Category Archives: labour history

My review of “Workers’ Playtime”, edited by Doug Nicholls

Posted on October 12, 2017 by lipstick socialist

In this new book Workers’ Play Time  seven scripts written about the struggle for workers and trade union rights are published.  The editor Doug Nicholls reminds us of the importance of culture to the struggle for trade union freedom. “Cultural … Continue reading →

Posted in book review, Communism, drama, education, feminism, human rights, labour history, political women, Socialism, Socialist Feminism, trade unions, Uncategorized, women | Tagged , | 2 Comments

My review of “Hanna Sheehy Skeffington: Suffragette and Sinn Feiner” by Margaret Ward

Posted on October 6, 2017 by lipstick socialist

In the 1980s massive changes were taking place in this country. One event was the arrival of 40,000 Irish people each year looking for work. It was not a new occurrence, but the latest in a series  of waves of … Continue reading →

Posted in Bernadette McAliskey, biography, book review, feminism, human rights, Ireland, Irish second generation, labour history, North of Ireland, political women, Socialist Feminism, trade unions, Uncategorized | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Letter from Another America……

Posted on August 31, 2017 by lipstick socialist

  Jane Latour is a freelance writer and author of Sisters in the Brotherhoods Working Women Organizing for Equality in New York City. I asked her to give an activist’s view, both personal and political, on the impact of the … Continue reading →

Posted in anti-cuts, education, human rights, labour history, political women, Socialism, trade unions, Uncategorized | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

My review of Lovers & Strangers An Immigrant History of Post-War Britain Clair Wills

Posted on August 27, 2017 by lipstick socialist

      Clair Wills has written a fascinating and insightful book  about the role of immigrants in Britain between 1940s and 1960s. Popular history and culture frames post war migration  around the images of the West Indian community and … Continue reading →

Posted in book review, education, feminism, human rights, Ireland, Irish second generation, labour history, Manchester, NHS, North of Ireland, political women, trade unions, Uncategorized, women | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

My review of “Why We March: Signs of Protest and Hope”.

Posted on August 6, 2017 by lipstick socialist

    On 21 January 2017 several hundred women (and  some men) gathered in Albert Square in Manchester in support of women’s rights,  and in solidarity with similar events taking place in Washington DC on Trump’s first full day as … Continue reading →

Posted in anti-cuts, book review, education, feminism, human rights, labour history, Manchester, political women, Socialist Feminism, trade unions, Uncategorized, women, working class history | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

My review of Milosz: A Biography by Andrzej Franaszek. (Edited and Translated by Aleksandra Parker Michael Parker)

Posted on August 2, 2017 by lipstick socialist

  Andrzej Franaszek’s biography of  the great Polish poet Czeslaw  Milosz is more than the story of one man’s life: it is a compelling history of Eastern Europe in the  twentieth century.  Milosz was born in 1911 in Lithuania but … Continue reading →

Posted in biography, book review, Catholicism, Communism, human rights, labour history, poetry, trade unions, Uncategorized, working class history | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Days of Hope: an article by Mary Quaile on her visit to the Soviet Union in 1925

Posted on July 26, 2017 by lipstick socialist

2017 is the 100th anniversary of the Russian Revolution and it is difficult today to understand the hope that the revolution gave to ordinary women and men across the world. One of those women was Mary Quaile. An Irish immigrant … Continue reading →

Posted in Communism, feminism, labour history, political women, Socialism, Socialist Feminism, trade unions, Uncategorized, women, working class history, young people | Tagged , | Leave a comment

My Review of The Unwomanly Face of War by Svetlana Alexievich

Posted on July 21, 2017 by lipstick socialist

  It is only recently that women in the UK have been able to take up frontline roles in the armed forces but in liberation struggles across the world from Northern Ireland to present day Northern Iraq there are plenty … Continue reading →

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

Political Women: Sandy Rose, Socialist, Feminist, Trade Unionist

Posted on July 2, 2017 by lipstick socialist

  In this occasional series I ask the question; why do some women become political activists?  Sandy Rose was part of the post war generation that lived at a time of great hope, this is her story……….. “I was born … Continue reading →

Posted in anti-cuts, biography, Communism, education, feminism, human rights, labour history, Manchester, NHS, political women, Salford, Socialism, Socialist Feminism, trade unions, Uncategorized, women, working class history, young people | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

My review of “Struggle or Starve, Working Class Unity in Belfast’s 1932 Outdoor Relief Riots” by Sean Mitchell

Posted on May 31, 2017 by lipstick socialist

“Struggle or Starve” could be an epithet for  UK in 2017  as the government pursues its policy of persecuting the poor. In this new book Sean Mitchell, socialist and founder of Ireland’s People before Profit Party,   reminds us  of an … Continue reading →

Posted in anti-cuts, book review, Communism, human rights, Ireland, labour history, North of Ireland, Uncategorized, working class history | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments