The Fiery Spirits: Popular Protest, Parliament and the English Revolution

A Socialist History Society public on-line meeting held on Tuesday 17 March 2026

Speaker: John Rees

The thrilling history of Parliament’s ‘fiery spirits’, whose actions led to the defeat of Charles I in the English Civil War and paved the way for the execution of the King in 1649

The Fiery Spirits tells the story of the MPs in parliament and the protestors in the streets who played a pivotal role in the English Civil Wars. Read on ...

The German Peasants’ War of 1524-6 and why you should care about it

Socialist History Society public meeting held on
Tuesday 24th February 2026 

Lyndal Roper is Emeritus Regius Professor of History at the University of Oxford, the first woman to hold the post. She has written on women and the German Reformation, on witchcraft, and on the German reformer Martin Luther. Her most recent book is a history of the German Peasants’ War, the biggest popular uprising in Western Europe before the French Revolution. Read on ...

Big Flame: Building Movements, New Politics

Speakers: Max Farrar & Kevin McDonnell, authors of the recent book on Big Flame published by Merlin Press

This book addresses the ideas and experiences of a small British revolutionary socialist and feminist organisation in the 1970s and 1980s.

Written by two ex-members, it sets out the organisation’s eclectic influences: Italian Marxism, libertarianism, feminism, James-ianism and personal politics.

Read on ...

Christopher Hill: the life of a radical historian

Speaker: Michael Braddick
A Socialist History Society on-line meeting on 7 October 2025

Christopher Hill was one of the leading historians of his generation. His work across more than fifteen books and dozens of articles fundamentally rewrote the way we understand the English Revolution and the development of the modern British state. Read on ...