Poplar 1919-21: when a Labour council stood up and fought for the working class

Date: 
11 November, 2010 - 19:00 - 21:00
Location: 

The White Horse pub, Peckham Rye (ten minutes from Peckham Rye station)

Description: 

Hosted by South London AWL.

In 1919, the residents of Poplar in East London elected a socialist Labour council - a council which did not just make left-wing speeches like those elected in the 1980s, but stood up and fought the Lib Dem-Tory coalition then in power. The councillors went to jail, but a mass movement eventually forced the government to fund the services the council had built.

As another Lib Dem-Tory coalition slashes public services, the question is: will Labour councils administer the cuts, or will they help trade unions and local communities fight back?

Speaker: Janine Booth, activist in the rail union RMT and author of the book Guilty and Proud of it, about the Poplar struggle.