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.

The size is actually pretty unmanageable, but excitement about the project has already meant hundreds of texts being donated to us out of a faith that we’ll carry forward that knowledge and put it to use. It’s a big responsibility, so we need to make the collection accessible.

Unity is only as strong as the amount of support it receives from the class, so we need to be closely in tune with what workers actually need and any obstacles to their political study, whether that’s cultural, financial, or problems of accessibility.

Most workers’ first experience with education is at school and despite the hard work and sacrifice of our teachers and educators, schools as capitalist institutions remain hostile to working-class people.

Capitalist institutions could never teach scientific socialism, Marxist economics, or how to organise a workplace. After all, why would they freely provide the tools to overthrow capitalism? This means we need to find this education elsewhere.

Revolutionary working-class leaders like Harry Pollitt and James Connolly emerged out of a counterculture of socialist study which we need to rebuild.

Money is another obstacle, and we take inspiration from other comrades finding creative solutions to this problem.

When we have a website, it’d be great to have a library of books, documents, pamplhlets, in PDF format, freely available online to anyone who wants them. We’ve already been providing those free to those who ask.

More collectible texts also help to subsidise other texts for educational purposes, so whether you want a copy of the Communist Manifesto for £180, a cheap copy for £1, or a free PDF, we’ve got you covered.

We also want to be open about where people’s money is going.

So far, almost all of the money has been reinvested in the shop. We’ve also recently affiliated to the Young Communist League’s campaign raising money for the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, so any money spent on books about Palestine now goes to a revolutionary organisation providing aid past the blockade in north Gaza.

This creates a direct connection between the socialist books people buy and socialist struggles in the real world.

Finally, we’re living in an age where many classic texts are available online. A lot of the problems we face today, like war, imperialism and the rise of fascism have been faced before.

You can tell someone to read Lenin to find the answer, but Lenin’s Collected Works span about 35,000 pages, many written in language which is difficult to penetrate.

This means we need organisers of information and education just like other kinds of organisers. We also need to make study collective, promote reading groups and study circles, and build up reading habits that deteriorate under the barrage of distractions from modern society.

Unity Books has a long way to go, but if you’re as excited about the project as we are, make sure to follow us on social media @unitybookshop for updates, reach out if you want to support or see the collection in person, and go to unitybooks.co.uk to check out the online store and catalogue.

Unity Books launch and open day takes place on Saturday December 14 at Unit 15, Govanhill Workspace, 69 Dixon Road G42 8AT. The shop is open all day from 10am and teas, coffees and snacks will be available. At 6pm you can hear an introduction to the collection and a discussion on the need for a socialist media, with speakers from Manifesto Press, Iskra Books and the Morning Star.