The Spirit of '45 Page #2

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the steam train passing, they would

come out to the back of the house

to count the number of trucks

that were going up to the colliery

because with that knowledge

they would know then

whether they had work for a day or two

or for the week.

They used to call it the umbrella pit

because it was

constantly opening and closing.

My father took me

down to see the dole queue in Liverpool

and then he walked me

the full length of it.

Then he walked me back

so I could see all their faces.

And he said, "Now, remember that."

"Remember that and don't let it happen

in your day."

And I was ten.

We went to all the meetings

in those days.

They were mostly out in parks

or street corners.

And I got quite used to it,

so I was really pretty well educated

as regards politics.

What really matters

is who controls industry

and the result of industry.

Hear, hear.

This rubbish about

the banking system is the greatest.

Hear, hear.

You don't make money,

you don't make wealth

by passing bits of paper to one another.

Close up the ranks. Fall in.

Join the great army

of the children of the night

marching to the conquest of the future.

Marching to build Jerusalem

in England's green and pleasant land.

(CROWD CHEERS)

I was 25 years of age...

...when I read my first book,

The Ragged-Trousered Philanthropists.

It just completely changed my life.

I couldn't sleep after reading

The Ragged-Trousered Philanthropists.

I just thought, what fools everyone are.

How we've all been taken in

and we're still being taken in.

We're just sucked into a false life

of what it's all about.

When we were living in the slums

off Great Homer Street,

we were the greatest empire

in the world.

We had India, Africa, Canada, Australia.

The greatest empire in the world.

We were living

in the worst slums in Europe.

My dad used to take

an orange box round to the docks

and urge the dockers

to join a union, to band together

with all the other...

"You'll never get anywhere

if you don't."

"You've got to be solid." You know.

I was quite proud to go with him.

I could hear the men saying,

"It's Johnny and the kid."

So I was quite proud

to be the kid with Johnny.

Well, I've been thinking

about the gaps between the houses.

What comes down

has to go up again, you know.

Not like it used to be, I hope.

Not with all those slums and tenements.

That's just the point.

We've got to see

that the job's done decently this time.

Ya, but how? Do you think

we can do anything about it?

Well, why not?

If we can work together now

to look after the lives

of the people here,

I don't see why we couldn't work

together afterwards to clear up the mess

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