Tag: TUC

Labour History Review

The Limits to Solidarity: Trade Union Responses to European Workers in Britain, 1945–1948

Author: Avram TaylorThis is the abstract of an article published in Labour History Review (2025), 90, (1). Read more. During the first years of the post-war Labour government (1945–8), three groups of foreign workers were incorporated into the labour force: prisoners of war (POWs), Polish soldiers who had fought with the British, and European volunteer workers (EVWs). This article examines the responses of the trade union movement to … Continue reading The Limits to Solidarity: Trade Union Responses to European Workers in Britain, 1945–1948

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Documents & objects

A Nation on Strike: first thoughts on 1926

In September 1926, Walter Milne-Bailey, head of the TUC research department, sat down to record his thoughts on the General Strike, which had taken place in May of that year. As we approach the centenary of that event, the typewritten script of his report has been digitized and published online by the TUC Library Collections.1 Milne-Bailey notes at the very start of his report that … Continue reading A Nation on Strike: first thoughts on 1926

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Labour History Review

Not an Industrial Matter: The British Trade Union Movement and Zionism, 1936–1967

Author: John RussellThis is the abstract of an article published in Labour History Review (2024), 89, (2). Read more. 2023 Labour History Review Essay Prize Runner-Up This article examines the British trade union movement’s relationship with Zionism in the period from the Arab Revolt to the Six Day War. It argues that despite an appearance of fraternalism between the British and Zionist labour movements, this relationship was, in … Continue reading Not an Industrial Matter: The British Trade Union Movement and Zionism, 1936–1967

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Labour history news

Eight labour history anniversaries in 2023

There is nothing special about anniversaries. No intrinsic reason to look back at events fifty years ago rather than at the years either side. But just as we mark birthdays and other significant events in our lives, so societies do much the same on a bigger scale, not least as a politically charged means of creating shared histories. But what we choose to commemorate and … Continue reading Eight labour history anniversaries in 2023

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Commentary, Documents & objects

Slogans and souvenirs: TUC delegate badges from 1899 to the present day

Delegates to the TUC’s annual congresses have been sent home with a commemorative badge for well over a century. But, as Mark Crail reports, these small souvenirs often carry a message about how the trade union movement sees itself. The Trades Union Congress has produced a badge for delegates to its annual Congress since the very end of the nineteenth century. The practice continues today … Continue reading Slogans and souvenirs: TUC delegate badges from 1899 to the present day

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Documents & objects

‘Farewell to convicts’: the long life of a classic trade union image

The medallion shown here was awarded by the TUC for ‘organising services’, as the text on the clasp makes clear. The ‘farewell to the convicts’ design had been commissioned by the TUC for a commemorative badge issued to all delegates to the 1934 Congress, marking the centenary of the Toldpuddle Martyrs’ arrest and transportation to Australia. It depicts a sailing ship under a night sky … Continue reading ‘Farewell to convicts’: the long life of a classic trade union image

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Labour history news

TUC Library Collections card index goes online

The TUC Library Collections are a vital resource for labour history research, and pretty much everything added to the collections since the contents of the TUC Library moved to London Metropolitan University in 1996 has been added to the university’s online catalogue. But the great bulk of material collected since the library was founded in 1922, perhaps as much of 80% of everything there, is … Continue reading TUC Library Collections card index goes online

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Books etc, Notes & queries

Walter Citrine’s dealings with communism and communists

Walter Citrine served as TUC general secretary from the time of the General Strike to the arrival of the post-war Labour Government. Though sometimes seen as a hardline anti-communist, his relationship with communism in the UK and internationally deserves a more nuanced understanding, as his biographer Dr Jim Moher explains Continue reading Walter Citrine’s dealings with communism and communists

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Advice & reference, Annual guides

Additions to labour history archive collections 2019

The PDF document below includes an overview of new collections which were reported by archives to the Society for the Study of Labour History’s Archive and Resources sub-committee (SSLH-ARC) and which may be of interest to labour historians. New acquisitions 2019 (PDF format). Among the numerous collections noted by the SSLH-ARC are: Papers of the Scottish Committees of the Communist Party of Great Britain and the Communist … Continue reading Additions to labour history archive collections 2019

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