US-based labour and social movements authors and organisers Robert Ovetz and James Tracy interview DANIEL GROSS about his new book, Unions of Our Own: Eight Building Blocks to Change Work and the World
Latest editorial
Kennington Common 1848: 100,000 Chartists assemble
Socialist historian KEITH FLETT looks at an enormous but messy day south of the Thames for England’s early working-class movement
HISTORIC: A daguerrotype, an early form of photograph, captured on the Chartists on Kennington Common, April 1848
JOHN CALLOW introduces the work of Geoffrey Trease, who placed ordinary people at the centre of his historical fiction for children, creating adventurous stories to inspire the possibilities of social change
The Isle of Wight’s Victorian holiday boom drew visitors from across Europe, including the founders of scientific socialism, writes KEITH FLETT
The campaign against the Bank of England’s ongoing theft of Venezuelan gold is gaining support across the labour movement and beyond, writes MATT WILLGRESS
Unless ministers match reform with investment, the profession and the people it serves will continue to bear the cost, says KATE RAMSDEN
Claims that Nicaragua has abolished elections followed a headline that stripped Daniel Ortega’s remarks of their historical and political context. The full speech tells a different story, says BECCA RENK FOSTER
ON April 10 1848 the Chartists held a rally to demand the vote for working men on Kennington Common, London. It was the first demonstration in the world to be photographed, and the original picture is held in the King’s Collection at Windsor.
With much of the rest of Europe in turmoil, this gives an indication of how seriously the ruling class took the threat of a revolutionary outbreak. The Queen departed for the Isle of Wight and troops and special constables were mobilised to protect key buildings and deal with any Chartist challenge to power.
The efforts of the state on April 10 1848 are relatively well documented. The Chartist tactics for the demonstration have received less attention.
Similar stories
The Isle of Wight’s Victorian holiday boom drew visitors from across Europe, including the founders of scientific socialism, writes KEITH FLETT
KEITH FLETT looks at geographical roots of working-class activism in Britain
Labour movement history in Britain shows workers secured reforms through collective pressure and political representation, rather than being gifted from above, writes KEITH FLETT
The summer saw the co-founders of modern communism travelling from Ramsgate to Neuenahr to Scotland in search of good weather, good health and good newspapers in the reading rooms, writes KEITH FLETT