The years between 1880 and 1920 saw a number of key moments in British working class politics,

the rise of powerful unions, strike waves and new political organisations, including the Labour Party.

This period saw numerous publications from the working class movement criticising the present state of things

and putting forward ideas for how it could be different.

One way in which they did this was to draw on traditions of popular storytelling,

using fables, parables, allegories, fairy and folk tales to present why and how society should be transformed. This is working-class literature. Before we start, a quick note to say that we're only able to continue making these podcasts,

both working class history and working class literature, because of the support of our listeners on Patreon.

If you like what we do and want to help us with our work,

join us on patreon.com slash working class history,

where you can get benefits like early access to episodes, exclusive bonus content,

discounted books, merch and more. Link in the show notes. This is the first part of a double

episode with author, poet and professor of children's literature Michael Rosen about his anthology,

Workers' Tales, Socialist Fairy Tales, Fables and Allegories from Great Britain.

Part 2 is available now for early listening for our Patreon supporters.

The Workers' Tales anthology is a collection of short stories from the late 19th and early

20th century Labour and Socialist Press, which were written

to entertain and educate readers of all ages on the nature of class society and the principles

of socialism.

This period is one of particular significance in the history of working class politics in Britain.

It's a period that encompasses the major strikes of new unionism in the 1880s and the great

labour unrest in the lead up to World War I.

It's all new workers organisations, radical ideas and political parties, as well as huge wars and

...