Issue 40 Manchester History by Manchester Historian

MH THE MANCHESTER HISTORIAN

SPRING MAY 2022

MANCHEST MANCHESTER MANCHESTER HISTO

HISTORY HISTORY 4OTHTH 4O TH 4O EDITI EDITION

EDIT

ISSUE 40 MANCHESTER HISTORY SPECIAL EDITION

WELCOME MAY 2022

ABOUT US

Welcome to Issue 40 of the Manchester Historian! To mark 40 issues of our student-run history magazine, we thought it would be f itting to dedicate an edition to the history of Manchester; its people, culture, politics, and, of course, our university. Previous editions of the Manchester Historian have covered a wide range of historical themes; including oppression and resistance, ideology and faith and language and culture. All these themes, though applicable to histories from around the globe and different points in time, can also be linked back to histories of Manchester. Manchester is a city f illed with culture from all corners of the globe. Moreover, Manchester truly encapsulated the def inition of a ‘global city’ during the 19th and 20th centuries, and therefore its position within the history not just of Britain, but of the whole world, remains hugely signif icant. We came up with a list of prompts that would both showcase and critique various aspects of Manchester’s history. This issue includes pieces such as, ‘Suffragette City’ and ‘The Gig that Changed the World’, just a select few of the articles which demonstrate the rich political and cultural tales that have contributed towards the Manucnian story. On the other hand, articles including ‘The Causes and Conclusions of the 1981 Moss Side Riots’, as well as ‘The Peterloo Massacre’ help to illustrate some of the more troubling aspects of our history in relation to racial tensions and working-class struggle. To top this off, we have also included a number of informative pieces about Manchester’s museums and monuments, so that any history fanatics who are not up-to-date with the city’s cultural and heritage sites can read up on where to go next to learn more about our surroundings. It has been an honour to work on and produce this milestone issue of the magazine, and we can’t wait to see what future teams produce in years to come. Once again we must thank our entire team for helping us not just with this issue, but with everything we have done this academic year. We would also like to thank Dr Kerry Pimblott for helping us along the way, as well as the rest of UoM’s history department for supporting the magazine and ensuring we are able to publish new content each year. We hope that by immersing yourselves in the following articles, your knowledge of the city we live and study in will be enriched, and therefore we must of course give f inal thanks to our writers, for providing yet another wonderful collection of articles that truly represent how vast and fascinating the history of Manchester is. Happy reading, we really hope you enjoy issue 40!

- The Editors

Our Team Editors Kerry McCall Lina Fitzjames

Heads of Copyediting Adam North Jack Radford

Copyeditors Annie Hackett Daniel Kirchin Sehar Amin Mohy-ud-din Carys Yudolph-Wood

Heads of Design Megan Hannaford Yvette Fuhrmann

Designers North Garms Matthew Long Leah Weisz

Heads of Online Erin Carrington Isaac Feaver

Heads of Marketing Alexandra Luxford Anna Williams

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IN THIS ISSUE

CULTURE, ART, AND ARCHITECTURE 4

The History of the Pankhurst Centre Sophie Watkins

Peterloo to Pankhurst, to the Pan-African Congress: An Alternative Tour of Manchester’s Monuments Megan Barlow

Post-Pandemic Innovation and the ‘People’s History’: A Tour of Manchester’s Museums Darcy Adams

‘Disorder’: A Brief History of Factory Records Erin Barnett

“The Gig that Changed the World”: The Impact of the Sex Pistol’s 1976 Manchester Gig Jess Twiss

The Strangeways Prison Riot: Dancing on the Grave of the System Millie Stocks

SOCIETY AND COMMUNITY 10

The Pakistani Immigrant Community in Manchester Sehar Amin

Manchester’s ‘Little Italy’ and the Pioneers of Britain’s Ice Cream Industry Eve Henley

Jewish History in Manchester and the Story of Helga Seligman-Ferrara Kate Ashcroft

Slums to Suburbs: Who Were Manchester’s Slum Dwellers and Where Did They Go? Neela Steube

POLITICS AND PROTEST 14

The 60s Mancunian ‘Ban the Bomb’ Movement Isaac Feaver

The Peterloo Massacre: The Power of Peaceful Protest Romy Nicholson

Suffragette City: Manchester in the Fight for Women’s Votes Aimee Butler

The Causes and Conclusions of the 1981 Moss Side Riots Millie Jacobs

Marx and Engels and the Influence of Manchester Louise Moracchini

INDUSTRY AND ECONOMY 19

The Manchester Bee: A ‘Symbol of Strength’? Claire Goodall

UoM HISTORY 20

Ellen Wilkinson: Manchester Graduate, Labour MP and Jarrow Crusader Chloe Gordon

Alan Turing’s Life and Legacy Caitlin Sellis

People, Power and Protest: Manchester’s Students against South African Apartheid Jason Lee

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CULTURE, ART, AND ARCHITECTURE

The History of the Pankhurst Centre The Pankhurst Centre stands as a symbol for the radical work done by generations of women. WORDS BY SOPHIE WATKINS

ucked away behind the multi-storey car park of Manchester Royal Infirmary lies the birth of the Suffragette movement: the Pankhurst Centre. Once the home of radical feminist pioneers, the Pankhurst family, the building is now home to the Pankhurst Trust and Manchester Women’s Aid. It would be hard to find a single person in Manchester who did not know a single thing about the Suffragettes or the Pankhurst family, but the story of what happened to the building after the family left is hardly common knowledge at all. As part of the Trust’s recent project, I’ve spent every Thursday afternoon for a few months now at the Centre, sifting through and sorting the materials inside boxes upon boxes to catalogue them for a new archive that aims to tell this very story. The building that was once home to the Pankhursts represents much more than just them, but now it stands as a symbol for the radical work done by the generations of women who followed them, and the generations yet to come. In the latter half of the 20th century when the hospital was being expanded, what is now the Pankhurst Centre was set to be demolished, and with its crumbling would have come the destruction of an immeasurably important site of feminist history. The building represents a turning point in women’s history. After the demolition plans became known to the public, there was national outcry against them. The Manchester Heritage Trust became a key part

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of saving the site and preventing demolition; they organised meetings with representatives of different women’s groups in order to raise the profile and create a movement for the cause. The real heart of the movement, however, was the women of Manchester. It was in the 1980s that women came together to continue the radical feminist legacy of the Pankhurst family in order to save their former home. The bricks and mortar of the site were saved after relentless campaigning by Manchester’s feminist networks and even squatting in the building. 1987 was the year that the building opened officially as the Pankhurst Centre. Key figures of Britain’s feminist movement were present for the occasion, like Barbara Castle, who had spearheaded the hugely important 1975 Sex Discrimination Act. Castle reportedly enjoyed chatting and mingling among former Suffragettes at the opening ceremony. Helen Pankhurst, the great-granddaughter of Emmeline Pankhurst, was also there to see the beginning of the next chapter. Blood, sweat and tears had been poured into the restoration of the building. Many female construction apprentices had worked on the site to bring it back to its former glory. The project didn’t just bring the building back to life, it also gave women new skills in not only construction and restoration, but in organising and fundraising. Various different kinds of events were put on to raise the much needed money to get the centre up and running, and to keep it going once it had opened. Ideas from coffee mornings to sponsored walks came to fruition and with them those vital funds were raised. Prominent figures became patrons of the appeal of the Pankhurst Trust, and letter writing became a key initiative. Such an old and fragile building was difficult and expensive to maintain, this meant anyone and everyone was considered as a potential donor. Members of

Parliament from up and down the country were written to by women at the centre to ask for help in fundraising. Many celebrities were also contacted about appeals for funding; there are replies from big names in film, TV, music and politics held in what is going to become the archival collection – and it’s surprising who said no to donating! The Centre now functions as a museum and a women’s charity, but these are not separate spheres. In an exhibition at the Centre, one woman described how the women’s groups held for survivors of domestic abuse often involve a visit to the parlour room where the Women’s Social and Political Union began, to serve as a reminder of just how courageous women can be, and the vast amounts of change that can be achieved from the most unsuspecting domestic spaces. The museum space also brings in activist elements. It is designed with black walls and writing in chalk, mimicking early political protest and writing by Suffragettes. It has always been a resource centre for women too, hosting all sorts of events over the years; female-only theatre workshops, DJ events, lesbian network parties – the list seems endless. This radical, feminist site has served for decades now to inspire and create hope in women from all walks of life in Manchester, and it is this that should be remembered just as much as the story of the family who once resided in the building. Whilst the history of the Pankhurst family is so fondly remembered by many Mancunions, the Pankhurst Centre, its story, and what it represents need to become a greater part of Manchester’s public memory. The Pankhurst Trust and Manchester Women’s Aid are continuing the legacy of the Pankhursts, fighting for women wherever possible. All of the women who work and volunteer to keep the centre running are at the heart of this fight, keeping the story of the Pankhurst alive, whilst adding their own chapters.

62 Nelson Street, Manchester, the birthplace of the Suffragette movement, is now the Pankhurst Centre. (Visit Manchester).

CULTURE, ART, AND ARCHITECTURE

Peterloo to Pankhurst, to the Pan-African Congress: An Alternative Tour of Manchester’s Monuments WORDS BY MEGAN BARLOW

he BLM movement illuminated the symbolic and emotional power attached to who and what councils and communities choose to exalt in civic space. In March 2021, Manchester Council conducted public consultations to ‘ensure’ the public realm was ‘holistic’ and ‘meaningfully reflected the city’s communities past and modern-day identity’. Yet questions regarding the history of revered figures, imbalances in representation and silences in recognition remain. The following traces both new and lesser-known, but no less pivotal, plaques and monuments, their often-overlooked histories and current place. Peterloo Massacre: August 16th, 1819, amidst chronic poverty and unemployment after the Napoleonic Wars, 60,000 people gathered in St Peter’s Field peacefully rallying for expanded political franchise at a time when only 11% of adult males could vote and Manchester had no MP. Met with armed cavalry, an estimated 600 injuries and 18 deaths ensued. The stacked rings, inscribed with the victim’s names, were unveiled inconspicuously by construction workers in 2019. Failure to consider activist’s concerns means this memorial’s step-like design prevents full access and somewhat overshadows this commemoration. William Marsden: St John’s Gardens rests on the former St John’s Church yard. A centralised memorial recognises many of the 22,000 people buried in the vicinity. Significantly, one panel commemorates Marsden who ‘originated the Saturday Half Holiday’. Perhaps incomprehensible in today’s reality of weekend brunches, shopping or football, Marsden led an 1840s campaign which, to the dismay of Mill owners, ensured Mancunian operatives became the first to finish at noon on Saturdays. Helping fuel recreational demand, this victory was an important precursor to extending leisure time outside gentrified classes and is part of the origin of our modern weekend. Emmeline Pankhurst: Following the WoManchester Statue Project’s five-year campaign ‘Rise up Women’, the first female statue erected since Queen Victoria in 1901, was unveiled on the centenary of the first woman’s election vote. Standing on a chair rostrum orating at a meeting circle, the statue powerfully embodies Pankhurst’s commitment to public participation and inciting ‘Deeds not Words’. Holding the radical WSPU’s first meeting at her Chorlton family home (now The Pankhurst Centre), Pankhurst led the pioneering Suffragette campaigns of aggressive civil disobedience. The bronze sculpture etenalizes Pankhurst and provides permanent reminder of the role played by women of the city in driving forward feminist political activism and societal change. Alan Turing: Turing’s criminalisation for ‘public gross indecency’ in 1952 saw his remarkable contributions subsequently silenced. Turing cracked the Enigma code during WWII and his computing theories have (now) titled him the father of modern computer science. Cast in china on a Sackville Garden bench, aptly between Canal Street and a university science building, Turing sits holding an apple. Shortly after undergoing chemical castration, Turing is thought to have committed

suicide via an apple laced with cyanide. The memorial reclaims this gay man’s legacy but also fosters reflection upon his position as a victim of homophobic prejudice and systemic discrimination. Constructed following a Stockport Barrister’s decision to kickstart a public memorial fund, it was on what would have been his 89th Birthday in 2001 that the city memorialised him. 5th Pan African Congress: In October 1945, the Pan African Congress held its fifth conference at the former Chorlton-on-Medlock Town Hall recognised by a red plaque on Manchester Metropolitan University’s All Saints Building. Delegates from across Africa, the Caribbean, Europe and America gathered with students and local diaspora to condemn imperialism and racial discrimination and demand decolonization. An important turning point in the struggles of African nations for independence, many significant activists and intellectuals attended like W.E.B Du Bois, Kenyan independence leader Jomo Kenyatta, Jamaican activist and feminist Amy Ashwood-Garvey and future Ghanaian President and revolutionary theorist Kwame Nkrumah. While small, this plaque aims to remember the city’s place in powerful transnational anticolonial politics. Ellen Wilkinson: Wilkinson enjoyed a trailblazing career of activism and politics, becoming the 2nd ever female cabinet member. As Jarrow’s MP, Wilkinson led the famous march of the town’s unemployed to London petitioning for the re-establishment of their industry and right to work. Dubbed “shelter queen” whilst junior minister for home security during WWII she also supervised civil defence, distributed air raid shelters and controversially approved conscription of women into the AFS. Moreover, as Minister for Education, Wilkinson played a monumental part in expanding secondary education and ensuring the leaving age was raised. Ellen was shortlisted in the Womanchester Project’s poll however, as yet, is recognised in the city only via plaques situated on the street where she was born and The University of Manchester’s main quadrangle, as well as the renaming of a university building after her. Doves of Peace: The Doves of Peace sculpture, outside the People’s History Museum, remembers how the city was the first to declare itself a Nuclear Free Zone in November 1980. Embodying the commitment to opposing atomic weapons made during the Cold War. A commemorative plaque also mounts the Town Hall. Adrift: Sculpted in 1907 and situated outside Central Library Adrift is not new, nor probably forgotten, but remains a favourite due to its poignant symbolism and enduring message. A sculpted stone family clinging to a raft amid stormy seas, Adrift encapsulates the late 19th century New Sculpture movement’s spirit of rebellion against Victorian propriety. The physical realism and poetic content embody life’s vicissitudes and fickleness. Sculpture Cassidy wrote that it represents “Humanity adrift on the sea of life, depicting sorrows and dangers, hopes and fears and embodying the dependence of human beings upon one another…”

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CULTURE, ART, AND ARCHITECTURE

Post-Pandemic Innovation and the ‘People’s History’: A Tour of Manchester’s Museums WORDS BY DARCY ADAMS

Map of Manchester (Northern Cartographie).

reater Manchester hosts a variety of museums seeking to display Manchester’s extensive and diverse history. With the lifting of COVID restrictions, many of Manchester’s museums have sought to take a fresh look at the city’s history and culture. The People’s History Museum is located in Spinningfields and presently displays the stories of migrant communities living in Manchester. Inspired by the words of the late Jo Cox, the museum internalises the quote “We are far more united and have far more in common than that which divides us” in the shaping of its exhibitions and connecting communities within Manchester. The People’s History Museum offers an opportunity to understand and connect communities in Manchester, whether its visitors be migrants, refugees, displaced people, students, or Manchester locals. Similarly, the Manchester Jewish Museum seeks to connect communities by using its collection of over 31,000 items to tell the story of Jewish migration and settlement in Manchester. In the years leading up to WW2, growing antisemitism in Germany and Eastern Europe led to a large Jewish migration moving West, to Britain and the U.S. Jewish museums were built as part of a community initiative, with the first museum being built in London in 1932. Manchester’s Jewish Museum opened in 1984 in a Grade II listed building, originally constructed in 1874. A visit to the Jewish Museum offers a combination of artistic, activist, and historical perspectives to connect its visitors to the history of Manchester’s Jewish communities. The northern Imperial War Museum (IWM) is part of a series of similar museums in the UK. The first IWM was built during WW1 to help rally support for the war. Today, IWM North takes a critical and emotional look at wars ranging from WW1 to the present day. Built on a bomb site from the Manchester

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Blitz, the IMW North is deeply connected to war history. The building was built by famous architect David Libeskind (architect of the Jewish Museum in Berlin) and it has been carefully designed to make its visitors feel disorientated and unsettled whilst spectating upon the Museum’s representation of war. With access to large archives and creative display technology, the IWM North provides an immersive experience with regularly changing exhibitions and installations outside of the main exhibition. Visitors have until June 2022 to learn about the Falklands War as the 40th Anniversary approaches. The Manchester Museum is closed for renovations until February 2023. Undergoing a £15 million renovation process the museum will modernise and extend its collections. At the centre of the Museum’s objective is to create a more inclusive and communicative space for visitors to explore its contents. Included in the exhibitions for its reopening are South Asia Gallery, Lee Kai Hung Chinese Culture Gallery, Belonging Gallery, and The Future of Education. The opening of the redesigned space will offer visitors the opportunity to develop their understanding of Manchester’s culture and history, which are all located conveniently within the main campus. Manchester museums have been paving the way for change by pursuing the mission of decolonising their museum spaces. The Whitworth Gallery and Manchester Museum have been undergoing the process of repatriation of stolen items to their place of origin. This has been a crucial step in museum transparency and some Manchester museums have been paving the way in their non-conditional repatriation of items. In November 2019 the Manchester Museum committed to the unconditional repatriation of 43 Aboriginal objects to their communities. Stolen from Australian Aboriginals nearly 100 years prior, the Manchester Museum became the first

museum in the UK to return an Aboriginal artifact to its place of origin. The Whitworth Gallery has taken a more critical eye in its institutional relationship with colonialism and its presentation of whiteness. Current exhibitions such as What Kind of City (by Suzanne Lucy) and Standardisation and Deviation offer a critical look at the history and future of the Whitworth. Similarly, to the Manchester Museum, the Whitworth Gallery is owned by the University and the Gallery hosts two floors of exhibition space that seek to be interactive with visitors and the wider community. The Gallery has a fantastic café which is predominantly glass, allowing one to see most of Whitworth Park and sculptures within it. This is an idyllic spot for studying and the Gallery offers a relaxing break from the campus study spaces. Additionally, the Gallery offers the opportunity to learn about the history of famous art and artists in Manchester and how we can view their works in the contemporary world. The National Football Museum in the city centre takes a more active and playful approach to Mancunian culture. The Museum’s activity space engages visitors, from young and old, to show off their football skills and get involved in the space. The Museum also uses photography to display the history of football culture and the idolisation of football heroes. Whilst the Football Museum takes a less critical approach within its exhibitions, the museum seeks to highlight the joy that football has brought to Manchester’s communities. This article has demonstrated that Manchester has a rich visual culture for its population to explore and experience. Public history is essential to community relations, just as communities inform the presentation of public history. Manchester’s community is at the heart of these museums, and they offer an excellent space to engage in the rich history of Manchester.

CULTURE, ART, AND ARCHITECTURE

‘Disorder’: A Brief History of Factory

Records WORDS BY ERIN BARNETT

actory Records was a fiercely independent and experimental Mancunian record label started by local news presenter and post-punk enthusiast, Tony Wilson. Though it closed down in 1992 its influence on Manchester and the UK music scene is undeniable and continues today. The history of its creation and philosophy reveals why Factory Records remains legendary in the collective conscience of Manchester. Factory Records life began as a club night, called “Factory Nights”, at The Russell Club. It attracted predominantly punk bands but became a staple venue for alternative up-andcoming bands touring the UK. Local bands such as Joy Division frequented Factory Nights and it became known as one of the most notorious “Norther” venues from which to begin a successful musical career. Due to its success, its creators Tony Wilson and Alan Erasmus decided that this small venture could be expanded into something far larger and more influential, and with this idea Factory Records was born. Wilson already had a successful career in television and music, owing to his hosting of the music show So It Goes on Granada TV, which showcased the best of the alternative music scene. Wilson was known to have hated “prog rock” which dominated mainstream music consumption in the mid to late 70s, and so he set out to bring edgy and exciting music straight into the front rooms of the public. He hosted bands that would become household names, like The Jam, The Clash, Buzzcocks, Siouxsie and the Banshees, and The Stranglers. After seeing the Sex Pistols at Manchester’s Lesser Free Trade Hall, he booked them to play the last episode of the first series of the show. He described the experience of seeing them as “nothing less than an epiphany,” which revealed to him that not all popular music was dull and with this the seed that would

Factory Records founders Peter Saville, Tony Wilson and British actor Alan Erasmus outside the original Factory club in Manchester, 1978 (Kevin Cummins).

become Factory Records was planted. Sadly, So It Goes was cancelled in 1977 following a profane appearance from punk legend Iggy Pop. In 1979 Factory Records was established, based at Erasmus’ flat in West Didsbury. Tony Wilson recalls, in his bathtub interview in New Order’s 1984 film Play at Home, that Factory Records was an experiment in philosophy put into practice. He stated that he had no hopes or intentions in starting a record company, instead intending for Factory Records to be a project of passion, one he could reminisce on for years to come. Therefore, it seems that Wilson never intended to form Factory Records simply for success, but in the pursuit of some higher philosophical goal. The label quickly expanded with the signing of Joy Division and the Happy Mondays, who eventually became Factory Record’s two most successful bands. However, the label was nearly derailed after the suicide of Joy Division front man Ian Curtis on the eve of their first American tour. Nevertheless, the rest of the members went on to reform, becoming the successful band New Order. Wilson’s first wife, Lindsay Reade, cited this moment as Factory Records’ turning point in the music scene. Following Curtis’ death, Love Will Tear Us Apart hit the UK record charts, reaching the Top 20, which projected the label and band out of obscurity and into the limelight. Factory Records is perhaps best known for its co-ownership of The Hacienda night club, based in an old textile mill on Whitworth West Street. The club became a Manchester legend in itself, attributed with the “acid house” and “rave phenomenon” of the late 80s and early 90s. The club generated almost no profit but it became famous for its anti-establishment values, along with its influence in the rise of the recreational drug ecstasy, which became

synonymous with its success and later downfall. The first instance of ecstasy-related death recorded at The Hacienda was when 16 year old Clair Leighton collapsed after taking the drug. The entry fee and bar prices, which were exceptionally low compared to competing venues, were too low to cover the maintenance and operating costs, despite its popularity. Many people have fond memories of The Hacienda and remember it as a genuinely exciting club. In 1992, Factory Records filed for bankruptcy after many years of sustained financial woe. Before his death in 2007 Wilson remarked that owing to Factory Records and its subsequent offshoots he was the only man in music who “never made any money”. In contemporary Manchester, the club and music scene remains influenced by the legacy of Factory Records. FAC 251, known by the locals as Factory, co-owned and created by Peter Hook (bassist of Joy Division and New Order) and Ben Kelly (the original designer of the Hacienda interior), is one of the biggest clubs in Manchester. It hosts club nights and live music, continuing the memory of Factory Records. The vitality and influence of the Manchester music scene would almost certainly not be the same as it is today without Factory Records and the Hacienda. Other than launching the UK rave and acid house scene, the label gave a platform to now legendary bands whose songs have entertained the UK and abroad for many years. It is unlikely that many music fans will be unfamiliar with songs such as ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart’ by Joy Division, and its historical influence is undeniable. Factory Records helped place “Madchester” on the map and generated a cultural revolution in the UK music scene and has been exported globally.

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CULTURE, ART, AND ARCHITECTURE

“The Gig that Changed the World”: The Impact of the Sex Pistol’s 1976 Manchester Gig WORDS BY JESSICA TWISS

he Sex Pistols’ gig at Manchester’s Lesser Free Trade Hall in June 1976 was recently voted one of the most influential gigs of all time. Seen as a critical moment in the emergence of the British punk movement and the proceeding post-punk scene. Despite hundreds of people claiming to have been there, in fact, there were only around 40 people in the audience, with tickets having been advertised in the small print of the Manchester Evening News for 50p each. Despite the small attendance, it was who was in the audience that mattered. Seemingly everyone in attendance was inspired to form a band. Peter Hook recalls attending with Bernard Sumner and making the decision that night to form Joy Division – “If they can do it, we said, meaning the Pistols, then so can we. We decided to follow the rules of punk… Rule one: act like the Sex Pistols. Rule two: look like the Sex Pistols.” Steven Morrissey, or simply Morrissey as he is known globally, of the Smiths was there and recalled that “the audience was very slim. It was a front parlour affair.” Why, then, did this Sex Pistols gig have so much influence on the future of Britain’s music scene? Dave Nolan, author of I Swear I Was There: The Gig that Changed the World, claims that the audience there that night simply looked at each other and said, in typical Mancunian fashion, “That’s rubbish! We could do so much better than that.” And that’s exactly what they did. As Hook’s memoir, Unknown Pleasures, reveals: “I could do that. Because, fucking hell, what a racket.” However, I believe that the Sex Pistols were also so inspiring because they were relatable. John Lydon was a child of working class Irish immigrants and came from an impoverished area of north London. In his autobiography, Rotten – No Irish, No Blacks, No Dogs, he remembers his family being treated as “the Irish scum”. The Sex Pistols’ anti-establishment attitude and nihilistic lyrics resonated with the anger of the working-class, that the would-be British punks felt in post-war, pre-Thatcherite Britain. For Lydon, none of his lyrics were abstract or intellectual, but instead, “working-class life at its grimmest”. Caroline

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A poster for The Sex Pistols at Manchester’s Lesser Free Trade Hall, 1976 (unknown).

Coon, one of the first champions of punk in the press, believed it was only ‘natural’ that a group of “deprived London street kids” such as the Sex Pistols would produce music “with a startingly anti-establishment bias”. Thus, it seems not only that those in the audience at the Lesser Free Trade Hall felt that they could

do what the Sex Pistols had done, but it was also that they felt they had to.

CULTURE, ART, AND ARCHITECTURE

The Strangeway Prison Riots: Dancing on the Grave of the System WORDS BY MILLIE STOCKS

n 1990, the inmates of Strangeways prison began the longest riot in British penal history. Once revered as a “last bastion of discipline,” the prison stood as the largest penitentiary in England, holding around 900 men at full capacity. By 1990, a peak of over 1,600 prisoners had been confined within its walls, becoming a ‘human warehouse’ with a dangerous guard-to-prisoner ratio. It was the perfect environment for revolt to fester, with cries for justice from disenfranchised men being inevitably ignored. Inmates began to talk of revolt, one specifically, Paul Taylor, who became the ring-leader of such discussions. Taylor was confined in an attempt to silence his protest but paradoxically, it was there he met Alan Lord, the second ring-leader of the riot, and the two began to plan their systemic overthrow. On April 1st , Taylor interrupted a church service, rallying his fellow inmates. Prisoners swarmed the guards, who retreated fearing for their lives, and attained possession of the keys. From this point, the prison was overtaken, thus beginning the complete authoritative breakdown which resulted in twenty-five days of enclosed anarchy. Rioters took to the rooftops, throwing slate and other such materials. By the end of the first week, many prisoners had grown bored, but a core of protesters remained consolidated on the roof. Unsurprisingly, the siege generated immense media attention, leading Taylor to deliver a rooftop speech, attempting to make the public aware of the terrible

conditions which had resulted from the immense overcrowding. He was once again silenced in a poignant display of ignorance and corruption as law enforcement used sirens to drown out his protest. In defiance, signs were made which exposed the layers of inhumane occurrences to the media and crowds. ‘The power’ by SNAP! became the anthem of rebellion as speakers were brought onto the roof. Inmates were dancing, singing and frying steaks on the metaphorical grave of penal authority as beneath them lay millions of pounds worth of damages. Enforcement measures were upped and Lord, viewed as the “lynchpin” of the operation, was returned to lawful authority, resulting in the beginning of the end. Large fires were started and the established stalemate broke. On the 25th of April, the five remaining protesters conceded. Both Lord and Taylor had ten years added to their sentences and within the 25 days, 2 people had been killed and 194 injured. The riot placed the system under a microscope and generated a wave of protests across the country. This resulted in the Woolf inquiry of Strangeways, which concluded that reform was desperately needed. Consequently, ‘slopping out’ ended and an ombudsman became necessary. Today, it is estimated that 71/118 European prisons remain overcrowded.

Prisoners communicated with the outside world from the roof of the prison during the siege, on April 1, 1990 (BBC).

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SOCIETY AND COMMUNITY

Pakistani and English flag (Shutterstock/Aritra Deb).

The Pakistani Immigrant Community in Manchester WORDS BY SEHAR AMIN

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anchester culture thrives from being a diverse city with a rich heritage. It also has a history of welcoming immigrants, especially European post-war refugees and the families who were fleeing the destruction left by WW2. The most recent influx of mass immigration into Manchester was during the 2007/08 recession. Almost every European country had been badly affected by the recession and those hit the hardest were the immigrants living within major cities. One such community of immigrants were a small group of Pakistani immigrants within Spain who could not keep up with the inflation and rising costs of living. Immigrants likely have to work much harder than citizens born in the country because immigrants cannot rely on several factors, such as generational wealth accumulated over time. Furthermore, immigrants are often sending resources to their families from the country they migrated from, whom they are supporting but were unable to travel with. Therefore, it is not surprising that once communities of immigrants are unable to support themselves, they emigrate to other countries in search of affordable living conditions. Manchester was an appealing choice at the time due to its high population of South Asians. Many of the Pakistanis that immigrated to the UK chose to situate themselves in the north of England. This was owing to the greater affordability to settle in cities such as Manchester and Birmingham. Due to the

large community of South Asians/Muslims already present, many believed they would feel at home. It was also considered prudent due to hate crimes targeting immigrants that occured in areas that were not populated by many South Asians or other migrant groups. During the recession, many working-class Pakistanis suffered abuse and hatred from xenophobes. This led to migrants being forced out of white majority areas and moved into inclusive environments, such as that of Greater Manchester, where they might feel more welcomed by the locals and to escape some of the harassment. This generated a feeling of collective alienation within some Pakistani immigrants for parts of British society that had abused them. One consequence has been the seclusion of some communities from mainstream British culture, such as lower political participation and voter turnout in elections. There is a lack of a sense of belonging among some migrants and many do not feel attached enough to the country and its politics to care about such matters. They are often much more attached to the countries they migrated from and spend time reminiscing about the past, craving the feeling of belonging that they have sadly not yet felt in the UK. Although some will never see Manchester as their true home, many will not deny the feeling of comfort and safety it has provided for the Pakistani community and the sense of belonging it has fostered.

SOCIETY AND COMMUNITY

Manchester’s Little Italy

and the Pioneers of Britain’s Ice Cream Industry WORDS BY EVE HENLEY

fter 22 months native Italian designs and of enquiries a countryside scenery were plaque was erectcharacteristic of these carts, ed in December of 2021, described as having filled officially recognised Anthe streets of dreary induscoats as ‘Little Italy’, a trial Manchester with an “community integral to unfounded life of colour. Manchester’s economic To make ice cream, milk was and cultural heritage boiled in large metal tubs, since the late Nineteenth before various secret ingreCentury”. Manchester’s dients and flavourings were Italian community is added. These tubs were ofdescribed by Third genten left to cool in the baseeration Anglo-Italian ment of houses, allowing Anthony Rea, as having for the delicious smell of provided an “exemplar cooling warm, sweet milk for immigrant behaviour,” to pervade the streets of AnThe “Festa della Madonna del Rosario” parade in the 1930s in Manchester city centre having “brought such coats. The freezing of milk (Manchester Italian Association). character to this grim was aided by the Blossom part of Manchester” with their “music, food and customs bringing so Street Ice Company - now a Co-operative - and the milk was churned by much colour to this area”. hand in buckets engulfed in ice and salt. This manual freezing process The late Eighteenth-Century saw Manchester’s first wave of Italian would often take multiple days, and proved arduous, unsurprisingly immigrants, the majority from northern Italy’s highly skilled, profesfreezing work. In the Nineteenth-Century, today’s wafers and waffle sional class. However, in the aftermath of the Italian unification in 1861 cones didn’t exist and instead, ice cream was served in ‘licking glass’. swathes of Italy’s ‘contadini’, or rather farming class, sought refuge in These were washed and reused by the following customer and were Manchester’s New Cross district of Ancoats. Immigration peaked in the unsurprisingly deemed an extreme health hazard. It can be argued period between 1891-1901, and by the late Nineteenth-Century, 24,382 that the invention of biscuits- served with ice cream- in 1904 saved the Italians lived in Britain and 1200 in Manchester. Italy’s overwhelmingly industry in negating the ’licking glasses’ cross-contamination problems. agrarian economy struggled to compete with Western Europe’s increas- Ancoat’s families not only contributed substantially to the pioneering ingly advanced industrial society following its unification. Italy’s GDP of Britain’s still thriving ice cream industry, but they still exist in some comprises roughly half that of Britain and about 25% of that of France capacity today. Examples include Vincenzo Schiavo’s Vincent’s Ices and Germany. Manchester’s bustling industrial metropolis, therefore, and Boggiano’s Peter Burgon’s. offered an attractive, promising and opportunistic refuge for Italy’s Unfortunately, this highly established Italian community encouncontadini that were reaping little benefit from Italy’s stunted economy. tered an epoch of anti-Italian feeling in Britain throughout the Second The Italian community settled in Ancoat’s Parish of St Michael’s, World War, even though the formation of Anglo-Italian identity resulted home to many of Manchester’s mills, and soon began to outnumber in a failure in elitist attempts to impose identification with the fascist the area’s initial English and Irish communities. They resided in indusstate. Despite this, for fear of fascist sympathisers, 25% of Manchester’s trial Britain’s typical modest terrace housing, whose separate kitchens, Italian population were interned in British labour camps and many were living spaces and outside privy proved luxurious in comparison to deported to Canada often for unfounded, unsubstantiated reasons. their previous homes in Italy. Upon realising the need for a society to The war’s traumatic impact left the community still believing in their uphold the cultural needs of Ancoats Italian community, Father Tynan status as ‘enemy aliens’ post-war. The British authority’s unwillingness formed Manchester’s Italian Catholic Society in 1888. This society to acknowledge their own mistakes cost the Italian community many truly instilled a sense of community amongst the Italian immigrants lives; most critically those of 446 men who drowned in the torpedoing and was pejoratively considered well-integrated, prosperous and highly of internee ship, the Andorra Star. An acknowledgement of this tragedy respected members of British Society. The society instigated language came 68 years later, in 2008, with the unveiling of a plaque of rememclasses, social events and organised the ‘Festa of the Madonna of Mount brance in the Parish Church of Our Lady and St Nicholas, Liverpool. Carmel’ which constituted the carrying of the blessed virgin through Sadly, Britain’s decline in manufacturing throughout the 1970s the city of Manchester. The procession still leads every year from St saw the end of the Ancoats ‘Little Italy’ community. Many of the Michael’s Roman Catholic Church. Anglo-Italians emigrated back to Italy’s more prosperous economy, The 1881 census reveals that the dominant occupation of those and Manchester City Council cleared Ancoats of its slums, moving all living in the Ancoats area was that of a vendor or street musician, often remaining residents to another area. Since then, Ancoats has undergone referred to by Mancunions as ‘herdy-gerdy players’. However, most a major renaissance and is now arguably one of Manchester’s coolest excitement can be sought in the Italian community’s pioneering of Nine- neighbourhoods, housing some of the city’s most exciting restaurants teenth-Century Britain’s ice cream industry, a skill yet to have crossed the and bars. Ancoats’ community today mirrors that of ‘Little Italy’ in British channel. A multitude of families, all with their own secret recipe, its thriving individualism, remaining home to countless independent embarked on the mass production of ice cream to sell in the streets of success stories. Manchester on push and pony carts. Vibrant, beautiful paintings of

THE MANCHESTER HISTORIAN I MAY 2022

SOCIETY AND COMMUNITY

Jewish History in Manchester and the Story of Helga Seligman-Ferrara WORDS BY KATE ASHCROFT

n celebrating the history of the diverse, dynamic city of Manchester, it is impossible to ignore the impact of Manchester’s Jewish community in shaping the city that exists today. The history of the Jewish community in Manchester can be traced back to the 1780s, when a man named Jacob Nathan became the first known Jewish resident in the city. At this time, there were no synagogues in Manchester, but since the 1740s, groups of Jewish people who were travelling through the city would all come together to pray in a mysteriously named Synagogue Alley which appeared on a map of Manchester in 1741. In 1796, the first permanent synagogue in the city was opened inside a warehouse on Garden Street within the city centre. The number of synagogues across the city grew simultaneously with the Jewish population in Manchester, which was rapidly increasing because of Manchester’s great promise of economic opportunity. Thanks to the industrial revolution, the city’s cotton, linen and woollen industries were flourishing, attracting, amongst others, Jewish migrants from Syria, Libya and Egypt who worked in these industries. These Jewish migrants were amongst the 110,000 residents of Manchester by 1800, a huge increase from a mere 15,000 in the 1740s. By the end of the 18th Century, Manchester’s population included a community of Jewish salesmen and shopkeepers who had settled and established businesses across Manchester, which were originally based in the city centre, before gravitating north towards Cheetham Hill and elsewhere in the city. One of these businesses was the first kosher restaurant in Manchester, opened in 1819 as the first community hub for Jewish Mancunians. Another business was established by Michael Marks, a Jewish migrant who lived in Cheetham Hill with his family. After opening the first penny bazaar in Leeds’ Kirkgate Market, it was in Manchester where he and Thomas Spencer opened the first Marks and Spencer store, on Cheetham Hill Road in 1894. Unfortunately, economic opportunity was not the only reason why Jewish migrants made Manchester their home. Throughout the 19th Century, Jewish people escaped antisemitic persecution and a lack of opportunity across Europe. Some arrived in Manchester after escaping from harrowing pogroms, the term for an organised massacre of a particular ethnic group. Others came from rescue operations such as the Kindertransport, the scheme which facilitated the arrival of 10,000 Jewish children to Britain fleeing from Nazi Germany. Similarly, Jewish migrants arrived on refugee visas, although these were given out by the British government very cautiously after the First World War, keen only to welcome the “right” kind of refugee: doctors or scientists, or people who were able to fill a gap in the job market. Consequently, the largest group of refugees were women who travelled to Britain on domestic service visas, filling long-standing empty roles in Britain.

THE MANCHESTER HISTORIAN I MAY 2022

One of these Jewish migrants was a young woman named Helga Seligman-Ferara, born in Hamburg in 1820. Her father, Ralph, was descended from famous rabbis and advisors to the king, dating back to the 13th Century, and was the director of the Brahms Conservatorium. This position meant that the family held great societal status, which permitted Helga to attend private school and grow up surrounded by artists, dreaming of becoming a musician herself. However, as the 1930s progressed and the situation worsened for German Jews, Ralph lost his job and Helga had to enrol in a Jewish school. On Kristallnacht, 9th November 1938, the night where more than 1,400 synagogues in Germany and Austria were burned and around 30,000 Jews were arrested and sent to concentration camps, the SS came for Ralph. Fortunately, he was able to hide and, shortly after, flee to America, but Helga was left in Hamburg, aged 17. At this age, she was too old for the Kindertransport system, but still too young to travel out of Germany on a domestic service visa. On her 18th birthday, her visa was approved, and she travelled to Britain to work in the homes of several Jewish families, throughout which she experienced maltreatment and a lack of empathy. One family did not allow Helga to eat the same food as them and insisted that she completed her domestic work one-handed when her other hand had become dangerously infected. Another family banned her from joining them in the bomb shelter because the wife was convinced that her husband had taken a liking to Helga. Having had such horrible experiences working as live-in help, Helga managed to escape this occupation, marrying another refugee, Kurt Gorney in 1943. Here in Manchester, the couple established a kosher soap company; the Gorney Soap Company. A bar of Helga and Kurt’s kosher soap can be seen on display at the Manchester Jewish Museum in Cheetham Hill, alongside many other incredible stories about Jewish Mancunians. The Museum stands alongside the stunning former Spanish and Portuguese synagogue, which visitors can explore and which is the oldest surviving synagogue in Manchester, officially opened in 1874 for the city’s Sephardi community. Through the enveloping stories of Jewish people who all made Manchester their home, such as that of Helga and Kurt Gorney, the Manchester Jewish Museum celebrates togetherness and community, connecting visitors to the Jewish stories which are interwoven into the fabric of this city. These stories illuminate the fascinating history of Manchester’s Jewish community, one of huge influence in the city’s present, illustrating the welcoming nature and vibrant cultural identity of Manchester, the city we know and love. BELOW The Manchester Jewish Museum (Citizen Design Bureau).

SOCIETY AND COMMUNITY

The most famous slum of the time is located around the Red Bank area of the city, including what is now Green Quarter and Angel Meadows (The University of Manchester Library).

Slums to Suburbs Who Were Manchester’s Slum Dwellers and Where Did They Go? WORDS BY NEELA STEUBE

n 1904, Thomas R. Marr produced a map of Manchester using a colour-coded key to indicate where Manchester’s slums were located. The city centre was awash with a sea of blue, illustrating the multitude of factories and warehouses which filled Manchester at the turn of the twentieth century. Surrounding these warehouses was a large band of black and brown – the location of Manchester’s slums, which spread as far out as Miles Platting, Collyhurst and Hulme. Moving away from the industrial life of the city centre, the colour of Marr’s map brightened, changing to a sunny yellow. The yellow indicated the prosperity of Victoria Park, a world away from the squalor of the city and the slums. 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? In the 1830s, around 11% of Manchester’s population were living in cellar dwellings, and although these were closed thirty years later, poverty in Manchester continued to rise. A quick scan of the census records from nineteenth century Manchester reveals that many of the slum dwellers worked on the railways or in the factories, evidently seeking

out cheap housing within close proximity to their workplace. However, this led to a huge infant mortality rate, as condensed housing on top of the poor water supply only encouraged the spread of fatal diseases, such as cholera in the 1830s and tuberculosis in the latter half of the nineteenth century. Of course, the slums no longer exist, having been demolished following WW1 in Britain’s attempt to build “Homes Fit for Heroes”. During the interwar years, new estates began to be built in the leafy suburb of Wythenshawe, advertised as modern, safe homes for Manchester’s growing families, with a bathtub and hot running water. However, did this make life better for the former slum dwellers? Wythenshawe’s new residents were warned that they would face eviction if their “slum habits” continued on the estate. Furthermore, whilst Wythenshawe was abounded with modern housing, it lacked key local amenities. Oral history accounts record how the women of Wythenshawe had to walk miles to their nearest shop or bus stop. Therefore, the former slum dwellers’ lives were not vastly improved, and in many ways they were abandoned. The slums may have been a breeding ground for poverty, but nevertheless an active working-class community flourished within them which became a legacy of Manchester class activism and the fight for change.

THE MANCHESTER HISTORIAN I MAY 2022

POLITICS AND PROTEST

Openshaw and Bradford Communist Party and Manchester youth CND demonstration, 1960s (University of Salford).

The 60s Mancunian ‘Ban the Bomb’ Movement WORDS BY ISAAC FEAVER

THE MANCHESTER HISTORIAN I MAY 2022

ot unlike the rest of the world, the ‘Ban the Bomb’ movement in Britain emerged after the promethean Trinity Test on July 16th, 1945, which signaled the beginning of the nuclear age. The Trinity Test was the first detonation of a nuclear bomb, which instantly provoked conflicting responses of revulsion, horror, awe, and bewilderment once the censorship of WW2 dissipated. In August 1945, these weapons were used for the annihilation of Japanese cities, Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and amassed a death toll estimated to be in the hundreds of thousands. The terrifying nature of these weapons strengthened feelings that nuclear bombs were apocalyptic. The ‘Ban the Bomb’ movement was a direct challenge to the existence of nuclear weapons and adapted to the changing technologies and doctrines of the ensuing Cold War between the United States and Soviet Union that followed the end of WW2. Among the major actors of the Cold War was Britain, whose nuclear research predated and added substantial scientific knowledge to the U.S Manhattan Project. Britain pursued nuclear weapons independently of the U.S, gaining atomic weapons in 1952 and the far more destructive hydrogen bomb in 1957, which was why Britain’s Trident deterrence system was established. Although Britain established itself as a member of the exclusive nuclear club, there were significant movements demonstrated by Brits to dismantle the nuclear arsenal. The most recognizable organization committed to nuclear disarmament that emerged in Britain was the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND), founded in 1957 and

chaired by Bertrand Russell. The CND drew substantial support from Protestant church ministers, particularly from Methodists and churches committed to pacifism. At the time, Manchester was among the largest industrial centres in Britain and known for its stubborn independence. The city became a major hub for the movement, partly owing to the strong Methodist presence which made it a nucleus in the North. Although London was the CND’s centre, the movement in Manchester gained more support from civic authorities. In the early 1950s, when Parliament devised evacuation and bomb shelter procedures that were inspired by the Blitz, Manchester and Sheffield declared themselves ‘nuclear-free zones’. It was obvious that even the most secure shelters that had weathered the Luftwaffe bombings would be utterly useless against these apocalyptic weapons. Manchester was unwilling to participate in the national preparations for a nuclear war, which many believed would increase rather than decrease the likelihood of the apocalypse. Parliamentary planning for nuclear war also involved the separation of families, military occupation, and the national relocation of doctors and nurses. Mancunian demonstrations opposed Labour Party policies in 1964, when Harold Wilson sought greater nuclear independence from the U.S. Manchester’s rejection of preparing for atomic warfare added substantial weight to the CND’s message of the lunacy in possessing such weapons, but the CND remained a small movement and its moral objections lost their potency each year atomic war did not occur.

POLITICS AND PROTEST

The Peterloo Massacre: The Power of Peaceful Protest WORDS BY ROMY NICHOLSON

s hundreds of “Kill the Bill” protestors recently gathered in Manchester city centre, it felt timely to remember the Peterloo Massacre. The objective of “Kill the Bill” protesters is to stop police and government from imposing conditions on non-violent protests, thus, a parallel arises between this topical issue and the Peterloo Massacre. Post-Napoleonic War Britain was wrought with debt and poverty. The country faced an industrial depression and victory in France was becoming a distant memory. Returning soldiers were dismayed at the state of the country and The French Revolution sparked waves of revolutionary thought in Britain, inspiring those who felt unrepresented by their government to take action against authority. 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. Later nick-named the Peterloo Massacre, it was seen as an unforgivable failure for a government who had won a famed victory at Waterloo, just four years previously. The massacre, albeit avoidable and unjust, paved the way for working-class activism in the following years. Peterloo became a catalyst for the mobilisation of reformers, such as John Taylor Edwards who witnessed the massacre. In 1821, Edwards estab-

lished the Manchester Guardian which sought to promote liberal interests and political equality. Edwards sent his account to the London press to ensure the authorities could not manipulate the public narrative. Further political movements were inspired by the massacre such as the Anti-Corn Law League. Manchester was an integral hub for industry and manufacturing, and in 1838, the Manchester Anti-Corn Law Association was formed, with the site of the massacre used as the group’s base. Most notably, the Chartist movement fought for the same cause upon which the Peterloo victims had fallen. As the first mass working-class movement in the country, Chartists demanded universal male suffrage. By 1918, five of the six Chartist demands had been achieved, making politics more accessible to those it once severely disadvantaged. The Peterloo Massacre changed parliamentary democracy and gave new political agency to the working class, making it a considerable turning point in British history. With current attempts to limit protestors’ freedoms, it is paramount to question whether our society is respecting the historical legacy of Peterloo and protecting our right to peacefully protest. Peterloo is a reminder that it is essential to maintain the right to protest, and, despite the ruthless attempts by the establishment to quell their voices, the Peterloo activists had a monumental impact on the political landscape of the nineteenth century

At least 15 people were killed in the Peterloo Massacre, depicted in this print by Richard Carlile (The University of Manchester Library).

THE MANCHESTER HISTORIAN I MAY 2022

POLITICS AND PROTEST

Suffragette City:

Manchester in the Fight for Women’s Votes WORDS BY AIMEE BUTLER

ith the amount of recognition, promotion and publicity to- and losing everything to her name. Ridiculed and bullied by many men day’s feminist movement receives worldwide, it is important and often crudely caricatured for her views and appearance, Becker to reflect that the gruelling fight for female suffrage took continued to campaign for female suffrage, even extending her fight place not so long ago. Whilst we still have a long way to go in terms of to the promotion of the idea that men and women were intellectually gender equality, the progress made even. She is also thought to have been since the suffragette movement of an inspiration to a young Emmeline the nineteenth and twentieth century Pankhurst, who hinted that without is a remarkable feat that is worthy of her, the movement may never have recognition. had the impact or results that it did. Women in Great Britain received Lydia Becker was also the secretary the right to vote only a mere 104 of the Manchester National Society years ago on the 6th February 1918. for Women’s Suffrage in 1867, howAlthough the Representation of the ever, this was a post previously held People Act passed in 1918 only seby Elizabeth Wolstenholme-Elmy, cured the vote for women over the age another name with an extraordinary of thirty, who also held a sufficient legacy that deserves a great deal more property qualification, the act was a recognition. momentous and glorious victory for Wolstenholme-Elmy was a furiouswomen across the country. Women ly active political persona throughhad been treated as subordinate to out her life, particularly involving men for centuries, and the act marked herself in the campaign against the the beginning of a long line of develdiscriminatory and unjust Contaopments for women and their fight gious Diseases Acts and successfully for equality. bringing about their repeal in 1886. Many would assume that London, She took part in the formation of the capital of the modern British Emthe WSPU alongside Pankhurst and pire, was the forefront of political and was described by Pankhurst herself social change, however, many of the as “the brains behind the suffragette famous and outstanding characters movement”. Wolstenholme-Elmy’s of this history came from elsewhere, participation in the movement did such as Emmeline Pankhurst, a proud not concentrate on solely women’s Mancunian, who is commemorated suffrage, but women’s rights as a through a statue in St. Peter’s Square. whole, expressing considerable inThe suffragette movement, once naterest and leading several campaigns Founders of the WSPU Annie Kenney and Christabel Pankhurst tionalised, came to a head in London; addressing women’s education, prop(Tom Marshall/mediadrumworld.com). however, the industrial city of Manerty rights and protection against dochester played a crucial role in its beginning. mestic violence. A selection of the acts she was instrumental in procuring Emmeline Pankhurst was born into a politically active family in Moss include the 1869 Endowed Schools Act and the 1882 Married Women’s Side, Manchester and introduced to the female suffrage movement at Property Act. In 1871, she became the first ever paid employee of the the age of fourteen. In 1903, she became the founder of the Women’s women’s suffrage movement. Social and Political Union (WSPU). Together with its bold motto “deeds The industrial city of Manchester is endowed with the privilege not words” and army of militant, fearless activists, Pankhurst and the of being the home of such exceptional and historically monumental WSPU became a force to be reckoned with, drawing public attention personalities such as Emmeline, Lydia and Elizabeth: only three out of to their cause and threatening the male ascendancy in government. a long list of contributors to the women’s suffrage movement to come Unbeknownst to many, Emmeline Pankhurst was not the only bold, from Manchester. The city saw the first women’s enfranchisement and influential female suffrage activist to come from Manchester. The committee in the country established, alongside the rapid evolution name Lydia Becker is not one that is as well-known as the Pankhurst’s of the suffragette movement into a militant operation, headed by family, yet her contributions to the suffrage movement were undeniably strong-minded and fearless Mancunians. The city of Manchester’s role invaluable. Lydia Becker is credited with involvement in the suffrage is forever ingrained in its architecture, with plenty of spots around the movement from its very beginnings - establishing the Manchester city to remind you of the movement’s roots. Emmeline Pankhurst’s Women’s Suffrage Committee in 1886. This was the first of its kind family home is located near Oxford Road and the People’s History throughout England, placing Manchester at the forefront of societal Museum containing a suffragette banner claiming Manchester to be change. The fight for women’s suffrage was just starting and the concept “First in the Fight” for women’s suffrage, which was first used in protest of women moving into the male domain was still an absurd idea to most in 1908 in Stevenson Square. of the population - even women. This makes Lydia Becker stand out Whether you’ve lived in Manchester all your life, whether you’re a as one of the most significant activists of the time and a pioneer of the student studying at the university or whether you’re just on a weekend suffrage movement, defying what were then completely concrete and trip, Manchester’s rich history and influence in founding the suffragette inviolable social constructs. She risked becoming an outcast to society movement is something for all to take pride in.

THE MANCHESTER HISTORIAN I MAY 2022

POLITICS AND PROTEST

The Causes and Conclusions of the 1981 Moss Side Riots WORDS BY MILLIE JACOBS

he 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 never be a riot in Manchester” by two white men – provoking what would become the Moss Side riots. The riots reacted to the United Kingdom’s manufacturing decline and the narrow political support network adopted to manage these new conditions. They were not sudden explosions but upsurges which perpetuated chronic tension. The election of Margaret Thatcher in 1979, saw New Conservatism take a hold of Britain, marking a departure from the post-war consensus that had shaped British politics for the best part of 35 years. A profound political revolution took place that reached boiling point in the summer of 1981. At the core of the Moss Side uprising was the Conservative government’s unprecedented de-industrialisation, of which working-class Black Britons were most aggrieved. Inner cities, which had the largest concentration of ethnic minorities, bore physical testimony to Britain’s economic decline. Urban deprivation saw unemployment in Moss Side reach a staggering 80%, leaving those of school age with few prospects and their elders devalued by their experience of employment. It was not just mass unemployment, however, that left Moss Side residents “waiting for something to happen”, but Thatcher’s reinforcement of

law and order permitted the authorities to respond with open hostility towards dissent. A key component of New Conservatism – the preservation of law and order – became a fundamental state function as it provided the framework for the secure and constant operation of the market. This shifted the political emphasis towards immigration control and anti-discrimination measures designed to pacify existing Black communities towards its immigration control component. The first major policy adopted by Thatcher was increasing police pay, giving rise to increased numbers of ‘stop and search’ which, of course, disproportionately targeted young unemployed members of the Black community, who represented the most familiar police stereotypes of the potential offender. This widely contributed to the discomfort of the Black population in the lead up to the riot, given the widespread conviction that the police force was permeated with blatant, endemic institutional racism. This magnified both the economic and social repression. Escalations of the tensions into an uprising can therefore be attributed to rising unemployment, provocative policing, and increasing resistance to inner city deprivation. New Conservatism accelerated de-industrialisation which in turn, increased social distress and as racial tensions mounted, policing became characteristically more violent. It can be of no surprise that this surmounted in a three-day uprising involving several thousand people.

Riot shields at the ready, a line of police waits for the order to move in to quell the Moss Side riots, on July 8, 1981 (Manchester Evening News).

THE MANCHESTER HISTORIAN I MAY 2022

POLITICS AND PROTEST

Friedrich Engels and Karl Marx at their desk in Chetham’s library (unknown).

Marx and Engels and the Influence of Manchester WORDS BY LOUISE MORACCHINI

THE MANCHESTER HISTORIAN I MAY 2022

uried 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. Prior to 1845, Engels had already lived in Manchester for two years, working in the offices of Ermen and Engels’ Victoria Mill. He spent this time observing the material conditions of factories and factory workers and was especially appalled by “the filth, ruin, and uninhabitableness” in the city, which were the terms he used in his seminal book on the working class, The Condition of the Working Class in England. During this time Marx had been living and working in Brussels as a journalist and intellectual, then choosing to visit Manchester and London to engage with the growing Chartist movement in England and explore the libraries. The economic conditions he witnessed in Britain inspired him to write a series of books that would later lay the foundations for the Communist Manifesto, published in 1848. Endemic industrial poverty and lack of workers’ agency were prevalent in Manchester at the time of their occupancy. The population had grown almost tenfold over the course of the nineteenth century, bringing with it a large migration of labourers seeking work in the

booming industries within the city. Although still largely cotton-based, Manchester industry was expanding into other textiles and technologies as profits encouraged further enterprises. However, this rapid expansion outstripped the living conditions of the working-class. Engels described a city bulging with people, who were living in slums with dirty air and a lack of civilisation. Contemporary Manchester continues to bear marks of its industrial roots. Despite many Victorian slums being demolished and built over, the narrow streets near Oxford Road railway station remain, now marked with a plaque to commemorate ‘Little Ireland’, an impoverished community of Irish migrants, especially derided by Engels. Outside the HOME Theatre on First Street, not far from where the Deansgate slums would have been, is an old Soviet-style statue of Engels. He continued to visit and live in Manchester for a period of 30 years and the city certainly had a profound impact on his perspectives of capitalism. Today, Marx and Engels’ radical ideas and powerful ideological critique have irreversibly impacted political, economic and historical thought. Their emphatic calls to action for the unity and liberation of the working-class is in part informed by the extent of poverty in cities like Manchester.

INDUSTRY AND ECONOMY

The Manchester Bee ‘Symbol’ or ‘Strength’? WORDS BY CLAIRE GOODALL

ny reader of the Manchester Historian is bound to have seen the ‘worker bee’ upon just about every surface in the city centre; from public bins to engravings in the Town Hall’s mosaic floor, it is hard to ignore the insect as a powerful motif embodying the Mancunian identity. But where does it originate from? The bee first appeared in Manchester’s coat of arms in 1842, becoming undeniably the most iconic symbol for the area (other symbols included the Lancaster rose and cotton grass). It was subsequently adopted as a symbol representing both the city’s prosperity and the population’s unrivalled work ethic during the Industrial Revolution – a time when Manchester assumed a leading role in new methods of mass production. The city flourished as a hub of textile mills and was referred to as the “beehive of industry”. The Manchester Council website defines the bee as a representation of the “sense of unity in our great city”; this is what this article will explore. An impromptu phone interview with my Mancunian mother confirmed my suspicions that the level of bee-related memorabilia found in our city centre has not always been this extensive. Although the motif appeared regularly throughout both of our recollections of Manchester’s public decorum, neither of us could deny that the largest cause of its surge in popularity by far came as a result of the 2017 M.E.N Arena bombing. The tragedy (the first UK terrorist bombing since 2005) was met with an outpour of support from around the world, but most evidently within the local community; immediately, murals were painted across the city, notably the 22 bees (portraying the lives lost) on the side of the Koffee Pot café in the Northern Quarter, or the large section of Affleck’s Palace that is decorated to this day with bees and honeycomb. Some of Manchester’s sickest children in the Ronald McDonald Hospital offered their beds for the victims’ families, and of course, no northerner could forget the incredible ‘One Love’ concert organised by Ariana Grande herself. The event raised over £10 million in just 12 hours, and over 100 mil-

lion live viewers watched huge names perform to raise money for the victims’ families. The morning after the tragedy, a memorial event in St Ann’s Square brought mourners together to lay flowers and sing locally-produced songs such as Oasis’ ‘Don’t Look Back in Anger’ – a song deeply resonating with Mancunians as one of pride, unity, and strength. One of the most admirable gestures was organised by Sam Barber, a tattoo artist who set up the Manchester Tattoo Appeal, which offered bee tattoos in exchange for a minimum donation of £50. He estimated that the event raised at least £500,000, with customers queuing for hours on end to get inked. In the years since the attack, Manchester has continued to expand the bee’s symbolism, with many government schemes incorporating the insect into their design. For example, the new ‘Bee Network’ aims to revolutionise ‘active’ transport throughout the city, one of its key investments being the ‘bee bikes’ that can be found on Oxford (and Wilmslow) Road. Global brand Nike collaborated with One Love MCR and ‘Size?’ to create a limited-edition Manchester-themed Air Force Ones, which incorporated a honeycomb design and the bee as well as the ‘0161’ area code. Ten percent of the proceeds went to the We Love MCR Charity and JD’s ‘Manchester’s Rising Stars’ Fund. The ‘Bee in the City’ exhibition ran during the summer of 2018, displaying a swarm (pun intended) of over 100 ‘super-sized’ bee sculptures decorated by local artists along a trail touching on the ‘honeypots’ (landmarks) of the city. The event raised over £1 million, as 78 were auctioned at the end of the summer. Local celebrities got involved, with Liam Gallagher painting the ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll Bee’, and The Stone Roses bassist Gary ‘Mani’ Mounfield signing ‘I Wanna Bee Adored’. Some of

these bees can still be found in and around Manchester, namely the ‘LGBTQ Queen Bee’ in Sackville Gardens (Gay Village), the ‘Blue Bee-ter’ in MediaCity, and a few elsewhere in the city centre. The Manchester bee in recent years has undeniably become the most iconic city emblem in the UK. The hardships faced in 2017 have since given the motif a greater meaning, now empowered through its symbolisation of unity and defiance. After 150 years of symbolic representation, the bee could now be referred to as a ‘busy bee’, mimicking the modern-day hustle and bustle of workers in this developed city. The citizens of Manchester are a proud people, and its community has never failed to join together as one in the face of adversity. This level of pride and unity significantly matched Manchester’s collective response to the IRA bombings of 1996. Though the response lacked the use of the bee as a symbol of recovery, the message remained the same:

“

But Manchester did what Manchester does - we fought back.It was the beginning of the remarkable story of our city’s rebirth. It is a tale of great endeavour, of collaboration across the political divide, of traders who stayed loyal, of shoppers who came back and of the tremendous skill of an architect who lovingly redrew and rebuilt Manchester’s shattered heart. … No other city, no other people would have responded with such a defiant swagger. - Jennifer Williams, Manchester Evening News (2019)

The bee mural on the side of Koffee Pot (Manchester Evening News).

THE MANCHESTER HISTORIAN I MAY 2022

UoM HISTORY

Ellen Wilkinson: Manchester Graduate, Labour MP and Jarrow Crusader

tremendous efforts in distributing half a

on issues including unemployment, poverty,

million Morrison shelters as a Minister for

housing, and pensions. She lost the national

Home Security during the Second World

election but was elected to Manchester City

War). As a local Mancunian and University

Council where she remained until 1926.

of Manchester History graduate, she is

Her first major achievement came in 1924

well deserving of the UoM building named

when she was elected to Parliament for Mid-

in her honour.

dlesbrough East. She was one of only four

Wilkinson was born in 1891, in the

female MPs and was the only female Labour

working-class neighbourhood of Chorl-

MP. Notably, she did not qualify to vote in

ton-Upon-Medlock (Manchester), to Ellen

the election as suffrage was not granted

and Richard Wilkinson. They were a poor

to all women until 1928. She passionately

family and her childhood was tough, with

fought for women and the working-classes

frequent illness often preventing her from

as an MP, which was demonstrated in her

attending school. Her father was a former

maiden speech to Parliament that advocated

cotton worker who had no formal education,

for votes for all women, unemployment

yet he inspired her and she developed into

benefits, and insurance. During the 1926

an avid self-learner. At eleven, she won a

General Strike, Wilkinson campaigned vo-

scholarship to Ardwick Higher Elementary

ciferously for the strikers by touring the

Grade School and then, thanks to a bursa-

country and attending rallies. After losing

ry, studied at the pupil teachers’ centre in

her seat in 1931, Wilkinson became a prolific

Manchester. She hoped to be an elementary

journalist and writer. By focusing on the

school teacher until 1910, when she won

rise of fascism and colonial India, Wilkinson

the Jones History Entrance Scholarship to

spread her benevolent influence further

Manchester University.

afield. She wrote The Condition of India

Her passion for socialism and feminism

based on a visit to India in 1932, where

began at an early age. Her father was a

she met Gandhi and became convinced his

Methodist and had a strong sense of social

support was necessary to achieve peace.

justice which inspired her growing up. As

Wilkinson was re-elected in 1935 as MP

a teenager, she got involved in socialist

for Jarrow. During this term she achieved

WORDS BY CHLOE GORDON

activities, such as joining the Longsight

national fame for leading the 1936 Jarrow

branch of the Independent Labour Party at

Crusade, a widely publicised hunger march

sixteen and supported women’s suffrage.

during the Depression. Two hundred citizens of the town marched to London to

llen Wilkinson (1891-1947) was a

However, it was not until her time at UoM

champion of the rights of women

that her desire to enter the world of pol-

protest the unemployment and poverty

and the working-classes. During her

itics blossomed. She became active in the

caused by the closure of its shipyard and

influential political career, she was among

University’s debating and Fabian societies,

Wilkinson marched alongside them. As

the first female Labour MPs and the second

as well as helped found the University’s

well as marching, Wilkinson spoke in the

woman to serve in the Cabinet. She had

Socialist Federation. She also joined a local

workers’ defence at the Labour Party con-

many nicknames including ‘Red Ellen’ (due

branch of the Women’s Labour League and

ference and published The Town That Was

to the colour of her hair and her socialist

was a member of the Manchester Society

Murdered in 1939, which was a history of

beliefs) and ‘Shelter Queen’ (because of her

for Women’s Suffrage. She graduated in

Jarrow’s economic exploitation. Although

1913 with an upper second in History, even

unsuccessful in the short-term, the march

though she had been predicted to get a first.

helped form post-WW2 attitudes on social

She later said, ‘I deliberately sacrificed my

justice which led to the great social reform

first ... to devote my spare time to a strike

programme.

raging in Manchester’. Once she graduated, Wilkinson committed herself to politics. She worked for

After her role in the Ministry of Home Security during WW2, Wilkinson was appointed as Education Minister in Attlee’s

a women’s suffrage organisation and as a

post-war government. She was the second

trade union officer, advocating for equal pay

ever female cabinet minister and tasked

for equal work. During WW1, she was active

herself with introducing the 1944 Education

in the Women’s International League for

Act which raised the school leaving age to 15

Peace and Freedom which saw the war as

and provided access to secondary education

unnecessary and committed to helping end

for all. However, her term in this role was

it. She was also inspired by the 1917 Bolshe-

cut short due to her tragic death in 1947

vik Revolution and was a founding member

whilst in office.

of the Communist Party of Great Britain in

Wilkinson was a champion of those un-

1920. Her aspirations remained high and in

derrepresented both nationally and abroad.

1923 she stood as a Labour candidate for

Both in government and as a writer and

Ashton-under-Lyne. Her campaign focused

campaigner, she achieved her socialist goals in paving the way towards a fairer country

LEFT Ellen Wilkinson leads the Jarrow marchers through Cricklewood in north London on their way to parliament (Hulton Archive)

THE MANCHESTER HISTORIAN I MAY 2022

for both women and the working-class. Therefore, next time you pass the Ellen Wilkinson building it is worth remembering the strong woman to which it owes its name.

UoM HISTORY

Alan Turing: Life and Legacy WORDS BY CAITLIN CELLIS

n the 10th September 2009, the British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, issued an apology to Alan Turing, culminating with the words “we’re sorry, you deserved so much better”. This apology came over 60 years after Turing’s ingenious cracking of the German Enigma code, which explicitly led to many British victories in WW2, such as the Battle of the Atlantic. During the war, Turing worked at Bletchley Park - more specifically, Hut 8, which was a section of the Government Code and Cypher School, tasked with deciphering German naval messages. It is here that his most notable achievement, the Bombe machine, was created. This revolutionary machine was responsible for determining the daily settings of the 3,000-5,000 Enigma messages which changed frequently, making it extremely difficult to crack. Nevertheless, this machine was invaluable in supplying coded messages, with many historians believing that Turing’s work on the Enigma may have shortened the war by as long as four years and thus saved millions of lives. Despite his remarkable contribution, Turing was convicted of ‘gross indecency’ in March 1952, as at this time homosexuality was illegal in Britain. Turing’s dispicable treatment from the British government, all because he was a gay man, contributed to his premature death in 1954, with his legacy being that of a criminal.

Nevertheless, there have been many efforts in the last few decades to restore his name. This started with the aforementioned apology in 2009 and a Royal Pardon in 2013. Then, notably in 2017, legislation entitled “Turing’s Law” was introduced, pardoning all gay men convicted under historical legislation. Most recently in June 2021, Alan Turing became the first gay man to appear on a British Bank note, which has become a welcomed symbol for the LGBTQ+ community of the societal recognition of the historical condemnation and discrimination against gay people. The heroic legacy of Alan Turing is amplified for those at UoM due to his work here in Manchester. Post-war, he lived in Wilmslow and worked at the University, where in 1948 he worked on the Manchester Mark 1, one of the world’s earliest computers. His remarkable contribution to modern science is solidified through various landmarks across Manchester, such as the Alan Turing memorial in Sackville Park, as well as the University naming its Mathematics building “The Alan Turing Building”. To this day, Turing is recognised as a pillar of innovation and inspiration, whilst also serving as a sordid reminder to those who possess intolerance within their hearts of the creativity and genius that can be lost when inclusivity is stifled.

The Alan Turing Memorial, situated in Sackville Park (Manchester’s Finest).

THE MANCHESTER HISTORIAN I MAY 2022

UoM HISTORY

People, Power and Protest: Manchester’s Students against South African Apartheid Manchester’s Students against South African Apartheid is part of a long history of student collective action for social justice at the University of Manchester WORDS BY JASON LEE

Recently students across Manchester united in an empowering march for Reclaim the Night’s forty-fifth anniversary. Attendees protested in solidarity for women, sex worker, trans and non-binary victims of violent misogyny. Speakers talked of their experiences furthering the campaign for safer streets and for GMCA to cut ties with organisations harming women and sex workers. This march is part of a long history of student collective action for social justice. The students of Manchester Anti-Apartheid protest exemplifies this tradition and perhaps we can learn something from this movement to inform the activism of today. In response to South African Apartheid (the systematised policy of racial segregation from 1948), students at the University of Manchester (UoM) decided to voice their opposition. Initially, this took the form of traditional pre-sixties on campus political participation. Students criticised Apartheid in debates, speaking events, and articles. While critics were often radical in their proposals, they pursued mostly moderate institutional change. Furthermore, my research of the student press of the fifties reveals that there were mentions of ten protests by UoM regarding this issue, suggesting protest to be a more fringe method. Perhaps protesting was regarded as a method of last resort. However, 1959 represented a turning point after the SU voted to support the boycott movement. Activists pressured local business to join the boycott of Apartheid South Africa. Though students did still detail opposition in student press and debates, this represented a tactical shift toward increased activity and directness in student political participation. Students also lobbied for the setting up of the South African scholarship fund and services in 1966 to aid those affected by Apartheid, an act of solidarity towards those oppressed by the South African regime. Ten years after the SU decision, was the 1969 - 1970 Anti-Apartheid campaign surrounding the Springboks Rugby Tour, which demonstrates the shift in response. Instead of the scarce student protests seen in the fifties, the sixties saw it become an integral tool of student political expression. Examples of protests include marches, sit ins, picketing, and other attempts to dissuade or disrupt the tour’s attendance. The student press reveals that marches against Apartheid occured regularly from the 1970s. These actions, as well as promoting opposition to the institutional racism of Apartheid, showed that popular support and moral outrage could be locally mobilised to push for change targeting those aiding or accepting Apartheid. One notable target was Barclays, which the National Union of Students (NUS) and the SU sustained a sixteen year boycott due to its financial support of Apartheid. The SU discouraged students from joining Barclays, declined Barclays’ checks, and refused their advertising. This was further implemented with disruptive measures like pickets and occupations of the Oxford Road branch. Barclays withdrew from Apartheid South Africa finally in 1986 due to public pressure, of which

THE MANCHESTER HISTORIAN I MAY 2022

the students at UoM played their role. Students also pushed UoM leadership to disinvest and sell their shares in companies connected to Apartheid. This campaign was initially led by the Southern Africa Liberation Society (SALS) that ran from 1972 to the mid-eighties. The University Council initially showed reluctance in disinvesting, but eventually agreed that Apartheid “contravenes the ‘spirit of tolerance’ basic to the University”. Delaying methods took the form of internal committees, waiting for a government report, and claiming their shareholder status allowed them to lobby for better rights and conditions. Students were not convinced by these arguments and deemed the arguments as patronising and ineffective. In conjunction with the aims of the African National Council (ANC), NUS, and UoM SU acted. Protests demanded the full disinvestment from the Apartheid regime to prevent the financial support, with the hope that this would force systemic change. The disinvestment campaign involved student discussion, lobbying, and direct action. Students distributed pamphlets entitled “The Manchester Connection” outlining UoM financial links to Apartheid. Additionally, articles in the Manchester Independent and The Mancunion were published to raise awareness and hold the University accountable. Notably, students picketed several University Council meetings in the attempt to make the University leadership team recognise their individual responsibility. The 19th and 20th November 1974 involved one of the most evocative of Manchester’s student Anti-Apartheid protests. Students planted 1500 white crosses for each South African child that died in the last twenty four hours in front of the Williamson Building on Oxford Road. This was meant as a reminder to those in the University Council meeting of the human cost of Apartheid and an attempt to force them to recognise what their financial involvement symbolised. Direct action continued to escalate, as demonstrated in the University Council meeting where two hundred students forced their way into the council chambers, occupying the space and stopping the meeting. Scuffles broke out between the Vice Chancellor, Arthur Armitage and a few students, only deescalating once protesters allowed Council Members to leave. Only two members of the Council stayed to engage with the students, both teaching staff, and subsequent Council meetings for the term were postponed. Conflicts and slow gradual disinvestment suggests that student protests’ are limited, yet they successfully promoted the cause and achieved their aims for UoM to fully disinvest from Apartheid. So, as students now push for social justice, the Anti-Apartheid movement provides an important example of the achievements and challenges of active student political expression. Furthermore, it exposes that solidarity and support can motivate and mobilise students because at the core of successful movements was the desire to help those being oppressed.

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