Wapping history lesson

Former Unite national officer Ann Field is leading a free history session exploring “The Wapping Dispute & Printworker Organisation” this Thursday (12 June), that plans to bring the history of print trade unions at the time of the dispute to life.

The session is part of the trade union and working-class history series organised in partnership with the GFTU and Working Class Movement Library, and follows on from a successful programme of online courses last year. 

Thursday’s session is free, and hybrid. So people can attend in person at the Marx Memorial Library and available online too, the session is planned to last 90 minutes and begin at 7 pm.

Ann was a national officer of Unite/GPMU representing print and publishing workers from 1974 until 2009 and is joint creator of the Wapping exhibition and archive at Marx Memorial Library.  

Ann will be joined for the session by Matt Dunne, the archivist at the Marx Memorial Library. Matt is currently carrying out a two-year cataloguing project on the library’s Printworkers’ Collection.

Ann said, “The session will be about the role of trade unions in the print industry, and focusing on the situation in print before the Wapping dispute.”

“It is the 40th anniversary of Wapping next year, and the Marx Memorial Library will be launching an exhibition about the dispute on January 24th 2026.”

The Wapping Dispute & Printworker Organisation session takes place at 7pm on Thursday, 12 June at the Marx Memorial Library & Workers’ School, 37a Clerkenwell Green, London, EC1R 0DU

For more information email Meirian Jump on email: [email protected], or phone: 0207 523 1485

You can find more about the wider work of the Marx Memorial Library here.

By Keith Hatch