Our History Bulletin 6

“Our History”

New Series No 6: July 2007 Our History e-bulletin History Group of the Communist Party of Britain – newsletter In this issue:

Feature on a locality

P1 SOUTHAMPTON COMMUNISTS Adrian Weir P12 SEE YOU IN BERLIN! Berlin World Youth Festival: 1951 Bernard Barry P18 NEW COMMUNIST BIOGRAPHIES now on site

The Minority Movement and After: a South Hants Perspective

Adrian Weir The Southampton branch of the Communist Party was established in 1921, but was very short lived and promptly collapsed. It was not reformed until 1931 with the arrival of two newcomers, Fred Young and Dan Huxstep who together with local man Percy Osman set up a new branch. Consequently, the years of Minority Movement growth, the General Strike and the ideological twists and turns of the New Line saw the Southampton labour movement virtually unaffected by changes in revolutionary politics.

P19 ‘OUR HISTORY’ Of course there were revolutionary socialists in the area; they seemed mainly based in [OLD SERIES] Southampton Docks. Of these Trevor Stallard and Harold Smith were prominent. Harold now on the web Smith was a leader of the seamen’s strike of 1925, a member of the Amalgamated Marine Workers’ Union (not TUC affiliated), who after the Strike found himself blacklisted in

P20 most ports. Through family connections he started work in Southampton Docks in MIA BRITISH CP November of that year. He was not a CP member but was sympathetic to Bolshevik ideals.

He joined the T&G, which at the time had a low membership in the Docks.

ARCHIVES on line When the General Strike came he was still on the EC of the AMWU as well as a T&G shop steward. Because of no CP presence and MM membership was limited to a few P21 CPUSA ARCHIVES individuals there was no pressure to set up a Council of Action in the town but the Trades Council formed a Strike Committee to co-ordinate activity locally. The response to the N. York University Strike was solid with most of the town stopping for the nine days. Smith himself believes the General Strike contained within it the seeds of revolution if it had been carried P23 through.

GRANTHAM UNION HISTORY Having said that, the Strike was solid. (Two dockers – if they were pickets or scabs is Andrew Robinson unknown – were killed during the Strike due to management scabbing and trying to operate cranes.) The point has to be made that one of the local newspapers, a weekly did publish its scheduled edition in the middle of the Strike. The Hampshire Advertiser &

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“Our History” Independent, although somewhat shortened, was basically indistinguishable from the normal edition. Although not taking an explicitly anti-strike attitude, it did by implication: ”If Southampton differed in any way from other large towns it was in respect of the good feeling which prevailed. There has been no incident so far in which the fair name of the town for good citizenship has been in question. The ordinary processes of strike situations have been carried on without clash … The response to the call for volunteers for various services has been excellent.” (i) The next edition, after the Strike, had a somewhat modified line. The national situation of growing support after the Strike had finished was repeated locally: “At a largely attended meeting on the Marlands on Thursday it was decided that the men should not return to work until the employers had given guarantees that there would be no victimisation. It was stated

by Mr Paterson (Boilermakers) that his union had issued a notice to the effect that in view of the wholesale victimisation by employers, the order to return to work on Friday had been cancelled until the re-employment terms were withdrawn. It was also indicated that unless this was done men on new and repair work, not involved at present in the dispute, would withdraw their labour.

On behalf of the Local Strike Committee it was stated that two points had been submitted: that every person who left his or her work must be reinstated, and that the agreement of every section must be safeguarded … The tram service was practically normal yesterday, but the numbers of local workers on strike had been added to by the decision of several hundred of Messrs Pirelli’s workers to come out …

Southampton employers, in an official statement issued yesterday, stated that they were prepared to engage men of all trades for whom there was work at usual rates. They have not attempted to impose special terms …

A notice to dockers posted yesterday stated that employers were prepared to engage men at usual rates, but no guarantee would be given that all men who presented themselves would be employed forthwith.

Employers subsequently met Transport Workers’ representatives, and the latter’s demands were made. The employers’ attitude was: 1.

That they were prepared to discuss any necessary points with the properly appointed representatives of the respective Trade Unions, but not with a Special Strike Committee, whose constitution or powers were unknown to them, and which could not have permanent existence;

2.

The Employers are prepared to give every consideration to individual applications for reinstatement from clerks, staff hands and foremen, but are not prepared to grant the demand as made;

3.

The Employers’ attitude is that volunteers who have stood by the country during the emergency have a greater claim upon their consideration that the men who went on strike and, whilst disclaiming all idea on vindictive action towards the strikers, a reasonable time must be allowed each of the volunteers in which to make his arrangements to return to his previous occupation. Vacancies created by such returns will be filled as they arise in the usual way before the Strike …

Shortly before eight o’clock yesterday, four volunteers were walking along the Weston Shore, Southampton, on their way to work in the Docks when they were attacked by men who concealed themselves in Blue Anchor Lane. Stones were thrown, one of which struck a

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“Our History” volunteer in the face. Another of the party was hit on one of his legs, but in neither case was the injury serious.

Shortly after the Western Shore incident, several chars-a-blanc, containing volunteers, ran the gauntlet while passing through the main Dock gates. Strikers in the vicinity hooted as the vehicles approached. A man jumped on the floorboard of one of the char-a-blanc, and is said to have slashed at people with a thick strap”(ii).

Immediately after the Strike, in common with the rest of the country after the TUC’s unconditional surrender, the Dock owners, the Southern Railway Co, and other port employers came down hard on trade union organisation. The Union Castle berths where Smith worked were one of the few places to keep 100% membership. Smith claims the local T&G officials tried to have him removed from office because of his Bolshevik ideas but a mass meeting of the men endorsed his position of shop steward.

It was at this time that Trevor Stallard came to work in Southampton Docks from Weymouth Quay, both owned by the Southern Railway Co. Previous to being a docker he had gone down the pit in the Rhondda with his father on leaving school and subsequently become a professional footballer, having spells with West Bromwich Albion, Bristol Rovers and Aberdare. A T&G member he joined the Party when it was reformed in Southampton and was put in the Docks cell. Apparently, when the Party was reformed in October 1931 there was some discussion as to if this was the right step or should they form a branch of the Friends of the Soviet Union first and a CP branch later. However, the CP was re-established and their first activity was the formation of a reception committee for the Hunger Marchers coming from Plymouth and the West Country on their way to London.

Fred Thompson of the Transport Workers’ Minority Movement and London dockers’ leader was sent down from London to assist the local branch get it started. The Reception Committee raised money from and gained the assistance of the Labour Party, trade unions and sympathetic individuals as well as gifts of provisions from local shops and traders. The Reception Committee met the marchers on Millbrook Road and marched with them up Commercial Road to the Morris Hall where they were fed and put up for the night. In this early period the Party town branch did in fact organise a Friends of the Soviet Union branch, with Dan Huxstep taking on the job as secretary. The branch held regular open meetings and organised the sale of Russia Today and the Moscow Daily News.

In that summer, of 1932, the International Anti-War Congress sponsored by Henri Barbusse, Maxim Gorky and Romain Rolland was held in Amsterdam. The local FSU open meeting held to elect a Southampton delegate, turned down the Party nominee and sent a local docker who, upon his return, refused to report back at a series of arranged meetings. The FSU later sent a different docker, John Buchannon, to the Soviet Union who upon his return spoke to the Trades Council and some half dozen union branches.

Buchannon’s standing as union branch chair and trades council delegate ensured the meetings were well attended and he later joined the Party.

As with the FSU, the town branch started to organise the local National Unemployed Workers’ Movement, Wally Cooper and Fred New doing most of the work, assisted by John Gibbons, a full time Party workers whom Southampton shared with Portsmouth.

Initially the organisation made little headway, the transient nature of the unemployed in the area probably accounting for that. Dockers, shipyard workers and seamen could all be unemployed one day and employed the next.

The Southampton Unemployed Workers’ Committee was active in organising meetings

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“Our History” outside Labour Exchanges with national speakers like Sid Elias and E Llewellyn and creating steady sales of the Daily Worker. John Gibbons with Ted Daly, Reg Case, Fred Prinn, A MacDonald, B McKeeret and F Fippard were active in organising deputations to the town council; demonstrations to local Task Work Centres and ensuring the unemployed had NUWM representation at hearings of the Unemployment Assistance Board. The Unemployed Workers’ Committee organised contingents from the area on three occasions to march to London together with workers from Scotland, Liverpool and elsewhere at the time of the National Hunger Marches.

In the summer of 1935, during the election campaign, the possibilities of a “united front” with the Labour Party were explored. A circular signed by Percy Osman, a Party member and a dockers’ shop steward, was sent to Labour Party ward secretaries mooting the idea. Officially they were turned down, but in practice the CP’s enthusiastic work was welcomed by rank and file Labour Party members.

Possibly of equal importance to any “united front” activity was the foundation in 1935 by Victor Gollancz of the Left Book Club, which reached a national membership of 50 000.

In Southampton, Bill Hooper, later to become the local Party secretary, organised LBC Discussion Groups. Percy Osman recalls Neal Wood as saying, “there can be little doubt about the importance of the Left Book Club, either as a powerful voice and a moulder of the left wing, or as a mass movement in its own right. It was Britain’s nearest equivalent of a popular front.”

In 1935 with the growth of Sir Oswald Mosley’s British union of Fascists, the Party was to the fore in organising opposition nationally (iii) and locally. In Southampton the BUF had acquired premises to use as a clubhouse and a barracks, but local support was limited, at their big events they had to bus in outsiders to swell their numbers. Percy Osman remembers two big meetings Mosley held in the town and recalls them thus: “the Coliseum meeting, the Blackshirts after leaving their coaches, with the usual strong police escort, to reach the hall, had to walk some distance, running the gauntlet of a hostile, vociferous crowd lining the pavements. I saw one woman help a laggard forward with the toe of her shoe. I always prefer the open streets in such meetings, with packed audiences and plenty of very strong arm stewards, the fascists always had the advantage.

Mosley’s meeting on Southampton Common was where Mosley addressed – or tried to – a noisy mass of people from the roof of a van. It was really difficult as one of the opposition was hanging on his legs trying to pull him from his platform. In turn, this heckler had his own legs clasped by one of the fascist stewards trying to pull him away from the “Leader”. In this farcical situation … the police, in force as usual, abruptly closed the meeting. They bundled the Blackshirts upon a passing tramcar, which slowly moved off through a cheering crowd. It had its windows barricaded with seat cushions.”

The subsequent Public Order Act 1936, designed to quell fascist activity held many doubts for the left. Osman, along with Gilbert White of the ILP, were among the Southampton delegation that met the Attorney-General, Sir Thomas Inskip, to make their reservations known.

Throughout 1936 and into 1937 there was a strong commitment by the left outside the Labour Party to the foundation of a “united front” against fascism and war. In January 1937, the Hampshire, Isle of Wight and Dorset Federation of Trades Councils passed a resolution very much couched in united front terminology: “this Federation is of the opinion that unity of the international trade union movement is essential to prevent the onslaught of fascism and war throughout the world. For this reason it welcomes the decision of the IFTU Congress held in London this year, entrusting the Secretary to set (sic) into touch with all organisations concerned including the Russian trade unions. It learns

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“Our History” with grave concern that the Central Trades Union Council of the Soviet Union has not yet been approached, and asks for an explanation of the reason, in view of the victories won by united trade union action in Spain and France, and calls upon the Secretary of the TUC General Council to operate the decision of the London Congress without further delay” (iv).

In March that year the speaking tour of the Unity Campaign reached the area.

Representing the CP was Willie Gallacher, MP, the ILP by Fenner Brockway and the Socialist League by Sir Stafford Cripps, MP. The trio addressed three meetings in one day; at the Town Hall, Eastleigh, the Coliseum, Southampton and the Atherley Hall, Shirley. All three meetings endorsed similar resolutions; the first expressed support for the Unity Campaign initiated by the CPGB, the ILP and the Socialist League, the second expressed solidarity with the Spanish workers, their Government and army and international volunteers, the third protesting against the disaffiliation of the Socialist League by the Labour Party. All three speakers attacked the National Government and its apparent inability to stop the drift to fascism and war. Cripps saying: “Anybody who sits in the House of Commons and watches the legislation which is made, to the alarm of everyone on the opposite side to the National Government, knows perfectly well that there would be little difficulty for those who form our National Government today to form Fascist Government tomorrow.”

Gallacher, speaking on the Government’s defence measures said: “… that when their opponents talked of defence it was profits they were concerned with, not the men and women of the country … Mr Baldwin and his partner, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, were saying that the workers of this country wanted not higher wages and shorter hours, housing, maternity and child welfare centres, and things like that, but guns. And the bigger the guns the better … We can only save the country by having all our forces solidly united. We must prevent war coming. If we are to prevent war coming we must destroy the National Government” (v).

However, even though the meetings had been chaired by a prominent Labour Party figure, EJ Hibberd of Winchester, the leadership of the local Labour Party generally had nothing but abuse for the United Front. At a Labour Party meeting that weekend these sentiments were reported in the local press under the headline, Warning against Communism: Ald Lewis’s Attack at Soton. The article read: “Members of Southampton Labour Party held their annual reunion at the Coliseum on Saturday … In his address to the meeting Alderman Lewis said, ‘if we are to succeed at the next Council elections and also at the General Election, whenever it comes, we must keep our movement intact and free for (sic) disputive elements … The present Unity Campaign of the Communist Party is only another instance of the disruptive tactics of this party for many years past. During the past ten years or so a number of moves have been made and organisations formed, with a view to drawing members from their allegiance to the Labour Party. Many members did not realise the nature of these organisations, but as soon as the objects were made clear, the organisations would be closed down and a new body formed. This time it is a plausible proposal and one perhaps more difficult to combat. Our members must, however, be on their guard about this new move of the Communist Party… Although they pretend that, as a rallying ground, they are in favour of a moderate liberal programme, their plan is to get inside our party for the purpose of propagating a policy that is entirely opposed to that of the Labour Party.”

He was backed in this by R Morley who said: “… the local Labour Party has formed a united front which comprised all the representative institutions of the working class movement – the Labour Party, the trade union movement and the Co-operative Societies.

The united workers as citizens, producers and consumers …Unfortunately there were some people advocating unity whose real aim was disunity. The united front advocated by some

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“Our History” people was in effect a Communist Party under another name. The Labour Party would not allow itself to be dragged at the heels of Communism; the tail must not wag the dog. The Communist Party took its orders from Moscow, and changed its policy at the dictate of Moscow. The short programme just put forward by the Labour Party is more Socialistic than the so-called United Front …” (vi) The CP also ran its own United Front meetings in 1939 with Tom Mann, Harry Pollitt and JR Campbell among the speakers.

The war in Spain was very much to the forefront, Southampton lost three men in the International Brigade; Raymond Cox, Harold Laws and David Guest. For sometime there was a small steamer berthed at Southampton being loaded with foodstuffs, medical supplies and various other equipment. All this material being donated and collected by various sympathetic bodies and individuals. Perhaps the most arduous work for the Spanish Republic, that of building a refugee camp at Moorgreen for the evacuated Basque children is described by Percy Osman: “Although in the beginning done by some humanitarian, non-political organisations and individuals, the erection of huts, latrines and general maintenance work was all done by the voluntary labour of local trade unions the Trades Council, our Party participated in all this. Again the actual reception of these children, feeding, bathing and clothes changes, all of this was the work of our womenfolk and other sympathisers.”

So much for the general political work of the Party in the town, we must now turn our attention to the industrial militants, men like Trevor Stallard, Joe Simmonds, Fred Ward and Harold Smith. Trevor Stallard’s recollections are particularly revealing about the role of the Party in the Docks. The Communists active in the Docks became the acknowledged leaders of the dockers, the union organisation was somewhat restricted with only half a dozen shop stewards covering the entire Docks. Although the Southern Railway owned the Docks there were numerous companies inside who actually employed the stevedores. (You could only get work as a stevedore if you held a tally. For example, the Southern Railway only had 200 men on a permanent tally and a further 500 men on a preference tally, but there was a further 1 000 men on floating tallies and 350 on a shed tally. As the dockers were employed on a casual basis, the chances of getting work increased with the sort of tally held; permanent being the best, preference, floating and shed being the descending order.)

The Party activists were prominent throughout the ‘30s fighting against reduced manning, victimisation, overloading and for better wages and conditions. Their role as unofficial spokesmen became crystallized in 1939 when Trevor Stallard was elected to the T&G Biennial Delegate Conference.

Although Trevor Stallard says the economic side of their work was not a lot different from ‘ordinary’ trade union militancy, the political was. During the Great Depression (1929-33) the Party organised a mass march from Southampton to Eastleigh, which the dockers supported under the slogan ‘We Want Bread’ (at this time the dockers’ wages had been reduced from 12 shillings a day to 11/2 and most were only working two days a week). The Party dockers were active in support of the Republican cause during the Spanish civil War, they sold milk tokens to the dockers and got the dockers’ union branch to make donations to the Republican side. They played a leading role in the evacuation of 4,000 Basque children who were brought through Southampton Docks and housed in a camp at Moorgreen. It was this campaign, Trevor says, that first brought about joint activity with the local Labour Party. Mowbray King, who later became a Labour MP, was particularly prominent.

The Party cell was engaged in activity against fascism in Germany, Italy and Britain, it was instrumental in organising 6,000 people when Oswald Mosley arrived in Southampton to speak at an open air rally on the Common. The result was that Mosley

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“Our History” was literally run out of town.

The ‘Hands Off China Campaign’ was well supported by the dockers under Trevor’s leadership. The Duchess of Richmond incident stands out where, following the invasion of China by Japan in 1937, the dockers blacked all Japanese cargo. The Duchess of Richmond docked in Southampton, all her cargo was discharged with the exception of the Japanese goods which were left on board marked ‘Cargo Refused by Southampton Dockers.’

Trevor’s involvement with the Haruna Maru and the dock gate meetings with Tom Mann has already been noted and Trevor was called back to London gain to address another meeting on the China question in the East End at Canning Town Town Hall, this time with Trevor Huddlestone. It was a result of the blacking of the Duchess of Richmond that Trevor and two other Party dockers were sacked in 1938 by the Southern Railway (they held preference tallies) and no other stevedoring firms would take them on. Trevor believes that this was done in collusion with the full time officials as they (the officials) periodically reviewed the tallies and after twelve years Trevor, and his two comrades, were found to be unsatisfactory workers.

The local press never gave the incident a large amount of coverage but one paragraph was perhaps pertinent: “An embargo against the handling of Japanese goods has been declared

by Southampton stevedores who are members of the Transport & General Workers’ Union…

As a result, they refused to discharge 200 tons of Japanese cargo which arrived at Southampton in the Canadian Pacific liner Duchess of Richmond later on Thursday night, and today the liner left to return to Canada with the goods still on board. The decision to impose an embargo, which was taken by the men at a dockside meeting, will … be recommended to members of the Transport & General Workers’ Union at every port in the country.” (vii) The next edition of the paper reported how the union officials had responded: “The action of the Southampton stevedores … in refusing to unload Japanese goods on Saturday was unofficial, it was ascertained by a reporter on inquiry at Transport House, Westminster, headquarters of the union, today. The stevedores are stated to be trying to induce other port workers to follow their example in refusing to handle Japanese goods. If they succeed the question will probably have to be considered by the National Executive of the union as one of policy. Officials of the union realise that an embarrassing situation may be created.” (viii) The local officials subsequently sabotaged a strike in support of the three. Trevor later spoke to the T&G District Committee. He wanted to know why they were being kept out of work, but the DC never moved from the officials’ position.

Around this time the Molotov-Ribbentrov Non Aggression Pact was signed which Trevor feels led to a slight decline in their influence, but only one of the ten Party members in the Docks left the Party over it. Although they had around ten members in the Docks during the ‘30s and were always on the look out for new members, the Party cell never organised a sustained recruiting campaign. During this period there was no mass sale of the Daily Worker, although Trevor recalls that they sold Russia Today throughout the ’30s.

When the War started in 1939 and Southampton Docks closed as a commercial port Trevor moved to Coventry, first to the Daimler works where he was chairman of the shops stewards’ committee and later to the Standard II works where he became convenor of shop stewards. The aspect of Coventry that most impressed Trevor was the shop stewards’ committees. In the Docks at Southampton, the few shop stewards there never met as a committee and so, on his return to the Docks in 1945 and subsequent election as shop steward Trevor set up the first dockers’ shop stewards’ committee in the country.

This was against Deakin’s wishes (Deakin being General Secretary of the T&G) but the

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“Our History” employers eventually recognised the Committee which had the support of the young, up and coming official, Jack Jones.

Shortly after the War ended the Docks Cell, which had been suspended during the closure of the Docks, was re-established as the Stevedores’ Branch. By 1948/49 Trevor was on the District Committee and National Executive of the T&G. It was during this period that Deakin tried to expel Trevor because, when addressing a meeting of Liverpool dockers Trevor told them which way the EC members had voted over the acceptance of Stafford Cripps’ pay policy.

When CP members were proscribed from holding office in the T&G Trevor was removed from all committees but, the Southampton dockers refused to let Trevor and two other Party members, John Bonnin and Bill Taylor, be forced off the shop stewards’ committee, to which end they were backed by the local officials. The port employers initially refused to recognise the Committee with Party members on it but, since they wouldn’t meet them without Trevor and the others, they were forced to accept the situation.

Decasualisation was the most important post-war issue facing the dockers. Before the War the employers had offered an increased number of men preference tallies but, since this still left a lot of dockers working on a day to day basis, it was rejected. Bevin had brought in a form of decasualisation during the War, but even when in peacetime the ownership of the docks was nationalised, the operators were still private, employing labour on a casual basis.

In Southampton, two union officials were seconded to ensure the work was shared out on an equal basis and to this end they managed to secure a limited right to disclosure of information from the employers. One of the union’s aims was to reduce the number of port employers, which by 1948 had been brought down to three at Southampton. Trevor later went on to represent Southampton on the Devlin Committee.

In the post-war period, even though the dockers were willing to back Communists against the union’s leadership inside the workplace, this wasn’t translated into electoral support outside, in municipal elections. The Party never stood Parliamentary candidates in the 1945 General Election in Southampton, but Trevor recalls they worked themselves into the ground to get the two Labour candidates elected. They organised street meetings virtually everyday, drew up a list of any Party members able and willing to speak in public and put them on a platform. Ron Jones, the District Secretary of the Confederation of Shipbuilding & Engineering Unions, who wasn’t a Party members, ably assisted in collating a joint list of speakers. The two Labour candidates were eventually elected, not before complaining though that the Party was pushing the campaign too left, too fast.

Another of the militants active at the time, Harold Smith, recalls similar events but, particularly of activity in the Docks during the War years. (Smith himself never actually joined the Party until the closing stages of the war). He was involved in most of the activities through the ‘30s, organising a 1d a week levy for the Hands Off China Campaign and the secreting of anti-nazi propaganda in the holds of ships with German connections.

In 1937 be became a paid lay official and in 1939 a full time official proper. As has previously been stated the Docks were closed as a commercial port within a fortnight of hostilities, the Southern Railway only keeping 100 men on their payroll. Harold organised these remaining dockers in port emergency squads providing safety cover and firewatchers for not only the Docks and the Fawley berths and refinery but also the railway from Eastleigh to Exeter.

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“Our History” Perhaps the most important development in the Docks was the establishment of the Port Emergency Committee (the Docks equivalent of a Joint Production Committee). The PEC was a joint body charged with (when the Docks re-opened) organising the priority of berthing and discharging ships and the dispersal of both cargo and ships. There were numerous disputes on this committee regarding berthing, discharge, dispersal and work practices.

Southampton had always been a day working port and when Bevin decreed by Ministerial Order that the stevedores go over to piece-work there was an inevitable dispute because the crane drivers were to be excluded from the bonus payments. The dispute was only resolved after a threat by the dockers of no work until the crane drivers were included in the bonus arrangements. Another dispute that Harold, through the PEC, become involved in was night working, which led to the development of ‘star lighting’, a form of lighting that enabled dockers to work safely on the quayside but couldn’t be seen

by German bombers. Also, as the dockers were returning towards the end of the War, there as an attempt to cut the rate of £3.7.6d which had to be fought.

There now follows a curious set of events, in that Smith claims he was eased out of his job as a full time official. Following the appointment of an official called Chick in 1942, who Harold claims was a virulent anti-communist, there was campaign against him because of his ‘”subversive activities.” Even though he was the senior official for the Docks he claims he was not allowed to send or receive correspondence through the union machinery or use the union telephone. As a result of this alleged victimisation by the union hierarchy, Harold left Southampton for Bournemouth, where he finally joined the CP and resigned from office in the T&G. Although the Docks in Southampton closed to commercial traffic early in the War, industrial activity of a different kind increased. Not only were the shipyards turning out warships but hundreds of men were employed in the Docks on ship repair and the conversion of liners into troop carriers.

Among the people engaged in this activity was Joe Simmonds. Joe, a woodworker, moved to Southampton from Sunderland in 1936 searching for work. He started at the Scott Paine yard in Hythe working on motor torpedo boats but was moved into the Docks early in the war under the Essential Works Order, 1936, where he joined the Party in 1941. He had previously been involved with the NUWM in the northeast.

The Party Docks Group, made up almost entirely of ship repair workers, seems to have been quite successful during the War years. It had a membership of between 40 and 50 people, including a large number of shop stewards. As a group, they met weekly and they organised well attended lunchtime meetings with national speakers. They also ran leaflet distributions, of which the campaign to open the Second Front was a prominent topic.

The popular support for the Soviet Union was reflected in the mass sale of Soviet War News in the Docks and they were able to sell various Party pamphlets “by the hundred.”

This group differed from the pre-war stevedores’ cell in that they (the war time group) ran Marxist education classes with national tutors and also sold books in the Docks.

Joe does not recall any response locally to the national decisions to run down workplace branches towards the end of the War. With the end of the War coming there was going to be three or four year’s work re-converting the troop ships back to passenger liners. In normal times the Queens, the Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth, provided three months work each during their winter lay ups.

Particularly active in the ASW, Joe recalls that, during the War and after, Party activists never really had to work hard at wage militancy because, there was so much work both in

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“Our History” shipbuilding/repair and construction work in and around the town, that wages for woodworkers were always reasonably high, although in the occasional lay-offs CP members were usually the first to go.

The CP was prominent among the rank and file leadership. The local management committee of the ASW, chaired by Ron Boyce (latter to die of asbestosis, and after whom the local UCATT office is named) was, with the exception of one, exclusively made up of CP members. This influence has been maintained right up to today, UCATT being one of the unions locally where the Party and the Broad Left are influential. Joe himself became a full time official in 1960.

Another feature of the activity of this time, still seen today, was the disagreement over priority of work between the industrial cadres and the Party members involved in more general political work. The “spilt” between the Party District Committee and members active in the Southampton Liaison Committee for the Defence of Trade Unions in the early 1970s is symptomatic of this.

During the War and immediately after, Joe remembers Party members being heavily involved, in leading positions, on Southampton Trades Union Council. Joe was elected delegate to the 1946 Trades Union Councils’ Annual Conference but when he arrived was barred from participating because the TUC still proscribed CP members. There seems to be some confusion over how effective this proscription was. Joe, and other Party members were active on the Trades Union Council. In the latter part of the ‘40s there were various articles in the local press expressing “concern” over the Communist influence but it would appear that the industrial members were able to ignore any proscription quite easily, others couldn’t. Dot Light, a Union of Shop, Distributive & Allied Workers member, claims she couldn’t be a delegate from her union because of her CP membership.

Another workplace running at full production from before the War was Folland’s aircraft works at Hamble where Fred Ward was working. Fred joined the Party in 1937 and when he stared at Folland’s joined the factory branch there. There were eleven members in the branch; most of the AEU shop stewards were members, Fred. A storeman in the GMWU was responsible for literature sales. They had a daily sale of 48 copies of the Daily Worker together with similar sales of the New Propeller and Labour Monthly.

When the Fall of France occurred in 1940 Fred addressed a factory meeting about it for which he was arrested and sacked. He was jailed for three days for holding a meeting in a protected place. Apparently the branch disbanded soon after this.

Fred recalls the Party did not have an extraordinary influence over wages and the like but its effect on the political awareness of the workers was significant. After his sacking Fred had a brief spell at the Atlantic Gulf West Indian Oil Corporation’s refinery at Fawley before going to work at the Eastleigh works of Pirelli. Whilst in Eastleigh he became secretary of the town branch of the Party (there were two branches in Eastleigh the, a residential branch and the Rails Branch, based on the Southern Railway’s Locomotive Works). During the 1945 General Election they organised factory gate meetings outside Pirelli’s to support the Labour candidate. Eastleigh at that time was part of the Winchester division and in 1945 for the first time ever and since, Winchester returned a Labour MP. In late 1945 Fred moved back to the Esso refinery at Fawley and established the Fawley branch of the Party. In name it was a residential branch but practice made it a workplace branch. Virtually all of its members being employed by Esso, four process workers, or Foster Wheeler, the building contractor engaged in the massive expansion of the petrochemical plant, twelve of which were in the branch. Fred had joined the ETU now and

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“Our History” subsequently became chairman of shop stewards’ committee. Trade union density both among the process workers and the building workers was high, which was reflected in the high rates of pay being earned. The ETU branch sent Fred as their delegate to the local Labour Party General Management Committee. Apparently the local Labour Party was happy enough but the national Party sent down a Lord Shepherd to enforce Party rules and have Fred thrown off.

Predictably, when the construction work finished and the building workers moved on, Party membership slumped. Although it did have something of a renaissance when the Waterside LCDTU was set up in 1968/69, getting involved in industrial action on the refinery site, in one instance felling trees across roads to deny petrol tankers access or egress.

To briefly summarise, it appears that industrial activity by CP members in SouthamptonEastleigh was not as extensive as in other parts of the country, South Wales or Sheffield for instance, but was reasonably successful in the Docks in becoming acknowledged rank and file leaders. The Rails Branch at Eastleigh, although having a similar lifespan to the Docks organisation, ie, started pre-war and lasted a long time after it, is less easily defined. Various individual shop stewards and union branch officers were members of it but the union work seems to have been prioritised over Party work. The residue of the Rails Branch is still observable with four CP members employed by BR at Eastleigh, all being shop stewards or branch officers and maintaining a Morning Star sale of a dozen a day with periodic sales of Marxism Today and Party pamphlets and various journals form the socialist countries, like Sputnik and GDR Review, but not meeting as a workplace group. The only other recorded organised workplace activity at Folland’s and Fawley was quite transitory in nature.

It could be argued that the relatively small CP in Southampton-Eastleigh, no Minority Movement, etc, could arise from the area’s relative isolation, once you leave the area it is 70 or 80 miles to another large urban area, Bristol-South Wales, the south Midlands or London, coupled with the relative prosperity of the area. The history of militancy or even revolutionary activity described seems to be of a spontaneous nature and certainly lacks continuity.

Following this theme through, it has relevance in more recent times. During the campaign against the Industrial Relations Act in the early ‘70s, the Dell, Southampton FC’s ground, was virtually full of striking workers at a protest rally. Yet on the one-day stoppage called by the TUC on 14 May in 1980 against the Employment Bill the reaction locally was somewhat less enthusiastic. Significantly, the two major workplaces which closed for the day were both places where the Party had been well organised in the past, Southampton Docks and the Loco Works at Eastleigh.

The interpretation of the last paragraph should not be one of a well-disciplined Party organisation in the past. During the course of the research it emerged that local industrial militants received no special training or education, only the wartime Docks Group ran Marxist education classes. Meeting were not held of all the activists under the auspices of the District Industrial Department. Finally, none of the activists concerned knew of any any decision to run down workplace activity in 1944/45 so they carried on as usual, in unknowing contravention of the line being followed by the rest of the Party nationally.

Note: This article was originally written in 1981. No reference has been made to the minutes and records of the various organisations involved particularly, Eastleigh and Southampton Labour Parties, Eastleigh and Southampton Trade Union Councils, Eastleigh and Southampton Communist Parties, UCATT or the T&G, because they either do not exist or

11

“Our History” because time did not allow. The text was mainly based on interviews with some of the people involved and from a copy of Percy Osman’s hand written recollections, together with some reference to newspapers of the period: i ii iii iv v vi vii viii

Hampshire Advertiser & Independent 8 May 1926 Hampshire Advertiser & Independent 15 May 1926 Piratin P (1978) Our Flag Stays Red London: Lawrence & Wishart Southern Daily Echo 1 February 1937 Southern Daily Echo 15 March 1937 ibid Southern Daily Echo 4 December 1937 Southern Daily Echo 6 December 1937

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“Our History�

SEE YOU IN BERLIN! Flowers or bayonets Bernard Barry After World War II the victorious Allies (UK, USA, USSR and France) occupied Germany and Austria. Each had a sector to administer. Berlin, although in the Soviet zone, was also divided into East and West. By 1951 the Cold War was already raging and the hostility of the Western Powers to the USSR and the German Democratic Republic (GDR) knew no bounds. The World Youth Festival movement, beginning in Prague in 1948, followed by Budapest in 1947 began a campaign for young people to join in friendship against the divisions of the Cold War. The 3rd World Youth Festival, held in Berlin between August 4th and 19th, 1951, was a particularly strong example of the record of spirit and tenacity of the youth of numerous countries who braved the machinations and obstacles deliberately and avowedly put in their path by governments hostile to the Festival to join with each other and with the youth of the socialist countries of that era to celebrate their international friendship and demonstrate their intense desire for peace.

In February 1951 the World Peace Council launched an appeal for the conclusion of a Peace Pact between the five Great Powers (USA, UK, USSR, France, and China). The British Peace Committee then campaigned for the collection of signatures supporting the Appeal. It offered a free trip to the 3rd World Youth Festival in Berlin to the youth who obtained the most signatures and this prize was won by Michael Brennan of Harrow and Sorelle Lewis of Leeds, who collected almost 5,000 signatures between them.

The Festival, organised by the World Federation of Democratic Youth (WFDY) and the International Union of Students (IUS), attracted numerous youth organisations all over the world.

Among the delegation of over 1600 from Britain were youth of every shade of political opinion, Tories, Labour, Liberal, Communist, trade union, Co-operative and colonial youth, workers and students of every trade and profession. It was the biggest and broadest delegation ever to go from these shores.

It was apparent from the outset that they would meet with all manner of difficulties created by the Foreign Office (FO) in collusion with the French, Belgian and US governments. At the end of May, Herbert Morrison, then the Foreign Minister, answering a question in the Commons on "what steps were intended to be taken to prevent youth attending this 'communist inspired Festival', said "I do not wish to interfere with the freedom of action of youth. The Festival is organised by the WFDY and IUS, which are in the nature of fifth column bodies. I have therefore agreed to consultations between the three High Commissioners in Germany to prevent the exploitation of young people to serve the interests of the Soviet Union". The National Union of Students (NUS), fraternal member of IUS, rejected Morrison's claim, and organised travel for those going independently. Near the end of June the FO stated, "We do not deny we've done all we could to prevent these people going".

Later on the FO stated, "We've tried to dissuade them and advise them not to take part in this major propaganda operation in the Communist cold war". The British military commandant in Berlin, GK Bourne, commented, " Youth will go home from this tremendously well organised show - remember it is being done by the Germans - having been hit in their emotional solar plexus by the might of world Communism".

13

“Our History” The WFDY General Secretary came to Britain to discuss British participation in the Festival but was refused entry. The Labour Party National Executive said those going to the Festival committed an act incompatible with membership of the LP. Despite that, many LP and LP League of Youth members registered for the Festival. The West German government banned the Free German Youth movement, uniting East and West German youth. The Italian government refused visas, sparking a national protest. The Cyprus government kept visa applications 'under review'.

A NUS application for transit visas was ignored by the W. German government.

The World Youth Peace Relay started in July. A scroll of peace signatures from Totnes was relayed through the West Country to London, backed by Redland Training College students' union. Supported by the poet Hugh MacDiarmid, the novelist Compton Mackenzie and Sir Hugh Robertson, conductor of the Glasgow Orpheus choir, 200 young Scots climbed to the summit of Ben Lomond from where the baton was carried to a 1,000 strong meeting in Victoria Park, Hackney. It was handed over to two French youngsters for its onward journey. The London County Council refused the use of the park's sports arena so a march was taken to a bombsite in Bethnal Green, where the young people were harassed by police. Six branches of the French relay linked up at Paris, seven at Lyons At the beginning of August some three hundred British youth sailed from Newhaven. All passports were checked against a list given to the French gendarmes. They said that was on orders from London. Twelve delegates were turned back, then spent all night guarded by armed security police like common criminals. On the return ferry the French captain confirmed the gendarmes' statement. Fourteen British were prevented from boarding the 'plane at Brussels for a flight to Prague. Two Venezuelan girls were sent back to Kingston, Jamaica and had to pay £154 for their fare!

By now the West German police and the armed forces of the US, UK, and France in Austria were mobilised in thousands to try and prevent any young person reaching Berlin. Chartered flights to Prague had to be abandoned due to a West German ban on flights over German territory. Hence it was decided to go by train. The passport check at Calais resulted in the leaders of the party being taken away. In Paris the French government refused to allow the train to go through France - until the French railway workers bluntly declared "If that train doesn't go through, no train will go anywhere in France" The train then went non-stop all that day and night until it stopped at Hochfilzen near the border between the French and US sectors in Austria.

There, some three hundred were taken off the train by US troops. They were shunted into a siding.

After a long wait Hilda Froom of Bradford was asked by the group in her carriage to find out the cause of the delay. The US army officer said their papers were out of order so they could not proceed any further towards Berlin. Contact with the nearest UK consul, in Vienna in the Russian sector, was refused. Finally it was agreed the party could go four hours back to Innsbruck in the French sector to see the UK consul there. The French delegates were taken to stay in school halls.

The British were left stranded on the station platform. Hilda and five others made a deputation to the UK consul. He initially confirmed their papers to be in order. A US colonel claimed he had orders from a higher authority on no account to let the party through. After a call to the UK embassy in Vienna the consul advised (red-faced, he had obviously been overruled) they couldn't go to Berlin, that it was dangerous to go into a Communist area, that a train back to Calais with food would be provided. Firm in their desire to reach the Festival the British party refused this.

They squatted on the station for a week.

30 Scots children in the party, some from Glasgow Socialist Sunday school, were taken into care

by Innsbruck families, who were later thanked by their parents. Innsbruck town council sent some food then soon stopped, but local people came daily to help with their supplies. French soldiers and students shared their food with the British. Many trade union delegations from all over Austria brought their collections. Telegrams and messages of solidarity, delivered via the Innsbruck stationmaster or Free Austrian Youth, showed the growing worldwide volume of support.

Despite their privations, the party kept up its spirits on the platform by singing and entertaining each other. They even played 'make-believe' cricket, no ball, no bat, just mime.

Eventually a French officer threatened that unless they boarded the train standing on the platform, his soldiers would put them on, to be returned direct to Calais. Soon the soldiers arrived - with food! They had decided not to comply with the order and had made a collection of food instead.

With fresh individual tickets, wired to them by the British Festival Committee, the party left Innsbruck at long last and reached Saalfelden in the US sector. US troops were apparently checking every train going that weekend to Vienna and throwing off anyone and everyone who looked young enough to be going to a youth festival. Twelve Leicester schoolboys, wearing young

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“Our History�

Conservative badges, and their two teachers, were manhandled off the train. Their baggage was thrown off and they were put under armed US guard. Twelve soldiers for twelve boys! Shelter from the pouring rain was refused. They were only released after giving an assurance they were on holiday, not going to the Festival. One British group left the train at Berg-Griesen. A local gasthaus accommodated them in a barn.

At 3.30 am US troops surrounded it, bundled the group into lorries then put them under armed guard into a barbed wire compound in Saalfelden barracks with 120 French. To show their spirits despite the US action they danced the hokey-cokey before leaving the compound to be taken to Saalfelden station. Another group, detrained at Leogang, started towards the zonal boundary.

They were surrounded by US troops, some of whom appeared tipsy. The group was put into trucks at bayonet point. When Colin Sweet objected to this, saying their papers were in order, he was hit with the butt of an automatic rifle, necessitating eight stitches near the eye. He was treated by a US doctor, kept six hours without food or water then returned to Saalfelden early in the morning.

Eileen Field was seized and manhandled by five or six US troops and suffered arm and leg bruising.

The main party, led by Charles Ringrose, was literally thrown off the train at Saalfelden. Baggage was ripped open. A Scots group which resisted was locked in a guards van but later released by Austrian railwaymen, at their own risk. Three large groups were driven on to the railway track. A fourth group, led by Hilda, was put into a railway coach, guarded by a US soldier at each end.

Toilet access was denied to all, forcing everyone to relieve themselves in the open. US troops broke up any circle of friends screening a girl. [Hilda till then was just an individual passenger. During World War II she initiated and successfully led a national campaign to free anti-fascist refugees from internment. Prominent in the campaign for the second front she spoke, among many other meetings, alongside Harry Pollitt at a huge rally in Trafalgar Square.]

All evening and night long the groups of British and French youth were surrounded by US soldiers with fixed bayonets. They were kept herded on the track, with barely a foot clearance as trains passed. When Jane Watson of Bristol was hit by a passing train, Dr. Hughes, a London Peace Council delegate, was forcibly prevented from attending her. He was even punished for trying to!

Jane was taken to a military sick bay where a doctor diagnosed concussion and shock. Put to bed

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“Our History� at 3.30 am she was put in a jeep at 5.30 am and returned to the train. Dr. Hughes finally got her to a hospital. 10 days in bed was prescribed - but no beds were available! A printer's family took her home and cared for her for three weeks. She was told her parents had been informed but this wasn't true. Messages came from all over Austria from the working class movement, especially the democratic women's organisations. The US embassy claimed she was hit because she stood on the track trying to stop the train! June had to sign that her parents would refund the cost of her fare before being issued with a ticket. She needed 6 weeks more rest before she could resume work.

Another girl fainted on the line. She was brought round by being slapped and having her shins whacked by a rifle.

34 British, 55 French, Turkish and Algerians broke through the US cordon at Saalfelden and got to Prague. They were greeted by the Czech youth movement. Each was given a postcard to write home. Prague radio broadcast messages from the escapees. By a waiting train in Saalfelden the guards were ostentatiously provided with hot food and drink but this failed to lower the young people's morale. A US officer's call through a loudhailer to offer the train with food, washing facilities and toilets etc. if they would get on and go back to Calais was met with catcalls, boos and shouts of "Go home, Yankee, go home". "We're going to Berlin or nowhere".

About 6.30 am all the young people on the track were forced, at bayonet point, on to a train.

Hilda's coach was coupled on to it. A US officer shouted, "Kick them up the arse if necessary, lift them by the hair, but keep them moving" Over 40 British were injured in the US attacks. Austrian railwaymen warned that the train was going to a disused displaced person's camp near Innsbruck to leave the party there till the Festival was over. A US soldier at each end of each coach guarded the toilets. All the coaches were locked to prevent communication. However each coach decided independently to pull the communication cord at Innsbruck. As the train stopped there, the Austrian policemen lined up shoulder to shoulder gave up any attempt to stop the young people jumping out of the doors and windows with their rucksacks etc. flying after them and treated the whole matter as a joke. The twenty one carriages of the train were emptied in three minutes. The authorities certainly did not want another Saalfelden, especially after the photographs taken by some youngsters with pocket cameras had been issued to the world press, (thanks to the Innsbruck peace committee which developed the negatives). The 'Daily Worker' of 15 August 1951 gave a full page of detailed reports, World Press and news agency pictures and photos of US guards with bayonets fixed etc.

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“Our History�

Due to the news coverage, greetings telegrams from all over the world were sent to those at Innsbruck. Massive protests, far too many to detail all, were sent to the United Nations HQ in Vienna. Many US embassies and consulates had to deal with deputations. The Australian seamen's union cabled a threat to black all US ships in Australian ports because their youngsters were being stopped. Many trade union branches and some Labour MPs such as Benn, Silverman, SO Davies, Brockway protested. To the Peace Council protest Morrison replied "The delegates are themselves responsible for the difficulties met in Austria. Apart from papers not being in order, they deliberately defied and provoked the legitimate authority in that country". The committee of Christians and the Crisis wired Truman, Attlee and the FO. Morrison replied "The use of troops and the watch imposed on these travellers appears to have been necessary because of the latter's refusal to obey the instructions of the US authorities". An official FO reply was "Use of rifle butts and bayonets appears to have been necessary". There was never any mention by Morrison of the US brutality. Thus the FO justified US interference with UK citizens travelling abroad under protection of British passports. So much for Morrison's 'free world' and his claim that Britons could go freely abroad as they pleased - see his article in 'Pravda' in June 1951.

At Innsbruck all platforms were connected by an underground passage. The French delegates blocked this, thereby blocking all platforms. They declared the British were not to be left on the platform as the last time, that they would keep the passage blocked until school accommodation was provided for the British. Within half an hour this was conceded and for the first time in 10 days the British had somewhere to sleep. Orders not to leave the school were ignored. Through a back door visitors came with food and the French party shared the little food given them by the French consul with their British friends. They burned 'return home' leaflets the police gave them, saying "We go home via Berlin".

150 British went from Innsbruck into Italy then reached Klagenfurt in the UK sector. On

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“Our History� applying for grey passes their case was referred to Vienna i.e. they were stopped. Another group going by road was stopped from crossing from the UK to the Soviet sector.

Eventually the main British party left Innsbruck in successive groups of fifty or sixty at different times, going into the British sector. The train carrying the first group, led by Hilda, was stopped at Bruck am Mor. British soldiers got on and told the party to leave the train. Hilda descended, followed by her group The Free Austrian Youth were watching every train passing through. A member found Hilda and told her to get her group together as quickly as possible and follow him. They were led to a youth club, fed, and then taken by bus miles into the mountains.

When the rest of the British caught up, all two hundred or so were assembled and taken on small vehicles for miles along mountain tracks. Any doubts they had were dispelled by assurances they would get through - "We fought with the Partisans. We know every blade of grass round here".

Then on foot they went through a forest in silence as British soldiers were searching for them.

When at last they saw a Soviet border post they had to restrain their impulse to shout with joy.

Soon a Russian army vehicle transported them to a Russian army camp in a nearby village where they could wash, feed and rest. Soviet soldiers vacated their beds to allow the British to occupy them. They were bussed to Vienna, to stay overnight in a youth hostel. Finally a great long train took them through Czechoslovakia across to the GDR and at last they were in Berlin.

They had braved American bayonets, been resolute in face of political and diplomatic chicanery and now two weeks late, they joined the Festival. All along the route were bands and crowds of people, especially the Free German Youth (FDJ), on the station platforms waving and holding up messages of greeting. At the station in Berlin the party was led on to a platform for all to see them, to be greeted with cheers. Loudspeakers broadcast music of the peace movement and the Festival. It was a tremendous victory for peace, for that young generation from East and West to meet together, celebrate and live in friendship with youth of all nations. The British and French experience was by no means unique. A vast number of delegates from all over Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia and the Americas had similar harassment, but each of them pledged not to rest until they reached Berlin.

Nine hundred sailed in a specially chartered Channel steamer, the 'Maid of Orleans' to Boulogne, and then went by train to Dunkirk to board the Polish liner 'Batory'. 38 delegates had their passports taken. In a vain attempt to shake their morale they were taken to the dockside to see the 'Batory' leave. As it did, all the delegates crowded the rails to wave to the 38, cheered and sang the Festival Youth song and shouted to them "See you in Berlin!" They did. The 38 were put on a

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“Our History� ferry back to England. One of them, Jim Arnison of Salford, then obtained a Czech visa and flew to Prague as a businessman! The others made their way by various devious routes. 80 American youth were the first to board the 'Batory', after several failed attempts to reach Berlin. The song "Solidarity forever" epitomised everyone's feelings. The passengers found a bath and meal waiting for them. Then they had the run of the ship, with its dance floors, sundecks, cinema and the magnificent swimming pool. They made up their own song and dance shows. At the disembarkation at Gdynia they were welcomed by a delegation of the Union of Polish Youth and a quayside band. Hamburg youth created a furore by releasing a balloon advertising the Festival.

Panic stricken police fired on the balloon to bring it down.

On Sunday, August 5th 1951 a trumpet reveille announced the opening of the 3rd World Youth Festival. The GDR government said it "greets with joy the peace loving youth of the whole world".

Wilhelm Pieck said "All eyes of mankind are on Berlin where youth will demonstrate its will for Peace". In the Walter Ulbricht stadium delegates of 103 nations marched through in alphabetical order, Afghanistan, Albania and so on. Sixty five British delegates, some in kilts, one Welsh miner wearing his helmet, took part. The contingents took two hours to pass the podium. All the way and all the time there were cheers, especially for the Koreans and Vietnamese (The war in Korea was then raging). Flowers were thrown, hundreds of peace doves released, radio commentaries given in English, German and Chinese. Loudspeakers every fifty yards relayed joyful songs. Special emergency trains poured in bringing, in 4 waves, two million visitors, who were accommodated in blocks of flats, communal billets, factories, schools, municipal offices, hostels, private and communal quarters, specially constructed camps etc. The FDJ thereby achieved a miracle of organisation. For the Festival were opened a new Pioneer camp for 20,000, a new stadium to seat 40,000, an Olympic size swimming pool with 5,000 spectator places, an indoor sports hall for 5,000, an open air theatre for 20,000, a children's stadium for 15,000, scores of soccer pitches, tennis courts, parks, sports pavilions, a brand new lake and mounds of rubble were covered by sowing in grass to serve as grandstands for the campfires. Prior to the Festival the Danes collected milk powder and the Swiss collected chocolate for Korean children. For the colonial countries the Swedes gathered science books, the Dutch raised money for Indonesian delegates, the British for other colonial youth.

Among the notabilities present were the poets Nazim Hikmet (Turkey), Pablo Neruda (Chile), Jorge Amado (Brazil), Hugh MacDiarmid (Scotland), Olympic runner Emil Zatopek, writer Arnold Zweig, composer Alan Bush, William Gallacher MP, Soviet and other ambassadors. The XI International Student Games began on the 6th with some college teams from the UK participating.

The Festival had two weeks of varied entertainment each evening for 400,000, day (and night) long folk dancing, film premieres, Soviet, German and Chinese films, plays, orchestral and ballet concerts, receptions, lavish exhibitions, youth in colourful national costumes dancing on street corners, campfires, singsongs, pageants, swimming, tennis, soccer, cycling, athletics, picnics, rambles, conferences, competitions in dancing, singing, instrumental music, music composition, photography, writing. The Festival newspaper and the new Sports Hall notice board kept delegates informed of up to 200 different events that took place each day, no single person could possibly have had more than a very small idea of the Festival as a whole. Many delegates exchanged names and addresses for future correspondence with youth of all nations.

At the end of the first week a nine hour parade was led by 5,000 young Pioneers. One and a half million German youth marched seventy abreast. Despite their government's maltreatment 35,000 West German youth took part. No bayonets were seen, only masses of flowers all along the route. Crowds lining the pavements listened via the loudspeakers to the applause greeting each of the delegations carrying national flags and banners. Rockets and fireworks added to the heady atmosphere. The singing of the World Youth song gave the keynote of the parade - Peace - and the call for the signing of a Peace Pact between the Five Great Powers.

A Workers Music Association (WMA) choir at the English concert sang a concentration camp song. 30 ex-Servicemen, led by former major John Eyre, brought medical supplies for the young members of the Korean Liberation army, who took back letters for British POW in the hands of Korean forces and gave an address in China through which letters to Korea could be transmitted.

Before leaving the Festival the Koreans visited the British group. After a joint singsong the British embraced the Koreans to show their opposition to the war in Korea. On Colonial Youth Day delegates from Africa and Asia spoke in their native languages of their suffering and demanded an end to the war in Korea and the withdrawal of foreign troops.

Enrico Berlinguer, WFDY president, and Otto Grotewohl, the GDR president spoke at the Festival closing ceremony. Delegates of 104 countries pledged themselves to win millions of

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“Our History” signatures for a Five Power Peace Pact. Shouts of "We pledge it!” rang through the air in many different tongues as they linked hands in an endless chain of friendship. Berlinguer's passport was later taken at the Swiss/Italian border as his speech had not met with the approval of the Italian government.

During the Festival the West Berlin mayor gave an open invitation to the delegates to "come and see for yourselves" To attract them they were offered free food, Chaplin and Wild West films, stage shows, colour TV programmes. At the same time rumours of starvation and typhus at the Festival were spread. When some thousands of FDJ members went into West Berlin to call for peace and friendship they were surrounded by police with pistols, truncheons, hosepipes and armoured cars and savagely attacked. 400 were arrested, hurt, and casualties, some serious, were taken to hospital.

Jealous of each other and of the Festival success the hatred and fear of the capitalist media was evident in their vicious, frenzied hysterical lies, distortions and contradictions. "Bored delegates walk about with nothing to do" but " They are regimented to meetings and marches" "Delegates are children/middle aged, people are starving, typhus is rampant, GDR police are a new secret army, peace a sham, friendship a fraud" UK delegates later sent £30 to the 'Daily Worker' in gratitude to the only paper telling the truth about the Festival and its message of peace.

Some delegates stayed on to attend a WFDY council meeting as observers. Hilda Froom was elected by her group to join a party of American, Canadian and Australian delegates who were invited as guests of the FDJ to stay on and tour Saxony and other parts of the GDR. 800 delegates left Berlin by train. The General Secretary of the NCCL flew to Vienna to meet them. On the return journey US troops were conspicuously absent at Saalfelden. Austrian youth came to greet them there and also at Innsbruck. At Basle the station officials refused permission to go on to the platform to buy food. After protests one door was opened but a barrier put on the platform under a specious pretext of 'Customs regulations'. Carriages were then locked and the train was hustled non-stop direct to Dieppe, so tickets for Paris were not honoured. In effect they were deported.

In contrast, FDJ members clapped and cheered and GDR police kept on shouting "Freundschaft!" as 850 delegates entrained for Gdynia. People waited up to 4 hours to greet the train as it passed through the GDR and Poland carrying delegates to the Polish port. Scots bagpipers and drummers led the march to the ship. The Innsbruck party had a place of honour.

Alan Bush with the London Youth choir led the singing. From Southampton the party had a special train to London to be met with banners "London salutes youth heroes from youth festival" etc. A march to a bombsite by the Old Vic theatre followed for a meeting to demand the right to travel abroad in safety and at will, to raise the cry "Youth fights for Britain and Peace" in every town, hamlet, workshop and university. All the British delegates were impressed by their experience in the GDR, by the absence of anti-Semitism and of German nationalism and were astonished at the friendliness and helpfulness of the GDR police. They felt inspired to work for peace.

Two days after the arrival home of the delegates the London Peace Council and the Youth Festival committee held a joint meeting in Hyde Park. Delegates related their experiences in Berlin, Innsbruck and Saalfelden. They demanded that Morrison be forced to hold a public inquiry, a US apology, court-martial of offending soldiers and compensation for damages. Plans were made for a national drive for signatures for the Five Power Peace Pact Appeal, for a big report back campaign. The Youth Festival committee later sent a long statement to Morrison with details of the infringements of the delegates' rights and repeated the demand for a public inquiry, which was supported by conservative delegates. No official inquiry took place but some time later a 'mock' inquiry was conducted by D.N. Pritt QC in proper legal terms.

POSTSCRIPT: In October a pictorial report of the Youth Festival was issued. In December a film premiere of the Festival was shown to a 1,400 strong meeting in St. Pancras. A campaign for a Youth Festival then followed. 4,000 British youth attended the Festival June 1/3 1952. They demonstrated in Sheffield calling for the Five Power Peace Pact, for the strengthening of the UN. The programme at the camp in Wortley Hall, near Sheffield, included concerts, indoor and outdoor games, singing and dancing, discussion forums etc. True to form, Maxwell Fyfe, the Home Secretary, refused all facilities to all foreign delegates.

POST- POSTSCRIPT: The 'Morning Star' of 26/7/01 had the following item on page 6 (under the 50 year rule relating to unpublished documents). "Foreign Office plots to provoke trouble at Youth Festivals in the 1950s were revealed in official documents published yesterday. They disclosed government plans to send in 'shock squads' of British young people to infiltrate and

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“Our History” disrupt the festivals. One civil servant wrote in a top-secret memo, "We should not try to compete with the communists in these monster youth jamborees. Youth per se is a concept which, to my mind, is repugnant to the Western way of life". The government is still keeping secret details of later youth festivals, such as those in Berlin and Havana, where leading politicians like Peter Mandelson were involved in selecting the British delegations". [Editor’s note: Graham Stevenson’s history archive internet blog [see graham.thewebtailor.co.uk/ ] contains a history of the YCL in the 1960s and 1970s that provides a first hand account of events in 1978 in Havana.]

Sources: 1951/2 archives of the 'Daily Worker' and 'Challenge'; first published in the WCML Bulletin 2002 World Youth Festivals: 1st. Prague 1947; 2nd Budapest 1948; 3rd Berlin 1951; 4th Bucharest 1953; 5th Warsaw 1955; 6th Moscow 1957; 7th Vienna 1959; 8th Helsinki 1962; 9th Sofia 1968; 10th Berlin 1973; 11th Cuba 1978; 12th Moscow 1983; 13th Pyongyang 1989; 14th Havana 1997; 15th Algeria 2001; 16th Caracas 2005;

New communist biographies available on site….

Nearly 600 short biographies are now posted on Graham Stevenson’s personal website.

See: graham.thewebtailor.co.uk/ Many existing entries have been much added to and 180 new entries have been posting during April/May 2007; the following list constitutes the entirely new entries; more offerings of additional names or material is always welcome: A Colin Anderson, Keith Andrews, Paddy Apling, Jim Arnison, B Eric Batter, J R Betteridge, Rutland Boughton, Robert Browning, C The Campbell’s, Bill Carritt, Julia Casterton, Lee Chadwick, Bill Clark, Arthur Clegg, Gerry Cohen, Monty Cohen, Dora Cox, D Bob Dalziel, Madge Davison, John Dodds, John Douglas, Bob Doyle, Mikki Doyle, “Mrs G M Draper”, Thora Driver, Bill Dunn, Allan Eaglesham, E R Ellesmere, W L Ellis, F Huge Faulkner, Jim Faulkner, Lily Ferguson, Morris Ferguson, Martin Flannery, Harry Francis, Alec Franks, Jean French, Les Fulton, G Maire Gaster, Arthur George, Lewis Grassic Gibbon (Leslie Mitchell), John Gibbons, John Gibson, T Gibson, Maurice Godfrey, John Gorman, Angela Gradwell, Frank Graham, Norman Greenfield, Edwin Greening, Johnnie Griffin, H Tommy Handley, Barbara Haq, Eddie Hayes, Frank Haxell, Betty Heathfield, Margot Heinemann, Sam Henderson, Jim Hiles, Tom Hopkins, John Horner, Jack Howells, Charlie Hoyle, Spen Hudson, Ron Hunt, Margaret Hunter, Douglas Hyde, Harry Hyde, Evdoras Ioannides, J Julie Jacobs, C Job, Billy Johnson, John Jones, Maggie Jordan, K William Keegan, Molly Keith, Jim Kooyman, L Chris Law, Mary Litchfield, “Mrs Litterick”, Diana Loesler, Kay Loosen, John Lyons, M Nan MacMillan, Alec McCollough, Pat McConnochie, Dai Maggs, John Mahon, Jimmy Maley, Col. C J Malone, Edith Mansell, Beattie Marks, Gordon Massie, Alf Maunders, Billy McLafferty, Harry McLevy, Sean McLoughlin, Joan McMichael, Kinsman McQueen, Harry McShane, Bill Megarry, Eddy Menzies, Alec Miller, Jimmy Milne, Mick Mindel, R Morrison, Declan Mulholland, James (Jack) Mullins, Harry Mundy, Sean Murray, N Sid Nash, Jock Nicolson, O Sean O’Casey, Joe O’Connor, L P O’Connor, Paddy O’Daire, Effie O’Hare, Jimmy Ord, Michael O’Riordan, P Bernard Panter, Jack Pascoe, Frank Paterson, Tom Potter, Jim Prendergast, Dave Priscott, Q Harold Quinton, R T L Robb, Marion Robertson, Gertie Roche , Bill Rounce , Cliff Rowe, Ben Rubner, S Laurie Sapper, Arthur Scargill , Harold Scargill , Minna Scarth , Cash Scorer, Bill Sedley , Connie Seifert, Albert Shaw , Sylvia Shellard , George Short , Colin Siddons, Shimmy Silver, Arthur C Simpson , Betty Sinclair, Hugh Smith Sloan , Rosemary Small, Ted Smallbone , Albert Smith , Harry Smith , Jock Smith , Rose Smith , Jimmy Sneddon, Michael Stephen , Hilton Stewart, Harry Stratton, Hugh Styler, Henry Suss, Jack Sutherland, Irene Swan, T Annie Taylor , Sammy Taylor, Norman Temple, E P Thompson , George Thompson , W H Thompson , John `Jocky’ Thomson, Katherine Thompson , Michael Tippett, Duncan Todd , Julian

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“Our History” Tudor Hart, Reg Turner, U Edward Upward , V Freddie Vickers , W Arthur Walmsley, Ian Walters, Lewis Whilton, Syd Wilkins, Dan Wilson, Ellen Wilkinson, Jack Woodis +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

‘OUR HISTORY’ [OLD SERIES] PAMPHLETS NOW ON THE WEB The Barry Amiel and Norman Melburn Trust have begun been working with the Socialist History society to place on the internet a digital archive of the Communist Party’s historic and celebrated “Our History” series of pamphlets. See: http://www.amielandmelburn.org.uk/collections/shs/index_frameset1.htmC Only a selection of the titles is available online, currently; but the full list of pamphlets from 1956 follows: 1 The Class Struggle in Local Affairs (part 1)- (part2) 2 Luddism in the period 1779-1830 (part 1)- (part 2) 3 The Struggle For Educational Opportunity 4 Some Dilemmas For Marxists 1900-1914 5 Labour - Communist Relations 1920 - 1939 6 The Tradition of Civil Liberties in Britain 7 Enclosure and Population Change 8 Land Nationalisation in Britain 9 Cromwell in the English Revolution (Tercentenary) 10 Social conditions in the Early 19th Century 11 Town Privileges and Politics in Tudor and Stuart England 12 The Working Week 13 The Historical Novel Jack Lindsay & Diana St John 14 Africa in World History 15 Party Politics in the 19th Century - " Namierism " 16 John Burns' Library Yvonne Kapp 17 Chartist Literature YV Kovalev 18 Sheffield Shop Stewards 1916 - 1918 Bill Moore 19 An SDF Branch 1903-1906 Andrew Rothstein 20 The Common People 1688-1800 21 Diary of Ernest Jones 1839 - 47 (Chartism) 22 The General Strike In The North - East R Page Arnot et al 23 Pages From a Worker's Life 1916 - 26 Bob Davies 24 The Lancashire Cotton Famine 1861 - 65 25 Thomas Bewick 1753-1828; Artist, Naturalist, Radical 26/27 Tom Mann 1890-92 Dona Torr and EP Thompson 28 The Lesser Fabians EJ Hobsbawm 29 Transition From Feudalism to Capitalism Maurice Dobb 30 Songs of the Labour Movement John Millar 31 Chartism and The Trade Unions 32 The World Of Homer RF Willetts 33 Shakespeare's Idea of History AL Morton 34 Houses of The People E Mercer 35 Slave Society : Some Problems R Browning 36/37 Prints of the Labour Movement (From the James Klugmann collection) 38 Tom Mann in Australasia 1902 - 1909 Dona Torr 39 The Organisation of Science - Science as social activity 40 Chartism in the Black Country 1850 - I860 G Barnsby 41 Problems of The German Anti-Fascist Resistance A Merson

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“Our History” 42 Class and Ideology in Bath 1800-1850 R S Neale 43 The Easter Rising as History C Desmond Greaves 44/45 History and Social Structure on the East African Plateau.

46 A Contemporary View of the Napoleonic Wars. Frida Knight 47 The Second Reform Bill 48 Alexander Macdonald and the Miners Raymond Challinor 49/50 The Revolt in the Fields in East Anglia Alf Peacock 51 Leveller Democracy- Fact or Myth ? AL Morton 52 German Imperialism and its Influence in GB A Rothstein 53 The Nations of Britain: The Making of the Union B Ruheman 54 Since the Industrial Revolution A Jenkin 55 Social Control in the 19c Black Country G Barnsby 1973 56 Europe's 17th Century crisis - A Marxist Review D Parker 57 Nazis and Monopoly Capital Allan Merson 1974 58 The Miners of Kilsyth and 1926 Paul and Carol Carter 59 The SDF, and the Boer War Bill Baker 60 Time and Motion Strike, Manchester 1934-7 Mick Jenkins 61 Middle Class Opinion and the 1889 Dock Strike.

G. Cronje 62. 1945 - Year Of Victory. George Barnsby 63. On the Origins of Capitalism. Alexander Chistozvonov 64. Imperialism and the British Labour Movement (l920s) S. Macintyre 65. The 1926 General Strike in Lanarkshire. J. McLean 66. Feudalism, Capitalism, and the Absolutist State. Reviews of Perry Anderson by E. J. Hobsbawm and Douglas Bourn.

67. Spain Against Fascism 1936 - 1939. N. Green and A. M. Elliot 68. Worker's Newsreels in the 1920's and 30's. Bert Hogenkamp 69. Rank and File Building Workers Movements 1910-20. P. Latham 70. The Struggle against Fascism and War in Britain. Mike Power 71. From Radicalism to Socialism - Paisley Engineers 1890-1920. J. Brown 72 People's Theatre in Bristol' 1930 - 1945. Angela Tuckett 73. T.A. Jackson - A Centenary appreciation. Vivien Morton & S. Macintyre 74. The National Question in Cornwall. Royston Green 75. The 1842 General Strike in South Wales. Heather Jordan 76. Armed Resistance and Insurrection: Early Chartism. J. Baxter 77. Appeasement. Bill Moore 78. The Making of the Clydeside Working Class. Shipbuilding and Working Class Organisation in Govan, Calum Campbell 79. 1688: How Glorious was the Revolution? by A.L. Morton 80. London Squatters 1946 ed. N. Branson 81. The Anti-Fascist People's Front In the Armed Forces eds. Bill Moore, George Barnsby 82 Labour-Communist Relations Part I ed Noreen Branson/Bill Moore 83 Labour –Communist Relations Part II ed Noreen Branson/Bill Moore

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“Our History”

BRITISH COMMUNIST HISTORIC MATERIAL ON THE NET The Marxist Internet Archive has been busy since it survived a nasty web attack from malicious elements and we can now see many new British Communist Party texts on the dedicated section of the site. CPHG certainly wishes many thanks to Brian Reid for his Herculean endeavours in continuing this work. Recently posted is a copy of the Communist Party’s 1955 Syllabus for new members, `Our Aim is Socialism - An Introductory Course in Five Sessions”, published in 1955. Another interesting piece is Ellen Wilkinson’s “The Red Trade Union Congress”, from `The Communist’ of September 17th 1921. Here’s some of the other material: 1919: Capitalist England — Socialist Russia Internal Party Communication: 1920: Towards the Revolution: Our Policy 1920:The Threatened War Against Russia; Education for Party Members 1922: A United Front Against the Capitalist Enemy 1923: Stop the March to Run 1923:Handbook for Party Members — No. 1 Organisation; 1924: Party Programme 1935: For Soviet Britain 1946-9: Marxism: An Introductory Course in Five Parts 1955: Forging the Weapon: A Handbook for Members of the Communist Party 1962: Our Aim is Socialism 1965: The Role of the Communist Party 1969: The Communist View

CPUSA gives its archives to University An original copy of Joe Hill’s pencil-written will, `My Will is easy to decide/ For there is nothing to divide’, written the night before a Utah firing squad executed him in 1915 and later put to music, is among the gems in a vast collection of papers and photographs donated by the Communist Party USA to New York University.

The material from the entire period of the Party’s history includes secret code words for branches and actions, underground names of leaders, personal letters, and directions for how good party members should behave (no charity work, for instance). The donation includes 20,000 books, journals and pamphlets and a million photographs from The Daily Worker¹s archives. Hardly any of the files were reviewed by the Party before being given away.

The collection is so vast that it will take years to catalogue. Many new dissertations and books are expected to result from the new archives, which are likely to revise the obsessive focus of external historians in the past on the Party’s supposed subservience to Moscow, neglecting Communists work in organising labour and fighting racism. Much contentious `scholarship’ is now expected to be massively revised. Much personal insight is likely to come from the huge number of files of detailed complaints of police brutality against African-Americans and “piles” of prison correspondence from activists.

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“Our History”

Labour Union History in Grantham a personal recollection by

Andrew Robinson

Andrew is interested in hearing from anyone who has historical information regarding the Grantham area about the CPGB, AUEW/TASS & AEU in the 1970s and 1980s, or ASLEF from the 1920s to the 1980s. He offers some personal memories to whet the appetite and would like to hear from anyone able to point him to more sources of information about his area of interest; contact OH @ the CPB. Both my father and my maternal grandfather were Socialists and staunch trades unionists, so I thoroughly enjoyed Rob Griffiths’ recent account of the history of ASLEF. My grandfather, William Thurlby was a steam locomotive engine driver for the LNER Company, and later British Railways in Grantham. In the General Strike of 1926, according to my mother, he and his family had to move house after getting behind with the rent. My father, Stan Robinson, was a fireman for the LNER and also later qualified as a steam locomotive Engine Driver with British Railways. Grandfather drove the Flying Scotsman, Mallard & P2-8-2 Class engines and my father also fired on these.

Rails are in the blood on both sides; my paternal grandfather Sid Robinson was a Signalman at Bottesford on the line from Grantham to Nottingham for the LMS Company and later British Railways. During the Second World War my father, Stan, helped on the Grantham Communist Party market stall to raise money for the Russian war effort in the fight against Fascism. Stan Robinson and his friend Gerry Edwards were ASLEF representatives when I was growing up. Whilst my parents always voted Labour, it was the Union first and Labour second. When I was small in the 1950s and my dad was on strike, he worked as a farm labourer on the Land Settlement to feed us and pay the rent.

William Leonard Thurlby Locomotive Engineer LNER, and later British Railways

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“Our History”

Stanley Bernard Robinson Fireman LNER, and later Locomotive Engineer with British Rail

Grantham Loco August 1963 M Guy (sitting on Engine), Bill Harrison (standing on Engine) Foreman A E Bellamy, Stan Robinson, Fred Burrows, Roy Veasey, Ken Baines, Bernard Nicholson, Cyril Ballom, Frank Lawson (Standing Left to Right)

Engine Driver Stan Robinson with girls for the Coal Queen of Great Britain Contest at Skegness, Derbyshire Miners Holiday Centre. Joe Crawford TUC President and Elizabeth Robinson Miss Great Britain are on the panel of Judges.

Grantham was also a place well associated with the engineering trade. For my part, I started work as an apprentice with Kontak Manufacturing Company Ltd in 1970, which produced equipment both for the aircraft engines and industrial hydraulics. I worked in both divisions as an apprentice, milling cam boxes for aero engines, machining control valves and hydraulic motors for the agricultural industry. I also worked in the Test House building control cylinders and cam boxes for RB211 & Spay Aero Engines. In my last year as an apprentice I worked in the Development Department building hydraulic power packs and test rigs, repairing hydraulic pumps and control valves.

I got on well with the Sid Armatage the fitter I worked with in the Test House and on one occasion I was selling Labour Party raffle tickets and the other fitters in the Test House dared me to sell Sid some which I did. I hadn’t realised but he was a staunch Tory. He

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“Our History” looked at me and at them and proceeded to buy a book from me.

Kontak’s nearly closed in 1971 as half its orders came from the then failing Rolls Royce Derby. They were only saved when Ted Heath’s Conservative government took the unusual step of nationalising Rolls Royce to protect the British aircraft industry.

As an apprentice I remember the AUEW’s fight against the Conservative government’s Industrial Relations Act, which imposed legal penalties on unions involved in industrial action. The AUEW, led by Hugh Scanlon called a series of one day strikes against the government with 2 million engineering workers out on strike, and was fined £55,000 by the courts. Kontak’s management said that if apprentices went on strike we would be in breach of our indentureship. Morris Scarborough, the Tool Room Shop Steward and Works Convenor, said we didn’t have to strike but hoped that we would come out with the rest of the union, which we all did.

I also remember one occasion, when the union had a dispute with Kontak’s management, Morris Scarborough called in Walter Auckland, the Works Convenor at Aveling Barford, to help with negotiations. He was said to be a Communist Party member and had a reputation as a tough negotiator. Whilst I was working in the industrial division I would discus political issues with Jock Coyle the Machine Shop Steward, I think he also was a Communist Party member (he was anti the EEC, and at that time I thought it was a good idea).

I became a draughtsman at the end of my apprenticeship, and TASS, the technician’s section of the AUEW had a pay dispute in the 1970s that lasted about twelve weeks. My wife and I had just moved from a council house to buy a house on a new estate in Grantham. We hadn’t been married long, and now had mortgage commitments, but there was no question about going to work whilst the strike was on. Pay negotiations had resulted in a rejection of the management’s offer of roughly £3.50, and a strike was called in support of our £9.00 claim. This strike coincided with Harold Wilson’s government announcing a pay-rise limit of £6.00 effective from that August. I seem to vaguely remember something about our picket lines preventing the delivery of dry ice to our Test House, an incident that merited mention in the House of Lords due to the sensitivity of the product it was used to test. The urgency of continuation of production meant that the management settled our dispute with an offer of £7.00 per week just before the implementation of the £6.00 limit.

In 1977 I went to work at BMARCo’s as Mechanical Engineering Inspector in the Milling and Fitting Section’s and later the Standards Room as a Gauge Inspector. I remember a dispute in which a work to rule resulted in a store man being suspended for refusing to drive a fork truck. This provoked a strike for 4 weeks until the management re-instated him and settled the pay dispute. During this time my wife and I had to cash in some life insurance policies in order to make ends meet.

Noel Angel was the Milling Section Shop Steward and Works Convenor. I was a Branch Trustee and Noel wanted me to become an AUEW sponsored Labour Party member. I had been a member years before but had become disillusioned with Labour politics in the 1970s. In the 1990s I did rejoin motivated by the desire to get rid of the Tory government.

However, when Tony Blair changed Clause 4, and after New Labour gained office I again felt as a Socialist I could not stay in the Neo-Conservative New Labour Party, and resigned.

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“Our History”

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