Great moments in the struggle for social justice

Leveller Women in the English Revolution 1647

THREE years ago professional photographer Red Saunders created a series of tableaux depicting great moments in the long struggle for rights and representation in Britain. The aim of the Hidden Project, through reimaging those events, is to portray important historic scenes involving the dissenters, revolutionaries, radicals and non-conformists who have so often been hidden from history.

Tony Benn, the original Patron of the Hidden Project, said: “Those who see these photographic representations will then be able to identify with past generations and gain confidence from the knowledge that they are part of a world-wide movement that has always existed and must be sustained.”

From the Peasants’ Revolt to the Swing Riots, Red’s photographs are on an epic scale and they were acclaimed by critics at exhibitions at Bradford’s Impressions Gallery, the People’s History Museum in Manchester and the Museum of London.

They are now available as posters and greeting cards from Past Pixels, the publishing venture that works with the labour movement to bring alive our illustrious past. Past Pixels was set up in 2009 to make images of working class struggle more widely available to a newer generation and it has carved a niche for itself with a series of greeting cards dedicated to the working class movement

Individual posters are £8.00 and each card costs £2.00 from independent booksellers or directly from Past Pixels.  Check out their website for online sales or write directly to Past Pixels, P O Box 798, Worcester, WR4 4BW for the Hidden Project brochure.

Pages from the past

THE CHARTIST movement was the first mass movement driven by the working class. It grew following the failure of the 1832 Reform Act to extend the vote beyond those owning property. In 1838 a People's Charter was drawn up for the London Working Men's Association (LWMA). The Charter had six demands: universal male suffrage, elections by secret ballot, abolition of property qualifications for MPs, payment of MPs, equal electoral constituencies and annual parliaments.

            Millions signed Chartist petitions which were repeatedly rejected by Parliament. Chartist leaders were arrested, jailed or transported to Australia and the movement eventually was wound down in 1858. But the demand for reform continued and by 1918 every one of the Chartist demands apart from annual parliaments had been achieved.

Past Pixels was set up in 2009 to make images of working class struggle more widely available to a newer generation and over the years it has carved a niche for itself with a series of greeting cards dedicated to the working class movement

William Cuffay

            A new set of cards of images of leading Chartists, taken from original photographs, engravings and lithographs, has now been produced to commemorate their struggle for social justice.

            Dorothy Thompson, the immensely influential Chartist historian, helped Past Pixels select the images for reproduction. She identified Feargus O’Connor, William Cuffay, James “Bronterre” O’Brien and John Frost as her favourite five Chartists. Sadly she died in early 2011 and this set is published in her memory.

There’s a short commentary about the image of the back of each card and Past Pixel cards can be ordered online at http://www.pastpixels.co.uk or from an increasing number of retail outlets. Further information about all the cards can also be obtained  by writing directly to: Past Pixels, PO Box 798, Worcester, WR4 4BW


photo: William Cuffay after William Paul Dowling,Lithograph, 1848 NPG D13148 copyright National Portrait Gallery.

No Redemption -- images of the miners' struggle

Josie Smith. a retired disabled miner arrested outside his back gate. Photography by Keith Pattison

The history of the National Union of Mineworkers is one of struggle and sacrifice. Only two weeks ago trade unionists returned to Saltley Gate to  commemorate  the 40^th  anniversary of a key victory during the 1972 miners' strike and hear former miners leader Arthur Scargill pay tribute to the Birmingham workers who joined the mass picket that closed the gates of the coal depot and forced the Tory government to back down and meet the miners’ demands. But we also remember the hardship and sacrifice of the mining communities during the epic strike in the early 1980s  when the NUM was brought to its knees through the indifference and  hostility of the right-wing in the TUC and the determination of the Thatcher government to scrap the mining industry in this country.

            Large-scale mining may have gone but the memory of the communities that sustained the industry and the union that Scargill once led is preserved in images and documents of the time.       

            Past Pixels was set up in 2009 to make images of working class struggle more widely available to a newer generation and over the past three years it has carved a niche for itself with a series of greeting cards dedicated to the memory of the miners and their union.

            A new set of cards and posters has now come out to coincide with the opening of “No Redemption”, an exhibition of photographs by Keith Pattison, at the National Coalmining Museum in Wakefield this month.

            In August 1984 Keith Pattison was commissioned by Sunderland’s Artists’ Agency to photograph the strike at Easington Colliery for one month. Instantly engaging with the struggle, he stayed there on and off for eight, till the strike ended in March ’85, working behind the lines to record events from the miners’ point of view.

            Making, as the documentary filmmaker John Grierson said “creative use of actuality”, Pattison framed a narrative sequence of images from the optimism of August, through the deepening pessimism of winter right to the final vote to return to work.

            These photographs concentrate not on the much publicised violence of the strike, but on how the village dealt with no money, a mostly hostile press and media and the overwhelming opposition of the State. Pattison found a community which rallied together to support each other – women and children feature strongly in these images – and he shows it against the landscape which shaped it; street corners, back lanes, crowded meeting rooms, all dwarfed by the colliery. Twenty-six years on, as government cuts begin to bite and unemployment grows, as youth and students take to the streets and are met by the might of police power, these images speak directly of resistance under siege.

There’s a short commentary about the image of the back of each card and Past Pixel cards can be ordered online at http://www.pastpixels.co.uk or from an increasing number of retail outlets. Further information about all the cards can also  be obtained  by writing directly to: Past Pixels, PO Box 798, Worcester, WR4 4BW

Bringing alive our illustrious past

image copyright South Wales Area NUM. Photography by Martin Shakesaft

The great mining communities have long gone – destroyed by a Tory government determined to abandon the British coal-fields in favour of imported coal and nuclear energy. But their memory lives on in the memories of the mineworkers and the  photos and mementos of their struggle.

 Back in 2009 Past Pixels was launched to make images of working class struggle more widely available to a newer generation. Over the past two years it has produced collections of greeting cards reflecting the struggle of the British mining community including snapshots of the epic miners’ strike of 1984/85 and a collection of NUM enamel badges. Now the company has issued a new set using images of banners from South Wales mining communities.

South Wales Area of the NUM has given permission for the reproduction of all the banners in their possession. The first four banners reproduced are from the South Wales Area of the NUM, Tower Lodge NUM, Maerdy Lodge NUM and the Maerdy Women’s Support Group.

Each card provides a short history of the banner and another photograph, often with the banner in use. A proportion of the income from sales will be donated to the South Wales Miners’ Benevolent Fund, a registered charity.

Past Pixel cards can be ordered online at http://www.pastpixels.co.uk or from an increasing number of retail outlets, including the Rhondda Heritage Park where both the Maerdy Lodge and Maerdy Women’s Support Group banners are currently on display. Further information about all the cards can also be obtained  by writing directly to: Past Pixels, PO Box 798, Worcester, WR4 4BW

Badges from the Miners' struggle

PAST PIXELS was launched last year to make images of working class struggle more widely available and it kicked off with a haunting collection of cards to mark the 25th anniversary of the last great miners’ struggle. Now it’s returned with another tribute to the miners by producing 18 greeting cards depicting the enamel badges of the NUM, many from the miners’ strike of 1984/5.
There is a long tradition of trade unions producing badges but there was an explosion of designs during the miners strike. They were used for a variety of purposes, including the identification of pickets, fund raising and to signify solidarity during the year-long strike.
Brian Witts, ex-Littleton Power Group NUM, produced the majestic “Enamel Badges of the National Union of Mineworkers” in 2008, which lists and illustrates over 1,200 badges. Past Pixels, with the permission of the NUM and the assistance of Brian, have reproduced this first collection of greeting cards.
These high-quality, enlarged colour images of the original badges convey much of the epic scale of the struggle of the mining communities and their supporters to defend an industry, jobs and communities.
A proportion of the price of these cards is donated to the National Justice Mineworkers Campaign (NJMC), which continues to pursue the interests of sacked miners as well as assist them with funds. Twenty five years on from the strike and ex-mineworkers and their families still receive financial help from NJMC.

The first collection of cards can be seen at http://www.pastpixels.co.uk/. A set of five greeting cards (one of each image) costs £4.00 including post and packaging. Make cheques payable to “Past Pixels” and send to Past Pixels, PO Box 798, Worcester WR4 4BW.

photo: Martin Shakeshaft

Images of the Miners' Struggle

None of us will ever forget the miners’ strike of 1984/85 and snapshots that capture the sacrifice and struggle of the mining communities are now available as greeting cards from Past Pixels, a new venture in publishing images of labour movement history.
The set is a personal selection by the photographer, Martin Shakeshaft, from a collection of sixteen postcards that have already been published. These high quality black and white images remind us of the epic scale of the struggle of the mine workers and their supporters to defend an industry, jobs and communities. The five greeting cards include shots of pickets, marching miners and a cheerful Arthur Scargill cycling down the street in Treorchy in the Rhondda Valley.
Martin Shakeshaft is a well-known photo-journalist and a member of the NUJ and the British Press Photographers’ Association and some of his work is on permanent display in the National Museum of Wales. To celebrate the 25th anniversary of the miners’ strike he revisited some of the locations of his original images which were displayed in a touring exhibition entitled “Look Back in Anger”. These images are featured on the reverse of the greeting cards.

The set contains:

1. Alan ‘Massum’ Jones. The march back to work, Maerdy – 5th March 1985
2. Maerdy Women’s Support Group, Ferndale, The Rhondda – 27th August 1984.
3. Orgreave Coking Plant, near Sheffield – 18th June 1984.
4. Arthur Scargill, NUM President, Treorchy, the Rhondda – 16th June 1984.
5. Early morning picket, Celynen South Colliery – 6th November 1984.

The set of five cards costs £4.00 including postage and packing. Make cheques payable to “Past Pixels” and send to Past Pixels, PO Box 798, Worcester, WR4 4BW. Alternatively you can buy them online via their website.

photo. Maerdy Women's Support Group. Martin Shakeshaft