{"id":17081,"date":"2019-01-27T16:40:12","date_gmt":"2019-01-27T16:40:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=17081"},"modified":"2020-11-12T12:57:46","modified_gmt":"2020-11-12T12:57:46","slug":"roared-like-lion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=17081","title":{"rendered":"\u00e2\u20ac\u015bRoared like a lion\u00e2\u20ac\u0165"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Unite general secretary Len McCluskey yesterday (26 January) celebrated the life and achievements of one of Leeds\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 greatest 19th Century trade unionists.<\/p>\n

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Tom Maguire was a trade unionist and poet whose influence, despite his tragic death from pneumonia at just 29 in 1895, continues to this day.<\/p>\n

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McCluskey delivered the first Tom Maguire Memorial Lecture to a sold-out crowd at Chapel FM Arts Centre on Saturday afternoon.<\/p>\n

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Before delivering the lecture, McCluskey and Leeds East MP Richard Burgon laid flowers at Maguire\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s grave at Beckett Street Cemetery.<\/p>\n

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Maguire\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s epitaph reads, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bSocialist: Bold, Cautious, True and Loving Comrade.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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McCluskey left a tribute at his graveside that read, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bIn memory of a great socialist. In solidarity.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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Inspirational life<\/strong><\/em>
\nBurgon\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s message said, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bIn memory of Tom\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Maguire\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s inspirational life and contribution – of his words and deeds!”<\/p>\n

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Maguire played an outsized role in organising and defending workers during the 19th Century.<\/p>\n

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He is known for his part in the 1890 gas workers strike \u00e2\u20ac\u201c dubbed the \u00e2\u20ac\u015bBattle of Leeds\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 by his peer Friedrich Engels \u00e2\u20ac\u201c as well as his fight to improve working conditions for Jewish tailors and other workers in the city.<\/p>\n

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McCluskey told the audience: \u00e2\u20ac\u015bBut it was the gas strike that exposed the extent to which the Liberals \u00e2\u20ac\u201c supported by many trade unionists at the time \u00e2\u20ac\u201c would never be on the side of working people.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt was indeed a key factor in the break-up of the two-party system and the founding of the Independent Labour Party three years later, which went on to play a key role in the formation of the Labour Representation Committee and then our Labour Party.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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The lecture also compared the role of trade unions during Maguire\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time and their role now.<\/p>\n

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Relevant today<\/strong><\/em>
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bTrade unions are as relevant today as they were during the industrial revolution and Maguire\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s years,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 McCluskey said.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bBut we have to make ourselves relevant to each and every sector including the gig economy, and we do that by being meaningful as a movement to them.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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To achieve this Unite is focused on developing strategies that deliver measurable results for members in a modern and often atomised world of work that is increasingly dominated by automated and digitalised workplaces, McCluskey explained.<\/p>\n

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Commenting that it is interesting how history often repeats itself, McCluskey said, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bTom Maguire threw himself into trade union organising during the Industrial Revolution.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe speed and nature now of technological developments in recent years, leading to a new wave of automation and digitalisation, has been dubbed the fourth industrial revolution \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and it is casting a long shadow.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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McCluskey added, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bI think about what unions have achieved\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 as a direct result of Maguire and his comrades\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 work\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 (and) I wonder what he would make of our so-called modern world of insecure work?<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bI suspect he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d say don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t rest on your laurels, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s more to be done. How right he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d be. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s always more to be done.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Unite general secretary Len McCluskey yesterday (26 January) celebrated the life and achievements of one of Leeds\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 19th Century trade union heroes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":17083,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17],"tags":[343],"wps_subtitle":"Len McCluskey pays tribute to 19th Century trade unionist Tom Maguire","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17081"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17081"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17081\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25601,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17081\/revisions\/25601"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/17083"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17081"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17081"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17081"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}