The People Speak

Democracy is Not a Spectator Sport

Colin Firth, Anthony Arnove

• Publisher: Canongate Books
• Year: 2012
• Print ISBN: 9780857864482
• eBook ISBN: 9780857864475
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: British History
• Index: History

'The idea was simple - take the most impassioned speeches about the fight for what is right and bring them to life for a new generation' COLIN FIRTH

The People Speak tells the story of Britain through the voices of the visionaries, dissenters, rebels and everyday folk who took on the Establishment and stood up for what they believed in. Here are their stories, letters, speeches and songs, from John Ball to Daniel Defoe; from Thomas Paine to Oscar Wilde; from the peasants' revolts to the suffragists to the anti-war demonstrators of today. Spanning almost 1,000 years and over 150 individual voices, these are some of the most powerful words in our history.

Compiled by Academy Award-winning actor Colin Firth, influential writer Anthony Arnove and acclaimed historian David Horspool, The People Speak reminds us that history is not something gathering dust on a library shelf - and that democracy has never been a spectator sport.

INDEX

Aethelwine, Bishop of Durham ref1

African Progress Union, Archer’s Presidential Address to Inaugural Meeting (1918) ref1

Agricultural Labourers’ Union ref1

Aguilar, Grace ref1

Aldermaston March (1958) ref1

Alexander the Great ref1

Alexius, Emperor of Constantinople ref1

Ali, Tariq ref1

Aliens at Trades Union Congress, Cardiff (1895) ref1

Allan, Thomas and George ref1

Ambedkar, B. R. ref1

American Declaration of Independence (1776) ref1

Anabaptist heresies ref1

Angola, Portuguese colony of ref1

‘Animals’ Rights Considered in Relation to Social Progress’, 1892 (Salt, H. S.) ref1

Anne, Queen ref1

Anti-Nazi League ref1

Anti-Slavery Society ref1, ref2, ref3

Apartheid South African Cricket and Rugby, Hain’s defence in trial for (1972) ref1

Apologia Malancthionis ref1

‘An Appeal for Peace with France,’ 1412 (Hoccleve, T.) ref1

Aragon, Catherine of ref1, ref2

Arbroath, Declaration of (1320) ref1, ref2

Arch, Joseph ref1, ref2

Archer, John ref1

Argyll, Earl of ref1

Armatrading, Joan ref1

An Arrow Against All Tyrants (Overton, R.) ref1

Asa-Asa, Louis ref1

Aske, Robert ref1, ref2

Aswad and the Specials ref1

asylum seeking experiences ref1

‘Aw’s Glad the Strike’s Duin’ (Kerr, T.) ref1

Bacon, Francis ref1

Bairnsfather, Charles Bruce ref1

Baker, Ernest A. ref1

Ball, John ref1

Baptist Missionary Society of Birmingham, Sturge’s speech to (1836) ref1

Barbauld, Anna ref1

Barlow-Kennett, Richard ref1

Barn, Siward ref1

Barrowman, John ref1

Basingstoke Riots (1881) ref1

Beaumaris Eisteddfod ref1

Belloc, Hillaire ref1

Bennion, Francis ref1

Beresford on Battle of Cable Street ref1

Besant, Annie ref1

Besly, Kim (Greenham Common Peace Camp) ref1

Bevan, Aneurin ref1, ref2

Bevin, Ernest ref1

Beyond a Boundary (James C. L. R.) ref1

Billingham, Lee ref1, ref2

Birkenhead, Lord ref1

Birmingham, Dissenters in ref1

‘Black Boys on Mopeds’ (O’Connor, S.) ref1

black emancipation, evangelisation for ref1

Blackwell, Rev. John ref1

Blair, Tony ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5

Blake, William ref1, ref2

Bleakeley, ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title page
• Copyright page
• Dedication page
• Contents
• An Eminently Skippable Introduction
• Note on the Text
• By Way of a Preface
• 1066–1450: Commoners and Kings
• Disunited Kingdoms: ‘Our English Enemies’
• Freedom of Worship: ‘Touching Our Faith’
• 1642–1789: Representing the People
• Land and Liberty: ‘The Earth Is a Common Treasury’
• Empire and Race: ‘All Slaves Want To Be Free’
• 1790–1860: One Man, One Vote
• Money and Class: ‘The Rank Is But the Guinea’s Stamp’
• Workers United: ‘Labour’s “No” Into Action’
• 1890–1945: Equal Rights
• War and Peace: ‘What People Have Your Battles Slain?’
• Gender and Sexual Equality: ‘A Human Being, Regardless of the Distinction of Sex’
• 1945–2012: Battling the State
• Notes
• Acknowledgements
• Permissions Acknowledgements
• Permissions Credits
• Chronological Index
• Index