Historic Cable Street Pamphlet Republished

The ILP has republished a first-hand account of the Battle of Cable Street to mark the 80th anniversary of the day in 1936 when the people of London’s east end united to halt Oswald Mosley and his British Union of Fascists (BUF) from marching through Stepney....

Labour on the Brink: Debating the Party’s Future

It seems hard to believe that the 2015 general election was only 18 months ago, so profound has been the change in the political landscape since the Tories’ unexpected triumph. For Labour, the political and emotional traumas of that defeat have been resonating ever since as it’s reeled from Jeremy Corbyn’s shock victory in last...

Corbyn: Labour’s Accidental Leader

IAN BULLOCK’s recurring nightmare is that the Labour Party will end up like the ILP at the end of the 1930s – with a leader who could do no wrong in the eyes of an adoring membership, but with little or no political influence, let alone power. ‘At least Jimmy Maxton was a brilliant...

A Day for Ada

The Labour left today could do with a few members like Ada Salter, the quietly-spoken, peace-loving ILPer whose pioneering work transformed south-east London in the early decades of the 20th century. MATTHEW BROWN attended the first Ada Salter Day. There have been many reasons in recent weeks to yearn for a different kind of...

London to Celebrate Ada Salter Day

Ada Salter’s 150th birthday will be celebrated in south east London on the weekend of 15-16 July with a series of events to mark the extraordinary legacy of this pioneering ILPer on the people and politics of Bermondsey, London and the country....

Ada Salter and the Origins of Ethical Socialism

In writing his lauded biography of ILPer Ada Salter, GRAHAM TAYLOR began to wonder about the ILP’s ethical socialism. In a recent lecture to the Socialist History Society, he traced the history of those ideas and values which the Salters epitomised through their lives in south east London. I must start with a confession. When...