Most will have not heard of Percy Fisher . However Working Class Bookfair and Industrial Workers of the World researchers have been able to find new information about a lost chapter of County Durham history.
We have paid for the birth certificate of Percy Fisher from Durham records because he is important to syndicalist and working class history. Born in Easington in 1891, he was to become the leader of the South African Mineworkers during fierce class struggles and civil war. The South African miners were bombed by South African state airplanes in 1922. Fisher died in the struggle, as the last barricade of the miners fell in Johannesburg.
So, we are asking any relatives still alive of Percy Fisher to come forward and share what they know about Percy. At the 12 noon Lewis Mates talk on 'The Syndicalist Challenge in the Durham coalfield' we have organised at the Working Class Bookfair on 21st November.
An important author Lucien van der Walt, whose latest book is Black Flame: The Revolutionary Class Politics of Anarchism and Syndicalism' (first of a 2 volume set with Michael Schmidt) is a South African researcher. His current work examines the syndicalism of this period in South Africa - in which Percy Fisher was a key figure . We are in touch with Lucien who will be grateful for any information regarding Percy, and we are sure he will share what he finds with us.
See you at the meeting, and at the Durham Working Class Bookfair on November 21st 10-4pm;
www.workingclassbookfair.vpweb.com