M/c Communist Party Commemoration:

Mrs Brown's Boys

‘From Manchester to Spain’: a commemoration of the life of George Brown; 2pm-4pm at the Waldorf Hotel, Gore Street, Manchester M1 3AQ; organised by the George Brown Commemoration Committee, Greater Manchester Communist Party and local IBMT members.

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LAST Saturday, the Manchester communists held a commemoration to George Brown who died fighting for the republican government in Spain during the Spanish Civil War.  

The event was introduced by Liz Payne, General Secretary of the Communist Party of Britain,

Slimmer and less charismatic than Boris Johnson, but with a similar shade of hair and equally plummy-voice, she introduced the event which with 30-odd in attendance was notable for its lack of young people.
Charles Jepson, a cheeky mustachioed J.P. from Blackburn, gave the talk on George Brown stressing his Irish roots and Communist Party connections.  It seems that George was distressed about the support for Franco prevailing in Ireland at the beginning of the Spanish Civil War.  The Roman Catholics were he said concerned about the attacks on the churches by Catalan and Spanish anarchist trade unionists.  Mr. Jepson himself taught at a high class Catholic school in Lancashire, and has sympathies for the IRA.
Mr. Jepson did not mention George's brother Michael Brown who was one of the earlier volunteers in the Spanish conflict, but who is sometimes classed as a 'deserter'. 

One account describes Michael experience thus:
'While Michael Brown was among the first group of British-based volunteers, arriving before the International Brigades were set up. He joined the No. 1 Coy. XIV Battalion at Lopera in late December 1936, a battle where the newly arrived volunteers were brutally attacked by the fascist troops. Having gone through this battle, Michael returned to Britain,...'

Tameside TUC & its enemies

The Tameside TUC booklet to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Spanish Civil War, first published in 2006, which interestingly was immediately confronted by elements in the Manchester International Brigade Memorial Trust such as Mike Luft who initially tried to suppress its production, but when they failed it went on to described Michael Brown as living in Harperhey, Manchester as follows:  'Deserted in December 1936, declaring:  'this isn't a war, this is bloody madness.  I've had enough.'

Tameside TUC's booklet states:  'George Brown from Platting, Manchester:  Secretary of Manchester Communist Party Branch.  Political commissar in Spain.  Killed at Villanueva de la Cañada in July 1937.'

Mr. Jepson said George Brown was wounded in Madridand he pointed out George Brown was a well-established leader of the workers’ movement in Manchester, who is on record as being the most senior member of the Communist Party of Great Britain to be killed in action in Spain.  He was a full-time worker for the Party and a member of its national leadership, the Central Committee.
The mood music in George Brown's birth place the Irish Republic in 1936, was supportive of Franco, and the Irish Brigade (Spanish: Brigada Irlandesa, "Irish Brigade" Irish: Briogáid na hÉireann) fought on the Nationalist side of Francisco Franco during the Spanish Civil War.  The unit was formed wholly of Roman Catholics by the politician Eoin O'Duffy, who had previously organised the banned quasi-fascist Blueshirts and openly fascist Greenshirts in Ireland.
Jepson said that all this seeing General Franco as a saviour of the Roman Catholic Church disturbed George Brown, and he backed the 320 volunteers – both resident in Ireland or members of the ‘Irish Diaspora’ from the far-flung corners of the globe -  were part of a 45,000 strong army of private individuals from all walks of life resolved to stem the rise of fascism.  The majority of these volunteers served with the International Brigades, others were involved with various militias, and still more were engaged in medical and other support services. Over 55 different nationalities were represented.

'Sentimental Tripe' !

Another speaker talked about his aunty Evelyn Jones who was George Brown's wife, and who later after Georges death married Jack Jones, the man who later was to become the leader of the Transport & General Workers Union.  She was for a time a member of the Communist Party, and had been a Comintern courier during the Spanish Civil War.  
The talk was of interest but given that 10,000 police from other regions of Spain had been moved into Catalonia on the eve of the Catalan referendum the whole event had the feel of a Sunshine Club for elderly folk.  I was put in mind of what George Orwell wrote in his review of 'Volunteer in Spain', the book by international brigader John Sommerfield:  which Orwell described it thus:
'it may seem ungracious to say that this book is a piece of sentimental tripe; but so it is.'  
Sentimental tripe dogs these commemorations of the International Brigade Memorial Trust to this very day, as we witnessed last Saturday, and as we experienced when Tameside TUC published its own publication which tried to give a fair and balanced account of the local contributions of the international brigade volunteers in the struggle against Franco's fascists.  The problem with the International Brigade Memorial Trust is that it tries to present the British contingent of the International Brigade volunteers as a kind of cavalry, which stood in defence of democratic values between the people of Spain and Franco's fascists and the Moors.  In playing up the contribution of the international brigade at the expense of the Spanish working-class it often borders on hispanophobia.

Why was Spain the first country to seriously resist Fascism?

Ignazio Silone wrote in his book 'School for Dictators':

'Compare the respective attitudes towards fascism of the Spanish workers and the Germans.  The difference in national character can explain only part of the different way of reacting to the enemy's attack.  The growth in big industry has been a powerful help in reinforcing the tendency of Germans - workers included - towards zusammenmarschieren (mass-man marching together).... Individual initiative has been reduced to zero.'

The fact is the Spaniards were the first to seriously resist fascism because of the history and rural roots, which allowed anarchism to develop in cities like Barcelona to influence the labour movement.  We see the effects of this today in the general strike that is now taking place against the police brutality that took place during the Catalan referendum.
Pedro Cuadrado who was in the republican police in Barcelona in 1936, and later lived in Bolton, said that Barcelona was the first city to halt the march of fascism.

Because many, if not most of the members of the International Brigade Memorial Trust are super-annuated former British communist party members, they have difficulty understanding a cultures such as that of the Catalans and the Spaniards.

Brian Bamford on Jim Petty

Seventy people or more attended the

Remembrance Service of James Petty

at Saint Alban the Martyr Anglican

Catholic Church in Salford, last Saturday.

I have reason to be eternally grateful  to Jim Petty, for over a decade ago he rendered a great service to me and my family, when he performed a funeral service for my Aunty Betty at Rochdale Crematorium. 

He did it as a 'Foreigner', as a job on the side or as the Spaniards say:  'Por Gratis!' or as some say 'A Thank you job'. 

That sums up the spirit of Jim Petty:  for whether we call Jim Petty an Anglican, or an Anglo-Catholic or the Father of Northern Anarchism, we haven't begun to describe his nature as a man and human being.  Radical anarchism and human decency grew in his soul as a remarkable human being.

 His early interest in politics was at one time  in the Labour Party, but he never voted Labour after the 1970s.  Though he later he joined the Independent Labour Party (ILP), and was active as a shop steward  in both textiles, where he worked as a stripper and grinder,  and later at Lucas as SHOP STEWARD in engineering.

 IN 2008, in an interview in NORTHERN VOICES,  I ASKED JIM PETTY 'WHY HE CAME TO DESPISE POLITICIANS?'   

JIM SAID IN 2008:

'I JOINED THE LABOUR PARTY IN 1947, WHEN I WAS 14.  THE WORKING-CLASS MEMBERS THEN ALL HAD VISION.  BUT THE PARTY COUNCILLORS & OFFICIALS

WERE ALL ON THE MAKE  NOT MONEY BUT POWER, THEY ALL WANTED TO BE BIG FISH  IN THE LITTLE POND OF THE BURNLEY PARTY..... IT WAS ALL ABOUT GETTING JOBS  & SAFE SEATS  & AT A MAYORS BALL  I SAW A MAN IN TEARS BECAUSE HE'D NOT BEEN MADE A  J.P.  

During this last twelve months Jim had been interested about the campaign of Tameside Trade Union Council in against the blacklist in the British building trade.  Particularly the Tameside TUC book 'Boys on the Blacklist'.  He told me only recently that when he'd been working at Lucas Aerospace that a bloke had come into the office and asked Jim if he could see the manager.  Jim had asked him why, and the bloke said:  'Do you know that you've got a man called Petty working here?' 

He then proceeded to outline a black-balling account of Jim's history as a trade union activist, not knowing who in fact he was talking to.   

But Jim had many interests, many causes to support, and wasn't just the bosses that wanted to to blacklist him for he had difficulties with his own unions;  the Transport & General Workers Union and earlier, in textiles, in the National Union of Textile & Allied Union.  Beyond that he was even ostracised by some of his own comrades in the Solidarity Federation and the Anarchist Federation. 

In 2003, Jim Petty was one of the people who went on to found the publication Northern Voices.  In the first issue of that journal that he wrote a six-page article entitled 'Labour's Unacceptable Architects of Urban Squalor'  about the Burnley riots of 2001; this was about the indefensible politics of race in Burnley. 

Then, in 2012, he enjoyed writing about the Burnley Liberal M.P., Philip Morel, who had bravely opposed the First World War in 1914.   Of the town itself, he wrote in Northern Voices in 2005:

'Burnley is decaying under the aegis of Burnley Labour Party's modern politics.'  And being asked by me in 2008 'How he reconciled being an anarchist with he religious convictions?' ,  Jim said: 'No problem!' and continued to say 'The basic idea of Christ was anarchism and to share all things in common.'  He then went on to describe the ideas of Gerrard Winstley from Wigan, where there is a Digger's Festival today!  Jim went on to refer me to the Bishop of Alba's ideas in Spain:  what some call the Holy Land of anarchism. 

When the Englishman Gerald Brenan wrote his book 'The Spanish Labyrith' he wrote about the attacks on the Roman Catholic Church by the anarchists and he wrote:

'In the eyes of the anarchists the Roman Catholic Church occupies the position of the anti-Christ in the Christian world.  They see the Roman Catholic priesthood as the fountain of all evil...'

And Brenan tells us to remember our own history  arguing 'one might describe anarchism as the Spanish protestant or protesting heresy which in the 16^th and 17^th centuries saved Spain.' 

And however violent these 'anarchists may be, Cromwell's independents were violent too, they speak the same language of love of liberty, of dependence upon the inner light that Englishmen used to do.'

This year, Jim Petty said that he didn't feel up to writing in the latest edition of Northern Voices.  He had written something in every other issue of the paper over the last dozen years or so. 

He was a very kind man and he told me shortly before he died that we ought to be very proud of Northern Voices.  I don't know about that, but I am proud to have known Jim Petty from Burnley; the Anarchist and Anglican.

Shameside Labour exposed over links to 'Blacklisting' construction companies!

Unapologetic - Kieran Quinn

REPORTS have reached Northern Voices that all is not well with the contract cleaners who have recently been sacked, following the closure of the council offices in Ashton-under-Lyne.  It seems that some of the cleaners who were working for the agency 'Sky Blue', have been dismissed without receiving notice and holiday pay, which they say, is owing to them.

The hideous and monstrous looking building, which is situated on Wellington Street, has been closed and is awaiting demolition as part of a remodernization plan by Tameside Council, aimed at cutting jobs and services to save money.

Sky Blue, is owned by the construction company Carillion, who are now responsible for estate and management services involving the maintenance of council buildings, cleaning, and caretaking.  The construction company, which is classed as a 'partner' by the council, also sponsors two academy schools in Tameside and runs the cafe in Stamford Park, Ashton-under-Lyne.  They are also involved in the provision of school meals for children attending schools in the Tameside area.

Tameside's links to both Carillion and the construction company Kier, has proved to be controversial. Both construction companies were linked to a secretive and clandestine organisation known as the Consulting Association, that operated a 'blacklist' of known trade union activists working within the British building trade, on behalf of 44 construction companies.

In 2009, the offices of the Association were raided by officials working for the Information Commissioner, who discovered blacklisting files (an illegal database), containing the personal details of over 3,200 construction workers.  Both Carillion and Kier, are two of eight construction companies that are currently being sued in the High Court, for being part of an unlawful conspiracy to blacklist construction workers.  Blacklisting files also show that the Carillion-owned Sky Blue employment agency, was also involved in blacklisting.

Although it has been illegal for over 35-years to dismiss a worker for his or her trade union activities, blacklisting also contravenes Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights which relates to privacy and Article 11, which relates to freedom of association.

It is known that between October 1999 and April 2004, Carillion paid the Association, over £32,000 for vetting construction workers. In June 2012, the GMB trade union, published a report on blacklisting - 'BLACKLISTING - ILLEGAL CORPORATE BULLYING - ENDEMIC, SYSTEMATIC AND DEEP-ROOTED IN CARILLION AND OTHER COMPANIES'.  The report was sent to every Labour councillor in the country with a covering letter from GMB General Secretary, Paul Kenny.  In 2013, the GMB union, started legal proceedings against Carillion for conspiracy and defamation.

Although Carillion claim that they ceased to use the services of the Association in 2004, they were still being sent invoices in 2009 and their main contact, Liz Keates, continued to receive mail outs. Crown House, part of the Carillion group, also maintained its subscription.

In evidence given in the case of Smith (Dave Smith) v Carillion in January 2012, at the Central London Employment Tribunal, Carillion admitted that two of its subsidiaries, John Mowlem and Schal International, had 'penalised' Smith for being a trades unionist.  He was victimized for highlighting safety hazards on sites including asbestos. Dave Smith has said that within a year of being put on the blacklist, his earnings fell from £36,000 a-year to £12,000 a-year, and his children finished up claiming milk tokens.

In evidence given to to the Scottish Affairs Select Committee(SASC), who launched an inquiry into blacklisting in June 2012, Alan Wainwright, a blacklister turned whistleblower, confirmed that Carillion had operated a blacklist and that he'd discussed the blacklist with Frank Duggan, the group personnel director for Carillion.  At the Labour Party conference held in Brighton in September 2013, Carillion was expelled from the conference after delegates objected to their presence because of their links to the Consulting Association and blacklisting.

In March 2014, the SASC, said that it was up to the state at a national, devolved or local level, to ensure that blacklisting did not recur by using its leverage as a contractor.  Firms, it argued, had to demonstrate they had 'self-cleansed' - 'cleaned-up, owned-up, and paid-up', before being awarded public contracts.

The Welsh government has told its public bodies that firms can be excluded from public contracts under the 'Public Contracts Regulations 2006', because blacklisting can amount to grave misconduct. The Scottish government has told its public bodies that they can end contracts if firms are found to be blacklisting or discriminating against trade union members.  In March 2014, the Northern Ireland Assembly agreed to similar rules.

Despite damning evidence linking Carillion with the odious practice of blacklisting, the Labour controlled council in Tameside, Greater Manchester, have refused to answer questions about their links with Carillion.  In August 2011, Brian Bamford, Secretary of Tameside Trades Council, wrote to Kieran Quinn, the Labour leader of the council, asking why the council was awarding public contracts to a company that had links to the Consulting Association. Blacklisted electricians, also picketed sites in Tameside being run by Carillion, which attracted the attention of the local press.  To date, neither Quinn or the council have responded to either the press or Trades Council about this matter.

Yet, in October 2011, (two months after Bamford's first letter and the protest action by blacklisted trades unionists), Quinn, as Chairman of the Greater Manchester Pension Fund (GMPF), was proudly announcing that Carillion had won a £60m contract to build a mixed-use development in St Peter's Square, Manchester, as part of a development between 'Argent' and the Greater Manchester Property Venture Fund, which is part of the GMPF. Quinn, (a former CWU union official), told the press:

'We underwent a vigorous and lengthy process to ensure that the right contractor was selected for the construction of One St Peter's square. Experience, reputation and ability to deliver, were of paramount importance, as we are committed to ensuring that this is a very high quality scheme and that it is completed within the projected time.'

As for Carillion's reputation, which Mr Quinn speaks so highly of, we would suggest that both the council leader and the disgruntled and unpaid cleaners from the Tameside council offices, might benefit from speaking to the GMB trade union about their experiences of Carillion.  GMB members working for Carillion at Swindon Hospital, low-paid ancillary workers, mainly from Goa in India, complained of racist bullying, corruption and bribery.  Ten of them found themselves disciplined and their union reps targeted.  The GMB workers went on strike for 21 days.  They were all employed by Carillion which built and runs Swindon Hospital under the Private Finance Initiative (PFI).  The blacklisting files show that Carillion blacklisted workers during the construction of Swindon Hospital.