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European Integration Re-Woven: British and West German Textile Employers’ Associations and European Integration, 1958–1980

Despite being famous for a skyline dotted with cranes and modern developments, a journey to Manchester is also a journey back in time. Once known for the role the city, and the textiles at the heart of it, played in the industrial revolution, Greater Manchester still has many remnants from days of past industrial glory. The derelict cotton mills and warehouses, for instance, which can be spotted on the twenty-minute train journey from Manchester Piccadilly to Bolton. Horrockses is one such remnant—a textile company with a history of nearly 200 years and a fashion line once so coveted that even Queen Elizabeth wore Horrockses dresses during her tour of the Commonwealth in the 1950s.1 Bolton, once an important town for textile production, also commemorates its history with statues of personalities such as Samuel Crompton (born in Bolton and inventor of the spinning mule), who revolutionized the industrial production of textiles.

Continue reading European Integration Re-Woven: British and West German Textile Employers’ Associations and European Integration, 1958–1980
  1. Horrockses, Crewsdon & Co, Preston. Lancashire City Council Archive, accessed 5 Nov. 2024. []

(De)Constructing Europe? Some Findings . . .

Bringing together nine researchers based in Hamburg, London, Rome, and Warsaw, the (De)Constructing Europe project (also known as the ‘Euroscepticism project’), sought to view the history of European integration through different lenses. Challenging and moving beyond what some, such as Mark Gilbert, have termed the ‘progressive narrative’, whereby the European Union is portrayed as inexorably heading towards closer integration, the project sought to cast light on alternative viewpoints and underappreciated actors.

Continue reading (De)Constructing Europe? Some Findings . . .