This year marks the 120th anniversary of the ILP, a milestone in British political history that we aim to celebrate over the next 12 months. The Independent Labour Party was founded on 13 January 1893 when some 120 delegates gathered at the Labour Institute in Bradford to create a national political party to represent working...
Get Your ILP Calendars for 2013
Iconic political cartoons from the 1890s and 1920s are featured in a new wall calendar published by the ILP to mark our 120th anniversary next year. Launched to celebrate the founding of the Independent Labour Party in Bradford in 1893, the A4 calendars are illustrated by biting socialist cartoons first published in Keir Hardie’s newspaper,...
Clarion House on Radio 4
The 100-year-old ILP Clarion House in Nelson was visited by Hardeep Singh Kohli for his Sunday Lunch programme on BBC Radio 4 this week (16 December)....
Are Co-operative Schools the Answer?
MERVYN WILSON argues that increasingly popular co-operative schools provide a democratic, community-based alternative to Michael Gove’s attack on state education....
The Goose and the Commons
The law locks up the man or woman / Who steals the goose from off the common / But leaves the greater villain loose / Who steals the common from off the goose…...
ILP@120: Lessons for Today
Lessons of ILP history will up for debate at the next Dronfield Labour Party discussion meeting held on the 120th anniversary of the founding of the Independent Labour Party in Bradford in 1893....
Good old George
JON CRUDDAS MP recalls the life of former Labour leader and east London ILPer George Lansbury, arguing that his life, work and principles crystallise the journey of political rediscovery underway in Ed Miliband’s ‘one nation’ Labour Party. George Lansbury is one of the great heroes of the Labour Party. He was to quote the great...
‘Inspirational’ new film on The Rochdale Pioneers
A new film about the birth of the co-operative movement has been described as “inspirational” and “amazing” after being shown three times on Film4 since its premiere in Manchester. ...
Make the Living Wage Compulsory
The campaign for a living wage is now supported by the TUC and the Labour Party, plus many universities, some local authorities, and some businesses and charitable organisations. It is long overdue, says ERNIE JACQUES, but to have a real impact a living wage must be compulsory....
The Living Wage: A policy with history
Ed Miliband’s much-publicised support for a living wage puts him at odds with a previous Labour leader – Ramsay MacDonald. IAN BULLOCK explains....
Communications and other Big Issues
The Raymond Williams Foundation is holding a ‘Communications’ residential weekend seminar at the Adelphi Hotel in Liverpool on 23-25 November....
The Challenge of a Generation
Growing poverty and inequality in Europe prove that the market alone cannot deliver. It’s time to change the narrative, says JUDITH KIRTON-DARLING, Confederal Secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC). Here, she sets out the terms of a new European social contract. Austerity and poverty in Europe are blighting our continent. Both are having...