Breaking their chains

Mary Macarthur and the chainmakers’ strike of 1910

Tony Barnsley, £5 special offer (usually £6.99)

For two months in the autumn of 1910 hundreds of women chainmakers in the Black Country struck against their employers and won a minimum wage that doubled their incomes. Women who had no vote, who were largely illiterate, who worked a 54-hour week for a pittance and had to take their children to work with them took on their bosses and proved their economic power.

Over 90% of chain made in Britain was produced there, famously including chain used on the Titanic, as well as chain used to imprison black slaves.

Tony Barnsley tells the largely forgotten story of the strike, a prelude to the Great Unrest which swept Britain in 1911, and of the remarkable figure of Mary Macarthur the trade union organiser who led the campaign.

During the strike, women strikers spoke to reporters, appeared in a film Macarthur made about their conditions, marched through the Black Country and sang a Cradley chainmakers’ version of the Marseillaise. A truly inspiring book.

This book is sponsored by Dudley Teachers’ Association (NUT), Dudley NASUWT and UNISON. You can find out more about the strike and this year’s 100th anniversary celebrations at http://chainmakersstrike.co.uk/

Review contributed by Bookmarks, the UK’s leading socialist bookshop. Order online at: www.bookmarksbookshop.co.uk