May 2013 LSHG Newsletter online

The new LSHG Newsletter (#49, May 2013) is now online and leads with a comment piece by Keith Flett on Michael Gove's new planned school history curriculum, a curriculum which will not see any place for example for the likes of British working class history as for example outlined in Ian Birchall's review of a study of Blaydon Races, nor the Black British Rebels brought to life in a work by Hassan Mahamdallie - let alone Haitian revolutionaries such as Toussaint Louverture, the subject of a rediscovered play by the Trinidadian historian C.L.R. James which is reviewed by Gaverne Bennett. School students will I am sure however be hearing a lot about the wonders of British parliamentary democracy, so Brian Roper's recent Marxist interpretation of the rise of democracy - also reviewed in the Newsletter - is timely. The LSHG has organised two seminars in the Spring term so far - details here. LSHG members will also be gathering at the London Radical Bookfair on 11 May, and also at Marxism 2013 from 11-15 July in London. For more info about the LSHG or to join, please email Keith Flett at the address above.