Remembering the past, fighting for the future

On the centenary of the 1926 General Strike, we invite you to join us after hours at the museum for an evening of author talks reflecting on industrial action over the last 100 years. This event is in partnership with The University of Manchester.

Authors Ralph Darlington (Labour Revolt in Britain), Edd Mustill (Britain’s Revolutionary Summer: The General Strike of 1926) and Dr Ian Manborde of Equity, the union for the entertainment industry, will discuss the 1926 General Strike, its political context, and the relevance of strike action today.

Ralph Darlington will begin by looking at the period of industrial militancy that laid the groundwork for the struggle to come. Edd Mustill will then detail the extraordinary nine days that paralysed the country during the 1926 General Strike using archival material that will shed new light on this fascinating period of working class history. Adding a contemporary context, Dr Ian Manborde will discuss Equity’s industrial action ballot about AI protections and the significance of strike action in today’s world.

Attendees will be able to enjoy a free drink from Gather café and a private view of People’s History Museum’s new exhibition On The Line: one hundred years of strikes & solidarity, which takes visitors through a century of industrial relations.

The authors will take part in a book signing at the end of the session – purchase your copies in PHM Shop!

Sponsored by Work and Equalities Institute (WEI), The University of Manchester, and The British Universities Industrial Relations Association (BUIRA).

Suitable for 18+

Part of PHM’s programme of activity exploring the history of strikes and solidarity.

Guest Speaker Bios

Ralph Darlington is Emeritus Professor of Employment Relations at Salford University. He is an editorial board member of the online journal International Association of Strikes and Social Conflicts, Workers of the World, and author of books including, Glorious Summer: Class Struggle in Britain 1972 (2001), Radical Unionism: The Rise and Fall of Revolutionary Syndicalism (2009), and Labour Revolt in Britain 1910-14 (2023). Darlington is currently working on a new political biography of Tom Mann.

Edd Mustill is an independent researcher, labour historian, and author of new book, Britain’s Revolutionary Summer: The General Strike of 1926. Based in Sheffield, he has written a history of the Sheffield Workers’ Committee, a rank-and-file trade union organisation active during the First World War, as well as an introduction to the international trade union movement. Mustill is a Unite trade union rep in the not-for-profit sector.

Dr Ian Manborde is the Midlands’ regional official for Equity, the UK trade union for professional actors, performers and creative practitioners working across the entertainment industry. Ian has worked at Equity since 2017. Prior to this he was an educator for over 27 years, working across the trade union movement and running the MA in International Labour and Trade Union Studies at Ruskin College, Oxford between 2010-2017.

Both books can be purchased in PHM shop, with signed copies available during the event.

Also check out other Arts events in Manchester, Literary Art events in Manchester, Workshops in Manchester.