British labour history has been one of the dominating areas of historical research in the last sixty years and this book, written in honour of Professor Chris Wrigley, offers a collection of essays written by leading British labour historians of that subject including Ken Brown, Malcolm Chase and Matthew Worley. It focuses upon trade unionism, the co-operative movement, the rise and fall of the Labour Party, and working-class lives, comparing British labour movements with those in Germany and examining the social and political labour activities of the Lansburys. There is, indeed, some important work connected with the cultural developments of the British labour movement, most obviously in the essay written by Matthew Worley on communism and Punk Rock.
This is an absorbing collection of original essays contributed in honour of Professor Chris Wrigley, one of the leading figures in the study of British labour history and former President of The Historical Association. It focuses on a range of historical topics on two main themes: labour politics and working-class lives. The collection reflects Wrigley's interests in liberal and labour politics, industrial relations, trade unions and industrial systems.
The essays cover a wide period from late Victorian and Edwardian politics to recent times in Britain. In the first part of the volume, two studies of the careers of the radical George Howell and the Liberal Chief Whip Herbert Gladstone demonstrate how their political careers helped to determine the way in which the Labour movement would develop in the late nineteenth century and the early twentieth century. Other essays explore the long-term relationship between trade unions and Labour politics, as well as the socialist and progressive aftermath following the second Labour government's demise in 1931 seen through studies of the Independent Labour Party and the development of the Progressive League.
The essays in the second half of the volume on working-class lives and culture raise a number of significant issues. Was working-class culture less organised in Britain than in Germany? How did the world of female clerkship develop? What part did the next generation of George and Bessie Lansbury's family contribute to twentieth-century politics?
Wrigley's work has primarily focused upon the political process in Britain in modern times and reflects his long-standing interest in political parties, prominent political figures, and the everyday lives of those represented in the Labour Party and the broader Labour movement. This volume is dedicated to a similar range of historical questions and the essentially pragmatic approach of Wrigley in making the study of history accessible to a wider audience in Britain and beyond.
