5,000 signatures reached
To: Ed Vaizey - Minister for Culture, Communications and Creative Industries
Restore Funding to The People's History Museum
Reverse the £200,000 cut in funding to The People's History Museum in Manchester.
Why is this important?
The People's History Museum in Manchester is the only museum in England dedicated to celebrating the history of working people. It tells the story of working people's contribution to this country in both peacetime and war. It charts their struggles from the deportation of the Tolpuddle Martyrs, through Lancashire mill workers during the American Civil War as well as working people's solidarity with anti-apartheid campaigners in South Africa.
And now, during the centenary of the First World War, the museum's current exhibition tells the story of the working people of Britain throughout the war. The museum's deputy editor Cath Birchall has said: “They [the government] don’t see the importance of a national museum that shows the effects of the war on ordinary people.” A war where approximately 750,000 people died in combat and more than a million were injured fighting abroad, and which also resulted in huge numbers of domestic casualties with as many as 100,000 dying of malnutrition and disease.
Please stop the cuts and save this national treasure. After all, in the words of Len McClusky, "History is not just about those who write it, but about those who live it. Working people and the labour movement have been at the forefront of all social and political changes this country has undergone over the past three centuries. We must defend the People’s Museum ... and safeguard the one museum dedicated to telling the story of us all".
And now, during the centenary of the First World War, the museum's current exhibition tells the story of the working people of Britain throughout the war. The museum's deputy editor Cath Birchall has said: “They [the government] don’t see the importance of a national museum that shows the effects of the war on ordinary people.” A war where approximately 750,000 people died in combat and more than a million were injured fighting abroad, and which also resulted in huge numbers of domestic casualties with as many as 100,000 dying of malnutrition and disease.
Please stop the cuts and save this national treasure. After all, in the words of Len McClusky, "History is not just about those who write it, but about those who live it. Working people and the labour movement have been at the forefront of all social and political changes this country has undergone over the past three centuries. We must defend the People’s Museum ... and safeguard the one museum dedicated to telling the story of us all".
