Newsletter of the National Clarion Cycling Club 1895 (North Lancs Union)
May Day Greetings
April 2010
For activists in the Labour and Trade Union Movement the reason May Day became International Worker’s Day can be traced to the Haymarket Incident. This tragic event took place in Chicago in 1886 where two years earlier The Knights of Labor had adopted a resolution which asserted that ‘eight hours shall constitute a legal
On May 1, 1886, 250,000 took to the streets across America to demand universal adoption of the 8 hour working day. The heart of the 8 hour movemcin was Chicago and fears cf violent class conflict gripped the city thai day. The 1‘ and of May passed peacefully but on the 3rd May fighting broke out at McCormick Reaper Works between lockedout unionists scab workers McCormick had hired to replace the strikers. The police quickly moved in with clubs guns to restore order, leaving four unionists dead many others wounded.
The anarchists, called for a mass meeting the next day in Haymarket Square to protest about police brutality. The occasion proceeded without incident but as the last speaker was about to leave the platform the police marched into the square and order the meeting to disperse. It was then a bomb was thrown killing one police officer and injuring 70. The city authority used this incident as an excuse to attack Trade Union activists and the anarchist in particular. Soon 8 of the city’s most active anarchist were charged with conspiracy to
Why do we celeb!
ate May Day?
murder in connection with the Haymarket bombing. All eight were found guilty even though the State Prosecutor offered no evidence that any of the accused had thrown the bomb or had been connected with its throwing. He appealed to the jury, to ‘convict these men, make an example of them, hang them, and you save our institutions’.
On 11 November 1887, four, them Albert Parsons, Adolf Fischer, George Engel August Spies were hanged. They died martyrs, killed for their words, not their deeds. Their only crime was their determination to emancipate the oppressed, disinherited masses. 250,000 people lined Chicago's streets for Parson's funeral procession to express their outrage at this gross miscarriage of justice. Louis Lingg committed suicide in prison, the remaining three were released in 1893 when Governor John Altgeld pardoned all eight men.
The Haymarket Incident figured prominently in the decision of the founding Congress of the Second International (Paris, 1889) to make May Ist 1890 a demonstration ‘in every country and in every town’ to ‘call upon the state for the legal reduction of the working day to eight hours’ May Day soon became a public holiday in many countries, an occasion when the Labour and Trade Union Movement reaffirms its commitment to the ideals of solidarity, equality and a better life for all workers.
Manchester Counett of Labour MAY DAY
DEMONSTRATION
Sunday, May 4th, 1947
ASSEMBLE ALBERT QQUARE, MANCHESTER 2 pre
This May Day why not cycle to a demonstration and live the words of Tom Groom: ‘A Clarion cyclist is a Socialist utilizing his cycle for the combined purposes of pleasure and propaganda’
The Clarion Cycling Club was formed by six members of the Social Democratic Federation in 1894. These young men (women were soon to join the Club) were keen to promote a new and fairer society with justice as its foundation and love as its Law. Their route to this New Society was to be the high road of Socialist co-operation as opposed to dank ally ways of competitive capitalism. Their vehicle was to be the bicycle, a new machine that gave some very extra-ordinary men and women freedoms their parents hadn’t even dared to dream of. In 1914 Tom Groom, the Club’s founder member wrote a piece for The Clarion newspaper which reads: ‘Over the tramlines; past the factory gates; past silent warehouses; through slumdom, through villadom, through the straggling village that divides the country from the town, and then with the back of your hand and the sole of your foot to the smoke and grime of mill and workshop quicken up the pace along the highway....Ah! This is better. One can breathe now. Clear away from murky towns; clear away from pent up streets, the sun high in the morning sky; the larks singing over the fields; a score or more wheels humming a merry tune; a thousand or more Clarionettes to greet’. Tom was writing in an age of hard toil in the factories and mines of the industrial revolution, an age of unimaginable social depravity in the slums of our major towns, yet through all this gloom these young Clarionettes along with their brothers and sisters in the Trade Union Movement could see the hope of a brighter future. Who a century later can argue with their desire to: share the freedom of the highways; to enjoy the pleasure of sharing your cup with a stranger or to hold dear the desire to make the world a better place. Our past makes us what we are and our past is too precious to betray or to cast aside as old-fashioned and no longer relevant in the
modern world. The General Election
In the next few days some accountant or barrister will come knocking on your door claiming to be your Labour candidate; you’ll easily recognize them they will be wearing something pink. Please don’t be diverted by their talk of world terrorism; the global economy, weeding out thieving M.P’s, or banker’s bonuses and don’t slam the door in their face. No! stand firm and demand what they are going to do to achieve the goals of people like Tom Mann, John Maclean, Caroline Martyn and Sarah Reddish. Ask them how our Clarion motto of ‘Fellowship is Life’ squares with their murderous attacks on the peoples of Iraq and Afghanistan. Ask them to which Trade Union they belong. On May 6" encourage everyone you know to vote, our right to vote was hard won by decades of struggle.
Trade Unions
Sadly some Trade Unions, but fortunately not all, seem to have forgotten their past and run the real risk of becoming little more than glorified insurance companies. Every single Trade Union leader should be obliged to attend rallies like the Durham Miner’s Gala and the Tolpuddle Martyrs Rally where the Movement’s history is there for all to see.
‘Without a banner, they call us a rabble, With a banner we march with reason Together many banners gives us strength A sea of banners we are a Movement’ There is clearly nothing wrong with the higher echelons of Trade Union Movement trying to protect their members, but members need to know why they are members of a Trade Union in the first place. The question to be addressed is where do young people receive their education in the history and the principles that have guided the Movement for over a hundred and fifty years, it’s certainly not
taught in schools. Who is to tell the young worker: That the power to withdraw your labour is a fundamental right. Slaves can’t strike, freemen can! The sanctity of the picket line is absolute should never be crossed. The longer the picket line the shorter the strike, stand by your brothers and sisters. Bonuses are both patronising and divisive; they deliberately undermine collective bargaining which will gain all workers a fair wage for their toils. Tipping is a management ploy to subsidise low wages. Why should one group of workers receive a proportion of their wage from another group of workers? Underpaid workers need solidarity in their struggle to secure a fair wage.
No overtime, our forefathers fought long and hard to reduce the working week. If there Is a management need for overtime, then there is clearly a case for employing more workers. Too many bosses, particularly in the Public Services get away with relying on overtime to maintain a basic level of service. If the basic wage is not sufficient to live on, then the answer is collective bargaining and the right to withdraw your labour.
Redundancy no matter how good the package is always a defeat, it causes division and breaks a link in the chain of worker’s solidarity.
There is a page in history When the workers first fought back. And the might of exploitation. At last began to crack.
In farm and field and factory.
In workshop, mine and mill.
A flame was lit, a beacon bright. A flame that’s burning still.
Know your history; learn your history; understand your history; but most important of all, never forget your history.
Leibinininmnesindoned HANDBOOKS
HANDBOOK
i
RIDE A B.
For many years our comrades in the National Clarion Cycling Club issued their members with an annual Handbook. Recently we received a number of these books spanning six decades from a former member and what interesting reading they make.
In the 1931 edition Tom Groom in ‘A Brief History of the Club’ writes: The Clarion was started on December 12" 1891. At the time there was no I.L.P. in existence, and the Labour Party had yet to be born. Socialism was being preached at street corners by the Social Democratic Federation. The Fabian Society was alive and supplying Facts for Socialists....There was the Socialist League, headed by William Morris with a deadly hatred of the meanness of our social conditions. The Guild of St.Matthew was preaching Christian Socialism. But the trouble with them all was that they used such abominably big words and such crack-jaw phrase to expound their theories that they confused rather than cleared the issue.
Then Robert Blatchford started The Clarion. In a series of letters to John Smith, of Oldham, he explained in words to two syllables, just what Socialism meant to him. I was in Birmingham and had just bought my first safety bicycle. There were other men in Birmingham who also read The Clarion. So in February 1894, we formed the Clarion Cycling Club, and set forth on our runs with leaflets and pamphlets on Socialism. We held discussions with the natives in village pubs; we made speeches on village greens; we cycled to
other towns to help the comrades there, and wn hand w Linh tomo
What else did we do? Well, look up the records of the LL.P. and you will find that Clarion Cyclists were taking their full share in forming local branches in every district where a C.C.C. existed. And there wasn’t a local or national election being held but our members were there to help the Socialist candidate. The Clarion Scouts were largely composed of Clarion Cyclists. We were also largely responsible for Clarion Van propaganda. There were seven of these vans at one time, rolling through the rural districts or, as in London, making regular centres for Socialist propaganda in towns. Then there were several big strikes in the 90’s and the early part of 1900. The Clarion launched appeals for funds to the strikers and the Clarion C.C.’s had regular and healthy weekly contributions to their credit.
But the penny “Merrie England” was our big opportunity. Robert Blatchford wrote the book and conceived the idea of putting out a million copies at one penny each. He called upon the Clarion Cyclists, the Clarion Scouts and Clarionettes in general to help. It was excellent propaganda work and we got rid of the million. It was the making of the Socialist Movement and the Labour Party.
The Handbooks name all the various Clarion Clubs: Burnbank Western; Old Hill; Pity Me and District; Church and Oswaldtwistle; Seven Sisters; and
There are lists of Clarion Caterers and Clarion Repairers, establishment renown for their good service to cyclists: ‘The charge for tea is 4d per head, and any higher charge should be reported to the Handbook Secretary’. Recommended caterers and repairers were issued with a Special “Official” red white enamel sign. ‘Members when they see this sign are assured of fully satisfactory treatment upon production of their membership card’.
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There are rules for riding with the Section covering whistles and calls: ‘No members shail pass the Captain without his permission’. Tips on Time Trialling ‘Present yourself at the start with yourself and your bicycle in immaculate condition, remembering you are an ambassador for the Clarion. If you enter an event, start it; when you start it finish it: D.N.S or D.N.F. on the results sheet brings no one credit, and are all too often plain indications of a lack of the desirable quality known as “guts”. On Massed-start racing: ‘He must be able to handle his bicycle as a cowboy does his mustang’.
Guidance on choosing a machine, cycle camping and cycle maintenance. Even advice in the 1955 Handbook on how ‘girls’ (sic) should dress: ‘No frill or fussiness please! Leave your jewellery at home and be contented to wear your club badge instead of that fancy brooch! Try to wear longwaisted blouses and not the shorter style which creep up your back to reveal a gap at the waistline above your shorts’.
The earlier Handbooks from the 1920’s contain the words to The Internationale. The 1935 Handbook has 240 pages but the 1946 edition was down to just 28 due to the war time rationing of paper. A copy of the North East Union Handbook from 1946 contains a Roll of Honour ‘In Glorious Remembrance of 18 Comrades who died fighting that we might live in Peace and Freedom’. 18 dried flowers had been placed between the pages, perhaps picked out on a Club run by someone who missed the fellowship of those who hadn’t returned.
There are also some great period advertisements such as this one from the 1931 Handbook for a Moorson Twin Tube Cycle.
Ride a MOORSON Twin Tube Cycle. It’s the lightest for Touring or Racing. Appeals
The 1937 Handbook contains an advert for The Clarion Cyclist The Club’s official organ. If anyone happens to have a copy of this publication we would be most interested to hear from them.
The a Clarion PARLOR Cyclist <YSLiST The Club’s te TWOPENCE Official Organ MONTHLY
Published on the First of each Month Available by Post 2{6 per Year
Similarly The National Clarion Motor Club advert mentions a badge, if anyone knows of this badge or has a picture of one please let us know.
National Clarion Motor Club
“FOR US THE GREEN WOODS AND THE WINDING ROAD”
To all comrades who are motorists,
we invite you to join this club.
Formed in 1916, this Club has now established itself as a very important link in the chain of Clarion organisations. The majority of ex-Clarion Cyclists who have taken up motoring desire to retain their connection with the Clarion Movement, and we especially invite them to share our pleasures, and help us in our work.
Here is the opportunity to combine the “lure of the
open road” with a real fellowship, one which seeks to obtain for all a full share of the joys of life. Finally: An extract taken from the 1953 Handbook: ‘For damages caused by an act of negligence by a servant in the course of his service, the master is responsible, even if it be in disobedience of the
master’s orders’. So much for our Socialist past!!!!!
Phe Clarion Tom Groom’s words of wisdom: “This Club ain’t great at distances. What this club wants is not a speedometer but a boozeometer’, were to set the tone for this Easter’s tour of the North York Moors and the Yorkshire Wolds. Day One: Pocklington to Helmsley. Five Clarion cyclist meet at the Wolds Gliding C ‘lub on the outskirts of Pocklington on the morning of Good Friday. They then cycled northwards through the village of Fangfoss to Stamford Bridge where a thousand years earlier King Harold If of England had defeated the Viking army of Harald Hardrada. Continuing north we climbed the Howardian Hills to Coneysthorpe and Castle Howard where we met Chris Goode and Stuart Walsh.
Then it was on to the Malt Shovel at Slingsby for the first pub stop of the tour. Continuing northwards we passed through Hovingham, a truly beautiful village with a pub why didn’t we stop!!! on route to Helmsley Youth Hostel where we were to be joined later in the evening by Greystone. While some were booking into the hostel the rest of the group cycled up the road to see the splendid ruins of Rievaulx Abbey.
After our evening meal we adjourned to the Black Swan where Chris Goode ran a highly entertaining quiz on the English Revolution which was won by two eaves-droppers from Scotland!!!!!!!
Day two: Helmsley to Pickering Leaving the Hostel the group split, one section followed a slightly flatter route through the villages south of the A170, whilst the rest climbed the remote but beautiful series of dales running north of the A170. In Farndale, ‘Red Ruth’ Coates very nearly became Dead Ruth Coates when she met a speeding quad bike as she rounded a left hand bend at the bottom
of a steep, fast descent, she was of course on the wrong side of the road!!.
’s Second Easter Tour
The two groups met up in the New Inn at Cropton, a pub with a brewery attached, Samm Topp would at loved it. Well refreshed with lots of real ale we wobbled down into Pickering where we met Denis and Wendy Pye who had arrived up from Bolton to greet us by way of the North York Moors Steam Railway.
Day Three: Pickering to Scarborough. Four of the group who had spent the night in Pickering cycled up to meet the others who had stayed at Lockton Youth Hostel. This was to be a splendid day’s ride up through Dalby Forest and onto Harwood Dale via the excellent Moor Cock Inn, a pub of interest and character which would have suited Samm Topp. Having arrived in Scarborough slightly wet, we were joined by Norman Luxford who had travelled up from London to share a pint (or was that ten) with us in some of the town’s better to be avoided pubs!!!
We then all went round to Chris’ home for a meal and a further session of Clarion ‘bounderising’
Day Four: Scarborough to Pocklington A wet start to the day which quickly cleared. Our route took us south through Hunmanby and Rudston with its monolith to Bell’s café in Driffield, the capital of the Yorkshire Wolds. The it was westward to Pocklington via Bainton and Warter, a 45 mile route without a single pub that was open!!!! Samm Topp would have died, we nearly did but were saved by Ruth’s supply of red wine
Next year’s Easter Clarion Tour will visit the Cotswolds. If you know any good pubs in the area, tells and they will be put on the route.
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At the Front supporting the Principles of Socialism
An appeal
The La Pasionaria Memorial in Glasgow which commemorates the 65 volunteers who lost their lives fighting to support the Spanish Republican is in dire need of repair. Our Trade Union comrades in the city have launched an appeal to help with the cost of the refurbishment. Thanks to a recent bequest from a former Clarion cyclist we have sent a good donation
on behalf of the National Clarion CC 1895.
We would urge individual members to do likewise. ‘no contribution is ever too great or too small’. Donations should be sent to Ian Tasker, Assistant Secretary, Scottish TUC, 333 Woodlands Road, Glasgow, G3 6NG. (cheques payable to STUC).
Boy Scout or Clarion Scout An interesting cycling article appeared in The Guardian on 08.03.10 titled ‘Spyclists’ regarding members of the Nazi Youth Movement touring Britain on bicycles in the late 1930. ‘2mpress on your memory the roads and paths, villages and towns, outstanding church towers and other landmarks so that you will not forget them. Make a note of the names of places, rivers, seas and mountains. Perhaps you should be able to utilise these sometime for the benefit of the Fatherland....Wade through fords so that you will be able to find them in the dark’ Surprisingly, or perhaps not, Lord Baden-Powell founder of the Boy Scout Movement got on well with the German ambassador Joachim von Ribbentrop and found him to be ‘a charming man, I knew his uncle in India’. Quite pleasing to recorded that ‘his charm’ and being a pal of Baden’s didn’t save his neck at the Nuremburg War Crimes Tribunal. The two of them
must have had some interesting discussions about meaning of the Scout Law: “A Scout obeys orders’. They could probably agree on that without too much trouble providing it was the Fuhrer or one of his admires in the British monarchy who were giving the orders, but “A Scout is a friend to all’. Well I suppose that can stay too providing we don’t include Gypsies, Jews, Communists, Socialists, Liberals, newspaper editors, left wing clergy, homosexuals, poets, authors, painters, musicians, Trade Unionists, the disabled, the mentally il] and black people called Jesse Owen. Whilst Baden-Powell was accompanying the deputy leader of the Hitler Youth Movement, Hartmann Lauterbacher on a tour of Eton School and his loyal lads of the Tamworth Scout Troop were attending a Hitler Jugend Camp near Hamburg. Clarion cyclists were showing the true meaning of friendship by fighting the fascist hordes in Spain. Clarion Scouts were out on the streets of towns and cities physically stopping Oswald Mosley, his Blackshirt thugs (and the police who protected them) from marching and spreading their racist filth, Boy Scout or Clarion Scout there simply isn’t a choice.
Chartist’s Rally 1846
On Sunday May 2™ why not cycle, walk or drive to the White Horse public house on the A58 above Littleborough. Our comrades from the Calder Valley Voices choir invite us to their annual commemorative gathering on Blackstone Edge. Here in 1846 Chartist leaders Feargus O’Connner and Emest Jones addressed a crowd of over 30,000. This now annual picnic with choral singing was really well supported last year and is in the heart of some great but hilly cycling country. For meeting times and further details contact: gwyneth.morgan@3-c.co-op or see: the choir’s website: j
YVoices. Org uk,
Events worthy of Clariou Support Any demonstrations by the English Defence League should be opposed but go prepared for trouble. Clarion members recently helped to clear the streets of Bolton of these fascist thugs but the police’s Tactical Support Units gave us a hard time.
Saturday May 1 May Day Commemoration in Belfast. Assemble: York St. 11.30am.
Saturday May Ist. The Inaugural Frow Memorial Lecture: ‘Till the Struggle is O'er’~ Chartist Poetry by Dr. Mike Sanders. 2pm at the Conference Room, The Old Fire Station, The Crescent, Salford. (about 100 yards from the WCM library).
Sunday May 2" Commemorate the Chartists at Blackstone Edge with the Calder Valley Voices. Flags, banners and voices welcome take a coat! Monday, May 34 Bumley May Day Festival Contact: www.burnleytuc.org
Saturday May 8™ Chris Hall will give a talk at the newly refurbished Peoples History Museum in Manchester on his book ‘Not just Orwell’ which looks at the ILP volunteers in the Spanish Civil War and their links with the POUM militia. The talk begins at 2pm and the museum’s new display on the Clarion Cycling club is well worth seeing.
Saturday May 15™ Ride to Sarah Reddish’s grave, Heaton Cemetery from Bolton Socialist Club 4pm Saturday May 22" IBMT ‘Anti-Fascistas’ exhibition opens in Newcastle City Library. Saturday May 29": Annual Walt Whitman Walk organised by our comrades at Bolton Socialist Club for details see: www. boltonsocialistclub org.uk Saturday; June 4" Event at International Brigade Memorial Unveilingin Perth starts 3pm.
Friday to Sunday: June 18 to 20th CTC York Cycle Rally. Call at our stall for a drink of wine. Saturday 3™ July: South Yorkshire Trade Union Festival at Wortley Hall, Sheffield from Ipm. Saturday 3™ July: International Brigade Memorial Trust commemoration in London
Saturday 10 July Durham Miner’s Gala Saturday/Sunday 17" 18™ July: Tolpuddle Martyrs Rally and grand parade on Sunday.
A Rally to the Call
To all Clarionettes, Trade Unionists and comrades in the Labour Movement, be in Nottingham on Saturday July 17" to protest against the City Council’s disgraceful decision to remove the information plaque from the memorial to the volunteers from the International Brigade. Let us not forget Clarion cyclists fought and died in Spain.
‘Lanterne Rouge”
‘This pacy, poignant production celebrates cycling and its unusual partnership with socialism. Mikron's talented team of four freewheelers, pedals its way through 100 years of history, charting the amazing story of the socialist cyclists of the National Clarion Cycling Club and the last day of business in a 2Ist century Manchester cycle shop. These two tales are interwoven with laughter, tomfoolery, rousing songs and sheer Pedal Power.’
National Clarion CC 1895 (North Lancs Union) are sponsoring a performance of this play at the People’s History Museum on Friday, October 1" The company will be touring the play throughout England during the summer and autumn for other tour dates please visit: www.mikron.og.uk
THIS PLAY IS A MUST FOR ALL CYCLISTS AND SOCIALISTS, GO OUT OF YOUR WAY TO SEE IT AND TAKE YOUR FRIENDS YOU
WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED.
AUTUMN MEET
The Clarion’s Autumn Meet at Wortley Hall, the Worker’s Stately Home will be held on Saturday
and Sunday September 11” and 12". Once again it promises to be a weekend of ‘bounderising’ at its
best, with a bit of cycling too!