Public Meeting
to
build for 180th anniversary commemoration in 2022
Friday 17 September 2021
7.15 pm
Maurice Jagger
Centre
junction Lister Street
& Winding Road, Halifax, HX1 1UZ
Speakers
include:
Catherine Howe Halifax born author of Halifax 1842
Matthew Roberts Sheffield Hallam University
Cllr Jenny Lynn Park Ward councillor
Mark Metcalf Halifax freelance journalist
For more information email: info@calderdaletuc.org.uk
Peterloo 1819
Halifax 1842
In August 1842, striking industrial workers in Halifax were
attacked by 150 soldiers and 200 specially sworn in constables. At least four
were killed whilst many others suffered brutal injuries that are likely to have
killed them.
Workers were participating in a nationwide general strike
that combined demands for better pay with an extension to those allowed to
vote.
Massive wage reductions over the previous two decades had
left many workers in great poverty.
At the same time only one man in seven had the right to vote
at a General Election.
The strikers called for the same right for all men, because
they believed their own parliamentary representatives would bring them some
control over the laws under which they lived: laws fashioned to protect
property and profit.
In the 179 years since that atrocity of 1842, what has
changed for the people of Halifax?
The wealth gap between rich and poor is still here. In recent
years it has widened under both Labour and Tory Governments.
Workplaces were hazardous in the 1800s yet are still not
safe. We have had a disproportionately
high number of COVID deaths in front line workers, and deaths from accidents
continue because of cost cutting by employers who ignore Health & Safety
laws.
Our environment has greatly changed due to
industrialisation. Climate change needs
measures taken that do not simply make ordinary people pay for polluting companies
going green.
Housing costs – whether to buy or rent have risen sharply.
Many young people still have no chance of owning their own home.
Unionisation is no longer a prosecutable offence but today there is still employer and government hostility to the existence of trades unions with Amazon being the latest major company to refuse to allow unions to organise employees.
Tax avoidance is still a fundamental issue with many major
companies such as Amazon failing to pay their fair share.
As in 1842, new technology threatens us with
unemployment: driverless cars and
automation mean millions face being out of work.
We have our NHS but it is facing privatisation with citizens
paying exorbitantly for the building of Calderdale Royal Hospital because it
was built using expensive private finance.
Today we have a national pension scheme but the state pension
age has been increased. Capped pay rises (and pay freezes) for public sector
workers also result in lower pensions on retirement.
Many of us enjoy the benefit of university education but
students now pay for higher education and once they are saddled with debt, many
cannot find decent jobs.
Sexism and racism are no longer left unchallenged as they
once were but legislation is hard to enforce. Women should be safe. Ethnic
minorities should be empowered to effectively challenge discrimination. The
prosecution of attackers should be vigorously pursued.
Today, soldiers are not employed against demonstrators but
there is an increasing militarisation of the police whose powers to prevent
effective protests including strike action are set to be strengthened through
the Policing Bill.
As in 1842 we still live in a society organised on the basis
of profit before people.
We will not forget what happened in Halifax in 1842. We will
campaign for the changes needed for a better, fairer, more equal society.
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