Welcome to the SSLH

Founded in 1960, the Society for the Study of Labour History (SSLH) is the UK’s principal organisation dedicated to the study of labour history.

Membership is open to everyone who would like to learn more about labour history and heritage whether on a professional or amateur basis.

The SSLH publishes the journal the Labour History Review, organises regular conferences and actively promotes the preservation of historical resources connected to the labour movement.

What’s new

Labour history news

Rediscovered Peterloo ephemera digitised

Dr Janette Martin (John Rylands Library) has announced the rediscovery, cataloguing and digitisation of a large bound of newspapers, pamphlets and other materials related to the Peterloo Massacre. Historians of the labour movement will be delighted to hear that the University of Manchester has catalogued and digitised a large bound volume of Peterloo related newspapers,… Continue reading Rediscovered Peterloo ephemera digitised

MA & BA bursaries

Cian Ireland (University of York) on worker and trade union responses to deindustrialisation in Wales

Jim Tomlinson has argued that deindustrialisation was the ‘meta-narrative’ of post-war British history. 1 In Wales, its historical economic reliance on extractive industries such as coal and slate saw their decline begin earlier in the twentieth century. Therefore, deindustrialisation has arguably been a ‘meta-narrative’ in Wales for decades longer. My dissertation looks at the history… Continue reading Cian Ireland (University of York) on worker and trade union responses to deindustrialisation in Wales

Research bursaries

Yasmin Getirana (LSE) on domestic workers’ activism and Catholic internationalism in Cold War Latin America

The Young Christian Workers (Juventude Operária Católica/Juventud Obrera Católica, JOC) was founded by Belgian priest Joseph Cardijn in the 1920s, as a response to the perceived de-Christianisation and spread of communist and anarchist ideologies among the industrial working class in Europe. Rooted in Catholic Action and built around the ‘See-Judge-Act’ pedagogical method Cardijn developed, the… Continue reading Yasmin Getirana (LSE) on domestic workers’ activism and Catholic internationalism in Cold War Latin America

MA & BA bursaries

Tomas Einion Holland (Bangor University) on relations between Irish and Welsh socialists during the Irish revolutionary period

My dissertation focuses upon relations between Welsh and Irish socialists during the Irish revolutionary period (1910s–1920s) with a focus on newspapers produced in South Wales. Analysing the social history of these nations outside the strict confines of the British state is a developing field of study. The study aims to better understand how each nation’s… Continue reading Tomas Einion Holland (Bangor University) on relations between Irish and Welsh socialists during the Irish revolutionary period

Something went wrong. Please refresh the page and/or try again.