Theory & Struggle is the journal of the Marx Memorial Library, an independent charity dedicated, since its establishment in 1933, to the advancement of education and learning in all aspects of Marxism, labour and working class history.
This year marks 90 years since the foundation of the Marx Memorial Library & Workers’ School (MML). To celebrate, Meirian Jump, Director of the MML, reflects on 90 years devoted to the science of Marxism, the history of Socialism, and the trade union and working-class movements.
A selection of articles from the latest issue of the journal will also be available free to read for a month.
The 2023 issue of Theory & Struggle marks 90 years since the foundation of the Marx Memorial Library & Workers’ School. Number 124, it boasts a bold celebratory design and is the 6th issue published with Liverpool University Press.
As its title suggests, our journal foregrounds the link between Marxist intellectual debate and the experiences of trade unionists, activists and communities working to make a better world. It reflects the MML’s proud history as both a library and a workers’ school – providing, distributing and critiquing resources on Marxism and socialism, with working class education as its prime objective.
In 1933 – 50 years after Marx’s death – a Marx Commemoration Committee, with representatives from across the labour movement, met to consider the best way to remember the revolutionary philosopher. Fascism was on the march across Europe. Against the backdrop of the burning of the books in Nazi Germany, a library was seen as a most fitting memorial.
Since our foundation, the MML has broadcast its educational work in print. In 1934 our first quarterly bulletin was distributed to members. Soon this publication featured lecture transcripts, debates and bibliographies reflecting current discussions in the Marxist and progressive movement. This phenomenal resource is digitised and available online to all members of the MML and subscribers to Theory & Struggle.
A glimpse at the other anniversaries marked in this 2023 issues gives a taste of the breadth of its coverage. Richard Leonard MP looks the Labour Party’s 1973 programme 50 years on, while Linda Clark, Michael Edwards and Paul Watt discuss the relevance of Engels work on housing 150 years on. Meanwhile, Andrew Murray provides us with a nuanced retrospective on the Chinese Revolution.
We also look forward. A central component of this issue unsurprisingly examines the current wave of industrial militancy and the associated challenges and opportunities. Alex Gordon, President of the RMT and Chair of the MML gives us a concise Marxist assessment of the state of industrial relations in the UK today, while Prof Keith Ewing and Lord John Hendy KC interrogate the new legislative attack on the rights of working people.
The reviews section grows each year with lively debate on the latest thinking and research on Marxism and socialism. We look at Melzer’s volume on the trial of Julian Assange, alongside Tariq Ali’s biography of Winston Churchill.
This issue also celebrates the scope of our work and our ambition at this pivotal point in our history. Find out more about our plans for the broadening of our outreach and engagement work through new perspectives on our archive collections, alongside the potential for a major redevelopment of historic Marx House with reports from the MML team.
– Meirian Jump, Director of the MML.
Find out more about the MML and sign up to the fortnightly e-newsletter >
Browse the anniversary issue online >
Free to read articles from Theory & Struggle
Labour’s Programme 1973… still a spur to radical thinking
Richard Leonard
Engels and the housing question 150 years on: A roundtable discussion
Linda Clarke, Michael Edwards, and Paul Watt
The significance of the Chinese revolution
Andrew Murray
On the current strike wave
Alex Gordon
The strikes (minimum service levels) bill: An extreme attack on working people
K. D. Ewing and Lord John Hendy KC
These articles will be available free to read for one month.
Members of The Marx Memorial Library receive online access to the journal as part of their membership.
Become a member of the MML >
New Books in Labour History
Poetry & Strikes: Trade Union Narratives and Legacies by Michael James
Poetry & Strikes examines how it is that poets have come to contend with, and contribute to, narratives surrounding industrial disputes. The poems studied here help us to understand how strike legacies have been formed from the 1970s to the present day, and make it possible to see how these legacies may still be rewritten and reframed.
by Michael James
Enjoyed this? You might be interested in Historical Studies in Industrial Relations and the history of the National Union of Public Employees (NUPE).
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