Joe Cragie was a founder member of Bermondsey ILP, rising from poverty to prominence as leader of the council. He played a crucial role in the socialist successes of Ada and Alfred Salter, but until now has remained hidden from history. GRAHAM TAYLOR uncovers his story....
This year marks the 130th anniversary of the ILP, a milestone in British political history that we aim to mark and celebrate over the next 12 months in a number of ways....
PAUL SALVESON hails the work of a north-west ILPer and intrepid co-operator whose life and achievements are finally due to be commemorated nearly a century after her death....
CHRISTOPHER OLEWICZ looks back 90 years at Fenner Brockway’s ground-breaking report on destitution in 1930s Britain. With the current cost of living crisis, he asks, is ‘literal starvation’ once again stalking the nation’s poorest communities?...
GRAHAM TAYLOR recounts the tale of a long-forgotten Bermondsey ILPer who once scored a crucial goal for England before joining the church in south east London where he was a keen supporter of Ada and Alfred Salter....
IAN BULLOCK reviews an unusual and valuable account of the ILP before, during and immediately after the Second World War, a period when it hovered on the brink of virtual extinction....
It is a common misconception that trade unions founded the Labour Party in 1900. Not so, says JOHN H GRIGG. It was the ILP that drove the initiative....
To mark International Women’s Day and Women’s History Month, we are highlighting the lives of nine ILP women who played important roles in the early years of the Labour movement. All of them were tireless campaigners for women’s votes and gender equality, and against war and poverty....
JAIME REYNOLDS reveals the remarkable achievements of four unknown ILP women who became important local government leaders between the wars but have since been left out of Labour history....
PAULINE BRYAN reviews a major new biography of Sylvia Pankhurst – suffragette, class warrior and tireless campaigner against racism, fascism and imperialism. ‘Her big life deserves such a big book.’...
Labour’s founder is often presented as old and sad at the state of the world. But, argues PAULINE BRYAN in the Introduction to her latest volume of essays, his main motivation wasn’t sadness, but anger....
On the 70th anniversary of his death aged 46, BENEDICT COOPER assesses George Orwell’s relationship with the ILP and its effect on his life, writing and politics. ‘The ILP helped shape Orwell and he helped secure, and clarify, the ILP’s once-maligned place in history.’...