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Warning from history
On the 50th anniversary of the jailing the Pentonville Five, Professor KEITH EWING recalls how British governments, Tory and Labour, have systematically adapted the law to suppress legitimate trade union activity
STATE v WORKERS: Docker Vic Turner (centre), one of the Pentonville Five, is being escorted into Pentonville Prison by the High Court Tipstaff after his arrest at the dockers' picket line outside the prison
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AS THE struggle of the Pentonville Five 50 years ago is commemorated tonight at East Ham Town Hall, it is a timely reminder that British trade unions have never been free: they have always been treated with suspicion, and they have always operated in the shadow of the criminal law, penal sanctions, and the watchful eye of the state.
Suspicion has been tailored into our law since time immemorial, and remains there to this day.
That suspicion has periodically turned to hostility and oppression as trade unions have challenged the authority of the state by protecting their members’ interests in the face of government injustice.
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