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Protest, politics and campaigning for change

Speaking out, identifying who has similar views and acting together are at the heart of campaigning for change.

Modern campaigners use email, Web sites and text messages to share information and encourage action as well as relying on older technology such as leaflets, posters and meetings.

Our collection captures the inside stories of attempts to challenge and change events in the last two hundred years.

We have information on:

Fascist and anti-fascist material - the arguments for and against this political movement from its origins in Italy in the 1920s to the present day.

Liberation and its archives - the story of the campaign that started in 1954 to free British colonies from political and economic domination by Britain and the developed world.

No Conscription Fellowship - pacifists believe that even during a war it is wrong to kill another human being. This organisation campaigned against the punishment and imprisonment of men who refused to fight in the First World War (1914-1918).

Pit and factory papers - in the 1920s and 30s Communist Party activists produced newspapers aimed at specific workers or workplaces. With titles such as The Salford Docker or The Crossley Motor, these papers reflect the conditions, concerns and politics of working people.