London Socialist Historians Group Newsletter Index
The London Socialist Historians
Group organises regular seminars and conferences and
publishes a Newsletter three times a year, as well as other working papers and shorter pieces on our website.
The group was formed in 1993 to promote discussion of new socialist
approaches to history. We are concerned to develop an understanding of the
past from the point of view of the working class, exploring history from both
'above' and 'below'. Because we are concerned with developing socialist approaches to history,
we emphasise the discussion of work in progress and of recently-published
work. We are an open group, with members from outside of academia, as well as
professional historians. All of the LSHG Newsletter past issues from 1997 onwards are now available on this website. To contribute short articles / essays/ book reviews etc for future issues of the Newsletter - and for more information on how to join and support the group in general - please contact our convenor Keith Flett at the address above.
75 (Spring 2022) -including Ian Birchall on Anti-Nazi Germans Keith Flett on cricket and class and the Daniel Morgan inquiry and John Newsinger on the Christian right and history
74 (Autumn 2021) - including Keith Flett on 20 years of Stop the War and the culture wars
73 (Summer 2021) Keith Flett on the the Tories and history again plus a review of Somerset Socialist Library plus John Newsinger reviews two books on Trump and Christian evangelicism plus discussions of why GeffryeMustFall, George Osborne at the British Museum and why school kids need to be taught the song Tyrants of England
72 (Spring 2021) - Keith Flett on the Tory culture war on history and 'from Cinderloo 1821 to Shrewsbury Pickets in 1972' ; also a piece by Christian Hogsbjerg on 'Plagues, vaccines and revolutionaries' (about Waldemar Haffkine and Shapurji Saklatvala), a book review of Before Windrush
by Asher and Martin Hoyles, and obituaries of Ken Weller and Hywel Francis
71 (Autumn 2020) - Keith Flett and Richard Vessey Saville on the 'patriotic' visions of history of Donald Trump and the Tories - a discussion by Christian Hogsbjerg of the Stop The Seventy Tour on the fiftieth anniversary of its important anti-racist victory and some possible parallels with the Black Lives Matter movement, and a book review of a new book on Ira Aldridge.
70 (Summer 2020) - Keith Flett on Covid-19 and reviews of new books relating to the Cato Street Conspiracy of 1820 and London Chartism in 1848.
69 (Spring 2020) - Keith Flett on Labour leaders and labour history; Merilyn Moos on 'History in the Mirror - How the Nazis rose to power'; Marika Sherwood on Black History in 2020
68 (Autumn 2019) - Keith Flett's final piece on Peterloo; Merilyn Moos on Raff Hoffroge's A Jewish Communist in Weimar Germany
67 (Summer 2019) - Keith Flett once again on Peterloo; Ian Birchall on The Blanqui Reader
66 (Spring 2019) - Keith Flett on Peterloo at 200 and Socialist History in 2019; Ian Birchall reviews Gareth Dale's biography of Karl Polanyi and Manus McGrogan's work on the French far left and 1968
65 (Autumn 2018) - featuring Keith Flett on 1968, John Newsinger reviewing a work on evangelical Christians in Trump's America and a review by Christian Hogsbjerg of Martin Empson's popular work on rural class struggles in England, 'Kill All the Gentlemen'. There is also notice of a new book edited by Michael Rosen, Workers' Tales.
64 (Summer 2018) - featuring a comment piece by Keith Flett on the Peterloo massacre in the light of the current massacres of Palestinians by the Israeli state in Gaza, a review of Communist Insurgent: Blanqui's Politics of Revolution by Doug Enaa Greene and an extended second part of a review of The Origins of Collective Decision Making by Andy Blunden.
63 (Spring 2018) - with a comment piece by Keith Flett on the royal wedding, and a book review of Origins of Collective Decision Making by Andy Blunden which discusses the Chartists' view of democracy. Other pieces include an obituary of William Pelz, and book reviews by Ian Birchall and Merilyn Moos.
62 (Autumn 2017) - commentary on Marx's Capital at 150 years, and book reviews by Ian Birchall of Tom O' Lincoln's memoir, Keith Flett on Michael Rosen's memoir and Merilyn Moos on A Political Family by John Green.
61 (Summer 2017) - It leads with Keith Flett recalling the 1997 General Election on its twentieth anniversary, and noting that a new exhibition about the election is on at People's History Museum in Manchester. Last month saw the 40th anniversary of 'The Battle of Wood Green' when anti-fascists including then local councillor Jeremy Corbyn (whatever happened to him?) mobilised against the Nazi National Front and Flett also registers this anniversary and muses on the issues arising from recording such events for the historical record - see here. Ian Birchall also contributes a memoir about his experiences of attending a grammar school in Bradford in light of Theresa May's love for them - see here, while also reviewing two books relating to timely and urgent themes of anti-racism, anti-fascism and French history - The Last Days of New Paris by China Mieville and The Disappearances of Emile Zola by Michael Rosen
60 (Spring 2017) Merilyn Moos on Refugees: Then and Now, and Keith Flett on historians and the world of post-truth, Raphael Samuel and Daniel Rachel's new book about Rock Against Racism and Red Wedge, Walls Come Tumbling Down -
59 (Autumn 2016) - Features a comment piece by LSHG convenor Keith Flett on Labour MPs past and present and John Newsinger, author of classic work The Blood Never Dried: A People's History of the British Empire writing on The Easter Rising and the Left. There is also a statement by the LSHG on MI5 and EP Thompson (it might also be noted that many other members of the Communist Party of Great Britain's Historians' Group including Rodney Hilton and Eric Hobsbawm were also under state surveillance). Ian Birchall reviews two books in this Newsletter - The Cleaner of Kastoria - a novel by Jacqueline Paizis - and Australian Marxist Tom O' Lincoln's The Expropriators Must Be Expropriated, in which he discusses the Australian Minority Movement among other matters.
58 (Summer 2016) - Keith Flett on History Workshop at Forty; Lord Asa Briggs and the future of labour history and Ian Birchall on Sheila Lahr's autobiography, Yealm.
57 (Spring 2016) - Keith Flett on histories of the present and the centenary of conscription; Ian Birchall on a special issue of Revolutionary History on Clara Zetkin and reviews a new volume on the 1926 General Strike.
56 (Autumn 2015) - Keith Flett on Jeremy Corbyn and Keir Hardie; Ian Birchall reviews Celia Hughes's Young Lives on the Left and pens an obituary of Bel Druce; a review of Breaking the Silence by Merilyn Moos and Keith Flett on a biography of Angela Gradwell Tuckett;
55 (Summer 2015) - Includes Keith Flett on Coalition governments and his review of Dorothy Thompson's The Dignity of Chartism; and Ian Birchall's obituary of Jim Cronin.
54 (Spring 2015) - Keith Flett on histories of the present; Sheila Cohen completes her review of Birchall's biography of Cliff, and Birchall responds; Ian Birchall reviews The Eugene V Debs Reader (edited by William Pelz)and Flett writes on William Cuffay and the Medway by-election; and reviews Martin Hoyles's work on Cugoano against slavery.
53 (Autumn 2014): Keith Flett on the anti-war movement in 1914; Merilyn Moos on the history of MI5; Sheila Cohen on Ian Birchall's biography of Tony Cliff (part II);
52 (Summer 2014) - Includes Keith Flett on Tony Benn, The Lawn Road Flats by David Burke and a memoir by Stephen Mann, Sheila Cohen writes on Birchall's review of Tony Cliff, Ian Birchall writes on on Workers' Internationalism and mutinies in the British Army during the First World War.
51 (Spring 2014) - Features discussion of the First World War, Sasha Simic writes on Doctor Who at 50, plus reviews of recent Australian radical history, Dominic Sandbrook, and a discussion of The Making of the English Working Class.
50 (Autumn 2013) - Featuring Keith Flett on the 1913 Dublin Lock Out and Neil Faulkner's A Marxist History of the World, Ian Birchall on the importance of socialist history and a review of James Heartfield's Unpatriotic History of World War II, Steve Cushion on the continuing debate around how socialists should characterise and remember that war, and an obituary of Terry Burton
49 (Summer 2013) - 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.
48 (Spring 2013): includes a comment piece on the importance of archives, the continuation of debates around the Second World War with a contribution by Steve Cushion, a reply by Ian Birchall to his critics on the subject of Bert Ramelson and Harry Ratner once again on the critical role of human agency in history. There are also book reviews relating to militant anti-fascism in Britain and the life and work of Gerrard Winstanley.
[46]47 (Autumn 2012): contents include Keith Flett on the new refurbished William Morris Gallery, Ian Birchall's review of Donny Gluckstein's A People's History of the Second World War (with a response by the author), more discussion around Bert Ramelson, the CPGB and CND, and reviews of Dave Renton's Lives; Running and Michael Wayne's Marx's Das Kapital for Beginners
45 (Summer 2012) - highlights include a renewal of the debate over 1914 and the role of the individual in history between Harry Ratner and Neil Faulkner, Ian Birchall on the legendary Communist Party industrial organiser Bert Ramelson and Keith Flett on Charles Dickens and Charles Bradlaugh (reviewing Deborah Lavin's work).
44 (Spring 2012): - contents include Keith Flett on Occupy, David Renton on Seb Coe, Stan Newens on Ray Challinor.
43 (Autumn 2011): highlights include a debate about David Starkey, an article on the Liverpool General Transport Strike of 1911, and a book review of Tom O'Lincoln's Australia's Pacific War.
42 (Summer 2011): Contents include Keith Flett on 'Monarchy and Old Corruption', Ian Birchall on Ray Challinor and the 1965 Courtauld Strike and Tim Evans on Llanelli 1911
41 (Spring 2011): Keith Flett on the London mob and the London crowd; the Con-Dem deal; and also a piece on William Cuffay; Ben Lewis on Zinoviev at Halle in 1920; Ian Birchall on Tony Judt; Jim Grundy on Nottinghamshire cricket; and an archive piece on the 1910 Hucknall by-election
40 (Autumn 2010): Keith Flett on Tony Barnsley's biography of Mary McCarthur and Tony Judt; Tim Evans again on Llanelli 1911;
39 (Summer 2010): Tim Evans on Llanelli 1911; Keith Flett on martyrs and also his review of Christopher Hitchens's autobiography;
38 (Summer 2010): Keith Flett on Old and New Corruption; and also on the People's History Museum as a resource; Ian Birchall on Robert Service's biography of Leon Trotsky and archives of the British far left; Alan Woodward on Dave Chapple's history of George Massey and the Bristol Post Workers
37 (Spring 2010); Keith Flett on writing the history of the noughties and his review on a 19th century photography exhibition at the British Library; Ian Birchall on his work in progress writing the biography of Tony Cliff;
36 (Autumn 2009): Bob Dent on Hungary in 1930; Keith Flett's obituary of John Saville; Dave Renton on Ian Goodyer's cultural history of Rock Against Racism; a review of Janine Booth's history of Poplarism;
35 (Summer 2009): Keith Flett on John Green's biography of Engels; and Flett on 'British Jobs for British Workers', the Tolpuddle Martyrs and the 1984 Miners' Strike; Michel Aurigny on Robespierre and Babeuf; Ian Birchall reviews Life on the Track by Frank Henderson; Alan Woodward on Plebs and independent working class education
34 (Spring 2009): Keith Flett on Barack Obama and John Charlton's Hidden Chains about slavery in the North East; Ian Birchall on Richard Greeman's Beware of Vegetarian Sharks; Richard Ascough on The Devil's Whore (TV); Carlo Morelli on Jute in Dundee; Neil Faulkner responds to Harry Ratner on the role of the individual in Britain at the outbreak of the First World War in 1914;
33 (Autumn 2008): Keith Flett on 'No Return to Boom and Bust'; on Paul Pickering's biography of Feargus O'Connor; on Alan Woodward's The NHS is 60; Tom Machell on The Flying Pickets of 1972; Ian Birchall on Ralph Darlington's Syndicalism and the Transition to Communism; Nik Howard on sources of socialism in Japan;
32 (July 2008) - Ian Birchall: 'Socialism and Freedom'
31 (Summer 2008): Polemic by David Renton on the commercialisation of cricket, and by Harry Ratner on Britain's entry into the 1914-18 war and the role of individuals; an article by Megan Davies and Keith Flett on CND; research reports by Gerd-Rainer Horn on the events of 1968 and by Julienne Ford on the history of now; reviews by John Burton of Pete Frame, The Restless Generation and by Keith Flett of Di Parkin, 60 Years of Struggle: the History of Betteshanger Colliery; and an obituary of Ruth Frow.
30 (Spring 2008): Reviews of Western Marxism and the Soviet Union by Marcel van der Linden, New Approaches to Socialist History, Joan Cowell's biography of Joseph Cowen [currently missing] and The Failure of a Dream by Gidon Cohen, reports of seminars and conferences and an article by Martin Spence on socialist local history.
29 (Autumn 2007): Reviews by Keith Flett of Alistair Campbell's diaries, by Ian Birchall of 1956 and All That, the book that came out of the LSHG conference on 1956, by Dominic Alexander of Chris Wickham's Framing the Early Middle Ages, by Keith Flett of Malcolm Chase's Chartism: A New Historyand by David Renton of Harry Ratner's A Socialist at War, as well as a report by Dougal McNeill on his research into war literature.
28 (Autumn 2006): Neil Faulkner about his project with Pete Glatter to construct a grand narrative of the global crisis of 1914-21, a review by Tobias Abse of William Fishman's East End Jewish Radicals and Rudolf Rocker's The London Years, and a review by Geoff Brown of Dave Renton's When We Touched the Sky.
27 (Summer 2006): Keith Flett on eighty years after the British General Strike of 1926 and a review by Terry Ward of Kevin Murphy's Revolution and Counterrevolution - Class Struggle in a Moscow Metal Factory.
26 (Spring 2006): Ian Birchall on writing socialist biography and by John Charlton on the reform demonstration in Newcastle in October 1819, together with a review of Barry Johnson's Nine Days That Shook Mansfield by Keith Flett and an article about the LSHG conference on 1956.
25 (Autumn 2005) Louise Raw discusses her new research on the 1888 Bryant & May strike, Nik Howard writes on the origins of Japanese imperialism, and Pete Glatter writes on the 1905 centenary issue of Revolutionary History, together with a review by Neil Rogall of Ian Birchall's Sartre Against Stalinism.
24 (Summer 2005): An obituary of the Egyptian labour historian, Taha Sa'ad Uthmann, by Anne Alexander, a review of David Renton's books on Classical Marxism and Dissident Marxism by Nik Howard, and a review of David Black's new biography of Helen Macfarlane by Keith Flett.
23 (Spring 2005): A review by Julie Ford of Paul Gilroy's After Empire and Huey P Newton and Lenin on Revolutionary Intercommunalism and the Right of Nations to Self-determination, a review by Keith Flett of Hilda Kean's London Stories, a report on the meeting organised by the LSHG on Rosa Luxemburg and 1905 at the recent European Social Forum and an article by Neil Faulkner on the formation of the Great War Archaeology Group.
22 (Autumn 2004): Andrew H Lee on the Tamiment Library, together with reviews by Liz Willis of Stuart Christie's Granny Made Me an Anarchist and by Dave Renton of Mark O'Brien's socialist history of the 1381 Peasant Revolt When Adam Delved and Eve Span.
21 (Summer 2004): Rachel Cohen on women's history today in Britain and elsewhere, an article by Nik Howard on the political ideology of Kita Ikki and a review by John Geoffrey Walker of Michael Haynes' and Rumy Husan's history of modern Russia, A Century of State Murder.
20 (Spring 2004): Neil Faulkner on "Archaeology from below", an obituary by Ian Birchall of Al Richardson, editor of Revolutionary History, and reports on historians at the European Social Forum and on the conference held in November to mark the twentieth anniversary of the 1984-85 miners' strike.
19 (Autumn 2003): Dragan Plavsic on the Balkan socialist tradition (the subject of the latest issue of the journal Revolutionary History, a review by Roger Darlington of the collection edited by Keith Flett and David Renton, New Approaches to Socialist History, and a review by Keith Flett of Miles Taylor's new biography, Ernest Jones: Chartism and the Romance of Politics 1819-1869
18 (Summer 2003): An obituary of Christopher Hill by Keith Flett, a review of Archie Potts' Zilliacus: A Life for Peace and Socialism by Ian Birchall and a review of Stephen A Resnick and Richard D Wolff's Class Theory and History: Capitalism and Communism in the USSR by Mike Haynes, along with letters from Michael Herbert and Keith McClelland.
17 (Spring 2003): Neil Rogall on "Teaching the Israel/Palestine conflict", a report by Dave Renton on the memorial meeting for Royden Harrison, a news item on the arrest of socialist historian Leo Zeilig and an article by Keith Flett on 'Telling the Truth about Hitler'.
16 (Autumn 2002): A review by David Renton of Richard J Evans's Telling Lies about Hitler, a review by Keith Flett of Gareth Stedman Jones' Introduction to the new edition of the Communist Manifesto, a review by Joe Fleming of Paul Martin's The Trade Union Badge and an article by Andrew Hemingway introducing the new seminar series on Marxism and the Interpretation of Culture.
15 (Summer 2002): R. W. Davies on "Studying Soviet Economic History", an obituary of Roy Porter by Liz Willis, and reviews of Consensus or Coercion: the State, the People and Social Cohesion in Post-war Britain, by Black, Dawswell, Doye, Drake, Horner, Jenkins, Minion, Powell and Tracey, and of Calum Smith's Around the Peat-Fire by Liz Willis.
14 (Spring 2002): Anne Alexander on the historical background to George W. Bush's "war on terrorism", putting it in the context of western imperialism and resistance to western imperialism in the Middle East and Central Asia, and an article by Esther Leslie on "Mutiny", the latest issue of the journal Revolutionary History.
13 (Autumn 2001): Dave Harker on the influence of Robert Tressell's novel The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, and a review by Keith Flett of Stephen Woodham's History in the Making - Raymond Williams, Edward Thompson and the Radical Intellectuals 1936-1956.
12 (Summer 2001): Michael Cox on the intellectual relationship between E.H. Carr and Isaac Deutscher, and a review by Ian Birchall of Pamela Pilbeam's French Socialists before Marx.
11 (Spring 2001): Ralph Darlington on a critical reassesment of revolutionary syndicalism; Ian Birchall on the work of the journal Revolutionary History; Sarah Glynn on Dave Renton's Fascism, Anti-Fascism and Britain in the 1940s; Keith Flett on the latest volume of the Dictionary of Labour Biography.
10 (Autumn 2000): Glyn Powell on Black History Month; Alan Woodward on Fragments 2, the second publication in the oral labour history project conducted by Haringey Trades Council; Keith Flett on the work of E.H.Carr.
9 (Summer 2000): Hilda Kean on Public History in Britain today; Stephen Roberts on Heronsgate: Happiness, Freedom and Contentment by Ian Foster (review).
9 (Spring 2000): Keith Flett on socialist history at the millenium.
7 (Autumn 1999): Keith Flett on History, the Nation and the Schools ten years on; Stephen Roberts on Chartism Day 1999 (conference report).
6: (Summer 1999): John Charlton on family history from the left; Keith Flett and John Walker on the Socialist History Network.
5 (Spring 1999): Alan Woodward on Fragments, a local oral labour history book produced by Haringey Trades Council; Dave Renton on Walter Benjamin: A Biography by Momme Brodersen (review); Stephen Roberts on Chartism Day 1999 (conference report); a letter from Ian Birchall about Marx, Engels and 1848.
4 (Autumn 1998): Neil Rogall on the work of the Subaltern Studiescollective; Andrew Hemingway on Magnetic Mountain by Stephen Kotkin (review); Keith Flett on the 150th anniversary of the Revolutions of 1848 (conference report - see also the letter from Ian Birchall in issue 5).
3 (Summer 1998): Ian Birchall on In Defence of History by Richard J. Evans (review); Liz Willis on an exhibition of the life and work of Mary Wollestonecraft and Mary Shelley (review).
70 (Summer 2020) - Keith Flett on Covid-19 and reviews of new books relating to the Cato Street Conspiracy of 1820 and London Chartism in 1848.
69 (Spring 2020) - Keith Flett on Labour leaders and labour history; Merilyn Moos on 'History in the Mirror - How the Nazis rose to power'; Marika Sherwood on Black History in 2020
68 (Autumn 2019) - Keith Flett's final piece on Peterloo; Merilyn Moos on Raff Hoffroge's A Jewish Communist in Weimar Germany
67 (Summer 2019) - Keith Flett once again on Peterloo; Ian Birchall on The Blanqui Reader
66 (Spring 2019) - Keith Flett on Peterloo at 200 and Socialist History in 2019; Ian Birchall reviews Gareth Dale's biography of Karl Polanyi and Manus McGrogan's work on the French far left and 1968
65 (Autumn 2018) - featuring Keith Flett on 1968, John Newsinger reviewing a work on evangelical Christians in Trump's America and a review by Christian Hogsbjerg of Martin Empson's popular work on rural class struggles in England, 'Kill All the Gentlemen'. There is also notice of a new book edited by Michael Rosen, Workers' Tales.
64 (Summer 2018) - featuring a comment piece by Keith Flett on the Peterloo massacre in the light of the current massacres of Palestinians by the Israeli state in Gaza, a review of Communist Insurgent: Blanqui's Politics of Revolution by Doug Enaa Greene and an extended second part of a review of The Origins of Collective Decision Making by Andy Blunden.
63 (Spring 2018) - with a comment piece by Keith Flett on the royal wedding, and a book review of Origins of Collective Decision Making by Andy Blunden which discusses the Chartists' view of democracy. Other pieces include an obituary of William Pelz, and book reviews by Ian Birchall and Merilyn Moos.
62 (Autumn 2017) - commentary on Marx's Capital at 150 years, and book reviews by Ian Birchall of Tom O' Lincoln's memoir, Keith Flett on Michael Rosen's memoir and Merilyn Moos on A Political Family by John Green.
61 (Summer 2017) - It leads with Keith Flett recalling the 1997 General Election on its twentieth anniversary, and noting that a new exhibition about the election is on at People's History Museum in Manchester. Last month saw the 40th anniversary of 'The Battle of Wood Green' when anti-fascists including then local councillor Jeremy Corbyn (whatever happened to him?) mobilised against the Nazi National Front and Flett also registers this anniversary and muses on the issues arising from recording such events for the historical record - see here. Ian Birchall also contributes a memoir about his experiences of attending a grammar school in Bradford in light of Theresa May's love for them - see here, while also reviewing two books relating to timely and urgent themes of anti-racism, anti-fascism and French history - The Last Days of New Paris by China Mieville and The Disappearances of Emile Zola by Michael Rosen
60 (Spring 2017) Merilyn Moos on Refugees: Then and Now, and Keith Flett on historians and the world of post-truth, Raphael Samuel and Daniel Rachel's new book about Rock Against Racism and Red Wedge, Walls Come Tumbling Down -
59 (Autumn 2016) - Features a comment piece by LSHG convenor Keith Flett on Labour MPs past and present and John Newsinger, author of classic work The Blood Never Dried: A People's History of the British Empire writing on The Easter Rising and the Left. There is also a statement by the LSHG on MI5 and EP Thompson (it might also be noted that many other members of the Communist Party of Great Britain's Historians' Group including Rodney Hilton and Eric Hobsbawm were also under state surveillance). Ian Birchall reviews two books in this Newsletter - The Cleaner of Kastoria - a novel by Jacqueline Paizis - and Australian Marxist Tom O' Lincoln's The Expropriators Must Be Expropriated, in which he discusses the Australian Minority Movement among other matters.
58 (Summer 2016) - Keith Flett on History Workshop at Forty; Lord Asa Briggs and the future of labour history and Ian Birchall on Sheila Lahr's autobiography, Yealm.
57 (Spring 2016) - Keith Flett on histories of the present and the centenary of conscription; Ian Birchall on a special issue of Revolutionary History on Clara Zetkin and reviews a new volume on the 1926 General Strike.
56 (Autumn 2015) - Keith Flett on Jeremy Corbyn and Keir Hardie; Ian Birchall reviews Celia Hughes's Young Lives on the Left and pens an obituary of Bel Druce; a review of Breaking the Silence by Merilyn Moos and Keith Flett on a biography of Angela Gradwell Tuckett;
55 (Summer 2015) - Includes Keith Flett on Coalition governments and his review of Dorothy Thompson's The Dignity of Chartism; and Ian Birchall's obituary of Jim Cronin.
54 (Spring 2015) - Keith Flett on histories of the present; Sheila Cohen completes her review of Birchall's biography of Cliff, and Birchall responds; Ian Birchall reviews The Eugene V Debs Reader (edited by William Pelz)and Flett writes on William Cuffay and the Medway by-election; and reviews Martin Hoyles's work on Cugoano against slavery.
53 (Autumn 2014): Keith Flett on the anti-war movement in 1914; Merilyn Moos on the history of MI5; Sheila Cohen on Ian Birchall's biography of Tony Cliff (part II);
52 (Summer 2014) - Includes Keith Flett on Tony Benn, The Lawn Road Flats by David Burke and a memoir by Stephen Mann, Sheila Cohen writes on Birchall's review of Tony Cliff, Ian Birchall writes on on Workers' Internationalism and mutinies in the British Army during the First World War.
51 (Spring 2014) - Features discussion of the First World War, Sasha Simic writes on Doctor Who at 50, plus reviews of recent Australian radical history, Dominic Sandbrook, and a discussion of The Making of the English Working Class.
50 (Autumn 2013) - Featuring Keith Flett on the 1913 Dublin Lock Out and Neil Faulkner's A Marxist History of the World, Ian Birchall on the importance of socialist history and a review of James Heartfield's Unpatriotic History of World War II, Steve Cushion on the continuing debate around how socialists should characterise and remember that war, and an obituary of Terry Burton
49 (Summer 2013) - 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.
48 (Spring 2013): includes a comment piece on the importance of archives, the continuation of debates around the Second World War with a contribution by Steve Cushion, a reply by Ian Birchall to his critics on the subject of Bert Ramelson and Harry Ratner once again on the critical role of human agency in history. There are also book reviews relating to militant anti-fascism in Britain and the life and work of Gerrard Winstanley.
[46]47 (Autumn 2012): contents include Keith Flett on the new refurbished William Morris Gallery, Ian Birchall's review of Donny Gluckstein's A People's History of the Second World War (with a response by the author), more discussion around Bert Ramelson, the CPGB and CND, and reviews of Dave Renton's Lives; Running and Michael Wayne's Marx's Das Kapital for Beginners
45 (Summer 2012) - highlights include a renewal of the debate over 1914 and the role of the individual in history between Harry Ratner and Neil Faulkner, Ian Birchall on the legendary Communist Party industrial organiser Bert Ramelson and Keith Flett on Charles Dickens and Charles Bradlaugh (reviewing Deborah Lavin's work).
44 (Spring 2012): - contents include Keith Flett on Occupy, David Renton on Seb Coe, Stan Newens on Ray Challinor.
43 (Autumn 2011): highlights include a debate about David Starkey, an article on the Liverpool General Transport Strike of 1911, and a book review of Tom O'Lincoln's Australia's Pacific War.
42 (Summer 2011): Contents include Keith Flett on 'Monarchy and Old Corruption', Ian Birchall on Ray Challinor and the 1965 Courtauld Strike and Tim Evans on Llanelli 1911
41 (Spring 2011): Keith Flett on the London mob and the London crowd; the Con-Dem deal; and also a piece on William Cuffay; Ben Lewis on Zinoviev at Halle in 1920; Ian Birchall on Tony Judt; Jim Grundy on Nottinghamshire cricket; and an archive piece on the 1910 Hucknall by-election
40 (Autumn 2010): Keith Flett on Tony Barnsley's biography of Mary McCarthur and Tony Judt; Tim Evans again on Llanelli 1911;
39 (Summer 2010): Tim Evans on Llanelli 1911; Keith Flett on martyrs and also his review of Christopher Hitchens's autobiography;
38 (Summer 2010): Keith Flett on Old and New Corruption; and also on the People's History Museum as a resource; Ian Birchall on Robert Service's biography of Leon Trotsky and archives of the British far left; Alan Woodward on Dave Chapple's history of George Massey and the Bristol Post Workers
37 (Spring 2010); Keith Flett on writing the history of the noughties and his review on a 19th century photography exhibition at the British Library; Ian Birchall on his work in progress writing the biography of Tony Cliff;
36 (Autumn 2009): Bob Dent on Hungary in 1930; Keith Flett's obituary of John Saville; Dave Renton on Ian Goodyer's cultural history of Rock Against Racism; a review of Janine Booth's history of Poplarism;
35 (Summer 2009): Keith Flett on John Green's biography of Engels; and Flett on 'British Jobs for British Workers', the Tolpuddle Martyrs and the 1984 Miners' Strike; Michel Aurigny on Robespierre and Babeuf; Ian Birchall reviews Life on the Track by Frank Henderson; Alan Woodward on Plebs and independent working class education
34 (Spring 2009): Keith Flett on Barack Obama and John Charlton's Hidden Chains about slavery in the North East; Ian Birchall on Richard Greeman's Beware of Vegetarian Sharks; Richard Ascough on The Devil's Whore (TV); Carlo Morelli on Jute in Dundee; Neil Faulkner responds to Harry Ratner on the role of the individual in Britain at the outbreak of the First World War in 1914;
33 (Autumn 2008): Keith Flett on 'No Return to Boom and Bust'; on Paul Pickering's biography of Feargus O'Connor; on Alan Woodward's The NHS is 60; Tom Machell on The Flying Pickets of 1972; Ian Birchall on Ralph Darlington's Syndicalism and the Transition to Communism; Nik Howard on sources of socialism in Japan;
32 (July 2008) - Ian Birchall: 'Socialism and Freedom'
31 (Summer 2008): Polemic by David Renton on the commercialisation of cricket, and by Harry Ratner on Britain's entry into the 1914-18 war and the role of individuals; an article by Megan Davies and Keith Flett on CND; research reports by Gerd-Rainer Horn on the events of 1968 and by Julienne Ford on the history of now; reviews by John Burton of Pete Frame, The Restless Generation and by Keith Flett of Di Parkin, 60 Years of Struggle: the History of Betteshanger Colliery; and an obituary of Ruth Frow.
30 (Spring 2008): Reviews of Western Marxism and the Soviet Union by Marcel van der Linden, New Approaches to Socialist History, Joan Cowell's biography of Joseph Cowen [currently missing] and The Failure of a Dream by Gidon Cohen, reports of seminars and conferences and an article by Martin Spence on socialist local history.
29 (Autumn 2007): Reviews by Keith Flett of Alistair Campbell's diaries, by Ian Birchall of 1956 and All That, the book that came out of the LSHG conference on 1956, by Dominic Alexander of Chris Wickham's Framing the Early Middle Ages, by Keith Flett of Malcolm Chase's Chartism: A New Historyand by David Renton of Harry Ratner's A Socialist at War, as well as a report by Dougal McNeill on his research into war literature.
28 (Autumn 2006): Neil Faulkner about his project with Pete Glatter to construct a grand narrative of the global crisis of 1914-21, a review by Tobias Abse of William Fishman's East End Jewish Radicals and Rudolf Rocker's The London Years, and a review by Geoff Brown of Dave Renton's When We Touched the Sky.
27 (Summer 2006): Keith Flett on eighty years after the British General Strike of 1926 and a review by Terry Ward of Kevin Murphy's Revolution and Counterrevolution - Class Struggle in a Moscow Metal Factory.
26 (Spring 2006): Ian Birchall on writing socialist biography and by John Charlton on the reform demonstration in Newcastle in October 1819, together with a review of Barry Johnson's Nine Days That Shook Mansfield by Keith Flett and an article about the LSHG conference on 1956.
25 (Autumn 2005) Louise Raw discusses her new research on the 1888 Bryant & May strike, Nik Howard writes on the origins of Japanese imperialism, and Pete Glatter writes on the 1905 centenary issue of Revolutionary History, together with a review by Neil Rogall of Ian Birchall's Sartre Against Stalinism.
24 (Summer 2005): An obituary of the Egyptian labour historian, Taha Sa'ad Uthmann, by Anne Alexander, a review of David Renton's books on Classical Marxism and Dissident Marxism by Nik Howard, and a review of David Black's new biography of Helen Macfarlane by Keith Flett.
23 (Spring 2005): A review by Julie Ford of Paul Gilroy's After Empire and Huey P Newton and Lenin on Revolutionary Intercommunalism and the Right of Nations to Self-determination, a review by Keith Flett of Hilda Kean's London Stories, a report on the meeting organised by the LSHG on Rosa Luxemburg and 1905 at the recent European Social Forum and an article by Neil Faulkner on the formation of the Great War Archaeology Group.
22 (Autumn 2004): Andrew H Lee on the Tamiment Library, together with reviews by Liz Willis of Stuart Christie's Granny Made Me an Anarchist and by Dave Renton of Mark O'Brien's socialist history of the 1381 Peasant Revolt When Adam Delved and Eve Span.
21 (Summer 2004): Rachel Cohen on women's history today in Britain and elsewhere, an article by Nik Howard on the political ideology of Kita Ikki and a review by John Geoffrey Walker of Michael Haynes' and Rumy Husan's history of modern Russia, A Century of State Murder.
20 (Spring 2004): Neil Faulkner on "Archaeology from below", an obituary by Ian Birchall of Al Richardson, editor of Revolutionary History, and reports on historians at the European Social Forum and on the conference held in November to mark the twentieth anniversary of the 1984-85 miners' strike.
19 (Autumn 2003): Dragan Plavsic on the Balkan socialist tradition (the subject of the latest issue of the journal Revolutionary History, a review by Roger Darlington of the collection edited by Keith Flett and David Renton, New Approaches to Socialist History, and a review by Keith Flett of Miles Taylor's new biography, Ernest Jones: Chartism and the Romance of Politics 1819-1869
18 (Summer 2003): An obituary of Christopher Hill by Keith Flett, a review of Archie Potts' Zilliacus: A Life for Peace and Socialism by Ian Birchall and a review of Stephen A Resnick and Richard D Wolff's Class Theory and History: Capitalism and Communism in the USSR by Mike Haynes, along with letters from Michael Herbert and Keith McClelland.
17 (Spring 2003): Neil Rogall on "Teaching the Israel/Palestine conflict", a report by Dave Renton on the memorial meeting for Royden Harrison, a news item on the arrest of socialist historian Leo Zeilig and an article by Keith Flett on 'Telling the Truth about Hitler'.
16 (Autumn 2002): A review by David Renton of Richard J Evans's Telling Lies about Hitler, a review by Keith Flett of Gareth Stedman Jones' Introduction to the new edition of the Communist Manifesto, a review by Joe Fleming of Paul Martin's The Trade Union Badge and an article by Andrew Hemingway introducing the new seminar series on Marxism and the Interpretation of Culture.
15 (Summer 2002): R. W. Davies on "Studying Soviet Economic History", an obituary of Roy Porter by Liz Willis, and reviews of Consensus or Coercion: the State, the People and Social Cohesion in Post-war Britain, by Black, Dawswell, Doye, Drake, Horner, Jenkins, Minion, Powell and Tracey, and of Calum Smith's Around the Peat-Fire by Liz Willis.
14 (Spring 2002): Anne Alexander on the historical background to George W. Bush's "war on terrorism", putting it in the context of western imperialism and resistance to western imperialism in the Middle East and Central Asia, and an article by Esther Leslie on "Mutiny", the latest issue of the journal Revolutionary History.
13 (Autumn 2001): Dave Harker on the influence of Robert Tressell's novel The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, and a review by Keith Flett of Stephen Woodham's History in the Making - Raymond Williams, Edward Thompson and the Radical Intellectuals 1936-1956.
12 (Summer 2001): Michael Cox on the intellectual relationship between E.H. Carr and Isaac Deutscher, and a review by Ian Birchall of Pamela Pilbeam's French Socialists before Marx.
11 (Spring 2001): Ralph Darlington on a critical reassesment of revolutionary syndicalism; Ian Birchall on the work of the journal Revolutionary History; Sarah Glynn on Dave Renton's Fascism, Anti-Fascism and Britain in the 1940s; Keith Flett on the latest volume of the Dictionary of Labour Biography.
10 (Autumn 2000): Glyn Powell on Black History Month; Alan Woodward on Fragments 2, the second publication in the oral labour history project conducted by Haringey Trades Council; Keith Flett on the work of E.H.Carr.
9 (Summer 2000): Hilda Kean on Public History in Britain today; Stephen Roberts on Heronsgate: Happiness, Freedom and Contentment by Ian Foster (review).
9 (Spring 2000): Keith Flett on socialist history at the millenium.
7 (Autumn 1999): Keith Flett on History, the Nation and the Schools ten years on; Stephen Roberts on Chartism Day 1999 (conference report).
6: (Summer 1999): John Charlton on family history from the left; Keith Flett and John Walker on the Socialist History Network.
5 (Spring 1999): Alan Woodward on Fragments, a local oral labour history book produced by Haringey Trades Council; Dave Renton on Walter Benjamin: A Biography by Momme Brodersen (review); Stephen Roberts on Chartism Day 1999 (conference report); a letter from Ian Birchall about Marx, Engels and 1848.
4 (Autumn 1998): Neil Rogall on the work of the Subaltern Studiescollective; Andrew Hemingway on Magnetic Mountain by Stephen Kotkin (review); Keith Flett on the 150th anniversary of the Revolutions of 1848 (conference report - see also the letter from Ian Birchall in issue 5).
3 (Summer 1998): Ian Birchall on In Defence of History by Richard J. Evans (review); Liz Willis on an exhibition of the life and work of Mary Wollestonecraft and Mary Shelley (review).
2 (Spring 1998): Eve Setch on the Feminist Library; Ian Birchall on the Babeuf Bicentenary Conference (conference report).
1 (Autumn 1997): "Welcome to the LSHG newsletter" by Keith Flett (editorial).
