Herbert Witard emerged from a childhood of dire poverty to become an ILP councillor and Labour’s first Lord Mayor of Norwich. MAGGIE PEPLOE tells the tale....
ILP@120: Arthur Raistrick – The Dales’ Own Man of Peace
BARRY WINTER remembers Arthur Raistrick, the writer, geologist, pacifist, educator and ILPer who became the ‘Dalesman of the Millennium’. Arthur Raistrick was born in 1896 into a working class family in the model industrial village of Saltaire in Yorkshire. His mother, Minnie, together with other relatives, worked at the famous Salt’s textile Mill. His father,...
ILP@120: Dorothy Jewson – Norwich Socialist and Suffragette
FRANK MEERES reveals how the daughter of a famous builders’ merchant from Norwich became a suffragette and ILPer, and one of the Labour Party’s first women MPs. Dorothy Jewson was born on 17 August 1884, the daughter of George and Mary Jewson of Braemar, on the Thorpe Road in Norwich. She was christened Dorothea but...
ILP@120: Fenner Brockway – Standing out for Socialism
HAZEL KENT traces the life and career of Fenner Brockway, with particular emphasis on his long association with the ILP. Although I never had the pleasure of meeting Fenner Brockway, I spent three fascinating years in his company while researching his contribution to the ILP for my PhD thesis. Study of his books, newspaper articles,...
ILP@120: Martin Haddow – Glasgow’s Social Reformer
HELEN CORR recalls the life of Scottish ILP activist and social reformer Martin Haddow who worked tirelessly to improve the health and education of Glasgow’s working class children. Born on 29 March 1865, William Martin Haddow was the second son of Robert Haddow, a grain merchant and his wife Janet (née Martin). At the time...
‘The Best Asset We Have is Each Other’
BARRY WINTER reports from two meetings in Leeds addressed by the Labour peer and policy advisor Maurice Glasman earlier this month. Maurice Glasman, who is centrally involved in developing Labour’s new programme, began by addressing the question of where the Labour Party is today. New Labour has left us with a difficult inheritance, he argued....
ILP@120: Storm in the Making
DAVE WALSH profiles Whitby-born novelist Storm Jameson, the socialist, feminist and activist who was an early ILP supporter and lifelong campaigner for a better society....
ILP@120: Isabella Ford – Socialist, Feminist and Peace Campaigner
JUNE HANNAM traces the life of Isabella Ford, the Leeds ILPer whose tireless campaigning for women’s rights, ‘new life’ socialism and peace remains an inspiration today. Isabella Ford was one of a small number of middle-class women who joined the Independent Labour Party in the 1890s; for her, the struggle for socialism was inextricably bound...
ILP@120: Remembering Stan and Ivy
LEON IVESON’s childhood memories include numerous ILP conferences, Socialist Sunday School football matches and events at the ILP’s Clarion House. Here, he remembers growing up with his parents, dedicated ILPers, Stan and Ivy Iveson....
ILP@120: Stafford Cottman – ‘A warm and generous man’
CHRIS HALL recalls the life of a genuine, nice guy, ILPer and Spanish Civil War veteran Stafford Cottman. I feel very honoured to write a brief biography about Staff Cottman – ILP activist, Spanish Civil War veteran, socialist, internationalist, trade unionist, personal friend of George Orwell, Labour Party activist, and a genuine, nice guy....
In Spain with Orwell
BARRY WINTER reviews Chris Hall’s latest book on the ILP and the Spanish Civil War....
ILP@120: Reflections on the ILP’s History
BARRY WINTER celebrates the ILP’s 120th anniversary with a brief survey of its history and consideration of the lessons it can pass on to a left struggling to make headway in our highly disconnected and politically disenchanted society....