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Title: The London Strikes Author: Freedom Press (London) Date: October, 1889 Language: en Source: Freedom: A Journal of Anarchist Socialism, Vol. 3, No. 35, online source http://www.revoltlib.com/?id=3043, retrieved on April 12, 2020.
The great revolt of the Dock Laborers and other workers of London which
for the last two weeks of August and the first two weeks of September
absorbed public attention, is one of those incidents in the struggle
between the haves and the have-nots which mold thought and influence
progress. It originated in the action of a handful of men at the South
West India Dock who ceased work on the 13th of August because their very
moderate claim for a higher rate of wages and more favorable conditions
of working was not granted. In the course of a few days the strike
extended to the other docks and then, day after day, the strikers
received accessions to their number from the wharf laborers, the
lightermen and other kinds of riverside laborers. At the same time other
workers quite outside the dock industry, took advantage of the agitation
to demand better conditions for themselves. Coal porters and car men,
printers' laborers, iron workers, and their helpers, tin-plate workers,
rope-making and jam factory girls, tobacco workers, orange porters,
candle-makers, tailors, bricklayers and their laborers, basket-makers,
chemical works employees, screw-makers, and other workers, ceased work
and, like Oliver Twist, asked for more. In many cases they got it almost
immediately; in others they had to hold out for a little while, but by
the time the principal strike - that of the dockers - had ended on the
14th of September in a sort of compromise, by which the men employed on
and after the 4th of November are to receive the advance in wages and
better conditions asked for, the success of most of the other workers
who had joined in the fray was assured.
A few days after the commencement of the struggle, John Burns was
invited to address some of the meetings of the men. He accepted and from
that time forward his energetic action in speaking to -and for, as well
as organizing, the men, put him into the position of leader of the
strike. He was ably supported by Tom Mann and many other comrades, with
the result that a series of effective meetings were held on Tower Hill,
at the Dock gates and elsewhere, including large demonstrations in Hyde
Park on four succeeding Sundays. At one time, too, parades of the men
from the east to and through the city took place daily. A committee to
receive and distribute relief to the dockers on strike was formed and
the funds began to roll in, not only from all parts of London and
England, but also from Australia, whose generous citizens subscribed no
less than L22,000.
Public opinion showed itself unmistakably on the side of the strikers.
This we think goes to show that a general feeling of solidarity among
the workers is growing and that very many of the non-workers are
beginning to understand that every human being ought to have a chance to
lead a human life. Even the Lord Mayor and some Members of Parliament,
together with Cardinal Manning, declared that the demands of the dockers
were justified. A milk vendor gave away 200 gallons of milk daily for
some days in succession, a grocer gave away whole cheeses, a pawnbroker
offered to take pledges without interest while the strike lasted, and a
landlord actually declared his intention of not taking any rent for the
period in which the men were unemployed. Some of the trade unions
subscribed large sums; notably the London Society of Compositors paid
L100 a week. How useful the reactionary can be to the revolutionary
cause Mr. Norwood and his colleagues ably showed us. By their continual
refusal to come to terms they fanned the flame of the revolt until at
the height of the strike probably no less than 150,000 workers were
affected.
The importance of the docker began to grow in the public estimation soon
after the strike commenced and the distribution of provisions began to
be hindered. Flour, meat, tea, sugar, coals, etc., were. locked up at
the docks and prices began to rise. Traffic in that important London
thoroughfare the Strand. was stopped for weeks because the wood
necessary for the paving was at the docks. It was realized that the
despised unskilled worker was as necessary to society as the most
eminent scientist. The attempts made to get men to take the strikers'
places failed miserably. By an admirable system of picketing and other
precautions, most of those outsiders who offered were dissuaded from
going in, and nearly all the foreign sailors who were urged to do the
work refused. The general feeling of these latter was expressed by the
Chinaman who said, "S'pose you pay one sovereign one hour me no can do."
One of the most satisfactory features of the agitation was the apparent
disappearance of the various Socialist bodies as such. The names of
organizations seldom transpired, but Socialism and Socialists were
everywhere. There was work for all and our comrades resolutely set to
work to do it. Political humbug disappeared from the Socialist program
as soon as our comrades in the various societies found themselves face
to face with a live workers' movement. Evidently Socialism has passed
out of the select circle period, has become too strong, too widespread
to be managed by two or three groups with high-sounding names, and is
penetrating the mass of the people. Federations, Leagues, Associations
and Unions, so organized as to restrict the initiative of action to an
elected few have been overshadowed in this strike movement by the
individual action of their own members, and the common bond of union
which the members of all these bodies seek Las been found in the common
cause. A fresh impetus has been given to the formation of independent
societies and groups of Socialist workers. We are pleased, too, to see
that the formation of several trade unions has resulted. Many thousands
have been enrolled into the Dock Laborers Union; a Coal )Porters and
Carmen's Union has been started in the North of London; and Printers'
Laborers, Laundresses, Bass Dressers, House Painters and Decorators,
Hair Dressers and others have followed suit. These unions will all be
useful in bringing the workers into line for the Social Revolution, and
it is to be hoped they will not be spoiled by centralization.
Strikes and trade unions can, of course only palliate the evils of the
existing system of society. But this palliation is in the right
direction. Instead of leading the workers to rely upon parliament for
assistance, it impresses upon them that "who would be free himself must
strike the blow," and induces them to strive themselves for their own
emancipation without regard to the visionary schemes of political
tricksters. Said the Star during the course of the strike, "How will the
best House of Commons in the world give the workers their rights if they
are not themselves prepared to sustain and enforce them?" To this
question we append another, "What is the good of your House of Commons
to the workers if they have to sustain and enforce these same rights?"
Surely it is good for nothing. Surely the worker should discard
altogether his superstitious belief in the efficacy of state-help,
refuse to sanction by his vote the iniquitous system of government, and
rely upon the strength of his own arm and the clearness of his own bead
for his emancipation from the sweater, the rack-renter and the
tax-collector. We think the workers are beginning to understand this,
and we are sure these strikes will help them to do so.