All Organisations subcategories:
Committee for a Workers International
Nationalist and National Liberation
Pro capitalist and Imperialist
Left and radical keywords:
International Socialist Resistance (54)
Revolutionary Communist League (1)
Socialist Peoples Party (Denmark) (1)
Diggers
Highlight keywords |
Print this article
Search site for keywords: Newport - Working class - Labour - Diggers - Chartist
Newport council destroys workers' mural
Dave Reid
Part of the Newport chartist mural depicting workers struggles which was smashed up by council developers, photo Dave Reid (Click to enlarge)
Over 500 angry people protested on 5 October against Newport Labour council and Queensberry property developers' destruction of the town's Chartist mural.
The council pre-empted the protest by sending diggers in early to smash the mural, trying to erase the memory of working class struggle from Newport people's lives.
The mural was built in 1978 from 200,000 pieces of mosaic. The 35-metre wall cleverly depicted the march of the Newport Chartist uprising of 1839 when 30 workers were massacred as they rose up to demand democratic rights for the working class.
You could see individual workers marching as a mass carrying the six demands of the charter, only to be shot down by the army.
This massacre ranks alongside the 1819 Peterloo killings as one of the worst atrocities to try to stem working class struggle for democratic and social rights.
When plans for the mural's destruction became known, the movement to save it grew. So the council smashed the mural to pieces two days before the protest was planned. Stunned passers-by protested as diggers ripped the mural from the wall.
Generations of Newport children learnt about their working class heritage from the wall. Newport people are proud of their revolutionary tradition - but not Newport Labour.
Paul Flynn, Labour MP for Newport West, tried to derail protests, saying in February: "To suggest that the council would disrespect that memory is nonsense on stilts". But the council turned the memory to rubble.
Newport council could have moved the mural. They claim the cost would be £600,000, but even that exaggerated figure pales into insignificance compared to the millions to be spent on the shopping centre and the £40 million of public money spent attracting the Ryder Cup to Newport in 2010.
Flynn says there are more important things than murals to protest about. Probably there are. But the mural's destruction is a visible expression of working class people being robbed of their NHS, their jobs, their rights.
The capitalists want to wrest away all the gains of the generations after the Chartists, like the NHS, the welfare state and protection at work. And Labour walks alongside them while they do it.
Donate to the Socialist Party
Finance appeal
The coronavirus crisis has laid bare the class character of society in numerous ways. It is making clear to many that it is the working class that keeps society running, not the CEOs of major corporations.
The results of austerity have been graphically demonstrated as public services strain to cope with the crisis.
The government has now ripped up its 'austerity' mantra and turned to policies that not long ago were denounced as socialist. But after the corona crisis, it will try to make the working class pay for it, by trying to claw back what has been given.
- The Socialist Party's material is more vital than ever, so we can continue to report from workers who are fighting for better health and safety measures, against layoffs, for adequate staffing levels, etc.
- When the health crisis subsides, we must be ready for the stormy events ahead and the need to arm workers' movements with a socialist programme - one which puts the health and needs of humanity before the profits of a few.
Inevitably, during the crisis we have not been able to sell the Socialist and raise funds in the ways we normally would.
We therefore urgently appeal to all our viewers to donate to our Fighting Fund.
LATEST POSTS
12 May Stop Israeli state brutality
 |
9 May Post-election meetings
15 May Birmingham Socialist Party: How can we fight for socialist change and a new workers' party?
17 May Oxfordshire & Aylesbury Socialist Party: The role of the state
18 May Bristol North Socialist Party: Liverpool - history of socialist struggle
CONTACT US
Phone our national office on 020 8988 8777
Email: [email protected]
Locate your nearest Socialist Party branch Text your name and postcode to 07761 818 206
Regional Socialist Party organisers:
Eastern: 079 8202 1969
East Mids: 077 3797 8057
London: 075 4018 9052
North East: 078 4114 4890
North West 079 5437 6096
South West: 077 5979 6478
Southern: 078 3368 1910
Wales: 079 3539 1947
West Mids: 024 7655 5620
Yorkshire: 078 0983 9793
ABOUT US
ARCHIVE
2020
2019
2018
2017
2016
2015
2014
2013
2012
2011
2010
2009
2008
2007
2006
2005
2004
2003
2002
2001
2000
1999