Manchester University Press
5 ‘A capitalistic piece of legislation’
Abstract
This chapter analyses the first year of a more concretely organised rank-and-file movement that emerged from the earlier minimum wage campaign; the Durham Forward Movement (DFM). It starts by delineating the DFM’s aims to improve the minimum wage award, reduce its restrictive rules and bring in those grades of miners not already included in the minimum wage. It locates these developments in the mood of continuing unrest in the coalfield, and manifest at the DMA’s annual summer gala where syndicalist leader Tom Mann was among the four invited speakers. In this context the advances of the syndicalists are then considered, especially in autumn 1912 when Will Lawther returned from Central Labour College London and brought new vigour and energy to Durham’s syndicalist challenge. In early 1913, the DFM became involved in agitation against efforts by the doctors to maintain an elevated fee structure for their miner patients, after the National Insurance Act came into effect. The chapter ends by considering the DFM’s record in its first year of life, arguing that although its tangible achievements were slight, the syndicalists still needed to find a way to constructively engage with this mass movement.
Abstract
This chapter analyses the first year of a more concretely organised rank-and-file movement that emerged from the earlier minimum wage campaign; the Durham Forward Movement (DFM). It starts by delineating the DFM’s aims to improve the minimum wage award, reduce its restrictive rules and bring in those grades of miners not already included in the minimum wage. It locates these developments in the mood of continuing unrest in the coalfield, and manifest at the DMA’s annual summer gala where syndicalist leader Tom Mann was among the four invited speakers. In this context the advances of the syndicalists are then considered, especially in autumn 1912 when Will Lawther returned from Central Labour College London and brought new vigour and energy to Durham’s syndicalist challenge. In early 1913, the DFM became involved in agitation against efforts by the doctors to maintain an elevated fee structure for their miner patients, after the National Insurance Act came into effect. The chapter ends by considering the DFM’s record in its first year of life, arguing that although its tangible achievements were slight, the syndicalists still needed to find a way to constructively engage with this mass movement.
Chapters in this book
- Front matter i
- Dedication v
- Contents vii
- List of tables and figures viii
- Acknowledgements ix
- Abbreviations xi
- Map of the Durham coalfield, 1914 xiii
- 1 Historiographical introduction 1
- 2 Structures, agents and the ILP’s high tide 42
- 3 The Eight Hours Act and the Eight Hours Agreement in the Durham coalfield 101
- 4 ‘Not exactly the millennium’ 147
- 5 ‘A capitalistic piece of legislation’ 185
- 6 ‘Trade union questions were now political questions’ 225
- 7 Conclusion 270
- Bibliography 287
- Index 304
Chapters in this book
- Front matter i
- Dedication v
- Contents vii
- List of tables and figures viii
- Acknowledgements ix
- Abbreviations xi
- Map of the Durham coalfield, 1914 xiii
- 1 Historiographical introduction 1
- 2 Structures, agents and the ILP’s high tide 42
- 3 The Eight Hours Act and the Eight Hours Agreement in the Durham coalfield 101
- 4 ‘Not exactly the millennium’ 147
- 5 ‘A capitalistic piece of legislation’ 185
- 6 ‘Trade union questions were now political questions’ 225
- 7 Conclusion 270
- Bibliography 287
- Index 304
