was written for the 1983 general election campaign. Fortunately, someone at Labour Party headquarters had the common sense to block … Continue reading In tune: Think Positive, Act Positive, Vote Labour

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