In the eighth of our series on meetings with figures from labour history, Keith Flett encounters the Black London Chartist leader William Cuffay. William Cuffay (1788-1870) was born in Medway to a local woman and a descendant of slaves who had come to the area as a sailor. He worked as a tailor in London and became active in the Chartist movement to the extent … Continue reading Class Encounters: William Cuffay, Chartist
My thesis focuses on the Communist Party of Great Britain’s British Road to Socialism (1951) within a wider international context of ‘national roads to socialism’, in which communist parties were told to adapt to ‘national’ circumstances. My research examines the British party’s ‘road to socialism’ at the British Empire’s centre, and that of the Communist Party of Australia (CPA) at its periphery in the early … Continue reading Gregory Billam (Edge Hill University) on the CPGB, the Historians’ Group and the CPA between 1946-1956
Author: Gregory BillamThis is the abstract of an article published in Labour History Review (2023), 88, (1), 43-74. Read more. 2022 LABOUR HISTORY REVIEW ESSAY PRIZE WINNER The communist parties of Britain’s empire were notably excluded from the newly established Cominform in September 1947. In their absence, previous hierarchical relationships became less clear, as the fiery exchange between the CPA (Australia) and CPGB (Great Britain) … Continue reading ‘Uncomradely and Un-communist’: Breakdown in the Communist Anglosphere? The Communist Party of Great Britain and Communist Party of Australia Debate, 1947–1948
The Australian Society for the Study of Labour History is celebrating sixty years of its journal, Labour History, this month with the publication of a 200-plus page issue which takes the opportunity of this significant anniversary ‘to pause, reflect, take stock, look back and see forward’, as editor Diane Kirkby puts it in an opening editorial. She continues: ‘With a combination of reflections, new research … Continue reading Australian labour history society marks Labour History’s sixtieth year in print
Peter Beilharz and Sian Supski pay tribute to the Australian labour historian Stuart Macintyre Continue reading Tribute: an Australian perspective on Stuart Macintyre
Professor Kevin Morgan pays tribute to the work of the leading Australian historian Stuart Macintyre Continue reading Tribute: a British perspective on Stuart Macintyre
We are sorry to hear that the eminent Australian socialist and labour historian Stuart Macintyre has died aged 74. Professor Macintyre published extensively on the history of Australia and the Australian Left, and as co-author of The History Wars (2003) provided the leading academic challenge to conservative narratives of the country’s history. For many, however, his greatest work is his account of the emergence of … Continue reading Stuart Macintyre 1947 – 2021
Society for the Study of Labour History 