An untraditional history of the British working class (HI3U3)
The Modern Records Centre's collections contain nationally significant archives relating to the British labour movement during the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries. The collections include extensive primary source material on aspects of working class life over this period, particularly from the late 19th century onwards. In most cases the archives were produced or collected by trade unions and therefore reflect the views and priorities of those organisations.
Digitised documents:
'The song of the shop girl', c.1888Link opens in a new window
Printed song sheet. It was published by the Early Closing Association as part of their campaign to reduce the opening hours of shops and the working hours of shop assistants. The item is undated but is likely to date from around the time of the 1888 Early Closing Bill.
'Shop life', 1893Link opens in a new window
Article by Margaret McMillan published in The Labour Prophet, newspaper of the Labour Church, in June 1893. She describes the situation of shop assistants, "girls trimly dressed, and smiling affable men", and their hardships and exploitation.
'Restaurant and barmaids' YWCA', 1896Link opens in a new window
The December 1896 edition of 'Our Own Gazette', magazine of the Young Women's Christian Association, includes an outline of the work of the Joint Committee for Befriending Young Women working in Bars, Restaurants, etc. (see page 31).
'Workers in Public-Houses Organise', 1911Link opens in a new window
Four press cuttings relating to attempts in 1911 to form a National Union of Bar Assistants. Mary Macarthur, Secretary of the Women's Trade Union League, was amongst the organisers.
Digitised documents:
'Battle of Bread', 1880Link opens in a new window
Articles written by James Greenwood, journalist and 'social explorer', and published in the Railway Review, newspaper of the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants. The articles include sensationalised descriptions of Greenwood encountering working class men and women in London, including a young crossing sweeper, an umbrella mender, 'tallyman', dock labourers, mud larks, quack medicine sellers, 'slop-work' cabinetmakers and costermongers.
'Shantytown', 1892Link opens in a new window
Article by socialist author Robert Blatchford published in The Labour Prophet, newspaper of the Labour Church, in August 1892. He describes a visit to 'Shantytown' from the respectable suburbs of 'Villadom', and portrays the residents of slum housing as "unwashed, unkempt, untaught, unloved; degraded, and not ashamed".
The Modern Records Centre holds archives of unions and individuals associated with the development of 'New Unionism' from the 1880s onwards. These include the archives of the Dock, Wharf, Riverside and General Labourers' UnionLink opens in a new window, Tom MannLink opens in a new window and Ben TillettLink opens in a new window.
Digitised documents:
'The dock labourers' bitter cry; an address by a 'docker'', 1889Link opens in a new window
Pamphlet published by the London, Dock, Wharf, Riverside and General Labourers' Union in 1889. It includes a report of a speech made in 1887 by a 'docker' "to a crowded gathering of his fellow labourers, urging upon them to join in union for mutual protection". The identity of the author (Ben Tillett) was originally hidden and the main part of the document was published as being written by an anonymous dock worker.
'The 'New' trades unionism; a reply to Mr George Shipton', 1890Link opens in a new window
Pamphlet "to our fellow workers" from trade union leaders Tom Mann and Ben Tillett. George Shipton had been the General Secretary of the Amalgamated Society of House Decorators and Painters between 1866-1889 and was a prominent trade union opponent of 'New Unionism'. In this publication, Mann and Tillett set out the aims of the 'new' unionists and counter Shipton's criticisms of the movement.
'Prosecution of Ben Tillett', 1892Link opens in a new window
Pamphlet containing the text of a speech on politics and trade unionism delivered by Tillett in Bristol on 18 December 1892. It was published to counter accusations that he had incited violence.
The second in a series of books on 'Tempted London', produced by the 'British Weekly' Commissioners. It includes descriptive sections on different types of women workers, including 'Flower-girls', 'Match-box makers', 'Palm-workers', 'Brush-makers', 'Fur-pullers', 'Slaveys', servants (including on foreign servants and emigration), 'Factory-girls', 'City work-girls', 'East End shirt-makers', 'Barmaids', 'East End tailoresses', 'Laundresses - strikers - upholsteresses', 'Sempstresses - West End tailoresses', 'Boot and shoe makers' and 'Young women'.
East London Ropemakers' Trade Union, 1890-1895
The East London Ropemakers' Trade Union was founded in November 1889. By the time of its first quarterly meeting in February 1890, the union had 690 members (410 women and 280 men). In September / October 1890, the union split into separate men's and women's branches, and the men's branch was dissolved in December 1890.
Digitised documents include:
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- Rule book of the East London Ropemakers' Trade Union, undated [c.1890]Link opens in a new window
- Minute book of general and committee meetings, 1890-1895Link opens in a new window (large document so will take a short while to load)
- Eleven letters relating to the strike of women workers at Frost Brothers, rope manufacturers and yarn spinners, 1890-1891Link opens in a new window
'The Labour Prophet', 1892-1897Link opens in a new window
The Labour Prophet was the monthly journal of the Labour Church, a Christian Socialist organisation established in 1891. The illustrated journal includes articles on the work of the Labour Church (locally and nationally), politics, trade unionism and labour disputes, working conditions in particular industries, welfare, education, the role of women, temperance, and profiles of prominent individuals. Key figures in the 'New Unionism' movement, including Tom Mann and Ben Tillett, wrote articles for the publication.
'A voice from the aliens', 1895Link opens in a new window
Pamphlet, written by Joseph Finn, which was issued on behalf of eleven trade unions or trade union branches which represented Jewish workers. It provided a counter-argument to an "anti-alien" (i.e. anti-foreigner) resolution passed at the 1895 Trades Union Congress. A newspaper report from The Daily Chronicle about a protest meeting in London against the resolution is also available online.Link opens in a new window
'Report of Women Veterans' Causerie', 1938Link opens in a new window
Transcript of a roundtable discussion between five veterans of the British trade union movement - Gertrude Tuckwell, Julia Varley, Mary Carlin, Florence Hancock and Anne Loughlin. The discussion, chaired by Trades Union Congress General Secretary Walter Citrine, includes reflections on the women's work as trade union organisers in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. A transcript of a similar conversation between veteran male trade unionists is also available.Link opens in a new window
Digitised documents:
'Rouse, ye Women', 1910Link opens in a new window
Words of a strike song issued during the 1910 strike of women chainmakers in Cradley Heath, called by the National Federation of Women Workers. More digitised documents relating to the chainmakers and the Cradley Heath strike are available through our digitised collection on the 'sweated trades'.Link opens in a new window
Photographs of the 1911 transport strikeLink opens in a new window
Image gallery containing photographic prints and published images showing scenes during the 1911 transport strike, particularly in Liverpool.
Photographs of the Workers' Union, 1911-1921Link opens in a new window
Image gallery containing photographs from the annual reports of the Workers' Union. These include images of strikes that the union was involved with, including the 1911 Liverpool dock strike and various disputes involving women workers.
'Dublin Dispute: Report of special conference', 1913Link opens in a new window
Report of a Trades Union Congress conference in London on "the very grave position which existed in Dublin". The conference was addressed by representatives of the British and Irish trade union movement, including members of the Dublin strike committee.
The annual report includes information about the work of the trade union between August 1913 - July 1914, including a series of reports on 'year's organising'Link opens in a new window of women workers in local districts.
'Your country needs more men', c.1915Link opens in a new window
This handwritten, illustrated satirical verse attacks the army recruitment drives of the first half of the war and blames the international conflict on the "upper ten" who have sent the masses to "struggle, hack and hew" to "fill their common pan".
'The Worker', no.1, 8 January 1916Link opens in a new window
First edition of the 'Red Clydeside' newspaper, produced by the Clyde Workers' Committee. It includes articles about the Committee's campaign against the "Munitions Act, dilution of Labour, high food prices, conscription and the endless demand for sacrifices on the part of the workers". William Gallacher, author of the leading article in this issue, was sentenced to 12 months imprisonment in April 1916 for his 'seditious' writing in The Worker. He would later become a founder member of the Communist Party of Great Britain and one of the CPGB's few Members of Parliament.
In 1917 (a year of revolution elsewhere in Europe), a government enquiry looked into the question of growing industrial and social unrest in Britain. This report focuses on London and the south east, and outlines the main causes of discontent in the region. Reports on other areas in Britain are also available at the MRC but haven't been digitised (document reference: MSS.36/I9Link opens in a new window).
No mean fighter: the Harry McShane interviewsLink opens in a new window
Extracts from interviews with 'Red Clydesider' Harry McShane, recorded in 1972. The audio recordings include references to his life and activism in the early 20th century, including during the First World War.
The Modern Records Centre has several digitised collections which contain sources relevant to this section:
- First World War 100: conflict and commemorationLink opens in a new window
- Labour movement newspapers and journalsLink opens in a new window
- The 'Sweated Trades': working life in the early 20th centuryLink opens in a new window
- The Russian Revolution and Britain, 1917-1928Link opens in a new window
- Women - work, welfare and politics, 1870s-1940sLink opens in a new window
Selected sources:
Examples of undigitised documents on relevant themes.
Five volumes of newspaper cuttings arranged chronologically between August - October 1911.
Trade union archives at the Modern Records Centre include some sources on the attitudes of the organisations (and their members) towards migrant workers, Empire and the international labour movement. Some of these sources include discriminatory and offensive language reflecting the opinions of their authors.
Digitised documents:
'Small clouds in the sky', 1884Link opens in a new window
Article in The Polish Yidel, a socialist newspaper published in London in Yiddish between 1884-1886. The leading article in vol.1, no.11 comments on everyday antisemitism experienced by East London Jews (as the original is in Yiddish a typed translation has been provided). A follow-up article was included in the next issue.Link opens in a new window The translated articles have been made available as pdfs, please contact us if you are unable to access this format.
'Sweating Song', 1888Link opens in a new window
Song sheet published in both English and Yiddish "on the occasion of the strike of Jewish tailors in Leeds". The lyrics were written by Tom Maguire, a Leeds trade unionist, socialist and poet of Irish ancestry.
'Labour and life of the people. East London: The Jewish community', 1889Link opens in a new window
Extract from Charles Booth's 'Labour and Life of the People', vol.1, 'East London'. This chapter was written by Beatrice Potter (better known by her married name of Beatrice Webb), and attempts to provide an outline of Jewish settlement and institutions in East London for a British audience. The chapter focuses on the new Eastern European immigrants, rather than the more established Anglo-Jewish community.
'The Order of the White Seamen's Brotherhood', [c.1932]Link opens in a new window
Circulars aimed at "British White Seamen", calling for repatriation of "black and yellow seamen". They were published in Barry, South Wales.
'Cardiff coloured seamen appeal to National Union of Seamen', 1938Link opens in a new window
Appeal against discrimination sent by the Colonial Defence Association of Cardiff to the National Executive of the National Union of Seamen. This version was published in the 1 May 1938 bulletin of the Colonial Information Bureau, a London-based organisation previously known as the League Against Imperialism (see page 10). Other editions of the Colonial Information Bulletin, 1937-1939, are also available online.Link opens in a new window
Government guide issued to people who had been recruited to work in the UK under the European Voluntary Workers scheme. The booklet includes information for migrant workers on post-war life in Britain, including a section emphasising that "you must learn English".
Trade union archives at the Modern Records Centre include some sources on the attitudes of the organisations (and their members) towards migrant workers and Empire. Some of these sources include discriminatory and offensive language reflecting the opinions of their authors.
Digitised documents:
Pamphlet, written by Joseph Finn, which was issued on behalf of eleven trade unions or trade union branches which represented Jewish workers. It provides a counter-argument to the "anti-alien" (i.e. anti-foreigner) resolution passed at the 1895 Trades Union Congress.
The proposed deportation and compulsion for Russian subjects, 1916Link opens in a new window
Appeal by the Conference of Jewish Trade Union Committees in London against the proposal to deport Russian Jews to Russia unless they joined the British Army. The final section includes references to types of anti-Semitism experienced in Britain. A pamphlet on the same subject is also available.Link opens in a new window
'The Seaman', 1908-1946Link opens in a new window
Newspaper published by the National Sailors and Firemen's Union (renamed the National Union of Seamen after 1926). Indexes are at the front or back of the digitised volumes from October 1912 and help to identify references to the union's extensive campaigns against foreign (especially non-European) seamen serving on British merchant vessels. The volume for 1919Link opens in a new window includes several references to the riots (indexed under 'Coloured Seamen'). This publication contains explicitly racist views and language.
General Strike - online resources:
The Modern Records Centre holds many of the most important primary sources on the 1926 General Strike, and has produced a series of online resourcesLink opens in a new window to help researchers navigate and access the archives.
More than 550 documents relating to the General Strike, including strike bulletins, transcripts of radio broadcasts and internal trade union reports, have been digitised in fullLink opens in a new window and can be searched by keywords.
Our online 'Strike map'Link opens in a new window uses early 20th century Ordnance Survey maps to show strike events, through archive sources, in their contemporary landscape.
A 'day by day' summary of events is available onlineLink opens in a new window, with links to key sources relating to the events of each day.
Our podcast 'Broadcasting the General Strike'Link opens in a new window includes recorded extracts from strike bulletins, radio transcripts and newspapers, which tell a day by day story of the nine day dispute.
Beyond the General Strike - digitised sources:
The book 'Working days' contains "the personal records of sixteen working men and women written by themselves". The collection, edited by Margaret A. Pollock, includes descriptions of working life from railway workers, miners, building trade workers, an agricultural labourer, blast-furnace workers, a dock worker, electrician, textile workers in factories and working mothers.
'Women on the march', 1930Link opens in a new window
Communist Party pamphlet presenting the case of Hunger Marchers representing "thousands of unemployed working women".
The Marchers' Voice, 1934Link opens in a new window
Bulletin issued by the Yorkshire Marchers' Council to explain the ideas behind the National Hunger March.
Digitised documents:
'A woman's worth: The story of the Ford sewing machinists', 2006Link opens in a new window
Film produced in connection with the Trades Union Congress equal pay campaign. It includes interviews with people who had been involved in the strike in 1968.
Selected sources:
Information about undigitised documents on relevant themes.
File of bulletins included in the archives of the International Marxist Group.
Women's Liberation Workshop newsletters, 1974-1975Link opens in a new window
File of bulletins included in the archives of the International Marxist Group.
Working Women's Charter Group, 1975-1977Link opens in a new window
The file includes copies of discussion documents and articles, and a WWCG pamphlet on 'Women at work in Coventry (past and present)'.
Wages for Housework Campaign bulletin, 1979
Newspaper produced by the Wages for Housework Campaign.
Newspaper produced by the Wages for Housework Campaign.
'Jobs for a Change. London's Working Women', 1985Link opens in a new window
Publication produced by the Greater London Council Economic Policy Group.
Digitised documents:
Pentonville voicesLink opens in a new window
In 1972 three docker shop stewards were arrested for ignoring a legal injunction to stop picketing a cold storage site in Hackney, London. Two other stewards were also arrested a little later. All five were put in Pentonville Prison. Their arrest provoked a wave of strike action in the docks and elsewhere, with the Trades Union Congress General Council calling a one-day general strike for 31 July.
In the early 1980s Professor Fred Lindop recorded interviews with dock workers involved in the campaign for the 'Pentonville Five'. These audio recordings can be heard online.
'The Miner', 1972-1993Link opens in a new window
Special editions of The Miner, the newspaper of the National Union of Mineworkers. These include strike editions published during the disputes of 1972, 1974 and 1984-5.
Grunwick rememberedLink opens in a new window
The Grunwick dispute began in August 1976 when 137 workers, mostly South Asian women, walked out of the Grunwick film processing plant in Willesden, north-west London, in protest against working conditions and the attitude of the management.
Video recordings of interviews with key participants are available online. These were recorded in 2007 by Chris Thomas for the video history of the dispute produced for Brent Trades Union Council.
Coal Not Dole: The NUM and the 1984-5 miners' strikeLink opens in a new window
Digitised collection of 95 leaflets, pamphlets and other publicity material produced by the National Union of Mineworkers at national and local level, and by local community groups which supported the strike.
Making motorsLink opens in a new window
Extracts from interviews with trade unionists and management representatives working in the Midlands automotive industry in 1982-3. The audio recordings relate to the interviewees’ previous experiences and to the situation in the British motor industry in the early 1980s.
Selected sources:
Information about undigitised documents on relevant themes.
'The struggle at Imperial Typewriters', 1974Link opens in a new window
Pamphlet written and produced by Leicester and Nottingham International Marxist Group. It reports on a strike by predominantly Asian workers, and opposition to the strike by local union leaders and management.
The Grunwick dispute, 1976-8Link opens in a new window
This guide to sources identifies some of the key collections about the dispute held at the Modern Records Centre.
The Miners' Strike, 1984-5Link opens in a new window
This guide to sources identifies some of the key collections about the dispute held at the Modern Records Centre. These include the main archives of the National Union of Mineworkers and the NUM Yorkshire Area.
Women Against Pit Closures
Several collections include material relating to the work of Women Against Pit Closures and associated support groups formed during the 1984/5 Miners' Strike. These include:
Miners' Strike, 1984-5: support and community publicationsLink opens in a new window
Collection of books and pamphlets published, in most cases, during or shortly after the 1984/5 miners' strike. The majority of the publications were produced by support groups for the striking miners (including Women Against Pit Closures) or by individuals connected with support groups.
Women Against Pit Closures archive collectionLink opens in a new window
Includes correspondence and subject files relating to campaigning by WAPC during and after the 1984/5 Miners' Strike.
'Women's support groups', 1984-1990Link opens in a new window
Subject file created by Peter Heathfield, NUM Secretary during the 1984/5 Miners' Strike.