The second of a four-part biographical programme produced by Trade Films, about the Lawther family of Chopwell in what was then County Durham. Marxist historian Ray Challinor sits down with surviving brothers Andy and Jack Lowther to discuss the brothers early working lives as miners and early union activities, the 1921 lockout, the Chopwell lockout of 1925-6 and their roles during the 1926 General Strike. Title: The Northern Film and T.V. Archive Title: Lessons of the Class Struggle...

The second of a four-part biographical programme produced by Trade Films, about the Lawther family of Chopwell in what was then County Durham. Marxist historian Ray Challinor sits down with surviving brothers Andy and Jack Lowther to discuss the brothers early working lives as miners and early union activities, the 1921 lockout, the Chopwell lockout of 1925-6 and their roles during the 1926 General Strike. Title: The Northern Film and T.V. Archive Title: Lessons of the Class Struggle Credit: Andy and Jack Lawther interviewed by Ray Challinor Title: Part Two. The General Strike. A photograph of Andy Lawther as a boy with him recalling his early life becoming a miner aged 14 just before the end of World Ward One. He goes on to talk about the circumstances of his first appointment as Trade Union Representative and the political pressure which led to the 1925 lock-out and subsequent 1926 general strike and resulting hardship. He describes’ the ‘betrayal’ of successive governments at the time and conflicts between picketers and police. Jack opens dialogue about his first job as a miner in the early 1920s, his resulting dismissal followed by reinstatement and subsequent change of course to working as a bus conductor. With regards the 1926 General Strike, Andy talks about Durham’s involvement and the formations of the Councils of Action. He goes on to talk about his brother Will’s arrest during strike and the victimisation of police as well as the unfairness of the media with the formation and subsequent suppression of a miner’s newspaper ‘The Northern Light’. Andy talks more about his own arrest and trial as well as his experience in prison. Jack then describes the bitterness felt in the local community in the aftermath of the Strike which for Chopwell had lasted seventeen months and the paucity of settlements overpay disputes and conditions. The film ends with Andy quoting John Reith [founder of BBC] to highlight the extent of media manipulation in forming public attitudes.