North West HISTORY journal
No 49, 2024 - 25
EDITORIAL
Welcome to Number 49 of the North West History Journal.
Our society was founded in 1973 and last year, in November, we celebrated 50 years with a birthday party in Manchester Central Library. Talks by Keith Laybourn and Ali Ronan acknowledged another momentous anniversary, the centenary of the election of the first Labour government in 1923.
Pat Bowker and Alan Fowler were amongst the first members of the society back in those early days when meetings were informal affairs in Ruth and Eddie Frow’s front room at their Old Trafford home. I’m pleased to offer contributions from Pat and Alan recounting tales of their early activism. The Chorlton home of David and Jane Graham was another hub of Manchester activism. David, who died in 2023 at the age of 91 is remembered by comrades from the various stands of his life and work.
David Hargreaves has written in these pages about various Pankhursts but Sylvia is our current subject. In her long life, she brought her own zeal to so many aspects of political and social campaigning. The liberation of Ethiopia was her final great cause.
As always, I am humbled by our authors’ passion and enthusiasm for their subjects. Looking back 40 years, Paul Kelly gives a very personal account of his experiences during the 1984-5 Miners Strike. His understanding of the importance of never forgetting our history led to the formation of the Irwell Valley Mining Project. David Pearce invites us to visit the museum in Fleetwood saved from closure by a group determined to keep alive the history of their town. Tony Wailey powerfully champions James Hanley, a complex working class writer, asking how we’ve never heard of him. Eileen Turnbull has been an indefatigable campaigner for the persecuted building workers who became known as the Shrewsbury 24. I encourage readers to buy her book, but in the meantime, read an account of the campaign, successful after years of state duplicity.
Whilst it is true that the geographical focus of this journal is North West England, an excellent exhibition at the WCML of posters from international solidarity campaigns reminds us that a strong labour movement has always had an international outlook.
There are striking designs from Spain, Chile, France, Vietnam, Guinea Bissau amongst others and Angela Davis, magnificent in 1970s red, yellow and black. The work that resonants most powerfully with me is a simple drawing of two loosely clenched hands, black skin, white skin, bound at the wrist with barbed wire with the legend “Until all are free, we are all imprisoned - free Irish prisoners.” This is from Northern Ireland but it was civil rights activist, Fannie Lou Hamer, who coined the phrase “Nobody’s free until everybody’s free” in 1971, famously adapted by Nelson Mandela in 1997: “But we know too well that our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians.”
As we witness live streamed horror of the collective punishment and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, we should draw inspiration and courage from Mandela’s words to speak out and demand freedom with justice for all oppressed people everywhere.
I want to thank the many people who have contributed to the production of this journal. Thanks to all members of the Editorial Board, Mike Carter for design, authors, advertisers, subscribers and not least, you, the readers.