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Reclaiming our History: The Women Chainmakers Strike

IWW West Midlands Branch | 27.09.2007 12:06 | Gender | Workers' Movements | Birmingham

In remembrance of the Women Chainmakers strike in 1910, the West Midlands Branch of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) placed a plaque and wreath at the Peace Gardens in Birmingham city centre. We believe that our history needs to be preserved and celebrated.
This should not be done by those masquerading as our leaders.







Tony Benn, union bosses and local Labour party parasites all stood around with smug, self congratulatory grins at the ‘official’ remembrance festival at the Black Country Museum on Saturday. They somehow still believe that they have a direct connection to the working class struggles of yesteryear. The irony-that they are celebrating women fighting capitalism, while their function is to preserve and maintain this unfair system-was completely lost on them.

The standard of our day to day lives, compared to 1910, is much improved. This can be put down to the fact that our ancestors were prepared to organise and challenge the status quo. We live in a world shaped by the concessions of the ruling elite. Our ancestors forced these concessions through the class struggle. The Women Chainmakers of Cradley Heath are an inspirational example of how, we the working class, can push for change.

IWW West Midlands Branch
- e-mail: westmids@iww.org.uk
- Homepage: http://www.wmiww.org

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