Blog - Bristol Radical History Group

Obituary: Samuel Kelly

By Roger

Samuel Kelly was brought up in the Fishponds area of east Bristol. His love of his ‘manor’ played a large part in his life, ranging from his legendary ‘border patrols’, checking no one from BS5 had sneaked into BS16[1], to the local history in his website ‘Boy from Fishponds’.[2] He knew Fishponds inside out and revelled in directing me around using secret short cuts, telling me stories of its hidden heroes and showing me the concealed ‘Lido’ that once had a bar on stilts, or so they say. Samuel […]

Mass meeting on the Downs – 16 May 1926

By Richard Musgrove

On 16 May 1926, in the wake of the calling off of the General Strike four days earlier, a mass meeting was held in the evening on Durdham Down. A demonstration had been formed on Old Market which then marched the two and a half miles to the Downs for a rally with speeches in support of the still locked-out miners. Though details of the meeting are scarce, it must have been of considerable size, with the Western Daily Press reporting on the 17 May that there were 15 speakers spread across three […]

General Strike 100

By Rob Whitfield

May 2026 marks the 100th anniversary of the nine day 'General Strike'. This solidarity action was an attempt by the Trades Union Congress (TUC) to prevent wage reductions and increasingly bad working conditions for 1.2 million coal miners who had already been locked-out by their employers. Around 1.7 million workers, mainly in transport and heavy industry, responded and the country was confronted with explicit class war. Bristol Radical History Group are delighted to be a part of the General […]

Mike Levine

By Ian Wright

This obituary for Mike Levine mainly concentrates on the development of his political ideas and activities, rather than his personal life and career. Michael (Mike) Robin Levine was born in August 1938 in London, the son of Dorian and Sadie, who were the children of Jews who had migrated from Eastern Europe to Glasgow at the turn of the century. Mike was born a month before the ‘Munich Agreement’, which promised to avert the start of war in Europe, but subsequently led to the Holocaust. Dorian […]

More Blacks, More Dogs, More Irish, More Ciaran Walshes: An Obituary

By e2windsor

Ciaran Walsh, Stag and Hounds, Old Market 2020

We are mourning due to the sudden and shock recent passing of our dear comrade and fellow radical historian, Ciaran Walsh. Ciaran was a force of nature; a proud internationalist and spirited anti-monarchist. He was a tireless activist for social justice in all contexts, whether fighting to defend his local community centre or showing international solidarity with Palestine. He would stand up in the struggle against racism and fascism, whenever and wherever they arose. Ciaran organised radical […]

Behind the Scenes at the Bristol Radical History Festival

By Rosie Wild

I don’t know about the other organisers but I always wake up with a big feeling of relief the Monday after the Bristol Radical History Festival. Now in its seventh year, the festival gets bigger and more ambitious each time. In the week before I always feel a gnawing worry of ‘are we really going to pull it off this year?’ Luckily for us, the answer so far has always been: yes we are! Loads of work by loads of people goes into organising the Bristol Radical History Festival. It’s all done […]

Creating homes for Black Elders in Bristol

By Guy Bailey, Silu Pascoe

In 2023, I had the honour to meet Guy Bailey, OBE, whilst researching the Bristol Bus Boycott campaign of 1963. At that time I learnt of his social activism not only in relation to employment but also housing and cricket. In 2025, he graciously agreed to have a conversation with me about his activism against racism in Bristol housing. During the 1980s, he was particularly concerned about the housing needs of Black Elders who were either retired or nearing retirement. They were still experiencing […]

Hartcliffe Betrayed – runner up in local history book of the year

By Paul Smith

Bristol Radical History Group are happy and very proud to announce that Hartcliffe Betrayed, the Fading of a Post War Dream authored by Paul Smith has been awarded joint runner-up for the Alan Ball Award 2024 in the category of best Local History hardcopy publication. Since 1986, the Local Studies Group of the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals, acting on behalf of the Library Services Trust, has given annual awards to recognise outstanding contributions in local […]

‘London Recruits’ and Bristol

By Colin Thomas

In the 1960s it looked as if the opposition to the apartheid regime in South Africa had been crushed. Many of the leaders of the African National Congress has been imprisoned and BOSS, the regime’s ruthlessly efficient police force, suppressed any sign of resistance. But a group of South African exiles in Britain were determined to fight back. Ron Press was one of the 156 opponents of apartheid arrested in 1956 on the charge of high treason – they included Nelson Mandela – and he took part in a […]

Blowing up the Fire Engine Colliery

By Ian Wright