News Feed - Bristol Radical History Group

Justice For Alice Wheeldon!

In 1917, socialist, feminist and anti-war activist, Alice Wheeldon, her daughter Winnie and husband Alf Mason were given long prison sentences for supposedly plotting to kill the Prime Minister Lloyd George and Arthur Henderson, the leader of the Labour Party. The evidence was flimsy, their accuser an MI5 agent provocateur so dubious the prosecution kept him away from the trial. It was a time when Britons were increasingly vocal in their opposition to the continuing and pointless carnage of the […]

The Secret War Against Apartheid

By Randell Brantley

Ken Keable, editor of London Recruits - the secret war against apartheid will be talking about that book and his own role in the story, and Pete Smith, who worked secretly for the ANC over many years, will be talking about ANC and South Afirican Communist Party member and scientist Dr Ron Press, who lived much of his life in Bristol . Many Bristol political activists will remember Ron Press for his publicly known work but few will know of the secret work that he did as an exiled South African […]

Eric Hobsbawn: Socialist Historian

This publication by The Socialist History Society is a record of a special event in 2013 to celebrate and assess the work of the late Marxist and historian, Professor Eric Hobsbawm. The centre section of this publication, entitled ‘Hobsbawm’s Tetralogy’ focuses on his four important writings The Age of Revolution, Primitive Rebels, The Age of Capital and The Age of Extremes, beginning at the French revolution in 1789 and concluding towards the end of the twentieth century in 1991. According to […]

The Bristol Deserter

Alfred Jefferies And The Great War

By Geoff Woolfe

The years leading up to 1914 saw a wave of strike action across Britain; at the same time there were fears of war with Germany whipped up by the press and in popular culture. Some like Bristol’s Trade Union Leader Ernest Bevin argued that workers’ interests were the same worldwide and that war would be disastrous. Nevertheless, when war broke out, patriotism won out over international brotherhood. Thousands of workers were persuaded to sign up to Kitchener’s army, including hundreds who worked […]

Jeremy Corbyn at Tolpuddle 2015

By Randell Brantley

Jeremy Corbyn MP speaking at Tolpuddle Martyrs Festival 19/07/2015 South West Unison Tent. The Captain Swing rioters get a nice mention near the start.

Class Cohesion versus Spurious Patriotism

A Straight Talk to British Workers

With a new afterword by Kevin Morgan. A 2015 reprint of a 1915 pamphlet, originally published at the height of reaction during World War One. Proposing class struggle and international solidarity in response to nationalism and war, it’s a unique voice of dissent within the British labour movement of the time. Only a few copies of the original pamphlet exist; there is no copy in the British Library, and even the well-known libraries of labour movement history do not usually have a copy. This […]

Eastville Workhouse Memorial Project – Public Consultation Meeting

By Randell Brantley

Tuesday 4th August 7.30pm Scout Resource Centre, Gadshill Rd, Eastville, BS5 6PU All Welcome As you probably know, East Park housing estate was originally the site of Eastville Workhouse and part of nearby Rosemary Green is an unmarked burial ground (1851-1895) for more than 3,500 residents of that institution. Last summer residents and local historians formed Eastville Workhouse Memorial Group (EWMG) with the aim of placing a permanent memorial on Rosemary Green to remember those who were laid […]

Angela Remembered

The Life of Angela Gradwell Tuckett

By MacGregor

Rosie MacGregor remembers Angela, that is Angela Gradwell Tuckett (1906-1994); a stalwart Communist, an all-round radical and something of a Renaissance woman. I’ll call her simply Angela too. Angela had a radical family background. She descended on her father’s side from a family of abolitionist (and quite prosperous!) Quakers. Her maternal family line included her grandfather, Bristol artist Henry Stacy and her aunt the pioneering socialist Enid Stacy. Born in Weston-Super-Mare, Stacy was an […]

‘The Other’ Armed Forces Day

Exploring the conscience of war

At Central Baptist Church, Devonshire Rd, Southampton SO15 2GY A day of creative expression, dialogue and workshops that include veterans, artists, historians, poets and we hope- you too! Come and hear accounts of mutineers, deserters and conscientious objectors. Stories of people who were and still are the 'conscience of war'- telling how it was, is and what it's like for new recruits. Roger will be giving a talk: British Armed Forces’ Strikes, Refusals and Mutinies 1919: From Southampton to […]

Barton Hill Cotton Work Plaque

By Randell Brantley

At 7pm on wednesday 24 june 2015 at Barton Hill trading estate, Maze Street, Barton Hill a new plaque Cottom Works plaque will be unveiled. then afterwards at St Luke's church hall for a talk with tea and refreshments.