Month: October 2023

 26th October 2023: 7.00-8.30
Professor Ralph Darlington
The Hall, Swarthmore Centre, 2-7 Woodhouse Lane,
Leeds LS3 1AD
The ‘Labour Revolt’ that swept Britain between 1910-14 was one of the most sustained, dramatic and violent explosions of industrial militancy and social conflict the country has ever experienced. It involved large-scale strikes by miners, seamen, dockers, railway workers and many other workers. It was a revolt dominated by unskilled and semi-skilled workers, many acting independently of national trade-union officials. It led to widespread solidarity action, phenomenal union membership growth, breakthroughs in both industrial unionism and female union organisation, and a dramatic increase in the collective power of the working-class movement. And it encouraged a process of political radicalisation that celebrated ‘direct action’ and directly challenged the Liberal government and police and military, as well as the parliamentary reformism of the Labour Party.
With new archival research and fresh insights, and combining history from below and above, Ralph Darlington provides a multi-dimensional portrayal of the context, causes, actors, dynamics, and significance of the Labour Revolt. In the process, he also explores the role of the radical left and the relationship between industrial struggles and political organisation, which remains of contemporary relevance.
Ralph Darlington is Emeritus Professor of Employment Relations at Salford University, Fellow and Honorary Member of the British Universities Industrial Relations Association, and executive board member of the International Association of Strikes and Social Conflicts journal Workers of the World. He is the author of a number of books, including The Dynamic of Workplace Unionism, The Political Trajectory of JT Murphy and Radical Unionism: The Rise and Fall of Revolutionary Syndicalism, co-author of Glorious Summer: Class Struggle in Britain 1972, and editor of What’s the Point of Industrial Relations?: In Defence of Critical Social Science.