Working Class History in Medway

Working Class History in Medway A welcomed development within the local Stand up to Racism groups is the interest being shown in the Working Class History of the Towns. One area of that history would be a detailed investigation into the Industrial heritage of the area. This is a rich, but neglected, subject of study. Much has been written about the general Working Class history by several writers and this is worthy of being revisited so that younger members of SUTR know what already exists: Authors such as Philip MacDougall, Bruce Aubrey, Ronald Baldwin and Martin Hoyles. As far as industrial history there are important aspects beyond the long lasting history of the Chatham Dockyard. Brick making was at one time a major occupation. Aveling and Porter was linked to the agricultural nature of the area being, amongst other things, the manufacturer of the first petrol, as opposed to steam, driven tractors. Shorts in Rochester were famous for their seaplanes. The role of BAE Systems, and its predecessors, despite their present involvement in military conflict, would be worth study as a development of electronics and the possibilities that this could offer if used for positive purposes. If we hope to change the society in which we live, we have to understand not only that society as it now exists but how it has evolved into this situation. One thing that I did some years ago with a comrade who was a skilled historian was to write a series of essays based on the various elections during the twentieth century from the perspective of Labour Party supporters. More recently, for the Medway Trades Union Council, I produced a first attempt at an industrial profile of Medway. Things have changed in the Towns. We are neither the elite, historical, City of Rochester, nor the working towns of Strood, Chatham, Gillingham and Rainham. We no longer have London Dockers coming down to meet dock workers in Old Gillingham, a meeting that led to the formation of one of the earliest Labour Parties in the whole country, well before what we now consider to be the formation of the Labour Party. Do we really know how to describe the identity of the Medway Towns? Do we know the people who will live in the many high blocks of apartments being build on the Riverside in Rochester and in the centre of Chatham? Where will these people work? What will be their occupations? What is true is that the Towns are now more multicultural than at any stage in their history. This is a positive development. It has brought many cultural changes in terms of living, food, music, customs, in fact in all aspects of life. This has affected all sections and classes in our society. In consequence the working class has changed, but not in the basic situation that creates the working class. There is still that fundamental divide between the ruling Class that owns and controls the means of production and the working class who have to work in order to survive. This basic divide unites all working people of all races and ethnicities. We must see ourselves as part of this united working class and act as part of the class. We cannot stand aside seeking to influence by words. The strength of the working class is not in the literate environment that formed the basis of the bourgeois, middle class, capitalist society. The strength of the working class is in actions, deeds, attitude, common feelings, in a recognition that individually we are powerless. Our strength comes from our solidarity. We have to recognise that the working class is not perfect, we all have our false consciousness , we can all be led astray by false prophets. But what we must not assume is that members of the class are mindless, gullible, ignorant, racist, that they need to be told what to do and that they cannot think for themselves nor relate to their own circumstances. The new middle class, that section of workers who have gain most from the post war era of progress, is far more likely to conform that the manual working class. The rebellion of the working class is shown in a variety of ways, many of which can appear to be negative. We need to look for and encourage the positive whilst recognising our own negativity. Mixed consciousness is a fact of all our lives. A factor in the lives of any people who might be termed racist, is that they will have friends, acquaintances, or work colleagues, who are of a different ethnicity to themselves, their attitude being ‘he or she, whom they know are ‘ok’, not like them, whom she does not know, who,are considered not ‘ok’. Marx said ‘Workers of the world unite, you have nothing to lose but your chains’. Those chains bind all of us and we can only break out together. The study of Working Class History, provided we concentrate on the actions of the mass, nrather than on individuals, points the way forward. As one contributor to the SUTR What’s App group reminded us, the Peasant’s Revolt was strong in Kent. That revolt failed.That failure owing much to the duplicity of the Rulers andy to the trust of the Peasants, as so often happened in the past. But that it happened showed the resilience and determination of the peasants in the face of enormous forces against them. We can learn from the past history of the Working Class and can prevail but we must recognise that our strength lies in unity, and that we must have a clear end in sight. That end must involve more than ending racism and discrimination (important though ending these are) it must lead towards the destruction of capitalism and to a classless society in which all are equal and can live happy, peaceful, secure lives. Scribar 22.6.25