Although the official trade union movement had done little or nothing in this direction, the unemployed movement carried on a stub-born and often successful battle to unify its struggle with that of the On 18 January 1922, unemployed workers raided a factory in Islington where they had learned that the employer was not paying piece-work rates in compliance with the terms laid down by the Board of Trade.
As soon as the 'raiders got inside they stopped the machines and locked the factory gates. One of them then addressed the assembled workers, and when the manager was brought in he was greeted by demands for the replacement of piece-work by time-work. After an hour's discussion he was forced to agree to the workers' demands, which included: back-pay for those workers underpaid on piece-rates; time-work to be applied for a one month trial period; and no deducLast week BOB PENNINGTON showed how the unemployed workers betrayals of the trade union leaders culminated in the defeat of the 1926 All over the country demonstrations of the unemployed were being held. Gone was the collecting box and the appeals for charity. Instead the workless marched under the slogans of Work or Full Maintenance' and 'Down with the Lloyd George Government'. The streets echoed to the voices of thousands of workers singing the Red Flag' and the Internationale".
On 25 January a demonstration of 15,000 unemployed marched to the Poplar Guardians in East London. This was a demonstration with a difference. These men and women were not marching against the Guardians as in every other area, but had come to urge Poplar's Labour Guardians to adopt the demands of the National Unemployed Workers' Committee Movement. The response of Poplar's Labour Mayor, Charlie Board of Guardians then decided to operate a scale of benefits considerably higher than any yet seen elsewhere in the country.
A Labour authority had put the interest of the workers first, and set an example of how to bring together the labour movement and the real the country a movement swelled up inspired by this example. Time after time, reluctant Guardians - although invariably protected by a massive to raise their benefits ians to keep benefits down to starvation levels, the Ministry of Health ordered local authorities to provide work schemes for the unemployed at 75 per cent of the union rate. But swung on to another offensive. Council Chambers were occupied. Marches were made on relief jobs. The back of the scabbing scheme was broken - but again little help had come from the official movement, whose interests were most threatened by reliet work. Unemployed women workers on the march for jobs.
The word 'Poplarism' was born.
State. eral strike, although much discussed, was never put into practice The TUC leaders simply muttered about taking such action on unemployment programme remained simply at the level of good intentions.
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got up off their knees, so that by the beginning of 1922 they had started to fight back in earnest. In Part 2 of our series, below, he shows how the