BBIH - call for blog posts

 The Bibliography of British and Irish History (BBIH) is looking to commission a series of blog posts (500-1000 words) from historians at different career stages about how they have used BBIH:

 

·        To research or write about a particular topic within socialist history.

·        For a particular research task. For example, for a literature review at the onset of a project or as a horizon scanning exercise when starting on a new field of research, whether that be for a seminar paper, journal article, book, PhD, or another research outcome.

·        In teaching. For example, devising new teaching modules, updating, or creating new reading lists, or supporting assignment supervision.

Please contact jennifer.lelkes@sas.ac.uk for more information or to contribute thanks 

 

LSHG Autumn Seminar series

 Monday 7th October 5.30pm Rosalind Eyben, John Horner & the Communist Party, Uncomfortable Encounter with Truth. On Zoom. To book (required, free) https://www.history.ac.uk/events/john-horner-and-communist-party-uncomfortable-encounter-truth

Monday 21st October 5.30pm Fabrice Bensimon, The Chartist Meeting at Kennington Common, 10th April 1848. The daguerreotypes, the crowd and the coachman. In person, Room 301, Institute of Historical Research https://www.history.ac.uk/events/chartist-meeting-kennington-common-10-april-1848-daguerreotypes-crowd-and-coachman

Monday 4th November 5.30pm Gregor Gall, Mick Lynch. The Making & the Unmaking of a Working Class Hero? On Zoom To book (required, free) https://www.history.ac.uk/events/mick-lynch-making-and-unmaking-a-working-class-hero

Monday 18th November 5.30pm, Bob Henderson, Lenin in London. In person. Room 301 Institute of Historical Research

Monday 2nd December 5.30pm, Aidan Beatty. Gerry Healy & the WRP. Violence, Gender & the Perils of Trotskyism. On Zoom

All seminars are free to attend. Registration required, details to follow. Organised by the Socialist HIstory Seminar at the Institute of Historical Research & the London Socialist Historians Group

A Useable Past - Stephen Yeo

A Useable Past: The History of Association, Cooperation and un-Statist Socialism in 19th and early 20th century Britain. ​

A three volume set 

Volume 1. Victorian Agitator, George Jacob Holyoake (1817-1906): Co-operation as 'This New Order of Life. 

Volume 2. A New Life, The Religion of Socialism in Britain, 1883-1896: Alternatives to State Socialism.

Volume 3. Class Conflict and Co-operation in 19th and 20th Century Britain. Education for Association: re-membering for a new moral world. 

 About the author

 Professor Yeo was Principal of Ruskin College, Oxford, 1989-97 and since then has been Chair of the Co-operative College and the Co-operative Heritage Trust in Manchester and Rochdale, engaging with and writing about the movement. Stephen began his adult life as a Labour Party Parliamentary candidate in the elections of 1964 and 1966. As a social historian, he is known for his work on association, cooperation, labour movements and religious and voluntary organisations. He taught at the University of Sussex for 25 years, and he was also active in Brighton’s community politics.

LSHG seminar - The British Labour Party’s New Socialist and the business of political culture in the late Twentieth Century

Monday June 3rd 5.30pm on Zoom Colm Murphy. 'The forgotten rival of Marxism Today: The British Labour Party’s New Socialist and the business of political culture in the late Twentieth Century' Free. Book at this link https://www.history.ac.uk/events/forgotten-rival-marxism-today-british-labour-partys-new-socialist-and-business-political This paper explores the world of the 1980s left in the UK and argues that political historians should integrate ‘business history’ questions to situate and evaluate sites for political debate. No history of the 1980s is complete without reference to the Communist Party’s glamorous Marxism Today. However, scholars have overlooked one of its significant market competitors. In 1981, the Labour Party founded its own intellectual magazine, the New Socialist. Initially, it was highly successful, recording healthy circulation figures and attracting iconoclastic pieces by leading socialists. Its early commercial success shows that it has been unjustly neglected since. Yet unfavourable political winds and internal editorial divisions fatally overlapped with ruinous business decisions in a worsening financial environment. This precipitated the collapse of New Socialist in the later 1980s—just as its Eurocommunist rival declared the arrival of the ‘New Times’ and wrote itself into history books. Closer attention to business contexts thus returns New Socialist to histories of the left and provides a better map of its ideological debates during a transformative decade. It also situates the travails of the 1980s left within social and cultural trends over the twentieth century.

CfP: The Benn Legacy -

The Benn Legacy A conference to be held on 12-13 April 2025 in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of Tony Benn’s birth, looking at Benn’s life and legacy. The issues to which Benn devoted his political life are, if anything, more burningly relevant today than they were when he died in 2014. These include the relationship of people to power, peace in the Middle East, Britain and Europe, the state of the House of Lords and socialism within the Labour Party. In keeping with his principles, the conference aims to be inclusive, inviting contributions from the academy but also reaching out to trade unions and activist groups. To this end, there will be travel/accommodation bursaries to enable people to attend who are from groups not normally represented at conferences. Papers of 10-15 minutes are welcomed on any aspect of Benn’s life and legacy. Topics may include but are not limited to: · Congregationalism/nonconformist contribution to political thought · Movement for Colonial Freedom · The peerage · Technology (notably the post office and Mintech) · 1960s radicalism · Referendum 1975 (and reflections on 2016) · Manufacturing industry in the 1970s and 80s · Coal and the miner’s strike · The Falklands War · Gulf War 1 · Iraq, anti-war protests · Radicals in the House of Commons · Political diaries · The Benn Archive Abstracts (up to 300 words) and biographies (up to 100 words) should be submitted in Word to Pippa Catterall and Jad Adams: p.catterall@westminster.ac.uk and jadadams@btinternet.com. Deadline for submission: 31 November 2024. www.thebennlegacy.co.uk

LSHG seminars - Spring 2024

London Socialist Historians Group seminars Spring 2024

'Doctor Who and the Communist: the work and politics of Malcolm Hulke TV scriptwriter' - Michael Herbert Date: Mon 22 January Start time: 1730 On Zoom. 

‘Hen Chartists’ and ‘Vulgar Viragos’: Rethinking the role of women in the Chartist Movement - Judy Cox Date: Monday 5th February Start time: 5.30pm On Zoom - 

Transnational Perspectives on French Anarchism(1880-1918), Biography, Networks and Print Culture -  Constance Bantman Date: Monday 4th March  Start time: 5.30pm In Person. Room 301, Institute of Historical Research - please book at the link below

Transnational Perspectives on French Anarchism(1880-1918), Biography, Networks and Print Culture | Institute of Historical Research (history.ac.uk)

https://www.history.ac.uk/events/transnational-perspectives-french-anarchism1880-1918-biography-networks-and-print-culture

The Great Defiance. How the World Took On The British Empire - David Veevers(Bangor) Date: Monday 18th March Start time: 5.30pm On Zoom

David Veevers will be speaking at the final Spring term seminar of the socialist history seminar at the Institute of Historical Research on Monday 18th March at 5.30pm The seminar is free on Zoom but booking is essential to get a secure link: https://www.history.ac.uk/events/great-defiance-how-world-took-british-empire David Veevers is the author of the recently published book, The Great Defiance, How the World Took on the British Empire (Penguin). All welcome - for more information on seminars contact Dr Keith Flett on the address above