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?
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
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United We Stand - A History of Britain's Trade Unions (Alistair Reid, 2004. Allen Lane)
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A Short History of Labour in Scotland (WH Marwick, 1967. W&R Chambers Ltd)
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The Making of the English Working Class (EP Thompson, 1963. Penguin Books)
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The Common People 1746-1946 (GDH Cole & Raymond Postgate, 1968. Methuen & Co Ltd)
Education
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With Light of Knowledge - A Hundred Years of Education in the Royal Arsenal Co-operative Society (John Attfield, 1981. Royals Arsenal Co-operatve Society Ltd)
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Education and the Labour Movement 1870-1920 (Brian Simon, 1965. Lawrence & Wishart)
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The Intellectual Life of the British Working Classes (Jonathan Rose, 2021. Yale)
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A History of Adult Education in Britain (Thomas Kelly, 1962. Liverpool University Press)
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A Ministry of Enthusiasm. Centenary Essays of the Workers' Educational Association (Edited by Stephen Roberts, 2003. Pluto Press)
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Union Education in Britain - A TUC Activity (John Holford, 1994. UNiversity of Nottingham)
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The Story of Ruskin College 1899-1949 (Lionel Elvin, 1949. University Press Oxford)
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The Labour College Movement (JPM Millar, 1979. NCLC Publishing Society Ltd)
Women in Trade Unions
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Women and Trade Unions - An Outline History of Women in the British Trade Union Movement (Sheila Lewenhak, 1977. Ernest Benn Ltd)
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Women Workers & The Trade Unions (Sarah Boston, 2015. Lawrence & Wishart)
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Making Socialists – Mary Bridges Adams and the fight for knowledge and power 1855-1939 (Jane Martin, 2010. Manchester University Press)
Histories of individual unions that have a large focus on education
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A History of the National Union of Boot & SHoe Operatives 1874-1957 (Alan Fox, 1958. Basil Blackwell, Oxford)
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Single or Return? The History of the Transort Salaried Staff’ Association (Malcolm Wallace, 1996. Co-operative Press Ltd)
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A History of the the Assoc of engineering and shipbuilding draughtsman (JE Mortimer, 1960. AESD)
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Light and Liberty – The History of the Electrical Electronic telecommunication and plumbing union (John Lloyd, 1990. Weidenfeld & Nicolson)
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White Collar Union – 60 years of NALGO (Alec Spoor, 1967. Cox & Wyman)
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The Foundry Workers – A Trade Union History (HJ Fyrth & Henry Collins, 1959. Amalgamated Union of Foundry Workers)
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A Study in Industrial and Social History – The Derbyshire Miners (JE Williams, 1962. George Allen and Unwin Ltd)
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Bread on the Waters – A History of TGWU Education 1922-2000 (John Fisher, 2005. Lawrence & Wishart)
Selected Working Class Autobiographies
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A Bolton Childhood (Alice Foley, 1973. Manchester UNiversity Extra-Mural Dept & NW District of the WEA)
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A Man’s Life (Jack Lawson, 1946. Hodder & Stoughton Ltd)
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The Autobiography of an Artisan (Christopher Thomson, 1847. J Chapman)
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My Life's Battles (Will Thorne, 2014. Lawrence & Wishart)
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Labour, Life and Literature (Frederick Rogers, 1973. The Harvester Press Ltd)
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There Is Nothing For You Here (Fiona Hill, 2023. Mariner Books)
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Memoirs 1869-1924 (JR Clynes, 1937. Hutchinson & Co)
Other
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Men who Made Labour. The PLP of 1906 - the personalities and the politics (Edited by Alan Hayter & Dianne Haworth, 2006. Routledge)
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Buildings of the labour movement (Nick Mansfield, 2013. English Heritage)
Get in Touch
Gavin McCann
