Category Archives: Communism

My review of “No Going Back” 40 years of the  North Staffordshire Miners’ Wives Action Group.

Posted on August 29, 2024 by lipstick socialist

In May 1993 as part of the Kate Magee Support Group I headed over to Stoke to meet up with the North Staffordshire Miners Wives Action Group. I arrived at Trentham colliery as Bridget Bell, Brenda Proctor and Gina Earle … Continue reading →

Posted in book review, Catholicism, Communism, drama, education, films, human rights, Ireland, labour history, Lorenza Mazzetti, North of Ireland, novels, political women, Socialist Feminism, trade unions, Uncategorized, women, working class history, young people | Leave a comment

My review of “THE WOMEN WHO WOULDN’T WHEESHT. Voices from the frontline of Scotland’s battle for women’s rights.” Edited by Susan Dalgety and Lucy Hunter Blackburn.

Posted on July 20, 2024 by lipstick socialist

Wheesht (Scots) (wi:ft): a plea or demand for silence(exclamation);to silence(a person,etc.) or to be silent (verb)   On 21 March 2015 the Mary Quaile Club (of which I was a co-founder) organised what we called a “real International Women’s Day … Continue reading →

Posted in book review, Communism, human rights, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

My review of “Children of the Revolution” by Bill Rolston

Posted on February 5, 2024 by lipstick socialist

Reading this book reminded me when I joined on a protest sometimes in the 1980s  outside the West Midlands Police HQ for the Birmingham 6. I remember the children and grandchildren of the  imprisoned men who stood alongside campaigners. They … Continue reading →

Posted in Catholicism, Children of the Revolution, Communism, education, human rights, Ireland, Irish second generation, labour history, North of Ireland | 1 Comment

My review of “The Sky is Falling” by Lorenza Mazzetti

Posted on September 24, 2023 by lipstick socialist

Lorenza Mazzetti (1927-2020) was a  writer, filmmaker,  and theatre puppeteer who wrote this, her first novel,  in 1962, published as II Cielo cade. It was only published in this country in 2022. “The Sky is Falling” is a fictionalised account … Continue reading →

Posted in book review, Catholicism, Communism, drama, education, films, human rights, Lorenza Mazzetti, novels, political women, Uncategorized, women, young people | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

My review of “Rewriting the Troubles War and Propaganda Ireland and Algeria” Patrick Anderson

Posted on August 25, 2023 by lipstick socialist

The formation of the Irish in Britain Representation Group, a national grassroots-based community organisation in the 1980s, challenged the  traditional Irish organisation  – the Federation of Irish Societies  – and its toadying to the Irish Government over the relationship between … Continue reading →

Posted in book review, Communism, human rights, Ireland, Irish second generation, labour history, North of Ireland, Uncategorized, working class history | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

My review of “Mater 2-10” by Hwang Sok-yong. Translated by Kim-Russell & Youngjae Josephine Bae

Posted on July 27, 2023 by lipstick socialist

How many novels have been written about Korea, communism, and trade unions? Few, if any.  This award-winning novel by HSY is a revelation to many of us in the west who, like me, might be trade unionists, have worked  alongside … Continue reading →

Posted in anti-cuts, book review, Communism, human rights, labour history, Socialism, trade unions, Uncategorized, women, working class history, young people | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Following in My Mother’s Footsteps; the lives of Lily Wild and Hilary Jones.

Posted on February 6, 2023 by lipstick socialist

    In these two articles I want to highlight the lives of Lily Wild and Hilary Jones: a mother and daughter. How did they cope with being  mothers, wives and being politically active in political parties, their trade union, … Continue reading →

Posted in anti-cuts, book review, Communism, education, feminism, human rights, interesting blog, Ireland, Irish second generation, labour history, Socialism, Socialist Feminism, trade unions, Uncategorized, women, working class history, young people | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

My review of “A Very British Conspiracy The Shrewsbury 24 and the Campaign for Justice” by Eileen Turnbull

Posted on January 3, 2023 by lipstick socialist

In 2023 many trade unions are taking strike action due to a cost-of-living crisis amongst working people, while  the  Tory government’s response  is to  threaten  further  anti-strike  legislation. A Very British Conspiracy is a reminder of the lengths a Tory … Continue reading →

Posted in book review, Communism, human rights, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Patti Mayor: Preston artist and suffragette

Posted on December 15, 2022 by lipstick socialist

In the little gem of an art gallery in Oldham I came across the work of artist and activist Patti Mayor. Born in Preston on 1 May 1872 as Martha Ann Mayor, she was known as Patti, one of five … Continue reading →

Posted in book review, Communism, human rights, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Manchester Irish in Britain Representation Group and Grass Roots Books Radical Bookshop (and later Frontline Books)

Posted on November 20, 2022 by lipstick socialist

In 1981 a new wave of Irish activists became involved in not just the campaign for a united Ireland but also in campaigning for the  civil rights and equality for the Irish in Britain: the Irish in Britain Representation Group … Continue reading →

Posted in book review, Communism, human rights, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment