Class Conflict in the Countrysie

[Socialist Party Head Office]

Wakefield Socialist History Group

Class Conflict in the Countryside

Saturday 27th October 2018: Wakefield Labour Club (The Red Shed) 1pm to 4pm

Speakers: Martin Empson and Robin Stokes

Martin Empson’s new book, ”Kill All the Gentlemen” argues that the modern English countryside has been shaped by centuries of, often brutal, class struggle. From 14thCentury peasant revolts to 19th and 20th Century agricultural trades unionism there have been bitter contests over the use of land and the nature of labour. Martin will give an overview of how these struggles have helped to create the modern countryside.

Robin Stokes is the author of “Hidden Heroes of Easter Week” and is currently doing research on enclosures and their consequences for rural workers and the countryside. He writes “ The labouring class of the 18th and 19th Centuries leave a long memory of conflict and struggle. I will use radical family history to show close links to the struggle of the working class in the past. Most of our ancestors, only a handful of generations ago, went through the privatisation of the villages…with drastic consequences. I will be using examples from my work on Yorkshire and Lincolnshire.

A light buffet will be available at the interval and the Club sells excellent real ales. There will be a collection for the running of the WSHG.

Wakefield Socialist History Group: Convenor: Bob Mitchell, 26 Park Lodge La, Wakefield WF1 4NL
Email: waksochist@outlook.com. Phone 01924 386514

[robbo203]

Ellen Meiksins Wood’s book on the agrarian origins of capitalism in the English countryside would be of relevance to people attending this event

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