Barlick in the inter war years was a troubled place. First we had Spanish Flu and then the post WW1 recession struck in 1920 and the textile industry started what was to prove to be terminal decline. Manufacturer's profits were squeezed and their reaction was to reverse the wage increases that the weavers had won during the war. Having seen the power of the unions when workers combined the manufacturers used their trade organisation to do the same thing. They decided policies and colluded with each other to attack the workers and drive conditions and wages down. One of their main policies was to be reorganisation of how the sheds were run by the introduction of the More Looms system.
Much has been written about this period but very few commentators recognise that the weavers and their unions were broadly in favour of the reorganisation, their problem with it was that there was no provision in the plans for the welfare of workers thrown out of work because less of them were required.
Over the years I have chronicled the long series of erosion of wages, consequent strikes and eventually 'lock-outs' where manufacturers refused to negotiate and simply closed the mills throwing all the workers out on the street. This led to mass unrest and we have evidence of clashes between the displaced workers and police on the streets. Many of the police were imported from Yorkshire and there is no doubt that they were encouraged to use force. We have accounts of police sleeping in engine houses to guard them against sabotage. One ploy used by the weavers was 'warp stabbing' where someone broke into a shed and cut the warps making them impossible to weave.
Remember that after revolution in Russia the establishment were very worried by any signs of unrest. This paranoia became worse when in 1931 a branch of the Communist Party was formed in Barnoldswick, I think they held their meetings in the Ivory Hall club. Members of the Party and ringleaders of the strikes were easily identified and the Manufacturer’s Association noted them and produced a 'Black List' available to all members. Anyone on the list was denied work.
If you are interested in these times look for a book by Bessie Dickinson, a Communist, 'James Rushton. His life and times' which tells the story of Rushton and his fellow Communists in fighting for the rights of the workers. These men and women were not rabid revolutionaries but concerned thinkers who saw the Communist Movement as a vehicle for effecting change. Watching the deterioration of Communism in Russia most of them left the Party and moved to Labour but ironically, for a time, were blacklisted by Labour as former Communists.
These issues were not resolved by the opposing factions until the advent of a greater danger, WW2 and in another irony, Communist Russia became our greatest ally in winning the struggle against Hitler and the Nazis. So, there is more to black lists than meets the eye!
The Ivory Hall Club in Brook Street in 1980 shortly before it was demolished.