|
Parliamentary Labour Party Centenary Conference |
Society for the Study of Labour History
24-25 November 2006
London South Bank University
The Keyworth Centre, Keyworth Street, Elephant and Castle, London, SE1 0AA.
In the general election of 1906, 29 candidates sponsored by the Labour Representation Committee were elected to parliament. They constituted themselves the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP). This important conference brings together historians, political scientists, commentators and activists to commemorate 100 years of the Parliamentary Labour Party. It will examine the PLP in opposition and in government, its leaders and members, their politics and their relations with the trade unions. It will examine the changing policies, composition and identity of the PLP through the twentieth century.
Friday, 24 November 2006
6.00pm Opening address and introduction to:
Professor Kenneth O. Morgan
[The Right Honourable the Lord Morgan]
‘Socialism in Our Time’: Hardie to Blair
Professor Morgan’s address will be followed by discussion and a drinks reception.
‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑
The conference commences at 10.00am and closes at 5.30pm. The first three sessions will begin with a keynote address and a panel of supplementary speakers; the fourth will take a round table format. There will be time for questions and discussion in each session. Tony Benn will make the concluding remarks.
10.00am–11.15am Trade Unions
Chair: Dr Alan Campbell (University of Liverpool)
Keynote address: Robert Taylor (LSE)
Panel: John Lloyd (Community); Kevin Barron MP (Rother Valley)
11.30am–1.00pm Women
Chair: Professor Pat Thane (Centre for Contemporary British History)
Panel: Dr Sheila Blackburn (University of Liverpool); Professor June Hannam (University of West of England) and Dianne Hayter (National Executive Committee, The Labour Party)
LUNCH Participants make own arrangements. Catering facilities will be open at The Keyworth Centre. The Annual General Meeting for Society members will start at 1.15 and run to about 1.45pm.
2.00–3.30pm Leadership
Chair: Professor Kenneth O. Morgan (The Queen’s College, Oxford)
Keynote address: Professor David Howell (University of York)
Panel: Professor Keith Laybourn (University of Huddersfield; Professor John Shepherd (Anglia Ruskin University )
4.00–5.00pm Identities
Chair: Professor Gareth Stedman Jones (Kings College, Cambridge)
Round Table discussion: Dr William Knox (St Andrews University); Dr Jon Lawrence (Emmanuel College, Cambridge); Professor Chris Williams (University of Wales, Swansea)
5.00–5.30pm Closing remarks
Tony Benn will sum up the proceedings and offer his reflections on his experiences in the PLP as minister and backbencher.
Registration
The conference registration fee is £10.00 (£5 students, pensioners and unwaged; London South Bank University students free on production of student card). Those planning to attend the conference are requested to register in advance to facilitate conference administration and prevent delays on the day. Cheques should be made payable to: The Society for the Study of Labour History and sent to:
Dr Matt Perry,
School of Historical Studies
Armstrong building
University of Newcastle
Newcastle
NE1 7RU
e-mail: matt.perry@ncl.ac.uk
Name:
Address:
Email address:
Conference fee enclosed:
About our speakers:
Kevin Barron, a former Yorkshire miner and NUM activist, is now MP for Rother Valley. He was an assistant to Neil Kinnock and is currently Chair of the Select Committee on Health.
Tony Benn was first elected to Parliament in 1950. He served on the National Executive Committee of the Labour Party from 1959 to 1994 and was Chairman of the party in 1971-2. He was Postmaster General, Minister of Technology, Minister of Power and Secretary of State for Energy in successive Labour Cabinets from 1964 to 1979. He retired from the House of Commons in May 2001 to 'devote more time to politics', the longest serving Labour MP in the history of the party, which he joined in 1942.
Dr Sheila Blackburn (University of Liverpool) has published on the history of poverty and the campaign for a minimum wage. She is the author of the forthcoming A Fair Day's Work for a Fair Day's Pay: Sweated Labour and the Origins of Minimum Wage Legislation in Britain (2007)
Dr Alan Campbell (University of Liverpool) has published on the history of mining trade unions, including The Scottish Miners, 1874–1939, 2 vols (2000), and co-edited Industrial Politics and the 1926 Mining Lockout (2003). He is a former editor of Labour History Review.
Professor June Hannam (University of the West of England) has written Socialist Women: Britain, 1880s to 1920s (2002) with Karen Hunt, and is an editor of Labour History Review.
Dianne Hayter is a former General Secretary of the Fabian Society and is on the National Executive Committee of the Labour Party. She is the author of Fightback: Labour’s Traditional Right in the 1970s and 1980s (2005) and co-editor of Men Who Made Labour (2006)
Dr Patricia Hollis first worked towards The Pauper Press: A Study in Working-Class Radicalism of the 1830s (1970). Her other publications include Ladies Elect: Women in English Local Government, 1865–1914 (1987) and Jennie Lee: a life (1997). She was created life Baroness Hollis of Heigham in 1990 and sits in the House of Lords as a Labour member.
Professor David Howell (University of York) is the author of British Workers and the Independent Labour Party, 1893–1906 (1983) and MacDonald's Party: Labour Identities and Crisis, 1922–1931 (2002). He is co-editor of the multi-volume Dictionary of Labour Biography.
Dr Bill Knox (University of St Andrews) has published in the field of Scottish history, particularly the labour movement. His books include Industrial nations: Work, Culture and Society in Scotland, 1880 - present (1999), He edited Scottish Labour Leaders 1984) and The New Penguin History of Scotland (2002).
Professor Keith Laybourn (University of Huddersfield) has written numerous books on the history of labour and socialism in Britain, including British Socialism, 1881–1951 (1997) and A Century of Labour (2000)
Dr Jon Lawrence (Emmanuel College, Cambridge) researches in the field of nineteenth and twentieth century political history. He is the author of Speaking for the People: Party, Language and Popular Politics in England, 1867-1914 (1998) and contributed to Duncan Tanner et al., Labour's First Century (2000).
John Lloyd has been employed as a research officer for a number of major unions including the EETPU and now works for the new union Community. He is the author of Light and Labour: A History of the EETPU (1990).
Professor Kenneth O. Morgan (The Queen's College, Oxford) has published widely on the history the Labour Party, including Keir Hardie: Radical and Socialist (1975), Labour in Power, 1945–51 (1984), Labour People (1987) and Callaghan: A Life (1997). A life of Michael Foot is to appear in 2006. He was created a Life Baron, The Lord Morgan, in 2000, and sits in the House of Lords as a Labour member.
Professor John Shepherd (Anglia Ruskin University) is the author of George Lansbury: At the Heart of Old Labour (2002) and The First Labour Government of 1924 (forthcoming with Keith Laybourn)
Professor Gareth Stedman Jones (Kings College, Cambridge) is well known for his wide-ranging writing on political and intellectual history. His publications include ‘What’s Wrong with the Labour Party?’ in his Languages of Class: Studies in English Working-Class History (1983) and An End To Poverty (2004)
Robert Taylor (LSE) was formerly the labour editor of the Financial Times. His books include The TUC: From General Strike to New Unionism (2000) and The History of the Parliamentary Labour Party, 1906–2006 (2006)
Pat Thane is Leverhulme Professor of Contemporary History at the Institute of Historical Research, University of London. She has published widely in the history of social policy and co-edited Labour's First Century (2000).
Professor Chris Williams teaches history at the University of Swansea. He is the author of Democratic Rhondda: Politics and Society, 1885–1951 (1996) and Capitalism, Community and Conflict: The South Wales Coalfield, 1898–1947 (1998).