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Libraries Gave Us Power @LGUPBook

Gavin McCann, UNISON E Mids & formerly ISTC (now Community). Hopefully a book will emerge to provide a history of TU education for its members.

Joined September 2023
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Libraries Gave Us Power@LGUPBook
4 Sep 2023
My aim is to create a book that brings together the history of trade union education for members. At the very least I hope to celebrate the lives of those Trade Unionists whose actions and campaigning has changed our society.
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I found this today in the archives of union leader, Rodney Bickerstaffe. It's the joint trade union's case against water privatisation in 1985. The depressing this is that it isn't weirdly far-sighted, just blindingly obvious. Thought you would be interested @Feargal_Sharkey
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New blog post - Women, Trade Unions and Lifelong Learning librariesgaveuspower.net/pos…

Women, Trade unions and Learning: Finding the Women Who Were Always There

Who Gets Remembered?At a recent workshop organised by the Workers’ Educational Association (WEA) and led by brilliant trade union educator Cilla Ross, we were asked to consider the prominence of...

librariesgaveuspower.net
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"It's time for the unions to re-join the fight for adult education" - My blog for the @WEAadulted wea.org.uk/unions-adult-educ…
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Reminder that I'm continuing my reporting into the history of TUs and Education over at BlueSky. (Would be good to depart this place!) Search: lgupbook. @john_holford @GFTUET @The_TUC @LdnMetSpecColl @MRCWarwick @StudyLabHistory @DurhamMiners @LilianGreenwood @Karen_karenelee
Libraries Gave Us Power@LGUPBook
15 Nov 2024
'Libraries Gave Us Power' can now be found on Blue Sky. Please give me a follow. Just search lgupbook. Will post on both for a while with the hope of leaving here at some point
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Next on my reading list: the life of John Gast. Active in the London Mechanics Institute fighting to ensure it remained Working Class. "He was, with Gravenor Henson and John Doherty, one of the three truly impressive union leaders who emerged in these early years" EP Thompson
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Libraries Gave Us Power retweeted
MarxMemorialLibrary@MarxLibrary
10 Jan 2025
Next Thursday 16 Jan 7pm we’re teaming up with ⁦@GFTU1⁩ & ⁦@wcmlibrary⁩ for this special free online session on the 1926 General Strike with ⁦MML⁩ trustee John Foster chaired by ⁦MML⁩ Secretary Mary Davis marx-memorial-library.org.uk…
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My new profile image is of William Lovett (1800-1877). Trade Unionist, Chartist, Co-operator, and lifelong champion of working class education. "The first and greatest of working-class educationalists" (RH Tawney)
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"I will content myself with saying to all who think, all who hope, all who believe that national progress is a thing worth living and working for -educate, educate,educate" Frederick Rogers, Weekly Dispatch 27 Jan 1884
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This letter is a response to Rogers' articles on Working Class Education (Weekly Dispatch). It could have been written today or even stated in response to Gillian Keegan when she put the Government's case for ending the ULF in 2020 in the debate called by @LilianGreenwood
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a. Waterstones are instruments of the establishment that doesn't want us to know about our history? b. That unionists buy their books in indie bookshops? c. That very few people will buy them? Or something else?
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I'm guessing it's a bit of b & c. But mainly c. In fact, I asked the same Q at my local Indie & was told that they'd stopped selling them due to lack of interest. If so, what does that tell us?
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Visited Waterstones this week &, out of curiosity, asked about their Trade Union history books. A nice, informed, chap told me they didn't have any. So, why is this? Is it:
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I've updated my overview of the Labour MPs elected in 1906 focusing on their trade union links & education. Of the 29 men elected, 26 were trade unionists (23 of which were senior - Gen Sec, President etc). 4 had even helped found their union drive.google.com/file/d/18Wr…
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Settling in for a day with the Dictionary of Labour Biographies. I never thought this would be my source of joy as an adult.
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Spending the day with the reports of Typographical Association delegate meetings dating back to 1918. Adult Education is a major topic throughout and a brilliant example of how the fight between the WEA and Labour Colleges could do more harm than good.
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Libraries Gave Us Power retweeted
The WEA@WEAadulted
17 Dec 2024
The Pitmen Painters were a group of coal miners from Ashington who began painting in the 1930s in a WEA class. Learn more about how a previously unknown work by one of the Painters was recently discovered and is now on display in the North East: bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c62z…
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You can spend hours searching archives & books for the learning journeys of union members. Sometimes though they're just in the cupboard at work. These two UNISON E Mids docs tell the stories of members who've participated in Return to Learn and Women's Lives with @WEAadulted
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My journey into the Durham Coalfields has meant my book has found a new focus. It has revealed that, to the Miners, the desire for education simply reflects their values. And Jack Lawson's book 'A Man's Life' should be a must-read for Teade Unionists.
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'Libraries Gave Us Power' can now be found on Blue Sky. Please give me a follow. Just search lgupbook. Will post on both for a while with the hope of leaving here at some point
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Finally made if to Redhills Durham ('pitman's parliament'). Currently undergoing redevelopment it's jointly (with TU bldgs across the world) applying for World Heritage Status. Arriving, you are greeted by 4 autodidacts who created a powerful union which changed County Durham
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