Alan Clinton papers

Alan Michael Clinton was born in Dublin in June 1943 and came to England with his family when he was 11. He studied at Xaverian College, Manchester, and read history at Merton College, Oxford, where he became actively involved with politics as a member of the Labour Party and also joined several socialist and Trotskyist groupings. Clinton gained his PhD at Chelsea College, University of London, researching trades council activity (under Ralph Miliband) and industrial relations were to remain his main intellectual interest, resulting in the publication of the book 'The Trade Union Rank And File: Trades Councils in Britain 1900-1940' in 1977. In the 1980s, Clinton wrote books on printed ephemera, libraries, unions, housing and safety at work. His book 'Post Office Workers: A Trade Union And Social History' was published in 1984. During the 1970s, Clinton was instrumental in setting up the Workers' Socialist League and devoted much time to its campaigning and publications. In 1982, he was elected to Islington council and almost immediately became chief whip; in 1986, he became deputy leader to Margaret Hodge. Clinton became leader of the council in 1994 and remained in office until 1997. As well as politics, Clinton also taught widely, holding temporary posts at Leeds University, the Bodleian Library, Oxford, Imperial College, South Bank Polytechnic, the Institute of Housing, the Irish Studies Centre, and North London Polytechnic. In 1988, he took more permanent employment as a history lecturer at Bristol Polytechnic (subsequently the University of the West of England). Clinton's last work 'Jean Moulin, 1899-1943: The French Resistance And The Republic' was published in 2001. He died of cancer in January 2005.