The Redskins were some way to the left of their Red Wedge contemporaries in the mid 1980s, writes Keith Flett. But even now they are a firm pub favourite. Keep on Keepin OnThe Redskins (Martin Hewes, Chris Dean, Nick King 1986) The Redskins were a short lived rock to soul band in the mid-1980s. They were often to be found playing benefit gigs with the … Continue reading In tune: Keep on Keepin On
Call for papers: Beyond the Fragments: 45 Years On Friday 28 June 2024People’s History Museum, ManchesterKeynote speakers: Sheila Rowbotham, Lynne Segal, and Hilary Wainwright 2024 marks the forty-fifth anniversary of the publication of the seminal socialist-feminist text Beyond the Fragments: Feminism and the Making of Socialism. Within its pages, activists Sheila Rowbotham, Lynne Segal and Hilary Wainwright wove sharp political analysis and personal reflections in … Continue reading CfP: Beyond the Fragments: 45 Years On
Opening a website series on songs associated with labour history, John McIlroy looks at ‘The Working Class in Twentieth-Century Song: A Fan’s Notes[1]’ arguing that researching the genealogy of songs, finding new ones, rediscovering old ones, exploring the cultural ambience in which they were created and performed is part of the folklorist’s mission and the historian’s brief. Find out more about this series. IntroductionThe Great … Continue reading The Working Class in Twentieth-Century Song: A Fan’s Notes
Call for papers This CFP concerns submissions: Please see below for the submission guidelines for the one-day conference and the journal issue. The one-day conference and journal issue focus on the past four decades of industrial disputes and social movements in the UK. The year 2024 is the fortieth anniversary of the beginning of the Great Miners’ Strike of 1984-1985. As such, it provides an … Continue reading From 1984 to 2024: industrial disputes and social movements in the UK since the Great Miners’ Strike
The archive of Arthur Scargill, activist and former President of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) from 1982-2002, has found a new home at the University of Sheffield Library Special Collections, Heritage and Archives. The Arthur Scargill Archive covers his life, from the day he started work at the age of 15 at Woolley Colliery in the North Barnsley area; his time in the Young … Continue reading University of Sheffield acquires Arthur Scargill archive
At any other time, a few hundred manufacturing workers calling a strike over pay would hardly merit much more than a footnote in the history books. But the dispute at Silentnight’s bed factories in the mid 1980s was a pivotal moment in industrial relations – and, for trade unions and their members at least, this was a clear warning of the difficult times to come. … Continue reading Britain’s longest strike? How Silentnight bed makers held out for eighteen months
Ardent Theatre Company presents STRIKE! By Tracy Ryan and directed by Kirsty Patrick Ward. Dunne’s Stores, Dublin, July 1984: a South African grapefruit starts something that will take nearly three years to finish… It’s a hot, hot summer and Frankie Goes to Hollywood are riding high in the charts. At Dunne’s Store, shop assistant Mary Manning refuses to ring up a grapefruit, sticking to her … Continue reading Strike! The story of the Dunnes Stores strikers…
Richard Croucher, who died aged 73 on 16 December 2022, was a versatile scholar and talented labour historian who became well-known as a teacher and researcher in the field of employment relations and management studies. He played a prominent part in the field of labour history from the mid-1970s into the 1990s. His books Engineers at War and We Refuse to Starve in Silence constituted … Continue reading Richard Croucher (1949 – 2022)
Authors: Peter Gurney, Matthew Grant, Grace Huxford, Christoph Laucht, Jennifer Luff, Holger NehringThis is the abstract of an article published in Labour History Review (2022), 87, (3), 277-312. Read more. This article is currently freely available. Introduction: Peter Gurney on The Marginalization of HistoryThe ongoing conflict in Ukraine is having profound repercussions in Britain, not least on our cultural and intellectual life. However, although the … Continue reading Roundtable on the ‘New Cold War’
The fight led by women workers against factory closures in early 1980s Scotland has been largely ignored in both popular and academic history, argues Andy Clark. His new book aims to bring their story in from the margins and restore the gender balance in accounts of the fight against deindustrialisation. Popular accounts of industrial closure and working-class resistance in the 1980s overwhelmingly focus on the … Continue reading Fighting Deindustrialisation: Scottish Women’s Factory Occupations, 1981-1982
Society for the Study of Labour History 