Labour Heritage – Labour Uncut

[jondwhite]

http://labour-uncut.co.uk/2012/10/30/labour-history-uncut-in-the-beginning/#more-14635

by Peter Goddard and Atul Hatwal

Education. Education. Education. You don’t have to be Blairite to believe in it. Here at Uncut we support the old dictum “those who don’t know history are destined to repeat it.” A solid understanding of the our past is important to understand where the party is today and what we need to do tomorrow.

But it occurred to us, aside from comparatively recent events, we didn’t actually know that much about Labour history. To summarise: there was a splendid fellow called Keir Hardie, a bad’un called Ramsay Macdonald, the glorious founding of the NHS, something about the pound in your pocket and then we’re all singing “things can only get better.”

Tragically we cannot look to the education system to fix our ignorance. The national curriculum devotes little time to the history of the party. Nor does it contain much in the way of jokes. And there are exams.

Labour Uncut would like to remedy these manifold problems so we are pleased to present an uncut history of the Labour party.  This will be an ongoing series of articles taking us from the birth of the party and the circumstances behind it, right up to the present day. Prepare to be educated.

http://labour-uncut.co.uk/2012/11/01/labour-history-uncut-the-hardie-boys/#more-14674

http://labour-uncut.co.uk/2012/11/06/labour-history-uncut-labour%E2%80%99s-original-hard-left-the-social-democratic-federation/#more-14760

http://labour-uncut.co.uk/2012/11/08/labour-history-uncut-fabians-dont-get-mad-get-pamphleting/#more-14787

http://labour-uncut.co.uk/2012/11/13/labour-history-uncut-the-union-road-from-tolpuddle/#more-14821

[ALB]

Just read the one on the SDF. It's crap.

[steve colborn]

I have done quite a few  meetings on behalf of the party regarding Labour's history, or should I say, Labour's anti working class actions and history. What a despicable history it is to. If the Tories had done the same, the same old "left-wing" morons would still be saying, "vote Labour with no illusions", what a bunch of horse manure.If one knew their history, one would never vote Labour again! Capitalism, as far as Labour is concerned is OK! How many Labour leaders, that should give workers pause for thought, (leaders), have said, "Capitalism is safe in our hand's? It's a joke and no mistake.Those who do not learn from history, are condemned to repeat it.

[steve colborn]

Workers repeat this farce, time after time, after time, after time. You get the gist!

[Anonymous]

ALB wrote:

Just read the one on the SDF. It's crap.

Managed to get a lengthy comment published about the SDF.  Scroll down:-http://labour-uncut.co.uk/2012/10/30/labour-history-uncut-in-the-beginning/#more-14635

[Anonymous]

I have noticed the site has a search facility which does not work. I typed in 'use of troops during firemen's strike' and 'labour closes 100s of mines' and it didnt come up with anything. So I didn't bother searching for anything else. I left a comment, tho'

[ALB]

Here's a more accurate description of the origins of the Labour Party, from the 1905 Manifesto of the Socialist Party of Great Britain, here on this site:

Quote:

The Labour Representation Committee came into existence chiefly, as far as the rank and file of the trade unions were concerned owing to the Taff Vale and Quinn v Leatham decisions, and as far as the trade union officials were concerned, because they saw a chance of Parliamentary jobs. At the first meeting of the L.R.C. Mr. John Burns opposed putting the movement on a working-class basis. Mr. James Sexton, of the Liverpool dockers, said that the Socialist resolution was magnificent but not war – not conductive to Parliamentary jobs, he meant – and he would vote for it anywhere but there. This position is characteristic of most alleged Socialists in Britain – they would vote for Socialism anywhere but where a vote would help it. Mr. Steadman said they should elect those who had borne the heat and burden of the day – i.e., men of the Steadman stamp. At Newcastle Mr. John Ward stated that they wanted to get their feet on the floor of the House of Commons and would not be particular how they did it. Mr. J. Keir Hardie said they did not want Toryism, Liberalism, or Socialism, only Labourism. Wonderful to narrate, this is the same Keir Hardie who sits as a delegate on the International Socialist Bureau.The L.R.C. constitution states that they should not support the Liberal or the Tory Party, but for every seat that has hitherto been contested the candidate put forward by the L.R.C. has been a Liberal-Labour hack, so much so that Mr. John Morley stated he would welcome them into the House of Commons, as they would always be found voting as Liberals. Last year Messrs. W. Crooks, D. Shackleton, and A. Henderson supported Mr. Benn, Liberal candidate for Devonport, and Mr. Bell, ex-chairman of the L.R.C, got his seat in the House of Commons by an arrangement with the Liberal party. Mr. D. Shackleton is a defender of child labour, and Mr. Henderson is an opponent of the legal reduction of the hours of labour. After all their cry of independence and after all their falling out with Mr. Burns, who told them they were selling themselves for two hundred dirty pieces of gold, they selected as Chairman of their Parliamentary group the same Mr. John Burns, the defender of Asquith (the murderer of miners at Featherstone), thus choosing as their leader one of the most bitter enemies of the working-class. The Labour Representation Committee is not the party of the workers.

[Anonymous]

TheOldGreyWhistle wrote:

I have noticed the site has a search facility which does not work. I typed in 'use of troops during firemen's strike' and 'labour closes 100s of mines' and it didnt come up with anything. So I didn't bother searching for anything else. I left a comment, tho'

One needs to be quite specific with the words placed in the search box.  For example, any irrelevant words to the actual search should be omitted so in the first instance type in 'troops firemens strike' and this result is given:-http://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/education/z-marxism/lInclude the apostrophe in 'firemen's' (troops firemen's strike) and these results appear:-http://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/search/node/troops%20firemen%27s%20strikeSimilarly, enter 'labour mines' :-http://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/search/node/labour%20%20minesChange the keywords to 'coal mines' and countless results appear:-http://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/search/node/coal%20minesAnd so on and so forth.  Hope that helps…

[Anonymous]

Hi gnome,thanks, but I  wasn't referring to our site, I was referring to 'labour uncut'. See if the site was really uncut!  Do they mention closing mines and using troops during the Firemen's strike etc

[Anonymous]

TheOldGreyWhistle wrote:

Hi gnome,thanks, but I  wasn't referring to our site, I was referring to 'labour uncut'. See if the site was really uncut!  Do they mention closing mines and using troops during the Firemen's strike etc

Yeah, I see now……    Anyway, the suggestions I made may help other people searching for stuff on our site.  

[jondwhite]

ALB wrote:

Here's a more accurate description of the origins of the Labour Party, from the 1905 Manifesto of the Socialist Party of Great Britain, here on this site:

Quote:

the Socialist resolution was magnificent but not war – not conductive to Parliamentary jobs, he meant – and he would vote for it anywhere but there.

I don't understand this sentence quoted.

[ALB]

I think he (James Sexton, a leader of a dockers' union) meant that he would vote for socialism as long as it was only a pious resolution at some conference but not in parliament or to get elected there. He did in fact become a Labour MP.  I see from his wikipedia entry that he was also later knighted. So we shouldf be calling him Sir James Sexton.Mind you a couple of the English trade unionists who were on the General Council of the IWMA with Marx (and would have heard "Dr Marx" give his talk on Value, Price and Profit) later became (Liberal) MPs. William Cremer and George Howell. Cremer became Sir Randal Cremer.The British ruling class has always been good at co-opting "labour" leaders. Maybe Labour Uncut will be doing an article on this as it's an essential part of the history of the Labour Party.

[Author]

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