People's History Museum

Friday 6th September 2019

I had few firm plans for what to see while I was in Manchester but this was one of them. In a former Edwardian pumping station next to the River Irwell, the People's History Museum "is the national museum of democracy, telling the story of its development in Britain: past, present, and future".

 The two main exhibitions are found in Main Galleries One and Two on the first and second floors respectively.

Main Gallery One covers the period from the Peterloo Massacre of 1819 until the end of the Second World War in 1945.

I'd already visited the excellent Peterloo 200th anniversary exhibition on the ground floor, so gallery one took the story on from there, covering the industrial revolution, reformers, workers' organizations, political parties, and the fight for universal suffrage. The display pictured above is the first thing you see on entry to the gallery, it says "Abuse of Power Two hundred years ago Britain's political system was corrupt and controlled by a few rich men. Without the right to vote, ordinary people had no power to change their lives." Reading that it's hard not to think that, apart from more people having a vote, the situation in 2019 isn't very different. 😞

The personal stories of ordinary people living through extraordinary times are the most interesting part of the way the exhibition presents the history of social change, along with many many physical and multimedia exhibits. There is a lot of information here although the way the space is laid out sometimes makes it hard to follow as you walk around.

Moving up to the second floor and to Main Gallery Two where postwar politics is the main theme, from the hopefulness of the new Labour government of 1945, through the difficulties of the 1950s and the swinging back and forth between Labour and Tory governments, both promising to deliver the best for ordinary people but by differing means, into the 1970s when ambitious union leaders led their members down a path that eventually led to Thatcherism, erosion of the hard-won rights of workers, and ultimately the rise of the right wing in this country to an extent I never thought I'd see. This gallery covers the period of my working life and evoked memories of standing on picket lines trying to stop the Tories from selling the people that which the people already owned and then the disappointment of Blair's New Labour, the part of her legacy of which Thatcher was most proud. The exhibition also covers the issues of the day such as the anti-war and nuclear disarmament movements, environmental, race relations and immigration, and LGBT+ issues.

It's not all doom and gloom. There's also the matter of how workers gained more time off and what they did with it (football, music, etc.) and a section on the Co-Operative movements, which began in Greater Manchester.

And then there's the banners section. A high ceiling allowing the display of many union and other workers society banners, both home and professionally made, which were carried when the people took to the streets to protest, to demand change, and to try to improve the lives of their fellow ordinary people.

I recommend that you visit this museum if you're in Manchester. It may not answer the questions of how and why we've ended up again with a rich, corrupt, lying, self-serving, un-elected shower of shit running our country but it will give you a better understanding of the journey that got us here.

It may also make you angry. If so that's a good thing, use that anger, protest, fight for what's right. Maybe it's not too late.

Opening times

• Open: every day 10.00am – 5.00pm
• Radical Lates: second Thurs each month until 8.00pm
• Closed: 24, 25, 26 Dec, 1 Jan

Entry is free although they suggest a £5 donation which if you can afford it is a bargain so put your hand in your pocket.


Right, normal service involving mostly transport-nerdery will resume shortly, until then:

 😉