Newsletter of the National Clarion Cycling Club 1895 (North Lancs Union) January 2015
Our flag stays Red
“Over the tramlines; past the factory gates; past silent warehouses; through slumdom, through villadom, through the straggling village that just divides the country from the town: and then with the back of your hand and the sole of your foot to the smoke and grime of mill and workshop quicken up the pace along the highway to Shrewsbury and the Clarion Meet. Ah! This is better. One can breathe now. Clear away from the mucky towns; clear away from the pent up streets; the sun high in the morning sky; the larks singing over the fields; a score or more wheels humming a merry tune; a thousand or more Clarionettes to greet the meet” So wrote Tom Groom, one of the founder members of the Clarion Cycling Club, prior to the Club’s 20 th Easter Meet at Shrewsbury in 1914. This Shrewsbury Meet was arguably the best ever Clarion Easter Meet with over 1,300 members attending. The highlight of the weekend was undoubtedly the inauguration of the brand new Clarion Van designed by Walter Crane, an internationally known figure in the Arts and Crafts Movement; Crane also designed the Winged Angel letterhead with its legend: ‘Socialism: The Hope of the World, for the front of the 48 page Meet programme. The beautifully crafted van was topped with a Art-Nouveau style sign ‘SOCIALISM’, carved by members of the Glasgow Clarion Handicraft Guild. The ceremony, conducted by ‘Nanquam’ (Robert Blatchford), took place in the Town Square on Sunday afternoon, accompanied by songs from the Potteries Clarion Vocal Union. Sadly Shrewsbury 1914 was to be the pinnacle of the Cycle Club’s success, within just a few months the Great Imperialist War had broken out. This tragic event, that saw worker killing his fellow worker, was to create a split from which the Club never fully recovered. The decision by the editorial staff of The Clarion to support the war was to signal the beginning of the end for The Clarion newspaper that had educated and inspired so many readers with its message of Hope. It had encouraged them to think for themselves and to believe that a better world, a Socialist world, with Justice as its Foundation and Love as it Law, really was a possibility; they never for one minute expected their newspaper to betray them.
Know your history; learn your history; understand your history; but most important of all, never forget your history. The need for the Clarion Cycling Club is greater than ever. The Clarion Cycling Club was formed at a Labour Church in Birmingham in 1894, initially as the Socialist Cycling Club. Then a year later at an ‘Easter Meet’ in Ashbourne, the National Clarion Cycling Club was born. The following article appeared in the December 1994 edition of “Fellowship News”, the magazine of the Fellowship of Old-timers. It was written to commemorate the Centenary of the National Clarion Cycling Club (a year early) but its message has lost none of its relevance as we approach the General Election in May. The unsigned article reads: “A century ago a wave of questioning the economic, social and political system began to surge across Britain. It began with the establishment of mass trade unions and rapidly developed into Socialist thinking and movements. The writings of Bernard Shaw, William Morris, H.G.Wells, Edward Carpenter, Keir Hardy and Maurice Hyndman fuelled the radical fires. But what set alight the “ordinary” person was the pen of Robert Blatchford, who managed to use words that attracted attention by the care he took to explain the injustices of inequality, plus the need for Socialism, in simple language. He founded a weekly newspaper called The Clarion from which groups and gatherings sprang up, spreading like wildfire across the land. Amongst these was the National Clarion Cycling Club founded in 1895 with the motto “Socialism the Hope of the World”, whose virtual “bible” was Robert Blatchford’s Merrie England, a vision of Utopia. For the first time the common person took part in organised cycling activity, and branches sprang up everywhere to take to the message into the countryside and town. The club run would have impromptu meetings, particularly in villages, on corners and greens, and many workers learned the art of public speaking at these rostrums. It was an “umbrella” organisation that was open to all Left-thinking persons. To realise the great importance of its emergence onto the cycling scene it must be understood that in the 1890’s, and before, the pastime was dominated by the arrogance of middle and upper class people, who were of course outraged by what they saw as lower-class intervention.” (Editor’s note: George Hubert Stancer, born 1878, wrote to his local Weekly News complaining about the cheapness of bicycles in general and solid tyre safeties in particular, as they
were attracting a rabble into what was a highly respectable and gentle form of recreation. His solution: ‘a tax to be imposed on cycling …. No cyclist worthy of the name would object to paying in, and this irresponsible rowdy element would be completely sifted out’. It’s perhaps not surprising to learn that George Hubert Stancer did NOT join the Clarion Cycling Club instead he went on to become the Secretary of the CTC for 25 years). Continued: “Over the many decades of its existence the Clarion Cycling Club has inspired the “winds of change”, making people question and starting many on the political path. Robert Tressall in his book “The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists” painted a vivid account of the Clarion Scouts holding a meeting and its results. These exciting and stormy years were broken by the first world war with its unhappy division of the Socialist movement into those who held fast to pacifism and those who supported the war. But what united both wings was a desire for a better, more egalitarian and peaceful world in the aftermath.Indeed, contact with the countryside and the simple joys of cycling bring about this love of freedom which the Clarion Cycling Club epitomised. They built their own Clarion club huts. They set up their own body to cover racing aspirations, and were affiliated to the British Workers Sports Association. A number of members moved by their feelings of fraternity, volunteered for the Spanish Civil War, and many left their bodies on the battlefields. However, gradually the social side began to overtake the political purpose and somehow its campaigning zeal became lost, particularly in the post 1945 years. But like many things in life it has seen a growth in awareness of society to injustice, and it played no small part in the social change we have witnessed. That this now has given place to the politics of greed and selfishness, that in the present have prevailed and unhappily achieved a reverse in the welfare state, perhaps shows the need for a new Clarion call in the name of humanity. Maybe this will happen and challenge the evil of unemployment and misery that has resulted in a two level society where the gulf continually widens between rich and poor. Meanwhile I sentimentally review my years of Clarion membership and send greetings, to all who have heard this trumpet call.” Signed BOOTS AND SPURS end of article.
Who is a Socialist? A definition by Ella Wheeler Wilcox has printed in The Clarion newspaper 9th November 1901 What is a Socialist? It is a man who strives to formulate or aid a plan to better earth’s conditions. It is he who, having ears to hear and eyes to see, is neither deaf nor blind when might, rough-shod treads down the privilege and rights which God means for all men. The privilege to toil, to breathe pure air, to till the fertile soil. The right to live, to love, to woo, to wed and earn for hungry mouths their need of bread. The Socialist is he who claims no more than his own share from generous nature’s store, but that he asks, and asks, too, that no other shall claim the share of any weaker brother and brand him a beggar in his own domain to glut a mad, inordinate lust for gain. The Socialist is one who holds the best of all God’s gifts is toil – the second, rest. He asks that all men learn the sweets of labour and that no idler fatten on his neighbour. That all men be allowed their share of leisure, not thousands slave that one may seek his pleasures. Who on the Golden Rule shall dare insist – behold in him the Clarion Socialist.
Clarion Handicraft Guild
In October 1895, Julia Dawson, who famously planned and championed the Clarion Van propaganda tours which spread the creed of Socialism throughout Britain from the smallest villages to the largest towns, was asked to become the editor of the letters page "Our Women's letter" of "The Clarion". One day in June 1901 she received a letter from Godfrey Blount a leading figure in the Arts and Craft Movement encouraging the Clarion to establish a Clarion Handicraft Guild to promote arts and crafts. Julia immediately set about the task with great enthusiasm establishing a Clarion Handicraft Guild with the motto "Joy in work, and hope in leisure". The Guild encouraged the art of jewellery making, pottery, book binding, furniture and printing. By 1904 the Clarion Handicraft Guild had 30 branches throughout Britain and was holding annual exhibitions of its work.
The Clarion Scouts
By the end of the cycling season in October 1894, the four newly formed Clarion Clubs were reporting their propaganda activities in the paper. Of the 25 Bradford members, 22 had formed a Scouting Corps which was doing good work in the outlying villages. Liverpool had cycled out to Knowsley on the Earl of Derby's estate to supply his tenants with copies of The Clarion and Socialist leaflets. "We also called at the police station", their Secretary wrote, "and left some tracts for the edification of the gentlemen in blue." Members of the Potteries CCC had also distributed literature and claimed "the actual conversion of a few to Clarionism." In the November local council elections both Liverpool and Bradford cyclists helped Socialist candidates in their own cities. In the spring of 1895, so great was the enthusiasm for propaganda work that a new monthly paper was started for the activists called The Scout ~ A Journal for Socialist Workers edited by William Ranstead, then later by Montague Blatchford. The first issue, in March, contained Robert Blatchford's "Instructions for Scouts", with advice about house-to-house distribution of tracts, leaflets, and the penny edition of Merrie England. In the factories, mines and other workplaces Scouts were urged to "permeate" their companions with Socialism, and in their own districts to form branches of the ILP or SDF where none already existed. They were encouraged to write letters to the press, ask questions at political meetings and place themselves at the service of Socialist candidates in elections. Remaining calm, polite and good-humoured, they should try always to build unity between the various organisations in the Labour Movement. The importance of the bicycle in the work of the Scouts was emphasised by the paper's editor, who suggested the compiling of a list of speakers able to cycle twenty to fifty miles on Saturdays and Sundays to address public meetings in towns and villages which had, as yet, no Socialist organisations. Cyclist supporters could paste walls
Clarion Volunteers for Liberty An article by Stuart Walsh ~ IBMT member and Yorkshire Coast Clarion In the long history of National Clarion Cycle Club, its campaigning and support for the Second Republic in Spain must rank as it’s finest hour; Of the six members who we know went to Spain to fight against fascism, Ray Cox, Tom Dolan, Tom Oldershaw and Roy Watts, paid the ultimate price and their bodies are now mingled with the Spanish earth. Two of those who went out, Dr. Colin Bradsworth and Joe Maiden, returned to the UK to continue the fight on home ground, as in the pledge made by all of the departing international Brigaders in 1938: " We are returning to our respective countries not for celebrations in our honour, but to continue the fight we helped to wage in Spain; we are merely changing the fronts and the weapons. " New material and facts about these brave men are coming in all the time, and Joe Maiden of Rotherham, was only added to the list in the last week, and Tom Oldershaw a couple of years ago, and no doubt others will be added as new material comes to light. Of those who went out to fight in the Civil War, Ray Cox of Southampton, was the first to die at Boadilla on the 20th of December 1936. Ray Cox was an active trade unionist and campaigner for social justice at home in England, and was an active member of his local Clarion section, and the Southern Counties Union of National Clarion. In his own words he went to Spain because : " I believe that by fighting for the Spanish Government against the forces of Fascism I shall be helping to preserve the peace throughout Europe. "
Ray Cox was 22 years old when he fell at the defence of Madrid.
Tom Dolan of Sunderland, known to his friends as Tommy, was the next to fall at the Battle of Jarama in February 1937. An unemployed shipworker, while in work he was very active in his union, and when he was thrown out of work he continued the fight in the National Unemployed Workers Movement taking part in some of their marches against the hated Means Test. In his spare time he was an active sportsman and member of Clarion. He sold his bicycle and other sporting kit to finance his trip, why he went Spain can be given in his own words, he went : " In a most definite way to express his hatred of fascism, and to strike a blow for freedom and democracy. " Tommy Dolan was 24 years old when he fell at Jarama.
Tom Oldershaw of London, was next to fall on the Aragon front. A carpenter by trade, he was a committed and active fighter in the trade union and labour movement, being Vice-President of his Trade Union branch. As a member of the Battersea Communist Party he served on the Trades Council and was the first Secretary of the local Aid to Spain Committee. He was an active and well liked comrade in the Clapham Section of the National Clarion CC. He was posted missing at Caspe on the Aragon Front in March 1938, but it was not until the autumn of that year that his friends and family could bring themselves to admit that he had died, as recorded in the October issue of ‘Boots’, the journal of the London and Southern Counties Union of National Clarion Cycling Clubs: " After months of anxiety we are forced to the conclusion that he must have been killed on the battlefield. It is sad indeed, to know that we no longer have this wonderful and heroic comrade in our ranks." Tom Oldershaw was 24 years old when he fell on the Aragon Front.
Last to fall was Roy Watts of Leicester during the Battle of the Ebro, on 25th September 1938. Roy was an active member of the CPGB, and the Shop Assistants Union, and Chairman of his local Clarion section. Writing to friends he said: " I am happy and proud to place my services with the workers of Spain in their heroic fight against the bestialities of Fascism; we have nothing in common with the outlook of Fascists who glorify death as their ideal. We love life, but because we love it we do not begrudge giving it in order to save humanity from the enemies of life. Many of our best comrades have already fallen, and we do not hide the bitter pain of their loss, but their deaths call not for mourning but for action." Roy Watts was 23 years old when he fell at the Ebro.
Joe Maiden of Rotherham is very much a work in progress, as we only found out about him a few days ago. What we know so far is that he went out to Spain probably in late 1937, and was captured and imprisoned in Palencia prison in April 1938. He was then among a batch of 20 prisoners who were released in October of 1938, and they, along with 20 prisoners from another prison were repatriated to England on the 28th of October 1938. We have a picture of him with two other Yorkshire prisoners, Alf Stirling of Sheffield and Stephen Ward of Barnsley, at Sheffield Midland Station on Saturday 30th of October. An article in the Daily Worker, gives an account of this return : " The flags of the Spanish Republic were displayed gaily on the platform, and a large number of people were there to greet the returned heroes. " On the Monday following this, all were reported as showing signs of their harsh treatment, nevertheless, Alf Stirling was out canvassing for the labour candidate in a local council election, and the Daily Worker article ends with the words : " All are anxious to get back into the fray and do what they can to help Spain. " Joe Maiden was 20 years old when he returned from Spain.
Joe Maiden, in the glasses, at Sheffield Station (photo courtesy of Kevin Buyers). Do visit Kevin’s website: internationalbrigadesinspain.weebly.com Dr. Colin Bradsworth in the centre
Of the two who returned, Dr. Colin Bradsworth from Birmingham. A member of the Communist Party and the Midland Clarion Cycling Club. He served for two years in the medical team of the Canadian, Mackenzie-Papineu Battalion of the 15th Brigade, and returned to England in 1938 with the other brigaders. Shortly after returning to England he was the founder member of the Birmingham Socialist Medical Association, and later was instrumental in setting up the Birmingham Clarion Choir.
It is a proud record, and as can be seen from the experience of the two returned members they strove to fulfil the pledge which they had made in Spain. “to continue the fight we helped to wage in Spain; we are merely changing the fronts and the weapons. "
As for us, we remember and cherish their memory, and we do this best not just by remembering them and telling their stories, but by opposing fascism in all its forms, and all attacks on the working class
Cycling Socialists Che Guevara I
Police Constable William Barrett The 1907 Belfast dock strike showed the possibility of unity between Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland. The strike was led by James Larkin, the firebrand organiser for the British based dock workers’ union and it involved the poorest workers in the city. Larkin arrived in Belfast to organise the dockers and carters who had been divided along sectarian lines into a union. All were working long hours in unsafe conditions for poor pay. Soon almost 3,000 dockers both Protestant and Catholic had joined the National Union of Dock Labourers. The strike began when men at Kelly’s coal quay were sacked for trying to join the union. The same week 144 dockers went on strike against the use of non-union labour at the Belfast Steamship Company. The employers’ Shipping Federation had them replaced with scabs. The carters in a magnificent act of solidarity refused to handle anything moved by scabs and over 1,000 of them joined the strike. Soon the Royal Irish Constabulary were brought in to provide escorts for the scabs but Constable William Barrett stood by his class and refused to sit beside a scab driver on a motor wagon. Hundreds of police officers mutinied when Barrett was suspended, over half the entire force walked out to attend a protest rally and agreed to hold a police strike. Shockwaves ran through the ruling class. To stem the police mutiny 200 constables including all the strike leaders were transferred out of the city, to be replaced by 6000 troops and the arrival of nine warships in Belfast Lough. The Dockers and Carters strike was broken by the intervention of the British leader of the dockers’ union who, alarmed by the strike, reached a shaddy settlement with the bosses over the heads of Larkin and the strikers. William Barrett played a small but heroic part in this historic action.
Ernesto R. Guevara de la Serna was born in Rosario, Argentina, on June 14, 1928, After completing his medical studies at the University of Buenos Aires in 1948, he travelled around Argentina by bicycle he observing conditions that spurred his Marxist beliefs. He later travelled extensively though South America on his now famous motor-cycle. In 1954, he met Cuban revolutionary Fidel Castro while in Mexico and joined Castro's efforts to overthrow the corrupt, American supported, Batista government in Cuba. In 1966, he left Socialist Cuba assist the people of Bolivia to rebel against their government but, with only a small guerrilla force to support his efforts, he was captured and murdered on the orders of the CIA in La Higuera on October 9, 1967.
FREE AT LAST After 16 years of campaigning the Cuban Five have finally been released from custody in the USA by the Obama regime ~ perhaps he saw our banner!
At The Front The Worker’s Stately Home
At the Annual General Meeting of Wortley Hall Ltd held in March 2014 the National Clarion Cycling Club 1895 tabled the following proposition: “Clarion cyclists have been visiting Wortley Hall since the 1950’s. They came and continue to do so, because of its links with the Trade Union Movement – fellow travellers in the Clarion’s century old fight for a better Society, based firmly on the Socialist Ten Commandments. In recent years our members have become increasingly concerned that many pictures and artefacts relating the Hall’s unique history within the Labour and Trade Union Movement have been removed or placed in less prominent places in corridors and public rooms. Wortley Hall only exists because of the work and support of Trade Unionist and Socialists over the past 60 years. Their dedication and idealism should not be obscured or forgotten in favour of some notion that wedding parties and other guests might be offended by left wing posters. All supporters of Wortley Hall should welcome the added numbers which weddings and social functions bring to the Hall. Every single visitor should be seen as a potential recruit to the Socialist Cause. Art, as a tool of propaganda, must be used at every opportunity to inspire visitor to join the struggle against the insidious greed of capitalism. Our members believe that pictures and posters are weapons in the service of the struggles of the Labour and Trade Union Movement. We therefore call upon this meeting to pass a motion instructing the Management Board to ensure that the current trend to make the building more politically neutral is immediately halted, and that steps are taken, as soon as practicable, to commence a systematic programme of reinstating pictures and posters that reflect the struggle and dedication of those who laboured to build this Haven of Socialism.” The motion, seconded from the floor, was passed unopposed.
More than just a cycling club Extract of an article by Denis Pye which appeared in Boots and Spurs, the magazine of the National Clarion Cycling Club. “….what has held the Clarion together for over a century is dedication to the ideals and principles which have made it different from other organisations – and more than just a cycling club. The National Clarion has survived many challenges to its existence over the last fifty or sixty years. In response, we could do no better than quote the words of one National Secretary, Joe Rigby, in 1955:- “With monotonous regularity over the past few years we have been asked at our Annual Conference why we persist in continuing an association which no longer appears to hold any meaning. The answer is, in my opinion, (and I know it is the opinion of many of our members) that as a cycling club we should stand by our belief in Socialism – not because we want our members to talk politics, but so that we have a common bond between us. Our members can propagate their principles in their conduct in the club and if they wish to do so in a more active manner, there are ample opportunities outside of cycling club activities. We cannot expect or insist that our younger members have any political opinions, but if by the example of our older members we can demonstrate that our Clarion motto of ‘Fellowship is Life’ is a living thing, there can be no doubt that we shall be helping to maintain the tradition which pioneers of our Club worked for”. Quote from the Secretary NCCC Sept 18th 2014: I am thinking about changing our slogan from ‘Fellowship is Life’ to ‘On-bike Social Networking’
NCCC1895 CLUB COLOURS
Club shirts in sizes EL (46”) & EEL (48”) are for sale price £32 incl postage. Please note that the three pointed Republican Star now appears on the rear of these shirts in memory of those Clarion members who fell fighting for freedom and democracy in the Spanish Civil War.
‘Lanterne Rouge’ 2015 EASTER MEET (AND DRINK)
SOLIDARITY
The Club’s Easter Meet (April 3rd to 6th) is to be held at Ludlow. This truly beautiful Shropshire town has a Travel Lodge Hotel and plenty of alternative B&Bs. There will be rides on each of the four days setting out from the Castle at 10am. The distances will be determined by the weather and our intention to ‘Bounderise’ in the best traditions of the Clarion of old. The ‘planned’ rides are: Friday: Llandrindod Wells Cycle Museum. Saturday: Church Stretton and The Long Mynd Sunday: MuchWenlock birthplace of the Olympics. Monday: Real Ale Breweries at Bishops Castle. If you are interested in joining us, even for just one ride please contact: clarioncc@yahoo.co.uk or tel: 01254 51302 (five digits).
Thanks to the support of former members of the National Clarion, the Club remains in a financially strong position although future donations of money and cycles/cycle parts for resale are always welcome. In the past twelve months we have been able to support with donations the following fraternal organisations: The Durham Miners Association, The Morning Star, Bolton Socialist Club, The Friends of Nelson ILP Clarion House and the York Cycle Rally. In addition we provided a marching banner for our Irish comrades in Madrid
A new sign for the outside of Clarion House:
Coast and Castles North Ride The ‘Coast and Castles North’ is a 169 mile ride from Edinburgh to Aberdeen. This traffic free Sustans route leaves Scotland’s capital, crosses the Forth road bridge at Queensferry and then heads north to Loch Leven. East to St.Andrews, then north to the Tay road bridge and Dundee. It’s then along the North Sea coast via Arbroath and Montrose to the Granite City where we plan to arrive in time for the International Brigade Memorial Trust’s Annual General Meeting. The plan is to meet in Edinburgh on the evening of Tuesday 13th October. Depart from the IB memorial in Princes Street Gardens the following morning and cycle to St.Andrews. Day 2 we would ride to Montrose, via the IB memorial in Dundee. Arriving in Aberdeen late Friday afternoon. (AGM on Sat.) Interested:Contact: clarioncc@yahoo.co.uk
Forthcoming events worthy of support 14th Feb: IB Commemoration: Albert Sq. Dundee 7th March: Len Crome Conference: Manchester 8th March: AGM at Wortley Hall 11th March: Talk on Basque Refugees: WCML 22nd March: Cycle Jumble: Whalley (bits needed) 3rd-6th April: Easter Tour: Ludlow 18th April: Bygone Bike’s Cycle Show: Leeds 22nd April: Kinder Scout Trespass Talk: Stockport 26th April: Kinder Scout re-enactment: Edale 1st/3rd May: London Clarion Wortley Hall Weekend. 28th-31st May: Hamburg Anti-fascist Harbour Tour. 6th June: Morning Star Social at ILP Clarion House 19th-21st June: York Cycle Rally (IT’S BACK) 27th June: London Clarion’s Dieppe Raid 4th July: Demonstration at Menwith Hill Contact: Charles 01254 51302