Scottish Labour History Society Newsletter

April 2021

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Scottish Local History Forum Conference on Slavery
The Scottish Local History Forum is holding a mini-online conference – Scotland’s involvement in slavery: the local view – on the evenings of Wednesday & Thursday 28/29 April, beginning at 5pm. The event is free but people need to register to receive a “Zoom” link: https://www.slhf.org/event/online-mini-conference-scotlands-involvement… Coincidentally, the (English) National Trust has published a report, Addressing our histories of colonialism and historic slavery, which is available at https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/features/addressing-the-histories-of-s…

Women in Scotland 1900-2020
Scottish Union Learning is working with Open University Scotland to develop a Women in Scotland 1900- 2020: Workplace Struggles project, and to create and collate accessible learning materials for the OU’s OpenLearn website. The OU project team is led by Gerry Mooney (senior lecturer in Social Policy & Criminology), and supported by Carol Raeside (project coordinator), Helen O’Shea (lecturer in History) and three Faculty of Arts & Social Science associate lecturers. More details from Tommy Breslin, SUL Development Officer, at tbreslin@stuc.org.uk

The Socialist Origins of International Women’s Day
The left-wing magazine, Jacobin, has an article on the origins of International Women’s Day, the first of which was on March 19, not March 8, with the date chosen to commemorate the 1848 Revolution in Berlin. More than a million women took part across Germany, calling for social and political equality. The article is at https://www.jacobinmag.com/2017/03/international-womens-day-clara-zetki…?

Scottish Agricultural History
The annual meeting of the British Agricultural History Society – to be held online on Monday 12 April – will include a paper by Professor Annie Tindley of Newcastle University on Landed Responses to Land Reform in Scotland and Ireland, c1860 to 1903, which examines how the landed classes reacted to legislative land reform in the C19 and early C20. Professor Tindley is author of The Sutherland Estate, 1850-1920 and co-editor of the forthcoming Land Reform in Scotland: History, Law and Policy. Non-members are welcome to attend the session, which begins at 3pm. Full details at https://www.bahs.org.uk/Spring2021_04_12.html  

A People’s History of the Classics
The Socialist History Society has a video of a recent talk, A People’s History of the Classics, given by Edith Hall and Henry Stead, based on their book of the same title. The video can be viewed at http://www.socialisthistorysociety.co.uk/?p=1118 – with book details at http://edithhall.co.uk/books  

11th Frow Lecture: Selina Todd, 'The great British mobility myth'
The Working Class Movement Library has announced its 11th Frow Lecture, on Wednesday 19 May at 7.30pm (it will be live-streamed). The lecture, in honour of WCML founders Edmund and Ruth Frow, will cover social mobility in Britain over the past century. Using hundreds of personal testimonies, Selina Todd, Professor of Modern History at Oxford University, will shatter the myth that Britain was ever a meritocracy. Her research focuses on class, inequality, working-class history, feminism and women’s lives. Her new book Snakes and Ladders, a history of social mobility in Britain since 1900, was published in February. See www.wcml.org.uk/whats-on/events/11th-annual-frow-lecture--selina-todd-t…

Anglo-Russian Research Network
The Anglo-Russian Research Network, founded in 2011, brings together scholars and students from various disciplines, plus all those with an interest in cultural and intellectual relations between Britain and Russia in the period 1880–1950. The network supports a variety of activities, currently online, and the ARRN website (https://anglorussiannetwork.wordpress.com/) provides information about events, publications and members’ research. Membership is free and open to all; to join contact Nicholas Hall at nh348@exeter.ac.uk

PayPal Problems
As noted in our last newsletter, we are having problems with access to PayPal from the SLHS website. This appears to be a result of an upgrade in the PayPal security protocol and we are unlikely to be able to resolve the problem until lockdown restrictions are lifted. Because of this, we would like to remind members there are other ways to pay subscriptions – through online banking, by setting up an annual standing order, or by cheque through the post. For those wishing to pay by online transfer, the Society’s bank account details are: Scottish Labour History Society; sort code: 08-92-99; account no: 65474464. The subscription remains £15.00 waged and £10.00 unwaged. To pay by post, please send cheque, payable to Scottish Labour History Society, to: Robert Laurie, SLHS Treasurer, 201 Alberta Avenue, East Kilbride, G75 8HU. Members wishing to set up a standing order for annual renewal can use the SLHS bank details above to do so. We will announce here and on the website when the PayPal situation is resolved.
Any items for future newsletters should be sent to admin@scottishlabourhistorysociety.scot