The Match Women
MATCHWOMEN’S STRIKE 2013 FESTIVAL
Bishopsgate Institute
London
6th July 2013
11.00am – 11.00pm
Admission Free (but register for tickets)
Family Friendly
Celebrate the 125th anniversary of the Matchwomen’s victory, and the beginning of the modern labour movement
125 years ago the Matchwomen’s gallant struggle and victory against all the odds led to the new union movement. For far too long they have been unsung heroes in the pages of history. Celebrate the 125th anniversary of the Matchwomen’s victory and the beginning of the modern labour movement!
The festival will be the kind of ‘knees- up’ the Matchwomen themselves would have enjoyed – there will be bands, comedians and actors, choirs, stalls, and great food and drink.
In July 1888, several hundred women walked out of an East London match factory – and changed the world. The strike was a reaction to management bullying and terrible conditions, and it should have failed. Bryant & May were powerful and prosperous, with friends in government. The women were mere ‘factory girls’, and even worse, mostly Irish. But their courage, solidarity and refusal to back down impressed all who saw it. What they revealed about conditions inside the factory, including the horrors of the industrial disease ‘phossy jaw’, shamed Bryant & May, and their shareholders, many of whom were MP’s and clergymen. In just two weeks, the women won better rates of pay and conditions, and the right to form the largest union of women in the country.
Their victory was remarkable, but until now, rarely acknowledged as the beginning of the modern trade union movement. Following the Matchwomen’s victory a wave of strikes, including the 1889 Great London Dock Strike, swept the nation. Multitudes of the most exploited workers formed new unions, sowing the seeds of the modern labour movement, and Labour Party. The Dock Strikers never denied the Matchwomen’s influence. In the throes of the Dock Strike, leader John Burns urged a mass meeting of tens of thousands to ‘stand shoulder to shoulder.
Remember the Matchwomen, who won their fight and formed a union.
Speakers & Performers include: Tony Benn, Owen Jones, Lindsey German, Robb Johnson, Anna Davin, Professor Jane Martin, Michael Rosen, The Socialist Choir and many more, with lots of events for children and young people.
Website and Registration for Tickets: http://www.matchwomensfestival.com/
Bryant & May
**END**
Cold Hands & Quarter Moon, ‘Stagnant’ at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLjxeHvvhJQ (live, at the Belle View pub, Bangor, north Wales); and at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkP_Mi5ideo (new remix, and new video, 2012)
‘Cheerful Sin’ – a song by Victor Rikowski: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIbX5aKUjO8
Posted here by Glenn Rikowski
The Flow of Ideas: http://www.flowideas.co.uk
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Online Publications at: http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=pub&sub=Online%20Publications%20Glenn%20Rikowski
The Match Women’s Strike
All that is Solid for Glenn Rikowski 