Marx Memorial Library

The Marx Memorial Library stands in Clerkenwell Green, a quiet corner of the London Borough of Islington. The building began life in 1738 as the Welsh Charity School, designed by James Steer. After the school moved out in 1772 it became a public house and then a series of commercial rooms. Radical groups later occupied parts of the building, including the London Patriotic Society from 1872 and Twentieth Century Press from 1893, backed by William Morris. The Grade II listed structure now houses a specialist library and archive. The library opened in 1933 to collect Marxist and socialist works. Its collection has grown to more than 60,000 books, pamphlets and newspapers. The building also contains a preserved office linked to Vladimir Lenin, who published seventeen issues of Iskra here in 1902–03. A large mural by Jack Hastings, painted in 1935 with Clifford Wight, covers one wall. The library’s Printers Collection includes union archives opened in 2009 by Derek Simpson and Tony Burke. Inside, visitors find the main reading room and archive strongroom filled with socialist literature. The mural shows a worker overturning economic disorder. The building’s front was restored in 1968–69 to recall its 18th-century appearance. Clerkenwell Green outside remains a calm spot where history and scholarship meet.