Tag: Strikes

Labour history news

Britain’s longest strike? How Silentnight bed makers held out for eighteen months

At any other time, a few hundred manufacturing workers calling a strike over pay would hardly merit much more than a footnote in the history books. But the dispute at Silentnight’s bed factories in the mid 1980s was a pivotal moment in industrial relations – and, for trade unions and their members at least, this was a clear warning of the difficult times to come. … Continue reading Britain’s longest strike? How Silentnight bed makers held out for eighteen months

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Events, Grants

Strike! The story of the Dunnes Stores strikers…

Ardent Theatre Company presents STRIKE! By Tracy Ryan and directed by Kirsty Patrick Ward. Dunne’s Stores, Dublin, July 1984: a South African grapefruit starts something that will take nearly three years to finish… It’s a hot, hot summer and Frankie Goes to Hollywood are riding high in the charts. At Dunne’s Store, shop assistant Mary Manning refuses to ring up a grapefruit, sticking to her … Continue reading Strike! The story of the Dunnes Stores strikers…

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Books etc

Well read: labour historians recommend books that deserve to be better known

Newspapers and magazines always like to list their ‘best books of the year’ as Christmas approaches. But what if the best books weren’t published this year? Preferring to take a longer perspective, we asked labour historians to tell us about a work relevant to labour history that they felt was overlooked, should be better known – or which simply meant something to them. Here’s what … Continue reading Well read: labour historians recommend books that deserve to be better known

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Labour History Review

A Strikers’ ‘Soviet’ in Belfast? The Great Belfast Strike of 1919

Author: Olivier CoquelinThis is the abstract of an article published in Labour History Review (2022), 87, (3), 255-275. Read more. The Great Belfast Strike of January–February 1919, although hardly explored until now, was part of the movement to reduce the working week, which affected large British industrial centres in the aftermath of the First World War. Apart from its longevity (four weeks), this social dispute … Continue reading A Strikers’ ‘Soviet’ in Belfast? The Great Belfast Strike of 1919

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Books etc

Mobbings, struggles and strikes: reclaiming the working class history of Dumfries

Mobbings, Struggles and Strikes: Episodes in the History of the Organised Working Class of Dumfries, 1771-1914, by Ian Gasse: the author, in association with the Scottish Labour History Society, 2022, pp. xvi + 400, h/b, £20 + £4p&p, ISBN 978 9163050 4 5 Class conflict in Dumfries so often centred on that most basic of staples, bread. From food riots in the 1770s during which … Continue reading Mobbings, struggles and strikes: reclaiming the working class history of Dumfries

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Events, Labour history news

‘They came for bread not bayonets’: Halifax marks the Great Strike of 1842

One hundred and eighty years ago the people of Halifax marched to demand bread and the ballot. Now thanks to Calderdale Trades Council and its supporters, their struggle has been marked with a series of events and in more permanent ways, as Dan Whittall explains. At least 150 people gathered in Halifax on Saturday 13 August to take part in a series of commemorative events … Continue reading ‘They came for bread not bayonets’: Halifax marks the Great Strike of 1842

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Labour History Review

Citizen strike breakers: volunteers, strikes and the state in Britain, 1911-1926

Author: Liam RyanThis is the abstract of an article published in Labour History Review (2022), 87, (2), 109-140. Read more. This article provides the first systematic historical study of volunteer strike-breaking across a relatively broad time frame, focusing specifically on the period between 1911 and 1926. These years bore witness to the largest industrial conflict in British history, encompassing the Great Labour Unrest of 1911-14, … Continue reading Citizen strike breakers: volunteers, strikes and the state in Britain, 1911-1926

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Events

The great strike of 1842: Halifax’s Peterloo?

Calderdale Trades Council and Calderdale Industrial Museum are teaming up this Sunday (17 July) to host a free public meeting at the museum on ‘The Great Strike of 1842: Halifax’s Peterloo?’ The event is supported by the Society for the Study of Labour History. This event is being held in person and there are limited tickets – please only book a ticket if you are … Continue reading The great strike of 1842: Halifax’s Peterloo?

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Bursary reports, MA & BA bursaries

Mick Ekers (Essex) on Burston strike school master Tom Higdon and labour activism between the wars

Mick Ekers visits Norfolk Record Office to research the life in politics of Tom Higdon, one of the two teachers at the heart of the famous Burston School Strike which lasted from 1914 to 1939. The story of the Burston School Strike is quite well known. In 1914 Annie and Tom Higdon, two teachers in a village school in Norfolk, were sacked as a result … Continue reading Mick Ekers (Essex) on Burston strike school master Tom Higdon and labour activism between the wars

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