The Marx Memorial Library & Workers’ School, the leading centre research and education on Marxism and socialist history, has secured £16,000 in grant funding from the Association of Independent Museums (AIM).
The Marx Memorial Library & Workers’ School (MML), the leading centre research and education on Marxism and socialist history, has secured £16,000 in grant funding from the Association of Independent Museums (AIM).
The award, supported by the Pilgrim Trust and The Julia Rausing Trust, will support ‘Power in Print: Unveiling the Stories Behind the Wapping Dispute Banners’.
This new project that will preserve, document, and share the Library’s collection of printworker banners from the Wapping Dispute of 1986–87.
Alongside conservation work and specialist storage for 28 banners, the initiative will focus on widening access to our collection through photography, cataloguing, oral history, and co-curation activities.
Veterans of the dispute, younger trade unionists, volunteers, and activists will work together to explore the stories carried by the banners and what we can learn today.
This collection captures the landmark industrial clash at Wapping with Rupert Murdoch’s media empire that involved one of London’s last manufacturing industries: print.
Unfolding amid the social, economic, and political turbulence of the 1980s, it reflects a decisive moment in British labour history under Thatcherism.
The project will capture new oral histories and testimonies, improve access to the collection through the Library’s online catalogue, and culminate in a co-curated online exhibition launching in Spring 2027.
Meirian Jump, MML Director, said: “The banners embody the spirit of collective action in their production. They are beautiful objects and the hand-stitching, colourful imagery, skill and care of their making provide a powerful symbol of the struggle for workers’ rights.
“This timely project — marking the 40th anniversary of the dispute — will create innovative new ways for people to engage with these remarkable objects while also ensuring they are preserved for generations to come.
“At MML, we believe labour history should be brought to life in ways that inspire discussion, participation, and action today.
“Power in Print will do just that.”
For more information about the Marx Memorial Library and Workers’ School, visit the Marx Memorial Library website.
