Listings and News Update Spring 2018

Haringey Local History Fair 2018
Saturday 17th Feb. 11a.m.- 4 p.m. Bruce Castle  Museum N17.
 Includes RaHN stall. 
Discover more about Haringey’s history and community heritage at our annual Haringey Local History Fair at Bruce Castle Museum and Haringey Archive. You can visit the Archive Search Room and talk to Archive Staff, enjoy our all-day talks programme or browse stalls from local organisations showcasing our area's heritage and culture -  a chance to network and get involved. All welcome.

The Old Kitchen will also have a café for teas, coffee and cake all day.  

For more details of the all-day Talks Programme - see the Bruce Castle Museum pages. Includes:

12.25 p.m. "Places in Tottenham" - Adjoa Wiredu (Photo-journalist of the Marigold Road blog (external link) and local resident), shares her inspiration for her current photographic-journal exhibition at Bruce Castle showing everyday life and views of Tottenham. 

3.35pm – “Hands-on History along the High Road”– a round-up of a year working and volunteering in heritage, by the North Tottenham Heritage project (external link).

4.05pm – “A Voice for Women: 1918 and Getting the Vote for (some) Women” Deborah Hedgecock (Curator, Bruce Castle Museum) draws on the stories so far uncovered by different researchers in Haringey of women’s suffrage and campaigning for votes for women from around the area.

(Please note: talks are sometimes subject to change.) 

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Message from IWCE Network:

Because of the London NHS Demo on Saturday 3rd Feb.

we've had to POSTPONE the joint day school with We Own it  [previously listed].

It will now be on 19th May. More soon. Apologies. Keith Venables for IWCE

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Message from "News from Nowhere":

The speaker on Orwell for 10th Feb [meeting previously listed*] is ill. I'm trying to find another speaker on Orwell. If I can't (short notice), we will go ahead anyway and have an Orwell evening run by ourselves. So do bring all the books and anything else by or about Orwell. We always have a good meeting when a speaker has to cancel. You might remember the lovely evening on Tony Benn run by us.

So do consider coming. You can phone me on Saturday on 0208 555 5248 to find if another speaker has been booked. 

But really hope you will come - in the grand autodidact tradition. 

NEWS FROM NOWHERE CLUB

PROGRAMME  2018

At the Epicentre, West Street, Leytonstone E11 4LJ    

Doors open at 7.30pm Buffet (please bring veggie item if you can)

8.00pm Talk & discussion till 10pm & back to buffet till 10.30pm.

*Saturday 10th February 2018

George Orwell, the Labour Party and the Left   Speaker: Professor John Newsinger

George Orwell was a lifelong socialist. As far as he was concerned, socialism was involved in the achievement of a democratic classless society, a society in which the rich had been altogether dispossessed. His experiences in Spain in the 1930s convinced him that this would require a revolution and he held to this belief through the Second World War, even hoping that the Attlee government might go down a revolutionary road. This talk examines the trajectory of his political thinking and his changing attitudes towards the Labour Party. John Newsinger is Professor of Modern History at Bath Spa University and the author of several books, including the graphic novel, 1917: The Red Year. He is co-editor of the journal George Orwell Studies and has a new book on Orwell, ‘Hope Lies in the Proles’: Orwell and the Left, coming out in March 2018.

NEWS FROM NOWHERE CLUB

Saturday 17th March 2018 

Wounded Leaders: Why British Politics Is So Flawed 

 Speaker: Nick Duffell

 "In the 19^th century, the British industrialised boarding schools for the mass production of officers & administrators for their growing Empire by engineering privileged abandonment & normalised neglect – a context in which abuse readily flourishes. The resulting entitlement attitude still operates today & can be seen in our Brexit stuckness. Psychologically it is a compensation for terrible, unrecoverable loss that has been taken for granted in the UK, rather like gun use is in the US. Psychotherapist, psychohistorian & author Nick Duffell will speak about his 30 year research into this problem."

 At the Epicentre, West Street E11 4LJ

7.30pm Buffet (please bring something veggie if you can); 8.00pm Talk

Free entry, all welcome, just turn up. Enquiries 0208 555 5248

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Documentary: From Classroom to Class Struggle

First UK screening of 

'From Classroom to Class Struggle' (De la sala de clases a la lucha de clases)

Renato Dennis, Chile, 2016, 99 minutes

The year 2011 saw an unprecedented wave of student protests throughout Chile, with occupations of more than 90% of public educational institutions and numerous private ones too, and with marches in every city of the country. This film is a record of the events and the reasons behind the movement.

The screening will be followed by a Q&A with the director.

Saturday 24 February, 2pm-5pm

SOAS University of London

Bloomsbury, London WC1H 0XG

Room: DLT Lecture Theatre

Trailer: www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AxndN_FU6w 

 www.facebook.com/events/934593413361997/?notif_t=plan_edited&notif_id=1518442862968559

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WCML

Working Class Movement Library

51 The Crescent,

Salford, M5 4WX

Thomas Paine display, and Tolpuddle Martyrs exhibition

The Library has a Thomas Paine collection of national repute.  It was assembled by Adrian and Christopher Brunel over a period of some fifty years, and consists of books, pamphlets, prints, tokens and ephemera. The books are not only by and about Paine but also reflect the contemporary scene of the 1790s in America, France and Britain.  Paine played a significant part in the affairs of each of these countries and influenced events there. The collection reflects the polemics and controversies of the time.

A small selection from that vast collection will be on display in the Library hall until this Saturday, 3 February, having been put together for last weekend's Paine event.  Come and have a browse.
You can also spend time viewing the travelling exhibition we are currently hosting from the Marx Memorial Library,The Tolpuddle Martyrs in print.  As well as detailing the history and impact of the Tolpuddle Martyrs, this also features contemporary newspaper reporting, some of it not seen in public for almost 200 years.
Items from the Library collection are presented alongside the exhibition.
The exhibition is open until 15 February, Wed-Fri 1-5pm, and Saturday 3 February 10am-4pm.

LGBT History Month

Our contribution to LGBT History Month event this year is on Saturday, 17 February at 2pm, when we will be offering the chance to learn more about both historical and current issues.
 The Minorities Research Group was the UK's first lesbian social and political organisation, and Esme Ross Langley began publishing their magazine Arena 3 in 1964.  By the end of 1964 Arena 3 had a circulation of 400, and the magazine ran until 1972.  A talk by writer and researcher Jane Traies, ‘How Arena 3 saved my life’, will explore its impact through the oral testimonies of older lesbians whose lives were changed by this new contact with other women like themselves. 
 In addition, Magadaline Moyo and Betty Nakibuuka from the Manchester Lesbian Immigration Support Group will talk on their current work with women from around the world who are seeking sanctuary in our area.

Spring series of Invisible Histories talks at the LibraryOur new series of free Invisible Histories talks begins on Wednesday 14 March at 2pm with a talk by Paula Moorhouse comparing and contrasting the lives of Helen Macfarlane, who made the first translations from the original German of the Communist Manifesto and the writings of Hegel, and Helen Crawfurd, suffragist, peace campaigner, communist and organiser in the East End of Glasgow.

28 March Clare Debenham  Marie Stopes: reluctant Mancunian, sexual revolutionary, birth control pioneer.
11 April Michelle Green and Frank Salt Protest: stories of resistance
25 April Geoffrey Tweedale Cover up and collusion: understanding the tragic history of asbestos.

Go to www.wcml.org.uk/events for the full list of forthcoming Invisible HIstories talks.
Admission free; light refreshments available; all welcome.

A Sylvia Pankhurst play for International Women's Day

UPDATE: Our hosting of Lynx Theatre's play Sylvia to mark International Women's Day is now fully booked.  Apologies if you have missed out; our annexe can only hold 50 people. 

NB that until Sunday 29 April Manchester Art Gallery is showing a selection of paintings and pastels by Sylvia Pankhurst, who trained at Manchester School of Art and won the prize for best female student in 1901.  She travelled round England and Scotland in 1907, recording the lives of women she met in the pottery, shoe-making, fishing and spinning industries, among others. 

We mark International Women's Day, and the centenary of (some) women getting the vote, with a play by Lynx Theatre about Sylvia Pankhurst, who has been called “the greatest Englishwoman of the twentieth century”.  She trained as an artist, but when her mother and sister founded the Women’s Social and Political Union she gave up her art to rouse the women of the East End.  Her story is told against a background of 250 slides of her paintings, archive photographs, and locations in England and Europe.

The play, entitled simply Sylvia, will be followed by an audience discussion led by Jacqueline Mulhallen, the author and actress.

This is a ‘pay what you decide’ event, so we will be taking payment on the day.  However you WILL NEED TO BOOK A PLACE IN ADVANCE - please emailtrustees@wcml.org.uk to book.[NOW FULLY BOOKED - SEE ABOVE]

This event is part of Manchester’s radical feminist festival Wonder Women 2018 which is offering a packed programme of exhibitions, tours, debates, performances and one-off screenings throughout March - more at creativetourist.com/wonderwomen INCLUDING

Celebrating the work of the Manchester and Salford Women's Trade Union Council 1895-1919 

An event at the Library on Saturday 10 March from 2pm to 5pm will celebrate the deposit at the Library of the original handwritten minutes of the Manchester and Salford Women's Trade Union Council (MSWTUC) by the Mary Quaile Club, which came across them during research into the life of Mary Quaile, an organiser for the Council 1911-1919. The minutes reveal the very hard work done by Mary and other organisers to encourage and support women to set up or join trade unions, and the issues that arose, particularly pay and working conditions. They also reveal the sharp divisions that arose on the Council over the issue of Votes for Women, culminating in a split in the autumn of 1904 and the establishment of a rival Women’s Trades Council for  Manchester women a few weeks later.
The speakers will be Maggie Cohen, chair of WCML Trustees, Bernadette Hyland from the Mary Quaile Club, and Lauren McCourt (Bakers, Food and Allied Workers Union).  Actor Joan McGee will perform a short extract from a play about Mary Quaile written by Jane McNulty.
This event is free and has been organised jointly by the Mary Quaile Club and the Library.  

Advance booking is advised – please email trustees@wcml.org.uk. 
UPDATE: How it went... You can read a short post about  the event on the MQC blog 

Also from MQC:
Meeting 'Celebrating International Women's Day',
Manchester TUC Pensioners meeting,
2pm, Tuesday 6 March 2018,
Methodist Central Hall
Guest Speaker: Selma James

AND on Saturday 19th May, 6pm, at Three Minute Theatre on Oldham Street there will be an event featuring Workers' Playtime, a book published by the General Federation of Trade Unions, which comprises  a number of plays about trade unionism, written at various points over the last 40 years.
The  guest speaker will be Doug Nichols, General Secretary, GFTU. There will also be readings of some of the plays  from the collection. The event will be free.
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The Acting Class - documentary screening

On Wednesday 7 March at 6.30pm we will be screening a showing of the new film The Acting Class.
This is not a film about acting; it’s about the lack of working class representation on our stages and our screens.  Struggling actors outline the difficulties they face when they don’t have the resources to get into the industry, and actors including Chris Eccleston, Julie Hesmondhalgh and Maxine Peake talk about why this situation should concern everyone.
This Inside FiIms documentary won the National Feature category prize at the 2017 Labour Film Festival.
Tickets price £5 on the door.

"Any help possible will be given": the work of the Manchester and Salford Women's Trade Union Council 1895-1919

An event at the Library on Saturday 10 March from 2pm to 5pm will celebrate the deposit at the Library of the original handwritten minutes of the Manchester and Salford Women's Trade Union Council (MSWTUC) by the Mary Quaile Club, which came across them during research into the life of Mary Quaile, an organiser for the Council 1911-1919. They are an invaluable record of the work done by Mary and others to organise low-paid women into trade unions in Manchester.

The speakers will include Maggie Cohen, chair of the WCML Trustees, and Bernadette Hyland from the Mary Quaile Club, who has transcribed the entire set of minutes (130,000 words) for a Web site on the MSWTUC: http://www.mswtuc.co.uk.

This event is free and has been organised jointly by the Mary Quaile Club and the Library.
UPDATE (27-2-18) There are still some places left which  can be reserved by emailing: Trustees@wcml.org.uk

Ada Nield Chew - 'pop-up protest'

6 February 2018 is the centenary of the legal assent of the Representation of the People Act, which gave some women the vote for the first time, thanks to activists like Ada Nield Chew.  Ada was a radical suffragist, women’s trades unionist and an author. Her long career in activism began in 1894 with a series of protest letters to the Crewe Chroniclecomplaining about the unfair conditions in the factory, where she was employed as a tailor.
A free 'pop-up protest' takes place at Manchester Metropolitan University on Tuesday 6 February, 10.30am-11.30am.  It is an original adaptation of Ada Nield Chew’s 'Crewe factory girl' letters.

The event is at Geoffrey Manton Building, Rosamond Street West, Manchester M15 6EB. For more information and to book places, click here.

150 years of union women

On Friday 9 March from 5pm to 8pm TUC North West are putting on a Manchester International Women’s Day event, as the start of celebration marking that the fact that 150 years ago the TUC was formed at the Mechanics Institute in Manchester.
The invitation states: 'Please come and join us for food, drink and stories to inspire. You will hear about our fantastic history, hear from those involved in some of our present day struggles, and hear from some of the women shaping the future of our movement both nationally and internationally'.
The event takes place at Thompsons Solicitors, 55 King Street, Manchester M2 4LQ. 
It is free but you should register in advance here. 

Public meeting marking the 150th anniversary of the birth of the TUC150 years ago this month the Manchester and Salford Trades Councils convened a conference on the challenges they faced and the need for workers to organise to defend themselves. That conference was the birth of the TUC. The delegates declared that unions were 'an absolute necessity'. An event of that title, hosted by the Manchester Trades Council, will be held at the Mechanics Centre, 103 Princess Street, Manchester M1 6DD on Monday 26 February at 7pm, with speakers from the TUC Organising Young Workers Project, Unison's Care Workers for Change and others.  Admission free, all welcome.

Radical Readings 3 - Suffer the Little Children

The Working Class Movement Library is proud to present another in its series of Radical Readings fundraising events, this time introducing some of our younger supporters and readers as well as a couple of stalwarts. This year's show takes place on Sunday 25 March at 2pm at Peel Hall, University of Salford, and consists of accounts, stories and poems by and about the children who worked in our mines and factories in the 19th century.
These will be brought to life by Andrew Ellis (This is England), Nico Mirallegro (Rillington Place, Common, The Village), Elle Pemberton and Molly Windsor (Three Girls) together with ever-present favourite Mike Joyce and possibly, if her filming schedule allows, aided and abetted by the Christmas voice of Radio 4 herself. 
Devised and introduced by Royston Futter, Working Class Movement Library trustee.
Tickets price £12 are available - click here.  All proceeds will go to support the Working Class Movement Library. 
We are most grateful to the University of Salford for hosting this event. 

Chartism drop-in day On Saturday 7 April from 12 noon till 3pm we will be hosting a drop-in day on the theme of Chartism, with a focus on honorary Mancunian Ernest Jones.
 As part of our Voting for Change project with the People’s History Museum, you can come and see some of the exciting newly acquired objects that help both organisations better tell the history of the fight for the vote.  The focus will be Chartism and its demands for political reform - and one of the movement’s later leaders, the lawyer and poet Ernest Jones.
Drop in, no need to book.====================

Bishopsgate Institute

230 Bishopsgate 

London EC2M 4QH

EVENT: Out in the Archives LGBTQ History
Wed 28 February
19.00 | FREE
Hear from LGBTQ activists, and explore the queer histories that can be found in the Bishopsgate Institute Archives at this special event.

TALK: From Gentlemen Traders to Feminist Squatters

Wed 21 March   |   19.00 |   from £7
Housing and urban change around London Fields

The houses lining the streets on the southwest side of London Fields, first constructed in the 1820s, were initially inhabited by wealthy traders and gentlemen but after rapid rates of redevelopment these same streets were in disrepair a century later. 
In this talk, Christine Wall, University of Westminster, explores the origins and historical importance of a group of women who moved in and squatted these houses and, using oral history testimony, recounts their experience of building a community.

Click here for a map and details about how to get to Bishopsgate Institute.

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Tuesday, 30 January 2018 [copied from LSHG]

No Platform Book Project - appeal for sources

From Evan Smith over at Hatful of History -  I am very excited that my book project on the history of the NUS policy of no platform in the UK is moving forward. At the moment, I am on the lookout for further primary sources from no platform campaigns from the 1970s to the present (particularly from the 1980s and 1990s). So if anyone has any material relating to specific campaigns, please send an email to hatfulofhistory@gmail.com.  I am especially interested in any material relating to campaigns to prevent Enoch Powell and representatives of the apartheid regime in South Africa from speaking on university campuses in the mid-to-late 1980s.

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The University of Aberdeen will host an 

International Women's Day Conference 

with the theme "Press for Progress".

08 March 2018, 08:45 - 13:05

"International Women's Day has been celebrated across the world since the early 1900s. Originally, its aim was to provide a forum for women to campaign for equality and women’s rights. Over time, it has evolved and now in March each year, thousands of events are held throughout the world to recognise the progress that has been made, and to inspire us to celebrate their achievements.
"Join us for a half day conference to celebrate Women's Press for Progress. You can view the full programme for the conference HERE. 
Admission is £20 or £10 Concession. Booking is Essential. For more information click HERE 
Hosted by
The University of Aberdeen
Venue
King's Conference Centre
Contact

Please email events@abdn.ac.uk if you have any questions."
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LSHG

 The latest issue of the London Socialist Historians Group Newsletter #63 is now online, 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.  With respect to the LSHG Newsletter, letters, articles, criticisms and contributions to debate are most welcome - please contact Keith Flett on the address above for more info, and on how to be a member of the LSHG. The deadline for the next issue of the Newsletter is 12 March 2018. The LSHG Spring seminar programme is:

LSHG SEMINARS Spring 2018
All seminars take place in Room 304 (third floor) at 5.30pm in the Institute of Historical Research, Senate House, Malet Street, London WC1E 7HU and entry is free without ticket although donations are welcome.

Monday 22 January Steve Cushion ‘By Our Own Hands’: A People’s History of the Grenadian Revolution
 Monday 5 February Kevin Morgan Communism and the Cult of the Individual: Leaders, Tribunes and Martyrs under Lenin and Stalin
Monday 19 February  Marika Sherwood  ‘They were not Communists they were Independistas!’ The Beginning of the Cold War in Ghana and Nigeria in 1948

Monday 5 March
Keith Flett 1848 Revisited - UPDATE:
LSHG seminar on 1848 cancelled in solidarity with UCU strike

The next LSHG seminar was due to take place on Monday 5 March and  discuss the anniversary of the revolutionary year of 1848 - this has  now been cancelled out of solidarity with the UCU strike taking place  that day and will be rescheduled for later in the year - more details on LSHG blog.

See the following post there for related event/information:

History Acts on Strike: How to Win?

Can history help us win this dispute? Can we link our struggle over pensions to the struggles against casualisation of teaching and outsourcing of university staff? In an emergency History Acts teach-out, historians of trade unionism discuss strategies and tactics with union officials and activists.

Wednesday 7th March, 6pm to 8pm
MayDay Rooms, 88 Fleet Street, London EC4Y 1DH

Free entry. No need to book in advance.

For information contact Steffan Blayney sblayn01@mail.bbk.ac.uk or Guy Beckett gbecke01@mail.bbk.ac.uk.

History Acts workshops are led by activists, who give a short talk or presentation about their work. Historians working on a relevant topic will then respond, before opening it up to group discussion.

See also: https://www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2018/02/16 "Why we strike" Waseem Yaqoob 16 February 2018 -
"Next Thursday, staff at UK universities will begin a wave of strike action in defence of our pensions. Fourteen days of strikes will roll across 61 of the ‘pre-92’ universities; the other seven are being reballoted by the University and Colleges Union (UCU) as they didn’t meet the 50 per cent turnout threshold imposed by the 2016 Trade Union Act. On days not covered by the strike, we will work to contract..." 

AND

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-scotland-43332483/students-on-the-university-picket-line

"The strike by Universities and Colleges Union (UCU) members against proposed changes to their pension scheme by Universities UK (UUK) is now in its third week.

In total, it is set to last for 14 days over four weeks.
The dispute is about changes to the Universities Superannuation Scheme. UUK is worried by the scheme’s £6.1bn deficit and has proposed changing it from a defined benefit scheme to defined contribution scheme.
The UCU believes this would lead cuts in pensions of up to £10,000 per year.
Many students support the strike, even though it has meant cancelled classes for them. We asked why."
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LSHG Workshop - Treason: Internationalist renegades and traitors

London Socialist Historians’ Group Workshop on Internationalist Renegades and Traitors

Saturday 19th May, 12 – 5pm
Wolfson Room, Institute of Historical Research
Senate House, Malet Street, London WC1E 7HU.  
Entry is free without ticket although there will be a collection to cover expenses.

"The Levellers who refused to support Cromwell’s war in Ireland, the Polish troops who rebelled against Napoleon and sided with the Haitian Revolution, the Irish-American “St Patrick’s Battalion” who rejected American imperialism to fight with the Mexicans, the British people who joined the Indian Rebellion of 1857, the Confederate deserters who opposed slavery, the German anti-Nazis who deserted and joined the Red Army or fought with the French Resistance and the French anti-colonialists who sided with the independence fighters in Algeria and Vietnam. There have been some rare but truly inspiring and heroic examples of internationalism throughout modern history, when those being drafted into fighting for unjust wars rebelled to side and fight against imperialist oppression. This workshop will try to recover the lives and often hidden histories of these true ‘citizens of the world’, as well as considering moments in history where the potential for anti-imperialist internationalism did not materialise."

Speakers:

• John Newsinger
• Merilyn Moos
• Ian Birchall
• Jonathan North
• Steve Cushion

For more details please contact Keith Flett at keith1917@btinternet.com 

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Annual Wreath Laying Ceremony to commemorate Thomas Helliker

The annual Wreath Laying ceremony organised by White Horse (Wiltshire) Trades Union Council to commemorate Thomas Helliker will take place on Thursday 22 March at 12.30 at Thomas Helliker's Tomb in St James Churchyard, Trowbridge. 

The Trowbridge Martyr, Thomas Helliker, was hanged on his 19th birthday on 22 March 1803.  He was a young apprentice working in the woollen industry and when Littleton Mill was burned down in protest at the introduction of machinery he was apprehended on false accusation. Widely believed to be innocent, although he probably knew those who had set the fire, he steadfastly refused to name them.

Please extend this invitation to anyone else you think may be interested. 

Later this year:

Please note that the bi-annual Helliker Lecture will be held at The Cause, Chippenham on Saturday 27 October between 10.30am  and 4.00pm.  The theme this year is The Impact of New Technology which will link in very well with Helliker and the impact of mechanisation in the mills.  It will also include the digital world and impact on social media and journalism.

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Bishopsgate Institute 

230 Bishopsgate

London, Eng EC2M 4QH

SYLVIA PANKHURST AND THE SUFFRAGE MOVEMENT IN EAST LONDON with Katherine Connelly.

Katherine Connelly uncovers the inspiring stories of Sylvia Pankhurst and the East London Federation of the Women’s Social and Political Union. Wednesday 7 February | 19.00 – 20.00    £7 / £5 concession - Booking here 

  

FIrst published 1932. Subtitled "A Mirror to Life in England during the First World War" [1914-16].

Cresset edition 1987, Cover picture, not one of Sylvia's: The Food Queue 1918, by Joseph Southall.

And the real thing: "An East End Food Queue" from The Home Front.

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Wakefield Socialist History Group

SOCIALISM AND THE USA: MARXISM AND CLASS STRUGGLE IN AMERICA

at the Red Shed (Wakefield Labour Club) 

on Saturday 24 March 1-4pm.

The speakers are:

• Thomas Wright on "The Industrial Workers of the World" (Wobblies!)
• Rob Turnbull on "Daniel de Leon"
• Adrian Crudenon "Eugene Debs"
• Alan Stewart on "The History of the US Socialist Workers Party."

Admission is free.  All are welcome.  

There is a free light buffet. And there is a bar with excellent real ale.

HOW IT WENT (From Convenor, Wakefield Socialist History Group):

Twenty eight people attended a meeting at the Wakefield Labour Club (Red Shed) last Saturday (24 march) on the topic, "SOCIALISM AND CLASS STRUGGLE IN AMERICA."

Thomas Wright spoke first about the International Workers of the World (the "Wobblies") and their attempt to build "one grand union" embracing all workers.  He noted that the Wobblies were "uneasy  about state socialism" and sceptical about "wage bargaining and the closed shop."  They were for keeping subscriptions low and against automatic deductions.

He highlighted also the persecution they faced after being condemned as "seditious and unAmerican."  Many Wobblies were imprisoned under the Espionage Act and of course Joe Hill was executed after being convicted on a trumped up murder charge.

Adrian Cruden then spoke about Eugene Debs who did groundbreaking work in the American Railway Union (ARU), who was imprisoned during the Great Pullman Strike of 1894 and who was the famous presidential standard bearer of the pre- World War One Socialist Party.

Adrian reflected however that Debs, opposed to the first World War, was released from jail in 1921 a "broken man" and "never recovered his health."

Rob Turnbull (biographer of Noah Ablett) discussed the life of Daniel de Leon.  He drew parallels between him and Noah Ablett.  He said both were "systemic disruptors" and that both left a "contentious legacy."

Rob concluded that Daniel de Leon -who established "The People", the first socialist periodical in the western hemisphere- had many faults but was in many ways "unsurpassed as a theorist and propagandist."

Finally I gave a short talk on James Cannon and the history of the US Socialist Workers' Party.  Cannon and others formed the SWP at the end of 1937 and it was perhaps the largest, strongest national section when the Fourth International was set up soon after.

In the 1960's it was to the fore in street mobilisations opposing the Vietnam War.  But in the 70's there was a "Cuban turn" which saw it reject the Theory of Permanent Revolution and embrace Castroism instead.  Waves of expulsions have left it a rump and a shadow of its former self.

The questions and discussion which then followed covered matters such as state infiltration of left groups, the effectiveness of "turns to industry", mob influence in trade unions and the lasting impact -if any- of Bernie Sanders bid for the Democratic nomination (the Democratic Socialists of America have grown markedly!).

The Group's next event, "Robert Tressell and the Ragged Trousered Philanthropists" is on Saturday 19 May 1pm again at the Red Shed.

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Free exhibition at London Metropolitan Archives

Criminal Lives, 1780-1925: Punishing Old Bailey Convicts

Between 1700 and 1900, the state stopped punishing the bodies of London’s convicts and increasingly sought to reform their minds. From hanging, branding and whipping the response to crime shifted to transportation and imprisonment. By the nineteenth century, judges could choose between two contrasting forms of punishments: exile and forced labour in Australia, or incarceration in strictly controlled ‘reformatory’ prisons at home. Which was more effective?

This exhibition traces the impact of these punishments on individual lives, following the men, women and children convicted in London from the crime scenes and trials through their experiences of punishment, and on to their subsequent lives.

This free exhibition at London Metropolitan Archives is produced in partnership with the AHRC Digital Panopticon Project.

This free exhibition [opened] on 11 December 2017 and continues until 16 May 2018. Free during normal LMA opening times - check our visitor information pages to find out more.

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NATIONAL ARCHIVES

DEBATE: Did militancy help or hinder the fight for the franchise?

Tue 20 February, £10 18:00-19:30, Kew

"By 1912, militancy associated with the Suffragette movement hit its peak, with regular arson attacks and targeting of MPs’ houses. But did these tactics help or hinder the cause?"

"Join us for this lively evening debate with Dr. Fern Riddell,Elizabeth Crawford andProfessor Krista Cowman."

FAMILY EVENT: The Time Travel Club - Badges, buttons and 'behaving badly' Thu 15 February, £7.50 10:30-12:00, Kew "Uncover the fascinating stories of women who were prepared to risk everything to win the vote. Become a creative campaigner by making your very own suffrage badges inspired by our records."

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From "Lives of the First World War" at IWM:

Tragedy on the Home Front

Coal miners played a crucial role in supporting the war effort, but unfortunately for many this job led to illness, injury or even death. On 12 January 1918 an explosion in Podmore Hall Colliery in Staffordshire, known as the Minnie Pit, killed more than 150 people. A relative of two of the men who lost their lives has paid tribute to this tragic accident in the Lives of the First World War blog.

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New additions to the Sparrows' Nest Digital Library 

Please see below [a selection from] a list of new additions to the Digitial Library. This time it is a rather eclectic mix of documents, also including a bunch of comics which we digitised for a researcher last November. If you ever want us to digitise some specific document, please let us know.
Please note some of these files are rather large (50MB+), so if you think your browser has crashed, give it a few moments, it may just be loading the document. If any of the links are not working or lead to the wrong document, please let us know. All documents come in good enough resolution to blow them up to A3(ish) prints and feature OCR, though that does not always work well with some of the fonts used and OCR is usually pretty bad in picking up the more arty bits of writing.

The full catalogue information for these titles will be online with the next proper catalogue update (some time in February?). What you see below are just titles and some information on publishers/authors (etc.) to give you an idea what you will be clicking on.

Current opening hours [for visiting in person - Nottingham] are still every Thursday 11am-2pm or contact us to make alternative arrangements.

RaHN Blogger's Selection (links not tested): 

Wrigley, Chris: The General Strike 1926 in Local History; Loughborough University (1982) http://www.thesparrowsnest.org.uk/collections/public_archive/1331.pdf

Ward, Colin: Violence; Penguin (1970) http://www.thesparrowsnest.org.uk/collections/public_archive/7741.pdf

 We are Winning - The Battle of Seattle: A Personal Account; Wildfire Collective (2000) http://www.thesparrowsnest.org.uk/collections/public_archive/646.pdf

Nous ne sommes rien, soyons tout! Collectif 1984 http://www.thesparrowsnest.org.uk/collections/public_archive/3481.pdf

The Sheffield Anarchist Vol:03 #02 http://www.thesparrowsnest.org.uk/collections/public_archive/7740.pdf

Poll Tax Riot - Ten Hours that Shook Trafalgar Square; ACAB Press http://www.thesparrowsnest.org.uk/collections/public_archive/7164.pdf

 Prints of Darkness #02 (1984) http://www.thesparrowsnest.org.uk/collections/public_archive/7737.pdf

 Schulkind, Eugene: The Paris Commune of 1871; Historical Association (1971) http://www.thesparrowsnest.org.uk/collections/public_archive/1809.pdf

Goldman, Emma: The Place of the Individual in Society; Free Society Forum (1941) http://www.thesparrowsnest.org.uk/collections/public_archive/1997.pdf

Garcia, Victor: Three Japanese Anarchists: Kotoku, Osugi and Yamaga; KSL (2000) http://www.thesparrowsnest.org.uk/collections/public_archive/298.pdf

France - May 1968; Calderwood 15 http://www.thesparrowsnest.org.uk/collections/public_archive/6695.pdf

Facts on the Spanish Resistance #01; Centro Iberico http://www.thesparrowsnest.org.uk/collections/public_archive/7762.pdf

Curtis, Liz: They Shoot Children - The use of rubber and plastic bullets in the North of Ireland; Information on Ireland (1982) http://www.thesparrowsnest.org.uk/collections/public_archive/222.pdf

Clydeside Anarchist #02 (1984) http://www.thesparrowsnest.org.uk/collections/public_archive/6642.pdf

Beating Fascism - Anarchist Anti-Fascism in Theory and [Practice] AFA http://www.thesparrowsnest.org.uk/collections/public_archive/7752.pdf

 Berneri, Camillo: Peter Kropotkin - His Federalist Ideas; Freedom (1943) http://www.thesparrowsnest.org.uk/collections/public_archive/2060.pdf

Bakunin, Michael: The Paris Commune and the Idea of the State; CIRA (1971) http://www.thesparrowsnest.org.uk/collections/public_archive/7287.pdf

As we see it now; Workers’ Council Socialism (2008) http://www.thesparrowsnest.org.uk/collections/public_archive/7760.pdf

Anarchism - as we see it; ACF/AF Anarchist Communist Federation/Anarchist Federation http://www.thesparrowsnest.org.uk/collections/public_archive/6187.pdf

 Anarchism in the May Movement in France; IWW http://www.thesparrowsnest.org.uk/collections/public_archive/7763.pdf

Anarchy Comics - International Anarchy! (1978) http://www.thesparrowsnest.org.uk/collections/public_archive/1548.pdf 

Class War Comix #01 (1979) http://www.thesparrowsnest.org.uk/collections/public_archive/7502.pdf

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60 years of CND at Aldermaston

2018 is the 60th anniversary of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. Founded in 1958 at the height of the Cold War, CND has been a powerful collective voice against nuclear weapons. Our founding meeting took place on the 17th February 1958 at the Central Hall, Westminster. It's also the 60th anniversary of the first Aldermaston march, the path breaking protest which did so much to change British political culture. Join us at Aldermaston on Easter Sunday - 1st April 2018 - for speeches, music and an interfaith vigil. Slightly tarnished? Aldermaston, where Britain's nuclear bombs are made, has been the target of anti-nuclear campaigners in every decade since the founding of CND and continues to be central to all our work. This is a major stop on the CND Now More than Ever tour, which will see a giant 3D CND symbol visit more than twenty dramatic locations across Britain, including the White Cliffs of Dover, the Angel of the North in Gateshead, and the Clifton Suspension Bridge in Bristol. CND at AWE Aldermaston Easter Sunday • 1st April 2018 Berkshire • 12 noon - 2pm UPDATE: Join us to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the first Aldermaston march. This was a march that changed the face of politics and protest, putting CND at the cutting edge of radical social change, mobilising and inspiring generations in the struggle for nuclear disarmament. It’s time to celebrate our history and look to our future: there are big challenges ahead – Trumpism for example, but also big opportunities – like the global ban. Local groups are organising transport. Contact your nearest group here Share the event with your Facebook contacts Assemble at 12 noon • AWE Aldermaston, West Berkshire RG7 4PR For speeches, music, memories, fence decorating and forward planning. The event will conclude with an inter-faith vigil. On the march, 1963

60 Faces of CND exhibition

To mark 60 years ... a new online exhibition. 

"CND’s greatest strength has always been its members. Incredible people have shaped our history, our present and will continue to inspire in the future. 60 Faces of CND tells the stories of 60 people who represent all the millions of people who have campaigned for nuclear disarmament over the decades and have made our organisation so remarkable."

• Visit the 60 Faces of CND exhibition online
• Retweet our post to share the news about our birthday & exhibition
• Share your CND stories & photos on Twitter using the #CNDat60 hashtag

Also from CND:

Remember FukushimaSeven years on since the Fukushima disaster, the Japanese government remains unable to contain one of the most worst nuclear accidents in the history of nuclear power. Thousands of people are still unable to return to their homes because of radioactive leaks.
Here in Britain, anti-nuclear campaigners will bear witness to the ongoing disastrous effects of the Fukushima disaster and demand that our government abandons plans for a new generation of nuclear power stations.
All are welcome to attend to stand with CND and the remarkable activists from RememberFukushima.org

• Remember Fukushima vigil • Friday 9^th March 2018 • 17:30-19:30
  Outside Japanese Embassy
  101 Piccadilly, London
  A one-minute's silence in remembrance of the victims of the continuing Fukushima disaster, plus all victims of nuclear power generation, will be followed by speeches, songs and poems.
• Remember Fukushima march • Sunday 11^th March 2018 • 12 noon
  Assemble outside Japanese Embassy
  101 Piccadilly, London
  Followed by a rally at 2pm Old Palace Yard opposite Parliament
• Remember Fukushima public meeting • Wednesday 14^th March • 7pm
  Portcullis House
  Westminster, London
  Speakers include: Catherine West MP, Dr Ian Fairlie, Independent Consultant on Radiation in the Environment; Professor Stephen Thomas, Professor at the University of Greenwich Business School; Professor Andrew Stirling, Professor of science and technology policy, Sussex University; Amelia Womack, Deputy Leader of the Green Party; Dr Rika Hirose Haga, School of Geography and Geosciences at the University of St Andrews and Dr Kate Hudson, CND General Secretary.

Details here.
No Nuclear Power petition
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French Week Against Racism and Colonialism
Various locations and events, spanning more than a week

Jusqu’au 30 mars 2018. Divers lieux (France)

Comme chaque année au mois de mars, la Semaine anticoloniale et  antiraciste propose une série d’événements en France autour de ces  enjeux.
Point d’orgue de la manifestation, le Salon anticolonial, qui  se tient à la Bellevilloise à Paris les 10 et 11 mars 2018.
Au  programme :
expositions et conférences en résonance avec l’actualité,  telle « L’affaire Weinstein : le corps des femmes racisées dans les  sociétés occidentales ».
À ne pas manquer, la projection du film Les  balles du 14 juillet, en présence du réalisateur Daniel Kupferstein.


UPDATE - Du 17 au 25 mars 2018  Palais de la Porte Dorée (Paris)
Le Grand Festival contre le racisme et l’antisémitisme rassemble chaque année à Paris un grand nombre d’artistes, d’humoristes et de youtubeurs autour de performances artistiques (théâtre, danse, chant, cinéma…). Parmi les temps forts de cette troisième édition : le projetInside out de l’artiste JR, une battle de danse open style et une soirée spéciale youtubeurs « Lutter contre le racisme à l’heure des nouveaux médias ». La journée du samedi 24 mars 2018 sera marquée par la parade musicale de 30 nuances de Noir(es), collectif de musicien.ne.s, danseurs et danseuses afro féministes.

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Advance Notice:
Second Bristol Radical History Festival 
Sunday 6th May

The all-day  event (10.30am-4.30pm) will include history walks, talks, performance, bookstalls and displays and is taking place on several floors and galleries in the M Shed Museum.
This year’s festival follows the successful event run at the M Shed in September 2017 and has two themes. We are working closely with the Bread, Print and Roses Collective to mark the 50th anniversary of May 1968, a month that saw worldwide demonstrations against capitalism, authoritarianism and war. We look at the legacy of May ’68 in Bristol, scene of significant student occupations, and beyond. The Remembering the Real WWI Group will also be putting on a programme of events to reflect on the impact and aftermath of the First World War, as we approach the centenary of the 1918 armistice. 

The aim of the RHF to bring radical hidden histories and histories from below into the public domain through various media and to link these to contemporary movements and struggles.

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FURTHER LISTINGS UPDATES TO FOLLOW AS THEY COME IN