Blog - Bristol Radical History Group

They inspired us #3 – Living Easton

By Roger

In the 1990s my sports club the Easton Cowboys (now Easton Cowfolk) often hosted delegations of young trade unionists from Germany and Portugal through the SW TUC education programme. They would stay with us, sampling the delights of football and parties in the Plough, as well as attending workshops on sport, music and culture, before heading off to Glastonbury festival to work for the Workers Beer Company. Someone had the idea of asking Living Easton, the local history group, to do a history […]

Bristol men and women who were involved in the General Strike

By Rob Whitfield

Tens of thousands of workers in Bristol were involved in the miners’ lock-out and the General Strike. Here is a brief selection of the names of people who were involved. We would welcome additional information, and especially photographs, regarding these workers, and any other workers involved. Please send them to brh@brh.org.uk. The trade union leaders Each of the unions involved were national organisations with their own national leaders. At local level there were union organisers and the […]

Two new titles from Breviary Stuff

By Roger

Two new interesting titles from the 'independent publisher of radical history, working-class history, history from below', Breviary Stuff who have done a great job in making classics of social and political history accessible and publishing lots of new material. The latest two titles, bring us a case study of Victorian policing in Huddersfield Beats, Backstreets and Brothels by David Taylor and Persisting in the Truth by Andrew Shields, a biographical study of Irish activist journalist Peter […]

They inspired us #2 – Christopher Hill and The World Turned Upside Down

By Roger

Find out about why it was the English Revolution and not just the English Civil War. Discover the 'third force' of the period, Levellers, Diggers, Ranters, Religious Radicals and the rebellious New Model Army that frightened the Royalists and Parliamentarians alike with their 'communist' ideas. Absolute classic, to be read aloud to your mates on stormy nights (with a few beers). (BRHG).....And what a book this is, an absolute must read. Read #1 in the series - They inspired us

They inspired us #1 – past tense – The Southwark Pudding Wonder

By Alex (Past Tense)

Excellent flyer produced by one of our progenitors, past tense (and still going strong), who helped inspire Bristol Radical History Group to form in 2006.

Press releases: Standing up for the forgotten & Pauper burials

By Roger Ball, Mike Jempson

The following two press releases have been released this week (07 December 2025) and can be downloaded in pdf format here: Press release 1: Bristol Press release 2: National Press release 1: Bristol Pauper burials in private and public cemeteries in Bristol New research – Ridgeway Park, Greenbank and Arnos Vale In 2015, to great public interest, Eastville Workhouse Memorial Group (EWMG) released details of more than 4,000 paupers who had been buried in unmarked graves in Rosemary Green, […]

Obituary: Samuel Paradiso

By Roger

Samuel Paradiso 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. […]

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 […]