General secretary of the General Federation of Trade Unions GAWAIN LITTLE calls for support and participation in the national partnership organised to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the 1926 general strike
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Fighting for peace: opposition to Thatcher's Falklands War
On May 1 the Peace Pledge Union carried out a series of actions nationwide against what is largely regarded as a war that 'almost all' British people supported — not true, writes SYMON HILL, revealing a hidden history of resistance
: Royal Marines exercise the deck of the HMS Hermes, the Flag Ship of the British Task Force on route to the Falkland Islands, April 1982
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ON MAY DAY 40 years ago, anti-war campaigners were arrested in cities around Britain.
Argentinian troops had invaded the Falklands Islands a month earlier. The British naval task force had been dispatched to the South Atlantic and the Thatcher government avoided a negotiated settlement. All-out war looked likely to break out very soon.
On May 1, 1982, the Peace Pledge Union (PPU) called a country-wide day of protest and resistance. Demonstrations and vigils took place in at least 30 towns and cities. Some involved small-scale marches, others were more dramatic. Women in Sheffield occupied a Royal Navy recruitment office. Another recruitment office was paint-bombed in Holborn. Protesters in Glasgow were arrested while handing out leaflets and selling newspapers.
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