History Workshop

Can broad alliances be built without abandoning progressive ideas? Daria Dyakonova revisits the compromises communist women made in the 1930s over reproductive rights.

Good mention of lion tamer and socialist John S Clarke in this piece about radical Glasgow. He was married to a relative of mine, Sarah Millicent Balkind, and reportedly healed Lenin's dog while attending the Second Congress of the Communist International. bsky.app/profile/hist...

This is such a great piece on Blackness and belonging, based around the extraordinary friendships between American and Congolese Baptists. It's so interesting to see the emergence of a form of racial solidarity, even when it's entangled with the violence of the Congo Free State.

From @kamack.bsky.social’s article: a mock epitaph on Lord Strathure (the judge who sentenced John Maclean to five years in Peterhead jail) written by John S. Clarke, “a poet, a journalist, a politician and a lion tamer” who once cured Lenin’s dog

OTD in 1969, the artists Gilbert & George performed their first 'singing sculpture'. In this article from the archives, Greg Salter examines what the piece can tell us about memory and male friendship in post-war Britain.

'People move; objects follow them; and their relationships deposit fragments of one history inside the archives of another.' Adrita Mitra on Black American missionaries working in King Leopold's Congo.

In the late nineteenth century, Black American missionaries began to work within King Leopold's Congo. For Black History month, Adrita Mitra explores how women like Nora Gordon navigated the tensions between emancipation and colonial rule.

'Imagine the book that sat proudly on a shelf for years, only to wind up in the charity shop [...]. The pamphlet carefully preserved in someone’s desk until death and house clearance led it to an antiquarian bookseller.' @kamackinnon on radical print history in Glasgow.

!!! I am a big big fan of @historyworkshop.org.uk so it's a real honour to have them publish this piece on radical history, print culture and walking. With many thanks to brilliant editor @sophie-turbutt.bsky.social and @btwhite.bsky.social for the encouragement 📚

'Imagine the book that sat proudly on a shelf for years, only to wind up in the charity shop [...]. The pamphlet carefully preserved in someone’s desk until death and house clearance led it to an antiquarian bookseller.' @kamackinnon on radical print history in Glasgow.

'My favourite thing about these books is the way writers, publishers and events reappear across time.' @kamackinnon reflects on the Glaswegian radical print she has collected, and her experiences sharing it with the public on historical walking tours (@radicalglasgowtour).

'Martial arts ... was made legible as technical cooperation: a form of foreign aid in which one government provides expertise, training, or services to another.' Inhae Yap explores the politics of aid in the Cold War and today.

In 1977, the South Korean government agreed to send taekwondo instructors to the West African republic of Upper Volta. Inhae Yap explains what the exchange can tell us about the politics of aid in the Cold War and today.

Highly recommend exploring all that Beckie has done for the HW digital magazine!

This is really interesting. The struggles of cognitively disabled people raising questions about how human rights are conceived of. Read while bearing in mind that today's eugenics-adjacent new utilitarians consider cognitively disabled people to be less than fully human.

It's the beginning of a new academic year at History Workshop - and that means some changes to our team. Over the course of today, we'll be saying farewell to our two departing fellows by celebrating the work that they've done at the magazine.

'[The] aim was not to deny or replace disabled people’s decision-making, but to recognise their legal capacity and provide the support they might need to exercise it themselves.' Paul van Trigt on the 2006 Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Such a brilliant piece by @paulvt.bsky.social for the Radical Horizons series!

It is amazing what you find when clearing out your office that holds 28 yrs of ‘work’ archive. This includes all my own stuff but also items passed onto me by colleagues who left before me. Like this fab find 🤩. @historyworkshop.org.uk pamphlet no.2, 1970 by the one & only Sally Alexander ❤️.

Such a fascinating piece on labour, capital, and the edges of empire during the Great Depression. I really feel like it's unpacking the roots of a form of inequality we take for granted today.

'A narrow, uneven strip of land [was] crowded with huts, machinery, and areas awash with the organic detritus from lobster processing. Just half a dozen wooden buildings housed the island’s 90 to 100 workers.' Andy Drummond on labour and capital on St Paul's Island.

'A narrow, uneven strip of land [was] crowded with huts, machinery, and areas awash with the organic detritus from lobster processing. Just half a dozen wooden buildings housed the island’s 90 to 100 workers.' Andy Drummond on labour and capital on St Paul's Island.

Between 1930 and 1931, forty-seven people died on a remote fishing station in the Indian Ocean. Andy Drummond examines what their lives and deaths reveal about capitalism and accountability in France's colonial empire.

Between 1930 and 1931, forty-seven people died on a remote fishing station in the Indian Ocean. Andy Drummond examines what their lives and deaths reveal about capitalism and accountability in France's colonial empire.

OTD in 1936, communists, socialists and Jewish groups prevented fascists from marching through a Jewish area of London. In this article from the archive, David Rosenberg explores traces of the Battle of Cable Street across the contemporary East End. www.historyworkshop.org.uk/anti-fascism...

'[...] the use of the name ‘Cragg’s Red’ for the strain that was produced, centres [Cragg's] initiative at the expense of the Nigerian labourers who made it possible.' James Akpu explores the colonial history behind a strain of sweet potato.

Global historians are fascinated by mobility and exchange, with good reason - but as Joya Chatterji points out, we also need a history of the people who didn't move. I loved editing this article, which sheds fascinating light on the farmers who made botanical exchange possible.

Why was a Māori sweet potato introduced to Nigeria - and what can it tell us about the nature of colonial rule? In the first of our posts for Black History Month, James Akpu explores the global history of the kūmara.

I am so grateful to Marral Shamshiri for inviting me to write this piece for @historyworkshop.org.uk and its Radical Horizons series. The piece forms part of my broader research on women in radical politics in twentieth-century Latin America.

'For some, revolution meant seizing state power, for others, it meant overcoming poverty, ending the historical subordination of indigenous peoples, and pursuing broader social transformations.' Mercedes Crisóstomo examines the experiences of Peru's militant women.

OTD in 2015 Redcar steelworks closed down. From the HW archives Tosh Warwick reflects on the uncertainty in Britain's steel communities. www.historyworkshop.org.uk/capitalism/s...

"For all the fire in her belly, Webb knew that any effective movement is formed from many disparate parties coming together, and that the perfect ally does not exist." @rebeccajanemorgan.bsky.social explores the life and politics of forgotten trans Marxist, Rachael Webb (1940-2009).

Can the ideas of a controversial trans Marxist be recovered? Rebecca Jane Morgan on Rachael Webb's (1940-2009) class-based coalition politics.

"For all the fire in her belly, Webb knew that any effective movement is formed from many disparate parties coming together, and that the perfect ally does not exist." @rebeccajanemorgan.bsky.social explores the life and politics of forgotten trans Marxist, Rachael Webb (1940-2009).

I was really happy to be asked to write a piece for @historyworkshop.org.uk! This article looks at the activist career of Rachael Webb, a complicated and difficult figure in recent trans history who nevertheless had an incisive political analysis rooted in Marxism and trade unionism.