Historic events

Liverpool 1983-87

Better to break the law than break the poor: As a lifelong Liverpool football supporter, I was delighted to read recently that Liverpool were top of the league, writes Tony Mulhearn, former Liverpool councillor and the then District Labour Party president.

Upper Clyde Shipbuilders' dispute 1971-72

A prolonged battle to save Clydeside shipbuilding jobs began in 1971 and went on until October 1972. This 40th anniversary serves to remind us of a team of shop stewards who worked tirelessly, backed by the workforce and community, to save the shipyards on Clydeside.

Belfast Outdoor Relief Strike 1932

This year marks the 80th anniversary of the heroic Outdoor Relief Strike in Belfast. This battle is an important example of workers' unity that has vital lessons on how sectarianism can be overcome

1972: dockers face down the Tory government

"Britain came within inches of a general strike": "Arise Ye Workers" read the banner as five London dockers were carried shoulder high from Pentonville Prison in London, writes Roger Thomas.

1932 - mass trespass won the right to roam

Battling for change: The latest crisis in capitalism has given rise to the 'Occupy' movement, a visible and youthful protest at the unequal ownership and distribution of wealth...

100 years since Titanic tragedy

Prestige and profits still put before safety: The sinking of the Titanic on 15 April 1912 during its maiden voyage, with the loss of over 1,500 lives, remains one of the worst peacetime maritime disasters...

Fight or privatise: A tale of two councils

Liverpool's fighting 47: Councils across the country are currently setting their budgets. Whether Tory, Lib Dem or Labour, they all dutifully carry out the government's cuts...

The battle of Saltley Gates

Forty years ago today, a miners' strike for a fairer pay system saw some of the biggest demonstrations of workers' power since World War Two. Heath's government was trying to enforce a pay restraint policy in the teeth of rising inflation, writes Bill Mullins

1972 Derry - "this was murder"

Forty years ago, on Sunday 30 January 1972, members of the Parachute Regiment (the Paras) shot 27 unarmed civilians, (14 of whom died) on a protest through the barricaded Bogside area of Derry in Northern Ireland...

The first shop stewards movement

The outbreak of World War One in August 1914 cut across the great industrial unrest which had been gathering pace since 1911...

1935 - when angry Welsh protests forced a government u-turn

On 4 February 1935, Ceridwen Brown of Aberdare led an army of women, some carrying babies, to Merthyr Tydfil Unemployed Assistance Board (UAB) offices, writes Geoff Jones.

1915 - How strikes and rent strikes won gains for Scottish tenants

In this article Sinead Daly from Socialist Party Scotland shows how working class families resisted rent rises and appalling housing conditions in Glasgow nearly 100 years ago...

Hunger marches - When the unemployed fought back

"Why all this unrest? It seems in the rebound from the anxieties from the war, we are all trying to get something for nothing. We must not ask for the impossible" - Mayoress of Southport, 1922

Battle of Cable Street 1936 - When workers stopped the fascists

This month marks the 75th anniversary of what has gone down in history as the Battle of Cable Street, writes Tony Aitman.

Cable Street 1936 - Workers drove back the fascists

The events known as the Battle of Cable Street are presently being commemorated, to mark their 75th anniversary

1911 - Bermondsey women's uprising

A century ago, women in the trade unions numbered only a few thousand. Many working class women worked in the most appalling conditions in sweatshops and were outside the trade unions' ranks...

Poplar 1921: 'Better to break the law than break the poor'

This year marks the 90th anniversary of the struggle of councillors in Poplar, east London, against government cuts, writes Pete Dickenson.

Liverpool 1911 - Jack's story

In 1911 a rail strike spread across the country. A mass demonstration in Liverpool was called to show support for the strikers and to determine a course of action locally.

The Great Unrest 1911

When the press raged about 'mob rule': "Mobs" control British cities. "We are facing an absolute disintegration of society." "Yesterday mob law reigned in London."

1819 Peterloo Massacre - fitting memorial demanded

On 16th August 1819 in St Peter's Fields, Manchester, armed cavalry charged a peaceful crowd of around 60,000 people gathered to listen to anti-poverty and pro-democracy speakers...