Norman Harding (25 June 1929 – 9 December 2013) was an English
trade union
A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...
ist and tenants' leader who worked for the
Workers Revolutionary Party whilst living in London.
He published the book, ''Staying Red: Why I Remain a Socialist'', in 2005, which detailed his political activities from 1954 to 1985.
Early years
Born on 25 June 1929, Harding grew up in Shakespeare Street, Leeds, across from
St. James's Hospital
St. James's Hospital ''Confirms spelling of name as "James's" and Irish name'' () is a teaching hospital in Dublin, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Its academic partner is Trinity College Dublin. It is managed by Dublin Midlands Hospital Group.
...
. His father was an engineer, but during the 1930s recession, had to take part-time work on the railways. His mother worked in a mill, and Harding remembered that she secured a wage rise for the mill workers by taking the advice of her father, which was to kick the belt off the pulley which powered the
loom
A loom is a device used to weaving, weave cloth and tapestry. The basic purpose of any loom is to hold the Warp (weaving), warp threads under tension (mechanics), tension to facilitate the interweaving of the weft threads. The precise shape of ...
s.
His father played piano, singing in public houses to supplement the family's income, but also sang at
Leeds Town Hall
Leeds Town Hall is a 19th-century municipal building on The Headrow (formerly Park Lane), Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. Planned to include law courts, a council chamber, offices, a public hall, and a suite of ceremonial rooms, it was built be ...
in a production of Handel's ''Messiah'', and with the
Huddersfield Choral Society
Huddersfield Choral Society is a choir based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. It was founded in 1836, and is recognised as one of Britain's leading choirs. Over the years the choir has performed most of the major works in the choral re ...
.
In 1935, the Harding family moved to 4 Accommodation Road, Leeds, with the young Harding attending York Road School. After the outbreak of
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, the family were moved to 93 Poole Crescent,
Cross Gates
Cross Gates (often spelled Crossgates) is a suburb in east Leeds, West Yorkshire, England.
The area sits between Seacroft and Swarcliffe to the north, Whitkirk and Colton to the south, Killingbeck to the west and Austhorpe to the sout ...
, where his mother obtained the position of managing the small Pendas Way railway station, at
Manston, Leeds
Manston is a suburb and former village to the east of Cross Gates, Leeds, England, situated east of Leeds city centre.
Geography
Situated in the Cross Gates & Whinmoor ward of Leeds City Council and Leeds East parliamentary constituency, the ...
, which was part of the Leeds/Wetherby Railway route. Her duties included loading and unloading heavy parcels, and releasing homing pigeons from baskets.
In 1943, at fourteen years of age, Harding left Cross Gates school, and after various jobs started work as a trimmer at John Barran's clothing factory.
National service and politics
Harding was called up for
National Service
National service is a system of compulsory or voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act ...
after the war, completing his basic training at
RAF Padgate
Padgate is a suburb of the town of Warrington, in the civil parish of Poulton-with-Fearnhead, in the Warrington district, in the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England.
History
Overview
Historically part of Lancashire, until 1838 Padgate was ...
,
RAF Honiley
Royal Air Force Honiley or RAF Honiley is a former Royal Air Force station located in Wroxall, Warwickshire, southwest of Coventry, England.
The station closed in March 1958, and after being used as a motor vehicle test track, it was subject ...
,
Castle Bromwich
Castle Bromwich () is a large suburban village and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull in the West Midlands, England. It borders the rest of the borough to the south east, Sutton Coldfield to the east and north east, Shard E ...
, and
Hereford
Hereford ( ) is a cathedral city and the county town of the ceremonial county of Herefordshire, England. It is on the banks of the River Wye and lies east of the border with Wales, north-west of Gloucester and south-west of Worcester. With ...
. He was then sent to Hamburg to serve in the RAF's 5352 Wing at Hamburg's
Fuhlsbüttel
is an urban quarter in the north of Hamburg, Germany in the Hamburg-Nord district. It is known as the site of Hamburg's international airport, and as the location of a prison which served as a concentration camp in the Nazi system of repression. ...
airport
An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial Aviation, air transport. They usually consist of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surf ...
, which was involved with the
Berlin Airlift
The Berlin Blockade (24 June 1948 – 12 May 1949) was one of the first major international crises of the Cold War. During the multinational occupation of post–World War II Germany, the Soviet Union blocked the Western Allies' railway, roa ...
.
He made friends with German families in the area, even though fraternisation was forbidden.
After being
demobbed
Demobilization or demobilisation (see American and British English spelling differences, spelling differences) is the process of standing down a nation's armed forces from combat-ready status. This may be as a result of victory in war, or becaus ...
, he became a delegate for the Leeds No. 2 branch of the
National Union of Tailors and Garment Workers
The National Union of Tailors and Garment Workers (NUTGW) was a trade union in the United Kingdom.
History
The union was founded as the Tailors and Garment Workers' Union (T&GWU) in 1920 with the merger of the Scottish Operative Tailors and T ...
, and then a delegate for the Leeds City
Labour Party. (Harding's great-uncle became a member of IWW (
Industrial Workers of the World
The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), whose members are nicknamed "Wobblies", is an international labor union founded in Chicago, United States in 1905. The nickname's origin is uncertain. Its ideology combines general unionism with indu ...
) when he was working in Canada).
In 1957, already being a member of the
Cross Gates Ward Labour Party, Harding joined the Cross gates Tenants' and Householders' Association,
and edited a community newspaper, the '’Miner'’. In the 1970s, he moved to London, and would live there for twenty years, working for the Socialist Labour League (later called the Workers Revolutionary Party). His opposition to corruption in the Party led him to participate in the expulsion of leader
Gerry Healy
Thomas Gerard Healy (3 December 1913 – 14 December 1989) was an Irish-born British political activist, a co-founder of the International Committee of the Fourth International and the leader of the Socialist Labour League and later the Work ...
, in 1985. Initially accused of "non-communist relations", it was later reported that Healy had sexually assaulted over twenty-six female comrades.
[Martin Jennings, "Ex-chief of WRP 'expelled for sex attacks'", '']The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'', 31 October 1985
Marriage and authorship
After time spent in Australia during 1986, he returned to Leeds, staying at the house of his brother's ex-wife and her four children, at 40 Eastwood Crescent, Swarcliffe. During a holiday in
Sliema
Sliema ( ) is a town located on the northeast coast of Malta in the Districts of Malta#Northern Harbour District, Northern Harbour District. It is a major residential and commercial area and a centre for shopping, bars, dining, and café life. ...
,
Malta
Malta, officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago south of Italy, east of Tunisia, and north of Libya. The two ...
, he proposed marriage to her on 3 June 1988, and were married on 5 August of the same year, when Harding was 58 years old. In 1994, Harding was diagnosed with a psychological medical condition, so he and his wife moved from Swarcliffe to
Garforth
Garforth () is a town in the metropolitan borough of the City of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England.
It sits in the Garforth and Swillington ward of Leeds City Council and the Leeds East parliamentary constituency. As of 2011, the population ...
, before moving to a bungalow in
Micklefield
Micklefield is a village and civil parish in the City of Leeds in West Yorkshire, England. It neighbours Garforth, Aberford and Brotherton and is close to the A1(M) motorway. The population as of the 2011 Census was 1,893, increased from 1, ...
. He published the book, ''Staying Red: Why I Remain a Socialist'', in 2005.
It has been called "the only serious, autobiographical-historical, sustained approach to the story of the Socialist Labour League/Workers Revolutionary Party so far".
In 2007, the Leeds Tenants' Federation awarded Harding a glass plaque for "outstanding contributions to the community".
In 2008, it was reported that Harding was working on a book about the Leeds-born
Doris Storey; the winner of two Olympic swimming gold medals at the
1938 British Empire Games
The 1938 British Empire Games were the third British Empire Games, the event that evolved to become the Commonwealth Games. Held in Sydney, Australia from 5–12 February 1938, they were timed to coincide with Sydney's sesqui-centenary (150 yea ...
in Sydney, Australia.
Harding lived at Woodview Court,
Swarcliffe, with his wife, until his death in December 2013.
Notes
References
*
*
External links
Staying RedNorman Harding's blog
{{DEFAULTSORT:Harding, Norman
Trade unionists from Leeds
English socialists
1929 births
Royal Air Force personnel of World War II
Workers Revolutionary Party (UK) members
2013 deaths
People from Seacroft