Fownhope’s Heart of Oak Society traces its roots to the age of friendly societies, when communities provided their own safety net. Its anniversary celebrations reveal a tradition still very much alive, says MARK SEDDON
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When collective courage won the day
MICHAEL WALKER looks back at a momentous strike that came to epitomises the values of working-class resiliance and solidarity
On March 6 1923 without notice or negotiations, the Norfolk farmers gave notice and imposed cut of 2 shillings and 6 pence to the 25 shillings weekly wage and in addition an increase in woking hours from 50 hours to 54 hours a week. Norfolk’s 20,000 agricultural workers fought back - and won.
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MARCH 26 2023 marks the centenary of the totemic Norfolk agricultural workers’ strike. It saw over 6,000 members of the National Union of Agricultural Workers (NUAW), many veterans of WWI, go on strike against farmers attempting to slash their pay and increase hours.
The Morning Post newspaper told its readers: “It is impossible to write without emotion of the agricultural distress prevailing in Norfolk. With wages at 25 shillings a week, the labourer is worse off than he has been in the memory of living man.”
The root of the strike was in the decision of the post-WWI Conservative/Liberal coalition government’s austerity policies, which included cuts in war-time financial subsidies to farmers and axed the minimum wage for agricultural workers — central tenet of the Agricultural Wages Board.
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