ROOTS OF OUR RIGHTS

RMT helpline 0800 3763706 :: february 2009 :: RMTnews 30 These two pamphlets give you bite size chunks of British history in a way that you won’t have seen it before. All those topics that you have heard of and wished you knew more about are covered in these A5 publications. Each subject is condensed to only two pages, written in an accessible style. The first pamphlet opens with the Peasants Revolt, and the rise of the capitalist system, when John Ball said that England would never be free so long as goods “be not in common… By what right are they whom men call lords greater folk than we?” Other subjects covered include: The English Civil War; Oliver Cromwell; Thomas Paine and the Rights of Man and Wolfe Tone and the United Irishmen. TRADE UNIONS Perhaps most relevant to trade unionists is the final article of the first pamphlet titled The Right to Combine. The piece explains how trade unions were formed in the 1800s in the wake of strikes across Britain by weavers, spinners and miners. An article on the Luddites shows – against popular wisdom – that Ned Ludd’s followers were not trying to stop progress but were organising to save peoples jobs. What the publications show are that the rights that we have were won over the centuries were invariably the result of hard won battles fought by working people. The pamphlets were written by two important figures in the labour movement, who like many working class activists, are little known to the wider public although their influence has been great. Edmund (Eddie) Frow (1906- 1997) was a tool room engineer and trade union activist from a working class background. Offices held in the Labour ROOTS OF OUR RIGHTS Steve Silver reviews two pamphlets on working class history and the struggle for democracy