Ellen Wilkinson – författare

Jarrow is best known as the town that gave its name to the Jarrow March of 1936. In November 1935 Jarrow chose Ellen Wilkinson as its Labour MP. A month later in a speech in parliament she challenged the government to address mass unemployment in the shipyards: `skilled fitters, men who have built destroyers and battleships and the finest passenger ships ... The years go on and nothing is done ... this is a desperately urgent matter… ’The Town That Was Murdered is her well-researched survey of Jarrow: local and labour history, the impact of poverty, the hateful misery of state relief, the history of shipbuilding, and the combined power of city and bank finance and shipbuilding magnates – in the UK and abroad – who drove local firms into bankruptcy and destroyed jobs. The book helped the drive for a Welfare State, and the Labour government of 1945. It is a historical document, but as finance looks to relocate investments, it still resonates today.

Written two years after the commencement of the Second World War, the chapters in this book succinctly put forward the case for reorganizing the foundations of the social order, by rejecting capitalism and historical equilibrium, both in Europe and further afield in the British Empire, in favour of building a Socialist civilization.

Written two years after the commencement of the Second World War, the chapters in this book succinctly put forward the case for reorganizing the foundations of the social order, by rejecting capitalism and historical equilibrium, both in Europe and further afield in the British Empire, in favour of building a Socialist civilization.

Clash is set against the backdrop of the 1926 general strike. It describes political and personal issues as Joan Craig, an activist in the trade union movement and Labour Party, lives through the excitement of mass protest and individual turmoil in her relations with two men friends. It draws on experience: the author toured the UK and spoke at a series of public meetings. Clash was first published in 1929.