Working Class Movement Library
Library in Salford, Greater Manchester
The Co-operative Movement started in Britain in the early nineteenth century, during the Industrial Revolution. Industrialisation brought the rapid growth of towns and fewer people producing their own food. Robert Owen is regarded as the founder of the Co-operative Movement. His vision was for villages of co-operation - a 'New World Order' A successful businessman, Owen set up a model community around his cotton mill at New Lanark between 1800 and 1820. He paid higher wages for shorter hours than his competitors, provided housing and education, and still made profits.
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Working Class Movement Library
read moreThe Manchester and Salford Women's Trades Union Council was set up in 1895 to organise women workers into trade unions. At this time trade unions were (with a few exceptions). A feature where someone from the Library chooses an interesting object, book or document from the Library collection, which is displayed in the hall of the Library. Become a Friend of WCML and be a Radical Reader. By becoming a Friend and Radical Reader you'll join the many helping to care for one of the best. Head to our blog to read stories behind some of the jewels of our collection, and news of recent acquisitions - plus the occasional poem from a local writer or musings from an artist.
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read moreThe 1944 Education Act was a major change to the education system of England and Wales. It introduced secondary education for all, raised the school leaving age to 15, and provided school meals and milk for all children. Alongside the 1946 National Health Service Act, the Education Act is widely regarded as one of the original pillars of the welfare state. It is perhaps ironic, then, that the Act was pushed through Parliament by a Conservative Minister, R.A. Butler. A Conservative may have been the principal sponsor of the Education Act, but it was to be the Labour government of 1945-51 which was to oversee its implementation.