This modern take on the Swing Riots of the 1830s raised eyebrows when Graham Moore performed it in Whitby Conservative Club, recalls Keith Laybourn. Captain SwingGraham Moore (Graham Moore, 1995) In folk clubs circles, Graham Moore’s name is synonymous with songs of protest. Some may know him as a leading folk singer of fifty years standing, some as a co-founder of the Tolpuddle Martyrs annual … Continue reading In tune: Captain Swing
In the third of our continuing series on labour history in song, Constance Bantman shares Massilia Sound System’s take on deindustrialization and gentrification in Marseille. Des MétallosMassilia Sound System (Massilia Sound System, 1995) Trust the famously political Marseillais reggae band Massilia Sound System to write a song dissecting the deindustrialization and gentrification of France’s second largest city and make a joyful banger out of it. … Continue reading In tune: Des Métallos
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
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)
There is nothing special about anniversaries. No intrinsic reason to look back at events fifty years ago rather than at the years either side. But just as we mark birthdays and other significant events in our lives, so societies do much the same on a bigger scale, not least as a politically charged means of creating shared histories. But what we choose to commemorate and … Continue reading Eight labour history anniversaries in 2023
On 14 May 1997, just a fortnight after the landslide election of a Labour government, Foreign Secretary Robin Cook stood up in the House of Commons to announce that a thirteen-year ban on trade union membership at the Government Communication Headquarters (GCHQ) was to be rescinded. The long-promised move brought to an end one of the longest-running industrial disputes in British history, and one of … Continue reading GCHQ: a badge of honour for trade unionism
In 2022, as every year, it is possible to look back and see significant milestones in labour history taking place 25, 50 or 100 years ago. Here we recall seven memorable events, each a quarter of a century further back in time. They include labour movement victories and defeats, and like all of history their interpretation and significance continue to be contested – the role … Continue reading Seven labour history anniversaries in 2022
Society for the Study of Labour History 