Poplarism
1924 1924 1920s 8 pages What is Poplarism? POPLAR is a riverside area with a population of 165,000. A large part of Poplar is covered by factories, warehouses, ironworks, sawmills, docks, match factories, and other means of production and distribution; the rest is covered with dwellings for the wor...
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| Institution: | MCR - The Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick |
| Language: | English English |
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London : Independent Labour Party
[1924?]
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/10796/CD3DECC6-FBDA-4625-B6C9-3F36EFADDE9C http://hdl.handle.net/10796/BAE3DF4E-AEF3-4B56-B77C-0CC4464C20C9 |
| Summary: | 1924
1924
1920s
8 pages
What is Poplarism? POPLAR is a riverside area with a population of 165,000. A large part of Poplar is covered by factories, warehouses, ironworks, sawmills, docks, match factories, and other means of production and distribution; the rest is covered with dwellings for the workers. Here and there are houses that look as though they were built for people of substance to live in. They are now tenanted by families of workers. NOBODY LIVES IN POPLAR BY CHOICE. Nobody lives in Poplar who can afford to live anywhere else. It goes without saying that owners of industrial and house property live somewhere else. Even the worker, as soon as his wages permit, moves out. They all leave Poplar because they want fresh air and sunshine, open fields and trees, and room to breathe ; and you cannot get these in Poplar. It is a place where money is made and lives destroyed. Thirty years ago Charles Booth investigated Poplar conditions and reported that 25 per cent. of the population lived by means of casual employment. To-day the percentage would be nearer fifty. Very few of the workers of Poplar are in regular and steady employment. Most of them are engaged in casual dock work, in seasonal work, or are out of work altogether. Poplar is one of the reservoirs of casually employed or unemployed labour, recognised by economists as necessary to the efficient organisation of industry. It is necessary to know something of these conditions if you would put at its true value the abuse, hatred and malice expressed in such terms as "Poplarism." Where the facts concerning Poplar are known, the adjective "Poplar" whether applied to finance, methods, or policy, is recognised as a compliment. A LABOUR STRONGHOLD. Politically, Poplar is almost entirety Labour, as the following table of representation shows :— Total No. of Seats. No. of Seats held by Labour. Board of Guardians 24 21 Borough Council 48 42 London County Council 4 4 Parliament 2 2 In local elections the proportion of voters who actually record their votes is higher than in any other Borough of London. This is the result of thirty years of ceaseless education and agitation. The Poplar voter takes his 2
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