‘A party with socialists in it’ – Croydon Assembly, Nov 8

The Croydon Assembly meets this Thursday, November 8, when author Simon Hannah will be speaking on “What are the lessons of the struggle of the Labour left?”

The publishers’ blurb for Hannah’s latest book says, “From its origins in the late 19th century, the Labour Party was uncomfortably divided between a metropolitan liberal and a working class milieu, which characterises the party to this very day…”. And Hannah is coming to the Croydon Assembly to discuss just that.

The organisers say, “Left-wing trade unionists and socialists founded Labour in 1900 – since then the left has been an integral party of Labour.

But the left has often been an embattled minority, with the policies and leaders sidelined by the Labour right. This began to change with Jeremy Corbyn in 2015 – but what are the lessons of the struggle of the Labour left historically to achieve radical social change?”

Hannah is an active trade unionist in Lambeth UNISON and a member of Tooting Labour Party.

His latest book, A Party With Socialists In It (Pluto, 2018), which has a foreword by John McDonnell, is an account of the struggles of the left since Labour was founded.

Hannah will be speaking at Croydon TUC on the key moments of the left, including the 1926 general strike, the Attlee government in 1945-1951, Bevanism and Bennism.

The Croydon Assembly meets at Ruskin House, 23 Coombe Road, CR0 1BD on November 8, from 7.30pm.