Syndicalism: lessons for today?

A Public Meeting organised jointly by the London Socialist Historians and the Socialist History Society
Monday 17th May at 6.00pm
in the Pollard Room, the Institute of Historical Research, Senate House, Malet Street, London WC1

Syndicalism, one big union for all workers, was a popular trend within the labour movement until the advent of the Russian revolution. Its adherents in Britain and Ireland included Tom Mann, James Connolly, Jim Larkin, A J Cook, and Noah Ablett. The latter was one of the contributors to the ground-breaking pamphlet, The Miners’ Next Step — a reform programme for South Wales miners that argued for workers’ control. In the USA, Joe Hill and the Industrial Workers of the World organised workers irrespective of colour and their actions left their mark on US labour history. It was popular in parts of Europe, and in Spain it survived until the time of the Civil War. This seminar looks at Syndicalism's origins and developments and asks what lessons can be learned today.

Dr Ralph Darlington will speak on 'The History of Syndicalism'
Dr. Darlington is Professor of Employment Relations at Salford
Business School, part of the University of Salford. His books include, The Dynamics of Workplace Unionism, The Political Trajectory of J.T. Murphy, Glorious Summer, Syndicalism and the Transition to Communism: An International Comparative Analysis , and What's the Point of Industrial Relations?

Dr Keith Flett will speak on 'Syndicalism in the UK, 1910/11'
Dr Flett is convener of the London Socialist Historians
Group and is President of the Haringey Trades Council. He has
written and edited a number of history books. These include, Chartism
after 1848: The Working Class and the Politics of Radical Education,
The Twentieth Century: A Century of Wars and Revolutions (ed.
with David Renton), Approaches to Socialist History (ed. with David
Renton), 1956 and All That (editor).

ENTRANCE FREE : ALL WELCOME
See: http://londonsocialisthistorians.blogspot.com/ : www.socialisthistorysociety.co.uk