So where did we hold a demonstration?

Crown Square, circa 1981

This is Crown Square, and back in the 1970s and 80s it was one of the places where demonstrations finished up.

There were other places, of which Whitworth Park, Alexandra Park along with Albert Square were the ones I seem to remember.

Go back almost a century and Stevenson Square played host to a large number of rallies and demonstrations while in the decades before Peterloo many impromptu gatherings occurred at New Cross.

All of which just leaves the sight of Peterloo, which everyone will be familiar with.

Albert Square, circa 1981

As for the start place that seemed to be any open bit of land large enough to take lots of people and close to the big roads into the city.

In the early 1970s the favoured venue was Oxford Road, although I can remember assembling by Strangeways prison once.

More recently and for reasons I don’t fully understand we were told to meet up near the Cathedral to process to Piccadilly Gardens.

Location; Manchester

Picture; Crown Square, and Albert Square, circa 1981 from the collection of Andrew Simpson

Demonstrations and lost buildings ……. in Crown Square in 1983

I can’t now remember if the Peace Pledge was the document on the table, or just an application to join CND.

The original Peace Pledge dates back to the 1930s, and it is still there today, with signatories acknowledging "War is a crime against humanity. 

I renounce war, and am therefore determined not to support any kind of war. I am also determined to work for the removal of all causes of war”

That said the outbreak of the Second World War and the imperative to defeat Nazi Germany and later, Fascist Italy and the Empire of Japan placed the idea of renouncing war on the back burner.

But even a cynic will I think accept that working for peace is essential, more so as we enter again a period of uncertainty, with the Super Powers walking away from one Nuclear Arms agreement, new delivery systems for such weapons coming on stream, and growing tensions around the world.

And back in 1983 there was that same feeling that something had to be said against the installation of a new generation of nuclear missiles on the continent of Europe by the Soviet Union and the USA.

The march that started at All Saints and ended in Crown Square, was only one of countless such protests in Britain and elsewhere but it was one I documented.

The much bigger ones in London I also photographed but I have more images for the Manchester one.

In the course of sifting through the images I am surprised at just how many of my friends appeared in the pictures and how much the City has changed in the intervening thirty-eight years, including Crown Square.

Crown Square may have been a planner’s dream, but it was a dismal place where the only features were the weeds growing out of the paving stones, and the litter which fluttered around the benches on a windy day.

And looking at the pictures I had quite forgotten The Victoria, a place I only visited once, which I think was the day of this demonstration.

It was located on the ground floor of what had been the offices of Manchester Education Committee, which of course on that Saturday was closed.

Location; Manchester






Pictures; from a demonstration, October 1983, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

The end of the demonstration ........

Now the cynic will quip, that at the end of a march or demonstration there is just unfilled hopes and sore feet.

The end of the demonstration

It might be a clever take on what sometimes happens, but I tend to think that more often than not, something is achieved.

It may be that the issue has been highlighted and more people are aware of the problem which in turn may lead to action on behalf of the authorities and a change in the law or a change in attitudes.

And part of that impact will be in the numbers who attend, and speeches which accompany the end of the demonstration.

Listening in Crown Square

I have done my fair share of listening to speeches and I can testify that they run the full range from the uplifting and inspiring, to the dreary, the mundane and the downright boring.

Some like those of Dr King’s “I have a dream" or Abraham Lincoln’s "Gettysburg Address" will roll with poetry, power and resonance, while others will drone on with clichés and empty slogans.

And when all of that is done there will be the things people leave behind which will be a mix of the placards carried along the way, and the discarded and unread newspapers sold by groups wanting to advertise their own version of what the future could be like.

George Morton

This one was in Manchester sometime in the 1980s.

It began at All Saints on what was then a piece of waste ground beside the old Chorlton on Medlock Town Hall and made it way via St Peter's Square to Crown Square.

Judging by some at least of the placards it was an anti racist demonstration and amongst those speaking at the end was George Morton who was the MP for Moss Side.

I have no recollection of the event but as I took the pictures I must have been there.

Those pictures have sat in our cellar as negatives for all most four decades, and are now slowly being reclaimed with the use of a scanner.

Speaking in Crown Square

They are a mixed bunch,  from demonstrations to carnivals, to street events and are a record of how we were in the 1970s and 80s.

Location; Manchester, sometime in the 1980s








Pictures; discarded placards and speeches, 1980s from the collection of Andrew Simpson

The policeman and the bike ....... from Manchester in the 1980s …………….

Now, demonstrations present the photographer with plenty of opportunities to capture the moment.

These come from an Anti-Cruise Missile march which took place in Manchester in the October of 1983.

It started from All Saints when there was still open ground waiting for the developers and made it way through the city ending up at Crown Square.


Location; Manchester








Pictures; from a demonstration, October 1983, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

Getting the history correct ……….. Faces from a Demonstration

For a historian I was pretty lax in recording the details of pictures l took in the 1970s and early 80s.  

Anti Cruise  demonstrator, 1981, Manchester

In my defence, l was very busy, was not quite sure of the quality of the images and anyway they were all very fresh in my memory.

And within a decade I had given up smelly photography, and the negatives, along with the enlarger, trays, and chemicals were confined to the cellar where they stayed until quite recently.

And now they have come out of the shadows.

With the passage of time, I have come to like what I took, but the details have become hazy.

Back then against a backdrop of rising inflation, growing industrial unrest and a steady increase in unemployment, more and more people resorted to the streets and joined protest marches, all of which was made more urgent by a deteriorating international scene with a heightening of the Cold War, made scarier by a proliferation of intermediate nuclear missiles which were stationed across Europe by both superpowers.

So, we marched on issues from cuts in Government spending, the loss of jobs, and the proposed closure of local factories, as well as the deployment of Cruise Missiles, and those Far Right nasty parties who were antisemitic, racist and harboured more than a few members who saw nothing wrong with the Nazi Party and Adolf Hitler.

The Moss Side CLP, banner, Liverpool, 1980

The man with the flag was taken in 1981, at the start of an Antt Cruise Missile march, which began on some open ground close to Strangeways Prison, meandered around town before stopping either in Albert Square of Crown Square.

Unemployment demonstration, Birmingham, 1983

Other demonstrations often finished at Alexandra Park or Platt Fields having begun on another piece of water ground close to what is now the Aquatic Centre on Oxford Road.

Just who the man was I never asked, but he did bring a bit of humour to what was an otherwise grim issue.

Interestingly Alexandra Park has long been a destination for protest marches, from those calling for Votes for Women in the early 20th century to the Rock Against Racism Carnival which had been proceeded by a march through town in 1978.

Faces at the demonstration, Birmingham, 1983

And while it is hard now to believe, Stevenson Square was also a venue from the late 19th century for protest meetings, which superseded the much earlier site of New Cross, which was a popular place to demonstrate against food prices during the 1800s.  

Waiting for the demonstration to catch up, St Peter's Square, 1984

Indeed New Cross was the site of a second Peterloo where on the evening of the massacre in Peter’s Fields, a crowd had been dispersed my the military who inflicted casualties on the crowd.

Leaving me just to record that the banner, belonged to Manchester Moss Side Constituency Labour Party on a march through Liverpool in 1980, protesting at the actions of the Conservative Government,  two date from two years later, and were taken in Birmingham, at unemployment and reached 3 million and the last was from 1981 in St Peter's Square and another ant cruise missile, march from possibly 1984

Together they come from the series “Faces at a Demonstration”.*

Location; Manchester, Liverpool, and Birmingham

Pictures, Manchester, Liverpool, and Birmingham, 1980-83, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

“Faces at a Demonstration”, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search/label/Faces%20from%20a%20demonstration

Stories from a demonstration ....... the waiting

Now, there is a lot of waiting about during a demonstration.

It’s the bit you usually forget, in favour of the noise, the good humour, the big crowds and that sense that you are doing something with a purpose.

And yes, even the most serious of demonstrations have their lighter moments.

Sometimes it will be a witty slogan shouted out by someone which is picked up and ripples back through the long line of protesters.

Or the loud chant which doesn’t get a response leaving everyone to burst out laughing.

Then there is the banter between paper sellers all trying to offload their group’s newspaper onto the crowd, but often ending up buying each other’s.

All of which long ago led to the theory that rather than increase their revenue, all the groups did was redistribute their wealth between them.

Of course some marches and demonstrations can be confrontational, and turn ugly and unpleasant, with a lot of nasty name calling, some arrests and people getting hurt.

But amongst all of that, there is that simple fact that you stand about a lot.

It can take ages for a march to set off and then there are the stops at road junctions which can seem to go on forever.

So here for all those who have suffered are two pictures of the waiting side of demos.  I can’t be sure when they were taken, but it will be between 1984 and about ’85.

We are in Manchester and the clue to the march is there in the last picture, where far away at the back of the line there is placard with the slogan "Victory to the Miners".

I have no memory of the march or from where we set off or our final destination.

But someone will, and I hope will add a comment or even share a picture.

Location; Manchester





Pictures; a demonstration, circa 1983-86, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

On a day in November ……..

It was the first demonstration I had been on for years and had been called to protest at the new Conservative Governments’ policy of austerity which had led to sustained reductions in public spending.

I can’t remember where we formed up, but the march wound its way through the city centre before heading down Oxford Road and ending in a rally in Whitworth Park.

Location; Manchester

Pictures; on a day in November, 2010, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

Faces from a demonstration ...... no. 1 ....... at the window

From a distance of nearly 4 decades I have no idea where in Birmingham this was, other than that the demonstration seemed to meander through bits of the city which seemed well off the beaten track.

The year was 1983 and this was one of the large demonstrations organized by the Labour Party to call for action to reverse the growing levels of unemployment which on that Saturday stood at three million.

Location; Birmingham

Picture; Faces from a demonstration, 1983, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

Twenty years of political history ……..

It is 43 years ago that Glyn and Hazel brought back this poster from Paris.

It celebrated two decades of political activity by the Unified Socialist Party.

Now the history of the PSU is easily accessible and so instead I will just leave you with the campaigns and events commemorated on the poster, and the rest as they say is mine and many other’s political past.

Added to which some are very relevant today.

It came back as a rolled up poster, was block mounted a few months later and during the last 43 years has moved around the house, from the dining room, to the kitchen and now upstairs in the study.

And it has appeared on the blog before, bu that hasn't stopped me bringing it on again.

Location; our house

Picture; 1960/1980 NOTRE ESPOIR A20 ANS, 1980, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

Saying something is wrong ........ alternative histories .... part 2

For many of us the 1980s was a scary time.

Uppermost in our concerns were the new generation of nuclear weapons and their delivery systems which sat beside the emergence of hard line leaders in both Washington and Moscow at the very moment when the Superpowers were again upping their support for proxy wars across the globe.

The deployment of Cruise missiles in Britain which took just 15 minutes from launch to hit their targets and the even faster American Pershing and Soviet SS 20s seemed to make the world a very unsafe place.

So faced with this appalling situation many took to the streets and protested.

There were monster demonstrations in London and smaller ones across the country and during the decade, I recorded several that were held in Manchester.

This one started behind Strangeways prison, although where the final destination was I can’t recall.

But someone will.

I do remember it was a very warm sunny day, and that is about it.

Location; Manchester









Pictures; Manchester, 1981 from the collection of Andrew Simpson

Visions of a better world .......... nu 2 the campaign badge

1985

The campaign badge has been around a long time.

It is one of those instant bits of political activity which makes the point cheaply and effectively.

A round bit of cardboard, some sticky tape and a safety pin and you have a badge.

Easier than that and just as effective is coloured ribbon, so loved of election rallies in the early 19th century, and the Suffragettes, and before ribbon there were bits of plant, flowers and bush stretching back into the past all of which were designed to mark out your political preference.

My first was “Lets Go with Labour” which I wore in 1966 but must have been a remnant from the ‘64 election.

It was a shinny plastic badge with a plastic pin which fixed into the back and I wore it throughout the campaign knocking on doors in Well Hall.  I was just 16 and such are the things you cut your political teeth on.

1974

Today the badge machine has made it all the simpler and allows almost anyone to turn them out for next to nothing in just a few minutes.

But for me it will always be those enamelled badges which take pride of place in the collection.  I have a few none of which date back before the 1950s.

Of these the old fashioned Labour Party badge is my favourite with its torch, pen and shovel representing all aspects of the labour movement combined with the torch of progress.

The newer version never really caught my imagination in the same way.

1986

Of the remaining enamelled ones it is that of the Sutton Manor NUM badge which stands out because of the contribution  made by many local people to their struggle during the Miners Strike.

And if like me you bought or picked up badges in support of campaigns they now have a place in our history.

Some were deadly serious, a few used humour and others were celebratory, and many today now seem to belong to a landscape that has long since vanished although that said it always seems that gains made in social progress do sometimes have to be fought all over again.

So for those of us who argued against a divided South Africa, wore  the Anti Apartheid badge can now look back on twenty years of that new rainbow nation.

1977

But other campaigns  like the attempt to save the Greater Manchester County Council failed and many more like Justice for Pensioners and the defence of the NHS remain real issues.

Looking back at my collection I cringe at some of the things I supported in my teens and early twenties, are saddened by those that were defeats but also remember how much I learnt by taking part and of some good friends I made along the way.

So each of the badges does represent an important moment in someone’s history and I think I shall return to some of them and explore their stories in more detail.

1980

Many are almost all that is now left of an impassioned moment when people came together to defend something they thought important.

Long after the paperwork has been lost , the newspaper stories discarded and the memories faded these badges record that moment.

They also point to that other simple observation that history does not always turn out the way you would like.

The years since independence in Zimbabwe have been difficult but I still remember the pleasure many of us felt at its promising start as a new country.

And I bet out there there are lots more badges and even more stories.

Pictures; badges from the  1950s to the 1990s from the collection of Andrew Simpson

October 1980 …………

The early 1980s seemed a scary place.

The two Super Powers had decided that they didn’t like each other all over again, and to add to those tensions there were new nuclear weapons and delivery systems coming on line which were faster and not as easy to detect.

It was as if the Cold War had returned after a brief lull.

Of course, the threat of a nuclear confrontation had never gone away, we just tucked it away in a place where it could be forgotten.

But its return, prompted the British Government to issue a booklet on how to survive an attack, the membership of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament rose dramatically, and people took to the streets to protest.

Cynics and those who embraced the idea of nuclear weapons scoffed at the marches and demonstrations, while those who took part felt that they had to do and say something.

Which is why in the October of 1981 I was down at All Saints on a piece of empty land waiting for the march to set off.

And as many of us did I took a camera and recorded the event.  The pictures of that march and plenty of others have appeared on the blog over the years*, but I have always ignored these two.

Looking at them again, almost forty years, later they may appear a bit hammy, but back then they made the point, and in a very uncertain world with new conflicts breaking out across the planet,  I rather think they strike a chord, added to which they are a bit of our history.

Location; Manchester


Pictures; demonstration Manchester, October 1980, from the collection of Andrew Simpson


*Political Protest, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search/label/Political%20Protest

The picture and the demonstration ....... October 1981

This is the story of one photograph from one demonstration.

The march was called to draw attention to the new generation of nuclear weapons and their delivery systems which were becoming operational at a time when relations between the two Super Powers were going through a turbulent period.

This one was held in the October of 1981 in Manchester and the route took the protesters from All Saints to Crown Square.

The lead banner is that of the Manchester City Labour Party, and quite a few people are carrying The “No to Cruise Missiles” placards.

I can’t now remember how many participated and given that the press at the time along with the Police tended to underestimate numbers I won’t bother trawling the records.

Suffice to say that looking at the collection of images I took on the day it was a big one.

Leaving that aside, and acknowledging that it is my picture, I do think this one captures the sense of what it was like to be on such a demonstration at that time.

And by extension pretty much what it would be like at any time.

What strikes you first is the range of ages, and while some of the youngest will have had little say in whether they were going to take part there are some teenagers present, who could have voted with their feet and gone elsewhere.

And even given the seriousness of the event someone has said something which has caused those closest to smile.

It is just the way that these things worked and often it would be the banter which lifted the spirits on a cold day which might also threaten rain.

This day seemed bright and warm and free from rain.

We are at a point in the march soon after the procession has set off and the paper sellers are conspicuous by their absence.

No doubt they were further back, near the beginning, hovering over those who were yet to set off.

And as yet there seems to be no shouted chant, which usually got the desired response, although just occasionally the shout would be ignored or got muddled in its execution, which led to a ripple of laughter down the line.

Looking carefully at the image I can name five individuals with certainty with an option on another five who I recognise but can’t call up their name.

But I remember we continued up Oxford Road and through St Peter’s Square into Piccadilly but after that I am unsure how we got to Crown Square, possibly down Market Street or Cannon Street, and then I am guessing along a bit of Deansgate.

Someone will remember.

Location; Manchester

Picture; Manchester Peace demonstration, 1981, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

Standing "on the threshold which leads into the palace of justice”

It was a slow day on Beech Road yesterday, and with little interest in sitting in the garden or watching yet another box set I took to reading a collection of historic speeches.*

Liverpool, 1980

Now, if you want to get out of a low mood, brought on by a combination of the virus, and the political scene, a couple of hours with Dr King, J.F. Kennedy, Betty Friedman, Abraham Lincoln, and Dolores Ibarruri Gomez, [La Pasionaria] and countless others, is guaranteed to set you up.

Of course, you have to be aware of the context in which the speeches were made, and if I am honest I gravitated at first to those whose politics I shared, and remember  watching.

Added to which some of those speeches were made by people who whose political record on certain issues might at times be a little flawed.

And finally, I take the possible criticism that sitting reading a speech is just armchair politics and the real test is going out and making a difference.

But at 70 with a lifetime of political activity which began when I was 16, I think I might be allowed to take the armchair.

What surprised  me were the speeches by politicians who I have always regarded as pariahs, like Enoch Powell who made that infamous “rivers of blood” speech made in Birmingham in 1968, but nine years earlier had condemned the treatment of Mau Mau detainees in the Kenyan detention camp at Hola, insisting that prisoners wherever they were held under British jurisdiction were entitled to the same rights of treatment.

Birmingham, 1983

The beatings of many of the prisoners and the deaths of ten of the men he argued was the responsibility of the Secretary of State, brushing aside the alleged crimes and their place of confinement as not relevant to  justice, concluding “We cannot, we dare not, in Africa of all places fall below our own highest standards in the acceptance of responsibility”.

That said, the speeches which I enjoyed rereading were those of Lincoln, Kennedy and Dr King, and staring with Colonel Rainsborough who in 1647, uttered, the powerful, statement of democratic principle “I think that the poorest he that is in England hath a life to live, as the greatest he; and therefore truly, Sir, I think it's clear, that every man that is to live under a government ought first by his own consent to put himself under that government; and I do think that the poorest man in England is not bound in a strict sense to that government that he hath not had a voice to put himself under”.

His was a contribution to the Putney Debates when the victorious Parliamentarian army sat down to discuss the future.

Manchester, 1984

And while that democratic statement was defeated by the Army Grandees and the forces of the establishment it still rings out.

As does the speech of Gideon Hausner, the Attorney General of the State of Israel at the trial Adolf Eichmann, responsible for the management of the Final Solution.

In a speech which lasted ten hours Mr. Hausner, opened by saying, “When I stand before you O Judges of Israel, to lead the prosecution of Adolf Eichmann, I do not stand alone.  

With me here are six million accusers.  But they cannot rise too their feet and point their finger at the man in the dock with the cry of ‘J’ Accuse on their lips.  For they are only ashes- ashes piled high on the hills of Auschwitz, and the fields of Treblinka and strewn in the forests of Poland. Their graves are scattered throughout Europe.  Their blood cries out but their voice is stilled.  Therefore, will I be their spokesman”.

What marks out many of these speeches is the power of the rhetoric, which makes us remember, the memorable lines, like those  from J.F. Kennedy’s  “The torch has passed to a new generation of Americans", “ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man”. “Ich bin ein Berliner”.

Birmingham, 1983

But sleek phrases are themselves not enough, they must arise from a very real need for change which Betty Friedman encapsulated in a speech on women’s rights in 1969 at the first national conference for repeal of abortion rules, when she talked about women being invisible and having to have “a full say in the decisions of their lives and their society”.

And of all the countless ones I read yesterday, and which still sit with me, it must be Dr King’s address on the centenary of Abraham’s Lincoln’s emancipation proclamation, made at a gathering of 210, 000 people at the Lincoln Memorial.

It is a powerfully written speech drawing on the language of the bible, shot through with the injustices of Black Americans and calling for action.

I  tried to pick out key sections, but in truth the whole speech is a mastery of rhetoric, leaving me to fall back on the oft quoted lines,

"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today!

Birmingham, 1983

I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of "interposition" and "nullification" -- one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; "and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together.

This is our hope, and this is the faith that I go back to the South with".

Pictures from the collection of Andrew Simpson, 1981-87

*The Penguin Book of Twentieth Century Speeches. Edited by Brian MacArthur, 1992, & The Penguin Book of Historic Speeches, edited by Brian MacArthur, 1996

Faces from a demonstration..... no.5 the politicians

I should not be surprised I suppose that the passage of nearly 40 years has made it difficult for me to name some of the people on the platform.

There, staring back at me is Denis Healey, while looking out across the crowd is Dennis Skinner, but the three to either side of him I can’t place.

The chap with the glasses I vaguely know but his name remains elusive and of the other two sadly I have no idea.

All will have spoken at the demonstration in Birmingham in 1983 which was part a protest to the rising level of unemployment and a platform for advocating a set of policies which would offer jobs to people.

But the Labour Party was in opposition and would remain so until 1997, and while Dennis Skinner would remain an MP arguing for radical change, Denis Haley would never again hold a Ministerial position.

I can’t remember much of the day, other than that Keith Tom and I had travelled down from Manchester in Keith’s car, and the march which preceded the demonstration and rally took a route off the beaten track which led us past closed industrial estates and rows of terraced houses.

The speakers included Michael Foot, Stan Orme, Eric Heffer and Tony Benn, but after 35 years I am hard pressed to remember if Denis Healey spoke or for that matter who else addressed the meeting.

Location; Birmingham


















Pictures; Faces from a demonstration, 1983 Birmingham from the collection of Andrew Simpson

Faces from a demonstration ...... no. 4 .......

The three lads will now be grown up and I wonder what memories they have of that day in Birmingham.

The year was 1983 and this was one of the large demonstrations organized by the Labour Party to call for action to reverse the growing levels of unemployment which on that Saturday stood at three million.

Location Birmingham

Picture; Faces from a demonstration, 1983, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

Faces from a demonstration ...... no. 3 .......

Today I would never think of photographing young people, but 35 years ago they were no less a valid subject than any of the thousands that attended the demonstration in Birmingham.

The three lads will now be grown up and I wonder what memories they have of that day in Birmingham.

The year was 1983 and this was one of the large demonstrations organized by the Labour Party to call for action to reverse the growing levels of unemployment which on that Saturday stood at three million.

Location Birmingham

Picture; Faces from a demonstration, 1983, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

Faces from a demonstration ...... no. 2 ....... wearing the badge

The three lads will now be grown up and I wonder what memories they have of that day in Birmingham.

The year was 1983 and this was one of the large demonstrations organized by the Labour Party to call for action to reverse the growing levels of unemployment which on that Saturday stood at three million.

Location Birmingham

Picture; Faces from a demonstration, 1983, from the collection of Andrew Simpson