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By Bernadette Hyland
The Mary Quaile Club was set up in 2013 to remember a working- class woman who dedicated her life to improving the lives of some of the poorest women in society and to work inside the trade union movement to do so.
Over the years we have produced a history of Mary, a play and promoted the Manchester and Salford Women’s Trades Union Council. In our public meetings we have made the links between Mary and contemporary strikes and forgotten individuals who have often been marginalised in history.
Len Johnson, Black boxer and communist is barely mentioned in the history of Manchester and black histories. Our new publication “I am here to meet all comers”, the story of Len Johnson, Manchester’s Uncrowned Boxing Champion and Communist” challenges that invisibility and puts Len back into our history of working- class struggle.
Michael Herbert’s new biography is an update of one he wrote in 1992. New information about Len and new online access to news papers has enriched the story of his life.
Michael commented on recent attempts to fund a statue of Len, and he felt that he would not appreciate it. Len, had throughout his life, worked tirelessly in this country and internationally to promote anti-racism and encouraging people to get organised to make this a better world. As Michael said, “Len as a communist believed that you should be with the people not above them.”
At the original launch in the 1990s, Len’s two children Norman and Brenda attended – they had contributed to the biography. At the launch on 24 January and to the surprise of the organisers, Brenda, now aged 86, arrived to applause from the audience.
Mike Luft, anti-fascist organiser and communist spoke about his father’s involvement in Len’s boxing booth. He also explained how Len and his comrades Sid Booth and Wilf Charles worked together in the Communist Party opposing discrimination and creating the New International Society club.
The importance of Len and other working -class heroes to present day children of colour was underlined by Dino, from the Kids of Colour group. He told the audience that in his work with brown and black children that Len had not been forgotten and was an important role model for them.
The MQC over the years has sought to produce publications that are accessible and affordable to encourage a new audience to explore working-class history. This new biography sheds new light on the story of a neglected communist activist.
Buy the book here
More about MQC here https://maryquaileclub.wordpress.com/
