This is a web page dedicated to the history of The Economic League, a radical conservative organisation established by industrialists after the the Great War to frustrate the political and industrial organisation and engagement of ordinary working people following the 1918 Representation of the People Act 1918.

"Spies at work" by Mike Hughes was first published in 1993 is a history of the League from its foundation in 1919 to its dissolution in 1993. At that stage the League had become renowned for its notorious politically motivated employment blacklisting of rank and file  political and trade union activists, quite literally on an industrial scale.

"Spies at Work" was revised and republished in 2012  and in 2024 two new volumes in what Mike calls the "Spies at Work Family" were published. These are "Inside the Economic League" and "Attlee's Industrial Purge". This web site is the home base for that family, will continue to be developed as more information becomes available.

In the thirty years since its demise, the league  continued to appear and reappear in the public gaze  largely as  the legacy of its blacklisting. covert human intelligence gathering and its corrupt and corrupting parapolitical existence in the grubby hinterland between the radical right and screw state,

At the end or 2024, and foreseeably for the next two years, its time in the news spotlight will be significant, with asubstantial part to play in the Umdercover Police Inquiry (UCPI), an influential and inspiring roe in the government's employment Employment Rights Bill 2024, and the UNITE inquire into  trade union collusion withe the League.

Because of this I have decided to separate the the historical part of the website  and commentary on current issues that was already threatening to disrupt the integrity of of this site. I have  therefore established a blog site  - Mike Hughes Blacklist Blog and have started removing some of the  content of this site to that site, where I will focus commentary on the League's legacy. As time allows I should be able concentrate my efforts here  on developing this as a historical resource.

The two sites will be sister site and I hope will encourage visters to eavh to visit the other. In the meantime please bear with me as design and develop one while redesign and redevelop this one.

Mike Hughes October 2024