The Great London dock strike, 1889 - New General Megathread for the 14th of August 2023
The Great London dock strike, 1889 - New General Megathread for the 14th of August 2023
A huge and powerful strike of British dockers against low pay, unsafe conditions and casual, precarious employment contracts which, with international solidarity, won nearly all its demands and marked a turning point in UK working class history.
The dangerous nature of port work, combined with low pay, poor working conditions and widespread social deprivation ensured that the workforce looked to their trade unions for protection. As a result, industrial relations were strained throughout the history of the port.
Until the late 19th century, much of the trade of the port was seasonal. Sugar came from the West Indies, timber from the north, tea and spices from the Far East. It was difficult to predict when ships would arrive since bad weather could delay a fleet.
The number of ships arriving during a period of four successive weeks in 1861 at the West India Dock was 42, 131, 209 and 85. On some days there were many ships in the docks, on others very few.
There was very little mechanisation - the loading and discharging of ships was highly labour-intensive. Demand for men varied from day to day because there was very little advance notice that a ship was arriving. The dock companies only took on labourers when trade picked up and they needed them.
The 'call-on'
Most workers in the docks were casual labourers taken on for the day. Sometimes they would be taken on only for a few hours. Twice a day there was a 'call-on' at each of the docks when labour was hired for short periods.
Only the lucky few would be selected, the rest would be sent home without payment. The employers wanted to have a large number of men available for work but they did not want to pay them when there was no work.
The dock strike began over a dispute about 'plus' money during the unloading of the Lady Armstrong in the West India Docks. 'Plus' money was a bonus paid for completing work quickly. The East and West India Dock Company had cut their 'plus' rates to attract ships into their own docks rather than others.
A trade depression and an oversupply of docks and warehousing led to fierce competition between the rival companies. The cut in payments provided the opportunity for long-held grievances among the workforce to surface.
Led by Ben Tillet, the men in the West India Dock struck on 14 August and immediately started persuading other dockers to join them. The Dockers' Union had no funds and needed help.
The support they needed came when the Amalgamated Stevedores Union, under Tom McCarthy, joined the strike. Not only did they carry high status in the port but their work was essential to the running of the docks.
Support from the stevedores
The stevedores' union issued a manifesto, entitled To the Trade Unionists and People of London. This called on other workers to support the dockers
Other workers followed the lead of the stevedores, including the seamen, firemen, lightermen, watermen, ropemakers, fish porters and carmen. Strikes broke out daily in factories and workshops throughout the East End.
The port was paralyzed by what was in effect a general strike. It was estimated that by 27 August 130,000 men were on strike.
The dockers formed a strike committee to organize the dispute and decide on its aims. The main strike demand was 'the dockers' tanner' - a wage of 6d an hour (instead of their previous 5d an hour) and an overtime rate of 8d per hour.
They also wanted the contract and 'plus' systems to be abolished and 'call-ons' to be reduced to two a day. They also demanded that they be taken on for minimum periods of four hours and that their union be recognized throughout the port.
The Strike Committee organised mass meetings and established pickets outside the dock gates. They persuaded men still at work and 'blacklegs' to come out on strike.
During the strike the port was at a standstill and the dock companies were losing money. Despite this, they believed that giving into the dockers' demands would set a dangerous precedent.
From the beginning of September however money poured in from Australia. The first instalment of £150 was sent by the Brisbane Wharf Labourers' Union.
In all, over £30,000 was raised by the Australian dockers and their allies. It arrived at just the right time and meant the end of worries about feeding the strikers and their families.
The dockers could now face a longer strike and the leaders knew they could now concentrate on the picket lines. Defeat through hunger now seemed very unlikely and the dockers scented victory.
On 5 September, when the strike was in its fourth week, the Lord Mayor of London formed the Mansion House Committee.Its aim was to try to bring the two sides together to end the strike. Ben Tillett and John Burns represented the dockers at the negotiations.
The Mansion House Committee persuaded the employers to meet practically all the dockers' demands. After five weeks the Dock Strike was over. It was agreed that the men would go back to work on 16 September.
After the successful strike, the dockers formed a new General Labourers' Union. Tillett was elected General Secretary and Tom Mann became the union's first President. In London alone, nearly 20,000 men joined this new union.
The success of the Dockers' Strike was a turning point in the history of trade unionism. Workers throughout the country, particularly the unskilled, gained a new confidence to organise themselves and carry out collective action. From 750,000 in 1888, trade union membership grew to 1.5 million by 1892 and to over 2 million by 1899
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cool, my dad lied again and I feel stupid for maybe thinking this time around, he will stop drinking again for a while. he said he will stop no excuses, and then today and yesterday he has excuses to why he needs to drink. at this point maybe I should shut up and stop getting really hopeful. but I want to be hopeful because I want to think he will stop. and I want to trust and believe in him. so it just hurts. also I think that janitor job ghosted me so fun! but tbf it's only been like 5-6 days? but I have feeling they did.
cw: talking about self harm and suicide, mainly just venting about shit until therapy time comes later this week
spoiler
I also broke my like I think 7-8 months long streak of not self harming. so good job me, high five! I'm surprised I didn't break it sooner when my mom died months ago. maybe I should've looked at that dbt sheet I was given again, but too late now. not like it really matters anyways since Im not sure if im gonna mention this to my therapist or not. and my dad not gonna give a shit because my family doesn't really care about me.
since like for example, when I tried to make an serious attempt at suicide a few years ago, the staff told him how my dad needed to get rid of the thing I used to make an attempt. anyways when I was released, guess what was there, sitting where I tried to make an attempt!? either way after I got home, my dad then fucked off to go to some party. and I had to do the smart and responsible thing and get rid of it myself, despite like a part of me really wanting to keep it. at least when I visited my mom, she sort of cared? except she made it about herself going "why would you do this to me!? how could you!?" when like okay. sorry mom for trying to kill myself because I wanted to stop the pain and suffering and just wanted peace. I wasn't like.. I wasn't trying to do that her.
anyways I also kind of hate self harming because like. I'm an adult, meanwhile lots of materials about it, are just targeted towards teens and it feels really degrading and shit. as if adults don't do forms of self harm at all! anyways I really wish I could like drink alcohol, have weed or something. but I don't because I know im gonna abuse the hell out of it and I have to do the smart and responsible thing and avoid it all. but I wish I could just indulge and just stop feeling and not think. that would be really nice
also learning I might have borderline/bpd from my therapist, isn't really fun either since at times I already feel like a bad person, but reading more about it. esp from other people, I even feel more like a bad person. also I recently learned about splitting and I think I might had an episode of that not too long ago? I think it was splitting? I'd have to ask my therapist. Anyways I think I started doing that towards one friend because she did something that bothered me and that not helping with feeling like one the worst people out there. well past friend. I did remove her because it started to feel like she really just really secretly hates me and doesn't really give a shit about me, and I should just ditch her. at least in the moment. except this time around I wasn't really able to ignore those feeling and thoughts and push it away this time.
and like I hate it because she was someone I was more easily able to ignore those thoughts and feelings about when they arise, compared to other people. and now I have ruined probably one of my most stable friendships I had. it was also a long friendship to that lasted 4-5 years and rip to that now. I dunno, I know that is my fault here. and now that im out of that moment, it just. I dunno awful.
Whatever, guess ill talk about some of this stuff to my therapist, except the self harm part. I'm going to sleep now and pretend I don't exist, unless if I get more bad dreams again, fun! be nice if my dad would stop drinking because it does send me into a spiral each fucking time now since I dont think I can handle it at all much anymore. since it makes me worry extremely about him, and also about the future to feeling like if he dies, I'm fucked. either way everything just awful and I wish it would just stop since im tired of like all of all the constant worry, the dread, the despair, the pain, the loneliness, the hollowness/dead inside feeling and the all of it.
I'm so sorry you have to go through that, comrade