AT THE height of working-class political organisation in Britain, there was a mighty network of communist-led businesses up and down the country, including publishers, presses, a theatre, a travel agency, and a huge number of communist bookshops.

Here in Glasgow, some people still remember Clyde Books which was just off the Gallowgate on Parnie Street right up until the early ’90s. We like to think of Unity Books as a spiritual successor. After all, many of their books have ended up on our shelves.

Lenin wrote that “you can become a communist only when you enrich your mind with a knowledge of all the treasures created by mankind,” and Unity Books is currently the largest socialist bookshop in the country with over 6,000 second-hand books, pamphlets, and periodicals, some over 100 years old.