The victories that followed the American civil war and the 1960s civil rights era are once again under attack, echoing earlier efforts to roll back equality and redefine democracy, says JOE SIMS
A CENTURY and a half ago, William Morris published an epic which established his reputation as one of the foremost poets of his day.
The Earthly Paradise is essentially a collection of ancient myths and legends drawn from classical mythology or medieval and Icelandic sagas, retold by a group of Norsemen who have fled a plague, setting sail in search of a land of everlasting life “where none grow old.”
They don’t find it but, returning “shrivelled, bent and grey,” they are welcomed into a “nameless city in a distant sea” where they spend the rest of their lives, swapping tales with their hosts.
The selection, analysis and interpretation of historical ‘facts’ always takes place within a paradigm, a model of how the world works. That’s why history is always a battleground, declares the Marx Memorial Library
From hunting rare pamphlets at book sales to online panels and courses on trade unionism and class politics, the MML continues connecting archive treasures with the movements fighting for a better world, writes director MEIRIAN JUMP
The creative imagination is a weapon against barbarism, writes KENNY COYLE, who is a keynote speaker at the Manifesto Press conference, Art in the Age of Degenerative Capitalism, tomorrow at the Marx Memorial Library & Workers School in London



