W Hamish Fraser wins the Colby Prize
Former Scottish Labour History editor and Strathclyde University emeritus professor of history, W Hamish Fraser, has been awarded the Research Society for Victorian Periodicals’ 2024 Robert and Vineta Colby Scholarly Book Prize for his study of the Scottish press, The Edinburgh History of Scottish Newspapers, 1850-1950, published last year by Edinburgh University Press, and reviewed in Scottish Labour History. The awarding committee described the book as ‘comprehensive, meticulously researched and argued, and impressively wide in scope’, and as ‘an invaluable book for the specialist on Scottish newspapers and the long nineteenth-century periodical press as well as the general reader’. It goes on to say that ‘Fraser uncovers a fascinating trove of material on Scottish newspapers, giving a compelling account of the press and its political, social, and economic contexts. Focusing substantially on the last half of the nineteenth century, with detailed chapters on individual newspapers, analysis of the complex relationship between proprietors, editors, and journalists, and case studies on politics, religion, and identity, this book is a major contribution to periodical press scholarship.’ The book can be ordered at https://edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-the-edinburgh-history-of-scot… The only downside is the price (£150), until a paperback edition appears.
A New History of the Red Flag
A new book by Glasgow-based Scottish historian and poet, Henry Bell, which is due to be published in September by Pluto Press, is Red Threads: A History of the People’s Flag. In it, Bell traces the unfolding political significance of the red flag from its origins as a maritime symbol of aggression (‘fighting to the death’), through its appropriation as a blood-stained symbol of the working class at the Merthyr Rising of 1831 – generally acknowledged as its first use as a representation of working-class struggle – and then on to the Paris Commune of 1870/1, and the Russian Revolution. Bell also considers the use of the flag in other parts of the world, from the jungles of north-east India to China and Cuba. The book can be pre-ordered, price £25.00, at https://www.plutobooks.com/9780745347691/red-threads/
Politics in Post War Scotland
SLHS member and St Andrews University academic Malcolm Petrie has a paperback edition of his latest book, Politics and the People: Scotland, 1945-1979, due out in August. It was originally published in hardback in October 1922, and is described as ‘a study of the interaction between ideology, electoral politics and the constitution in postwar Scotland’. It provides an examination of postwar Scottish politics, including the decline of Scottish Unionism and the rise of the Scottish National Party (SNP), and is based on interviews and previously unused original sources. The paperback edition, costing £19.99, can be pre-ordered at https://edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-politics-and-the-people.html
New Collection of Raphael Samuel Essays
Verso has recently published a new collection of essays by Raphael Samuel, the former Communist Party Historians’ group member, and founder of History Workshop. The new volume was the basis of a Socialist History Society talk in early June, Raphael Samuel and People’s History, given by the editor of the collection, John Merrick, and the socialist feminist historian, Anna Davin, who was a founder editor of the History Workshop journal. A recording of the talk is available via the Socialist History Society website at https://www.socialisthistorysociety.co.uk/?p=1673 The book is currently available from Verso with a 30% discount, as part of the publisher’s Summer Reading Sale, at https://www.versobooks.com/en-gb/products/2970-workshop-of-the-world
Maclean Conference video reminder
As we announced in the June newsletter, videos of the Society’s November 2023 John Maclean Centenary Conference are available on the Society’s Youtube channel at www.youtube.com/@scottishlabourhistorysocie1326 The material comprises seven separate videos, featuring, respectively, Glasgow Bailie, Roza Salih, actor Tam Dean Burn re-enacting Maclean’s ‘Speech from the Dock’, Henry Bell and Gerry Cairns reflecting 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.