UNITED AGAINST FASCISM

RMT seafarers and friends recently honoured the heroism of British merchant navy crews who served on the legendary Arctic Convoys, transporting vital aid to the embattled Soviet Union at the height of World War II. The union’s Glasgow Shipping branch hosted an inspiring online commemoration, featuring archive newsreel, poetry, song and the launch of a new book by socialist historian Colin Turbett. Eighty years ago this month in June 1941 Germany invaded the Soviet Union. Britain, which had hitherto faced the Nazis alone, suddenly had a powerful, yet beleaguered, anti-fascist ally in Moscow. By August that year, an initial British naval convoy departed on its perilous voyage to Russia’s far north. It was the first of 78 such missions which, by the end of hostilities in 1945, saw 1,400 merchant navy vessels deliver four million tons of war materiel, food, fuel and medical supplies. With good reason, Britain’s wartime leader Winston Churchill declared life on the convoys to be “the worst journey in the world.” Conditions were beyond appalling. As well as constant harassment from enemy forces, sailors had to contend with the extreme environment of the north Atlantic. “The Germans realised that one torpedo sinking one ship could destroy as much equipment as might be achieved by an advancing army on the battlefield, suffering much greater loss to achieve the same result,” Colin told the Glasgow gathering. Summer convoys were largely abandoned when it became apparent that the near endless Arctic daylight turned ships into sitting targets. Conversely, winter sailings provided natural cover, with nights of 20 hours or more, along with the constant misery of sub-zero temperatures. It was said that the only place one could escape the cold was fully clothed in your bunk or hammock. J. H. Potts, the then president of the National Union of Railwaymen, forerunner of today’s RMT, experienced this first-hand when he travelled with the convoys on a three-month fact-finding mission to wartime Russia. His experiences were recounted last year in an article in RMT News. The principle destination was the port of Murmansk, although convoys also travelled further east to Archangel. On arrival in Murmansk they found the city all but destroyed. German bombers, based just 15 minutes flying time away in occupied Norway, continued to pound the docks as the precious cargoes were unloaded. Colin, whose late father Desmond was a Royal Navy veteran of the convoys, explained that British merchant crews were often looked down upon as the navy’s “poor relations” at sea. As many as a quarter hailed from ethnic minorities– Somalians, Chinese RMT seafarers and friends recently honoured the heroism of British merchant navy crews who served on the legendary Arctic Convoys, transporting vital aid to the embattled Soviet Union at the height of World War II. The union’s Glasgow Shipping branch hosted an inspiring online commemoration, featuring archive newsreel, poetry, song and the launch of a new book by socialist historian Colin Turbett. Eighty years ago this month in June 1941 Germany invaded the Soviet Union. Britain, which had hitherto faced the Nazis alone, suddenly had a powerful, yet beleaguered, anti-fascist ally in Moscow. By August that year, an initial British naval convoy departed on its perilous voyage to Russia’s far north. It was the first of 78 such missions which, by the end of hostilities in 1945, saw 1,400 merchant navy vessels deliver four million tons of war materiel, food, fuel and medical supplies. With good reason, Britain’s wartime leader Winston Churchill declared life on the convoys to be “the worst journey in the world.” Conditions were beyond appalling. As well as constant harassment from enemy forces, sailors had to contend with the extreme environment of the north Atlantic. “The Germans realised that one torpedo sinking one ship could destroy as much equipment as might be achieved by an advancing army on the battlefield, suffering much greater loss to achieve the same result,” Colin told the Glasgow gathering. Summer convoys were largely abandoned when it became apparent that the near endless Arctic daylight turned ships into sitting targets. Conversely, winter sailings provided natural cover, with nights of 20 hours or more, along with the constant misery of sub-zero temperatures. It was said that the only place one could escape the cold was fully clothed in your bunk or hammock. J. H. Potts, the then president of the National Union of Railwaymen, forerunner of today’s RMT, experienced this first-hand when he travelled with the convoys on a three-month fact-finding mission to wartime Russia. His experiences were recounted last year in an article in RMT News. The principle destination was the port of Murmansk, although convoys also travelled further east to Archangel. On arrival in Murmansk they found the city all but destroyed. German bombers, based just 15 minutes flying time away in occupied Norway, continued to pound the docks as the precious cargoes were unloaded. Colin, whose late father Desmond was a Royal Navy veteran of the convoys, explained that British merchant crews were often looked down upon as the navy’s “poor relations” at sea. As many as a quarter hailed from ethnic minorities– Somalians, Chinese RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: june 2021 :: RMTnews 22 UNITED AGAINST FASCISM Chris Kasrils reports on an on-line event hosted by Glasgow shipping branch to celebrate the wartime anti-fascist alliance between Britain and the USSR