Digging through family history, RAYMOND SWEETMAN uncovered the story of his great uncle – an ILP pioneer and ‘middle ranking’ socialist whose long-lost tale deserves to be told....
Labour, Northern Ireland & the Right to Stand
Northern Ireland is changing, argues GERARD GALLAGHER, and it’s time for Labour to allow the region’s growing and increasingly relevant party to field its own candidates....
Forde & Post-Fordeism
The Forde Report on antisemitism in the Labour Party raised serious questions about its internal structures, processes and culture. ERIC SHAW summarises the events before and after the report’s publication last July, and asks what has been learned from the whole sorry story....
Ireland, the ILP & the Slow Train to Peace
The 1998 Good Friday Agreement that brought peace to Northern Ireland reaches it 25th anniversary on 10 April. The ILP and a grassroots peace movement played an often-forgotten yet important role on the road to reconciliation. GARY KENT aims to put the record straight....
Alistair Graham 1936-2023: ‘A great friend and a steadfast comrade’
DAVID CONNOLLY pays tribute to Alistair Graham, an ILPer for more than 60 years, who died on 27 February after a lifetime dedicated to the Labour and peace movements....
ILP@130: Striking Portraits Published of ILP Birthday Event
Photographer Simon Weldon has published an online gallery of participants at the Indie Labour Fest event held to mark the ILP’s 130th anniversary in Bradford in January....
Ada Salter’s Blue Plaque Unveiled on International Women’s Day
English Heritage marked International Women’s Day today (8 March) by erecting one their famous blue plaques to honour the life and achievements of ILPer Ada Salter who in 1922 became the first Labour woman in Britain to be elected mayor and the first woman mayor of a London borough....
A Family Affair
Before he died, Walter Smith wrote a personal account of growing up in a left-wing household at the start of the 20th century. It is, says MATTHEW BROWN, a poignant reflection on the hopes and failures of the socialist movement....
ILP@130: A Festival of Hope
Founded in Bradford on 13 January 1893, the ILP marked its 130th anniversary this month when 130 socialists, activists and community workers came together ‘to create a positive collective vision of what a society that works for everyone might look like’. MARY STRATFORD reports. ...
Five Misrepresentations of Homage to Catalonia
George Orwell’s celebrated book on the Spanish Civil War is often misinterpreted, says DANNY EVANS. It deserves to be read afresh without political blinkers....
Labour in Crisis Revisited
When Eric Preston died in September 2020, the ILP lost one of its leading writers and thinkers, a man who – in the words of David Connolly’s obituary – “was ahead of his time” in thinking through the dilemmas and difficulties faced by a Labour left operating within a cautious party and against a...
Celebrating the Spirit of the Salters
SHEILA TAYLOR reflects on the huge success of Southwark’s Salter Centenary project, which comes to an end in January. ‘Throughout the year I kept remembering how historians described the ILP, that it was less of a political party than a way of life,’ she says....