Working Class Movement Library

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Putting class back on the agenda.

Slide 2: My favourite object from Jason, pictured left, reading Big Flame material: “one of my favourite bits is the conference guide front cover, seeing some of the smoking corners outside of organising spaces it just makes so much sense.” - Jason”.
Slide 1: Keep The Flame Burning: Leaving Soon! A collage of Big Flame photographs and ephemera, as well as some film photographs of the Little Flames.
A collaged image of a man on a stamp raising his fist, surrounded by a Big Flame logo, an eight-pointed star, an exclamation mark and a badge that says ‘the spirit of freedom’. The text reads: FULLY* BOOKED. *join waitlist on Eventbrite.
Slide 1: A collaged and hand-illustrated poster which says: KEEP THE FLAME BURNING CLOSING PARTY. Cake! All ages! Make badges/ zines! 12.4.26 14.00 - 16.00. Exhibition open 12-2! The illustrations comprise doves, a faceless woman wearing a party hat, flames, and various collaged photographs from 70s/80s publications and protests.
Black and white newspaper photograph with the large headline “FAKENHAM DANGER WOMEN AT WORK” printed in bold capital letters on the left. On the right, a middle-aged woman wearing glasses, a polka dot blouse and a light-coloured sleeveless overall stands speaking with her hands raised mid gesture. In front of her is a table covered with leather handbags and clothing. The photo is from the WCML archive copy of Socialist Woman, Summer 1972, page 3
A black and white photograph of Jayaben Desai giving a speech, with posters in the foreground - both posters are about the Women's Rights Rally.
A promo image for the launch on Katrina Navikas, Contested Commons book launch at the Working Class Movement Library. Black text on a yellow background.
Black-and-white book cover titled “Malcolm X: Visits abroad, April 1964–February 1965” by Marika Sherwood, featuring a collage of archival photographs of Malcolm X speaking at podiums, raising a fist, travelling, and meeting people during his international trips.
Towards the back of the photo, there are two tables organised in an 'L shape', one with three people on it, our panelists, Sashwati Miri Sengupta, Celestino Pereira, and Georgia Montague-Nelson. On the table to the right, panelist Dan Edmond is sat, with a powerpoint on the interactive board behind him.
Mark Ashton wearing a 'Pits and Perverts: Lesbian and Gays Support the Miners' t-shirt, holding two banners, a white one with red writing (the writing is cut off), and a pink banner with black writing 'Pinko commie queers COMMUNIST PARTY', which also has an outline of an upside down triangle. Image credit: Wikimedia Commons
Issue Number 8, from Summer 1979 of Gay Left. 'GAY LEFT' is written at the top, in red thick block capitals, with both the issue number on the left, and price on the right. Below this is a black and white image on a broken jigsaw of people protesting for gay rights. At the bottom in black thick block capitals is 'PERSONAL POLITICS'
Black and white photograph of Ewan MacColl speaking and smoking in front of an audience
A black and white sketch of Gramsci, with a red border
Two badges, the one on the left features a snowman family and reads, 'Light Up Christmas for Mining Families' and the one on the right has the same message, but this time delivered in a photo that features Father Christmas.
A photo from the back of the room as Amie, Project Coordinator of the Big Flame project, introduces the talk.
Black text on an orange background, 'Inksurgency: Radical Leftist Publishing Then and Now, with the Heritage Fund and library logos at the bottom of the image.
A group of young people and audience members talk in lively conversation.
A group of ex Big Flame members and their friends talk, laughing with each other.
A close-up of the Little Flames banner, which reads ‘we still have to fight!’ in the centre and has collaged fabric images around it.
A framed archival cover spread of ‘Out of Our Heads’, a student pamphlet. It features a comical drawing of Marx on the back.
Somebody, seated, interacts with the iPad that contains the oral histories of the exhibition. They wear headphones and touch the screen.
A collage displayed as part of collages made by the Little Flames group in response to the archive. In the centre is a panel that says ‘keep the flame burning’.
The back of somebody’s head reading the exhibition panels on the Little Flames group.
The audience peruse the exhibition, which has four red cases in the centre of the room and panels around the outside.
A comic called Brother Goose which takes aim at Tory unemployment policy. The comic was produced in 1980 and features funny images with quotes about workers eg "work shy" and about state policy, eg "why when we can send men to the moon and kill 600,000 people with a single bomb".
Black text on a teal background. The name of the event, 'Keep the Flame Burning Scanathon' is at the top, followed by 'an open archive event led by the Bog Flame Group.' Saturday 26 July, with the scanathon from 2PM-4PM and the open archive open from 12PM-4PM. The logos of the project partners, the WCML, National Lottery Heritage Fund and Reclaim, are at the bottom of the image.
A photo of four IWW pamphlets from the library's collection.
A background image is a photo of a range of front covers of Manchester newspapers. In the middle, it says, "The People's Papers, exploring Greater Manchester's activist newspapers from the 1970's." The WCML and University of Manchester logo sit at the top of the image.
White badge with black text that reads, "Repeal the Immigration Act" in the middle of the badge, with the name of the organisation, Campaign Against Immigration Laws around the edge of the badge.
A picture of Aaron, Belinda (Library Manager), and some of our volunteers in the NALGO Room, talking about the exhibition. The caption reads: "Aaron from M3 Industries popped in to work on our 3D design and build!"
A snapshot of a document which has a reading list from Big Flame, featuring the Working Class Movement Library. It is captioned with "STAR OBJECT" (in a yellow star), "A Big Flame reading list that mentions the Library and its old address!"
Big Flame: Exhibition Updates. A large Big Flame logo with a red star in the centre.
"remember the dead, fight for the living, 28th April, International Workers' Memorial Day" in purple text on a white background, the WCML logo is in the bottom right of the image.
A black and white of a group of men marching, with the two men in the front holding a banner that says, "Justice not Charity" some of the letters are obscured by the fold of the banner material. All of the men are wearing hats and clothing of the period, they appear to be marching in a rural setting.
Leaflet in green ink on white paper, advertising the meeting, which took place in Chorlton Town Hall on Easter Sunday, 10th April at 3pm.
international workers' memorial day talk, "Do workers' need protecting from AI?" Wednesday 30th April from 7PM, includes the Manchester Hazards Centre and WCML logo on the bottom right of the page
Two young women look down at material, flicking through pamphlets.
A pair of hands hold archival material on a table. A caption reads "Part 2: Exhibition research"
Dr. Kirsty Fife, left, presents a powerpoint presentation entitled 'cultural activism and organising'. The caption reads 'Dr. Kirsty Fife on zines, archiving, and DIY culture!'
Maria Noble, left, speaks to a crowd of young people, right. There is a heading of "part 1: ask an activist".
A title slide showing a group of people sat around a table, chatting and smiling with brown archive boxes. The caption reads 'Big Flame: Session 12'.
A poster advertising the talk by Eileen Turnbull at the Working Class Movement Library at 6.30pm, Thursday 3rd April. The poster shows five people holding a red banner that reads, 'Shrewsbury 24 Campaign. We Won!'
A poster using an image of people protesting during the 1926 General Strike against a red and black graphic background. Includes a logo '100 General Strike 1926-2026' and the logos of the participating organisations.