GUILTY AND PROUD OF IT!

RMT helpline 0800 3763706 :: september 2009 :: RMTnews 32 In charting the heroic struggle of the people in the East London borough of Poplar and their socialist and trade unionist Labour councillors, RMT London Transport Regional Transport Secretary, Janine Booth, has, by all measures, written a very fine book. In the aftermath of the slaughter on the western front, working people nationwide were struggling to re-build their lives and no longer prepared to put up with terrible housing, hopelessly inadequate welfare provision and poorly paid and unsafe working conditions. Elected in the same year as the 1919 successful national rail strike, Poplar’s councillors set about tackling the appalling social conditions in a borough where twelve districts were officially designated as slums, over 10,000 homes were occupied by two families and infant mortality and unemployment rates standing at 10% and 12% respectively. Determined to defend local services and the poor relief paid to the unemployed in the borough, the council found itself in breach of the law when it refused to collect rates designed to pay for services in much wealthier areas of London. Their demand was that money raised from rich, Tory areas like Kensington should contribute towards eliminating the grinding poverty present in working class boroughs; Poplar would not collect the cross-London rates until the system was changed, and the rates equalised. By March 1921 Poplar owed £30,000 to the Tory- controlled London County Council, £25,000 to the Metropolitan Police and Metropolitan Water Board £40,000. By defying the law, Poplar was on a collision course with government. To widespread acclaim expressed at a series of local labour movement conferences and large, enthusiastic public rallies, councillor George Lansbury explained: “All reforms come from those who are ready to break bad laws”. Reforms were soon delivered; Poplar paid a minimum wage of £4 a week to workers in the borough, equal pay was introduced for woman lifting their pay by an average of 70 per cent. Furthermore infant mortality rates were reduced, library services improved and a house building programme embarked upon. The council’s principled stand and the huge support it enjoyed amongst working people across London caused consternation in government circles. The response was swift. September 1921 saw thirty councillors sentenced to prison for refusing to collect the rates. Twenty-five male councillors, including NUR members Albert Baker and James Jones, served time in Brixton prison. Joe Banks, previously the Poplar No1 Branch Secretary of the ASRS (a predecessor union of the NUR) and sacked by the railway for taking unauthorised leave to work as a Labour election agent, was also imprisoned. The then NUR Poplar No1 Branch Secretary, Joe Hammond, was also a Poplar councillor but was not sent to prison. When the five women councillors were taken to Holloway Prison, 15,000 people marched with them in a massive show of support. Tragically one of the imprisoned women, the inspirational Minnie Lansbury, became ill during her time in Holloway and was to die of pneumonia a matter of months after her release. Remarkably, over 30 official council meetings took place in Brixton prison with the women prisoners being taken to the meeting from Holloway. When released the councillors were unbowed and went on to secure an important victory with outdoor relief coasts being pooled across London to scales agreed by the Minister of Health. Although short of equalisation, this was an important victory. As the book recounts, the Poplar councillors and their supports changed bad laws by their non-compliance and the unemployed of London benefitted from their courage and determination. As a union we are rightly proud of the role played by those Poplar councillors, Jones, Baker and Hammond, who were NUR members. It is in their tradition that this is a book should be read not simply as important historical account of selfless struggle but also as a guide and inspiration to struggles today. Guilty and Proud Of It! Poplar’s Rebel Councillor’s and Guardians 1919-1925 By Janine Booth (Merlin Press) costs £12.95 and can be purchased at www.merlinpress.co.uk Sean Geoghan reviews Guilty and Proud of It! Poplar’s Rebel Councillor’s and Guardians 1919-1925 by Janine Booth GUILTY AND PROUD OF IT!