Salford’s Working Class Movement Library is hosting a season of Engels themed events to celebrate the birthday and life of the socialist philosopher.
The events which are conducted in partnership with the Marx memorial library in London include walks, live music, lectures and art workshops all inspired by the work and life of Engels.
One week into the season of events, Belinda Scarlett, the manager of WCML, said: “Engel’s lecture became Engels week which then became Engels season. We have been delighted with the response to our Engels week activities.
“The aim is to bring Engels to a new audience and provide new perspectives on his life because we’d like his work to be better known within Salford.”
The library will host a guided tour of Salford and Manchester’s Engels related landmarks on the 10th of December and has already sold out due to high demand.
Morag Rose, a psychogeographer and leader of the Engels walk said: “I will be looking for echoes of Engel’s work in the contemporary landscape and complicating some of the common misconceptions about both the man and the city.
“I hope this will be the start of several tours which links Engels, and The Frows to contemporary struggles and our ever-changing cityscape.”
On this day in 1820 Friedrich Engels was born in Germany. Years later in 1842 he moved to Salford where he worked for his father in a textile mill once located on Weaste Lane.
His time in Salford and Manchester would inspire him to write one of the founding texts of scientific socialism, “The Conditions of the Working Class in England” and later went on to co-write the Communist manifesto with fellow philosopher and socialist Karl Marx.
Paul Dennett, the Mayor of Salford, said: “It was through meeting Karl Marx that Engels’ socialism turned into a revolutionary doctrine, founding one of the most influential partnerships in political history.”
This year's Engels memorial lecture with John Bellamy Foster delivered in partnership with @MarxLibrary will take place online on Wednesday 30th November. Tickets are available here https://t.co/zm6AyrTXmo
— WCML (@wcmlibrary) November 28, 2022
Both their legacies live on in modern-day working-class movements throughout the globe. Miss Scarlett added: “and it all started here in Salford and Manchester.”
You can find future events at WCML here.
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