Sheringham,
May 22, 1910.Dear Sir,
On behalf of the farmers of the neighbourhood of St. Faith's, to whom you wrote on the 16th inst., I am directed to reply that they very much regret they are unable to accede to either of the men's applications contained in your letter to them. They quite appreciate the suffering and inconvenience and bad feeling which is the inevitable result of a strike and would do everything to avoid one. It is not a question of paying the farm labourers as little as 13s. or 14s. per week, for it is well known that the average earnings inclusive of piecework pay amount to a considerably higher figure. During the past winter farm hands in the St. Faith's district received wages on the scale that had been paid during the summer instead of being dropped during the days of short hours as is usual. The farmers in that district recognized that circumstances then justified their paying what in fact amounted to an increase of 1s. per week wage. If instead of adopting this plan they had followed the usual course of dropping the wages during the period of short hours in the winter and had now raised their men to 13s. per week, probably there would now have been no discontent and they would have saved money. The result of the farmers paying higher wages during the winter than was from their point of view necessary, as labour was not scarce, is that they are now confronted with a demand for further increase for which the price of farm produce affords no justification. As you are probably aware, the market value of wheat is about one-third less than it was a year ago, and this reduction is not counterbalanced by better prices for other farm produce. The employers regret to hear that many of their workmen who have been in their service the greater part of their lifetime are intending to sever such old associations, perhaps against their personal inclination.
However, in case the threatened strike should be carried out, steps are being taken to fill the vacancies which will be so caused.
Yours faithfully,
(Signed) J. T. Willis,
Secretary.George Edwards, Esq., C.C.,
Gresham.
To this I wrote the following reply, to which the Secretary of the Farmers' Federation never replied:—
Gresham,
May 25, 1910.Dear Sir,
Yours of the 23rd to hand re the labourers' dispute at St. Faith's, and I very much regret to see by it the employers are not prepared to meet the men on either of their requests. I had hoped, considering the serious consequences involved both to the employers and employed, the employers would have been willing to meet the men and endeavour to come to some agreement without a strike having to be resorted to. I wish also to say my Executive entirely disagree with your Executive that the present state of agriculture does not guarantee any advance in wages on the present wage.
We are of opinion, considering the much higher price they have to pay for their food and that the purchasing value of their wages is greatly depreciated, that they are entitled to some little advance further. We consider that, had the employers reduced wages last autumn, they would have treated the men most unjustly, and, further, my Executive thinks the threat thrown out in the last paragraph of your letter, namely to fill up the men's places, does not manifest a very conciliatory spirit. If the employers had first shown a willingness to meet the men in some way, it would have been much better. We hope, however, the employers and your Executive will yet consider their decision and meet us with a view to preventing a strike with all its bitter consequences.
Yours faithfully,
(Signed) George Edwards.J. T. Willis, Esq.,
Secretary, Farmers' Federation,
Sheringham.
The receipt of Mr. Willis's letter, if I had any hopes that a strike could be avoided, would have dashed all hopes to the ground. Still I was anxious to catch at the last straw and to prevent a strike if possible. Also, when the history came to be written, it should never be said that I was the cause of it and that I did nothing to prevent it, for I did everything that any man could do to bring about peace. And in this story of my connection with the Trade Union movement I very much regret to say that, until the late Great War, the farmers never would meet the men nor their representatives, but persisted in dealing with the men in a most highhanded autocratic manner. Had they shown any kind of a conciliatory spirit nine strikes out of ten that have taken place during these last fifty years would have been avoided.
On Friday May 28th the notices handed in by the men expired, and, as no attempt on the part of employers had been made to arrive at a settlement, the men brought their tools away. I cycled over from the other side of Norfolk where I had been holding meetings during the week. Also my assistant, Mr. Thomas Thacker, was present. On arriving at the village we found the greatest excitement prevailing. We were met by the men and their wives, also a number of Trade Union friends from Norwich. Amongst them was Mr. W. R. Smith, Mr. W. Holmes and Mrs. Reeve. Mr. Day was also present. A meeting was held under the tree that stood on an open space close by the King's Head Inn. Almost the entire village was present. Stirring addresses were delivered by the Norwich friends. Representatives of the press were present, and in order that the public might know that I had made every effort to prevent trouble, I read a copy of the letter I had sent to the employers at first, also the letter I had received from Mr. Willis, the Secretary of the Farmers' Federation, and my reply to it. It was generally admitted that I had gone the full length any leader of a Trade Union could go in the direction of peace. In fact some thought I had gone a little too far, but I felt, and I do now, that it is better to err on the side of peace than it is on the other side. But the fight had begun and I felt the whole brunt of it would fall on me. I therefore set my teeth and made up my mind that, as my efforts for peace had failed, I would fight like grim death and, if we were to suffer defeat, the fault should not be mine. Altogether I had 105 men on my hands, 75 at St. Faith's and 30 in the Trunch district. The Norwich friends offered to render as much help as possible and undertook to have collections made at all the factory gates on Saturdays to raise a fund to pay the men who were married and with families more than strike pay. I also decided to make collections throughout the Union. I also decided to hold big Sunday demonstrations throughout Norfolk and to make collections. The meeting concluded about ten o'clock, and I went home with my friend Mr. George Hewitt to stay for the night, but not to sleep, for there was no rest for me. The responsibility was too great for me to rest, and I wished I could have had an Executive that would take some share of it. But I had a good lot of local workers. My friend George Hewitt, the branch secretary, undertook to act as strike secretary and to see the men sign the day-sheets. The next morning the village was full of excitement. At nine o'clock a number of mounted police arrived in the village and an equal number of foot police, for what purpose no one ever knew. I, however, saw the danger. Before leaving for Norwich I summoned the men with their wives to the branch house and warned them to be on their guard and give every instruction to the pickets to keep strictly within the law of peaceful picketing, and not on any account to attempt to molest the non-unionists when they were at their work, only to use peaceful persuasion on the road and in every respect to carry the fight on in an orderly manner and not in any way to run contrary to the authorities, for I was satisfied they would receive the greatest provocation. This they assured me they would do, and I am pleased to say, in spite of what was said to the contrary, that the men through the eight months' struggle acted in the most orderly way and only in the most technical manner did they overstep the bounds of the law.
On Friday June 4th I received the men's first lock-out pay from the Treasurer. On Sunday June 6th I arranged for a big demonstration at Weasenham, which was addressed by Messrs R. Winfrey, H. A. Day, R. Green, James Coe and myself. A collection was taken at both meetings for the lock-out fund amounting to over £7. The meetings were attended by over 1,500 people. An Executive Emergency Committee meeting was held after the afternoon meeting. Mr. H. A. Day presided, and there were present Mr. Winfrey, Mr. Robert Green and myself as General Secretary. It was resolved that the men out on strike at St. Faith's be supported according to the minute passed at the Executive Meeting held on April 25th, which read as follows:—
Any member having paid three months' contributions and his entrance fee be paid full lock-out pay, but the General Secretary shall deduct from his first week's lock-out pay three months' contributions to bring them into compliance with Rule 6. But members having paid less than three months' contributions shall receive grants on the following scale: Married men, 7s. 6d. per week; single men, 5s. per week.
Mr. Winfrey also offered at this meeting to find work on the co-partnership farm at Walpole for sixteen men, the General Secretary to pay their rail fare. On Monday June 27th I took sixteen men over to Walpole. Arrangements were made for the men to have all their food in the Jepson Hall and that building to be used as a living room for the men. I purchased earthenware and cooking utensils for their use. One of the men was elected to act as cook and to keep the place clean. A good building at the farm was cleaned out and made fit for the men to sleep in and good clean straw was put into clean bags for beds. Each man took some bedclothes for himself, and thus I got them settled and saw them at work next morning before leaving.
The Norwich friends did splendidly. Our men stood at the factory gates on Saturday. The boxes were never opened without us finding from £12 to £20, and with the collections at our Sunday meetings I was able to pay married men 2s. per week above their lock-out pay and 1s. per head for each child, both in the St. Faith's and Trunch districts. I always paid the men at St. Faith's on Friday and the men at Trunch on Saturday. Never once was I an hour late. The men at St. Faith's always cycled on the road to meet me and act as my bodyguard, for the farmers' tools had again become threatening. Although we had nearly cleared the farms, there were then, as there always have been, some to do the bidding of the opponents of Labour; but the men in both districts took very good care no one should harm me. These two disputes created great interest in the Union. My assistant Mr. Thomas Thacker and myself held meetings during the week, opening branches almost everywhere, and the Union went up by leaps and bounds. The labourers joined every week in hundreds, and, had the Executive let me have another organizer or two and more clerical assistance at home, the strikes would not have affected the funds of the Union to any great extent. The dispute, however, though serious and causing me many anxious moments, was not devoid of its humorous side. I always stayed with my friend Mr. Hewitt on Friday nights, and after the men were paid I always held a meeting under the tree which is now an historic one. The whole village would turn out to these meetings; the women were most enthusiastic. They were always on the look out for the blacklegs, as they would call them, and if one did venture to come anywhere near the village he would have to undergo some good-natured chaff. The employers were careful not to let these come too near the danger zone.
The Federation had provided very comfortable huts for them to live in on the farms and, when they had to pass through the village, they conveyed them in carts guarded by policemen. There was no necessity for that, and it was a wicked waste of time and money for which the county had to pay. The men and their wives had received instructions from me that they were not on any account to molest the strike-breakers, however great the provocation, and they loyally carried it out, for no leader of Labour in time of disputes ever had more loyal followers than I had in the St. Faith's and Trunch districts. But I could not always be with them, as I had to stump the county holding meetings in the interest of the Union, and the young folks and the women would have a little harmless horse-play. But the employers grew more bitter every day and apparently were determined to compel these poor people to break the law. Writing twelve years after this dispute I can write more calmly and yet more deliberately, and I assert without fear of contradiction that there was a deliberate attempt on the part of someone to compel these poor people in some way to lay themselves open to be prosecuted, and that the authorities were anxious to embrace the first opportunity to punish severely these poor people for daring to demand the right to live by their labour and to see their wives and children properly fed and clothed.