Research Catalog

Title

Red Ellen : the life of Ellen Wilkinson socialist, feminist, internationalist / Laura Beers.

Author

Beers, Laura, 1978-

Publication

Cambridge, Massachusetts ; London, England : Harvard University Press, [2016]

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

viii, 532 pages, 26 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations; 25 cm

Summary

In 1908 Ellen Wilkinson, a fiery adolescent from a working-class family in Manchester, was "the only girl who talks in school debates." By midcentury, Wilkinson had helped found Britain's Communist Party, earned a seat in Parliament, and become a renowned advocate for the poor and dispossessed at home and abroad. She was one of the first female delegates to the United Nations, and she played a central role in Britain's postwar Labour government. In Laura Beers's account of Wilkinson's remarkable life, we have a richly detailed portrait of a time when Left-leaning British men and women from a range of backgrounds sought to reshape domestic, imperial, and international affairs. Wilkinson is best remembered as the leader of the Jarrow Crusade, the 300-mile march of two hundred unemployed shipwrights and steel workers to petition the British government for assistance. But this was just one small part of Red Ellen's larger transnational fight for social justice. She was involved in a range of campaigns, from the quest for official recognition of the Spanish Republican government, to the fight for Indian independence, to the effort to smuggle Jewish refugees out of Germany. During Wilkinson's lifetime, many British radicals viewed themselves as members of an international socialist community, and some, like her, became involved in socialist, feminist, and pacifist movements that spanned the globe. By focusing on the extent to which Wilkinson's activism transcended Britain's borders, Red Ellen adjusts our perception of the British Left in the early twentieth century.--

Subjects

• Feminism
• Statesmen
• Internationalists
• Stateswomen
• Communist Party of Great Britain History
• Biography
• History
• Labour Party (Great Britain)
• Great Britain
• Wilkinson, Ellen Cicely, 1891-1947
• Statesmen > Great Britain > Biography
• Feminism > Great Britain > History > 20th century
• Labour Party (Great Britain) History
• 1900-1999
• Communist Party of Great Britain
• Internationalists > Great Britain > Biography
• Stateswomen > Great Britain > Biography

Genre/Form

• Biography.
• History.

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references and index.

Contents

The only girl who talks in school debates -- Ellen's Great War -- On the road to radicalization -- From Ireland to Russia -- A woman candidate with communistic views -- The mighty atom bursts into Parliament -- Nine days that (almost) shook the world -- No longer upsetting the apple cart -- Out of parliament -- On the international stage -- A fight for humanity itself -- Pursuing social justice in Britain and beyond -- The anti-fascist tribune -- Ellen is now a minister -- Reforming education -- Death of a good comrade.

Call Number

JFE 16-13320

ISBN

• 9780674971523
• 0674971523

LCCN

2016012438

OCLC

945693492

Author

Beers, Laura, 1978- author.

Title

Red Ellen : the life of Ellen Wilkinson socialist, feminist, internationalist / Laura Beers.

Publisher

Cambridge, Massachusetts ; London, England : Harvard University Press, [2016]

Type of Content

text

Type of Medium

unmediated

Type of Carrier

volume

Bibliography

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Chronological Term

1900-1999

Research Call Number

JFE 16-13320