Election of SSLH officers and EC members 2021

Members of the Society for the Study of Labour History are invited to submit nominations for this year’s election of officers and members of the Executive Committee. Elections take place every two years. Any member of the Society may nominate a member of the Society to any post. Only one nomination is required. Members wishing to nominate another to an officer’s post or to the … Continue reading Election of SSLH officers and EC members 2021

SSLH backs campaign to save Luddite pub from demolition

An 18th century pub that played a central part in the story of Luddism in West Yorkshire faces demolition after plans to replace it with housing were submitted to the local council. The Shears Inn at Liversedge was host to regular gatherings of local croppers at the start of the 19th century, and in early 1812 was the venue for a meeting at which plans … Continue reading SSLH backs campaign to save Luddite pub from demolition

Workers of the Empire Unite: introducing book 15 in the Studies in Labour History series

Co-editor Yann Béliard introduces the latest volume in the Studies in Labour History book series. In most studies of British decolonisation, the world of labour is neglected, the key roles being allocated to metropolitan statesmen and native elites. Instead this volume focuses on the role played by working people, their experiences, initiatives and organisations, in the dissolution of the British Empire, both in the metropole … Continue reading Workers of the Empire Unite: introducing book 15 in the Studies in Labour History series

Tom Paine’s graphic life story to be told anew with the support of the SSLH

“Independence is my happiness, the world is my country and my religion is to do good,” declared Thomas Paine in The Rights of Man. Yet by the end of his life, the Norfolk-born radical had been exiled from Britain, narrowly escaped the guillotine in revolutionary France, and was widely shunned in his adopted homeland by his former comrades-in-arms in the struggle for American independence. Paine … Continue reading Tom Paine’s graphic life story to be told anew with the support of the SSLH

SSLH sponsors William Cuffay at the People’s History Museum

The Society for the Study of Labour History is pleased to announce that it is to sponsor the Chartist William Cuffay as part of the People’s History Museum radical sponsor scheme. The decision further cements a long-standing relationship between the SSLH and the Manchester museum. Over recent years, the Society has sponsored Henry Hunt, the great radical orator best remembered as the main speaker at … Continue reading SSLH sponsors William Cuffay at the People’s History Museum

SSLH backs fair funding call for National Library of Wales

The Society for the Study of Labour History is adding its voice to calls for “fair funding” for the National Library of Wales. The move comes as the Library, which is home to many of the historic, artistic and intellectual treasures of Wales, and to important labour history collections, faces budget cuts which threaten 30 jobs, in addition to 100 already lost over the past … Continue reading SSLH backs fair funding call for National Library of Wales

Indexing Labour History Review to create a research tool for labour historians

What started as a personal project to help navigate Labour History Review more easily has produced an invaluable tool for labour historians, as Mike Mecham explains. As an Irish labour historian comparatively new to the field, I soon found Labour History Review to be an important research tool.  It not only published material on a wide range of themes but was international in its coverage.  … Continue reading Indexing Labour History Review to create a research tool for labour historians

Video: The Communist Party Congress as a Syndrome of Political Ideals

With coronavirus lockdowns ruling out real-world events, the Society for the Study of Labour History took its 2020 annual lecture online, drawing members and non-members alike to their computer screens. The lecture was delivered by Professor Kevin Morgan of the University of Manchester, who took as his theme “The Communist Party Congress as a Syndrome of Political Ideals”. Watch the video below, or on the … Continue reading Video: The Communist Party Congress as a Syndrome of Political Ideals