Corinne Male at The Bridge Folk Club – Saint Pancras Rent Strike (John Foreman)

Описание: Corinne Male at The Bridge Folk Club, 20 January 2025

The Saint Pancras Rent Strike (John Foreman)

Saint Pancras was a large borough in central London, England. In 1965 it became part of the Borough of Camden

In 1959 the Tory council of Saint Pancras announced forthcoming rent rises and more than 2000 tenants went on partial rent strike on the day it was to take effect, 4 January 1960. The tenants and the council took entrenched positions and tensions escalated. Barricades were built, protests and marches were met with overwhelming policing and open brutality. Individual tenants were intimidated and bailiffs and police were sent to enforce the council’s threats of seizure of possessions and eviction

By the end of the year the council had won. The tenants became focussed on the next election and ‘ kicking the Tories out’

At the election in May 1962 the Tories, sure enough, were kicked out. Labour won control of the council by a massive 51 seats to 19. The new leader of the council, Charles Ratchford, was quick to announce: "Of course there will be some big changes of policy straightaway. The differential rent scheme will be abolished. That was the issue on which the electorate voted us into power"

But months passed with no apparent action and finally, in April 1963, the Labour Council passed its new scheme ... it was almost identical to the old Tory scheme

If you’d like to know more about what happened there are detailed accounts online – a couple of websites are mentioned below – but be prepared for them to make your blood boil

https://www.whatnextjournal.org.uk/Pa...

https://libcom.org/article/rent-strik...