The People's Health
1943-10 1943 1940s 36 pages First Session. Health in industry and Nutrition Chairman: Coun. R.L. GOODWIN (Chairman Blaydon Urban District Council). This Conference has received a great deal of attention among trade union, Labour and other progressive organisations in the North-East. I believe the...
| Institution: | MCR - The Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick |
|---|---|
| Language: | English English |
| Published: |
Newcastle-on-Tyne : North-East District Committee, Communist Party
1943
|
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/10796/C6DA39AA-6F98-4B46-A275-A0C8D3846BDE http://hdl.handle.net/10796/9852806B-9861-4672-9A10-0F9B607F0E17 |
| Summary: | 1943-10
1943
1940s
36 pages
First Session. Health in industry and Nutrition Chairman: Coun. R.L. GOODWIN (Chairman Blaydon Urban District Council). This Conference has received a great deal of attention among trade union, Labour and other progressive organisations in the North-East. I believe the Communist Party of the North-East is to be congratulated on the arrangements for such a Conference. The Discussion Statement which has been sent to you is evidence that a great deal of time and thought has been put into this very important question of the people's health. THE PAST. When capitalism broke in upon civilisation people were herded together in towns and there was a tremendous amount of brutal exploitation of the workers. Factories were set up here, there and everywhere and absolutely no regard was paid to the conditions of the people who were compelled to work in these factories. Those of you who have read industrial history and those of you who have read some of the novelists of that particular time, such as Charles Dickens, for instance, will know the terrible conditions which prevailed when capitalism was first born in this country. During that period, when it became necessary for the factory and colliery owners to have a great number of "hands" to provide profits for them, it became necessary, too, for them to build houses for the people. Those houses are the slums of today. They were, and still remain in far too many places, a crying injustice to the working class. Certain reformers did make some amelioration and during the last 100 years trade union agitation has been responsible to a very large extent in compelling the Government to pass legislation to make conditions in the factories and mines more comfortable. The unfortunate point is that the changes which make factories today so much better than they were in the nineteenth century had to be fought for by trade unionists who had very little backing but a great deal of courage and the people going into industry today tend to forget how improved conditions were won as a result of the sacrifices made by these pioneers. Some of the elementary things they expect to receive in industry are now provided for them because they themselves have not sufficient interest in their own welfare to see that what they are entitled to is provided for them. OUR PROBLEMS. The Government trains and provides Factory Inspectors. In our opinion there are not sufficient of them. The workers are not always alive to their own interests and fail to make use of the Factory Inspectors. The workers are too prone to confine themselves in their trade union work to getting improved rates of pay and they do not realise that their health is as equally important as increased rates of pay. Too few 3
15X/2/103/295 |
|---|---|
| Physical Description: | TEXT |