SLHS Special General Meeting in May
The Society’s Special General Meeting noted the success of last year’s John Maclean conference and the videos produced from it (see below). It also made the following decisions:
To aim, in future, for an annual themed conference, including a general meeting of the Society;
To organise a conference for 2025 on the broad theme of ‘Writing Trade Union History’;
To publish a seventh SLHS Occasional Publication this year; and
To agree an Editorial Committee for the Scottish Labour History journal (see below).
The successful third annual Ian MacDougall Lecture was noted, and Caroline Milligan’s ‘Border Mills – From Voice to Page’ lecture will appear in this year’s Scottish Labour History.
New SLHS Committees
A new committee was elected for 2024/5, comprising Stewart Maclennan (chair); Pat Kelly (vice-chair); Robert Laurie (treasurer); Gordon Scobie (secretary) and Ian Gasse (website administrator); plus the following committee members: Andy Clark, Stephen Coyle, Heidi Egginton, Gregor Gall, Ewan Gibbs, Ann Henderson, Diarmaid Kelliher, Malcolm Petrie, Jim Phillips, Valerie Wright. Carolyn McAllister stood down as secretary after years of sterling service. An Editorial Committee was also agreed, of Gregor Gall, Ian Gasse, Robert Laurie, Carolyn McAllister, Stewart Maclennan, and Jim Phillips, but with Gregor Gall and Jim Phillips standing down at the end of 2024.
Maclean Conference Videos now online
Videos of the SLHS November 2023 John Maclean Centenary Conference are now available on the Society’s Youtube channel at www.youtube.com/@scottishlabourhistorysocie1326 There are seven separate videos, featuring speakers Bailie Roza Salih, actor Tam Dean Burn re-enacting Maclean’s Speech from the Dock, Henry Bell and Gerry Cairns on the ‘myths’ surrounding Maclean, Stephen Coyle on Maclean’s involvement with Ireland, Katherine Mackinnon on Maclean and Glasgow, Tom Allanach on Maclean and young people, and, finally, Professor David Howell and Dr Ewan Gibbs considering Maclean’s legacy. Thanks to Cailean MacAuley for filming and editing the videos.
A History of Health and Safety
Arthur McIvor, Professor of Social History and Co-Director of the Scottish Oral History Centre at the University of Strathclyde, is one of SLHS's most longstanding supporters. His new book, Jobs and Bodies: An Oral History of Health and Safety In Britain, represents a summation of the work of "the leading scholar of occupational illness and industry" (Tim Strangleman, Professor of Sociology, Kent University). In this oral-history based study, McIvor explores the history of health and safety from the Second World War to the present, drawing extensively upon workers' own personal stories of occupational accidents, disasters, injury, disease, overwork and disability. It covers a wide range of workplace issues, from stories of TNT poisoning and overwork in wartime, through to the asbestos and black lung disasters, and the modern-day 'epidemics' of stress, burn-out and Covid. SLHS members can obtain Jobs and Bodies from the publishers, Bloomsbury Academic (bloomsbury.com/9781350236219) at a 20% reduction (£24.99 to £19.99) by quoting discount code GLR BD8.
Labour History in Dumfries
SLHS member Ian Gasse has published a third volume of Dumfries labour history. ‘A Hard Nut to Crack’? The Emergence of ‘Labour’ in Dumfries 1884-1914 traces the development of labour politics and trade unionism in the south-west Scottish town over the three decades before the First World War – from a Scottish Land Restoration League branch, via branches of the Scottish Labour Party, the Independent Labour Party, and a Clarion Fellowship, with the creation of Dumfries & Maxwelltown Trades & Labour Council in 1911. Copies of the 372-page illustrated hardback, price £20.00 to SLHS members (plus £4.00 p&p), are available via the website’s Occasional Publications page at https://www.scottishlabourhistorysociety.scot/back-issues-and-occasiona….
Allan Armstrong (1949-2024)
The Scottish Labour History Society records with sorrow the passing of our long-standing member, Allan Armstrong, who died on 19 April 2024, aged 75, following a period of illness and palliative care. A distinctive voice for republican socialism for over fifty years, Allan was also a noted trade unionist and teacher. Author of The Ghost of James Connolly and From Davitt to Connolly, his writings can also be found on his website, ‘intfrobel’ - Internationalism from Below. A full appreciation will appear in this year’s Scottish Labour History.