North East Labour History

From Daniel Laqua | Professor of Modern and Contemporary History | Department of Humanities | Northumbria University On 8 October, we're running a workshop at Northumbria University, entitled 'Change-making between the Local and the Global: A Conversation'. It's part of a wider project that my colleague Henry Miller and I are involved in. The aim of […]

Runciman’s mission to Czechoslovakia was a key part of Chamberlain’s policy of appeasement. Mike has not delivered this talk in about 12 years so why revisit it now? It initially occurred to him when he recognised that Putin spoke of the Russian speakers in Ukraine similarly to how Hitler spoke of the Sudeten Germans in […]

In December 1988 Sunderland’s shipyards closed despite a long and passionate campaign to save them, and 800 years of shipbuilding on the Wear came to an end. Yet this closure has always looked bizarre. Why were these sophisticated modern yards, representing millions of pounds of public investment, written off? Why did the Tory Government sideline […]

The South Pelaw Miners Banner  needed a new home- where better than the local school where the children would grow up knowing of their proud mining heritage? A grant from Durham County Council's Labour local Councillor Tracie Smith has paid for the restoration of the banner and its fine oak case . This delicate silk […]

Whatever happened to Community Education or Life Long Learning? Who controls Learning now? How can adult education strengthen democracy?

Lewis is Associate Professor of Political Theory at Durham University and author of The Great Political Unrest: rank-and file movements and political change in the Durham coalfield

The Newcastle University Labour & Society Research Group are organising a conference on 'The British General Strike of 1926: New Directions of Research' at the School of History, Classics and Archaeology, Armstrong Building NE1 7RU on Thursday 7 and Friday 8 May and the programme and poster are attached. Tickets will be available on Thursday […]

Robert Lowery was a North Shields working man whose early life was a mixture of tragedy, hard work and crippling illness. He went on to become a leading Chartist and a speaker able to attract large crowds to fight for the Chartist cause. He spent almost half his life campaigning for the Charter and later […]

From Martin Levy Dear  Comrades and Friends On Friday 26 June, Newcastle TUC will be screening the documentary film, 'The General Strike – A Revolution Betrayed?' recently unearthed in the archive of Platform Films.  The event takes place at 7.30 pm at the Tyneside Irish Centre. Details, and the booking link are given below. Please […]

Overview This lecture explores Sacriston’s unique role during this turbulent period. One hundred years ago, Sacriston was in the grip of a historic industrial conflict. The short-lived General Strike, in May 1926, in the eyes of some, had brought Britain to the brink of revolution. It was followed by the months-long Miners’ Lockout, as coal […]