Striking seafarers 17th May 1966 (Socialist Worker)
Happy 86th Birthday to John Prescott
He may have been Blair’s deputy but he, unlike many from that era, he remained an ally of Jeremy Corbyn.
Perhaps he recalled his joint authorship of the pamphlet ‘not wanted on voyage’ about the 1966 seamen’s strike (Prescott was a ship’s steward).
Then Labour Prime Minister Harold Wilson argued it was produced by a tightly knit group of politically motivated men (he meant the Communist Party) but actually he was criticising an activist who went on to be a leading Labour Party figure.
After the dispute Prescott went to Ruskin College where he was tutored by the late socialist historian Raphael Samuel and to his credit he has never forgotten that period or the influence of Raph on his ideas
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