Free talk: Trevor Griffiths at the Working Class Movement Library

At the end of January, you can catch this talk on the life and work of polemicist and revolutionary Thomas Paine (pictured), delivered by Manchester-born writer Trevor Griffiths at the Working Class Movement Library in Salford. The socialist playwright is well-known for his historical, politically-conscious works including Occupation, about Antonio Gramsci and the occupation of the Fiat factories, the Oscar-winning revolutionary war drama Reds, and more recently 2009’s A New World, about the life of this talk’s subject Thomas Paine.

Paine is a fascinating figure: An Englishman who contributed to both the American and French revolutionary causes, and as thinker he is responsible for many of our modern ideas about human rights and political organisation. Griffiths will be discussing many of Paine’s radical works, including Common Sense, The Rights of Man and The Age of Reason. Through working on A New World, and his earlier play These Are The Times, Griffiths has built a detailed knowledge of both the man and his intellectual legacy. Accompanying Trevor for the discussion is Mandy Vere from Liverpool’s News From Nowhere bookshop, a radical co-operative bookseller stocking many challenging political writings, including works by Paine.

This event is just one of many at the WCML, which regularly hosts speakers and political discussions, and also boasts an impressive collection of radical literature, with some of their historic collection stretching back to the 18th Century and predating the work of Thomas Paine. This is bound to be a fascinating talk by two genuine experts, on one of history’s most influential thinkers and delivered in a venue befitting the ambition of his ideas.

Sat 27 Jan, Working Class Movement Library, 51 Crescent, Salford, M5 4WX. Tel: 0161 736 3601, 1pm, Free entry, www.wcml.org.uk