Category Archives: Manchester

IBRG at the WCML;part six. A Welcome for IBRG at St.Brendan’s Irish Centre.

Posted on March 17, 2020 by lipstick socialist

  In the 1980s when IBRG branches were being   set up across the country one of the biggest problems was finding somewhere to meet. There were many  Irish Centres,  but most of them did not want an Irish group with … Continue reading →

Posted in Cathy Crabb, education, feminism, human rights, Ireland, Irish second generation, labour history, Manchester, North of Ireland, political women, Uncategorized, women, working class history, young people | Tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments

IBRG at the WCML; part five BBC, Censorship and the Irish Community

Posted on March 2, 2020 by lipstick socialist

The 1980s saw the rise and rise of IBRG as a local and national  grassroots campaigning organisation that exposed not only the racism and discrimination facing the Irish in Britain but drew the links between those issues and Britain’s ongoing … Continue reading →

Posted in education, human rights, Ireland, Irish second generation, labour history, Manchester, North of Ireland, political women, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

IBRG Archive at the WCML; N.E.Lancs IBRG and Irish Women in Britain.

Posted on February 5, 2020 by lipstick socialist

IBRG was an organisation that reflected the history of the Irish in this country but one that was not frightened off linking up the present with the past – unlike many other Irish organisations in the era of 1981-2003. Branches  … Continue reading →

Posted in education, feminism, human rights, International Women's Day, Ireland, Irish second generation, labour history, Manchester, North of Ireland, political women, Uncategorized, women, working class history, young people | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

My review of “Betty Tebbs – a radical working class hero” by Mark Metcalf

Posted on November 25, 2019 by lipstick socialist

      Through my friendship with Eddie and Ruth Frow I have met many women like Betty who had been  activists in the CPGB and the trade union movement. We came from different generations – and had quite different … Continue reading →

Posted in Betty Tebbs, biography, book review, Communism, education, feminism, human rights, International Women's Day, Irish second generation, labour history, Manchester, political women, Socialist Feminism, trade unions, Uncategorized, women, working class history | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

My review of “Sisters in Cells” by Aine and Eibhlin Nic Giolla Easpaig

Posted on September 5, 2019 by lipstick socialist

  Aine and Eibhlin Nic Giolla Easpaig are unique in several ways. They were republican women political prisoners in the 70s – the first women of that era to be imprisoned in England, while their autobiography “Sisters in Cells” is … Continue reading →

Posted in biography, book review, Catholicism, human rights, Ireland, Irish second generation, labour history, Manchester, North of Ireland, political women, Uncategorized, women, working class history | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

My review of “Common Cause” by Kate Hunter

Posted on June 27, 2019 by lipstick socialist

  KATE Hunter, a working class writer and political activist, recognises the massive barriers facing any person   from her background who wants to write. At the age of  nine she won a  National Essay prize,  but there was no encouragement … Continue reading →

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

My review of “Labour Women in Power Cabinet Ministers in the Twentieth Century by Paula Bartley

Posted on June 13, 2019 by lipstick socialist

    In the mid 1970s I was the first person in my family and  the first on my council estate to get a place at University. Our elderly neighbour Mrs Hall said to me. “Ooh you’ll be another Barbara … Continue reading →

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

My review of “second world second sex” Kristen Ghodsee

Posted on April 20, 2019 by lipstick socialist

    In this new history book Kristen rescues an important episode in the history of women’s activism at the United Nations – the contribution of women from the state socialist countries in Eastern Europe (“the Second World” as they … Continue reading →

Posted in Betty Tebbs, book review, Communism, education, feminism, human rights, labour history, Manchester, Northern ReSisters Conversations with Radical Women, peace campaigns, political women, Socialism, Socialist Feminism, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

My review of “Across the Water Irish Women’s Lives in Britain” (1988) Mary Lennon Marie McAdam Joanne O’Brien

Posted on December 4, 2018 by lipstick socialist

    This  unique history of the role of Irish women in Britain was published  in  1988: Across the Water Irish Women’s Lives in Britain.  It was produced by three women, none of whom were academics, all of them had … Continue reading →

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

My review of “But You Did Not Come Back” by Marceline Loridan-Ivens

Posted on December 1, 2018 by lipstick socialist

Marceline Loridan-Ivens  (19th March 1928 – 18th September 2018) was a French Jew, an activist in the French Resistance and the Algerian resistance, an actor, a filmmaker, and a writer. In 1944 at the age of 15 she was arrested … Continue reading →

Posted in art exhibition, Ireland, Manchester, Salford, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment