The Bradford & Shipley Trades Union Council is holding a commemorative march to mark the 135th anniversary of the historic Manningham Mills strike, which began in Bradford in December 1890 just three years before the ILP’s founding conference was held in the same city.
The strike was a major event in the emergence of independent trade unions and labour organisation in the 1890s, as Barry Winter describes in The ILP: Past & Present:
“After issuing an eight per cent dividend to shareholders, in December 1890 the millionaire mill owner announced wage cuts of between 15 and 33 per cent. Not surprisingly, emotions ran high among the workforce and a strike was called.
“The dispute exploded into a major confrontation which sharply divided Bradford opinion. The strikers faced hostility from many Liberals and Tories on the council, from the employers, the courts, the press and the police. Even the military were called in to disperse one large public meeting in support of the strike.
“But the strikers received strong backing and financial support from the local community, in particular from Bradford and Leeds-based socialists, as well as more widely. Between 60,000 and 90,000 people attended one of their mass meetings.
“The dispute, which lasted five hard and hungry months, ended in the workers’ defeat. As a result, the strike leaders expressed the need to have their own political party. In 1891, they set up the Bradford Labour Union. A year later this was followed by the Bradford Independent Labour Party.”
The march on Sunday 5 October will start at 1pm at the site of the Mill and finish at Lister Park for a rally at the bandstand with speakers and banners from trade union branches and other organisations.
Equality Together’s Lister’s Coffee Shop at the Mill is opening especially for the march, serving drinks and cake and hosting a small exhibition, while the team behind the Bradford 2025 city of culture celebrations are projecting images of the strike, and of notable Bradford women, onto Manningham Mills chimney after the rally.
They are also working with local schools to make banners, some of which will be shown in the cafe, along with photos of the previous commemoration event.
More information from Isabel Cooke, secretary of the trades council or assistant secretary, Chris Butler:
Tel: 07913 636036; christopherbutler1@mac.com.
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