The dominant idea of strikes in the 1970s is that of the 'winter of discontent' of 1979 in which workers took industrial action in support of pay claims that breached the social contract brokered between union leaders and the Labour Government. However, the highpoint of workers' militancy was in the early years of the decade when rank and file workers led successful strikes across industry. This meeting will examine the strikes of miners, builders and dockers as well as industrial action in […]
Sweet Liberation (community choir), Richard Burley & Danny Ward (acoustic set), Red Notes Choir (4 part harmony), Lynda Sanderson & Pauline Setterfield (opera singer and organist). A celebration of roles played by St. Wulfstan, Thomas Clarkson and the Seven Stars pub played in gaining freedom.
The rise of militancy in the workplace, universities and the new left in the early 1970s Britain generated a reaction by the ‘secret state’. A major campaign was launched by Special Branch and MI5 to infiltrate and destabilise these arenas, which culminated in a plot to overthrow Harold Wilson’s Labour government in the mid 1970s. Investigative researcher Larry O’Hara will give an overview of the period, looking at the tactics and strategies of the secret state. Watch this talk: If you see this […]
The two-year strike (1976–1978) over trade union recognition at the Grunwick Film Processing Laboratories in Willesden, North London is iconic in left wing history. During a decade of industrial unrest, the Grunwick dispute became a cause célèbre of trade unionism and labour relations law, and at its height involved thousands of trade unionists and police in confrontations. The total of 550 arrests made during the strike was at the time the highest such figure in any industrial dispute since the […]
In the mid 1970s, a new generation of South Asian youth were growing up in Britain. They emerged less prepared to tolerate the racism in British society, which their parents had had to suffer. This period also saw heightened fascist and racist activity, increasing police violence and the institutionalisation of racism through discriminatory immigration laws. A racist murder in Southall was the spark for the formation of a new organisation: the Southall Youth Movement. This organisation made up […]
Ford plants in the 1970s were epicentres of worker militancy as recently depicted in the film Made In Dagenham. Carlos was a founder member of the Ford Dagenham Workers' Group and Brian worked at the Halewood plant from 1970 till late ‘77. They will discuss the reality of life in the Ford Company, the hidden history of the equal pay disputes and the changes that have taken place since that era. Carlos (Charlie) Guarita worked at the Ford Dagenham Engine Plant from 1976 till early 1980. He was a […]
The West Indies Cricket Tour to England in 1976 came at a time of mounting attacks and provocations on black communities both by fascist groups such as the National Front and by the institutionally racist police forces. The situation was inflamed by the comments of England Captain and native South African Tony Greig, who before the tour claimed "I intend to make them grovel", a comment which came amid the controversy about apartheid and sporting boycotts. Includes a showing of the BBC […]
'Straight edge' has persisted as a drug-free, hardcore punk subculture for 25 years. Its political legacy remains ambiguous and it is often associated with self-righteous macho posturing and conservative Puritanism. While certain elements of straight edge culture feed into such perception, the cultureʼs political history is far more complex. Since straight edgeʼs origins in Washington, D.C. in the early 1980s, it has been linked to radical thought and action by countless individuals, bands, and […]
A Nitrous Oxide fuelled history walk with Mike Jay through Clifton exploring the themes of his new book; Dr Beddoes, the Romantic Poets and laughing Gas. The blurb from his book, which is out in paperback on 28th September, reads thus: At the Pneumatic Institution in Bristol, England, founded in the closing years of the eighteenth century, dramatic experiments with gases precipitated a revolution not only in scientific medicine but also in the modern mind. Propelled by the energy of maverick […]
Beddoes (1760-1808), a fervent humanitarian and chemist, was inspired by the heady ideals of the French Revolution and the wonders of Nitrous Oxide gas. In Bristol, he gathered a dazzling circle of like-minded artists and scientists who created a grand vision of providing free healthcare to the poor of the south-west. Mike Jay is author of The Atmosphere of Heaven: The Unnatural Experiments of Dr Beddoes and his Sons of Genius. A plaque to mark Thomas Beddoes' grave was unveiled in March 2011. […]
