Labour is facing an existential crisis, and parallels with the 1980s are painfully obvious. But the roots of the current crisis go much deeper, writes MARTIN WRIGHT. The Labour Party is the child of hope and compromise. Its political DNA was made from two main elements more than a century ago. One was the counter-cultural,...
Barcelona May Days: 80 Years On
The street-fighting that took place in Barcelona in May 1937 remains one of the most controversial episodes of the Spanish Civil War. Hundreds died as the city was criss-crossed by a labyrinth of barricades....
Commemorating the Leeds Convention of 1917
The 100th anniversary of an historic mass Labour and Socialist Convention held in support of the Russian Revolution at Leeds Coliseum in 1917 will be marked at a one-day event in the same city on 3 June this year. ...
Tribute to Claudia Jones at WCML
To mark International Women’s Day on 8 March, the Working Class Movement Library is hosting a talk by Marika Sherwood on Claudia Jones, the Trinidad-born communist, feminist, peace activist, orator, journalist and founder of the biggest street festival in Europe....
New ILP Pamphlet Explores Ethical Socialism
The ILP has published a new pamphlet by acclaimed author Graham Taylor which explores the origins of the early ILP’s ethical socialism and argues that the ideas behind its hard-headed moral and political framework can serve as an inspiration for the left today....
The Lessons of 1917 … And All That!
IAN BULLOCK marks the centenary of the Russian Revolution by arguing that the profoundly anti-political stance that took root among Leninists had dire and lasting consequences for socialism in the west....
Hall’s Political Writings to be Published in January
A new selection of the late Stuart Hall’s political writings is to be published in January by Lawrence & Wishart, and is available now for pre-order from the publisher’s website....
New Labour and the Roots of Labour’s Crisis, Part 2
HARRY BARNES continues his investigation of the state of Labour, looking at the failures of the Miliband leadership, the basis for Jeremy Corbyn’s triumph and the prospects for party unity. I have never met Ed Miliband and only went to hear one or two of his platform speeches. However, I do feel that he was...
Salters Play to Open in London
A new play about pioneering ILPers Ada and Alfred Salter is heading to south east London next month after a long battle for funding by its writer and director, Alison Mead....
A Visit to Glen Cottage
STEVE THOMPSON visited a Lancashire youth hostel this summer and found a memorial to one of the ILP’s founders and pioneers that is now fighting to survive. For a long time I have intended to get to know more about Lancashire, so in June this year I looked up a youth hostel in the county...
Radical Readings for Salford’s Radical Library
Actors Christopher Eccleston, Sheila Hancock, Julie Hesmondhalgh, Mike Joyce and Maxine Peake will all be reading extracts from radical works of literature and history as part of the Working Class Movement LIbrary’s second ‘Radical Readings’ fundraiser on Sunday 27 November....
Re-Dedication of ILP Volunteers’ Plaque
The role of ILP volunteers in the Spanish Civil War will be commemorated in Salford this Saturday, 24 September, when a plaque at the Working Class Movement Library is re-dedicated to their memory....