Manchester, 05/03/2010
Secretary of State,
Welcome to this official opening of the People’s History Museum.
The people’s story is not an easy one. Sometimes as an old friend used to say to me – “the working class goes from defeat to defeat, to defeat to final victory” – I was never quite sure if he believed it.
You will certainly see in this museum, misery, lost strikes and repression.
But the people’s story is also one of hope, courage and solidarity. It is a story to be told and retold to the new generations so that they value liberty, cherish freedom and acknowledge their debt to the men and women of earlier generations.
But the people’s story is also one of hope, courage and solidarity. It is a story to be told and retold to the new generations so that they value liberty, cherish freedom and acknowledge their debt to the men and women of earlier generations.
Jack Jones, a great union leader, chair of the trustees before me, used to say that “the right vote did not fall off a Christmas tree”. Nor did the right to form and take part in trade unions. And nor did working people form their own political party because of patronage or philanthropy.
They were all achieved after hard battles and, yes, some defeats. In this museum, we honour our own heroes and heroines, many closely associated with this great city and the North West.
Jack Jones died recently and our other great trustee, Michael Foot, died just this week. Both would have loved to be here tonight. They didn’t quite make it.
But this museum is a salute to their memory. Both saw history, not as through the rheumy eyes of old men, misty with nostalgia, but as an inspiration to action. The struggles depicted here lit flames of freedom across the world – free trade unionism, labour parties, co-ops, votes for women – they have become world wide causes, still not yet won in most parts of the world.
And here in Europe and Britain, low turnouts and apathy weaken democracy. They open the door, as they did in the 1930s, to the rise of the nationalists and racists and their creed of “hate thy neighbour”. That is our battle, our challenge today.
In the people’s story, nothing is final. Every generation has to fight its battles. Freedom was hard to win but is easy to lose. My friend was wrong – there is no final victory.
So in the style of Jack and Michael, let future generations draw inspiration from the people’s story so that they can write some glorious chapters of their own.
Then – I give notice – we will need a bigger museum.