Manchester's Radical History

Ann: a new website

A new website has been launched called Manchester's Radical History at http://radicalmanchester.wordpress.com/.

The authors state the following:

Manchester Radical History Collective is a small group of politically active people living in Manchester. We're not affiliated to any single movement or Party and have a range of views on major political issues of the past, present and future.

We share an interest in the city's radical and grassroots history - the local struggles and campaigns that have shaped the city of Manchester and the towns that make up Greater Manchester, and the people that live in them. And we're inspired by the way that Manchester's people have maintained a spirit of independence and resistance which has endured down the years.

This website, and the print publications which we hope will also stem from it, came about with the aim of collecting accounts of different strands in Manchester's history, recording them, and making them available to as wide an audience as possible. We're particularly concerned with recording the memories of older members of our various communities and ensuring that their experiences and knowledge are not lost.

We hope to achieve a number of things with the tales and information we collect:

  • we want the people of Manchester to have a place where they can easily access information about their areas, communities and interests, and to be able to see themselves in the context of a city which has an exciting and inspiring radical tradition
  • we hope to help today's activists and campaigners to see themselves not as isolated individuals or groups, but as part of a vibrant tradition, and to be able to learn from the movements which have gone before them
  • we want young activists and campaigners to have access to the experience and life-stories of people who have successfully led lives as sustainable, productive radical people, balancing the demands of families and work with their political commitments
  • we hope to act as a source of experience, training and income for writers sympathetic to and involved in Manchester's many radical movements and traditions