Working Class Movement Library

We're pleased to announce the excellent line-up of speakers for our 3 November conference 'More than just the Pankhursts - the wider suffrage movement' - http://www.wcml.org.uk/SuffrageConference …. Tickets now on sale

A poet called Oliver Lomax came in to the Library a couple of years back to read some of our eye-witness accounts of the Peterloo Massacre. The powerful poem which he wrote as a result is well worth sharing again on this 199th anniversary - http://bit.ly/2MMjR2S

Please spread the word. Major building work in our cellar starts next week and means restricted access to our boxes of pamphlet material/newspapers/journals till at least mid-November, as the majority of these will be in off-site storage - https://www.wcml.org.uk/visit-the-library /

To coincide with the Library’s suffrage centenary exhibition this autumn, the Delaney Theatre Group invite you on a funny and poignant journey through the north west’s rich cultural history to the time of the suffragettes and the First World War.
This event will feature selected scenes from Mad Theatre Company’s new play, 'It’s the wrong way to tickle Mary'', which premières at Salford’s Lowry Theatre in October 2018. MaD writer/directors Rob Lees and Jill Hughes will then jo...in cast members to discuss their experience of creating and staging the play in an audience-led Q & A session.
'It’s the wrong way to tickle Mary' is part of an Arts and Humanities Research Council and John Fell Fund-funded partnership involving the University of Oxford, MaD Theatre Company, Charlotte Delaney, the Guinness Partnership, Salford Women’s Aid and the Working Class Movement Library.
www.madtheatrecompany.co.uk/
www.thelowry.com/events/category/Contempo rary
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in this centenary year, voices of the past, present and future collide as young women share creative reflections on the women’s suffrage movement in relation to contemporary female activism. Join us for tea and cake at 6pm, with the performance starting at 6.30pm.
We're delighted to be working with community arts organisation enJOY arts in developing this event. More details to follow...

Many thanks everyone, we've reached 5,000 Facebook likes! Keep spreading the word - we don't have a big marketing budget so we're very reliant on word of mouth. Loads of great events coming up this autumn so do keep an eye out - and tell your mates!

Always nice to see a happy reader!

A new one-man show based on the book by Robert Tressell, using Magic Lantern and projected animation, with political conjuring tricks and live music and song.
Tickets price £12.50 (£10.50 concession, £6.50 student) via www.wcml.org.uk/events

What do we know about the seventeen women who stood for Parliament in the general election of December 1918? They ranged from an anti-suffrage woman, Violet Markham, to a long-standing suffrage activist, Emmeline Pethick Lawrence (who stood as Labour candidate for Rusholme), to Norah Dacre Fox, a former suffragette and a fascist sympathiser.
Come and find out more...
Admission free; all welcome.
... This is part of the series of Invisible Histories talks, and runs alongside our suffrage centenary exhibition as part of our Voting for Change project.
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Talk by Martin Empson.
"The trodden worms, which had so long writhed under the iron heel of the oppressor, were turning at last… The sore stricken, who had brooded in sullen anger over their wrongs, were rising to strike in their turn."
February 2019 marks the centenary of the death of Joseph Arch. Arch was the leader of the first period of mass agricultural trade unionism in England in the 1870s, when the newly formed National Agricultural Labourers’ Union fought a series of... major confrontations over pay and working conditions. The decline in agricultural trade unionism saw Arch focus on widening the electoral franchise and he was elected twice to parliament, becoming the first agricultural labourer to serve as an MP.
Martin Empson, author of 'Kill all the gentlemen': class struggle and change in the English countryside, will discuss the life and times of Joseph Arch, focusing on the struggles of those "trodden worms" whom he championed throughout his life.
Admission free; all welcome.
This is part of the autumn series of Invisible Histories talks.
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Day conference: More than just the Pankhursts - the wider suffrage movement. A one-day conference examining the broad range of campaigns to extend the right to vote which have been virtually ignored in this centenary year.
The event runs alongside the Library's exhibition Votes for women...or votes for ladies? which opens on 5 October. There will be the opportunity to view the exhibition, which will display items bought as part of the Library's Heritage Lottery-funded Votin...g for Change project, at lunchtime during the conference.
PROGRAMME
9.30 – 9.50 Registration
9.50 – 10.00 Welcome and Introduction. Maggie Cohen (Chair).
10.00 – 10.50 CLASS AND ADULT SUFFRAGE DURING THE GREAT WAR. Professor Karen Hunt, University of Keele.
10.50 - 11.10 Tea/Coffee break
11.10 - 11.50 VOTES FOR WHICH WOMEN? MARGARET LLEWELYN DAVIES, THE WOMEN’S CO-OPERATIVE GUILD AND ADULT SUFFRAGE. Ruth Cohen, Independent Scholar and biographer of Margaret Llewelyn Davies.
11.50 - 12.30 “MY UNYIELDING AND OBSTINANT CHARACTER”: AN INTRODUCTION TO THE LIFE OF MARGARET ASHTON 1856-1937, MANCHESTER’S FIRST WOMAN COUNCILLOR, DETERMINED SUFFRAGIST AND CAMPAIGNER FOR PEACE AND WOMEN’S RIGHTS. Ali Ronan, Feminist Historian and Community Activist.
12.30 - 1.30 Lunch, at the Library
1.30 - 2.20 ANNIE TOWNLEY AND MABEL TOTHILL: CAMPAIGNING FOR SUFFRAGE, PEACE AND SOCIALISM IN BRISTOL 1912-1920s. Professor June Hannam, University of the West of England.
2.20 - 2.35 Tea/Coffee Break
2.35 - 3.15 SYLVIA PANKHURST’S SUFFRAGE TOURS OF NORTH AMERICA AND THE WORKING CLASS SUFFRAGETTES OF EAST LONDON. Kate Connelly, Arcadia University and biographer of Sylvia Pankhurst.
3.15 - 4.05 BEYOND THE VOTE: THE WOMEN’S FREEDOM LEAGUE’S WIDER FEMINIST ASPIRATIONS, 1907 -1962. Claire Eustance, Senior Lecturer in History, University of Greenwich.
4.05 - 4.30 FEEDBACK
We are most grateful to the University of Salford for hosting this event.
Tickets including lunch and teas/coffees price £18 (£10 concessions i.e. full-time students, unemployed and retired people) + booking fee are now available via www.wcml.org.uk/SuffrageConference
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Talk by Kirsten Harris, Senior Teaching Fellow, University of Warwick.
Despite Walt Whitman’s outright refusal to endorse socialist politics, his poetry was read enthusiastically by young socialist activists in Britain and America who believed that it spoke to and for the modern socialist cause. This was a movement in flux, and Whitman’s suggestiveness and inclusiveness made his poetry particularly useful at a time of intense debate about what socialism meant, what a new soci...alist society would look like, and how it should be brought about. This talk explores the different ways that Whitman was interpreted, appropriated and put to use by British socialists at the turn of the century, paying particular attention to the socialist press.
Admission free; all welcome.
This is part of the autumn series of Invisible Histories talks.
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Oh this is exciting, a trailer for Mike Leigh's film 'Peterloo', out in November, as researched here by actors and director... https://youtu.be/mhSv5-frnxk

An illustrated talk alongside our suffrage centenary exhibition, discussing the wide range of artworks – banners, posters, postcards, china, jewellery etc – produced by suffrage artists in support of the women’s suffrage campaign in the years before the First World War. The talk draws on research undertaken for Elizabeth's latest book, 'Art and suffrage: a biographical dictionary of suffrage artists'.
This free talk is part of our Heritage Lottery Fund 'project Voting for change.

This event will mark the publication of Chris Hopkins’s new book on Walter Greenwood, as well as the 80th anniversary of the publication of Love on the dole, and 115 years since Greenwood was born.
It is a joint event between the University of Salford and the Working Class Movement Library. There will be academic talks in the afternoon, with accompanying small exhibition, at the Working Class Movement Library, followed by a reception for the book launch at the newly refurbis...hed University Library.
Schedule 1.00 – 2.30 Session one, WCML (three talks of 20 minutes plus questions)
2.30 – 3.00 Tea break
3.00 – 4.30 Session two, WCML (three talks of 20 minutes plus questions)
5.00 – 6.30 Launch of Walter Greenwood’s 'Love on the dole', novel, play, film - Clifford Whitworth Library, University of Salford.
Confirmed speakers:
Dr. Natasha Periyan (Goldsmiths, University of London) - Writers of the old school
Dr. Claire Warden (Loughborough University) Ugliness and beauty: the politics of landscape in Walter Greenwood's 'Love on the dole'
Dr. Phil O’Brien (University of Manchester) - After 'Love on the dole': class conflict in Walter Greenwood's His Worship the Mayor
Dr. Benjamin Kohlmann (University of Freiburg) - Proletarian modernism: Sommerfield, Barke and Greenwood
Dr. Jack Windle (Independent academic researcher) - 'Love on the dole' and its reception since the 1930s
Professor Chris Hopkins (Sheffield Hallam University) - 'Love on the dole' ’s lost sibling: Walter Greenwood and Arthur Wragg’s 'The cleft stick'
Admission free, all welcome
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An exhibition to celebrate women achieving the first step toward equal voting rights with men after decades of struggle.
The exhibition is part of our heritage Lottery Fund project 'Voting for change' and will feature various items acquired as part of this project. There is a free accompanying talk on art and suffrage by Elizabeth Crawford on 19 October at 6pm, and a day conference, 'More than just the Pankhursts - the wider suffrage movement' on 3 November.

Author David Ebsworth (the pen name of former T&GWU Regional Secretary, Dave McCall) talks about the background to his Spanish Civil War novels, focusing on five largely untold aspects of the conflict - Franco's battlefield tourism; the role of the Co-operative movement's Reynolds News; the strange role of Britain's Establishment; the final days; and the Republican Army's part in the Second World War.
Admission free; all welcome.
This is part of the autumn series of Invisible Histories talks.

The Library is marking Heritage Open Days 2018 with 'behind-the-scenes' tours on Thursday 13 and Friday 14 September at 2pm. Book in advance via info @ wcml.org.uk.

You're a fantastic institution, well worth supporting. The rush of people trying to damage you for their own reasons is deplorable. Keep strong in the important work you do.

Working class people history and struggles need to remembered and learnt from at a time what what our ancestors fought for is being taken from us. Trade Union rights NHS free education etc

We've been to dozens of events & exhibitions over the last few years. It is a delight and a privilege to have such a fantastic collection in our community. It connects us to our past and to each other in a way I've never felt in any other museum or library

This organization does great work for a terribly underserved population. Their lives are hard and getting harder and it's unconscionable that trolls are flooding this page with hate just because a speaker is sharing her own story instead of campaigning for others' completely unrelated interests. The WCML should be supported.

Such an important resource for local people and those further afield. Unfortunately there are people (who think it's their place to decide who we are and are not allowed to listen to for some reason) who are trying to put financial pressure on the library in order to make them obey and cancel Julie Bindel's talk. This is so sad and antithetical to what the library stands for. I'm leaving this review to show my support to the library and the hard working staff who must be shell-shocked and amazed by the vitriol that has been released by transactvists and queer activists. Freedom of speech is important. To try and curtail it is fascist.

Such an amazing resource which I cannot believe is under attack, stay strong and lets all stand up for free speech and not give in to bullies.

Sending solidarity in the face of this ridiculous hate campaign. Never thought I'd see the day when social justice warriors tried to take down a library. Astonishing.

I love WCML and I am very pleased and proud that it is offering the excellent Julie Bindel a chance to be heard. Feminists and lesbians are being subjected to a campaign designed to silence and erase them, so bravo WCML.

I greatly enjoyed my visit to this museum last year. It was the first time I had visited it and have every intention to return. It is incredibly important to preserve and display the history of working people, that is, people who earn a living by selling their labour, in the overwhelmingly bourgeois and reactionary sphere of history and heritage.

I am writing to express solidarity with the WCML, and hope the planned event with Julie Bindel goes ahead. One good thing to come out of all this ugliness is that I now know of another place to visit when I next come to Manchester

I am a bisexual feminist with a non-binary spouse. I have very little in common with Julie Bindel and find a lot of her opinions abhorrent. However, she has the right to hold them, express them and have them heard - and criticised, and disagreed with, and deplored. 'No platforming' is dangerous and self defeating. If Ms Bindel breaks the law, the police should be called. If she is within the law, she should be challenged, not censored.



It is beyond sad that a library - a *library * - is being subjected to this kind of attempt to silence the expression of ideas. I don't want a library that only contains ideas I find palatable.

Great tour with my mum and dad today! Truly inspirational place which holds such important parts of the history of working people! This place should be cherished and supported at all cost! My dad knew the Frows and seeing his face light up made it more than worth every second! Keep left! X

Fantastic place! I brought my son to the event celebrating the lives of Ruth and Eddie Frow. We really enjoyed it :)

Excellent resource on working class history and politics. I remember being taken to Eddie and Ruth's house in Old Trafford in the 80's to see their incredible collection!

A great place that gives a voice to the oppressed. Well worth a visit (from someone who has actually visited)

Really disappointed in their choice of a transmisogynist and biphobe, for LGBT history month of all things. I have one of your posters up on my wall, now I just want to deface it.

I thought this was all about supporting those people who aren't as privileged, the downtrodden in society. Turns out that WCML likes to support people like Julie Bindell who is well known for using her privileged position to insult, demean and outright threaten those she sees as below her.



If fire was raining from the sky and I was running past WCML, I'd still not see it as a place of refuge.

I really don't know what the people who run the WCML are thinking. First, they decide to invite a notorious racist who spreads bigoted propaganda against bi and trans people to speak as part of LGBT History Month, and they're shocked at the negative reaction. But when their page is swamped with bigots, including some who openly endorse neo-nazis and are posting racist propaganda right on their event page, there's no shock - or indeed concern - to be seen.



If they persist in this, then they're just making it clear that they aren't worthy of the name.

How you can invite someone who is so venomously trans hating as Julie Bindel to speak at an event for LGBT is beyond disgusting. Are you simply ignoring the T or do you enjoy hurting us?

You're a fantastic institution, well worth supporting. The rush of people trying to damage you for their own reasons is deplorable. Keep strong in the important work you do.

Working class people history and struggles need to remembered and learnt from at a time what what our ancestors fought for is being taken from us. Trade Union rights NHS free education etc

We've been to dozens of events & exhibitions over the last few years. It is a delight and a privilege to have such a fantastic collection in our community. It connects us to our past and to each other in a way I've never felt in any other museum or library

This organization does great work for a terribly underserved population. Their lives are hard and getting harder and it's unconscionable that trolls are flooding this page with hate just because a speaker is sharing her own story instead of campaigning for others' completely unrelated interests. The WCML should be supported.

Such an important resource for local people and those further afield. Unfortunately there are people (who think it's their place to decide who we are and are not allowed to listen to for some reason) who are trying to put financial pressure on the library in order to make them obey and cancel Julie Bindel's talk. This is so sad and antithetical to what the library stands for. I'm leaving this review to show my support to the library and the hard working staff who must be shell-shocked and amazed by the vitriol that has been released by transactvists and queer activists. Freedom of speech is important. To try and curtail it is fascist.

Such an amazing resource which I cannot believe is under attack, stay strong and lets all stand up for free speech and not give in to bullies.

Sending solidarity in the face of this ridiculous hate campaign. Never thought I'd see the day when social justice warriors tried to take down a library. Astonishing.

I love WCML and I am very pleased and proud that it is offering the excellent Julie Bindel a chance to be heard. Feminists and lesbians are being subjected to a campaign designed to silence and erase them, so bravo WCML.

I greatly enjoyed my visit to this museum last year. It was the first time I had visited it and have every intention to return. It is incredibly important to preserve and display the history of working people, that is, people who earn a living by selling their labour, in the overwhelmingly bourgeois and reactionary sphere of history and heritage.

I am writing to express solidarity with the WCML, and hope the planned event with Julie Bindel goes ahead. One good thing to come out of all this ugliness is that I now know of another place to visit when I next come to Manchester

I am a bisexual feminist with a non-binary spouse. I have very little in common with Julie Bindel and find a lot of her opinions abhorrent. However, she has the right to hold them, express them and have them heard - and criticised, and disagreed with, and deplored. 'No platforming' is dangerous and self defeating. If Ms Bindel breaks the law, the police should be called. If she is within the law, she should be challenged, not censored.



It is beyond sad that a library - a *library * - is being subjected to this kind of attempt to silence the expression of ideas. I don't want a library that only contains ideas I find palatable.

Great tour with my mum and dad today! Truly inspirational place which holds such important parts of the history of working people! This place should be cherished and supported at all cost! My dad knew the Frows and seeing his face light up made it more than worth every second! Keep left! X

Fantastic place! I brought my son to the event celebrating the lives of Ruth and Eddie Frow. We really enjoyed it :)

Excellent resource on working class history and politics. I remember being taken to Eddie and Ruth's house in Old Trafford in the 80's to see their incredible collection!

A great place that gives a voice to the oppressed. Well worth a visit (from someone who has actually visited)

Really disappointed in their choice of a transmisogynist and biphobe, for LGBT history month of all things. I have one of your posters up on my wall, now I just want to deface it.

I thought this was all about supporting those people who aren't as privileged, the downtrodden in society. Turns out that WCML likes to support people like Julie Bindell who is well known for using her privileged position to insult, demean and outright threaten those she sees as below her.



If fire was raining from the sky and I was running past WCML, I'd still not see it as a place of refuge.

I really don't know what the people who run the WCML are thinking. First, they decide to invite a notorious racist who spreads bigoted propaganda against bi and trans people to speak as part of LGBT History Month, and they're shocked at the negative reaction. But when their page is swamped with bigots, including some who openly endorse neo-nazis and are posting racist propaganda right on their event page, there's no shock - or indeed concern - to be seen.



If they persist in this, then they're just making it clear that they aren't worthy of the name.

How you can invite someone who is so venomously trans hating as Julie Bindel to speak at an event for LGBT is beyond disgusting. Are you simply ignoring the T or do you enjoy hurting us?

You're a fantastic institution, well worth supporting. The rush of people trying to damage you for their own reasons is deplorable. Keep strong in the important work you do.

Working class people history and struggles need to remembered and learnt from at a time what what our ancestors fought for is being taken from us. Trade Union rights NHS free education etc

We've been to dozens of events & exhibitions over the last few years. It is a delight and a privilege to have such a fantastic collection in our community. It connects us to our past and to each other in a way I've never felt in any other museum or library

This organization does great work for a terribly underserved population. Their lives are hard and getting harder and it's unconscionable that trolls are flooding this page with hate just because a speaker is sharing her own story instead of campaigning for others' completely unrelated interests. The WCML should be supported.

Such an important resource for local people and those further afield. Unfortunately there are people (who think it's their place to decide who we are and are not allowed to listen to for some reason) who are trying to put financial pressure on the library in order to make them obey and cancel Julie Bindel's talk. This is so sad and antithetical to what the library stands for. I'm leaving this review to show my support to the library and the hard working staff who must be shell-shocked and amazed by the vitriol that has been released by transactvists and queer activists. Freedom of speech is important. To try and curtail it is fascist.

Such an amazing resource which I cannot believe is under attack, stay strong and lets all stand up for free speech and not give in to bullies.

Sending solidarity in the face of this ridiculous hate campaign. Never thought I'd see the day when social justice warriors tried to take down a library. Astonishing.

I love WCML and I am very pleased and proud that it is offering the excellent Julie Bindel a chance to be heard. Feminists and lesbians are being subjected to a campaign designed to silence and erase them, so bravo WCML.

I greatly enjoyed my visit to this museum last year. It was the first time I had visited it and have every intention to return. It is incredibly important to preserve and display the history of working people, that is, people who earn a living by selling their labour, in the overwhelmingly bourgeois and reactionary sphere of history and heritage.

I am writing to express solidarity with the WCML, and hope the planned event with Julie Bindel goes ahead. One good thing to come out of all this ugliness is that I now know of another place to visit when I next come to Manchester

I am a bisexual feminist with a non-binary spouse. I have very little in common with Julie Bindel and find a lot of her opinions abhorrent. However, she has the right to hold them, express them and have them heard - and criticised, and disagreed with, and deplored. 'No platforming' is dangerous and self defeating. If Ms Bindel breaks the law, the police should be called. If she is within the law, she should be challenged, not censored.



It is beyond sad that a library - a *library * - is being subjected to this kind of attempt to silence the expression of ideas. I don't want a library that only contains ideas I find palatable.

Great tour with my mum and dad today! Truly inspirational place which holds such important parts of the history of working people! This place should be cherished and supported at all cost! My dad knew the Frows and seeing his face light up made it more than worth every second! Keep left! X

Fantastic place! I brought my son to the event celebrating the lives of Ruth and Eddie Frow. We really enjoyed it :)

Excellent resource on working class history and politics. I remember being taken to Eddie and Ruth's house in Old Trafford in the 80's to see their incredible collection!

A great place that gives a voice to the oppressed. Well worth a visit (from someone who has actually visited)

Really disappointed in their choice of a transmisogynist and biphobe, for LGBT history month of all things. I have one of your posters up on my wall, now I just want to deface it.

I thought this was all about supporting those people who aren't as privileged, the downtrodden in society. Turns out that WCML likes to support people like Julie Bindell who is well known for using her privileged position to insult, demean and outright threaten those she sees as below her.



If fire was raining from the sky and I was running past WCML, I'd still not see it as a place of refuge.

I really don't know what the people who run the WCML are thinking. First, they decide to invite a notorious racist who spreads bigoted propaganda against bi and trans people to speak as part of LGBT History Month, and they're shocked at the negative reaction. But when their page is swamped with bigots, including some who openly endorse neo-nazis and are posting racist propaganda right on their event page, there's no shock - or indeed concern - to be seen.



If they persist in this, then they're just making it clear that they aren't worthy of the name.

How you can invite someone who is so venomously trans hating as Julie Bindel to speak at an event for LGBT is beyond disgusting. Are you simply ignoring the T or do you enjoy hurting us?