Walter Tull - 17th Middx Regt (Football Battalion) Bolton Octagon Theatre

Walter Tull - 17th Middlesex Regt - 1st Football Battalion

Following the extraordinary success of War Horse, the novel by Michael Morpurgo that inspired the National Theatre and then Steven Spielberg, another forgotten tale from the first world war is now set to find a wider audience.

Nearly a century after the great conflict began, Bolton's Octagon Theatre will mount a play telling the story of Walter Tull, one of Britain's first black footballers, who joined the 1st Football Battalion and went on to die on the Somme as the first black army officer. Cited for bravery under fire, Tull did not receive the posthumous recognition many now believe he deserves.

 http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01qmb0d

Shop Workers Against Fascism

The onset in 1930 of the severest recession  the world had ever  known made 20 per cent of Britain's workers unemployed.
 
The town of Jarrow in the North East of England epitomised the human misery of unemployment  in the hungry thirties.

Virtually a single-industry town, its life blood came from Palmer's shipyard. when the shipyard closed down the consequences were catastrophic. Nearly 80 per cent of the workforce was out of work. 

Malnutrition was claiming lives and the death rate from tuberculosis was double the national average.   

In 1936, with Shop Workers union sponsored MP Ellen Wilkinson at their head,  the men of Jarrow set off to march to London. Throughout the journey the march was fed.and sheltered largely by.the efforts' of trade union members  and Co-operative Societies.  


Ellen spoke nightly at public  meetings en route  and  finally led  the weary yet triumphant marchers into London's Parliament Square.  

The  march  roused  the  whole  nation, but the Tory Prime Minister, Stanley Baldwin, refused to see any of the marchers.

Apart from the recession, another great  shadow lay over the political scene of the thirties—the  increasing power of Fascism across Europe and the threat of a second world war.

The Shop workers union joined with other unions in highlighting the abuses of fascist regimes in Europe, while opposing fascism in Britain at a time when the ruling establishment including the Daily Mail, Conservative MP's and members of the Royal Family were embracing Hitlerism and his fascist ideology.

Union members fought the fascists on the streets of the East End and elsewhere. They died in the International Brigade defending Republican Spain against fascist enemies.

When the second World War came the union would lose over 2,000 members fighting fascism and a further 140 civilian members killed in aerial attacks  on Britain



NOTE
The Shop Workers union lost 2,047 member during World War 2 fighting fascism, to add to the 2,103 killed in World War 1

Annie Tynan - Shop Workers Union Pioneer

 Annie Tynan was appointed the Shop Workers Union NAUSAW&C's (now USDAW) first woman organiser in 1911.

Surprisingly she didn't come from a retail background but had received a firm grounding in trade unionism with the Amalgamated Society of  Telephone Employees. Working as a telephone operator in Manchester she had, at a very early age, become a branch secretary and then Executive Councillor.

She learned about the NAUSAW&C when she heard John Turner speak at the TUC and followed the Union's work through the pages of  The Shop Assistant.

Her buoyant temperament and great sense of humour attracted many other women to the movement.



The Amalgamated Society of Telephone Employees was formed in 1909 by the merger of the National Society of Telephone Employees with the National Association of Telephone Operators. In 1915 it merged with the Post Office Engineering and Stores Association to form the Post Office Amalgamated Engineering and Stores Association, the forerunner of the Post Office Engineering Union.

Mabel Talbot - Shop Workers Union Pioneer

Mabel Talbot became the Shop workers union (NAUSAW&C's now USDAW) President in 1920, the first woman to hold the position in the Union's history.

A London dressmaker, she advocated the appointment of a woman organiser in her first conference speech in 1910. Three months later she organised a conference of 100 women which led to the formation of the London Women's Council.

She represented the Union at the TUC and at the Congress of Commercial Employees at the Hague and was elected to the Executive in 1914.

A tireless worker with a clear and lucid mind, she helped consolidate the position of women in the movement.

London Labour Sparrow

The Labour Party in London used the London "Cockney" sparrow widely on its campaigning materials in the early 1980's.

One comment on the design is that it was the an idea adopted originally by Herbert Morrison when leader of the London County Council.

Labour Red Rose Poster 1986

Unity Theatre - Mobile Unit - 1954 (The People's Theatre)

Unity Theatre Mobile unit
By Ann Shure

World News
20th February 1954


The telephone rang early one Saturday morning, "The coach leaves the theatre at  twelve sharp," said a soft Irish voice.

"Now you won't be late, will you ? We have to make Birmingham by six."

I was off on a theatrical weekend.Unity's mobile theatre group were to play in Birmingham! that night, and I had been invited to make the journey with them.

This was just one of many long trips this group has made since it first produced  The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists three years ago. Sometimes the cast are lucky and the show is in a suburb of  London or one of the Home Counties. Other times it's as far afield as Chatham or Wiltshire. Then they must travel all day—with a Saturday morning off from work—to make a 7.30 curtain, with an all-night drive back to London. They do two, three or four shows a month—it depends on bookings.

Who are their audiences? Trade union branches.  Co-op  groups—anyone,  in fact, who can pay the £20 coverage and 1s. a mile travelling expenses. The cast,of course, are voluntary—the money
covers expenses.

The week-end I went, they were off to Cradley Heath, famous for its chain makers, who were one of the first groups to strike in the -last century for organised unions. The chainmakers are now part of the engineering union—and it was three branches of the A.E.U. who had clubbed  together to  bring  Unity to Birmingham that week-end.

I made the theatre on time, to find the grey-painted,  converted  coach  (a gift from the trade union movement two years ago) waiting for the cast. Only three other  people  were  there.  Ten minutes

later stragglers began arriving.and by 12.30 we were away, to pick up one or two people en route. We Were Off!

It was a bitterly cold morning, touched off with a blue sky and a glinting sun. We swung out on to the Great North Road, fierce red letters painted on the side of  the coach announcing our purpose—"Unity Mobile Theatre". Inside,-  three double'  seats  had  been removed—to leave room for scenery and props. The skips—blue hessian bags marked with the name of each character in the play, and the responsibility of the actor—were loaded into the boot. With everyone in (there were nineteen people that day, including the driver), more scenery and a table were stacked up until  we  looked  like some crazy removal van.

Everyone doubled in,this group: Harry Johnson, Unity's mobile organiser, drove half of the way, shifted scenery, planned the route (and bore the wise-cracks !) as well as taking a sizeable part in the play. The other driver. Bill Taylor, also handled scenery and acted. In fact, the only two people on that trip who didn't  go on the stage were producer Sheila Conchie,  and  me—and  even Sheila made "noises off" of a baby crying!

Established Traditions

Warned of approaching ice, I'd taken two sweaters, a scarf, and numerous aids against cold, including a hot-water bottle, which someone later filled with hot tea!The cast must have been acclimatised,for no one else looked so loaded. It seemed there were established traditions in the coach. Those at the front did an impromptu  rehearsal,  throwing  lines from one to t'other with bewildering rapidity. The forgetful could depend on the producer, who knew every word by heart. The men sitting at the back played cards until it was too dark to see. Then everyone joined in a sing-song—familiar songs of the Labour movement, songs the cast made up as they went along with topical quirks and personal references.

The coach had taboos, too, built up over long weeks of travelling together; a sort of social etiquette on the road. It wasn't done to sing in a built-up area after dark. They called it a BUA. And after midnight both talking and singing were barred; people might want to sleep.

We'd stopped for a meal— egg,sausages and beans—about 3 p.m. Then fog began to creep up on us, a wraith like misty fog that blotted out trees and fields, seeped in among us as a miserable dampness, and made driving a hideous strain. The coach seemed to be travelling on a thin white strip of sanity in a cloudy darkening world.

Six o'clock came and went and we still hadn't reached Birmingham. The fog lifted—then thickened again, and finding our way became more difficult. 6.30 . . . 6.45 ... 7 p.m. Birmingham loomed up but Cradley Heath was still elusive.

The curtain was due up at 7.30. Scenery had to be unloaded, and the stage dressed—no luxury of a stage staff here. Costumes needed unpacking, actors dressed, make-up applied. It looked as if  Unity  weren't  going to make this deadline. Yet no one seemed unduly perturbed.

Arrival

At 7.20 we rolled up outside green painted doors. Figures gleamed dimly out at us. "Glad you made it. Thought you wouldn't come."

Back came Unity's hurt reply : "But we said we would!" The blase indolence of  a few minutes before had vanished.  The boot was opened,scenery lugged out; figures rushed by carrying planks, flats and vague bundles. In the seeming chaos everyone had a job and jumped to it.

No one seemed to be giving orders. A voice whispered in my ear "See if you can dig up some tea for the cast."But finding tea in a Birmingham suburb on a foggy night is like trying to find a trace of humanity in Foster Dulles!

The stage was set and the cast made up before I returned with a triumphant enamel pot. How they did it I'll never know, but the show began at 7.45—a bare fifteen minutes late.

There were about 130 in the audience—average, I was told, in that area and in bad weather. Unity Mobile has played to as many as 1,000.The Performance

For a cast who had just made an icy 120-mile journey,with no break in between, I thought the performance was good. Later they told me one man substituted his own lines ; someone else let a dialect slip. I didn't  notice—nor, I'm sure, did the rest of the audience,mainly engineers and their wives. One man I met  had been a member of the Labour Party for over twenty years; normally he never visited a theatre but this was different.

And his one ambition  after the show was to get the signatures of the cast of this working-class theatre.

After the performance came a hot meal; chop, spuds, bread and marg,tea. It's not everywhere they get it, and it's a welcome prelude to that drive back. Over the meal they discussed the performance, analysed its faults, compared reactions.

Then we were on our way back. We made the outskirts of London by 6.30. The lucky ones got home by seven; last off the coach by 8.30 to nine. The cast had a rehearsal that afternoon at 2.30 at Unity's King's Cross headquarters. Me, I was still in bed !

Ann Shure
February 1954

NOTE:








Unity Theatre was established in 1936 and was based from 1937 at Goldington Street, St Pancras, London NW1 - the Theatre was destroyed by fire in 1975.

At the time time as the Mobile was touring in early 1954, a new comedy "Timid People" written by George Leeson opened at Unity Theatre - The play was based on a Chinese short story, presenting an amusing situation which arises in a small Chinese village when two young people decide to marry, despite the objections of their parents

Production was by Harry Hancock 

Surely, the working class deserves the rebirth of Unity Theatre in the Capital

Oakfield Co-operative Football & Baseball Clubs 1926-1927

Oakfield Co-operative Football & Baseball Clubs 1926-1927

Back Row P. Pearson (Trainer)  W. Anderson (Asst Sec)  G. Cooper  D.Brown  A.Crosby

 A. Platt   S.Crosby  A.Tidswell (Chairman)   T.Phillips

Middle Row W.Lindop (Secretary)  A.Booth  T.Allen  H.Riley   W.Foulks

 C.Pearson (Treasurer)  T. Briscoe (Vice Chairman)

Front Row  E.Betton  A.Stevens.  F. Bennett  D. Davis  R.Dunn

Photographer: CRAGGS 23 Breckfield Road, Everton

This is an amazing picture of one of the first British Baseball teams from Oakfield, Liverpool. 

Merseyside was the home of the modern British Baseball teams (based on American rules). Oakfield Co-op baseball team may have also been know as Oakfield Social.

Stalingrad 1943 - Hero City - 70 Years 1943-2013 - We Remember

The 70th anniversary of the victory of the Red Army over the fascist forces (German, Italy, Romanian, Hugary, Croatian)  at Stalingrad - Key victory of the Second World War.

The Working Class People of Britain Salute the Russian People and the Red Army for their sacrifices in WW2 as we did in 1943.

Stalingrad - Hero City

"For us

 There is no Land

Beyond the Volga"



St Bernards (Southall) Union Activist - Dan Moriarty

DAN MORIARTY
NEC Member


Dan Moriarty (St Bernards - Southall) was one of the most popular and respected members of the COHSE health care union National Executive Committee until his retirement last year (1972). He had represented No. 6 Region since 1968 and was also a member of the Legal and Parliamentary Committee and the Staff Superannuation Committee.
 
Dan, accompanied by his wife, was the guest of honour at the Annual General
Meeting of his former region on 16 April and was presented with a cheque and
framed life-membership certificate.
 
In making the presentation, Tom Hedditch.  Regional Chairman during Dan's
term of office, referred to his exceptional personal qualities saying: 'He was never
too busy to try to help not only his fellow trade unionists but his fellow men.' His
generosity  and  compassion  were  well known and demonstrated in his everyday
approach to life: although he had suffered the horrors of a Japanese prisoner of war
camp, he bore no resentment towards his former captors - his regard for his fellow
men was not limited by race or creed.
 
St Bernard's Hospital Branch, where he was branch secretary, owes a great deal to
Dan's organising abilities; it is now one of the largest branches in the country, and
Charlie Wood, who spoke as a member of the National Executive Committee, said
that Dan's point of view had always been respected  and  he  paid  tribute  to  his
diligence and devotion to duty.

  Mrs Moriarty, who was presented with a bouquet of flowers, was described as
'The good woman behind the man'. There is no doubt that her support had contributed to her husband's success.

  In reply Dan, who now lives in South Wales, said it had always been a pleasure
to carry out the various duties required of him, and referred to No. 6 Region as the
most vigilant and enthusiastic in the Confederation. He sincerely hoped that the
standards he had set over the years were acceptable.

  As Regional Secretary, may I say that for No. 6 Region there is no doubt that
Dan Moriarty's standards were most acceptable - the point is whether we who
follow him can even attempt to follow in his footsteps. We wish him all the best for
a long and happy retirement.

COHSE Journal - June 1973

HMV - Hayes - The Workers Voice

GENERAL UNIONS COME TO HAYES

"Not his masters voice, but the workers voice"

THE Nationa AMALGAMATED UNION OF LABOUR (NAUL)

The first general trade union to begin union organisation in the new factories of Botwell, Hayes, West London at the beginning of the twentieth centaury was the National Amalgamated Union of Labour (NAUL).

The Hayes branch of the National Amalgamated Union of Labour was established in September 1911 with a subscription rate of 4d per month, meeting every Friday evening at the Old Crown, Hayes. Middlesex.

Mr T.E. Smith of Gravesend was the National Amalgamated Union of Labour organiser, who began the union drive in the Hayes factory recalled that when he first came to Hayes he had found that the workers “had held aloof from the trade union for fear of being victimised”.

Smith himself had been active in NAUL recruitment on the Clyde in 1911 and was also working on the establishment of a Southall branch of the NAUL.

In September 1911 Joseph N Bell (later Labour MP for Newcastle) spoke to over hundred and fifty men in Clayton Road calling upon them to “combine against capitalism” and W. Watts in January 1913 at Clayton Road schoolstated “In Hayes the future had a bright outlook if only the workers will grasp the weapon within their reach (trade union organisation) there was no time for delay he went on "The meeting in Hayes had been called to show the workers of Hayes the value of organisation, and to give the reason why a living wage (30 shillings a week) cannot be obtained in Hayes without it"

" It was the workers duty and it could be done by them in Hayes,other places had already done it, and they were there that night to convince the hayes workers that they could do it by organsing themselves in a trade union.....In Hayes the future had a bright outlook, if only the workers would grasp the weopon within their reach, there was no time for delay"

T. E. Smith NAUL Organiser stated "there again, there was danger that the men of hayes would be replaced by females, who would work for less wages. But in large industrial centres, Lancashire especially, this could not happen as the workers were organised, and so their trade union stopped it....By joining the trade union they would improve their conditions, and at Hayes, it wanted improving. the whole responsibility rested with themselves"

The NAUL circulated a leaflet around the Hayes area advertising factory gate meetings, one in early 1913 stated

"The Value of Organisation" Come in crowds and hear the truth of why you do not get a living wage in hayes, which is within the London County Council radius. Why remain outside and gamble ? Trust each other and join the union.

The local branch Secretary of the NAULMr W Watt stated "There is no reason why they should not call the local Gramophone factory, not his master voice but the workers voice"

An early test for the union was a strike at the Gramophone works, which erupted in June 1912, when over one hundred men struck. however the strike soon collapsed and non of the men on the original deputation to management got their jobs back.

Another strike took place in June 1913 in the press room at the Gramophone Company in Blythe Road after a wage cut of 3d per hour was imposed, The strike involving over one hundred men and picketing , collapsed when management threatened to sack the strikers, the leaders being dismissed and victimised, Mr T.E Smith of the NAUL heavily criticism those that returned to work. A poem during the strike printed to the local paper gives some insight into conditions faced by the factory workers at Gramophone

Oh dear, oh dear, this awful heat
It nearly suffocates us
If were compelled to stick it long
'twill simply spiflicate us
It didn't seem so 'badly' hot
When we full price, were getting,
But now they've knocked us three pence off
It really is upsetting
We only asked for more fresh air
That we might work the faster
'tis true we struck it several years
But now it's got our master
If they had granted us more air
When we like men applied
We shouldn't have had so much by far
As they've given as now "outside"
Of course it wasn't only air
Alone that we were asking
A few more "extra brads" was what
The "fresh air wheeze" was masking
Still were inclined to try again
Even if our pledge be broken
But we are just a bit afraid
"His master's voice has spoken".

In March 1916 J.A. Seddon MP spoke at a NAUL meeting in Hayes stating that he was "astonished to learn of the low wages some of the girls in the Hayes factories, but was glad tolearn thanks to trade union action a number of special improvements had been secured"

The local National Amalgamated Union of Labour (NAUL) branch Secretary was Mr F.G. Lingard of 9 Neild Road, Hayes

In 1920 The Hayes Branch Secretary of the NAUL was J.C. Haydon of 9 Glebe Road, Hayes, Middlesex. The Hayes NAUL was meeting in 1920 on Fridays at 7:30 at Hayes Restaurant. 

Other local branches included W.A. Taylor of 1 Victoria Cottage, The Green West Drayton meeting at the Kings Head Hotel on alternative Saturdays 7pm. 

W. Johnson 52 Great Road, Brentford meeting at the George the Fourth: and E. Archer 140 Duke Road, Chiswick W4 meeting at the Windmill Hotel: E. Foscali 48 Claxton Grove, Hammersmith meeting at the City Arms.

The NAUL had 44 branches in its London  Thames & Medway District in 1920 (383 nationally) mainly in Kent (especially Northfleet, Gravesend, Dartford area) and East London. 

THE WORKERS UNION

The National Amalgamated Union of Labour would lose its toe hold in the Botwell factories to the Workers Union (later TGWU) towards the end of World War One, thanks to the efforts of Frank Rosenberg the energetic Workers Union full time organiser and the Workers Union local leader Douglas Page. Page was born in Hammersmith in 1884 and came to Hayes in 1914 working as a beltman, he was a founder member of the Workers Union in Hayes, and became the Hayes Workers Union Branch Secretary by the end of World War One.

From 1924 Page he worked at HMV (later EMI) He was also a prominent Labour Councillor from 1924 and a towering figure in the Hayes Labour movement for the next fifty years. While the union he helped establish in Hayes, the Workers Union, later known as the Transport & General Workers Union (TGWU) would come to dominate Hayes for the next ninety years.

The National Amalgamated Union of Labour

The NAUL was established as the Tyneside & District Labourers Union in 1888, It quickly spread along the Tyne and North East waterfronts mopping up in its wake a number of small locally established societies of Scrappers, Painters, Red Leaders, Helpers and other shipyard labourers. By 1890 it boasted 80 branches with a listed membership of 30,937

William Unwin (Financial Secretary), William Stanley and Joseph N Bell (Corresponding Secretary) with A.T. Dipper (General & Organising Secretary) together with six District delegates, But their task was constantly thwarted by strikes and lock-outs, being forced in 1890 to spend 25.18% of income in strike benefits.

The NAUL were soon boasting District organisations in the Clyde, Belfast, Mersey, Sheffield, Thames and Medway together with their more traditional districts in the North East. 

By the time of the 21st Anniversary Celebrations in 1910, by far the largest of the Districts numerically was Sheffield (9,271). Even the combined strength of the three Districts of Newcastle (3,294), Gateshead (1,597), and Mid Tyne (3,080), on which the strength of the union had earlier been centred, could not surpass it. Only Mersey (7,419), London, Thames and Medway (7,874), and Shields & Wear (6,617) could attempt to rival it.

The NAUL had a considerable hold in the cement works along the banks of the Thames. In London some engineering workers were in the N.A.U.L. and it had a few members in the south-west in cement and one or two other industries

From 1917 the NAUL was in discussions with the Workers Union on possible merger, but a loser Federation was established, with a joint executive committee, this loose Federation was joined by the Municipal Employees Association in August 1918 and by 1919 the three union Federation became known as the National Amalgamated Workers Union.

 

However, the NAUL became convinced that the Workers Union was using superior numbers and its full time officers to dominate the Federation, this inflamed local disputes between two unions, this coupled with an economic depression and massive reduction in union members (which hit the Workers Union membership and influence most acutely) led to the Workers Union withdrawing from the Federation in March 1922.

National Amalgamated Union of Labour 

1890 82 branches 30,237 members

1900 177                  21.111

1910 177                  16,017

1911 227                   44,972

1912 236                   49,972

1913 255                  60,003

1914 277                  55,453

1915 287                  70,430

1916 292                   85,836

1917 323                123,627

1918 351                143,931

1919 370                155,220

1920 383                 151,922

* note the huge rise in National Amalgamated Union of Labour membership in 1911, 1913, 1915, and almost doubled in 1917

The NAUL would later join the National Union of General Workers to form the General & Municipal Workers Union , now known as the GMB

NOTE
The National Federation of Women Workers branch secretary was Mrs Hollings of 21 Leonard Road, Southall

Mr T.E. Smith National Union of Labour organiser lived at 183 Old Road, West Gravesend and later (1920) Hillersland, Lennox Road, Gravesend (information on Mr Smith most welcome)

T.E. Smith (JP) was a NAUL Official Delegate, London, Thames and; Medway District

Caroline Martyn - Pioneering Woman & Clarion Van Speaker

THE DUNDEE grave of a leading female trade unionist, who died on visit to the city over a hundred years ago, has been uncovered thanks to the detective work of a local Dundee Trades Union Council Secretary Mike Arnott. Caroline Martyn, an acclaimed public speaker was born at Lincoln, 3rd May 1867, died aged 29 after a short illness in Dundee, in July 1896.  Where she was attempting to recruit women jute workers into the Dundee Textile Workers’ Union. Mike Arnott, secretary of the Dundee Trades Union Council said he was asked by an English local historian Michael Walker to trace Miss Martyn's grave in Balgay Cemeter, Dundee. The granite memorial with metal lettering was on a path between the north entrance and the Hird Bridge. Mr Arnott said, “I spoke to the burial section of the council’s leisure and communities department and we found the plot number.  “The grave hadn’t been tended to and was covered in moss, with another tombstone leaning against it.” Mr Arnott said he had been unaware of Miss Martyn’s career but discovered her fiery oratory was well known in England. He said, “She was a major figure in the Lancashire area and had founded the Socialist Sunday School Movement. She was also a frequent visitor to Scotland for meetings and speeches.” A notice in the old Dundee Advertiser from Monday, July 20, 1896, reported that Miss Martin, “who has been holding a series of open-air meetings,” had cancelled her engagements due to illness. Miss Martin had collapsed after a lecture. A telegram was sent to her mother to go to Dundee, where she was taken to her daughter at a house in the Murraygate. A single sentence in the Advertiser of July 24, announced that Miss Martyn, “the well-known lady trade union organiser” had died the previous day. The Advertiser next day reported that Miss Martyn was interred in Balgay Cemetery the previous afternoon, following a service in St Paul’s Episcopal Church.  Mr Arnott said the hasty internment and burial of Miss Martyn in Dundee are still a mystery. He said, “It certainly seems speedy. Her brother bought the plot on the day she died and she was buried the next day” Mr Arnott and colleagues have cleaned up the memorial over the last few days, although a piece of its top section is missing. He said, “We know the original stonemason was called Cochran and we’re hoping that a contemporary stonemason may hold their records. It would be good to identify what it originally looked like and possibly restore it.” Librarian locates monument clue A DUNDEE librarian has uncovered the missing piece of the puzzle that could lead to the restoration of the grave of a 19th century female trade unionist who died in the city.    On Wednesday The Courier reported the rediscovery of the burial site of acclaimed public speaker Caroline Martyn in Balgay Cemetery by Dundee TUC secretary Mike Arnott, who had been asked to locate it by an English historian. The red granite monument had long been neglected and its top section was missing.    Miss Martyn died in July 1896 of pleurisy, aged just 29, on a visit to the city to recruit women jute workers into the Dundee Textile Workers' Union. She was buried the following day. Mr Arnott said it was obvious there was a missing piece to the monument, but its description was unknown. Fortunately, David Kett, team leader at Dundee Central Library's reference services, saw The Courier's story and set to work. Mr Arnott said, "David searched the 19th century British Library newpapers database for Caroline Martyn and found a reference in an old Aberdeen Journal to the monument, which was erected at the grave the year after she died. "It described a 'broken column of polished red (Peterhead) granite supported on a neat die.' " Mr Arnott said that on reading the description he realised he had unwittingly come across the missing piece on a previous visit to the cemetery.    He said, "I saw a column fitting this description in Balgay the other night, lying maybe 100-150 yards west of the memorial. It was lying in a row of gravestones and looked nothing like anything else around it." The symbolism of the "broken column" is obscure, although a theory suggests it means someone whose life has been "broken off" abruptly by dying young.    The discovery coincides with him receiving one of the only known photo-graphs of Miss Martyn from the researcher who asked him to find her grave. Mr Arnott now hopes to have the monument restored to its former glory. He said, "I'll be speaking to the council, as obviously it is their graveyard. I'd like to set up an appeal fund and ask people for donations to pay for a proper stone-mason to fix it. "The Aberdeen article describes the full height of the monument as 9ft 6in, so it will need a professional   In 2010 2010   26th July Monday afternoon I was pleased to attend a commemoration and rededication of the grave of Caroline Martyn. Caroline Martyn was a Christian Socialist, trade unionist, and promoter of co-operation who lived between 1867 and 1896. She was born in Lincoln but died aged just 29 years in Dundee and had been taken ill during a speaking tour organised to help recruit women jute workers into the Dundee Textile Workers' Union. Keir Hardie wrote that she was the leading socialist of her day, with 'a power of intellect and moral-force' that was unmatched. Caroline Martyn's grave is in Balgay Cemetery. The event today was organised by Dundee Trades' Union Council, well done to them for all that they do to promote trade unions in the city and also to preserve the city's trade union history. The pictures here show Mike Arnott from the Trades' Council and also Caroline Martyn's great-niece Viv Flowers speaking at today's event; and also a couple of pictures of Caroline's gravestone which was erected by her 'socialist comrades and Dundee Textile Workers Union.' 6th July 2010 commemoration of her life at her grave, at the   Her great niece Vivienne Flowers travelled from England to speak at the ceremony. It was held in Balgay Cemetery, where Caroline Martyn is buried. She said she was overwhelmed by the support and love from the Scottish community, and by how much her ancestor is appreciated. Ms Martyn's grave was rediscovered last year after inquiries by an English historian. A monument at the burial site has been restored, with its missing column reattached, after detective work by Dundee TUC secretary Mike Arnott. Mrs Flowers was alerted to the rediscovery after reading an online article in The Courier. She said, "I did a lot of reading about her and we're terribly proud. We're still quite amazed we didn't know anything about her." The ceremony, which was attended by around 25 people, was addressed by Lord Provost John Letford. It closed with a rendition of Mary Brookbank's Jute Mill Song. onday afternoon I was pleased to attend a commemoration and rededication of the grave of Caroline Martyn. Caroline Martyn was a Christian Socialist, trade unionist, and promoter of co-operation who lived between 1867 and 1896. She was born in Lincoln but died aged just 29 years in Dundee and had been taken ill during a speaking tour organised to help recruit women jute workers into the Dundee Textile Workers' Union. Keir Hardie wrote that she was the leading socialist of her day, with 'a power of intellect and moral-force' that was unmatched. Caroline Martyn's grave is in Balgay Cemetery. The event today was organised by Dundee Trades' Union Council, well done to them for all that they do to promote trade unions in the city and also to preserve the city's trade union history. The pictures here show Mike Arnott from the Trades' Council and also Caroline Martyn's great-niece Viv Flowers speaking at today's event; and also a couple of pictures of Caroline's gravestone which was erected by her 'socialist comrades and Dundee Textile Workers Union.'  Labour Chronicle, 1 Aug 1895, repeated in her biographical entry in the 1896 issue of The Labour Annual. a fine time. Three days running I had six meetings each day, then ten, then eleven. Rochdale; fine meetings. Good spirit. Bolton; very good prospects." Unfortunately the lifestyle of an itinerant speaker did not suit Caroline's health. She confided her feelings to friends, such as Isabella Fyvie Mayo, on more than one occasion: She missed the stability of a fixed home and felt she was merely a speaking machine. Long journeys by third-class rail, poor sleeping accommodation and a sense of always having to move on also took their toll physically. On Monday 13th July 1896, Caroline arrived in Dundee to hold a series of meetings and to help recruit women jute workers into the Dundee Textile Workers' Union. She was already struggling with her health, but said little about it for fear of concerning her comrades: "I do not know if it is the weather, which is close and gloomy or what but I have been feeling very queer the last few days. I have not been quite up to the mark for a week or two....... Last night, after my speech, I took the names for 19 new members of the Textile Workers’ Union myself, and there were two or three others taking names also. I hope I shall soon be all right. It is very hard to speak in public when you feel faint and ill." On the night this letter was written, Caroline Martyn spoke publicly for the last time. She was far from well, and at the close of her lecture she passed out. On the afternoon of Wednesday 22nd July, a telegram was sent requesting her mother Kate to come at once from Lincoln. She was met at the station by some of Caroline's comrades, who took her to the house of Dundee ILP member Agnes Husband, at 107 Murraygate, in which her daughter lay dying. Caroline Martyn died in the early afternoon of Thursday 23rd July 1896, aged 29, reportedly of Pleurisy9. After a service the following day at St Paul's Episcopal Church (now Cathedral), she was buried in Balgay Cemetery; section A, lair 13, at four o’clock in the afternoon10. Mourners included her mother, brother George, who had purchased the lair, Miss Irwin11 and representatives of the Dundee ILP. Wreaths came from Dr Emily Thomson, Dr Alice Moorhead and Edwin Scrymgeour12. The red granite memorial was erected the following year and was made by stonemason J. Cochran of King Street, Aberdeen. The top section is in the shape of a broken column, which possibly represents a life cut short. In tribute, Keir Hardie wrote that she was the leading socialist of her day, with 'a power of intellect and moral-force' that was unmatched. The Labour Leader carried a full page obituary, including a sketched portrait captioned 'Died for Socialism', along with a poem by J.Connell. Added poignancy came from the fact that she had just taken over the editorship of Fraternity, the journal of the International Society for the Brotherhood of Man, and was about to start as a trade union organiser, working among Dundee's women jute workers. In many senses it seemed her best work was about to begin.

May Day - London 1973 - "Stop the Pay Freeze"

Dateline:...... May Day, London 1973

London saw its biggest and most united demonstration since the war as over 20,000 people marched, banners waving to the tune of a jazz float organised by the Musicians Union, from Temple to Hyde Park corner; in Glasgow 12,000 marched, in Liverpool 15,000 and in Birmingham 10,000.

Everywhere was the same slogan's - "Give use a decent standard of living", "Stop rising prices" and "Unfreeze our wages " Stop the Freeze" and "Heath Out"

COHSE Health Services Jounal - June 1973

How much longer must we tolerate rising prices, stagnant wages and Tory self-advancement at the expense of the workers.

in Britain the message of this year's labour day is as it has always been - the demand for a just, egalitarian society and a decent standard of living - a demonstration of the mighty power of the working class



 TGWU, APEX, EEPTU, SOGAT,  NATSOPA banners

Winston Churchill Defeat 1922

Never forget Winstin Churchill the man who was responsible for the massacre at Gallopili in WW1, Supporter of the unjustifiable Boer War, fought with the Spanish forces fighting Cuban Independence movement, Sending Troops against the Miners in Tonypandy, Supporter for the White Russians in 1917, Sydney Street Massacre, opposed Indian Independence, Support for Franco during the Spanish Civil War, Supported fascists to regain power in Greece after WW2, Supporter of the British Empire.

Early Socialist Slide

Early socialist slide - 

Liberty, Progress and Socialism slaying Capitalism.

Looks like Social Democratic Federation ? early 1900's ?

Labour Party Fiftieth Anniversary Certificate - 1950

 

"The foundation of a true Socialist Society must be laid in the hearts & minds of men and women. Socialists will be judged not by what they say, but what they are"

Clem Attlee

"The secret of our success has been our ability to unite men of diverse gifts, giving to each an outlet for his special talents..... the Socialist Movement is not for a day, but for all time"

Kier Hardie

WI Sharp Shooters - WW2

WI or Women's Co-operative Guild in WW2

ok maybe not but still another rare picture of British women in  WW2 with guns

or maybe a future solution to the equal pay question

NOTE
In December 1941, a more organised but still unofficial Women's Home Defence (WHD) was formed under the direction of Dr Edith Summerskill, Labour MP for Fulham West. WHD members were taught weapons training and basic military training.