Nerve 11 - Title

19th February1972: Liverpool contingent of Right to Work March leaves for London (see also 11th March )

LIVERPOOL
TO LONDON
Day 2, St Helens
Sunday February 20

THE LIVERPOOL - London Young Socialists’ Right-to- Work march is under way. The unemployed youth joined trade unionists in a 200-strong demonstration through the city on Saturday. Workers out shopping cheered as the marchers shouted: ‘We demand the right to work— throw the Tories out!’
Marching in front of the Liverpool Right-to-Work Committee banner were playwright Jim Allen, playwright-actor Neville Smith sand docker turned actor, Peter Kerrigan.
Vauxhall Ellesmere Port AUEW stewards brought their banner. Bootle College of Further Education also sent a delegation.
‘The march will be taken into every nook and cranny of the working class in the most practical way,’ Cliff Slaughter, SLL Central Committee member, told a meeting afterwards. ‘The leadership of the working class will be put on the spot. They will have to decide whether to support us or not.’
He warned the audience that the Tories would plan a vicious counter-attack following their defeat at the hands of the miners.
‘Around the slogan of uniting the employed and unemployed in a fight to force the Tories to resign, the march will lay the basis for the building of a new leadership and prepare for the taking of power,’ he said.
From the Pilkington rank-and-file committee Gerry Caughey warned from experience of betrayal by trade union leaders.
‘I’m an expert at discovering the enemies within the labour movement, the Judases. We know the Tories and their real intentions. But the real danger lies in the people to whom we look for leadership’, he said.
Greetings to the march were also brought by Birkenhead dock steward Larry Cavanagh, who spoke of the struggle for work on the docks.
The march proper began yesterday when over 40 unemployed youth left the Pier Head for the 200-mile walk to London. They will be joined in the next week by others from St Helens, Bolton, Manchester and Winsford.
Our first stop is Kirkby, where we will be guests of the Labour Club. They are laying on a stew.
Everyone was looking forward to St Helens last night. In August 1970, 250 glassworkers were sacked by Pilkington’s for daring to strike. Today 70 of them are still on the dole and carrying on an unrelenting struggle for the right to work and strike.
Also in St Helens is the second performance of the, play ‘The English Revolution’, written by Tom Kempinski and directed by Corin Redgrave.

Day 3 Wigan
Monday February 21

SKELMERSDALE gave a tremendous welcome to the Liverpool - London Young Socialists’ Right - to – Work marchers on Monday. Mayor of the Labour-controlled council, Phil Bond, and the local T r a d e s Council chairman, Charlie Denton, who is also a Communist Party member, greeted the marchers from the town hall balcony.
Inside the marchers were given tea and sandwiches and there was a short meeting.
As the marchers left, they were accompanied by the Trades Council banner and, most significantly, the banner of the Skelmersdale Communist Party and four Party members, including James Buxton, secretary of the Southport branch, and Leonard Toole, secretary of the Skelmersdale branch.
‘The Young Socialists’ campaign against unemployment is part of the fight to bring down the Tory government and we support it for that reason,’ said Leonard Toole.
The Communist Party members said they intended writing a letter to the ‘Morning Star’ expressing their support for the march. They also plan to attend the March 12 rally at the Empire Pool, Wembley.
THE RESPONSE our march received in Skelmersdale today proved to all of us what an impact the Right-to-Work campaign is having in the Lancashire working class.
First of all, just outside the town we were met by some building workers from the Bison site. They had just finished a four-week reinstatement strike. But on the first day back, deputy steward Ray Hodson was sacked for defending another victimized worker.
‘Our fight is like your fight— the right to work and the right to strike,’ he told me as we marched into town. Just before the strike began, the men on the site collected over £33 for the Right-to-Work campaign.
Waiting on the balcony of the town hall to greet us was councillor Phil Bond, chairman of t h e Labour-controlled t o w n council. With him was Charlie Denton, chairman of Skelmersdale trades council and a member of the Communist Party.
After the tea and sandwiches laid on by the council Phil Bond told me that the serious situation confronting the working class needed total unity of the class. We couldn’t afford to argue about bans and proscriptions in the Labour Party. ‘As far as I’m concerned the test of any organization must be its seriousness in fighting the Tory government. We are pleased to see youth like these in action and welcome them here. The Tories won’t be brought down by speeches or resolutions in the House of Commons or anywhere else,’ he said.
Councillor Bond also told me how they used to talk about Skelmersdale as the promised land, a new town in the heart of Lancashire which would bring jobs for all.
Workers were lured from Liverpool with the bait of a new house. But the dream turned sour on broken promises. Today there are over 1,000 workers unemployed.
During the reception at the town hall we were given two more boosts to our march.
Workers from Air Industries U.K. Ltd walked in and handed over a collection of nearly £5 taken among 40 office and shop-floor workers.
And then I was told that workers on the nearby McAlpine building site had raised over £10 for us and would take weekly collections until the march reached London.
We got about five miles from Wigan after our Skelmersdale break and we once again met our friends from Bold colliery. About 15, led by Mick Connolly, joined the march and stayed with us into town.
The magnificent response we have had so far has really impressed the marchers. Norman Oswald, who at 15 is the youngest on the march, said:
‘Everywhere we have asked for support we’ve got it. The miners said they would march all the way to London with us if they weren’t going back to work.’
One of the Kirkby boys, Kenneth Joyce, who lost his apprenticeship some months back, also recognized the support. ‘I’ve sold about 150 Workers Press in two days and I think it was good the way all those other workers joined in the march. Now we are going to fight to get to London, We’ll beat the Tories.

McGUINNESS FLINT, the pop group which became famous with ‘When I’m Dead and Gone’, is to star at the Right-to-Work rally at the Empire Pool, Wembley, on Sunday, March 12.
And they will sing ‘Let the People Go’, the song that has just been banned by the BBC and Radio Luxembourg.
The song specifically refers to internment in Ulster and uses the expression ‘Grocer’—a nickname for Edward Heath.

One of the many messages of support for the Wembley rally came from Ellesmere Port Trades Council.
Alf McCabe, the honorary secretary, sent this message:
‘We are, as a very small trades council, sending four delegates from Ellesmere Port in the hope that our small number will help swell the great numbers anticipated.
‘Their cause is worthy of praise from every corner of this great country. We wish them luck in their enterprise through the columns of your newspaper.
‘Meanwhile we, in conjunction with other Merseyside trades councils, continue our fight on behalf of all unemployed.’

Other support from Merseyside for the Right-to-Work March.

Fords Halewood joint shop stewards committee passed a unanimous resolution of support and gave £25. The Transmission raised £43 for the campaign.

CAV, Fazakerley sent £20 and their sister factory Lucas gave £10.

Support came from Kraft workers, recently on strike against victimization.

Dista Products are in favour of the campaign and so are the Kirkby shop stewards’ liaison committee.

Shell Star, Ellesmere Port shop stewards have sent £20

Resolutions of support have been received from the Fisher-Bendix site.

ASW branch, labourers’ section is to organize site collections.

Workers on the Drury site, Skelmersdale have decided on a levy of 50p per head.

Anfield and Garston AUEW branches are organizing collections, as is Liverpool 21, and the Union District Committee has donated £10.

The 1,000 strong Liverpool T&GWU 6/599 supports the march.

EETU/PTU members employed by Speke Corporation have collected £1.83.

The Pilkington Rank-and-File committee, St Helens, support the march.

Merseyside docks shop stewards are supporting the marchers and are donating £50.

Vauxhall shop stewards’ committee at Ellesmere Port have voted support and financial help.

St Helens G&MWU No. 132 branch at Rocla Pipes is supporting the campaign and is giving £9.09 to the fund.

£10 has been received from the Refractory Service site, St Helens.

The Liverpool Teaching Hospital site shop stewards’ committee has sent £15.

£20 has come in from the Inland Revenue site, Bootle.

The National Union of Vehicle Builders, Ellesmere Port No. 4 branch have sent £10.

At Banner Walton & Co, Liverpool, workers have raised £6.50.

Levies amongst building workers on the Drury site in Skelmersdale have brought £33.25

Birds Eye Maintenance Stewards £21.

The shop stewards committee at Standard-Triumph (Liverpool) Limited sent £20 on behalf of the whole factory.

From: We Demand the Right to Work - A Keep Left pamphlet

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