An Injury to All

Whatever happened to the working class? A compelling new social history of Britain since 1945

From the picket lines of the Miners' Strike to the Amazon warehouses of today, the British working class has been pushed from the center of political life to its margins, though not without a fight. But how did a force that once shaped nations become invisible?

Historian Euan Gibbs reconstructs what was lost—and what was taken. Through vivid first-hand accounts, he traces the transformation of a class forged in mines and shipyards into one scattered across call centers and gig economy apps. This is the story of council estates sold off, unions broken, mill towns hollowed out, and a sense of solidarity ground down by decades of insecurity. Yet, as inequality deepens and class roars back into political debate, Gibbs confronts the essential question: who now speaks for labour? Richly researched and deeply humane, An Injury to All is the definitive history of British post war working-class life.List of Abbreviations
Introduction: The Unmaking of the British Working Class
Chapter 1. The New Working Class: ‘Leave Yer Picks Behind Ye Boys’
Chapter 2. Grunwick: ‘The Shape of Things to Come’
Chapter 3. Closing Cardowan Colliery: ‘The Price of Coal’
Chapter 4. Right to Buy: ‘We are Proud of Our Homes’
Chapter 5. New Labour: From ‘Loadsamoney’ to ‘Mondeo Man’
Chapter 6. The White Working Class: ‘British Jobs for British Workers’
Chapter 7. Essential Workers: ‘The Working Class is Back’?
Conclusion: Class Politics After the British Working Class
References
A Note on Oral Histories and Presentation
Acknowledgements
 Ewan Gibbs is Senior Lecturer in Economic and Social History at the University of Glasgow. He writes about energy, industry, work and protest for the London Review of Books, Financial Times, The Times, Prospect, Break Down, Dissent and Jacobin. His first book, Coal Country: The Meaning and Memory of Deindustrialization in Postwar Scotland, was shortlisted for the Scottish History Book of the Year.