“Why did I break the strike and go into work?” you ask me.
Because I’m a Company man, a GWR man,
A man who thinks that Sir Felix Pole sometimes knows best,
A man who has grandchildren to feed and clothe,
A man who needs the wage and can’t risk losing his job either,
A man who drives his trains with love and with pride,
A man who likes arriving in Paddington on time,
A man who thinks that strikes help no one in the end,
But a man who believes in paying his Union dues,
But a man who thinks Socialism
Should come through the ballot box and not the picket line.
A man who listened to the BBC and read the British Gazette,
But read the British Worker and the local strike bulletin too,
A man who heard the call in August 1914,
And again, in May 1926: “For King and Country”,
A man who gave to the relief fund for miners’ families,
A man who has been sent to Coventry by some of his mates,
A man who lost the company of mates who lost their jobs,
A man who rests his fag on an inscribed silver ash tray,
An official “Thank you” from the Company,
A happy end of sorts to a sorry business perhaps.
But remember that I voted Labour in 1929,
And so did my wife – voting for the first time –
So don’t judge us too harshly,
And I try not to judge my erstwhile mates either,
Just as I heard an echo of August 1914,
So did they.
They didn’t hear the call of St Petersburg in 1917,
They weren’t challenging the Constitution,
They were just supporting the miners,
They heard the call of war time unity and loyalty,
It was just a different call from mine.
Regrets? Well, I do feel a bit lonely now, now that the wife’s no more,
And the family have all moved away – There’s not so much work here now –
But I do have my ash tray for my fags and recall it all.
Regrets? I don’t know, to be honest.
I can’t take my ash tray down the pub, can I?
And it feels a bit lonely playing dominoes or crib on your own.
Radical Stroud thank the GWR for its support
in the commemoration of the General Strike in our locality and region.
This would not have happened without the GWR.
We thank Stroud Town Council similarly.