THIS Saturday members of the Marx Memorial Library & Workers’ School celebrate the achievements of a unique institution of the working-class movement.

Since Marx Memorial Library’s foundation in 1933 we’ve been at the heart of the British labour movement advancing education, knowledge and learning in all aspects of the science of Marxism, the history of socialism and the working class.

The library’s annual general meeting at Marx House in Clerkenwell Green will consider whether we have met the injunction of our founders to further Marxist education and will confirm our plans for the year ahead.

Resurgence of interest in the ideas of Marxism and Leninism is driven by ongoing chaotic degeneration of global capitalism and permanent, unending imperialist turmoil. Hunger for the ideas we were founded to defend is reflected in increasing sales of books by and about Marx, Engels and Lenin.

We face a really challenging task in responding to these fresh demands to re-establish Marxist education for a new generation brought to revolutionary politics through anti-austerity protests, the trade union movement and the increasing frustration of students at the concerted move to exclude marxism from formal academic curricula.

We have seen this year from the popularity of our online learning courses a renewed interest from shift workers and others who opt to study from home. In September 2016 we launch our latest online learning course on trade unions, power and politics today. You can enrol at our smart new website marxlibrary.org.uk.

In the last year Marx House has been full on numerous occasions. Simon Renton’s current lecture series, A Peoples’ History of Britain for Beginners saw a queue out of the door into Clerkenwell Green, with a number of attendees disappointed at being unable to witness him demonstrate the materialist method of studying history using an avocado and a coconut.

In addition to discussing historical materialist method we have hosted well-attended lectures from John Foster on Soviet psychiatrist Lev Vygotsky’s theory of language and cognitive processes, and initiated a series of lectures and discussions of socialism and young people’s literature involving Mary Davis, Jane Rosen and children’s author Lydia Sysom.

Further examples of innovation during the past year has been our first film festival. Marx Memorial Library has been proud to present the documentary work of the Cinema Action Film Collective from the 1970s and ’80s in collaboration with Chris Reeves of Platform Films. This has been an important new venture for us and a great success.

In forthcoming weeks Marx Memorial Library will host a series of anniversary talks; Roger Seifert on 90 years since the 1926 General Strike, Phil Ballard on 50 years since the 1966 seamen’s strike and Andrew Murray on 100 years since Lenin wrote Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism.

For May Day this year we will showcase highlights of our collections on the 1926 General Strike. Exhibited jointly with the Morning Star, this slideshow display relates the key events of the miners’ struggle, the battles for solidarity across the trade union and labour movement, progressive newspaper reports and government and capitalist press propaganda. Searchable texts will also be uploaded on a new page on their website to mark the occasion.

Guided tours will be available as part of our May Day open day. Visitors will be able to see the room and desk where Lenin worked in exile in London in 1902-3, the banners of the British Battalion of International Brigade volunteers in the Spanish civil war of 1936-9 and also view artefacts from major disputes, such as the mineworkers’ and Wapping strikes of the 1980s.

Marx Memorial Library houses the complete archive of Daily Worker and Morning Star. These and other frequently used key resources bring researchers from home and abroad.

Marx Memorial librarian and archivist Meirian Jump says: “For over a century, the London May Day rally has gathered outside our building on Clerkenwell Green. This day is a great opportunity for people to come and see what the Library is all about.

“Bringing history to life on this important day in our calendar. We will mark 90 years since the 1926 General Strike with this very special exhibition of recently digitised archives — just one of many projects broadening access to our collections.”

The Library opens from 10am to 4pm on Sunday May 1, with our last guided tour starting at 3.20pm. Second-hand books, merchandise and refreshments will be available in the main hall. Don’t miss out.