SIHG has staged many talks about the industrial revolution, but here we have a talk about a reaction against the its downside, specifically that felt by rural workers.

The Swing 'riots' of 1830-31 were the biggest and most extensive uprising by rural workers in English history, in which large numbers protested against poverty, lack of work and general social degradation, workers - often supported by small farmers and rural craftspeople - broke threshing machines, set fire to barns and stacks, and organised work stoppages and demonstrations. Their movement was met with brutal repression - executions, transportations and imprisonment with hard labour. 'Swing' was a national movement, but its genesis was Kent. As the bicentenary of Swing approaches, this lecture takes a fresh look at events in that County, and how they influenced the wider movement.

Our speaker, John Bulaitis, taught Modern History for 15 years at Canterbury Christ Church University after several other academic posts. He has published three books, including "The Tithe War", which was joint winner of the 2025 Joan Thirsk Memorial Prize, awarded to “the best book in British and Irish rural or agrarian history”. In 2018 he published an acclaimed critical biography of the French Communist leader, Maurice Thorez.

More on John at https://www.johnbulaitis.net