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We will be free!

21 April 2008

With preparations underway for this year's Tolpuddle festival, Tim Lezard of south west TUC examines the martyrs' legacy.

As the sun rose on February 24 1834, Dorset farm labourer George Loveless set off to work, saying goodbye to his wife Betsy and their three children.

They were not to meet alone again for three years, for as he left his cottage in the rural village of Tolpuddle, the 37-year-old was stopped by the local constable and served with a warrant for his arrest.

Under an obscure 1797 law, Loveless and five fellow workers – his brother James, James Hammett, James Brine, Thomas Standfield and his son John – were charged with having taken an illegal oath.

But their real crime in the eyes of the establishment was to have formed a trade union to protest about their meagre pay of six shillings a week – the equivalent of 30p in today’s money and the third wage cut in as many years.

With the bloody French Revolution still very much in the minds of the British establishment, landowners were determined to stamp out any form of insurrection.

And so when Loveless’s landowner, James Frampton, caught wind of a group of his workers having formed a union, he sent a spy to infiltrate their meetings.

Song of freedom

These gatherings, held under a sycamore tree in the village or in the upper room of Thomas Standfield’s cottage, were prefaced with the swearing of an oath of secrecy – and it was this act that led to the men’s arrest and subsequent sentence of seven years’ transportation.

By handing out such a harsh sentence, the government hoped to frighten the nascent Labour movement into submission, but they achieved precisely the opposite and were quite unprepared for the public outcry that ensued.

As the men were being guarded back to prison to await their transfer to the prison hulks, their hands manacled together, their heads shaven like common criminals, George Loveless scribbled some words that were to change the course of British law.

In desperation, he wrote what was later called his ‘Song of Freedom’. Its emotive and rousing chorus of, ‘We raise the watchword, liberty. We will, we will, we will be free!’, underlined the martyrs’ determination and has inspired generations of people to fight against injustice and oppression.

An annual celebration

That determination is celebrated every year in the village where the martyrs once lived. Each July Tolpuddle comes alive as thousands of trade unionists from all over the world gather to remember the martyrs and to continue their struggle.

The annual Tolpuddle martyrs festival with its heady mix of music, drama, comedy, poetry and politics has become a highlight of the trade union calendar.

At the heart of the event is a procession of vibrant and colourful banners snaking through the village, passing the aging sycamore under which Loveless convened the historic meetings.

This year also sees the second green camp, where trade union reps spend three days on site before the festival starts, looking at how they can promote sustainability in the workplace.

The martyrs’ story had a happy ending: after three years of hard labour in Australia, during which the trade union movement sustained their families by collecting voluntary donations, and a mass campaign culminating in a demonstration in London attended by 100,000 people, the government relented and the men were pardoned, returning home as heroes.

A legacy of solidarity

Their legacy of establishing in law the right to belong to a trade union was a key step in the fight for workers’ rights.

“They weren’t the first trade unionists, but their victory meant the act of forming a trade union became not only legal, but part of British society,” says Nigel Costley, regional secretary of the south west TUC and the festival organiser.

“They are still relevant today, not only in terms of how much we owe them, but because the extreme problems they faced are still being experienced in some parts of the world.

“We remember them and share our solidarity with workers who are facing the same battles for the fundamental rights to gather together, to speak with one voice and to advance their lives.”

The 2008 Tolpuddle martyrs festival takes place between July 18 and 20. Admission is free, although there is a charge for camping. For information visit the Tolpuddle website.
 

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