THIS year marks 90 years since the foundation of the Marx Memorial Library and Workers School (MML), a unique socialist library, research and education centre based in London’s historic Clerkenwell.

The MML was established in 1933 by trade unionists, socialists and communists in reaction to the rise of fascism in Europe, commemorating the anniversary of Marx’s death in 1883.

Our internationally significant archive collections on socialist history — including Hands off Russia campaigns, the Spanish civil war and the 1984-5 miners’ strike — still inspire and inform today.

Since summer 2022 our dynamic education programme — including lectures, panels, workshops and courses on the relevance of Marxism today — is now hybrid and accessible both online and onsite, welcoming greater numbers to the MML.

Our work with the labour movement remains central to our activities; last year we gained five new national trade union affiliates, bringing our total to eight — the majority of which are currently in dispute.

We look forward to building on these relationships at this critical time.

Plans afoot for our 90th year include an international symposium on combatting the far right, reflecting on our founding year and themes which resonate today.

This summer we will welcome residents in Islington to weekend workshops on radical Clerkenwell. This coincides with the redevelopment of Clerkenwell Green commencing in February.

Led by Islington Council, this work will centre the progressive history of the area with an Ian Walters statue of Sylvia Pankhurst as a focal point.

Collaboration with sister organisations reflecting on our work both nationally and internationally — including Karl Marx House in Trier and the South Wales Miners Library — will also feature in our anniversary programme.

Further details of these special events — branded with our new logo from design competition-winner Steve Smith (pictured) — will be released on our website in the coming weeks.
 
This month, our 2023 programme kicks off with a film screening of No Fire and Rehire introduced by Barry Gardiner MP on January 12.

With further attacks on trade union freedoms on the horizon, this discussion on working practices promises to be an important one.

Registrations are now open for two eight-week online courses, the first being Capitalism Crisis and Imperialism, and the second, Making Our Own History, on historical materialism. These are aimed at an introductory level and offer a flexible way of working.

Highlights also include panel discussions reflecting on Engels and housing and the nature of the current energy crisis.

We continue to expand our network of partners; 2023 will see us loan historic items in our collections for exhibition at both Tate Britain and the Wellcome Trust.

We look forward to new collaborations with the University of the Arts and the Woodcraft Folk.

Critically, we celebrate 90 years since our foundation with a timely funding injection from the National Lottery Fund for our project Marx Memorial Library at 90: Enduring and Engaging.

This ring-fenced support will create the capacity to carry out audience research to inform a new engagement strategy.

Resilience will be a key focus; a fundraising feasibility study and a closer look at our options for building redevelopment will feed into a coherent and scalable plan for our future.

This is a pivotal point for MML. Rooted in our proud history of workers’ education and the treasure trove of labour movement history in our four walls, we are taking stock and looking to the future.

With your help, we will emerge from this anniversary year with an ambitious vision for the MML at 100. Join us. Come along and find out more.
 
To find out more visit www.marx-memorial-library.org.uk.