Issue 179 June 2014
Unions and Labour: forged in struggle
By John Tully
Published by Lawrence & Wishart, 2014, £17.99
Reviewed by Rob Williams
This is a long overdue account of an important struggle in London’s East End in 1889 with many parallels and lessons for workers today. It was part of a wider upsurge of workers’ struggles that led to a rebirth of the trade union movement, and to the creation of independent working-class political representation in the form of the Labour Party.
John Tully explains why this strike has largely been lost in the annals of the labour movement – unlike the famous Bryant & May matchgirls’ strike of 1888 and the London dock strike which was still on as the Silvertown strike started. The difference is that, while the other two were successful, the workers at the Silver’s factory were defeated. Workers, however, learn through defeats as well as victories. Tully shows that the lessons had to be learned in an extremely harsh manner as 3,000 strikers were starved back to work after three months.
His book graphically describes how the development of the working class and its organisations was inextricably connected with the rise of capitalism in its strongest link in the 19th century: Victorian Britain. The industrial revolution set in motion an explosive development of the productive forces, requiring ever bigger factories and more complex industrial processes. This forged a mighty industrial working class who were swept into the rapidly expanding towns and cities…
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