EIGHTH ESSEX CONFERENCE ON LABOUR HISTORY

EIGHTH ESSEX CONFERENCE ON LABOUR HISTORY

Jointly organised by Labour Heritage and the Essex Country Labour Party.

Saturday, 17th October, 2009

At The Labour Hall, Collingwood Road, Witham Essex

10.30am – 4pm
Registration free: £6.

For further information and/or to register, please contact:

John Kotz on john.kotz@tiscali.co.uk

Themes of conference will be:

1. Tom Paine, author of The Rights of Man
2. The Second Labour Government 1929-1931: its genesis and achievements; its catastrophic defeat in 1931 and the slow recovery; comparison with today.

By train – direct train from Liverpool Street to Witham, + 5 minutes walk to hall.

By car: Witham is just off the A.12

PROGRAMME

10.30 – 11.00 a.m. Conference assembles (tea and coffee will be available)

11.00 – 11.10 a.m. Chair’s opening remarks – John Kotz, Chair, Essex County
Labour Party

11.10 – 12.05 p.m. Tom Paine: the impact of his democratic and progressive ideas on eastern England and Britain as a whole, and his seminal role as a pioneer of democracy in America, France and the world at large.
Stan Newens (Labour historian and former Labour MP and MEP)

12.05 – 1.00 p.m. The Second Labour Government, 1929-31: its genesis, its achievements and downfall.
Jim Mortimer (Labour historian and former General Secretary of the Labour Party)

1.00 – 2.00 p.m. Lunch, arranged by the Essex County Labour Party

2.00 – 2.35 p.m. The Second Labour Government, 1929-31: aspects of Labour’s earlier experiences in government.
John Grigg (Treasurer of Labour Heritage and former Labour Leader of Hounslow Council)

2.35 – 3.10 p.m. The Causes of Economic Crises: comparisons between 1929-33 and today.
Andrew Fisher (Co-ordinator of the Left Economic Advisory Panel)

3.10 – 3.40 p.m. Discussion

3.40 – 3.55 p.m. Future work on Labour History in Essex

3.55 – 4.00 p.m. Conclusion of Conference