E120.1: [TEASER] 1926 general strike, bonus episode

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Hi everyone. As you might know, we don't get any
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free episodes, bonus podcast episodes, and two exclusive Patreon only
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podcast series, Fireside Chats and Radical Reads. So here's a
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little preview of our latest Patreon only episode. You can
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join us, help support our work and listen to the
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full episode today at patreon dot com. Slash working Class
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History link in the show notes.
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As we come Margin Martin and the Beauty of the Day,
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A million dark in kitchens, one thousand mil last gray
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are branden by the Beauty is Sun Sun disclosers and
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the tables and roses and roses.
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The Docks was extremely casual in its operations in those days.
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Men could be picked up for half a day, for
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an hour even you know, and then discarded. Well, of
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course this didn't go at all well with Steve DAWs
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and enlightenment of that day. We could be employed for
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a day and foot off and so called steviidors for
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half a day would be put off, but nevertheless there
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was a regularity of employment within that that used to
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give some semblance of a week's wage. There were so
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many men applying for work in the dots in those days,
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from everywhere. I mean, they all seem to come into
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the dock area if they were unemployed or rather desperate
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for work in one form or another, in the hopes
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that they could pick up half a day's work or
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a day's work and get enough for a meal and
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so on, and those to keep und the dock gates. Well,
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of course they represented. They didn't understand like this, but
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they were a threat to the conditions and the fight
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that the steels and the lammer putting up for regularity
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of employment. And it was as a result of the
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joint efforts of ourselves with officials of the TNNG that
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produced the first registration scheme. When I first came a float,
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I had a brass tally, so that everybody who had
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a recognized claim to a living from the industry were
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given brass talies, and you could only be employed on
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the production of your brass tally.
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One thing that we didn't get a chance to mention
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during the main episodes was that Harry's union had actually
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split with the TGWU not long before the general strike.
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This meant that his union were not actually part of
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the TUC and by extension, had not act actually been
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called out on strike in nineteen twenty six. Despite this,
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Harry's union decided independently to support the strike call.
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We would never be associated with anything that would weaken
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or go contrary to the interest of the workers, whichever
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section that they came from, and we would expect the
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same kind of support for ourselves from other workers, even
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though we weren't in the tc which we used to
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get from the Doggers under Steve DAWs. They used to
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give us support in disputes that we were in at
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different times, and it was mainly through the support that
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they gave us that we were able to win on
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the number of occasions that we did stop and it
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was very effective. That was debro shown their appreciation for
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our known attitude towards struggles or workers in others. We've
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always stacked them wherever they'd been.
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Harry was already a member of the Lighteman's Union at
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the time of the general strike, having signed up after
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completing his year as an unlicensed print.
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On a very much reduced weekly fee, you know. Went
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And the first branch I was in was in Poplar,
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and that was just after we had broken away from
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the Transport and General Workers Union and set up jointly
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with the Stewridors Union as a separate unit union wise
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as far as the doctor concerned. And then we came
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away from them and set up on our own as
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the Waterman, Lightenman, Tabman and Bargeman's Union. And we carried
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on until about I should think it must have been
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fifty six or fifty seven, if my memory serves me Riot.
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And in the meantime, I mean the reading period. Because
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we broke away, we were excluded from all national negotiations.
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We were excluded from the TUC. I think it lasted
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about thirty years. We were out in the wilderness as
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far as the main the movement of the trade union
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actor is a concern. And Ernie Bevin, who was the
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General secretary of the TNG, was so bitter about our
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rejection of the leadership of that day, simply because in
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our opinion, they weren't giving the kind of service as
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trade union officials that we felt that they should be
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given and the cop board over as it were on
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an occasion when there were a number outstanding issues which
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we were not getting satisfaction on wages wise and conditions wise,
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so that the bake took place and he was very
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bitter about the whole business, and it was through him
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that we were excluded from the National Joint Council NB.
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Two UC. Historically speaking, our union, the Enlightenment Union, along
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with the Steven Dawes Union, as far as the London
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Report is concerned, were the initiators, as it were, of
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the growth of the Transport General Workers Union in the
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dock side section as far as them is concerned. And
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it was through the assistance and help that we were
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given and the guidance and support that we were given
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to dockers in that day that helped to form and
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subsequently thrive a dockers section of the Transportant General Work's
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Union for London.
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With the strike ending the way that it did, many
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of the older workers in Harry's union branch felt vindicated
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in their decision to break away from the TGWU.
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Well, I think some of the elder men, with the
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experience of previous disputes and everything, quite few that they
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were involved with. Their attitude was one where they felt
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that they were justified in earlier coming away from the
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Transportant General Workers Union and being outside of the TUC.
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And they took that as a kind of exoneration for
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their earlier decisions in breaking away from the type of
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leadership that represented the TUC in those days and transform
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General Workers Union. And they felt that we were off
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outside them and we were at least clean, if I
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can put it back, and the less we had to
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do with them, the better sort of thing, because they
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couldn't be trusted anyway. And they said the recent and
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or we depend on was the power of our own
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organized strength, fact when it was necessary, with strengthens stevid
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Ors and the Dockers which used to be forthcoming, even
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though the official side of the TNNG at time was
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against any support coming to us. But the right file
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used to do what they knew from because one thing
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is that we were all very close knit. We were
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in a community, and we all lived in the streets
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where you were either knightamen, you were either seamen. You're
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either Steevie Dawes who die a doctor or a corn
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port a cold port, a riga, a ship repair engineer
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or no vision or joiner or ship. Right, it was
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a community, and when the docks was quiet, everybody was
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quiet sort of me. And so that if you had
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this kind of neighborly liaison, if you walked through the street,
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you knew everybody. Everybody knew you. So when you was
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in trouble, everybody was there, it was sister out of it.
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That's something that official try union me us in those days.
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I know that they used to do for me, but
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I could never understand it. Certainly gallivants can never understand it.
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This fast affinity that you have because you lived as
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a community. Your problems are the problems of everybody else.
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Sort see, the solutions are the solutions for everybody was
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standing by you. Something wouldn't do one another any harm.
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And we used to get back find of reaction from
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the men, and they used to go from us if
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they was in bored. We used to give them the
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support whoever they were, whatever ship, whatever jobble was in dispute.
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Will you may support to whoever was in bother and
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in times good to us. So despite official bands and
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prescriptions or whatever, at that level, wait were I very much,
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as we'll stop the title flying as interfere with the arrangements.
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As we come Martin, Martin, and the beauty of the day.
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That brings us to the end of this episode. Preview
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to listen to the full thing and help support our
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work researching and promoting people's history, join us on Patreon
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at patreon dot com slash working class History link in
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the show notes.