Events Archive - Page 3 of 60 - Bristol Radical History Group

‘An industrial Red Cross’

Labour women’s support for the miners’ lockout in the south west

This talk will describe the setting up of the Women’s Committee for the Relief of Miners Wives and Children in London by the Labour Party Chief Woman Officer, Marion Phillips. It will then focus on the efforts of Labour women to raise funds and to organise relief in the southwest and the support they gave to relief committees in Bristol and in Radstock. It will suggest that the Lockout gave them the opportunity to demonstrate that they had the necessary skills to organise relief on a national […]

Rethinking the Rebecca Riots?

The Rebecca riots were a series of disturbances and direct action that spread across south-west Wales in the early 1840s. They were carried out by local farmers, workers and others who dressed in dramatic costumes and acted under the symbolic leadership of “Rebecca”. This talk will look at the success of the rioters in resisting the imposition of tolls on road travel, for which they are best remembered. But it will also show that “Rebeccaism” was a wide-ranging popular movement, generated by the […]

BBC rebels in the 1970s

The BBC is often portrayed by critical commentators as a monolith, inherently biased and strictly regulated from within. This characterisation both denies the agency of its workers, and deserves further investigation. This talk considers the BBC in the 1970s in Bristol and London, as government intervention in the Corporation increased, particularly over the representation of the conflict in Ireland. At the same time control over programme content was increased by the casualisation of programme […]

Aspirations of Women

Reflections from those who were schoolgirls in the South West in the early 1980s

This new exhibition uncovers valuable life stories as women from working class backgrounds reflect upon their experiences within a large comprehensive school. These marginalised voices give personal accounts which expose overarching themes and experiences, including gender discrimination and a rigid educational establishment. They also consider how the expectations imposed upon them during these years, to a degree, shaped their early adult lives. Many tell how later in life they went on to […]

The General Strike in Gloucester and Swindon

Gloucester Docks, Sugar and Strife - Tony Conder As an industrial city Gloucester's industries were hit by the strike in 1926. The dock workers and boatmen of Gloucester played a key role in taking action and suffering in the aftermath. The business of the docks pitted powerful conservative forces who made no attempt to recognise the emergency against an almost cheeky gallantry by their striking workforce. A Railway Town and the General Strike: Nine Days in Swindon in May 1926 - Stuart Butler […]

Curating the Colonial Past

Decolonisation and struggles over colonial archives

In the early 1960s, British colonial administrations in East Africa organized the systematic destruction and removal of documents from colonies approaching independence. This exercise was later repeated resulting in the deposit of roughly 20,000 files from over 40 dependencies in secret storage in and around London, where they remained until a 2011 court case brought against the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office by survivors of the Kenyan Emergency. This talk considers struggles to conceal and […]

Jenkin Morgan: Chartist Scarecrow

The aftermath of the armed Chartist rising in November 1839, which ended in fighting at the Westgate Hotel in Newport, saw the inevitable state repression unleashed. The stories of the Chartist leaders John Frost, Zephaniah Williams and William Jones, who were sentenced to death and then transported are well known, but what of the others? Jenkin Morgan has become part of the invisible landscape of Welsh Chartism. This Pillgwenlly milkman and tallow chandler was initially sentenced to be hung, […]

Striking Women: from Grunwick to Gate Gourmet

An exhibition telling the story of South Asian women workers' struggles in two industrial disputes. The fiftieth anniversary of the two year dispute at the Grunwick film processing laboratories in northwest London and the 2005 Gate Gourmet strike at Heathrow. The exhibition explores themes of migration, women and work and the industrial movement more widely. You can find out more at the Striking Women website. .

False Narratives

When dubious images set the political agenda

Over a 30-year period Bristol-based journalism ethics charity The MediaWise Trust challenged national newspapers over inaccurate, intrusive and unethical coverage. One method was to investigate and expose stories that distorted facts in a bid to set political agendas. The examples in this exhibition reflect just a few of the topics the Trust took on. Its Refugees Asylum-Seekers & the Media (RAM) Project (1999-2005) and the video On the Receiving End featuring exiled journalists had a […]

Red Notes Choir

Catch Bristol’s wonderful Red Notes Choir, who will support the Bristol Radical History Festival by performing at 11:20am. They’ll be singing in the Ground Floor Foyer by the M Shed main entrance. The Red Notes Choir is a Bristol-based socialist choir. They have a repertoire of songs from around the world on historical, union, peace, green and human rights themes. We use the streets of Bristol and further afield to spread our message of fighting for the rights of working people, those who are […]