1926 – a year to remember

by Andy Brooks

May 1926 – when the unions tried, but sadly failed, to halt the employers’ offensive against the miners. The fledgling British communist party, founded a few years earlier in 1920, did its best to rally the workers during the general strike that was called off by the defeatists and gravy-trainers in the big unions on surrender terms that set back the labour movement in Britain for many years to come.
On the 100th anniversary of the General Strike the NCP is republishing Stalin’s comments on this momentous event in the history of British trade unionism. The new pamphlet includes a brief historical review of the strike written in 2006 by Ken Ruddock, a leading member of the New Communist Party who sadly passed away in 2020, together with Stalin’s report delivered at a meeting of railway workers in Tiflis on 8th June 1926. 
Another tribute, this time from the Socialist History Society includes a reprint of Ernie Trory’s long out-of-print Brighton and the General Strike and other articles on great strike.
It’s called Remembering the Battle of Lewes Road and it’s edited and introduced by Christian Høgsbjerg for the Brighton & Hove trades council.
The booklet contains two pamphlets. One by Ernie Trory, the famous NCP Brighton communist and unemployed workers’ leader, and another by Andy Durr of the Brighton Trades Council that were first published in the 1970s. Above all, it is an affirmation of the support which the working class of Brighton gave to the miners in their dispute with the coal owners and the Conservative government, and an homage to the 22 men who were imprisoned from two to six months for their attempt to prevent the tram sheds at Lewes Road being opened for strike-breaking purposes on 11th May 1926. Both pamphlets draw from the personal experiences of those involved, and the pamphlet finishes with Ernie Trory's rewriting of the song Sussex by the Sea, written in the idiom of the strikers. This is a must for anyone interested in the history of the labour movement on the South Coast.
The General Strike of 1926 pamphlet can be ordered from the Lit Dept at the NCP for £4:00 including postage. Remembering the Battle of Lewes Road is an illustrated booklet which can be obtained for just £6:00 from the Strike Map online store at: https://organiseandstrike.sumupstore.com/ 

When the going gets tough…

 

...the TUC gets going – often out of the back door under a cover of the usual platitudes the full-time officers reserve for times like these. The furore over the pensioners’ winter fuel cuts in the House of Commons and at TUC conference in Brighton may have reflected the anger on the street at this blatant attack on one of the most vulnerable sections of society but it also showed the weakness of the labour movement, that was unable to halt or water down the demand of the Starmer government to means-test the pensioners’ allowance that some say could lead to over 4,000 excess deaths due to hyperthermia in the winter months. 
Jeremy Corbyn, the former Labour leader who now heads the Independent bloc in Parliament says “cutting winter fuel allowance is not a tough choice. It's the wrong choice - and we will not be fooled by ministers’ attempts to feign regret over cruel decisions they don’t have to take”. But sadly some union leaders fool themselves into believing that Starmer can be swayed by fine words and back-room lobbying while others believe that the Starmer’s cruel necessity is a price worth paying for the very modest concessions on pay and union rights that the Government has made during its first hundred days. 
It’s long been clear that the only people this Labour government heeds are those they believe represent the dominant bloc within the British ruling class; the City of London and the American diplomats that Starmer apparently liaises with on an almost weekly basis.
Labour was founded by the trade unions to give the working class its own voice within Parliament but the Parliamentary Party leadership has been dominated by the middle class intelligentsia since the days of Ramsay McDonald. In Parliament, even in Corbyn’s day, the Labour benches were dominated by right-wing factions. In the past left social-democratic and Trotskyist factions were tolerated to provide a “left” cover for the Cold War politics of the post-war Labour governments. No longer needed following the collapse of the Soviet Union and the people’s democracies in eastern Europe they were purged much like the Corbynistas in recent years. 
Though the Labour Party is dominated by the class‑collaborating right wing in the parliamentary party the possibility of their defeat exists as long as Labour retains its organisational links with the trade unions that fund it. The defeat of the old right‑wing union factions in most of the major unions over the past ten years demonstrates this possibility.
A Labour government, with the yet unbroken links with the trade unions and the co‑operative movement, still offers the best option for the working class in the era of bourgeois parliamentary democracy. Our strategy is for working class unity and our campaigns are focused on defeating the right‑wing within the movement and strengthening the left and progressive forces within the Labour Party and the unions. Day‑to‑day demands for reform, progressive taxation, state welfare and a public sector dedicated to meet the people’s needs are winnable under capitalism, particularly in a rich country like Britain today.
We support these demands and back the demands of those within the Labour Party and the  unions who are campaigning for greater social justice. We support those in the Labour Party fighting for left policies. It is part of our struggle against austerity.
In July we saw the election of independents including Jeremy Corbyn, the former Labour leader hounded out by Starmer and the Blairite gang. They have now formed an Independent bloc in Parliament. They are all supporters of the Palestinian cause and other anti-imperialist struggles across the globe. Hopefully, they will soon become a focus of resistance to austerity in parliament – and on the street.

Fun and Games in Brighton

 The spirit of Labour Party Conference returned to Brighton this week. The good old days of open debate and factional back-stabbing may not have totally returned but the sterile bureaucratic agenda that made Conference a meaningless charade in the days of Blair and Brown has gone, hopefully for good this time.  

            Labour Conference has never been the sovereign body of the Party and its decisions can be, and have been, regularly ignored or side-lined by Labour Governments and the Parliamentary Labour Party, which, until recently, was a rule unto itself. Nevertheless Conference endorsed calls for the repeal of the anti-union laws, the restoration of some but not all of the old public section, the raising of the national minimum wage and the introduction of a four-day week within ten years.

            Whether these pledges, along with support for climate change action and a ban on fracking, eventually get on to Labour’s election manifesto ultimately depends on the balance of forces within the labour movement as a whole.

            Most Labour MPs are Blairites or relics of the old Labour right-wing platform that has dominated Labour Party thinking since its foundation in 1900. These bogus “social-democrats” always sought to serve what they believed was the dominant trend within the ruling class. They were “Atlanticists” who backed NATO and parroted anti-communist bourgeois propaganda  to justify support for Anglo-American imperialism during the Cold War. They were the people who witch-hunted communists and other militant union activists and preached class-collaboration in one form or another to justify their treachery. And they could always rely on the solid support of the trade unions to back up their claims to represent working people. Thankfully these “moderates” have little or no support in the unions today.

Palestine

Gone are the mealy-mouthed words about an “ethical foreign policy” that were trotted out in the early days of the Blair era.

Now delegates have called on an incoming Labour government to “adhere to an ethical foreign policy” on trade with Israel, including ending any trade in arms used to violate Palestinians’ human rights, the motion passed on Monday states.

            In the past Labour was a staunch supporter of Zionism and the State of Israel. Now the Zionists are on the defensive. Zionist moves to drive Palestinian supporters out of the Labour Party have succeeded in hounding out some well-known activists including Ken Livingstone and Jackie Walker. But their attempt to derail growing support for the Boycott,  Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement that works to end international support for Israel's oppression of Palestinians has stalled. And support for the Palestinians is growing.

            In Brighton this year delegates voted overwhelmingly to recognise the right of Palestinian refugees to return to their homeland and oppose any proposed “solution” for Palestinians not based on international law, including their right “to return to their homes”.

It also reaffirms the party’s relatively new commitment to end all arms sales to Israel.

The Palestine Solidarity Campaign supported the motion that commits Labour to ending Britain’s financial and military complicity with Israel’s oppression.

“Labour Party members have said in one voice to the Palestinian people – we stand with you in your fight for justice,” PSC director Ben Jamal stated. “What is required now is for this crucial motion, passed overwhelmingly by members, to be translated into official party policy as we move towards the next general election”.

Brighton's Regency gem

By Carole Barclay

The Brighton Centre, is the largest conference venue in southern England. Open by Labour Prime Minister James Callaghan in 1977 the Centre can accommodate over five thousand delegates and it continues to host labour and trade union conferences to this day.  Sadly few stray beyond the sea-front watering holes during conference season to seek out Brighton’s past that lies only a stone’s throw away.

            The Royal Pavilion marks the beginning of modern Brighton. It was built in 1787 for George, the Prince of Wales, whose patronage transformed a coastal village into a fashionable sea-side resort for a jaded aristocracy whose gambling and whoring was now confined, by the Napoleonic wars, to our shores. 

           The architect John Ash, who also designed Buckingham Palace and much of London’s West End, built this royal palace in the Indian ‘Moghul’ style favoured by the English nabobs of the East India Company and the feudal rajahs that were under their thumb at the time. But while the outside is all minarets and domes the inside was decorated in the equally fashionable Chinese style also favoured by those who could afford to collect Chinese works of art.

Prim Queen Victoria didn’t like it and sold it to the council in 1850 where it was used as an assembly room and during the First World War it was converted into a hospital for Indian soldiers who, it was believed, would feel more at home in its surroundings.

            An extensive programme to restore the rooms to their original state began in the 1950s to house some of the Regent’s collectables and furniture that have been loaned by the Royal Family for permanent display in the Pavilion.

            Visitors who walk through the Pavilion’s gardens that have been restored to Nash’s original vision should also spare some time to visit the nearby Museum and Art Gallery that was originally the Pavilion’s stables.

            The Brighton Pavilion is at 4/5 Pavilion Buildings, Brighton BN1 1EE. It’s some 15 minutes’ walk from the railway station and five minutes from the conference centre. Open all year round, admission is £13.50 with the usual concessions for unwaged and senior citizens.

Fun for all ages!

By Carole Barclay

Once the playground for the Prince Regent and his jaded aristocratic mates in the 18^th century Brighton has continued to re-invent itself over the decades to retain its position as the paramount resort of the south coast. Entertainments range from the traditional seaside attractions of the pier and amusement arcades to the bohemian world that revolves around the art festivals, the gay scene and the student world. Brighton’s race-course, dog-track and football club are there for the sporting fraternity while the conference centre has been the venue for all the major political parties and many of our unions for decades.

For many visitors their first impression of ‘London-by-the-sea’ is the concourse of Brighton station. But under the arches of that vast Victorian pile is a hidden gem – a toy museum that spans some 200 years of children’s entertainment.

The Brighton Toy and Model Museum is a treasure trove for the young and the young at heart. Founded in 1991, the museum has over 10,000 toys and models on display. Some go back to the Prince Regent’s day but most of the exhibits focus on the golden age of toy making during the first half of the 20^th century.

There’s the inevitable Meccano sets and the construction toys that were the precursors of the Lego mania of today. But this was the era of the train set and they dominate the main gallery which also includes a wonderful working model railway along with the toy cars, planes and boats that were a constant feature of boys’ comics until computers came along. Girls are not completely ignored. And the collection of prams, dolls and doll’s houses as well as puppets and soft toys reflects the market that sadly reinforced the female stereotype that was perpetuated by the education system until well into the 1970s.

Though the evolution of toys tells a story in itself this museum is largely a mecca for model makers and collectors of all ages. Vintage toys, with prices ranging from a few pounds to those in three or four figures, are on sale by the in-house work-shop which restores many items that will later appear in one of the galleries.

The Brighton Toy & Model Museum is at 52-55 Trafalgar Street, Brighton, Sussex, BN1 4EB. It’s well-signed posted from the station and it is open from 10:00 to 17:00 from Tuesday to Friday and from 11:00 to 17:00 on Saturdays, It’s closed on Sundays and Mondays. The basic admission charge is £6.50 but there are concessions for students, disabled and senior citizens.