John Clare (1793-1864) is considered England’s greatest working class poet. Greatly admired for his poetry and prose on the natural world, its joys and its losses, he has become an icon for the environmental movement. But in a new selection by Mike Mecham, a member of the Society for the Study of Labour History’s EC and chair of the John Clare Society, the poet is … Continue reading Clare’s People: poetry from below
In the fifth of our series on meetings with figures from labour history, Mike Mecham encounters the ‘peasant poet’ John Clare. For Malcolm Chase 1820 was a pivotal political year for Britain and Ireland. It also saw the publication of the first, and most successful, collection of poems by John Clare (1793-1864), selling more copies than his stable-mate John Keats. The ‘Peasant Poet’ was then … Continue reading Class Encounters: John Clare, poet
Trade unionism, prior to the First World War, can easily appear a solely male occupation. Female workers were excluded from many unions on grounds of sex and subsequently despised by many of their male peers for driving down wages. This made women especially vulnerable to exploitative labour practices and also weakened male union action, which was undercut by cheap, unorganised female labour. In 1906 Mary … Continue reading Jay Kerslake (Leeds) on the role of poetry in The Woman Worker
he Working Class Movement Library offers an impressive and extensive series of talks, all of which are live-streamed and subsequently made available on its YouTube channel. Its autumn 2021 series of ‘Invisible Histories’ ranges from Thomas Spence to Jayaben Desai, and from the Social Democratic Federation to Militant Continue reading Great online events at the WCML for autumn 2021
Dr Mike Sanders introduces the work of two Ashton-under-Lyne radical poets, and Jennifer Reid performs their work as ballads. Continue reading Ashton-under-Lyne’s radical poets brought to life by Mike Sanders and Jennifer Reid
Society for the Study of Labour History 