On 6 August 1914, just nine days after the start of what came to be known as World War One, the ILP published a front page appeal in its weekly journal, Labour Leader, imploring the “workers of Great Britain” to unite with those across Europe and resist the government’s call to arms....
The ILP played a major role in the anti-war and no conscription movements during the First World War. Many were gaoled, and many abused for their principled, political opposition to the conflict. Yet, not all ILPers became conscientious objectors, as IAN BULLOCK explains....
IAN BULLOCK examines three debates which occupied the ILP in the interwar years and asks what they can tell us about the relationship between socialism and democracy today....
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....
BARRY WINTER introduces our series of features on ILPers which begins with Fred Jowett, profiled by Ian Bullock, and will continue on the ILP website throughout the year....
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)....
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. ...
Ed Miliband’s much-publicised support for a living wage puts him at odds with a previous Labour leader – Ramsay MacDonald. IAN BULLOCK explains....
6: Thatcher & Beyond The Thatcher years Under James Callaghan, the Labour government came to a humiliating end in 1979. Its defeat followed a fierce battle with public service workers in the 1978/79 ‘winter of discontent’. The Labour government, which had won office five years earlier promising a partnership with the unions, came to...
The ILP, which returned to the Labour Party in 1975 as Independent Labour Publications, was in many respects a shadow of its former self. But what it lacked in size and organisations it intended to make up for with political clarity, intellectual honesty and a determination to learn from the left’s past failures, including...
In trying to change society the ILP has, throughout its history, been challenging the ‘common sense’ ideas of the time....
Throughout the turbulence of the past 120 years, the ILP has been firmly committed to the idea of equality and common humanity of all peoples....