The Working Class Movement Library (WCML) is a collection of English language books, periodicals, pamphlets, archives and artefacts, concerned with the activities, expression and enquiries of the labour movement, its allies and its enemies, since the late 1700s. More

Here are a few subject headings, click on any for a more detailed list.

The aim of the WCML

To promote the education of the public in relation to the history of working class movements, particularly in Britain and Ireland, by facilitating and promoting research and dissemination of information about all aspects of such history.

The organisation of the WCML

The collection is owned by a charitable trust which was established by Eddie and Ruth Frow to preserve the library for future generations and ensure that it would be run in the spirit of its founders.

The Trustees meets at least twice a year. A Management Committee elected by the trustees meets every fortnight to deal with the week to week business of the library. They work in partnership with Salford Council, the library staff and the library volunteers.

The current work of the Management Committee includes the following:

• Maintaining the integrity of the collection
• Adding to the collection
• Publicising the wonderful resources of the library
• Encouraging greater numbers of researchers and visitors
• Encouraging and supporting volunteers at the library
• Producing a quarterly newsletter, Shelf Life, and other occasional publications
• Fundraising
• Holding regular events at the library
• Looking for new ways to make the resources of the library available to schools, colleges and others, e.g. CD-Roms
• Developing links with other organisations

The day to day running of the library is handled by the Library Manager, Lynette Cawthra, and the Library Assistant, Mike Weaver.

Annual Report presented to the Trustees AGM June 2004

Limits

• Geography : The main focus of the library is Great Britain and Ireland, with smaller sections from other parts of the English speaking world. There is also some English language material on other, mainly European, countries.

• History : The second half of the 1700s saw the development of doctrines of civil liberty which underpinned the American and French Revolutions. The technological developments which began in the same period changed the balance of power between the ruling class and the rest of the population, and made possible the factory system. The convergence of these two developments produced the working class movements which are the central subject of the WCML's collection.

• The Human Condition : By its brief the WCML concentrates on the class dynamics under capitalism. It is recognised that other modes of exploitation and oppression, including race, gender, sexuality, and physical /mental ability, cannot be tidily slotted in to any scheme which prioritises class. They have their own histories which deserve a much greater development than we have room or time to undertake. This said it should be noted that in most of the following categories the WCML will have some material illuminating these historical aspects.

• Politics

  Movements and parties

  Campaigning organizations

  political theory

  Press and media

• Economics

  Labour economics

  Wages

  Cost of living

  Unemployment

  Trade Unions

  Capitalist economics

  Adam Smith

  Free Trade

  Colonialism

  Finance

  Money markets

  Trusts and cartels

• Manufacture

  Food

  Building

  Clothing

  Furniture

  Factory system

  Technological innovation

  Luddism

  Production Committees in World War 2

  Government

  State systems

  Public administration

  Transport

  Social Security

  Health

  Public safety

  Law

  Labour law

  Civil liberties

  Crime and punishment (incl. police and prisons)

  International relations

  Peace and war

  Conscientious objection

  Civil defence

  Imperialism

  Colonalism

  National liberation

  Education

  Socialist Sunday Schools

  State education

  Independent working class education (incl. Labour Colleges, Plebs League)

  Workers Education Association

  Ruskin College

  Environment

  Public Health

  Housing

  Nutrition

  Birth Control

  Industrial diseases and occupational hazards

  Land reform

  Ecology

  Philosophy and religion

  Atheism;

  Christian socialism;

  Labour church

  Materialism

  Dialectics

  Philosophy of science

  Sociology

  Class distinctions

  Social groups (e.g. children, elderly, ethnic minorities, disabled...)

  Arts and Leisure

  Music

  Drama

  Literature

  Graphic arts (incl. cartoons and caricatures)

  Sports

  Cinema

  Holidays

  Outdoor activities, incl. : Clarion Clubs; Mass trespass campaigns

  Political theory

  Political economy

  Liberalism

  Anarchism

  Capitalism

  Co-operation

  Communism: incl Marxism, Leninism, Maoism, dialectical materialism

  Fascism

  Socialism

  Collectivism

  Feminism

  Internationalism

  Political movements and parties

  Jacobins

  Chartism - Ernest Jones

  Radicalism and reform movements (c.1850-1900)

  Womens' suffrage

  Trade unionism

  Early socialist and communist parties (S.D.F., S.D.P., B.S.P., S.P.G.B.)

  Independent Labour Party (ILP)

  Labour Party

  Communist Party

  Fourth Internationalists,(Trotskyists): R.C.P., S.L.L., Militant, I.M.G., S.W.P...

  Anarchists, syndicalists,

  Trade Unions
  (Categories with examples)

  Histories of unions

  Kiddier's history of the Brushmakers

  Major events in T. U. history

  General Strike

  1984-85 miner's strike

  International trade union organisations

  WFTU, ICFTU, ILO

  International organisations for particular industries

  International Metalworkers Federation

  Trade Union records

  Rule books, agreements, minutes (executive committee, district committee, branch), annual reports, conference reports, journals

  Shop stewards' organisations

  New Propellor

  Rank and file (1970's)

  Rank and file movements

  Minority Movement

  Solidarity

  Industrial democracy

  Institute for Worker's Control

  Upper Clyde Shipbuilders

  Syndicalism

  Industrial unions

  Industrial Workers of the World (I.W.W.)

  Anti-trade union and anti-socialist organisations

  Economic League

  Common Cause

  Iris

  Technology

  Automation

  Bedaux system

  Industrial relations

  C.S.E.U. reports

  Co-operative Movement

  Robert Owen, the Owenite movement

  Guild socialism and worker's co-operatives

  CRS & CWS

  Co-operative Union

  Local societies

  Co-operative Party

  Co-operative Guilds

  International Co-operative Alliance

  Industrial Common Ownership Movement (ICOM)