In This Slavery graphic novel, the mill-owner runs for parliament. He’s already the town’s main employer, their landlord, and the magistrate. His wife runs charity dances for the poor. Any response but forelock-tugging gratitude is considered dangerous ideology. 💀 socialism! the terror! 💀

Wilkinson was Minister for Education in the transformational post WWII Labour government, but she died of long-standing bronchial asthma in 1947 (she was only 56). Well, she died of an accidental medication overdose, and there was inevitablespeculation about her state of mind 🙄

Wilkinson was steadfast and exuberant in exercising her principles. She was known as ‘fiery’ and was easy to spot with her bright red hair and vivid clothing

Born in Manchester, Wilkinson’s early campaigning was for women’s votes. During WWI she organised strikes for equal pay. She was instrumental in the 1926 General Strike and 1936 iconic Jarrow hunger marches (she was MP for Jarrow)

Happy birthday to Ellen Wilkinson, influential suffragist, trades unionist, communist, socialist, anti-fascist, novelist and member of parliament.

This Slavery has been out for nearly a year, have you read it yet? If you like Lancashire, mills, industrial relations, the politics of gender, matriarchal families, burning everything to the ground, and dogs - you’ll probably enjoy this story

What a legacy! It must be true that every single person of our generation has benefited *at least* 3 times over from Castle’s work: safer roads, fairer workplaces, and a small but stable income throughout our childhoods. What an inspiration. Let’s all try to make something slightly better today

When Minister for Transport, Castle introduced speed limits, seat belts and breathalyser tests. Thousands and thousands of lives were saved! In Employment, she transformed the workplace with the Equal Pay Act. In Social Services, she introduced Carer’s Allowance and universal child benefit.

Happy Birthday to Barbara Castle, Labour MP for Blackburn 1945-1979. She was our constituency MP when we were born, and here she is holding Scarlett. You cannot imagine the impact this woman had on all of our lives…

How long does it take to make a graphic novel? That depends…

Morris was about as successful and famous it was possible to be, yet there is still an air of tragedy about him. Here’s our homage to WmMo, a bed-time story for a peculiar child (from This Slavery graphic novel). It’s wide, so tap to see the whole feverdream 🦉 🎻 🏺 🌺

Morris was an idealist, a romantic, a socialist, an anti-imperialist and you could even say an early eco-socialist. More famous now for his influence on Victorian interiors, he was known as a writer and activist. He founded the Socialist League and a society for the protection of ancient buildings

Morris married the most famously beautiful woman of her generation, Jane Burden. They had two daughters, but the thing about Jane was that she was passionately in love with Morris’ best mate Rossetti, who painted her over and over and over again. Everyone knew about their love affair.

Morris was odd. He was bullied at school, they called him “Crab”. He really committed to special interests. At uni it was medieval art, and he called his close mates the ‘Brotherhood’. They were artists and poets who teased him for being bourgeois and erratic. He picked up a lot of their expenses.

On this day 130 years ago, died the poet, artist, publisher and activist William Morris. You likely have something in your home with a Morris & Co design on it. I bet your bedroom looks like this.

The site foreman hard at work, in our graphic novel of Robert Tressell’s The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists

This image from No Surrender graphic novel expresses a view from 1910 that is still widely held today. It ignores the structural inequalities that steer women and girls into the jaws of the criminal justice system: poverty, abuse, homelessness and mental ill-health