['In the "20s, to the consternation of the…]
Socialist Organiser1983 1983-09-29Read it in the scan (PDF), scan page 8 →
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'In the "20s, to the consternation of the liberal-minded Labour leadership of Henderson and MacDonald, Battersea North elected as their member of parliament the Indian Saklatvala. Not only was he an Indian but a Communist, and he was sponsored by the united Battersea labour movement.
The link that Saklatvala established with his worker constituents was not that of the proverbia! surgery, "Can I help you" "Have you any problems?" At that time the entire working class had a problem: that of survival against the employers luckouts, widespread unemployment, and the downward slide of the sliding scale of wages agreements.
Saklatvala spoke at factory gate meetings and introduced the monthly report back from Westminster. There were great meetings. Long before the doors of the town hall opened, queues formed just like they used to at Stamford Bridge:
The platform was always crowded. Sak, as he was affectionately known, was flanked by the entire executive of the Trades and Labour Council and numerous representatives of Indian and colonial organisations...
These monthly report-back meetings on the doings in parlia. ment stirred hundreds into activity. The Battersea labour movement pulsated with life and was united. Marxist classes held by the old Plebs League flourished. Trade Union branches . were crowded..."
Harry Wicks, "The
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i a political beach-head"