| Marx Memorial Library, Clerkenwell Green, London EC1 |
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Clerkenwell Green has been the setting of much that is best in the radical tradition of England. Since 1933 the Marx Memorial Library has been housed in the building whose history encapsulates the richness of that radical tradition. Both the public house and the coffee rooms were in effect a workmen's clubs, especially the latter where newspapers and journals could be read. The minutes of Karl Marx's International Working Men's Association record that `the next meeting is to be at Clerkenwell Coffee House. Lenin, leader of the 1917 Russian Revolution, while exiled in London (1902-1903) used one of the offices to produce ISKRA (The Spark) the Russian Social Democratic newspaper. This office has been preserved and the 'Lenin Room' is a listed historic monument. In 1933, the 50th anniversary of the death of Karl Marx, a delegate meeting considered setting up a permanent memorial to him. 1933 also saw the Nazis in Germany burning books. In these circumstances the meeting resolved that the most appropriate memorial to Marx would be a library. Thus the Marx Memorial Library and Workers School was established at 37a Clerkenwell Green (now the whole building) that same year. |
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To this day the Library continues the educational and radical traditions of so many of the previous occupants of the `House on Clerkenwell Green'. In 1935 Jack Hastings (Earl of Huntingdon) painted a mural in fresco style on the wall of the then lecture room. The Mural was covered by books when the Library moved upstairs and has recently been exposed after 40 years. This restoration was the subject of a television programme `Marx on the Wall' in 1991. During refurbishment work in the library's basement in 1986, tunnels pre-dating the building were discovered. The Mark Memorial Library's aim is the advancement of education, knowledge and learning by the provision of a library of books, periodicals and manuscripts relating to all aspects of the science of Marxism, the history of Socialism and the working class movement. |
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It is an independent organisation, a registered charity, financed by its members and affiliates. The Management Committee is elected from and by the membership. The Library has some 20,000 volumes in the lending section covering a range of subjects including Marx, Engels, Lenin, science, history, economics, biographies and literature. The reference collection has an extensive holding of journals dating from the 1850's. These include The Red Republican (published 1st English translation of Marx and Engel's Communist Manifesto), Votes for Women (the Suffragette Journal) and Commonweal (William Morris); approx 23,000 pamphlets and numerous original materials and books, many of which are unavailable elsewhere. The Library's stocks are continuously updated and represent a unique resource under one roof. |
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Two sessions of public lectures in Autumn and Spring and the Marx Memorial Lecture on March 14th (the Anniversary of the death of Karl Marx) are held each year. The Bulletin, published two or three times per year, is sent to members and is also available on subscription. |
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Specialist Collections: Klugmann Collection - early radical and Chartist books, pamphlets, tracts and ceramics. International Brigades Association archive and libraryprimary source materials on the Spanish anti-fascist war 1936-39 and banner. John Williamson American Labour Movement Collection journals and pamphlets from 1920's to 70's. J.D. Bernal Peace Collection - books and documents from the libraries of Prof.J.D. Bernal and Ivor Montagu. Daily Worker / Morning Star - only complete collection of bound volumes. |