Saturday 26 September 2015 will mark the centenary of the death of James Keir Hardie at the comparatively young age of 59.
But in those 59 years Hardie had changed the political landscape of Britain.
Keir Hardie was the first socialist MP, the first Labour leader, and in the words of historian Kenneth O Morgan was ‘Labour’s greatest pioneer and its greatest hero…This extraordinary man rose from the pits of Ayrshire to change the world’. The Library marks the occasion by hosting a conference which aims to celebrate the impact Hardie had on British society and the legacy he left for those who followed.
There will be a keynote address by David Howell from the University of York, followed by papers on Hardie and Wales, Hardie and Ireland, ‘Hardie, Carlyle and the Hero’ and ‘Hardie and the Great Unrest: Struggles, Strikes, and Internationalism’. Full programme details are at www.wcml.org.uk/keirhardie100.
Organised by the Working Class Movement Library and De Montfort University, Leicester, the conference is sponsored and supported by the North West Labour History Society, the Society for the Study of Labour History and the Keir Hardie Society.
Registration is £20 waged/£7.50 unwaged including lunch. Places must be reserved and paid for in advance; email trustees@wcml.org.uk
Photo Credit ILP Publications
