THEIR LEGACY OUR HISTORY

RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: october 2021 :: RMTnews 26 Free online 90-minute working class history lessons facilitated by a leading expert on the topic and delivered in an inclusive and accessible manner are available this month onwards. The series entitled Their Legacy – Our History is a collaboration between the WEA (formerly known as The Workers’ Educational Association), the UK’s largest voluntary sector provider of adult education, and the General Federation of Trade Unions. Topics covered will include the Peasants Revolt, the 1549 rebellions, the development of the Chartists, the fight for the provision of adult education, great women trade unionists, Winstanley and the Diggers, the Levellers, Captain Swing and how songs changed history. A recent warning by leading academic historians that the closure of two university history departments reflected the trend that was seeing British history becoming more and more a subject for the elite, has been reflected in the adult education and trade union education worlds. Working class history was one of the primary subjects alongside politics, philosophy and economics on the trade union education curriculum. Now it is rarely looked at. The GFTU has been working to reverse this trend by commissioning, plays, poetry, songs and graphic novels which keep this history alive in an accessible format. GFTU general secretary Doug Nicholls said that so much of our history has been deliberately buried, people might have heard of Henry VIII, but not of equally important figures like Robert Kett or Anne Askew, and there's been a reason for hiding our past. “This is going to be a pioneering series of learning opportunities led by some of our great popular educators with exceptional knowledge of the subjects covered,” he said. Simon Parkinson of the WEA said that it was dedicating this new series of history courses in memory of Nigel Todd a former WEA tutor, co-operator and working class historian. “The tradition of which Nigel was an important part deserves rekindling. Whole generations of activists in trade unions and community organisations were inspired by our history of winning rights, overturning injustices and creating greater commitments to equality. “We hope future generations can feel this power and the living presence of what those who went before us achieved," he said. Selina Todd, Professor of Modern History at Oxford University added that the series represented all that was best in adult and trade union education and something that my father would have been proud of. “To forget the past is to ignore the future. The areas of study in this series cover moments in time when the people made history very THEIR LEGACY OUR HISTORY GFTU and WEA offer free courses in working class history from the Peasants Revolt to great women trade unionists