It has been a big year for labour history journals with both the North West History Journal and Saothar marking their fiftieth issues, and Scottish Labour History publishing its sixtieth edition. This roundup looks at the latest journals published by: Scotland Introducing the 2025 issue of Scottish Labour History, Stewart Maclennan, chair of the Scottish Labour History Society notes that this year sees both the … Continue reading Labour history journals 2025
The Irish Labour History Society has marked the publication of the fiftieth volume of its journal, Saothar, with an event at the Irish Labour history Society Archives and Museum in Dublin. Guest speaker was Dr Joan Allen, chair of the Society for the Study of Labour History, who also contributed an article titled ‘Saothar: fifty years of publishing on labour history’ to the special issue. … Continue reading ILHS marks fifty years of Saothar
Labour history societies throughout the UK and beyond have published the year-end editions of their journals for 2025. Here we offer a summary of their contents. The round-up includes the journals of : North West Labour History SocietyNorth East Labour History SocietyScottish Labour History SocietyIrish Labour History SocietyAustralian Labour History Society North West History Journal – North West Labour History Society The front cover of … Continue reading Labour history journals round-up, 2024
The Irish labour movement, and especially its labour history community, is mourning one of its most respected and recognisable figures, Dr Kieran Jack McGinley who died suddenly on 25 November. Throughout his life, Jack, as he was generally known, was a passionate advocate for workers’ rights either through his trade union activism or public campaigns, all the while giving forty-five years of service to Trinity … Continue reading Keiran Jack McGinley (1954 – 2024)
The Historical Directory of Trade Unions in Ireland, first published in 2017 by the Irish Labour History Society and the Working Class Movement Library, is now online. Both the original 616-page directory, edited by Francis Devine and John B. Smethurst, and a substantial 38-page update compiled by Devine, can be found on the ILHS website, and are free to download in PDF format. The directory, … Continue reading ILHS publishes directory of historic trade unions online
The Irish Labour History Society (ILHS) embarked on an ambitious programme to mark its fiftieth anniversary involving an international conference in Dublin titled ‘Visions of Labour and Class’ and a collection of essays exploring the role of labour history in Irish historical narratives – Labour History in Irish History (reviewed in Labour History Review). Both were graced by the involvement of Irish President, Michael D. … Continue reading Visions of labour and class in Ireland and Europe: conference proceedings
The books listed below are reviewed in Labour History Review (2024), 89, (1), 73-93. Read more. Mike Mecham reviews John Cunningham, Francis Devine, and Sonja Tiernan (eds), Labour History in Irish History: Essays Celebrating Fifty Years of the Irish Labour History Society, Dublin: Umiskin Press, 2023, pp. 451, p/b, £25, ISBN 978 18381 11212 Martin Spence reviews Michael Tichelar, Labour in the Suburbs: Political Change in Croydon during the Twentieth … Continue reading Book reviews in Labour History Review volume 89 (2024), Issue 1
The 2023 issue of Saothar, the journal of the Irish Labour History Society, is out now. Saothar 48 includes the following articles. Dominick Haugh – Limerick Pork Butchers’ Society – The Formative Years 1871-1890;Hugo McGuinness – William Graham, internationalism, and the 1886 Dublin Glass Bottle Makers Strike;Peter Murray – “Sweated Jewish Labour” and Garment Industry Trade Unions in Early 20th Century Dublin;Luke Crowley Holland – The Labour Movement in … Continue reading Saothar 48: Irish Labour History Society journal out now
The Irish Labour History Society (ILHS), with the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) and its Northern Ireland Committee, is holding its third international conference in Dublin from 14-17 September 2023. The event will feature national and international experts and labour movement practitioners in over 30 events at four venues. Titled Visions of Labour and Class in Ireland and Europe, the conference will include 10 … Continue reading Visions of labour and class in Ireland and Europe
The President of Ireland, Michael D. Higgins, has planted a tree and unveiled a commemorative plaque in memory of trade union and labour leader Tom Johnson, author of the Democratic Programme of the First Dáil, at an event to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the Irish Labour History Society (ILHS). Tom Johnson, who was born in Liverpool on 17 May 1872, died sixty years ago … Continue reading Ireland’s President marks fifty years of the Irish Labour History Society
Society for the Study of Labour History 