Chris Williams, who has died at the age of sixty-one, was one of the foremost historians of Wales and of the labour movement. Well known as the author of Democratic Rhondda: Politics and Society, 1855-1951, he wrote extensively on Robert Owen, the South Wales miners, and on political cartooning and caricature, and was Head of the College of Arts, Celtic Studies & Social Sciences at … Continue reading Chris Williams (1963 – 2024)
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
With the National Union of Mineworkers’ archive now transferred to the Modern Records Centre, work is under way to catalogue this vast collection and decide how it can best be made available to researchers and mining communities. Mark Crail reports on the story so far. On a chilly morning in January 2023, a lorry drew up outside the Modern Records Centre at the University of … Continue reading Inside the NUM archive: 150 years of coal mining history
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
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
Walt Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs provides a lesson in the origins of capitalism, writes Quentin Outram. Heigh-Ho*Dwarfs Chorus (Larry Morey and Frank Churchill, 1937) ‘Heigh-ho, heigh-ho, it’s home from work we go’ sing the seven dwarfs as they walk over a fallen log on their way home, tired but cheerful. But there is something odd; in fact several things are a bit … Continue reading In tune: Heigh-Ho
If you were not able to be at the Durham Miners Gala in 2023 – or were there and would like to relive the day – you can watch the full fifteen-minute official film of the event on the Gala’s Facebook and YouTube channels from Monday 20 November at 7pm. While you are waiting, here’s the trailer. The is set to premier live on the … Continue reading Durham Miners Gala 2023 official film
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 books listed below are reviewed in Labour History Review (2023), 88, (2), 185-198. Read more. Joe Stanley reviews Peter Hounsell, Bricks of Victorian London: A Social and Economic History, Hatfield: University of Hertfordshire Press, 2022, pp. xiv + 283 + 15 plates, p/b, £18.99, ISBN 978 19122 60577 Quentin Outram reviews M.M. Borodin (trans. and ed. Pete Dickenson), The Great Betrayal: Black Friday and the 1921 Miners’ Lockout, London: … Continue reading Book reviews in Labour History Review Volume 88 (2023), Issue 2
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
Society for the Study of Labour History 