EC PAPERS NOVEMBER 2017

Yet many of our active playwrights, directors and theatre companies have not got a national profile. This is because they have written for, with and as part of working class communities. They have been the anonymous writing about the anonymous and this creates some of the greatness of their work. In this selection you will find dramas about key elements of our life as a working class. In chronological order of the historical periods depicted let us consider some of the delights you have in store in this book. Bolton Rising by Neil Duffield reminds us of the bitterness and sacrifice involved in forming trade unions against the Combination Acts which were designed to prevent the formation of workers’ organisations. The bravery and vision of our pioneers is always humbling. It is always amazing too to reflect on how our predecessors organised not just before mobile phones and the social media, but before telephones, cars and bicycles. The power of face to face contact should never be forgotten, and this is also why returning to our play tradition is itself so inspiring. There is nothing more moving that a live performance to stir the passions. We Will Be Free by Neil Gore moves the time frame forward and delves into the stories of the Tolpuddle Martyrs and their most renowned leader George Loveless and his wife. Depicted by history and convention as innocent victims of circumstances, the Tolpuddle Martyrs, as you can see in the great pamphlets they wrote, were highly class conscious and dismissive of the whole church and state and employer’s apparatus that was oppressing all working people. Hannah by Eileen Murphy, touches beautifully on one of the underestimated consequences of the progressive establishment of the trade union and early socialist movement, that is our contribution to an all-encompassing social engagement of all citizens through the inclusion of women in all workplace democracy and the right to vote. The play portrays the life and struggles of nineteenth century pioneering labour movement activist and suffragette Hannah Mitchell. Dare To Be Free by Jane McNulty reminds us that the organisation of women casual workers and the struggle against various forms of zero hours contracts has a long history. The need for the young to stand up for justice in the workplace has never been greater and this play remains an inspiration for audiences and is ideally suited in length and style for education events to stimulate debate. As with many of our plays, our song and music features in this reminding us of the rich seam of social commentary that has been expressed in our folk song tradition. The GFTU has also contributed to trying to keep this tradition alive by producing a double CD of working class songs for democracy, resistance and peace. A Splotch of Red by James Kenworth sets together two of the giants of the Labour Party and Trade Union Movement, Keir Hardie and Will Thorne. James Keir Hardie was the founder of the Labour Party, and its first MP, being elected as Member for West Ham South in 1892. He was assisted in this by William Thorne (1857-1946), a Birmingham-born trade union leader who won the same seat in 1906, and later served as Labour MP for Plaistow between 1917 and 1945. The two men represent a classic political opposition – Hardie the idealist and orator,Thorne the tactician, willing to compromise and deal with other politicians, including those of other parties, if it meant attaining power. Out on the Costa Del Trico. The great victory of the Dagenham machinists has a legendary status in the trade union movement and has been transformed into plays and films. The heroic struggle at the American owned windscreen wiper factory in London, Trico, by largely Asian women workers, deserves an equal place in our folk memory. Some details of the dispute can be found in a Morning