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Blog posts with a name at the bottom are the personal opinions of that individual, rather than expressing views on behalf of the Library.
Karl Marx: greatness and illusion. Gareth Stedman Jones. London, Allen Lane, 2016. A long time ago, as a young student, I spent many hours in the company of the works of Karl Marx. Or rather, those hours were spent with those who interpreted Marx and in many cases told...
When Marxist historian Victor Kiernan died in 2009 he left behind not only his published works -- most famously, a critique of European cultural empire-building, The Lords of Human Kind -- but also an impressive personal library. Last year Victor’s wife Heather generously invited the WCML to make a...
Since nationalisation in 1948, there have been two main periods in the UK when railway engineering and manufacture on British Railways suffered dramatic job losses, excluding the losses from the closure of private builders and suppliers to the UK network. The major losses occurred during the closure of numerous...
Some time back, I came across a “contribution card” for donations in support of striking railwaymen in Northern Ireland in 1933 (one of the 2015 WCML Objects of the Month). This dispute was a dramatic event; in terms of the fight to stop the railway companies cutting wages as...
"Dare To Be Free”: women in trade unions, past and present. By Bernadette Hyland and Michael Herbert This second pamphlet published by the Mary Quaile Club is in two parts. The first part is a biography of the pioneering Manchester trade unionist Mary Quaile (1886-1958) written by Michael Herbert....
