| Main Performers | Mr Harold Wilson MP (Leader of the Opposition),
Mr Victor Feather (TUC General Secretary) - speakers |
| Set List | Address (Harold Wilson),
Address (Victor Feather) |
| Performance Notes | A rally by the TUC against the Government's Industrial Relations Bill, which was the climax of the day's activities.
"HECKLERS BOO WILSON.
Mr Wilson was booed, slow-hand clapped and heckled in his speech last night to over 5,000 trade Unionists at the Royal Albert Hall. Three times his speech seemed on the brink of being lost altogether.
At one stage he sat down when a shop steward walked down the length of the Hall and said: "I am not a Communist or a militant, but why did the Labour Party not back the power workers?"
As the man returned there was scuffling. Others stood up and shouted: "As supporters of Mr Wilson tried to reach him. For two minutes there was disorder before Mr Wilson returned to the rostrum."
Towards the end of his speech, when slow handclapping caught on all around the hall, he turned on his audience with the words: "Yes, you can clap your hands now, you will be wringing them before long.
Near pandemonium broke out when Mr Vic Feather, General Secretary of the TUC, started his speech."
(13 January 1971, The Daily Telegraph)
"THIS WILL NOT GO TRHOUGH ON STOCKING FEET.
Both Mr Wilson, Labour party leader, and Mr Victor Feather, TUC general secretary, who were constantly interrupted by booing and heckling at the demonstration organised by the TUC at the Albert Hall last night, condemned the Industrial relations Bill as an attack on democratic freedom.
Mr Feather declared that the TUC was mounting massive campaign against the Bill - "the biggest the unions have ever undertaken, because this Bill is the biggest threat to the living standards of wage earners and salary earners that this country has faced from any Government.
"This Bill will not be allowed to pass quietly through Parliament on its stockinged feet."
Mr Wilson said that the Government was seeking "to reverse every advance the trade union movement has made in fighting for its members over the past century.""
(The Daily Telegraph, 14 January 1971) |
| Related Archival Material | Presscuttings |