[East London after the Second World War. lapsed…]

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East London after the Second World War. lapsed rapidly, leaving a idful of organisers to fight case through the Courts, ere they were eventually iten.

However, the Council's tory was short lived, ause they were heavily eated in the next munial elections.

New pattern The Leeds case is not y important in itself, but loes show the emergence a new pattern of tenant aggles.

The central question was i that many oi the tenants ild not afford the rent reases; what was objected was the imposition of the ans test.

The question from the incil's point of view was t balancing the rent :ounts but making ssible a new wave of uncil building and slum arance.

It was this pattern of uggle in Birmingham in 39 that led to a remarkle victory for the tenants. e situation was in many pects similar to the Leeds ents.

The Labour Council had layed dealing with the oblem of large privately ated slum areas in the city intre until it was forced to ike some decision about arance and rehousing. The le of its difficulties was istantial; there were, for mple, over 10,000 cases the waiting list for housing.

The Counci drew up a as tested rent rebate one similar to the Leeds scheme, hoping that this would persuade a large number of better off tenants to vacate council housing and either buy or rent in the private sector.

They hoped to obtain an additional 5,000 units for letting to slum dwellers to allow for demolitions by this method.

The Communist Party began organising estate committees in opposition to the Council's plan during December 1938, bringing these together in marches and demonstrations, and eventually fusing them into the Birmingham Municipal Tenants Association in the following spring.

Ballot

Faced with the refusal of the council to alter its policy the tenants held a ballot on the question of a rent strike.

Out of a total of 49,000 tenants, 15,700 voted, of whom 14,438 were in ravour of the proposed action.

•When the strike began on May Day, it was in fact supported by 11,000 tenants.

In the course of the struggle there were nightly meetings of estates committees who sent daily reports to a central coordinating committee.

To keep the tenants together there were regular bus trips from one estate to another.

Remarkably, the buses were hired from the Corporation for these solidarity excursions.

There is some doubt about whether the Birmingmain ient strike had any industrial supporting action from Council employees.

In his book Not a Penny on the Rent' ', MacDonald claims that there was a supporting strike in the Housing Department, but there is no reference to this action in any other accounts, or in the surviving issues of the strike bulletin.

Rent offices What is certain is that industrial action played no role in the ultimate victory of the strike.

The Council was making progress in wearing down the strike by setting up secret rent offices where rent could be paid without the strike organisers being aware of it. This same tactic was used against the rent and rate strikes called by the Republicans in the occupied six counties of Ireland during the 1970s).

By the time the strike ended there were 7,000 still witholding the rent, but even this reduced number were causing. great financial damage to the Council, and this was the main factor in forcing the Council to reconsider the scheme.

Victory

In mid-June the strikers were able to beat off attempts by police and bailiffs to arrest strike organisers, and this victory in physical conflict allowed the tenants to force the Council to negotjate.

Most accounts of the battles on the Birmingham estates agree that the burden of fighting and picketing fell mainly upon the working class women, because the authorities planned most of their attacks during the working day.

A curious compromise solution was worked out to bring an end to the strike.

The Council agreed to withdraw the means test scheme while the tenants themselves promised to undertake the job of finding Tich tenants' and persuading them voluntarily to leave their council dwellings in favour of people needing rehousing from the slum clearance scheme.

Slum clearance

Although the Birmingham rent strike can be regarded as a victory for the tenants in that it prevented the implementation of a scheme which the tenants found obnoxious, it does not serve as a valuable example of workers' direct intervention into policy making by Labour Councils, because the outbreak of the Second World War prevented either side having to carry out its promises.

Within a year or two the slum clearance programme, and more besides, was undertaken by Hitler's Luftwaffe, and the Council carried out what rehousing it could under emergency powers.

Leaders of the rent strike now being supported by thousands of council tenants in Walsall are calling for a national conference of tenants' organisations.

The rent strike takes the form of withholding the £3.25 increase imposed by the Labour council. But council leaders have publicly Heseltine Hospital Street, supported the action, claiming that it is only the danger of a Clay Cross-style victimisation that has held them back from defying Heseltine.

The Walsall Council House Tenants Association now claims growing support in the town-support increased by anger at high-handed council changes in the method of rent collection.

A 400-strong mass meetoffensive.

Price 45p including postag from WSL, BM BOX '5277 London WCIN 3XX.

Gorbals ing last weekend called on Labour's NEC to help organise a national conterence on the rents issue.

While the Labour leaders are unlikely to be enthusiastic about such a prospect -having done nothing to fight the new Tory rent increases-the Walsall call should be welcomed by all socialists as an opportunity to drive forward the mobilisation of tenants.

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Ronald Reagan's elect

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ur policies Socialist Press pamphlet outlining programme of action against the Tory