The uprising of Moss Side had an air of inevitability about it. Following riots in Brixton, Toxteth and Handsworth, on 8 July 1981 Manchester became the next site of protest. When a small group of young Black men left the Nile Club, then Manchester’s leading black nightclub, they were met with jeers of “there could Continue Reading
The Peterloo Massacre: The Power of Peaceful Protest, by Romy Nicholson
On the 16th of August 1819, in what is now St Peter’s Square, over sixty thousand peaceful protestors gathered to hear “Orator” Henry Hunt speak, with the aim of invoking government reform. Despite the organised, civilised nature of the protest, the crowd was charged by paramilitary yeomanry, which resulted in the death of over fifteen civilians.
Suffragette City: Manchester in the Fight for Women’s Votes, by Aimee Butler
With the amount of recognition, promotion and publicity today’s feminist movement receives worldwide, it is important to reflect that the gruelling fight for female suffrage took place not so long ago. Whilst we still have a long way to go in terms of gender equality, the progress made since the suffragette movement of the nineteenth and twentieth century is a remarkable feat that is worthy of recognition.
How the Philosophies of Marx and Engels were Birthed in Manchester, by Louise Moracchini
Buried in an alcove of the Reading Room in Chetham’s library is an unassuming wooden desk. This desk was the station from which the founders of Marxism constructed their ideology during their time in Manchester. It was during the summer of 1845 that Friedrich Engels and Karl Marx worked from this desk, diligently developing the intellectual and literary roots that would change the world.
Slums to Suburbs: Who were Manchester’s Slum Dwellers and Where did they Go? By Neela Steube
Over the past year, I have taken a particular interest in the North Manchester slums as my own family lived there until the end of WW2. They survived on what little money my Great Grandfather and his eldest sons could bring home from their work at London Road Station (now known as Piccadilly Station). But who were those residing in these slums?