by Eve Redmond, Hackney Socialist Party
With the 100th anniversary of the 1926 General Strike and the results of the recent local elections fresh in people’s minds, people in Hackney descended on Dalston’s CLR James Library on 9 May to partake in a musical rendition of ‘The Singing Strikers’, part of the Hackney Archives History festival.
The short musical was introduced by Peter Jarvis and Eric Segal, directed and produced by Eilis Mulholland — all Socialist Party members — and performed by the talented Sylvia Pankhurst Players. It paid homage to the hundreds of east London women garment workers in 1928 who downed tools over pay, hours, working conditions and union membership.
Immersion was at the heart of this production. Singing Strikers appeared marching and handing out copies of the ‘Red Needle’, a paper dedicated to the minority movement, as well as song sheets to members of the audience. When the performers reached the stage, the audience had gained a newfound confidence and began singing along!
Initially backed by the National Union of Tailors and Garment Workers (NUTGW) these women, predominantly from the Irish and Jewish diasporas of Hackney, took to the streets armed with solidarity, spirit and song to demand better working conditions. They reinvented popular songs from ‘Mary had a Little Lamb’ to ‘It’s a Long Way to Tipperary’, infiltrating the lyrics with the harsh realities of the workers’ struggle. These songs not only acted as a morale booster, but further funded their activism through both their performances in the pubs of London and dock areas, as well as the publication of their ‘Strike Songs’ book.
As the room reflected on the legacy of these women, it became difficult for the mind not to venture into what we are now faced with under the current capitalist system and political climate. With Reform making huge gains across the country in the recent local elections, the embodiment of everything these brave women stood for – workers’ rights, feminism and solidarity with migrant workers – seems more important than ever.
The times we find ourselves in may feel confronting and bleak, but if sitting in that brightly lit room with the diverse community of Hackney singing these songs of struggle almost 100 years later can teach us anything, it’s that the heart of the workers’ movement is alive and beating. And solidarity? Solidarity is forever!