CORNWALL does not have a strong history of organised, industrial militancy. In the 19th century the influence of Wesleyan Methodism became a dominant force in this tin mining region, and at a time when radical political movements and the strong growth of trade unionism was emerging in other mining communities throughout Britain, Cornish Methodism promoted an engagement with Liberal politics rather than trade unionism or socialism.

However, there were notable exceptions. William Lovett, a Cornish man from Newlyn, was the founding member of the radical working-class Chartist movement and the author of the movement’s influential document — the People’s Charter (1848). 

And in 1840 Richard Spurr, a carpenter from Truro, was arrested while actively agitating for the cause of Chartism. Around the same period, it was reported in a Chartist publication that a meeting in Penzance of the Chartists movement had been so well attended that it caused serious alarm among the authorities. Despite these efforts, the Chartist movement failed to gain ground in Cornwall.

The British mine-owning capitalist class of the 19th century were quick to exploit the lack of working-class organisation in Cornwall, and in the 1860s Cornish tin miners were recruited as strike-breakers in a dispute between miners and mine owners in the north of England. 

Eventually as the Cornish strike-breakers became more aware of the issues faced by northern miners, solidarity broke through and in 1867 400 Cornish miners met in Liskeard and voted to stop strike-breaking activities.  

Agriculture was, and is, one of the dominant industries in Cornwall, but despite its dominance agricultural unions also failed to gain a foothold. 

Throughout Britain by the 1870s the National Union of Agricultural Workers had some 86,000 members in 982 branches, but none in Cornwall.

It is from this historic backdrop that the current wave of political engagement and strike action taking place in Cornwall needs to be viewed.

I have lived in the far south-west of Cornwall for 50 years, and if someone had told me in 2014 that in a couple of years we would attract over 2,000 people to a socialist rally near Camborne I would have wondered what they’d been smoking! 

But it happened. Twice. The rise of the Corbyn project took Cornwall by storm in a way few of us socialists living here could have envisaged.

Labour Party membership quadrupled. Activism soared. And in the 2017 general election the Labour Party replaced the Lib Dems as the second party in Cornwall and came within a whisper of winning in a couple of seats. A completely unprecedented occurrence.  

So, the collapse of the Corbyn project within the Labour Party came as a bitter and demoralising blow to thousands of people who had, many for the first time, engaged in radical politics in Cornwall. 

It was made even more devastating by the personal experience of so many of being on the receiving end of internal malicious tactics, and rule-breaking behaviour, of right-wing organised factions within the CLPs and regional structure. 

Everyone felt unclear and uncertain how, and if, we socialists could retain the enthusiasm and activism that those Corbyn years had generated. But it seems that somehow, we have.

Since then, socialist activists in Cornwall have tried their best to keep in touch with one another, the solidarity and comradeship that was forged during those Corbyn years have been kept alive through social media connections, and by creating/joining various community and social justice groups and campaigns. Some (though not many) have remained in the CLPs, but the Labour Party membership has been decimated.

But now it has become apparent that all our efforts to remain engaged and active are bearing fruit. During this summer of intense heat, unions have been rising up taking industrial action, and activists have been ready and eagerly rallying in solidarity. 

A new community union, Acorn, has been extremely effective in challenging rogue landlords and housing agencies in the Falmouth area and is in the process of extending its reach. It has also been providing a regular presence on picket lines in support of Aslef and RMT striking railway workers. 

A new active Cornwall branch of the People’s Assembly Against Austerity has launched and is also actively supporting picket lines, as is the local BFAWU.

A local official of the RMT union (who asked not to be named in this article) informed me that she has worked on the railways in Cornwall for 25 years and has never known this level of strike support from the local community. 

She said: “Well over 90 per cent of the public passing the picket line have shown strong support for our strike.” She also informed me that her local RMT branch now has 98 per cent staff membership and that 100 per cent voted to take strike action. She believes that the figures are similar for RMT and Aslef throughout Cornwall. 

I was speaking to her as the strike day was drawing to a close and the pickets were packing away the trestle table, gazebo and banners, she told me that throughout the day all sorts of people from the community had turned up to stand with them in solidarity, or to bring gifts of food and drink, including a drumming group of bongo players who showed their support by keeping strikers, supporters and the public entertained.

It seems militancy, working-class solidarity and political awareness are alive and kicking and rapidly on the rise in Cornwall.