Beschreibung:

BRITISH LABOUR MOVEMENT AND RUSSIAN SOCIALISTS -- A collection of letters and documents addressed to, or relating to, Mrs. Mary Jane Bridges-Adams, in connection with the development of the Labour movement, and to the Russian Political Prisoners and Exiles Relief Committee in London covering the years 1903-1927, 1,340 pages, various sizes , comprising: WARWICK, Frances Evelyn Greville, Countess of (1861-1938). 20 autograph letters signed or initialled to Mrs. Bridges-Adams, Palermo, Warwick Castle, Easton Lodge, Lincoln, London, "on train for Eastbourne", 21 March 1903 - 9 October 1908 and n.d. (9) , on lecturing and speeches, financial matters and Mrs. Bridges-Adams' son William, and commenting on international affairs. 127 pages, 4to and 8vo . CHICHERIN, Georgii Vasil'evich (1872-1936). Letters and memoranda to Mrs. Bridges-Adams, drafts and copies of speeches, reports, minutes of meetings, accounts, and notes relating to the Russian Political Prisoners and Exiles Relief Committee, and correspondence with members of the Labour movement and socialists abroad, mostly London, 1914-1921, approximately 682 pages, various sizes ; together with his address book and enclosures. STANLEY, Edward Lyulph, fourth Baron Sheffield (1839-1925). 16 autograph letters signed ("Sheffield") to Mrs. Bridges-Adams, Reform Club, Portland Place, Alderley Park, Holyhead, 18 December 1917 - 27 November 1923 , mostly concerning the arrest of Chicherin and Petrov, the European situation, O'Reilly, Lockhart and Litvinov, and educational and social matters, 66 pages, mostly 8vo . Together with approximately 326 other autograph and typed letters from English socialist individuals and organisations, and other socialists and revolutionaries in Europe, circa 465 pages, various sizes , relating to Russians in exile, the revolutionary movement in Russia, including many letters of congratulation following the February 1917 revolution, the campaign against repatriation and the Right of Asylum, and social and educational matters; and a small quantity of printed and duplicated ephemera, newspaper cuttings, and other related material. Mrs. Mary Jane Bridges-Adams (née Daltry, 1855-1939) was a left-wing socialist especially interested in educational matters, a leading propogandist for educational reform and a member of the London School Board. She became a close friend of the Countess of Warwick for a few years, and was possibly her secretary during the winter of 1904/05. Most of the letters from the Countess are addressed to "Dearest Friend", and are full of her hopes and aims for equality in education and social matters. The 15-page letter written on the train to Eastbourne is typical in her "business that will give me freedom to help Socialism ... of the rest of my life!", and she writes of meetings in Paris "There Clemenceau gives me a 'Luncheon' to bring Picquard the War Minister - & Dreyfus - hero" and the threat of the German invasion, of a lecture on New Zealand, a lecture given by [G.B.] Shaw, "Shaw's matter was excellent & sound of course - but he is dreadfully conceited & full of 'mannerisms' ... you know I like him & am not prejudiced", of hopes for Easton to become a socialist colony, of [W.R.] Hearst and American affairs, and her social position 'I am finding myself actually popular! The King is again at my feet! I spent 2 hours last week telling him of Socialist ideals". One letter dated 9 October talking of health and old age has been dated 1908 and annotated by the recipient "Last letter received before withdrawal of help". The Countess had been helping financially and paying for William Bridges-Adams education at university. Chicherin, a Russian revolutionary and later second Commissar of Foreign Affairs, left Russia in 1904 and had arrived in England at the beginning of the war, and organised aid for revolutionaries under the relief committee, in which he was aided by Mrs. Bridges-Adams, and later for the Delegation of Russian Socialist Group