Today, with the passage of 45 years I have no idea where the picture was taken or exactly when.
In the March of ’79 the Labour Party had been defeated in the General Election and in the following two- and a-bit years the new Conservative Government reduced public spending at a time when unemployment was beginning to rise.
The response of the labour movement was to organise a series of large public demonstrations. The first was in Liverpool and over the course of the next few years there were more, along with marches against many of the policies of the new Tory Government.
I was at the 1980 Liverpool rally and the one in Birmingham three years later and I rather think this picture is from neither of those events.
But someone will know.
I had bought the image from the Morning Star which had covered the event and a requisite of purchasing it was that I had to take out a £ share in the newspaper.
And as so often happens round about the time I found Mr. Foot I also came across my Membership card for The People's Press Printing Society, which my Wikipedia tells me “is a readers' co-operative with the purpose of owning and publishing a left-wing, British, daily newspaper.
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On 6 January 1946, at the Albert Hall in London, Bill Jones, the leader of the London busmen's trade union, handed over the formal document of transfer to William Rust (editor of the Daily Worker). Ownership of the Daily Worker was transferred from the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) to the PPPS, with CPGB retaining editorial and political control of the paper until in 1951, the Daily Worker Co-operative Society was established to act as the nominal publishers of the paper.
The Daily Worker Co-operative Society became the Morning Star Co-operative Society which later became bankrupt and the sole ownership for the publication of the Morning Star fell under the People's Press Printing Society.
So as the society is still going I guess that still makes me a member.
Leaving me just to say that I can date the photograph to between 1979 and 1982, because the address on the card was where I lived during those three years.
And while there I bought heaps of those campaign badges to support and highlight cuts in public services, factory closures and the “great” international issues of the day.
All of which I had an opinion on and would argue the case to anyone in ear shot.
And that pretty much is that.
Others will have their favourite badge and I did have difficulty choosing from my 40 which are all that have survived the four decades and more.
But they are my choice
Pictures; Michael Foot addresses a large open air meeting, circa 1979-82, courtesy of the Morning Star, and badges I wore, circa 1979 to 87, from the collection of Andrew Simpson
*The People's Press Printing Society, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People%27s_Press_Printing_Society
Robert Pendleton I proudly wore the "Don't Let The Biscuit Works Crumble " badge on a march/demonstration I was invited to support. The demo was against the closure of their factory in Crumpsall. I was the union rep from a CWS food factory in Reddish.
ReplyDeleteWhy do you spoil your usually excellent Chorlton web page with left wing Labour propaganda? Chorlton has certainly gone down since Labour Councillors started to be elected from 1986
ReplyDeleteWell Roy as you would expect I disagree. The story was a reflection on the stories that run out from a long forgotten picture. No more no less. But I am interested in the assertion that "Chorlton has certainly gone down hill since Labour Councillors were elected from 1986". The following year a Tory candidate was elected ..... and in the early 2000s there was a brief moment when Chorlton elected two Lib Dem candidates. And I am curious as to how Chorlton has gone down hill? House prices? Not in the control of Labour councillors. The demise of the old retail pattern of small shops, their closure and the advance of the bar culture? Again nothing to do with Chorlton's Labour Councillors. The trend was in place before 1986, and has more do with bigger supermarkets and online shopping, than decisions by three Chorlton councillors. I live on Beech Road and was alarmed at the empty shops which were growing a pace in the 1980s and 1990s, which I might add are a national development as are high business rates. At least with the bar culture Beech Road is not a ghost centre characterised by derelict properties decorated by graffiti. I do have mixed feelings about the new residential developments especially the apparent number which are not affordable at what many locals can pay. But then ever since the mid 19th century Chorlton was a characterised by a series of housing booms which locals were unhappy about. That said thank you for the comment on the excellent web page.
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