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Back to topMarx Memorial Library holds numerous historical sources relating to the stories of anti-imperialist struggles for national self-determination. These sources document both the actions by peoples of oppressed and occupied countries, and international solidarity campaigns. They give a rich context to today’s discussions on decolonisation, addressing issues of national identity, globalisation, and the legacy of colonial empires.
The 1907 pamphlet "Unrest in India" by H.M. Hyndman, for example, expresses support for the Indian people's uprising against British colonial rule.
More items relating to the Indian struggle for independence can be seen in our online exhibition on the Indian Communist and Anti-Colonial Movement.
MML’s special collections on this topic include:
India Collection (IC)
A collection of newsletters, reports, academic publications, pamphlets, and maps published between 1921 and the end of British rule in 1947, all oriented around the issues of Indian independence and self-government, and crimes committed by the British including the Bengal famine of 1943. There is a particular focus on the repression of civil liberties, working conditions, education and student rights, and poverty. Items held include the papers of the India National Congress and the Bombay Students’ conference of 1936.
Abhimanyu (Manu) Manchanda collection (MM)
Manchanda was a political activist from Lahore in India (later Pakistan) who settled in Britain after partition, where he became involved in many campaigns along with his partner, the African American communist and activist Claudia Jones. MML holds his personal papers, correspondence and photographs, including demonstrations by the Indian Workers’ Association.
Papers of Arthur Clegg (AC)
Arthur Duckerking Clegg (1914-1994) was a British communist and national organizer for the China Campaign Committee, mobilising support for China's resistance to Japanese invasion. He wrote two books on the subject, `The Birth of New China'; (1943) and `New China, New World' (1949). In 1940, he was jailed for making a speech in favour of Indian independence. Material held relates to his work with the China Campaign, including the Burma Road boycott against Japanese goods, and the International Peace Hospital.
Noreen Branson Collection
Noreen Branson (1910–2003) was a Communist historian, writer, activist, and a prominent member of the anti-colonial movement. Her activities included smuggling documents from the Communist Party of Great Britain into India for the Communist Party of India. Material held include copies of her talks on national liberation movements, British colonies and colonialism, and papers of the League Against Imperialism.
Henry Rathbone Collection
Rathbone was an author of several books on global politics and economics. The collection includes typescripts of his lectures on the history of the British Empire and articles on African independence.
Williamson collection
John Williamson was a prominent member of the Communist Party of the USA who was imprisoned there and later deported to Britain where he worked at the MML. His papers include many pamphlets relating to global anti-colonial struggles, such as "Black power in the Caribbean: the 1970 upsurge in Trinidad" (1971), and "Africa Fights for Freedom," a 1950 pamphlet produced by the Council on African Affairs.
MML holds some rare anti-colonial journals dating from the 1930s onwards, including:
Africa Bulletin
Africa Digest
Africa Newsletter
African Revolution
Afro-Asian and World Affairs
Colonial Information Bulletin
Cross Roads
Discussion [South Africa]
Inside the empire
Liberation
Meskerem:a Marxist-Leninist theoretical journal (Ethiopia)
MPLA news (Movimento Popular de Libertação de Angola)
Namibia news
New times and Ethiopia news
News India
People’s Power in Mozambique, Angola and Guniea-Bissau
Portuguese and colonial bulletin
Resister - journal of the Committee on South African War Resistance
Revolutionary Zimbabwe
Sechaba (Formerly: South Africa freedom news; Continued as: Mayibuye)
South Vietnam Liberation National Front Bulletin
Southern Africa information service
Tricontinental
Umsebenzi:voice of the South African Communist Party
USSR and Third World
Vietnam Solidarity Campaign Bulletin
Voice of Africa
Voice of the people
WASU news-service (West African Students' Union)
West Indian Gazette and Afro-Asian-Caribbean News
Other items of interest include hundreds of pamphlets, such as those published by the Movement for Colonial Freedom (now Liberation); Che Guevara’s 1965 speech at the Afro-Asian Economic Conference at Algiers, "A common aspiration: the overthrow of imperialism unites Cuba with Africa and Asia"; and even an early argument for Scottish independence by influential communist and trade unionist John MacLean (1879-1923).
Further pamphlets of interest on this topic include "Empire and Murder" by C.H. Norman, published in this building by Twentieth Century Press in 1906; and Edward Carpenter's "Empire in India and Elsewhere" from 1900.
The MML also holds a large poster collection of powerful images depicting anti-colonial
struggles the world over, from Angola to Zimbabwe.
Supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, licensed under CC BY 4.0