The ILP has published a new expanded edition of its popular Spanish Civil War pamphlet Land and Freedom, including a brief profile of the ILP volunteer Stafford Cottman written by historian and author Christopher Hall....
Orwell’s Complex Commander
Georges Kopp was George Orwell’s commander when he fought with the ILP contingent in the Spanish Civil War. A new biography reveals a brave man of many parts and much mystery, as CHRISTOPHER HALL explains. Anyone who has read Homage to Catalonia, or any major biography on Orwell, will have come across several mentions of...
ILP@120: James Maxton – Glasgow’s Red Rebel
WILLIAM KNOX charts the devoted life of ILP leader James Maxton, “a special kind of orator who inspired human beings to struggle for socialism”. James Maxton was born on 22 June 1885 in Pollockshaws, Glasgow, the son of James Maxton, schoolteacher, and Melvina (née Purdon), a former school teacher. At the time of Maxton’s...
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....
Two Hundred Brigaders Pay Homage to Orwell
Over 200 people assembled at the Manchester Conference Centre on Saturday 2 March to take part in the annual IBMT (International Brigade Memorial Trust) Len Crome Lecture. The title of the day’s conference was ‘Homage to Catalonia 75 years on’....
Orwell to be honoured by International Brigades
The International Brigades Memorial Trust is holding a special event in Manchester on 2 March to mark the 75th anniversary of George Orwell’s Homage to Catalonia....
Homage to Catalonia on Radio4
Homage to Catalonia, George Orwell’s book about his experiences as an ILP volunteer at the Spanish Civil War, has been dramatised on Radio 4 over the last few weeks....
A digital record of the Spanish Civil War
The Modern Records Centre at the University of Warwick has completed its project to digitise more than 13,000 pages of archives relating to the Spanish Civil War....
Benefit for the Brigade
The International Brigade Memorial Trust are holding a benefit night at Chorlton Irish Club in Chorlton-cum-Hardy on Friday 18 May. The acts include Les Jones and Friends of the Beech, The Madonnnas, and the Bourbon Street Preachers....
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....
The ILP: Past & Present (1993)
4. War & After The ILP in the 30s Despite its numerical decline, the ILP remained a significant political force throughout the thirties. In addition, it retained a small but vocal parliamentary presence until Jimmy Maxton’s death in 1946. But, if disaffiliation appeared to resolved the ILP’s dilemma about its role as a left...