
Benjamin Tillett (11 September 1860 – 27 January 1943) was a British socialist, trade union leader and politician. He was a leader of the "new unionism" of 1889, that focused on organizing unskilled workers. He played a major role in founding the Dockers Union, and played a prominent role as a strike leader in dock strikes in 1911 and 1912. He enthusiastically supported the war effort in the First World War. He was pushed aside by
Ernest Bevin
Ernest Bevin (9 March 1881 – 14 April 1951) was a British statesman, trade union leader and Labour Party politician. He co-founded and served as General Secretary of the powerful Transport and General Workers' Union from 1922 to 1940 and ...
during the consolidation that created the
Transport and General Workers' Union
The Transport and General Workers' Union (TGWU or T&G) was one of the largest general union, general trade unions in the United Kingdom and Ireland—where it was known as the Amalgamated Transport and General Workers' Union (ATGWU)—with 900 ...
in 1922, who gave Tillett a subordinate position. Scholars stress his evangelical dedication to the labour cause, while noting his administrative weaknesses. Clegg Fox and Thompson described him as a
demagogue
A demagogue (; ; ), or rabble-rouser, is a political leader in a democracy who gains popularity by arousing the common people against elites, especially through oratory that whips up the passions of crowds, Appeal to emotion, appealing to emo ...
and agitator grasping for fleeting popularity.
Early career
Tillett was born in
Bristol
Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...
. He started work in a
brickyard at eight years of age and was a
"Risley" boy for two years. At 12 years of age, he served for six months on a
fishing smack, was afterwards apprenticed to a
bootmaker, and then joined the
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...
. He was invalided out of the navy and made several voyages in merchant ships. Tillett then settled at the
London Docks, and took up work as a docker.
Trade union activities
He began his career as a trade union organiser in 1887 by forming the ''Tea Operatives and General Labourers Union'' at
Tilbury docks. Tillett and his union, renamed the
Dock, Wharf, Riverside and General Labourers' Union, rose to prominence during the
London dock strike of 1889, although the strike itself began without union involvement. Tillett also played a prominent role as a strike leader in dock strikes in 1911 and 1912. He was instrumental in forming the
National Transport Workers' Federation in 1910, along with
Havelock Wilson of the
Seamen's Union.
Tillett's union was the largest of the unions which came together in 1922 to form the
Transport and General Workers' Union
The Transport and General Workers' Union (TGWU or T&G) was one of the largest general union, general trade unions in the United Kingdom and Ireland—where it was known as the Amalgamated Transport and General Workers' Union (ATGWU)—with 900 ...
, however, it was Tillett's deputy,
Ernest Bevin
Ernest Bevin (9 March 1881 – 14 April 1951) was a British statesman, trade union leader and Labour Party politician. He co-founded and served as General Secretary of the powerful Transport and General Workers' Union from 1922 to 1940 and ...
, rather than Tillett himself, who took the major role in bringing about the amalgamation. Bevin became the General Secretary of the new union, but Tillett held the post of International and Political Secretary until 1931 and retained his seat on the General Council of the
Trades Union Congress
The Trades Union Congress (TUC) is a national trade union center, national trade union centre, a federation of trade unions that collectively represent most unionised workers in England and Wales. There are 48 affiliated unions with a total of ...
until 1932.
By the turn of the 20th Century a blind workforce was now established in the labour market.
They were prominently employed in craft trades such as weaving, basket making and piano tuning. In an era dominated by unionisation the National League of the Blind (NLB) was registered in 1899 and was soon affiliated with both the Trade Union Congress (TUC) and Labour Party. By 1912 they had called their first strike in Bristol over non-existent pension schemes for their members a majority of whom were living in poverty.
One of the many horrors of World War One was the number of soldiers who returned home after being blinded in conflict.
Persistent lobbying by the NLB forced the Government to set up an Advisory Committee for the Welfare of the Blind. It was chaired by Tillett. His 1920 Private Members Bill titled Blind (Education, Employment and Maintenance) began the dialogue towards a new way of thinking. He set the tone when telling the chamber, 'I do not want a period of war to be the only period when we sit up and take notice. Physical deterioration should be a thing of grave concern to all of us at any period'.
His 1920 Private Members Bill titled Blind (Education, Employment and Maintenance) began the dialogue towards a new way of thinking. He set the tone when telling the chamber, 'I do not want a period of war to be the only period when we sit up and take notice. Physical deterioration should be a thing of grave concern to all of us at any period'.
Political career
Tillett was a member of the
Fabian Society
The Fabian Society () is a History of the socialist movement in the United Kingdom, British socialist organisation whose purpose is to advance the principles of social democracy and democratic socialism via gradualist and reformist effort in ...
and a founding member of the
Independent Labour Party
The Independent Labour Party (ILP) was a British political party of the left, established in 1893 at a conference in Bradford, after local and national dissatisfaction with the Liberal Party (UK), Liberals' apparent reluctance to endorse work ...
, but subsequently joined the
Social Democratic Federation instead. He also joined the
Bristol Socialist Society in the 1880s, when he often travelled to that city. At the
1892 United Kingdom general election
The 1892 United Kingdom general election was held from 4 to 26 July 1892. It saw the Conservatives, led by Lord Salisbury again win the greatest number of seats, but no longer a majority as William Ewart Gladstone's Liberals won 80 more seat ...
, he was sponsored by the
Bradford Labour Union and
Bradford Trades Council to stand in
Bradford West. He won 30.2% of the vote, but took third place and was not elected.
Tillett began a political career as an alderman on the
London County Council
The London County Council (LCC) was the principal local government body for the County of London throughout its existence from 1889 to 1965, and the first London-wide general municipal authority to be directly elected. It covered the area today ...
from 1892 to 1898 and was a
Labour Party Member of Parliament (MP) for
Salford North from 1917 to 1924 and again from 1929 to 1931. Before his victory at the
Salford North by-election in 1917 as an independent candidate, he had stood unsuccessfully for Parliament at four general elections:
Bradford West in
1892 and
1895; at
Eccles in
1906
Events
January–February
* January 12 – Persian Constitutional Revolution: A nationalistic coalition of merchants, religious leaders and intellectuals in Persia forces the shah Mozaffar ad-Din Shah Qajar to grant a constitution, ...
; and at
Swansea
Swansea ( ; ) is a coastal City status in the United Kingdom, city and the List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, second-largest city of Wales. It forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area, officially known as the City and County of ...
in
January 1910.
He often disagreed with the liberal tendencies of the Labour Party, claiming in 1918 that 'If the Labour Party could select a King, he would be a feminist, a Temperance crank, a Nonconformist charlatan...an anti-sport, anti-jollity advocate, a teetotaller, as well as a general wet blanket.'
Tillett courted controversy with some of his supporters in the labour movement through his outspoken support of Britain's involvement in the
First World War
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
, an issue which split the Labour Party. In article in the 3 July 1915 issue of ''
The Illustrated London News
''The Illustrated London News'', founded by Herbert Ingram and first published on Saturday 14 May 1842, was the world's first illustrated weekly news magazine. The magazine was published weekly for most of its existence, switched to a less freq ...
'', the pro-war writer
G. K. Chesterton offered his explanation:
:It is the moderate Socialists who are Pacifists; the fighting Socialists are patriots. Mr. Ben Tillett would have been regarded by Mr.
Ramsay MacDonald
James Ramsay MacDonald (; 12 October 18669 November 1937) was a British statesman and politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. The first two of his governments belonged to the Labour Party (UK), Labour Party, where he led ...
as a mere firebrand; but it is precisely because Mr. Tillet was ready to go on fighting Capitalism that he is ready to go on fighting Krupp. It is precisely because Mr. Macdonald was weak in his opposition to domestic tyrants, that he is weak in his opposition to foreign ones. The wobblers who wanted a one-sided arbitration to end the strikes would to-day accept a one-sided arbitration to end the battles. But the men who wanted strikes want nothing but shells. That great artist, Mr.
Will Dyson, laid aside the lethal pencil with which he had caricatured the sweaters and the middlemen, and sharpened a yet deadlier one to draw all the devils in Prussia.
Before the First World War, Tillett had defended the idea of an international general strike in case of war, but like most trade union leaders, Tillett decided in 1914 to support the British war aims, writing a pamphlet published in 1917, "Who was Responsible for the war and why ?" in which he declared "Despite our former pacifist attitude, the forces of Labour in England have supported the government throughout the war. We realised that this is a fight for world freedom against a carefully engineered plan to establish a world autocracy".
Opposition to Jewish immigration
In contrast to his support for friendly relations between English and Irish Catholic dockworkers in the East End of London Tillett was strongly opposed to Jewish immigration.
[ Satnam Virdee (2017) Socialist antisemitism and its discontents in England, 1884–98, ''Patterns of Prejudice'', 51: 3–4, 356–373 61/ref> Tillett associated Jewish arrivals with creating undesirable working conditions and poor housing: "the influx of continental pauperism aggravates and multiplies the number of ills which press so heavily on us...foreigners come to London in large numbers, herd together in habitations unfit for beasts, the sweating system allowing the more grasping and shrewd a life of comparative ease in superintending their work".]
In 1891, Tillett formulated what the historian Satnam Virdee has described as a "proto-fascist discourse" in a series of letters to the '' London Evening News''. Tillett argued that Jewish workers should be removed from Britain and that British politicians were in thrall to Jewish financial power: 'Our leading statesmen do not care to offend the great banking houses or money kings.... For heavens' sake, give us back our own countrymen and take from us your motley multitude.'[Satnam Virdee (2017) Socialist antisemitism and its discontents in England, 1884–98, ''Patterns of Prejudice'', 51: 3–4, 356–373 68/ref>
]
Personal life and death
Tillett died on 27 January 1943, aged 82
Works
* ''A Brief History of the Dockers' Union'', commemorating the 1889 dockers' strike (1910)
* ''A History of the London Transport Workers' Strike'' (1911)
''Some Russian Impressions'' (1925)
* ''Memories and Reflections'', an autobiography (1931)
References
Further reading
* Clegg, Hugh Armstrong, Alan Fox, and A. F. Thompson. ''A History of British Trade Unions Since 1889: 1911–1933'' (1985).
* Schneer, Jonathan. ''Ben Tillett: Portrait of a Labour Leader'', (Croom Helm, 1982)
* "Ben Tillett" in ''Dictionary of national biography 1941–1950'' (1959) 883–8
online
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tillet, Ben
1860 births
1943 deaths
Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies
British trade union leaders
Members of London County Council
Independent Labour Party National Administrative Committee members
Trade unionists from Bristol
Social Democratic Federation members
Transport and General Workers' Union-sponsored MPs
UK MPs 1910–1918
UK MPs 1918–1922
UK MPs 1922–1923
UK MPs 1923–1924
UK MPs 1929–1931
People of the Victorian era
Members of the Parliamentary Committee of the Trades Union Congress
Members of the General Council of the Trades Union Congress
Presidents of the Trades Union Congress
Royal Navy sailors
British Merchant Navy personnel
Independent Labour Party parliamentary candidates
Independent members of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom
Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Salford North