Pentonville Five - 50th Anniversary
Fifty years ago, the Royal Docks were undergoing a massive change. New technology in the shape of containerisation meant that jobs in Newham were moving eastwards to Tilbury. The opposition to this was led by a group of shop stewards from the Royal Docks and five of them were imprisoned in Pentonville.
Whilst containerisation is no longer a controversial issue, the memory of the Pentonville Five and their fight remains strong in left-leaning groups, one only has to scan a few Trotskyist and communist websites to see the seminal place that a couple of weeks from half a century ago still plays in their minds.
The events of the summer of 1972 will be commemorated at Newham Town Hall on July 1st.
We see from the list of speakers that Mayor Fiaz is polishing her left-wing credentials again.
As to why Mayor Fiaz will be seeking to burnish her, somewhat jaded, lefty credentials; this seems to be a part of her attempt to recast herself on Labour’s left (in anticipation of the selection of a candidate for the Stratford and Bow seat). She has done this before when the Labour left in Newham actually thought she was a supporter of Momentum. They have now been disabused of that belief, but it seems that there are plenty of people out there who are willing to believe that she has some sort of left-wing commitment and she of course, seems quite willing to present herself as whatever is necessary to advance her career. And having the support of some trade unions wouldn’t hurt in her attempts to progress up the slippery pole.
Consistency in your values is far less important than an ability to adapt to the direction of the prevailing political wind.
A Footnote:
The late Vic Turner was one of five dock workers imprisoned in 1972 for his part in a series of strikes against containerisation.
Vic went on to become a Labour Newham councillor after he retired; no-one is quite sure whether he also gave up his CPGB membership. We can only speculate on what Vic would have thought of the manoeuvrings of Mayor Fiaz.