This year’s theme is: Labour and Power 

Friday 18 July 2025

12:00 “The Reputational Power of English Reform Crowds 1816 – 1848.” with Dave Steele

13:00 “The Rural Roots of Modern Protest” with Matthew Roberts

14:00 LUNCH

15:00 Tolpuddle Village Walk with Tony Gould

16:00 “Socialist conceptions of popular patriotism in the 1900 and 1906 general election campaigns.” with Pete Yeandle

17:00 “The rise of intelligentsias: reflections on the transition from manual labour to mental labour.” with Chris Read

18:00 BREAK

18:30 Les Kennedy Memorial
Sadly, last year, we lost our comrade and Radical History School Organiser, Les Kennedy. Steven Parfitt has kindly stepped in to continue his legacy and run the school for radical and like-minded folk. For all who knew Les and benefitted from his warmth, kindness and teachings, please join us in front of the Tolpuddle cottages where we will be commemorating his contributions to our movement, to the festival and remembering a great and generous man.

Saturday 19 July 2025

8:50 Welcome song with George Mann

9:00 “Telling our stories: Family history, family historians and working-class histories”. with Laura Harrison

10:00 “Anticolonial NATO? Ernest Bevin, Labour in Power, and Empire”. with Mark Reeves

11:00 A roundtable on the US

12:00 LUNCH

13:00 George Mann performs a one-hour set on the IWW and its influence on labour and protest music, focussing on Joe Hill and other Wobbly songs and their influence on songwriters like Woody Guthrie and Utah Phillips.

14:00 End of School