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Friday 18 July / 10:00-4:00pm
Tolpuddle Martyrs’ festival

Stall details tbc Our party will have a book stall all day at this year's Burston School Strike rally. Talking to us in person is the best way to understand out what makes our approach to politics different from the rest of the self-identifying ‘left’. We also have a wide range of literature on every topic of essential importance to the working class. In particular, pick up a copy of our essential guide to the present situation: . ------------------------------ The Tolpuddle martyrs were farmworkers from the village of Tolpuddle in Dorset, who were arrested and tried in 1834 for trying to form a union when their wages were reduced to starvation level. Led by George Loveless, the group formed the Friendly Society of Agricultural Labourers during a dispute over wage cuts. Although unions were not actually illegal, the government was very nervous about the spread of such activity, and so it arrested them under an old law against “unlawful oaths”. The men were convicted and sentenced to transported in Australia, but were pardoned in 1836 after mass protests, returning to England between 1837 and 1839. The Tolpuddle martyrs remain an example of the need for collective organisation under conditions of capitalist exploitation, and of the power that workers have when they mobilise in large enough numbers.