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Back to topONLINE TASTER SESSION: Introducing Marx & Marxism
This short session is for anyone who’s ever wanted to know a bit more about Marxism. It includes a short introduction from a tutor at the Marx Memorial Library and then is an opportunity to ask questions and discuss more.
At the end, maybe you’ll want to do more. If so, there are lots more courses run by the Marx Memorial Library’s Workers’ School where you can go into greater depth and learn about this phenomenon.
Email: info@marx-memorial-library.org.uk
ONSITE EVENT: Alan Bush: An Introduction to a Radical Composer
2025 marks the 125th anniversary of the birth of British composer, Alan Bush. This event includes a discussion on his polemical works, a display from MML archives, and ends with an archival radio production of The Sugar Reapers.
Email: info@marx-memorial-library.org.uk
Alan Bush: An Introduction to a Radical Composer
Free, onsite event, booking essential! Doors open 10.30am. Event finishes at 4.00pm.
2025 marks the 125th anniversary of the birth of British composer, Alan Bush. A leading composer, and teacher, Alan Bush's legacy has been shaped by the impact of the Cold War, meaning his music and theoretical ideas are often overlooked.
Alan Bush’s intellectual discussions were highly polemical and influential, looking at how music and society interact with each other. In an event, in partnership with Marx Memorial Library, Ben Lunn (Workers' Music Association Secretary) will host a discussion which looks at Alan Bush’s polemical works, as well as consider their implications and influence today.
Following the lecture, the MML will share items from their archive of writers and theorists who influenced Alan Bush’s theoretical ideas, like Christopher Caudwell and Ralph Fox.
And to close the day, there will be a sharing of the archival radio production of The Sugar Reapers by Alan Bush.
This is the 2025 annual joint event by MML and SCRSS (Society for Co-operation in Russian & Soviet Studies).
About the Workers' Music Association
In 1936 the Workers’ Music Association (WMA) was founded as an organisation dedicated to the musical activities of the working class, enabling them to have access to all forms of music, and promoting a working class voice within it. We are a democratic organisation, where all our members can voice their opinion and vote on the work that we do. For further information: www.workersmusic.co.uk
This event, and all our other Alan Bush events, are made possible thanks to generous support from the Arts Council of England and Alan Bush Music Trust
BOOK YOUR FREE PLACE HERE: Alan Bush: An Introduction to a Radical Composer
ONSITE EVENT: MML Book Sale
MML Book Sale - second-hand books on a wide-range of topics. Come along and support the Library!
Email: info@marx-memorial-library.org.uk
ONSITE EVENT: Open House Open Day
Explore our historic building - including Lenin's office and our 1935 fresco - and take a look at our 'Radical Clerkenwell Re-interpreted' exhibition. Library will be open from 11.00am to 3.00pm.
Email: info@marx-memorial-library.org.uk
This year we feature as part of one of the festival's curated collections - on Print, Publishing and Archives https://programme.openhouse.org.uk/collections/340
Find out more here https://programme.openhouse.org.uk/listings/1048
ONLINE & ONSITE LECTURE: The World Economy in the 2020s - time is running out
Michael Roberts will analyse the current phase of the world capitalist crisis and Britain’s place within it.
Email: info@marx-memorial-library.org.uk
The major economies of the world are stagnating in the 2020s. Poverty rates are rising and inequalities of income and wealth are increasing. Global warming is accelerating. And now Trump has launched a trade war against everybody to 'make America great again'. These are multiple crises for capitalism in the 21st century; But can capitalism find a way out?
ONLINE PANEL DISCUSSION: Trade Unions and Trades Union Councils – Mobilising for class politics within communities
Using best practice today and the lessons of working class history, speakers will discuss how communities can be mobilised to defend collective class interests and to repel the politics of division.
Email: info@marx-memorial-library.org.uk
Chair: Kevan Nelson (Unison, Assistant General Secretary)
Speakers include:
Drew Gilchrist (Unite Youth Committee, Chair)
Nick Kelleher (Wolverhampton & Bilston Trades Union Council, Secretary)
Stephanie Martin (TU officer & former community campaigner in Glasgow)
Jonathan White (MML tutor & author)
Beth Winter (former MP for Cynon Valley)
ONSITE EVENT: REDS ON THE GREEN: William Morris: Politics and Art
Joint with Islington Heritage. Free; All welcome
Email: info@marx-memorial-library.org.uk
Artist and socialist William Morris (1834–1896), famed for leading the Arts and Crafts movement, was active in Clerkenwell’s Social Democratic Federation at 37a Clerkenwell Green, now the Marx Memorial Library. He marched from the Green to join 1887’s “Bloody Sunday” protest. Ruth Kinna explores his activism and belief in art’s social purpose.
Join us for the latest in the series of Reds on the Green events organised jointly with Islington Heritage and discover the radical history of Clerkenwell Green. Explore local stories, ground-breaking ideas and people who made history.
NO BOOKING NECESSARY
ONSITE EVENT: REDS ON THE GREEN: Clerkenwell & Chartism
Joint with Islington Heritage. Free; All welcome
Email: info@marx-memorial-library.org.uk
In May 1842, a petition with over 3 million signatures was carried through London to Parliament, demanding sweeping reforms: votes for all men over 21, no property qualification for MPs, secret ballots, MP salaries, equal constituencies, and annual parliaments. The Northern Star, voice of the Chartist movement, reported on its journey and the wave of strikes, uprisings, and repression that followed. In this talk, Dr Vic Clarke explores how campaigners combined peaceful and physical strategies for change—from Parliament to Clerkenwell Green.
Join us for the latest in the series of Reds on the Green events organised jointly with Islington Heritage and discover the radical history of Clerkenwell Green. Explore local stories, ground-breaking ideas and people who made history.
NO BOOKING NECESSARY