Author Archives: lipstick socialist

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About lipstick socialist

I am an activist and writer. My interests include women, class, culture and history. From an Irish in Britain background I am a republican and socialist. All my life I have been involved in community and trade union politics and I believe it is only through grass roots politics that we will get a better society. This is reflected in my writing, in my book Northern ReSisters Conversations with Radical Women and my involvement in the Mary Quaile Club. .If you want to contact me please use my gmail which is lipsticksocialist636

The Irish Collection at the WCML: a new chapter- the role of the Irish in Britain Representation Group. Part One.

  Over the centuries the Irish  have played a key role in the labour and trade union movement in this country. The Working Class Movement Library has some of the most important archives which  document this activity and show the … Continue reading

Posted in Catholicism, Communism, education, feminism, human rights, Ireland, Irish second generation, labour history, Manchester, North of Ireland, political women, Salford, Socialism, Socialist Feminism, trade unions, Uncategorized, women, working class history, young people | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Working Class Life: written by working class activists. Read “A Bolton Childhood” by Alice Foley

In this occasional series I want to rediscover the autobiographies of working class people that have been forgotten or marginalised. They are important in understanding how and why people become activists. They are important in asking questions as to why … Continue reading

Posted in biography, book review, Catholicism, Communism, education, feminism, human rights, labour history, political women, Socialism, Socialist Feminism, trade unions, Uncategorized, women, working class history, young people | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Following in Sylvia’s footsteps; from 1918 to 2018. Meet Charlotte, Josephine, Eden and Lauren.

Sylvia Pankhurst’s  response to the 1918 Representation of the People Act reflected her politics. She had opposed the First World War from the start and  spent the war years defending the rights of poor women and children in the East … Continue reading

Posted in anti-cuts, Communism, education, feminism, human rights, International Women's Day, labour history, political women, Socialist Feminism, Tameside, trade unions, Uncategorized, women, working class history, young people | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Beyond #MeToo? Broadening a campaign to a movement by Jane Latour

Jane Latour is a freelance writer and author of Sisters in the Brotherhoods Working Women Organizing for Equality in New York City. She lives in New York.  Humpty Dumpty Sat on a wall, Humpty Dumpty Had a great fall. All … Continue reading

Posted in anti-cuts, feminism, human rights, labour history, political women, Socialist Feminism, trade unions, Uncategorized, women, working class history | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

My review of “The Caseroom” by Kate Hunter

  This is a unique novel; how many are written by female  trade union activists about the history of women’s roles in trade unions and the struggle for equality at work? The Caseroom is set during a dynamic period of … Continue reading

Posted in anti-cuts, book review, feminism, labour history, novels, political women, Socialist Feminism, trade unions, Uncategorized, women, working class history, young people | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

My Review of “The Night Brother” by Rosie Garland

  As the debate around gender recognition in the C21st rages on Rosie Garland’s new novel The Night Brother is a fantastical story of identity and belonging: of sexuality and gender.  Set in late  C19th and  early C20th Manchester  this … Continue reading

Posted in book review, feminism, human rights, labour history, Manchester, political women, trade unions, Uncategorized, women, working class history, young people | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

My review of “Freedom Song” by Mary King (1987)

In 1962 white, preacher’s daughter, Mary King, graduated from college, and decided to give up her cosy middle class lifestyle and head south to work for the Student Nonviolent Co-ordinating Committee (SNCC). This memoir is the story of her four … Continue reading

Posted in biography, book review, education, feminism, human rights, political women, Uncategorized, women, working class history, young people | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

My review of “Gender is Not an Identity;It is a Tool of Patriarchy” by Green Goude

There is something wrong when respected members of the Left feel the need to adopt pseudonyms to write  a pamphlet about gender identity politics. But if you read the Morning Star, or were at the London Anarchist Bookfair, or go … Continue reading

Posted in book review, education, feminism, human rights, interesting blog, political women, Socialist Feminism, Uncategorized, women, working class history | Tagged , | 1 Comment

My review of “Revolutionary Women”

  I love this pamphlet. It is a fascinating subject; 13 unknown revolutionary women, their story of how they not only fought for their own emancipation but led other revolutionary struggles. Revolutionary Women was produced by the Anarchist Federation who … Continue reading

Posted in book review, Communism, education, feminism, human rights, labour history, political women, Socialist Feminism, trade unions, Uncategorized, women, working class history, young people | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

My review of “The Woman Worker” by N. K. Krupskaya

Reading this pamphlet reminded me of the report written by Mary Quaile following the TUC Women’s Delegation to the Soviet Union in 1925.  Commenting on the welcome they received Mary said; “Women were there in hundreds, many of them with … Continue reading

Posted in book review, Communism, feminism, labour history, political women, Socialism, Socialist Feminism, trade unions, Uncategorized, women, working class history, young people | Tagged , , | 1 Comment