Remembering the buildings of the British labour movement: an act of mourning

Abstract

This paper outlines the buildings of the British labour movement. Hitherto, labour activists, historians and heritage professionals have focused on the artefacts and archives as opposed to the many historic buildings of the labour movement. The narrative closely follows the course of the industrial revolution and the accompanying development of the labour movement from its beginnings in the 18 th century. Examples cover a wide range including the artisan trade societies, Utopian Owenite settlements and purpose-built radical and trade union premises. The authors make a brief critique of the paper itself as an example of the intangible heritage of the labour movement. It concludes with a consideration of why these buildings are relatively neglected and suggests that the notion 'don't mourn, organise' might contain some clues as to specific reasons for their neglect.

A wailing wall in cyberspace: Loneliness, censorship, and collective memory – in memory of Dr. Li Wenliang, the whistle blower

“…Collective mourning and remembering (memorializing) are habitually paralleled in most mourning studies for their similarity in reconstructing the past (e. g. Harju 2015;Nugent 2013;Mansfield and Trustram 2013). However, there is still a difference between collective remembering (Wertsch 2002) and collective mourning, even though the postures of mourning and remembering are identical.…”