BARRY WINTER, chair of the Hannah Mitchell Foundation, explains why he's changed his mind about a northern assembly and argues that regional devolution can play its part in an ethical socialism for our times. Let’s begin with a confession. When the idea of regional devolution was being discussed in the party nearly a decade ago,...
The Joy of Living: In memory of Johnny Dent
Johnny Dent died of cancer on 29 January 2012 in St Cuthbert’s Hospice, Durham. He was a member of the ILP for many years, and a staunch trade unionist. His friend HUGH SHANKLAND gave this moving tribute at his funeral on 6 February....
Housing and the Big Society
The ILP is supporting a public meeting in London to launch two new pamphlets from Chartist, the magazine for democratic socialism, on housing and the Big Society....
Key Questions Facing Co-op Leaders
As Cameron woos the co-op movement, JACK STREET asks if the co-op ideal is being hijacked to help privatise the state....
Vote for the hidden treasure of the working class
The Working Class Movement Library, which houses some of the ILP archives, has been shortlisted in the Arts Council-funded Museums at Night competition to win an artist to appear in an event at the library in May. Museums at Night is an annual after-hours celebration when hundreds of museums, galleries, libraries, archives and heritage...
Mitchell foundation to launch in Bradford
The newly-formed Hannah Mitchell Foundation is holding its public launch in the Banqueting Hall of Bradford City Hall, at 1.15pm on Friday 9 March....
Orwell anniversary trip to Catalonia
The Porta de la Historia co-operative is organising a weekend trip to Catalonia to commemorate the 75th anniversary of George Orwell’s wounding outside Huesca....
It was 119 years ago today
It was on this day, 13th January, 119 years ago that 120 or so young, working class, mainly male delegates gathered at the Labour Institute in Bradford to found the Independent Labour Party. ...
Summat’s going on in Leeds
Ed Carlisle is a project manager with Leeds-based charity Together for Peace and one of the organisers of the Leeds Summat Gathering which took place in November last year – strapline ‘Get Connected, Be Inspired, Join in Action for Change’. He talked to BARRY WINTER about the aims and objectives of the initiative, the American...
Diary of a striking giant
John Lowe recorded everything that happened to him and his Nottinghamshire NUM comrades during the 1984-5 miners’ strike. His grandson, JONATHAN SYMCOX, who edited the newly published diary, recalls a man transformed by the dispute. John Lowe of Clipstone in Nottinghamshire was off sick in spring 1984 when the National Coal Board and Margaret Thatcher’s...
Hannah Mitchell Inspires the North
PAUL SALVESON traces the life of early ILPer Hannah Mitchell and explains why her kind of politics is still an inspiration today. When I was getting interested in working class history, back in the early 1970s, I was fascinated by a book called The Hard Way Up. It was written by a Northern working class...
The public sector strikes back
On a day that saw around two million workers from 29 trade unions take strike action in defence of their pensions, thousands gathered at rallies around the UK on Wednesday 30 November....