John Wojcik pays tribute to a black US activist who spent six decades at the forefront of struggles for voting rights, economic justice and peace – reshaping US politics and inspiring movements worldwide
A COMPELLING feature of science is its ability to predict the future: theories ought to generate testable predictions that can be borne out.
Claiming that analysis is “scientific,” such as the motivation behind historical materialism in its original form, is a way of saying that data and theory from the past are being used to make claims about the future.
It is exactly this same predictive capacity that drives the contemporary fascination for data, algorithms and AI.
The selection, analysis and interpretation of historical ‘facts’ always takes place within a paradigm, a model of how the world works. That’s why history is always a battleground, declares the Marx Memorial Library
From hunting rare pamphlets at book sales to online panels and courses on trade unionism and class politics, the MML continues connecting archive treasures with the movements fighting for a better world, writes director MEIRIAN JUMP


