Labour doorstep app canvass in Olympic E20, Brilliant William Morris quote & young people queuing up for Covid vaccine.

 

On Saturday I joined Labour Party colleagues to take part in a physical canvass of the Stratford E20 area (the site of the former 2012 London Olympic village). For the first time I was asked (or rather pushed) into leading a canvass team using the Labour Party "doorstep app" on my mobile phone. In the past we had paper sheets with details of names and addresses to call at to canvass on behalf of the Labour Party, now it can be done online via your mobile phone. It seemed to work very well and I hope the information we received on voting intentions was uploaded and saved to the national Party database.

I went with my colleague, Cllr Shaban Mohammed and former Councillor, Aleen Alarice.  We got a very good reception from residents who were overwhelmingly pleased that we were knocking on doors and asking them whether there are any local problems or issues they want us to raise.

I was really struck to see the green plaque in the foyer of the block we canvassed with the great William Morris quote “History has remembered the kings and warriors, because they destroyed; art has remembered the people, because they created.”. 

While cycling home I passed a massive queue of mostly young people, waiting for their Covid jab despite the intermittent downpours that day. I thanked them as I went past.

West Ham Labour January 2017

Dear John Happy 2017! Below are some of West Ham's January activities. If you've been meaning to get more involved in the Labour party we'd love to see you at something. All members are very welcome. This Saturday (14th) - visit to William Morris gallery in Walthamstow.  Stratford ward is organising the trip but warmly welcomes all members. Meet 11amat Stratford International station with either your bike or your travel card. There will be a group cycling and another group taking the (97) bus to the gallery to visit Posters of Protest and Revolution! Thursday 19 Jan - Silvertown Tunnel and its implications for the environment Canning Town South ward would like to invite all members. 7pm, EAT16 cafe, St Luke's Community Centre, 89 Tarling Road, E16 1HN. Speaker - Cllr Ken Clark, Cabinet member for Regeneration. Saturday 21 Jan - Labour's Campaign Action Day Meet 11am at Barking Road Community Centre, 627-633 Barking Road, E13 9EZ. We'll be out knocking on doors and talking to residents. There may be a General Election in 2017! We need to be out talking to voters. Please come and join us. Saturday 28 Jan - Campaigning in West Ham ward Meeting 11am at Sawmill cafe. West Ham Lane, E15 4PH for coffee ready for an 11.30 start Look forward to seeing you soon. Get in touch if you'd like any more information. Best wishes Julianne Julianne Marriott Vice Chair (Campaigns and Comms) West Ham CLP e westhamlabour@gmail.com t @westhamlabour f westhamlabour w westhamlabour.org

“This is a revolt against oppression" Silvertown Strike 1889

"This is a revolt against oppression: a protest against the brute force which keeps a huge population down in the depths of the most dire degradation, for the benefit of a knot of profit-hunters …
this is a strike of the poor against the rich.”
—William Morris, 1889

Silvertown The Lost Story of a Strike that Shook London and Helped Launch the Modern Labor Movement

by John Tully

foreword by John Callow;
introductory comment by John Marriott

“Adds immeasurably to our understanding of the ‘new unionism’ of the Victorian era. Through writing as impassioned as it is reasoned, Tully brings to life ‘the people of the abyss’ at one of their finest hours, in which the solidarity of the ‘outcasts’ proclaims the possibility of ‘a better world in birth.’ This is history at its best: rigorous in its use of sources and capacities to broaden our ways of seeing experience; analytically demanding in the ways it pushes us to rethink conventional wisdoms of all kinds; and imaginative in the range of its argumentation.”

—Bryan D. Palmer, Canada Research Chair, Trent University

“A major contribution . . . Its detailed examination of a single, lengthy, and unsuccessful strike in 1889 in a large Silvertown rubber and gutta percha factory throws important new light on the development of the New Unionism in Britain and its relationship with the ‘aristocracy of labor.’ It is a serious and scholarly work written not with the usual academic detachment, but with a profound and moving feeling of empathy for the dispossessed and the exploited.”

—Alvaro de Miranda,
London East Research Institute, University of East London

In 1889, Samuel Winkworth Silver’s rubber and electrical factory was the site of a massive worker revolt that upended the London industrial district which bore his name: Silvertown. Once referred to as the “Abyss” by Jack London, Silvertown was notorious for oppressive working conditions and the relentless grind of production suffered by its largely unorganized, unskilled workers. These workers, fed-up with their lot and long ignored by traditional craft unions, aligned themselves with the socialist-led “New Unionism” movement. Their ensuing strike paralyzed Silvertown for three months. 

The strike leaders –including Tom Mann, Ben Tillett, Eleanor Marx, and Will Thorne—and many workers viewed the trade union struggle as part of a bigger fight for a “co-operative commonwealth.” With this goal in mind, they shut down Silvertown and, in the process, helped to launch a more radical, modern labor movement". 

hat tip  Felix Dzerzhinsky

Jon Cruddas MP "George Lansbury's Legacy for the Labour Party"

Last Thursday evening I went to the inaugural lecture of the George Lansbury Memorial Committee in Queen Mary's, Stepney, East London. The speaker was Labour MP Jon Cruddas.

George Lansbury was a former leader of the Labour Party in the 1930's and at the time a very poplar politician in East London. But he is not that well known nowadays.

Jon described him as a man of ethics, principle and character.  A great servant of the people. Born 1859 (to a Welsh Mother) he was a MP 1910-1912 and 1922-1940. In 1921 he was Labour Mayor of Poplar and led the Poplar Rates rebellion which resulted in him and 30 councillors being imprisoned for 6 weeks. He was leader of the Labour Party 1932-1935.

Jon believed that Lansbury by his example saved the Labour Party following the treachery and its near electoral annihilation in 1931. He was a supporter of the suffragette and trade union movements. A teetotal Christian socialist pacifist who despite their differences, laid the way for the great reforming Labour Prime Minister, Clement Attlee.

Lansbury was courteous to all but would bend down to none.  He was a patriotic, free born Englishman in the romantic tradition of William Morris. Not backward or anti-technology.

He was not a scientific socialist or transactional rationalist like Morrison, Dalton or Gaitskell. He believed in human virtue and the power of transformation. The need to motivate people and lead by personal example. Tell a story that speaks to hopes and dreams.

He hated the workhouse and refused to accept the concept of an undeserving poor. He wanted to gain power only to give it away ‘to chain down misery and set happiness free’.

The Labour Party went on to believe more in transactional politics than transformation. Jon argues that Labour's current "One Nation" politics is a return to such transformation beliefs.  This is Lansbury legacy to the Labour Party and in 2015 as in 1945 we will win power and recover from defeat.

There was a wide ranging Q&A chaired by local MP Jim Fitzpatrick. I was able to mention that I was the former Estate officer for George Lansbury House which is a Council Housing building in Bow which is built on the site of his former home.

My question was is (Labour Leader Ed Miliband's promise) to fix broken markets "transactional" or "transformational"? Jon grinned and said it is both.

You can check out the full transcript of his speech at New Stateman. 

The William Morris Hall Centenary Celebration 13 December 1909-2009.

A centenary celebration for a building
The William Morris Hall
Somers Road E17

Tuppence a brick (old money)

On 13 December 1909 artist and socialist Walter Crane opened the William Morris Hall: bringing to joyous conclusion six years of fundraising, preparation and hard voluntary labour.

In 1903 the brothers Ben and Charles Buck started the idea of a home for the socialist, radical and trade union people of Walthamstow. Funded by workers buying a brick for 2d (old money), sponsored bike rides and social events, the collective organisations of the Social Democratic Federation, Walthamstow Socialist League, the William Morris Club, the Clarion Cyclists, the trades council, anarchists, suffragettes and many more, the hall was built by volunteer craftsmen on Sunday mornings on squatted land.

The William Morris Hall for the 30 years was the centre of political and cultural life in the town. Amongst the many speakers who came over the years were: dock worker’s leader, Ben Tillet, the Countess of Warwick, H M Hyndman, Will Thorne, new Labour MP for West Ham South (1906), Sylvia Pankhurst, George Bernard Shaw, Victor Grayson, lion tamer, adventurer, folk hero, firebrand independent socialist MP and Walthamstow’s own Val McEntee. From day one it housed the Socialist Sunday School, where over a hundred children each week come together in secular fellowship to learn the socialist 10 commandments.

In the early 1920s the William Morris Brass Band and the William Morris Orchestra were formed. One for street marching and open air meetings, the other for concerts and dancing. The Hall had its own choir. In 1923 Charles Buck started a theatre group; performing plays by Ibsen and Shaw.

The building is a now home to the Limes Community and Children’s Centre. The inside has changed but most of the bricks are the same. I want to celebrate it’s 100 years with words and music. The pioneers who campaigned for a fairer, different world did it with verse and song, as well as marches and struggle. Let’s celebrate the building, the Buck brothers and countless others, but most of all let’s celebrate our past into the future.

Please bring banners

Sunday 13 December
William Morris Hall, Somers Road Walthamstow E17
Assemble at 2 pm
Music and words, then walk to Ye Olde Rose and Crown for more celebration

Please contact me if you want to be involved: rogerdothuddleatntlworlddotcom

Sent to me via SERTUC. The Morris painting featured is "La belle Iseult", also inaccurately called "Queen Guenevere", it is his only surviving easel painting, now in the Tate Gallery.