BURSTON:100 YEARS

RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: october 2014 :: RMTnews 26 Over a thousand trade unionists and socialists from across the country gathered in the small Norfolk village of Burston last month to celebrate the centenary of longest strike in history. A children’s theatre group performed their play to the crowds about the strike before the annual march around the village set off, retracing the steps of the route the children took – known today as the Candlestick – over one hundred years ago. In 1914 children marched out of their school when their much-loved teachers, Tom and Kitty Higdon, were sacked on trumped up charges because of their support for the farm workers’ union. Tom’s election as a Labour councillor had inflamed the local landowners and the Church of England, which was then responsible for educating children in the countryside, and on April 1, 1914, after the couple had been dismissed, the children walked out on strike. The Burston Strike School was built on the village green from Labour movement subscriptions and continued to educate children right up to 1939 until Tom Higdon died, 25 years after the strike began. The Strike School building is now a museum, visitor centre and village amenity, and since 1984 a rally has been held every year. The event was a favourite with Bob Crow and speaker after speaker evoked his memory along with his friend Tony Benn. Jeremy Corbyn MP said that Bob had made a massive impact on the trade union and labour movement particularly in the field of education. “Whenever I address a TUC course I can tell who the RMT reps are as they had clearly attended their union’s education centre in Doncaster set up by Bob for his members,” he said. Other speakers including Megan Dobney and Owen Jones all emphasised the significance of the Burston strike school and the lessons of their successful fight today. “We need to stand up as a movement just like those children did 100 years ago and fight this assault on working people by this rotten Tory/Lib Dem coalition government,” Mr Corbyn said. Festival goers were also entertained by the socialist rock band Thee Faction and legendary folk singer Roy Bailey. The Burston rally is a great day out, one which you should put in your diary for next year, the 101th anniversary. BURSTON:100 YEARS Largest ever crowds celebrate 100 years since Norfolk school children launched strike action in defence of their teachers