Syndicalism and Noah Ablett
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Was Noah Ablett the last pure syndicalist?
There is a talk this Wednesday about him at WCML, Salford
Quote:Our Wednesday 2pm series of talks continues on 12 April when Robert Turnbull will speak about his new book, Climbing Mount Sinai: Noah Ablett 1883-1935. Ablett was one of the most controversial personalities to emerge from the South Wales coalfield in the era preceding WW1, an era of unparalleled industrial militancy in which he played a leading role.The book tells the story of Noah Ablett from his early days as a boy preacher in the Rhondda coalfield to his rise to prominence within the tight-knit coalfield communities of South Wales, and his emergence as an uncompromising agitator, not only against the coal owners but also his own union. His uncompromising brand of revolutionary class warfare brought him into sharp conflict with the moderate consensus politics of William Abraham known as Mabon, a liberal who had led the South Wales miners since 1875.
The conflict with Mabon and what he represented would lead to one of the most famous pamphlets in labour history, namely the Miners' Next Step of 1912, which called for workers' control of industry. Although very much a collaborative effort, the Miners' Next Step is perhaps the most famous statement of Ablett's rejection of the parliamentary road to socialism as "No better than an ant heap on the way to becoming a dunghill".
details here
http://www.wcml.org.uk/whats-on/events/book-launch–biography-of-noah-ablett/
No, there used to be an organisation called the Syndicalist Workers Federation and there are still some classical Syndicalists about somewhere.Last year someone forwarded an email from Robert Turnbull about his forthcoming book on Ablett which gives more information on him:
Quote:Climbing Mount Sinai Noah Ablett 1883/1935 Climbing Mount Sinai is the first full length biographical study, of one of the best known and also controversial personalities to emerge from the South Wales coalfield in the era preceding WW1, an era of unparalleled industrial militancy in which the subject of my book played a leading role. The book tells the story of Noah Ablett from his early days as a boy preacher in the Rhondda coalfield, to his rise to prominence within the tight knit coalfield communities of South Wales, and his emergence as an uncompromising agitator, not only against the coal owners of South Wales, but also his own union, where his uncompromising brand of revolutionary class warfare, brought him into sharp conflict with the moderate consensus politics of William Abraham or Mabon, a liberal who had led the South Wales miners since 1875. The conflict with Mabon and what he represented, would lead to one of the most famous pamphlets in labour history, namely the Miners Next Step of 1912, which called for workers control of industry, in the wake of the bitter Cambrian Combine strike of 1910/11. Although very much a collaborative effort, the Miners Next Step is perhaps the most famous statement of Ablett's rejection of the parliamentary road to socialism as "No better than an ant heap on the way to becoming a dunghill" The book also concentrates on Ablett's time at Ruskin College Oxford, where he was instrumental in helping to form the Plebs League, to agitate for independent working class education, or IWCE, a movement which began with the famous Ruskin College strike of 1909, and eventually spread all over the country The study also reveals Ablett's previously unknown role in the Hands off Russia Movement in 1919 and 1920 in which he spoke alongside such leading figures as Tom Mann Using newspaper sources from the era and information from members of Ablett's family, including original essays, written during his time at Ruskin,the book also details his descent into chronic alcoholism, as the revolutionary tide of 1917 began to ebb, and his subsequent removal from the executive of both the South Wales Miners Federation and the Central College in 1926, a development which the author believes finally put paid to any lingering notions of Ablett regaining the stature that he once had. The book concludes with Ablett's tragic death from cancer in 1935, aged just 52, and contains a moving obituary written by Jim Griffith's later to be President of the Fed. I hope the book will appeal to labour historians and the general reader alike.We are trying to get a review copy. Maybe copies will be available at the talk if you can get one for us.
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