WORKERS KNOW YOUR HISTORY, - HELEN CRAWFURD.

HELEN CRAWFURD, 1877-1954.

BACKGROUND.

Born Helen Jack on the 9th of November 1877 in the district of Gorbals Glasgow, the 4th child of the family of 4 daughters and 3 sons of William Jack, a respected master baker and Helen Jack (nee Kyle). While still a child the family moved to Ipswich where she was educated. When Helen was 17 the family moved back to Glasgow to the middle-class district of Hyndland. Helen was shocked by the poverty and the conditions of Glasgow's working class and was made aware of politics by her parents. Her father was at one time President of the Operative Bakers Association. A deeply religious family, her father was Church of Scotland Presbyterian, her mother a confirmed Methodist. Discussions on religion and politics were a regular feature of the family home. Helen married the Reverend Alex Montgomerie Crawfurd on the 18th of September 1898. However she soon rebelled against the theological teaching of the Church, believing that it was discriminatory against women. Her interest in the women's movement was furthered by reading the works of Josephine Butler.

WOMEN’S SUFFRAGE.

She joined the suffrage movement around 1900 and in 1910 joined the Women's Social and Political Union, (WSPU). Helen fully endorsed the militant actions of the Pankhursts in attempting to gain the vote for women. In 1912 she was arrested and sentenced to one month in Holloway Prison for breaking the windows of the Liberal Minister of Education's residence in London. 1913 saw her again arrested for trying to protect Mrs. Pankhurst from police brutality at a meeting in the St. Andrew's Halls Glasgow. She was later released and re-arrested the following night for breaking the windows of the Army recruiting offices and sentenced to one month in Duke Street Prison Glasgow. It was in this prison that she went on her first hunger strike and 8 days later was released. Prison life did nothing to dent her passion, she went on to become one of the best know and most popular members of the Scottish Suffragette Movement. Helen was again arrested in 1914 at a meeting in Perth and sent to Perth Prison. After a 5 day hunger strike she was released. Shortly after her return to Glasgow a bomb exploded in Botanic Gardens Glasgow, she was blamed and this resulted in her fourth prison sentence and her third hunger strike in two years.

SOCIALISM.

Shortly after the start of 1914 she left the WSPU because of its pro-war stance. Her shift from the radical suffrage politics to a socialist standpoint was in part due to her association with the Glasgow Repertory Theatre and the plays of Ibsen, Shaw, Galsworthy, Gorky and others. Helen was appalled at the infant mortality rate and sheer depravation in the Glasgow slums. Such conditions caused her to question a system that could tolerate this to continue. Around 1912 onwards Helen's speeches, though still with a Christian content, leaned towards a Socialist message. 1914 saw her proclaim her Socialist beliefs by joining the Independent Labour Party, (ILP). In spite of the loss of both her husband and her mother in 1914, Helen Crawfurd throughout the war was a constant and energetic political activist. Always keen to involve women in the fight against the war, Helen with her friend Agnes Dollan organised large and regular meetings on Glasgow Green. 1915 saw Helen and Agnes found the Glasgow branch of the Women's International League. In an attempt to attract more working-class women and form a strong militant anti-war movement, Helen with Mary Barbour and other women activists in June 1916 organised a peace conference, this gave birth to the Women's Peace Crusade (WPC) in Glasgow. June 1917 in Glasgow saw the launch of the National Women's Peace Crusade with Helen Crawfurd as its Honorary Secretary. Helen's strong anti-war stance brought her into contact with, and worked alongside, John MacLean.

RENT STRIKES & ILP.

While taking a leading role in the anti-war movement Helen was very active in the 1915 rent strikes. She was appointed secretary of the Glasgow Women's Housing Association (GWHA), and was an important figure in rallying housewives to fight the rent increases. Her efforts along with Mary Barbour, Agnes Dollan, Jessie Stephens and other women activists resulted in the "Rent Restriction Act" of 1915. This act benefited tenants all over the country.

By the end of the war Helen Crawfurd was seen as a national political figure. 1918 saw her appointed as Vice-President of the Scottish Divisional Council of the ILP. She was becoming disillusioned with the ILP, eeing it more a reformist group rather than socialist and was becoming more aware of the ideas of Tom Bell and Arthur McManus who in 1920 set up the British Communist Party. At the 1920 Easter conference of the ILP Helen presided at a meeting to form an unofficial group to be known as the "left wing" of the ILP.

COMMUNISM.

While still Vice-President of the Scottish division of the ILP she accepted an invitation to the second congress of the Third Communist International in Moscow. Her journey there proved somewhat arduous. Her passport was confiscated by the Norwegian authorities. Avoiding the police she made her way to a fishing boat which carried her out to sea where she boarded a cargo vessel, it took her to the port of Alexandrovic and from there she made her way to Moscow where she had an interview with Lenin. She joined the newly formed Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) in 1921. The same year saw Helen appointed to the Executive Committee a position she held for many years. Helen was always keen to involve women and in 1922 she edited a page of the official communist party newspaper the "Communist" called Page for Women.

FAMINE RELIEF.

1920 saw much of Helen's energy devoted to the Workers International Relief Organisation, (WIR). In 1922 she became its secretary. During her term she raised money for the famine-stricken region of the Volga this allowed them to carry out relief work in Germany and in all the mining districts of Britain during the miners' lock-out which followed the general strike of 1926. She also managed to extend the relief work to the famine-stricken west of Ireland and the Scottish Highlands during the depression. During the German elections of 1924 she addressed a meeting of 10,000 in Berlin on behalf of the German Communist Party (KPD). In the struggle against fascism prior to the 1939 war Helen was Secretary of the anti-fascist organisation in Glasgow. On the eve of the 2nd World War in 1939 she organised a Peace Congress of representatives from countries within the British Empire.

LATTER YEARS.

The small quiet town of Dunoon on the lower reaches of the Clyde became her home during the latter years of her life. Though Dunoon was the sort of town where elderly people go to retire Helen never retired, still working for the cause of women and for the working class community of the town. In 1945, while at the age of 68, she was elected to the Dunoon Town Council. Helen still kept up a considerable correspondence on both local and international affairs in the press. Just days before her death one of her letters appeared in the Daily Worker. At the age of 75 she was Chairperson of a session of the Scottish Congress of the Communist Party.

Helen Crawfurd Anderson died on the 18th of April 1954 at the age of 77.

MORE ON GLASGOW'S WORKING CLASS HISTORY.

ann arky's home.

WRATHFUL, VENGEFUL GOD OF CONSUMERISM!!

       Browsing about this morning looking for something, anything, that didn't pay homage to the Western God of consumerism, Christmas, I came across this little piece and thought as it is that time of year I would like to share it with you all. Enjoy.

      It's the great dark winter of austerity but Michael Gove, the testicular-faced education Caesar south of the border has found enough pennies in his sporan to send a new copy of the King James' Bible to every school in Engerland. Not only that, but this new edition will be prefaced by the Book of Gove.

Let us worship, with Gove.

       Will the hitherto undiscovered Book of Gove be Old or New Testament in its leaning? Will kids be introduced to the vengeful, jealous and totally psychotic tyrant of the OT - the one who sends firestorms to engulf His creation and who has a bee in his bonnet about foreskins? Or will kids be given a hypocritical taste of the nice god - via his son, who is also er... himself... - who wants us to turn the other cheek except when marching into oil-rich nations to free their fossil-fuels for our use? Or will it be a kind of religious 'nice cop, nasty cop'?

READ ON---

 ann arky's home.

A MERRY XMAS TO THE ARMS INDUSTRY!!!

        It is the festive season and the ordinary people of the UK are facing an “austerity” Christmas. The slashing and cutting of social services, benefits, wages, pensions, on top of rising unemployment, being implemented by our millionaire public school thugs, with their mantra, “we can't afford them” sounds rather hollow when we look at what is being squandered on death and destruction. The money poured into Iraq and Afghanistan is well passed the £20 billion mark. To put this figure in perspective we can take Ken Livingstone's statement, "The true cost of our policy of international adventures is now being shown - £20bn is 10 times the amount it would cost to scrap student fees in England, for example.". So would you rather have ten years of free education for your kids or ten years of bombing, killing and destroying some foreign country? When this figure was released, Lindsey German, convener of “Stop the War Coalition” said, "People will be astonished that the government had the cheek to call for public spending cuts when such an obscene amount has been spent in Iraq and Afghanistan." This figure of over £20 billion, believe it or not, does not include the wages of the troops, (10,000 in Afghanistan at the moment) nor the cost of treating those injured in these unacceptable brutalities. Bob Crow's statement also helps to let us grasp the reality of this situation, “The money that's been drained away on illegal war-mongering is only outstripped by the cash ripped off in the bankers bail-out," This figure still does not have Cameron's little ego trip, the Libyan disaster, added, another vast expenditure on death and destruction. We still have to count in such things as the UK's illegal weapon of mass destruction "Trident".

Don't you know,the arms industry creates jobs??

         When governments talk about can't afford, it is a matter of choices. They have in their coffers a vast pot of gold, they decide where to spend that gold. It so happens this mob choose to spend unbelievable sums on bank bailouts, followed by foreign policy adventures of death and destruction and nuclear weapons. They could choose to spend it on improving social services, education, health and welfare of the people and pensions. They choose not to. However they still claim that this is a democracy, it is a strange democracy when the wealth of a country is drained away in destructive and financial policies that not one member of the public voted for, and then we the public, are told we will have to suffer “austerity cuts” to all the fabric of our society. At the same time all those who made those decisions will in no way be implemented in the suffering from the “austerity cuts” nor the death and destruction from their foreign policy. In fact, they belong to the same club that they helped to bail-out, the only group that will benefit from their choices. If you think that is democracy, you are delusional, it's called corporate fascism.

ann arky's home.

THE SPARKS ARE FLYING!!!

        The bullying tactics of the employers goes on, with the full backing of the millionaire cabal in the Westminster Houses of Hypocrisy and Corruption. The construction industry is leading the charge to decimate the wages and conditions of workers, starting with the electricians, they have thrown them a new un-negotiated contract with the message, sign it or leave the site. This contract can mean up to 30% cut in wages and a host of attacks on conditions and entitlements won over many years. However, the electricians are not taking it lying down, the fight is on, and with the solidarity of all those in the private and public sector, plus the support of the ordinary people from all walks of life, they can force the employers back to the negotiating table and tear this blackmail document up and throw it in the bin where it belongs. This is not just an attack on electricians, this is an attack on all workers conditions in the private sector. If Balfour Beattie get away with this the others will quickly implement similar contracts across the board. The government is attacking the conditions of those in the public sector and now the private sector are following their lead, with the blessing of the Cameron/Clegg public school thugs. This is the biggest attack on the working class since the 30's and the results, if they win, could be much worse than the 30's for us. It is not a case of one nasty employer, it is a case of a policy of constructing a cheap labour force to help the corporate world swell their coffers.

ann arky's home.

THE HIGHEST FORM OF FASCISM.

       As the “financial crisis” continues to crush the ordinary people of the developed world, we should not lose sight of the fact that it is all created by smoke and mirrors, an illusion. A small super rich bunch of parasitical clients of the banking world have managed to convince the Western governments of all political persuasions that the trillions of dollars, euros and pounds of the parasitical cabal's bad debt, is somehow public debt and must at all costs, be returned to the parasites' coffers. The compliant governments can only do this by taking tax payers money, money that should be spent on social services etc., and handing it to the parasites, this is done under the guise of “deficit reduction”. This not being enough, they then have to start selling of all public assets to the corporate world and privatise all public services, to raise more money to hand to the parasites. Thus guaranteeing the cabal of parasites can retain their trillions of dollars, euros and pounds at the expense of the well being of the citizens of most of the Western world. This is the 1%, the billionaires and multimillionaires created by the exploitation that is the capitalist system. This small bunch of leeches are in the position of dictators of the world. With the low interest rates they are in a position with their trillions to borrow more trillions to generate ever greater assets bubbles, creating unimaginable profits that make bankers bonuses look like their kids pocket money. What we are witnessing is the dictatorship of capital, fascism in it highest form, world domination by the few. If there is to be any form of decent life for the ordinary people, this dictatorship must be overthrown, and that can only be achieved by the overthrow of capitalism itself.

ann arky's home.

WORKERS KNOW YOUR HISTORY - PEACE CRUSADE 1916.

WOMEN’S PEACE CRUSADE JUNE 1916.

THE LAUNCH.

Because ant-war feelings were running high in Glasgow it was only natural that Glasgow became the militant centre of the anti-war movement, with John MacLean at its core. A giant of the anti-war movement as he was, of course John MacLean did not stand alone in this battle against the war, it is said that pro-war meetings in the city were more than likely to turn into anti-war demonstrations. However, it was the women activists including Helen Crawfurd, Agnes Dollan and Mary Barbour who in June 1916 organised a peace conference in the city which gave birth to The Women’s Peace Crusade which became a dominant force in the anti-war movement. There is some variation on the actual date but June 10th 1916 is generally accepted as the birth of the Women’s Peace Crusade. A year later, June 1917 saw the Women’s Peace Crusade go national with the launch of the National Women’s Peace Crusade with Helen Crawfurd as its Honorary Secretary The Women’s Peace Crusade split the suffragette movement with the majority, in Glasgow at least, turning their activities to the anti-war movement and the rump taking a pro-war stance. Many of the women activists in the Women’s Peace Crusade were not new to this type of struggle as many of them were active in the suffragettes, the Glasgow rent strikes and also the No Conscription Fellowship. However the Women’s Peace Crusade was a concerted attempt to get working-class women organised against the war and made a major contribution to the anti-war movement.

MASS DEMONSTRATION AND SPREAD.

Sunday June 8th. 1917 saw Glasgow Green become a technicolour kaleidoscope as Women’s Peace Crusade processions from all corners of the City converged on the Green, the usual focal point for demonstrations and struggle in the city, turning the Green into a sea of colourful banners and filling the air with lively music. Estimates put the number of men and women assembled on that occasion as 12,000-14,000. All there in defiance of the avalanche of patriotic jingoism from the media and official circles, and with one desire, to stop the war.

Resolutions were put forward congratulating the Russian revolution of that year and called for immediate peace negotiations. After this event the Women’s Peace Crusade rapidly spread to cities of northern England and the Midlands including Birmingham.

GEORGE SQUARE PROTEST.

At the beginning of December 1917 the Women’s Peace Crusade had asked the Corporation of the City of Glasgow to receive a peace deputation, the request was refused. However, the members of the Women’s Peace Crusade were determined that their voice should be heard. So on December 13th 1917 a number of women assembled in George Square opposite the City Chambers to let the Corporation hear their voices raised in opposition to the war. Among those present were Helen Crawfurd, and Agnes Dollan, their banners were held high and peace leaflets were distributed to those passing by and other on-lookers.

THE BROLLY BATTLE.

During this anti-war display in George Square the Patriot League arrived and started harassing the women in the peace demonstration, attempting to destroy their leaflets and tearing their banners. Fights ensued and the women of the Women’s Peace Crusade defended themselves by brandishing their umbrellas. George Square which had been the site of many a political struggle now saw a mini war.

ENTRY TO THE CITY CHAMBERS.

At this point Helen Crawfurd and Agnes Dollan managed, by fair means or foul, to gain entry to the City Chambers and as the meeting of the City Corporation got under way, trying to ignore the demonstration outside, Helen and Agnes showered the councillors with anti-war leaflets.

RELIGION.

Although the Women’s Peace Crusade can be said to have had religious under currents it was still an attempt to build a broad working class anti-war movement and many, if not most, of its leading activists were socialists. It was essentially a housewives movement with men and women marching in different sections. It gained support from housewives who had lost husbands and sons in the war, or whose husbands and sons were on the battle fields.

More on Glasgow's working class history HERE.

ann arky's home.

IT IS YOUR OWN FAULT!!!!

       What goes through your head when, after years of working for your living and having a feeling of relative security, you find yourself on the dole? At first you think it is just a temporary blip and soon things will get back to “normal”, but will they?

Another fine article from "The Commune" by Henrik Johansson.

      "When the next crisis comes, and it will, you will lose your job. There is a connection, but you will not see it. The management will say it’s a result of reduced orders and lack of work, with what you perceive as honest intimacy and regret.

     You shall consider not telling anything to your family, but every morning to get up, drink coffee and leave home. You imagine that you will be looking for a new job that you can proudly present to them one fine day. The plan is too absurd and you never try it.

It shall not be the crisis’ fault, nor your managers’ fault, nor their managers’ or shareholders’ fault, nor the society’s, nor the government’s. It shall be your own fault – because you could have done better, because you could have reeducated, worked your way up, been more responsive towards your clients and your managers.---"

Read on and think

ann arky's home.

WORKERS' LIVES, SHOULD MEAN WORKERS' CONTROL.

          The recent crowing by Alexander the not so great, that the government had reached an agreement with the unions, should be rephrased as, 'they have reached an agreement with the union leaders.' I have no doubt that as for the rank and file, the so called agreement is nothing much different from what was on the table before the negotiations began, before the November 30 strike action. Throughout the recent history of trade unions the one thing that comes through is that the leaders don't want to upset the apple-cart, that gives them a very comfortable living. They may be among the “99%” but they are quite high up the financial scale of the group. Their relative good living from the union apparatus means that they themselves are immune to most of the attacks on the working class, much the same as those who are implementing this attack. The high paid union official type structure doesn't work in favour of the rank and file. Only the rank and file should be at the negotiations and only the rank and file should make the decisions.

Infantile-disorder has this to say.

This afternoon, Treasury Chief Secretary Danny Alexander announced an outline agreement with unions for huge cuts in public service pensions. His statement followed yesterday's declaration by TUC general secretary Brendan Barber that "we have seen a new atmosphere in the negotiation". But this "new atmosphere" was not the result of the government finally seeing the light and backing away from its attack on the living standards of millions. On the contrary, it was due to union bureaucrats dropping their phoney opposition, and settling down to their task of presenting utter defeat as victory.

All this was made clear by Alexander's confirmation that public workers must still "work a bit longer and pay a little more". In truth, little has changed from the government's original proposals, which were published before two big days of strike action demonstrated the potential strength of a united working class

Read the full article HERE.

ann arky's home.

A BUNCH OF COMEDIENNES.

        I like this little extract from Omar Ibrahim's blog. Omar is in Wansworth for protesting in London during the the March 26th. protests. His blog is called "Bang up for Protesting" and is well worth a read, also a show of solidarity and encouragement by comments would help him through is spell at her Majesty's pleasure.

         "--- There was chubby cheeked David in Brussels when it all went wrong for him. The great Sarko, another entertainer from France had a bit of a spat with him it seems. A French diplomat described Cameron as ‘a man who turns up to a wife swapping party without his wife’. David Cameron had legitimate demands for a level of fiscal autonomy, but he was out of the loop. If only David had been at dinner with Angela Merkel and Sarko the night before things may look better for him. The problem is he made a stupid decision a while ago and has no friendships in Europe. No one likes him and is very alone.

          You see David Cameron won Conservative Party support by appeasing a load of right-wing ultra nationalists in his own party. He did that by signing the party to an EU voting bloc that is replete with anti-semites, homophobes and ultra-nationalists from Eastern Europe. The kind of people who have been so alienated during Soviet times that a social democratic state would send them running for the home made weaponry. People raised on stories about the halcyon days of royal rule when pogroms kept the Jewish population low.---"

Read the full article HERE.

ann arky's blog.

TRIAL BY THE PEOPLE.

     The Occupy London movement are due to leave the St. Paul's site, after ignoring the November 16 eviction notice served by The City of London Corporation. However, it is not a surrender, it is a development, they have moved in to occupy the Old Street, Magistrates Court, which has lain empty since 1996. There are now two buildings occupied by them in London. There is the UBS bank building, which was occupied and became the “Bank of Ideas” and now with this occupation they are going to hold trials of those they claim to be responsible for the financial crisis and the subsequent decimation of the social fabric of our society . It could be trial by the people in what has now been re-named “Occupy Justice”

       This latest development should be given as much publicity as possible as I'm sure the general public will identify with the idea behind this move. The idea of the public calling to justice the parasites that are responsible for the plundering of all public assets would be welcomed and supported. It can only strengthen the idea of “Occupy Everywhere”. Only when we the people occupy everything, can there be an real justice.

ann arky's home.

HOW SAFE IS PEPPER SPRAY?

A fine and informative Graphic by Peter Kim.

Created by: Online Criminal Justice Degree

ann arky's home.

TEN YEARS OF UNDEMOCRATIC LAW.

From SACC:

10 Years of Secret Intelligence Evidence and Abuse of Human Rights

It is 10 years since the Anti-Terrorism Crime and Security Act came into force and made it legal to intern foreign nationals in Britain on the basis of secret intelligence evidence. Cageprisoners have published a collection of articles to mark the anniversary:

10 Years of Secret Intelligence Evidence and Abuse of Human Rights by Natalia Garcia (lawyer)

The Ricin Plot that never was – the legacy of hysteria by Lawrence Archer (foreman of the jury in the ricin trial and co-author with Fiona Bawdon of "Ricin! The inside story of the terror plot that never was". )

10 Years On by Richard Haley (Chair, SACC)

Mahmoud Abu Rideh A prisoner till he died by Victoria Brittain (former associate foreign editor of the Guardian)

ann arky's home.

CAPITALISM = POVERTY.

         A few days ago I wrote a little piece about the rising poverty in America, since then I read a post that listed 50 things wrong with America and it gives a wider range of the problems in that country. It must be increasingly difficult for those who advocate capitalism, to point to a success story as country after country under capitalism hits the rocks. Even in the so called leader of the capitalist world, the pinnacle of capitalist development, America, its citizens are facing poverty and deprivation. Of course we have always known that capitalism is a success story for the few, and today it still continues to be a success story for them. Unfortunately it was, by means of smoke and mirrors, sold under the illusion of prosperity for all, and now all those that produce that wealth are seeing the reality as the smoke starts to clear, and the mirrors crack. That reality is that the few parasites will continue to do all right, while those that produce the wealth will see deprivation staring them in the face. Recognise it, it is the true face of capitalism.

ann arky's home.

GUNS ON THE STREETS.

          

          According to a recent Guardian article by Allan Travis, it seems that the UK millionaire cabal is considering employing water cannon, plastic bullets and live ammunition to deal with disturbances on our street. I have a sneaking suspicion that the wealthy parasites are looking ahead at the possibility of the UK public taking to the streets in anger at the continued slashing of their standard of living, to fund bankers aid. They would want to be prepared and have every form of repression and intimidation stamped with their badge of legality before the events. Of course the British state has used live ammunition on our streets before now. Excluding Northern Ireland, we can go back to 1919 when we saw British troops line Glasgow city centre, docks and place machine gunners on top of the City Chambers Building in George Square and other buildings in the city. This was after disturbances during the “40 hour week” strike, an event that became know as "Bloody Friday".  In  Liverpool the troops shot and killed two strikers on the street during the 1911 dockers strike. So if there are those out there that view the violence in Egypt etc. and think that it couldn't happen here, well read your history and think again, it has, and it could again. The state will always do what it needs to do to protect the wealth and power of those whose hands are on the power levers. The people must be kept in their place, as far as the parasites are concerned.

ann arky's home.

WORKERS KNOW YOUR HISTORY - TOM ANDERSON.

TOM ANDERSON, 1863-1947

EARLY YEARS.

Tom Anderson was born on the 17th December 1863, at a place called Pollokshaws in Glasgow. His father, a hand-loom weaver came from a long line of hand-loom weavers and a line of Presbyterians. Though Tom's father was a Presbyterian he also held very strong radical views and taught his children to be courteous to all but bow to none. The family moved to Airdrie, at that time it was a small village not far from Glasgow. At the age of ten, Tom started work. He did not follow the family craft but at the age of fourteen started his apprenticeship as a joiner with Shanks of Motherwell (a small town near Airdrie). Tom was by nature a rebel and did not take readily to the ideas of the Church. He became an avid reader and devoured the books in the local library. His favourite being Gibbon's "Decline and fall of the Roman Empire", he later wrote 'Across the Ages', a small book based on his study of this book. His attendance at Church dwindled and eventually stopped as Tom became a Freethinker.

TRADE UNIONISM & POLITICS.

At the age of twenty in 1883 he moved back to Glasgow and joined the Amalgamated Society of Carpenters and Joiners, a year later he was elected as the society's president. In 1889, Tom married Bella Craig, she came from a Unitarian family. Throughout her life she looked on the bible stories as stories of childhood and not to be taken seriously, she was a staunch comrade and enthusiastically helped Tom in all his activities. They had three sons James, Robert, and Tom, and one daughter, Bella. During the 1914-1918 war, their son James was an Absolutist. The year 1894 saw Tom join the newly formed Independent Labour Party and worked with them for several years. Later he joined the Socialist Democratic Federation, and threw himself into its pioneering work. In 1907 the south side branch of the SDF presented Tom with an illuminated address in appreciation of his work on behalf of socialism.

SOCIALIST SUNDAY SCHOOL.

1894 was also the year that Tom founded the first Socialist Sunday school and three years later he formed the South Side Socialist Sunday School, which continued well into the 1930s. Tom believed in the Catholic maxim, "Give us the child until he is six, and you can do what you like with him afterwards". For over thirty years Tom Anderson taught the children of the working class the virtue of independence, the power to think for themselves and the meaning of socialist revolution. Tom was an accomplished musician and a fine poet, and in 1907 he compiled a song book containing fifty three songs. Of these songs thirty three had original melodies and most were of a socialist nature. His poetry was always of social protest and revolt. Tom Anderson was probably the first socialist member of the Amalgamated Society of Carpenters and Joiners and it was as a socialist that in January and February 1901 he led one of the biggest strikes in the city. Throughout the strike Tom showed himself to be a courageous and very capable leader and gained the respect of all the workers involved and those out with the trade. After the strike Tom found it almost impossible to get work, he seemed to be blacklisted by all of the city's employers. At this period he left his trade and started working for himself.

TEN PROLETARIAN MAXIMS.

Tom now joined the Socialist Labour Party, and in 1910 they opened a Socialist School for children. They dropped the word "Sunday" as they did not want to be seen as hypocrites. Tom became President of the school and remained so throughout its existence. In June 1917 the first issue of Revolution appeared with Tom as editor. 1917 also saw Tom write his famous 'Ten Proletarian Maxims', he believed them to be the basic principles of Revolutionary Socialism. In 1918, Tom founded the Proletarian School Movement in conjunction with the Proletarian Colleges, with the ten proletarian maxims as the basis of its teachings. The movement was inaugurated with the purpose of teaching children of the working class the necessity of abolishing the present political state. In March 1919 the first number of the 'Red Dawn' appeared, this was the official organ of the Proletarian School Movement and Tom was the editor. The Proletarian Colleges were to carry forward the work of the Proletarian Schools, but embrace all the social activities of the working class. Among the subjects taught were, economics, industrial history, sexual science, drama and music. Tom Anderson as Principle of the college was fortunate to have the help and assistance of John MacLean MA, John S. Clarke and many others in the socialist revolutionary movement. On the 4th of April 1920, the Proletarian Schools held their first annual conference with Tom Anderson as President. The outcome of this conference was the formation of the International Proletarian School Movement affiliated to the Third International and the Young People's Movement. By now the movement had a good hold in Scotland and Wales and was spreading in the Midlands and the south. In 1923, a public petition was organised by the National Citizens Union, deploring, "...the existence and the rapid growth of Proletarian Schools which by their teaching of sedition and revolution, and their blasphemous treatment of all religion, are fast becoming a menace to the stability of the democratic constitution of his country; as well as to our national character, moral standards, and home life; and urge upon the Government the necessity of taking immediate steps to deal with this communist movement to pervert the minds of British children; and to give all facilities for the private bill which is being introduced with this object into the House of Commons." The private bill mentioned in the above petition was introduced into the House of Commons by Sir John Butchard Bart., MP. The National Citizens Union managed to raise 71 petitions and collect 72,718 signatures. Some indication as to how worried the established institutions had become.

SPEAKER & WRITER.

As well as being an excellent speaker Tom Anderson was a brilliant story teller and over a period of many years wrote extensively, often under different pen names, the better known being John Davidson, Mary Davis and Margaret Dobson. In July 1919, under the name of John Davidson he published in book form his story of the class war. It appeared in the New York Weekly People, it was reprinted in the Socialist and the Sydney People and the IWW of Sydney printed it in thousands as a propaganda leaflet. In February 1924, under the name of Margaret Dobson, he published Sex knowledge for Parents. In July 1924 the Government confiscated the entire issue, leaving Tom facing considerable financial difficulties. Tom Anderson continued in the revolutionary movement all his life and also continued writing. Below is listed some of Tom Anderson's printed thoughts;

·Across the Ages: Short stories for young workers, (part 1) 1930, (part 2) 1932, 3rd. ed 1945.

·Two slaves and the underman (1915)

·The Proletarian song-book (1919)

·The fat bourgeois: A story for the young (1919)

·The class state (1930)

·Comrade Josef Dietzgen (1937)

·Comrade John MacLean: His life (1930, 2nd. ed. 1938)

·The God Man (1931)

·The story of the inquisition (1946)

·Proletarian poems (2nd. ed. 1946)

This is only a small proportion of the writings of Tom Anderson but might give some idea to the breadth of ideas and the effort he put into his beliefs. Tom had been involved in public speaking from the age of fourteen and then from the age of twenty five to the age of fifty five there never was a week he didn't speak at one or more meetings during the open air propaganda season, nor during the winter indoor meetings.

Tom, was born in poverty of working class parents, he was well qualified to understand their plight and their hopes. He never drifted away from his class nor betrayed any of the principles he professed. After a lifetime of struggle for the cause of revolutionary socialism Tom Anderson died in 1947

More on Glasgow's working class history HERE.

ann arky's home.

WHOSE "MORAL COLLAPSE"?

       

        David Cameron is on again about the “moral collapse” of Britain, according to him our “live and let live” has lead to a “do as you please” which in turn has contributed to our “moral collapse”. When he and those of his ilk, speak about Britain's “moral collapse” they don't mean them, they mean you and I. The fact that he and his cabal, are millionaires and their fortunes will be invested in a multitude of businesses involved in extracting the maximum profit from those who have considerably less than them, will be contributing to the rape and plunder of the planet and destruction of the environment, is not seen as “moral collapse”, no, to them this is seen as the proper way to do things. This talking of “broken Britain” and our “moral collapse” prepares the ground allowing free market ideology to be pursued as a remedy for “our” “moral collapse”. There is however, a “moral collapse” in those who live in the lap of luxury free from want, free from any fear of deprivation and then inflict poverty and hardship on others. There is “moral collapse” in those who slash at the social benefits of the sick and vulnerable, rip apart the social fabric of our society, knowing that they will be immune to any of the effects. The last thing we should do is listen to a bunch of millionaire parasites spouting about “our” “moral collapse” while they milk the system for all it is worth. It is because of “their” “moral collapse” that we have so many in poverty and deprivation. It is because of “their” “moral collapse” that we have people dying from fuel poverty, it is “their” “moral collapse” that is responsible for the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and else where.

I'll have to do something about Britain's moral collapse.

        Sadly “their” “moral collapse” will continue to inflict misery, deprivation and death on us as long as we allow them to dictate the shape of our society, only when we get rid of the bunch of moralising millionaire parasites and the system that they worship, replacing it with a needs based society, controlled by all those in that society, will we see an end to poverty, deprivation and wars.

   ann arky's home.

MY WORK IS KILLING ME!!!

           Is your work killing you? In all probability the answer is yes. Every year across the country people are killed just trying to earn their bread. “Accidents” at work usually happen because of attempts to save time and/or money, health and safety is circumvented with disastrous results. Last year in this country almost 200 people were killed at work and it is across the full spectrum of occupations. In agriculture 34 workers were killed, in construction, 50, manufacturing, 27, service industry, 47, and waste & re-cycling, the number was 9, on top of that, 68 members of the public were killed in work related accidents.

         These tragic figures are those that happen in the work place and are easily identified, but a far more insidious form of death from earning your bread and a far higher number of workers deaths come later in life. These deaths are related to what materials you work with and where you work.

        Take one disease that we are all familiar with, cancer, it is difficult to find a material that if we are exposed to it, will not translate into cancer. This list is from the UK, Health and Safety Executive:

• Leukaemia (other than chronic lymphatic leukaemia) or cancer of the bone, female breast, testis or thyroid due to exposure to electromagnetic radiation or ionising particles (disease number A1)
• Acute non-lymphatic leukaemia due to exposure to benzene (C7).
• Skin cancer due to exposure to arsenic, arsenic compounds, tar, pitch, bitumen, mineral oil (including paraffin) or soot (C21).
• Sinonasal cancer due to exposure to nickel compounds (C22a) or due to exposure to wood, leather and fibre board dust (D6).
• Lung cancer due to exposure to nickel compounds (C22b) or due to work as a tin miner, exposure to bis(chloromethyl) ether, or to zinc, calcium or strontium chromates (D10) or due to silica exposure (D11).
• Bladder cancer due to exposure various compounds during chemical manufacturing or processing, including 1-naphthylamine, 2-naphthylamine, benzidine, auramine, magenta, 4-aminobiphenyl, MbOCA, orthotoluidine, 4-chloro-2-methylaniline, and coal tar pitch volatiles produced in aluminium smelting (C23).
• Angiosarcoma of the Liver due to exposure to vinyl chloride monomer (C24).
• Mesothelioma (D3).
• Asbestos related lung cancer (lung cancer with asbestosis (D8) or lung cancer with evidence of at least 5-years asbestos exposure before 1975 in certain jobs (D8A))

        All this information is known but how often are people at work, and the public, exposed to one or a combination of several of these substances unnecessarily? In this society, health and safety of workers moves much slower than the information is made public, health and safety cost companies money and that is not on their agenda. The dangers from asbestos were known back in the 30's, medical papers had been written detailing the effects, but as a young man working in the Clyde shipbuilding industry in the 50's, I worked in conditions where asbestos was widely used and liberally thrown about. The powers that be had the information, we the workers didn't, asbestos was cheap and efficient, workers can always be replaced, so its use was continued. To this day, the workers of this country are still reaping the disastrous result in deaths from mesothelioma. In the UK approximately 12,000 deaths a year are work related.

        As long as production is for profit and not for needs, the health and safety of the workers will be a secondary matter. No person should be expected to risk their life just to earn their daily bread, no person should suffer a slow linger death because of being employed by someone who wanted to make a fortune at other people's expense. Sadly that is the way we live today, it is called capitalism, profit for the few at the expense of the many, profit is God, workers are cheap. 

WHEN THE TIME-BOMB GOES OFF.

The bike just sits there,

dust covering its lovely sheen,

puffing up the Fintry Hills

well, it’s no longer my scene.

Y’see, as a Clydeside apprentice

I proudly learnt the tradesman’s skill,

little did I know then

the price, asbestos lungs that kill.

Now I just sit here through the painful day

gasping each mouthful of air, wondering

how can I make the bastards pay.

They new it was a killer

a time-bomb in our lungs

but, because it was so quick and cheap

they firmly held their tongues.

So what, if it cost the workman’s life,

there’s always a couple of new workers

in the care of the worker’s wife.

Please try to understand my anger

as I and others bear their cost,

a slow death from asbestos lungs,

a vibrant life lost.

Anguish for family and friends,

all in the name of profit;

now that really does offend.

Our anger without direction

is a blind archer behind the bow,

we have to use our anger

to smash the status-quo.

ann arky's home.

THE VARIED VARIANT.

       Just out, the latest issue of Variant, a free, independent, arts magazine, published in Glasgow. This excellent free magazine gives in depth coverage in the context of a broader social, political and cultural issues. You can read the complete issue on line, or down load it as a PDF.

Subjects covered in this issue, as usual, are wide, varied and interesting;

The Recent Future ofScottish Art.

The Economy ofAbolition/Abolition of Economy.

Language is NeverNeutral.

Boredom in the CharnalHouse.
Art of Protest.
Tales from a Riverbank.
Disposable Women.
Anarchism and Sexuality.

        Like all free enterprises in a capitalist society, to survive it depends on the effort and ingenuity of those involved plus that all important substance, money. Variant needs you support and any donation would go a long way to keeping the magazine going and free.

http://www.variant.org.uk/donate.html

ann arky's home.

THE DISEASE OF RAPE.

       Reading about a recent survey on violence I found the statistics frightening. You start to wonder what would it be like to live in such a country. The survey found that approximately 20% of the women suffered rape, 25% suffered domestic violence. The survey also found that there are 24 reported cases a minute of rape, violence or stalking. In the year prior to the survey there were 1 million reported cases of rape, 6 million reports of men and women victims of violence and or stalking, and more than 12 million men and women reported rape, physical violence or stalking by an intimate partner.

      It also found that 80% of rape victims were raped before the age of 25, and 35% of those raped before the age of 18 were also raped as adults. This survey also found the 1 in 71 men had been raped at some point in their lives with 25% being raped at the age of 10 or younger.

     Where could this land of rape and violence be? No Western civilised country could come up with such horrifying figures and the brutal scenario that they paint. Sadly it is the free democratic peace loving West, the figures are in fact from America. With such dreadful statistics it is difficult to see how we can consider our selves as a role model for any our part of the world.

       These figures are from the Centers for Disease Control's first year of their National Intimate Partners and Sexual Violence study.

ann arky's home.

GLASGOW2DETROIT -AWAY YE GROW.

        Glasgow and Detroit are cities with similar backgrounds. Both were large industrial cities, Glasgow known for its shipbuilding and steam locomotive manufacturing, Detroit for its cars and steel works. Both saw their industries collapse and move elsewhere, in both cases the citizens had to adapt and dramatically change their way of life. With the collapse came poverty and high unemployment. However, in both cities the citizens are resilient and creative and have gone about surviving with imagination. Recently a group of Glasgow's urban gardeners went to Detroit to see how their counterparts had survived and developed their city farms.

        Those interviewed were, Paul Weertz, Malik Yakini, Gloria Lowe, Grace Lee Boggs, Ian Sharp, Gordon Barnes, Moira McCaig.

ann arky's home.