Burston strike school celebrated

Every year hundreds of trade unionists and socialists commemorate the longest strike in history at the Burston Strike School Rally.

In 1914 two teachers were dismissed at the school in Burston, a small village on the Suffolk-Norfolk boarder near Diss.

Kitty and Tom Higdon were sacked for being socialists and trade unionists, organising agricultural workers and progressive education.

However the children decided the next day that they would not allow this to happen, and walked out of the village school.

Trade unionists and socialists from all over the country funded a new independent school on the village green, called the Burston Strike School.

It stood as a beacon until 1939 when the Higdons died. The school still stands today as a memorial to defiance, and the strike, having never been called off, has lasted 99 years.

At this year’s rally, on 1 September, Bob Crow called on the TUC to call a one-day general strike for us to fight today! This got a great reception – unlike the response to the Labour speaker who went down like a damp squib.

Ten Socialist Party members held a stall in the heart of the village green, selling 34 copies of the Socialist and over £40 of books, badges and mugs. Two people asked to join the party.

It is great day out, one which you should put in your diary for next year, the 100th anniversary.

Steve Glennon