500 Years of Struggle – a people’s history of Nottinghamshire was published in 1949 and sold for sixpence. At the time the Communist Party of Great Britain had over 40,000 members, two MPs (Willie Gallacher in West Fife and Phil Piratin in Mile End, London) and considerable influence in the trade union movement, not least in Nottingham.

This pamphlet is not without its anachronisms, but it’s interesting to see how the authors saw Nottingham’s past. Subjects covered include the English Revolution, Lord Byron, housing, the sacking of Nottingham Castle, Chartism, the opening of the first local public library and, of course, Robin Hood. The aim was to understand the past, leading to “the winning of a better town”.