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About the book

Libraries Gave Us Power explores the history of trade unions' involvement in lifelong learning. The idea for writing it came about following the end of the Union Learning Fund (ULF) in 2020. The ULF was funding that Government had made available to trade unions since 1997 to help engage their members and the employers they negotiated with. It generated a tremendous amount of work and enthusiasm, but as it ended I wondered 'where now'? To answer that, I wanted to look back and try and place this 'very modern' activity within an historical context. We often hear that Education has always been a key pillar of the movement, but to what extent is this true?

Alice Foley's copy of the Socialist Sunday School 10 Commandments

It quickly became very clear to me that trade unionists had always recognised education as the key to genuine empowerment. Many of the early union leaders were self-educated men and women who had left school at a very early age and took it upon themselves to learn to read and write, to understand economics, and to gain a broader cultural education. From this foundation, they championed free education in schools - including free school meals and activities to improve physical health - and established libraries and institutions, as well as organising their own classes and courses.

The book begins in the early Nineteenth Century, examining figures such as William Lovett (Cabinet Makers) and John Gast (Shipwrights), who saw education as inseparable from their broader campaigns to empower workers. It then traces the campaign to expand working-class education for children from 1870 onwards, highlighting the fight for the Education Act that established School Boards. These were a hugely significant for the labour movement as they offered an opportunity for the Working Class - both Men and Women - a chance to participate in local democracy and thus 'prove' their capabilities.

Emboldened, unionists at the start of the Twentieth Century established their own instutions to provide - and campaign for - access to education. These included Ruskin College, the WEA, The Labour Colleges, and, most significantly, the Labour Party itself. Trade unionists sat on the board of Ruskin and the WEA, whilst the Central Labour College was effectively owned by the South Wales Miners and the Railwaymen. Thousands accessed education in this way and when Labour came to power in 1945 - its first with a clear majority - it was littered with students, lecturers and advocates for the WEA and the National Council of Labour Colleges (NCLC). The Education Secretary responsibile for enacting the 1944 Education Act, Ellen Wilkinson, was an organiser for NUDAW (now USDAW). Upon her death, she was succeeded by George Tomlinson of the Weavers' Association who had left school at twelve.

Despite the optimism of the Post-War era, by the 1980s it was evident that equality in education had not been achieved. Once again, trade unions felt compelled to intervene on behalf of their members. NUPE (Now UNISON) developed a basic skills project, Workbase, and a whole programme, Return to Learn, aimed at helping low-paid workers re-enter education. Numerous 'EDAP' schemes were negotiated - such as at Ford - and individual unions like the GPMU and ISTC developed projects tailored to the needs of their members. Through Bargaining for Skills, the TUC co-ordinated initiatives across the country to support union engagement in skills development.

When Labour returned to power in 1997 the Education Secretary, David Blunkett - himself a former Trade Union Tutor - established the ULF marking the beginning of a new chapter in the story of trade unions and lifelong learning.

My visit to Redhills, home of the Durham Miners Association (DMA), was a significant moment in how I saw the book. Before that, I saw it as simply about 'education'. After that, and seeing the magnificence of the building and the imposing statues of the autodidacts that line the driveway, I saw it differently. I hope that Libraries Gave Us Power is able to reflect the wider values of the movement. They've never gone away, but maybe we don't stop to think what they are. In other words, I'd just made things more difficult for myself!

The book should be out early 2027

Gallery

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About Me

2002 - present

UNISON East Midlands Learning & Development Organiser

My role is to support the unions' aim of 'Establishing a Culture of Lifelong Learning' by training and supporting Union Learning Reps (ULRs), negotiating with employers and developing structures.

1998 - 2002

Steel Partnership Training (ISTC union) Project Manager

Managing European Social Fund projects that supported ISTC members to re-train and find new work.

Me (far left) with the ULRs & Benjamin Zephaniah at DeMontfort Uni

Selected texts

Just a few of the fabulous books which have helped me along the way

General Trade Union and Working Class Histories

United We Stand - A History of Britain's Trade Unions (Alistair Reid, 2004. Allen Lane). There are lots of great general histories of the movement. I found this really easy to read.
Women and Trade Unions - An Outline History of Women in the British Trade Union Movement (Sheila Lewenhak, 1977. Ernest Benn Ltd). An essential read for anyone wishing to study the British trade union movement (the good and the bad). Education is a recurring theme within the book.
The Making of the English Working Class (EP Thompson, 1963. Penguin Books). Probably the first place to start to understand the development of the English working-class.
History of the Working Classes in Scotland (T Johnston, Forward Publishing Co. Ltd., 1929). More of a straight history book than Thompson's study of the English working class, but excellent detail.

Education

With Light of Knowledge - A Hundred Years of Education in the Royal Arsenal Co-operative Society (John Attfield, 1981. Royal Arsenal Co-operatve Society Ltd). A fabulous study of an individual co-operative education initiative centred on the Royal Arsenal works and established by the Amalgamated Society of Engineers
Education and the Labour Movement 1870-1920 (Brian Simon, 1965. Lawrence & Wishart). Extremely rich in detail and my starting point which led me to a huge array of research.
The Intellectual Life of the British Working Classes (Jonathan Rose, 2021. Yale). Very nearly put me off writing my book. Fantastically researched and wonderfully written. Superb.
A History of Adult Education in Britain (Thomas Kelly, 1962. Liverpool University Press). Kelly approaches Adult Education from the perspective of the working class and is a great introduction to the many initiatives of the nineteenth century.
A Ministry of Enthusiasm. Centenary Essays of the Workers' Educational Association (Edited by Stephen Roberts, 2003. Pluto Press). Selection of essays written to celebrate the WEA's 100th anniversary.
Union Education in Britain - A TUC Activity (John Holford, 1994. University of Nottingham). John Holford's book picks up at the point where 'trade union education' became a recognisable in its own right and follows the development of activist education.
The Story of Ruskin College 1899-1949 (Lionel Elvin, 1949. University Press Oxford). Good intro to the history of Ruskin.
The Labour College Movement (JPM Millar, 1979. NCLC Publishing Society Ltd). Millar's perspective on the development of the Labour Colleges and NCLC, and attitudes to the WEA.
The Trades Union Congress & The Struggle for Education, 1868-1925 (C Griggs, 1983, The Falmer Press). A really important text for LGUP. Outlines the development of the TUC's approach to learning and includes really good stats.
'Trade Unionists, Artisans and the 1870 Education Act’, British Journal of Educational Studies, 18: 2 (1970) and Trade Unionist, Co-operative and Socialist Organisations in Relation to Popular Education 1870–1902 (Manchester, 1960) - Both by WP McCann (no relation). These two papers are extremely important and invaluable to my understanding of the unions' involvement in the 1870 Education Act.
Do Miners Read Dickens? (H. Francis and. S. Williams, Parthian, 2013). Written by key individuals involved in the South Wales Miners' Library, this illustrates the breadth and impact of the miners' library across the coalfield.
Bread, Knowledge and Freedom (D Vincent) A study of 142 nineteenth century working class autobiographies.

Histories of individual unions that have a large focus on education

A History of the National Union of Boot & Shoe Operatives 1874-1957 (Alan Fox, 1958. Basil Blackwell, Oxford)
Single or Return? The History of the Transport Salaried Staff’ Association (Malcolm Wallace, 1996. Co-operative Press Ltd)
A History of the the Assoc of engineering and shipbuilding draughtsman (JE Mortimer, 1960. AESD)
Light and Liberty – The History of the Electrical Electronic telecommunication and plumbing union (John Lloyd, 1990. Weidenfeld & Nicolson)
White Collar Union – 60 years of NALGO (Alec Spoor, 1967. Cox & Wyman)
The Foundry Workers – A Trade Union History (HJ Fyrth & Henry Collins, 1959. Amalgamated Union of Foundry Workers)
A Study in Industrial and Social History – The Derbyshire Miners (JE Williams, 1962. George Allen and Unwin Ltd

Selected Working Class Autobiographies

A Bolton Childhood (Alice Foley, 1973. Manchester University Extra-Mural Dept & NW District of the WEA). My favourite and a book I would recommend to anyone. Brilliantly written by a trade union hero.
A Man’s Life (Jack Lawson, 1946. Hodder & Stoughton Ltd). Like Foley's, this is really well written, sometimes lyrical. A superb example of the early twentieth century autodidactic coal miner and his journey through a life of adult education that would ultimately lead to Parliament.
The Autobiography of an Artisan (Christopher Thomson, 1847. J Chapman)
My Life's Battles (Will Thorne, 2014. Lawrence & Wishart). Thorne's journey from poverty and illiteracy to establishing a union and Parliament, and (alonside Mary Bridges Adams) establishing Labour's policy on education.
Labour, Life and Literature (Frederick Rogers, 1973. The Harvester Press Ltd). An autodidact and trade unionist, Rogers was heavily involved in educational issues, including the school board and University Extension.
There Is Nothing For You Here (Fiona Hill, 2023. Mariner Books). From humble beginnings in the Durham coalfield to giving evidence to Congress, Fiona Hill discussues at length the importance of the community that helped her up.
Memoirs 1869-1924 (JR Clynes, 1937. Hutchinson & Co). Started work young as a 'half-timer' in the cotton industry, Clynes would spend his evenings in the co-operative library. He would stun Conservative politicians with his knowledge of Shakespeare.
From Ploughtail to Parliament, An Autobiography (J Arch, 1986, The Cresset Library). Arch founded and led the agricultural workers' union in the 19th century. This traces his early education (or lack of it), his love of reading and the development of the union.

Biographies and Other

Making Socialists – Mary Bridges Adams and the fight for knowledge and power 1855-1939 (Jane Martin, 2010. Manchester University Press)
Men who Made Labour. The PLP of 1906 - the personalities and the politics (Edited by Alan Hayter & Dianne Haworth, 2006. Routledge)
Artisans and Politics in Early Nineteenth-century London: John Gast and His Times (I. Prothero, Wm Dawson & Son Ltd., 1979)
Buildings of the labour movement (Nick Mansfield, 2013. English Heritage)

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