Celebrating and critiquing John Kelly’s "Rethinking Industrial Relations"

You are invited to take part in this event and join us for what looks like an enjoyable and thought-provoking day in Leeds in early December.

It was just twenty years ago that John Kelly’s Rethinking Industrial Relations (1998) was published. It is one of those rare books to be found on many of the bookshelves of people working in the field of industrial relations. To reflect on the book’s significance, we brought together a number of researchers and scholars to create a special issue of the journal, Economic and Industrial Democracy, to both celebrate as well as constructively critique the contribution Rethinking Industrial Relations has made to subsequent studies of union organising and mobilisation.

At its heart, Rethinking Industrial Relations is a forceful and robust critique of the employment relationship and employment relations under capitalism. The book adopts a radical and Marxist perspective––not from the school of academic Marxism––but from activist and political interventionist perspectives, which explains why its interest has spread beyond the academy.

We want to push forward the debate and discussion we started in the special edition – not by repeating what was said there by its contributors but rather by asking scholars and practitioners to comment on the papers and to provide questions for discussants (and the audience) to think about future application – both in the academic and in unions and social movements.

If you would like a ticket for this event then register here.

Gregor Gall and Jane Holgate