Back to the 30s? TUC poster from the Campaign for Economic and Social Advance, 1980

Following the election of a Conservative government in 1979 the TUC launched the Campaign for Economic and Social Advance, to lay out its alternative economic and industrial strategy.

On 9th March 1980 the TUC organised a demonstration from Hyde Park to Trafalgar Square and a Day of Action took place on 14th May. The campaign included the slogan “Forward in the 80s, not back to the 30s…”

Bill Sirs, secretary of the Iron and Steel Trades Confederation, speaks at the rally at Trafalgar Square. The rally coincided with the 1980 steel strike. Seated to his left is Len Murray, General Secretary of the TUC.

In April 1980 the TUC also organised a rally in defence of education and the arts, entitled “Bread and Roses”. The event took place at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, and included speeches, comedy and music. The title is a reference to the Lawrence textile strike of 1912 and the political slogan “We fight for bread, and roses too”.

Poster from the TUC Bread and Roses rally in defense of education and the arts, 1980