Acknowledgements
Although the opinions expressed here are my own, there are many people who in one way or another have contributed to this work. I do not know the names of many of them, although I should mention first my parents, Joseph and Mary Redfern (née McDonald), who instilled in me a strong class consciousness and a strong sense of identification with struggles (though they would not have expressed such things this way) against exploitation and oppression wherever they may be. I should acknowledge also the political experiences, both positive and negative, of many years of political activity, which helped to form the ideological and political outlook expressed in this work.
The criticism and advice of many people, in particular two anonymous peer reviewers, as well as Alan Fowler, Tony Adams, Neville Kirk, Andrew Thompson, Deidre Beddoe, Nick Mansfield, David Swift and David Monger, greatly improved the work. Pertinent criticisms and comments came from staff and students who attended seminars at Manchester and Manchester Metropolitan universities and members of the public at a talk at Tameside History Club. The librarians and archivists at the John Rylands University Library, Deansgate, Manchester, the Lancashire County Record Office at Preston, Manchester Central Library, the National Archives at Kew, Oldham Local Studies and Archives, the Archives and Study Centre at the People’s History Museum, Manchester and Tameside Local Studies and Archives Centre were unfailingly helpful. Finally, Jenny Taylor painstakingly worked on copy-editing and proofreading and made more than a few suggestions regarding the arguments herein. Simon Mussell also did an excellent job of copy-editing. Without the help and encouragement of all these people, this work could not have been written.