LAST MAN OF THE 1936 JARROW MARCH DIED - RIP

In my opinion:  Typical, arrogant Tory PM Baldwin had not so much decency to go out of  10 Downing Street and meet these men who went through such hardship and saw it as a last hope to gain employment. Typical Tories!!!

Con Shiels died and was the last man of the Jarrow March -- may he RIP. He was 96 years old.

This wonderful 1936 protest against unemployment must go down in British history and never be forgotten.  Con Shiels was 20 years when he joined the men at the last stage of the march, including his father, Con Senior.  200 very weary men walked 300 miles for work from the depressed Tyneside town of Jarrow to the capitol.

Before the death of Con Shiels there was Cornelius Whalen who done the full length of the march of 300 miles. He died a decade ago.

The Jarrow Crusade which was the real name was unfortunately not met, for which they had hoped for. Tory, it would be, Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin had not even the decency to meet them, typical Tories. These proud men covered 300-miles with great dignity and hardship, right through England. to ask for jobs and not charity. 

How on earth could a PM Stanley Baldwin be so arrogant and cruel not to meet these men who were so desperate to march 300 miles? Or was he too much a coward to face the result of his politics? 

The Labour MP “Red Ellen” Wilkinson joined the march and went all the way through her constituents.  She admitted that it was a disappointment in her history of Jarrow book titled “The Town That Was Murdered.”  It shows again the attitude of the Tory to tread proud men like that after such an incredible sacrifice they made. They just ignored them.

It is amazing Hitler’s bombs and investment to re-arm Britain for the Second World War saved Jarrow and not the characterless Tory Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin nor the fat cats of shipbuilders and steel works owners. All of them callously sacked the breadwinners and couldn’t care less about families starving to death.

Although there were many other marches during the 1930s but the Jarrow Crusade somehow stands out.

Maybe because it was a march of 300 miles but nevertheless none of them should be forgotten.  They were just ordinary people who stood up for their rights demanded nothing more than just jobs. Right through history there were demonstration for voting, jobs, decent income, home, to join a trade union, free speech and fair trial. This is the real history of Britain not to bow down and to be trampled on.  Now again the Education Secretary Michael Gove only re-introduce history of glorious battles.

The battles by women for equal rights; to be a unionist which fights for a decent wage for a decent day work,  fought by ordinary people against the ruling class who only sees and thinks for themselves is always push aside in the hope that it will be forgotten eventually.

All along British History which was not always fairly written because again, the ruling class wrote it there were Martyrs, Suffragettes and Luddites. Luddites were labelled as backward when they smashed the machines of mill owners who were only after the profits. Nowadays we can see under what horrendous situations these people had to work.

In 1926 the General Strike was only forced upon people because they just could not take it any more.  But again they were defeated by the government bringing in Irish workers and the men had to swallow the bitter, bitter bill and start to work for devastating cut wage.  This actually developed into the Jarrow Crusade.

In the Manchester   Museum where people’ real history is preserved.  The museum has a collection of banners with great art works showing the rise of organised labour.  It is more than worthwhile to visit with many paintings giving evidence of hardship, fight and endurance beyond belief.

Amongst the artefacts are Harold Wilson’s pipe and his “donkey jacket”.

This year, 2013, is the 125^th anniversary of the match girls' strike working at Bryant & May. Very young girls were working 14 hours a day and their jaws became rotten from the phosphor used in matches. All that for a very low pay while the owners lived in all the splendour you can imagine.  One day they had enough and down the matchboxes went.  The Unite union organising a play in the memory of the dispute which will re-tell their story.

Today we had the bankster who created the financial collapse and escaped punishment yet they put countless families into untold hardship. 280 food bank, at that time, had to be establish to avoid a widespread famine.  This is an incredible situation to happen in Britain and again the ruling classes could not care less.

Experts even have the audacity to forecast a rise of unemployment in the next two years. There seem to be a repetition of 1936 and the Jarrow march brings it back to reality. Will the people take a leaf out of their book even so they noble intention failed?

Today people’s attitude changed so far because of their soft life. What will they do if or when the situation gets worse?  So far, even while Cameron’s austerity is biting more and more the people still treading the mills to keep above water but with promise of rising food prices and all the benefit cuts which come into affect in April will the people able to cope with further hardship?