It is 200 years ago today since the Peterloo Massacre in St Peters Fields in Manchester when cavalry charged into a crowd of 60,000 to 80,000 who were demanding political reform. 18 died, including 4 women, and hundreds were injured.
As this was only four years after the Battle of Waterloo, the event was sarcastically referred to as Peterloo. John Lees, a cloth worker from Oldham who died from his wounds on 9 September, had been present at the Battle of Waterloo. Shortly before his death he told a friend that he had never been in such danger as at Peterloo: "At Waterloo there was man to man, but there it was downright murder."
How far have we progressed since then? While the Peterloo Massacre has been called one of the defining moments of its age, the Miners' Strike of 1984-1985 showed that official attitudes to ordinary people standing up for themselves haven't changed significantly, demonstrated by the prime minister in the 1980s describing trade unions as "the enemy within".
Good one Nev. The modern ruling class has learned guns and sabres are not always appropriate, now they rely on lies and deceit and anti-trade laws to paralyse the working class. Tragically the TUC has no intention of seriously challenging this Tory/Blairite assault.
ReplyDeleteGood point, Tony. Different weapons - same mentality.
Delete