The General Strike exposed the power of the working class — and the limits of its leadership, writes Dr DYLAN MURPHY
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Oxford’s strike legacy sewn into history
Banner-maker JEANNIE HARRISON explains how the Oxford Trades Council banner commemorating the General Strike centenary came into being and what it symbolises
A STITCH IN HISTORY: Oxford and District TUC’s vibrant new banner
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ADRIAN WEIR charts the intercontinental trade union solidarity with Cuba and its desperate predicament
DIANE ABBOTT looks at the perilous political cul-de-sac Labour finds itself in
DAVE WARD says the Employment Rights Act can be a platform to build back union power — but only if we can agree a common agenda
A new strategy from the Together Alliance links the fight against racism to the wider struggle over austerity and inequality, says BILL GREENSHIELDS
THIS new banner is based on research on the General Strike in Oxford carried out by good friends and comrades.
Like many, I knew about undergraduates blacklegging around the country but not about the strikers in Oxford, and those, including many students, who came out to support them. Their story is told on this banner.
The banner shows key people and places during the General Strike in Oxford.
Top left is Oliver Baldwin, Labour MP, and, ironically, son of Stanley Baldwin, speaking in Oxford. Centre is miners’ leader AJ Cook, who spoke in Oxford prior to the strike, while alongside, on the left, is Margaret Cole, historian and teacher who was key on the University Strike Committee.
To Cook’s right is Ellen Wilkinson, well-known Labour MP and trade union organiser who also spoke in Oxford.
Top right is the reason for the strike — the starving miners; bottom left, Oxford station brought to a halt by the strike; and on the right Oxford University Press, silent because of printers walking out.
The pictures and badges are painted in acrylic on calico inspired by photographs of the time. The lettering on the ribbons uses a font which mirrors the style in the Strike Bulletins from May 1926.
All were then sewn on to the red fabric, some by machine and some by hand. I added a few decorations in gold paint to finish.
After the banner has been taken to all the strike centenary and May Day events this year, we hope to find a permanent home for it on display in Oxford.
Banners, representing unions, political parties or movements have an additional function to those made quickly for an event, because they are “heralding a presence.”
They represent identity, pride in who we are and say we are here to stay. They often have a motto such as “Unity is Strength.”
This commemorative banner is showing our solidarity with a struggle of the past which must not be forgotten. Solidarity forever!
Banner-maker Jeannie Harrison is a retired teacher and life-long socialist. She made my first banner in 2018 for a theatre production of The Ragged-Trousered Philanthropists and very quickly became obsessed with banners as a way of showing identity and pride. Since then she has made four more banners for local political groups and the Oxford Aslef branch.
