Marx Memorial Library

The Marx Memorial Photo Library

The Marx Memorial Library has a wonderful photograph archive of approximately 40,000 historic photographs. At its heart are the photographic archives of the Daily Worker and Morning Star newspapers. They comprise pictures taken for the two newspapers since their founding in 1930 and 1966 respectively, but many other smaller donations have also contributed. In particular, there are a large number of early Soviet photographs.

Unsurprisingly, there are images of Karl Marx and his family, Engels, Lenin, Che Guevara, Khrushchev, Paul Robeson, and Rosa Luxemburg, but the archive is generally strong for:

Statesmen
Politicians and political activists (particularly those of the ‘Left’)
Trade union leaders
Leaders of pressure groups
Generals and other military officials (e.g. Soviet generals)

As might be expected of two national newspapers, there are also some photographs of:

Sportsmen
Actors and actresses
Authors
Media celebrities

The ‘portraits’ are currently being catalogued.

Provisional list of named individuals.

The archive also contains thousands of topical images. Highlights include:

Spanish Civil War (the archive is particularly strong in its photographic coverage of the British section of the International Brigades)

Wars generally (particularly the Second World War, Korean War, Vietnam War and the war in Kampuchea)

Life and events in currently or previously socialist countries (Soviet Union, China, Cuba, Chile, Vietnam, Korea, and Eastern Europe)

Conferences and congresses (particularly those of the Communist Party of Great Britain, and peace organisations)

Rallies and campaigns (e.g. Battle of Cable Street, 1936, the Anti-Apartheid rallies, Anti-Nazi League events, campaigns against the Poll Tax, tied cottages, and sale of council houses)

Strikes and industrial disputes (e.g. the General Strike of 1926, the Wapping Dispute in 1986-1987)

Buildings associated with Marx and Engels.

Monuments, films, plays, sculptures and buildings associated with Lenin.

How to get the images

The photographs are digitised on demand. It is not currently possible to search for any of the images online. The staff of the Picture Library are happy to search for photographs of the person or topic that you require. We will then digitise a selection of the most suitable photograph(s) and email them to you (free of charge) as low resolution images for you to peruse. Upon receipt of payment, we will then send any images that you select as high resolution images.

The Marx Memorial Library has photographic images of the following people.

Please contact the Library if the person you seek is not listed. The list is still being compiled and we know that we have photographs of many other people.

Aaronovitch, Sabrina
Aaronovitch, Sam
Abbott, Diane
Abbott, S.
Acheson, Dean
Ackermann, Anton
Adams, Gerry
Adams, Jack
Adams, Lew
Adler, Larry
Afanasyev, Victor Grigorevich
Ahmed, Iman
Ainley, Ben
Airlie, Jimmy
Aitkin, John
Aken, Hermann
Akintchuk, F
Alanbrooke, Lord
Alarcon, Ricardo
Alderson, Ray
Aldridge, James
Aleksandrovi, S M.
Alexander, Bill
Alexander, Terence
Alexandrov, Andrei
Alexandrov, Grigori
Alfani
Al-Gaddafi, Muammar
Ali, Tariq
Aliyev, Geidar Aliyevich
Allen, Alfred
Allen, Chesney
Allen, Graham
Allen, Woody
Allende, Hortencia Bassi
Allende, Salvador
Almeida, Juan
Almeyda, Clodomiro
Alo, Yusuf
Al-Sallal, Abdullam
Altamirano, Carlos
Alvarez
Alvarez, Mercedes
Amand, Vidya
Ambatielors, Betty
Ambatielos, Betty
Anderson, Bob
Anderson, Brian
Anderson, Dennis
Anderson, Donald
Anderson, Isabel
Anderson, Mollie
Anderson, Sir John
Andrede, Mario Pinto de
Andropov, Yuri
Ang, Dr Swee
Annan, Noel Gilroy
Ant, Adam
Anthony, George
Apanasenko, Sonia
Arafat, Yasser
Arboussier, Gabriel El
Archer, Grace
Archer, John Richard
Argent, Christine d'
Argyll, 11th Duke of
Arismendi, Rodney
Arnot, Robin Page
Arrau, Claudio
Arrowsmith, Pat
Ascherson, Neil
Ashberry, Gordon
Ashcroft, Peggy
Ashley, Jack
Ashton, Jack
Ashworth, Edna
Askins, Jack
Askins, Joan McMichael
Astica, Sara
Astor, 3rd Viscount William Waldorf
Astor, Colonel J. J.
Astor, Lady Nancy
Astor, Lord
Astor, The Honourable David
Astor, The Honourable Gavin
Atatürk, Kemal
Atienza, Tony
Atkin, Sharon
Atkins, Charlotte
Atkinson, Eric
Atkinson, Norman
Atkinson, Rowan
Attenborough, Mary
Attlee, Clement Richard
Attwood, Arthur
Aubrey, Crispin
Austin-Walker, John
Aveling, Edward
Avis, Peter
Ayres, Frank
Azikiwe, Nnamdi