| Description | Lily Barker, Mr Barker, Jack and Em Elliot and Ned Booth talk about their memories of the 1920s, focusing on poverty, working conditions and the trade union and labour movement
Track 1: possibly Lily Barker speaks about memories of First World War, queuing for food, sewing sandbags at school
Track 2: unidentified man talks about fascist meetings, not taken seriously until it was too late, believes Independent Labour Party member Victor Grayson was murdered
Track 3: Lily Barker continues discussion from track 1, 1920s were much worse than during the war, people were starving, talks about working life from 1921 at bakery, shortage of food and coal, demand for cinders, gleaning fields to get vegetables
Tracks 4-5: man, possibly Mr Barker, talks about his memories of First World War and his early working life as a farm worker and moulder's apprentice, poor pay and loss of war bonus, people knew they were being exploited but jobs were hard to get. Lily Barker says it was seen as a slight improvement from what they'd suffered during the war but there was no thought that things would get better, didn't question anything because you were glad to have a job. The war started when the two were children and they couldn't remember life before the war, 1920s described as a succession of strikes and depressions, nothing seemed settled or that it was ever going to get any better, working short time, Lily Barker working long hours for the same pay, being frugal, knitted and sewed own clothes
Track 6: Em Elliot gives opinion about outcome of the General Strike, says she can't understand why there wasn't a workers revolution in Britain in the 1920s, considering atmosphere in the North East where things were especially bad, being a mining area. Jack Elliot gives his opinion about the likely outcome of the General Strike, railway and transport workers left miners on their own. Em Elliot sings 'After the War is over', discusses payments to trade union and meetingsand decline in membership and activity. Jack Elliot talks about political chants and strikes
Tracks 7-8: Em Elliot, Jack Elliot and Ned Booth talk about work and dole payments, and the repression of workers, discuss the 1921 miners strike and rise in unemployment, reasons why there wasn't a revolution in the 1920s, there was more chance of success in 1921 during miners strike, Em Elliot says that working class people are their own worst enemies and thinks there was a lack of strong leaders, Ned Booth talks about National Minority Movement, leaders of socialist and communist groups at the time in the area, opinion about conditions for revolution
Tracks 9-10: Em Elliot, Jack Elliot and Ned Booth talk about mining life, lack of choice in occupation for your family if you lived in a colliery cottage, describe poor conditions at work and accidents, mines closing down and unemployment in 1960s, discussion about the need for bitterness. The men say bitterness hurts us as a working class, Em Elliot thinks young people need bitterness to motivate themselves to fight against pit closures, and the situation of industries in 1960s, feeling that bad times just around the corner. The men talk about conditions for revolution, think there should have been more revolutions in the world, especially Spain, other than in Russia where conditions were worse there than they ever were here. Discussion of attending union and other political meetings and listening to various candidates including Tory speakers, mention of local fascist candidate in Birtley and reaction against him
Total: 61.19 mins
Dubber's reference number: PLA KF573E0688980 |