"LOGAN:" "Here." "Just through here." "BRUNO:" "Hello, how are you?" "This is Mr Garfield." "How do you do?" "How do you do?" "LOGAN:" "He's from the Ministry of Labour." "He's come down to address this meeting." "About time they sent someone down to sort this port out." "GARFIELD:" "I'm glad you share the government's concern." "Nothing but a gang of yobbos." "They're like sheep." "(GARFIELD LAUGHING)" "Follow anyone." "Johnny, make this one the last one before we lunch, will ya?" "MAN:" "Go ahead." "(MEN SHOUTING ANGRILY)" "MAN:" "Ya stupid old bastard, ya!" "Where did they get you from?" "Why don't you bloody watch what you're doing." "You nearly killed me there." "Dad, can I have a word with you for a minute?" "What do you want, son?" "Listen, I wanna have a word with you about our Danny." "You know, this Garfield fella, well, he's come in here with names, dates, places." "He's got a list as long as your arm, he knows as much about the unofficial strike committee as we do." "Do you know what's going to happen?" "He's going to get thrown right off the dock." "I'd better get going." "It's dinnertime now, son." "Oh look, Dad, supposing he brings him them out?" "What'll happen, then?" "The employers won't cave in on decasualisation." "They can't afford to." "Transport and General Workers, the employers, they'll all cave in if you force their hand enough." "JOE:" "Our Danny?" "How are you, Joe?" "Cor blimey, this is a nice place for an office, isn't it?" "The bog's the only place in this dock you can get a bit of privacy." "Here." "Handy too for getting rid of." "Quick and all, if need be." "(FLUSHING)" "Them's the points I reckon we should discuss at the meeting." "Yes, I'll go along with that." "I'm very sorry." "I don't know what's keeping the lads, really." "Whatever you can help, I'd appreciate it." "Certainly." "Certainly, Peter." "Yes." "Thank you." "Steve." "What's keeping these lads, eh?" "Isn't it time you started this meeting?" "We've got to wait a few minutes." "We can't start." "Mr Garfield has a plane to catch." "BERNIE:" "It's just the man I wanna see." "What do you want, Bernie?" "Who's the fella?" "ANDY:" "A big Minister of Labour fella." "Not that piker." "You know, the big well-fed bloke." "A big union fellow named Logan, he's come down to talk." "BERNIE:" "Yeah, I told you, didn't I?" "He swears he didn't know." "Never seen him before." "MAN:" "Never seen nobody." "ANDY:" "I didn't know who he was until our Steve told me." "We probably don't know 'cause we've never seen him before," "have we, Liam?" "Yes." "He's always sitting in his car, isn't he, half the time?" "You'll find out when he does come that he'll cause more trouble than that with us." "He certainly doesn't represent ya." "Any attempt to change the basic working habits of men and to introduce new ideas and new methods of production is bound to create a certain climate of fear and apprehension." "Now, this, we can understand and sympathise with." "However, what we cannot understand and what the government cannot tolerate is the activities of a certain group of irresponsible people who exploit the situation by fomenting strikes and discord within the industry." "Now, the country cannot afford it and it simply will not do, gentlemen." "If it is the function of the government to govern, then there must come a time when one is forced to intervene." "Now, let me underline this." "Let there be no illusions." "If the union is unable to control its members, then we may be forced to introduce some form of legislation, no matter how distasteful this may be." "Now, I'm aware of the feeling of brotherhood and the spirit of comradeship that exists among you." "I'd like to say, at this moment, Mr Chairman, with a certain feeling of pride, that at one time, my own grandfather was at one time employed on the docks." "So, therefore, I come to you today not just as representative of the government, alienated from the problems and the feelings of the docks, but as one who shares, however distant, a certain sympathy and relationship." "Therefore, it is as a friend that I appeal to you, and particularly to the Port Workers Committee to abandon this criminal practice of disruption and try to bring about some form of peace, and with peace," "prosperity for the whole industry." "Yes." "Mmm." "Yes." "STEVE:" "Would you like to say a few words?" "No, no." "Carry on." "All right." "Now, Mr Garfield has expressed the views of the government in no uncertain terms." "And whilst I don't personally endorse everything he says," "I do accept that if the recommendation of a strike action which the Port Workers Committee, I believe, are putting before the mass meeting tonight, if that's accepted, then we're in serious trouble." "Speaking as one of these irresponsible people..." "LOGAN:" "And what part do you play?" "Name, name." "Danny Fowler, Amalgamated Stevedores and Dockers." "Also, secretary of the Port Workers Committee." "Is it all right there now?" "Now, look, you fellows know as well as I do, that half the trouble that I found in the Devlin report, could've been squashed before the first salute if only the union had consulted the men first." "LOGAN:" "Now, that's not true." "BRUNO:" "Rubbish." "LOGAN:" "That's not true at all." "STEVE:" "Our position is this..." "Our position is this, Steve." "Your leaders came to a mass meeting at Liverpool stadium and they tried to sell Devlin to our lads." "But they said, if we didn't want it, we could kick it down the back jigger." "(DROPS PENCIL)" "A national delegation of port workers, a vote was democratically taken accepting the scheme." "(ALL ARGUING)" "JOE:" "Democratic, my ass." "Every main port threw this out, including Merseyside." "The only ways youse people skated home was by forcing it on the delegates, and if they didn't accept it, they weren't on." "Yes." "Plus the fact that nobody knew what was involved, anyway." "You can say that again, Danny." "Isn't it a fact that when Devlin come in, Brother Logan should know, that there wasn't a rulebook in sight." "There wasn't one single dock using the conditions and the rules" "you were gonna work on." "Yes." "Look, can I suggest at this point that we try not to get just bogged down on this." "LOGAN:" "Yeah, yeah." "Now, I do take your point, Mr Fowler, that perhaps, to some extent, a consultation was lacking." "LOGAN:" "Which was done, precisely done." "And I'm sure that there's much to be said on both sides." "However, I think that here today, we must try to find some possible area of agreement, rather than collide on issues belonging to the past." "With all due respect to you, Mr Garfield," "I'm afraid we have to take the past into consideration, otherwise now it's been learned, and we'll all go on making the same mistakes." "GARFIELD:" "Yes, all right, Mr Fowler, I take the point." "Uh..." "Mr Garfield, I'll try to put it as simply as I know how." "Now, we reject the Devlin report because it contains clauses and provisions that's gonna sell the docker hook, line and sinker right down the line, delivering them into the hands of the employer." "As it's written, it is a gaffers' chart." "Now, our objection is that mechanisation of the docks is not gonna be passed on to the men who work there, but it's gonna be passed on to the employers, and all the dockers are gonna get out of it is the sack." "Now, take this question in more detail." "Unemployment." "The government, the bosses and the unions have said there'll be no redundancy, right?" "LOGAN:" "Yes." "Yes, we stand by it." "Then how is it that the British Transport Dock Board paid an American company," "McKenzie and Company," "£50,000 to do a survey, which when published, said that with the absorption of the containerisation for the deep-sea cargo, nine out of ten jobs on the docks would be unnecessary." "(MEN ARGUING)" "Now, this report was handed round to the government, the unions, the bosses, the port authorities and what have you got?" "The only ones who didn't see the report was the dockers themselves." "Then why didn't you, you or you see the report?" "Well, I suggest the obvious answer." "It only cost 10 guineas, you know." "JOE:" "Exactly." "All right." "I'm sorry, can we leave that just for the moment?" "Now, let's just put one point to you so we can try, if we can, to get on from here." "Now, the natural wastage of manpower, plus the generous terms of compensation" "made available, (INHALES) now..." "DANNY:" "Mr Logan this should encourage men to leave the industry." "DANNY:" "We have heard those words time and time again." "I'd suggest you ask those unemployed miners who backed Britain with blood and sweat, who are now left to rot in the coalfields, how they fared under promises and guarantees." "LOGAN:" "Yeah, well, we are..." "We are not against mechanisation as such." "In fact, just the opposite." "Now some bright boy comes along with ideas that's gonna prevent the men from moving down those hatches, working them filthy cargoes, fish meal, wet hide, sulphur, iron ore." "We're not gonna tear them away, are we?" "(STAMMERING) I'd agree with ya and thousands of dockers would agree with ya, too." "Because it's not so long back when they had an official strike in Hull." "You remember it, Danny?" "That's right." "Where men were called upon to work an old antiquated system filling bags up with scuttles." "Well, as a result of three men being nearly buried in it, and an unofficial strike that lasted something like six days, eventually, reluctantly, they brought in the pneumatic suckers." "Now, since then, we've had about six extra berths added on to this particular berth in Hull, and we've had the grain ships coming in six and seven times quicker." "Now, these are hard facts, Mr Logan." "Facts that was laid before Lord Devlin by blue union officials" "when he started his inquiry." "PETER:" "And rank and filers." "The biggest exponents of restrictive practices on the docks are the employers themselves." "For example, out of a profit of £3000 million, they kicked back a lousy 200 million in investments." "I mean, you've only got to walk round the docks and see the gear we have to work with." "Filthy sheds that need pulling down." "Quay-side approach roads that haven't altered since..." "Well, since Liverpool was a clearing house for the slave trade." "Now, Lord Devlin wasn't talking through his wig when he said in his report, and I quote," ""A 19th-century system, ill-suited to modern needs."" "(SLAMS PENCIL DOWN)" "There." "Now, let's get back to the bread-and-butter question." "Unemployment." "This new order as envisaged by the employers gives them the right to victimise men if they speak out of turn and to employ men only when it suits their needs." "Under provisions contained in the amended Clause 17, all the bosses have to do is to say they've got too many men." "The Board can then agree to send these rejects to the unattached pool, and then after a time, they're not employed by anybody, the Board can then apply nationally to have these fellas sacked." "PETER:" "That'll be the old men, the militants and the sick." "Now, it's as simple as that." "But to make sure that the employers have got it all sewn up," "Clause 10 has also been amended and it makes it easier for the employers to get the men out of the door." "The Devlin report has given the employers always what he's wanted." "A 60% permanent force and a 40% force, which he can draw on any time." "But surely, you're ignoring the advantages of this scheme." "What advantages are you talking about?" "The right to have shop stewards, for instance?" "Better welfare conditions, like closets with chains or tables scrubbed so you could eat off of them" "or water basins with plugs in." "LOGAN:" "But..." "Oh, forgive me, Brother Logan, if I'm not grateful." "When I get home..." "They're important." "I'll have me missus light a candle." "Oh, come on, Danny." "You know one are the advantages of this scheme is a reduction in employers." "Something we've always wanted." "Not the way they're going about it, now." "What, the big monopolies with the big fellas running round, cracking the whip, and the dockers scrambling for crumbs like some seagull?" "Stop kidding yourself, Steve, will ya?" "What did we come here for, anyway?" "A lecture or something?" "Hey, Bruno, let's face it." "Just let's face this." "You're just too thick." "You just haven't got it up here." "You're as thick as pig shit, you are." "I'm thick?" "(ALL ARGUING)" "Can we have a little bit of order, please?" "Come on, lads." "A bit of order, please." "Can we not get bogged down now in this personality business, otherwise we're not gonna get anywhere." "I just want to say to Mr Fowler that, well, I think it's really just a question of degree, interpretation and perspective." "LOGAN:" "Right." "Yeah." "More bleeding soft soap." "LOGAN:" "I'm sorry, I didn't quite get that." "You didn't get that?" "Well, hear this." "Now, Danny and Joe and I, we just left Rank-and-File Committee." "We're on a mandate to come to you to put our proposals, and we want to know what you have to offer us." "Now, we know the boys." "We're speaking for them." "Were speaking for them." "We know they don't want to go on strike." "There's nothing left by." "It's the wrong time of the year." "But by the same token, the boys have taken as much as they can take." "And if Devlin, as they know it now, if they threaten to put it into operation, I can promise you this, that the whole of dock will come to a standstill on Monday morning." "Well, what you're saying then is that you refuse to allow this to go through the proper channels of negotiation" "and arbitration." "Exactly." "Arbitration?" "What was that word?" "Arbitration?" "That's got more strings attached to it than Mantovani." "It's just like having a nag with your Judy to try and sort it out." "You can't do it." "Look, we're not asking for the moon." "All we want, apart from a decent basic living wage, is the scrapping of Devlin as it now stands, or at least some of the points I've put forward, and security of employment." "You know very well, as well as I do, that the union is on record as against redundancy." "Now, we are not prepared to see any one man go down that road." "DANNY:" "You're saying there'll be no redundancy?" "I'm telling you." "It's on record." "All right." "Then the simplest thing in the world for you to do is to put it down on paper that if any docker is redundant, you, the union that is, will call a national stoppage." "LOGAN: (LAUGHING) Come off it, Danny Boy." "Be practical." "We must be practical." "Get it down on paper and there'll be no strike." "STEVE:" "We can't do that." "Our hands are tied." "It's impossible." "Look, one of the facts here is, that there's bound to be a certain shakedown in labour... (ALL ARGUING)" "PETER:" "That's why we're here." "Now the government has made and will continue to make provisions for redeployment." "We're quite determined on this." "Oh, aye?" "Well, how is it then that more fellas signed on to the dole than ever before, and even school kids just out of school are walking the street by the thousands looking for work?" "GARFIELD:" "Yes, well, let me say one thing and let me say this perfectly honestly." "I must be perfectly honest with you on this point." "That as far as any further increases in wages are concerned, and I anticipate that's what you mean when you start talking about decent living wage, that even if the employers were prepared to grant these wage increases," "the government could not permit it under their present policy on prices and incomes, don't you see?" "All I see, Mr Garfield, is when the employers ask for something, they get it." "Whereas when we want something, we have to hang on to what we've get like grim death." "Now, let me tell ya." "September 18th, last year, when the Devlin report came into operation, a Mr GE Ton, Chairman of the National Association of Port Employees, said that handling charges would go up between 10 and 30%." "Now when the government was asked to look into this, they refused, because if their findings differed from the Devlin report, it would embarrass the government and Barbara Castle, I suppose, who had probably agreed to the charges already." "All wage claims are measured in increased productivity." "The Prime Minister..." "JOE:" "The Prime Minister..." "Take your hands out of my pocket." "Listen, there's been more cargo shipped along them docks with half the labour force than has ever been shifted in the history of Dockland and you know it." "Here, give that to the Prime Minister." "Tell him to unload that filthy wet cargo of ours on the Arica down at number nine." "Come 'ead, Joe, we've got business elsewhere." "We're wasting our time here." "Good riddance." "You give us our offer." "(ALL ARGUING)" "You walk around like a bag of carpets." "Now listen here, Ryan, one of these days, someone's gonna get you." "One of these days, no one's gonna get me, and if anyone does get me, it won't be you 'cause you haven't got the guts to do it." "...because the government is in no mood to tolerate a further outbreak of industrial anarchy and neither is the public." "Yes, but you've neither given nor offered us anything, and we have no option but to put that to the men." "Would the committee be prepared to discuss this again with us?" "We will talk anytime, anywhere." "And will you postpone the strike?" "Well, I can put it to the lads, but I can't tell you now how it will go." "There's Freddie down there, Oz." "Shall we go down and have some sport?" "Yeah, let's go and barrack him." "This is rough again." "Listen." "(MEN CLAMOURING)" "FREDDIE:" "Now look, you all know me." "Docker by trade, revolutionist by nature." "Look, 20 years in the party before I saw the light." "Freddie, Freddie..." "Look, why don't you act like brothers?" "Freddie, I want to ask you a question." "All right, what is it?" "Got anything good for the 2.30?" "(MEN LAUGHING)" "And that's a typical irrelevance." "You're last." "You're nothing but a gull." "A gull off the Dock Road, feeding on the generosity of Joe Ryan." "I never sold out my principles, anyway." "I was fighting the ship holders when you were nothing but a hard knot in your old lady's belly, you bum." "MAN 1:" "Yeah, till they bought you off." "Look." "MAN 2:" "Go on." "You know the score." "I had ideas in my head, fire in me guts." "When I looked around me, all I could see is envy and backbiting." "So I thought there's something wrong somewhere, there's something missing." "ANDY:" "You've never done an honest day's work since." ""Labour led by God will lead the world", Frank Buchman said it." "Freddie, does that mean that we've got to love the gaffer?" "And why not?" "That's the plan." "That's God's plan." "That's God's plan." "All you got to do is free yourself from the hate and bitterness that rots your soul." "Start a revolution with yourself, brothers." "Start with your wife." "Listen who's talking, the biggest..." "FREDDIE:" "Don't you see?" "You fetch your troubles from your home to your work." "You're talking through your arse because you don't go home and batter your tart for bringing your troubles from the docks to your home." "It's vice-versa." "When I was a docker..." "I'm 86." "FREDDIE:" "Yeah." "Bear in mind," "I'm one of the old original dockers." "FREDDIE:" "Oh, yeah?" "And I get on to the number four and we was arsed and messed about by all the delegates." "Look, if you'll give him a bit of order, he'll explain things for ya in a couple of minutes." "All right." "All I've come down here is to see whether in fact we can get together in some way to talk things out." "Why, there have been mistakes on all sides in the past." "(ALL DISAGREEING)" "A leper's got more bloody faith than you, Freddie, lad." "FREDDIE:" "What about you, Andy?" "It's cost you plenty." "How long have you been knocking your head against a brick wall?" "All me life, but I've never backpedalled once." "Now look, you've got two sons." "You keep my two sons out of it." "Well how can we?" "The..." "Why?" "I mean, weren't we oppos, working and putting the beef down that ship the night your Stevie was born?" "And your Sarah, God rest her soul, bled to death because of it." "And didn't I talk back 'cause they wouldn't let you away?" "So I was left out of the muster and I was on the stone for two weeks." "What do you want us to do, Freddie?" "Have a whip-round for ya?" "Now look at your two lads, they're fighting there like two dogs over a bone." "It's unnatural." "What sort of life is that for Christ's sake?" "You used to think the same thing them days, Freddie." "MAN:" "All right, Freddie." "What's your big answer to it?" "Twenty years with the devil, two years with the Lord!" "CLERK:" "And your name is Daniel Fowler." "Yes." "You live at 153 Haig Street." "You're involved in the trade dispute." "You're employed by the National Dock Labour Board" "for the last nine years." "Yes." "You're claiming on behalf of your wife Elizabeth, son Kevin and son Terrence." "Are there any changes in your circumstances since your last declaration?" "No." "No." "So in fact you received £5.19 last week." "There are no changes in your circumstances." "Would you sign there for me, please?" "MAN:" "I don't know a docker that could knock off for a couple of days willingly and not suffer financially." "Honest." "But I know plenty of bosses that can stop off for 12 months." "I think the wife sticks to the husband more." "And then in times like this, you're inclined to stick to them more, I think." "You're more or less blame him for everything that's gone wrong, but at the same time, you stick by him, you know." "MAN:" "You've got your own personal position." "You've got the question of no cash." "You've got the question of kids to feed and clothes to find and rent to find and heat, fuel and all the rest of it." "But then you're bombarded from all angles." "You've got the press." "You've got the television dons telling you why you shouldn't go on strike." "You're really exposed, you're really out on a limb, and the only thing that you can cling to is your own mates and the objective of what you're fighting for." "It's teeming down." "I'll go and get the pram then, love." "Okay." "What's wrong?" "Nothing." "Well, don't be worrying about nothing." "We're not worried." "This little fellow's not worried." "Don't you worry." "Go on." "It's five weeks I've been on the stones now and what you think I'm going to live on, fresh air?" "Okay, well, don't go at me." "I'm only doing me job." "I know that, I understand that." "Well, you fellows know the law." "When a chap's on strike, the only people he can claim for is his wife and his dependents." "As far as dependents go, as I told you last week," "I've been on me own all me life." "And as far as that goes, most of the dockers down the dock now, they even call me "the lonely rabbit"." "I'm afraid that's your problem, Mr Ryan." "So what have I got to do now?" "Go outside and pick a bit of an old Judy, or better, an old Sarah that's walking along the road." "I'll come back and make a claim and get a couple of bob off you people." "I tell you where you can stick that." "Mr Murphy, please." "Mr Murphy, are you still claiming for your wife and five children?" "Yeah." "How old are they?" "Now look, I told you this last week and the week before." "Now come on, Mr Murphy." "How old are they?" "There's Dennis." "He's one and a half." "Sean, he's three." "Kathy, she's going on five, and Derek and Peter, they're six and eight." "Is your wife working?" "You must be joking." "I don't understand you fellows, honestly." "You know, it's beyond me." "You've got a wife, you've got five children and you want to go on strike." "That's the whole reason." "It's five good reasons why I'm out on strike." "Come on, give us me money and let's get out of this house of plenty." "If we can only continue the spirit of solidarity and comradeship that we've had over the last six and half weeks..." "MAN 1:" "I think I've been connected with strikes, well, actively, since 1945, and I don't think I've ever known one that's been conned on the men themselves." "I don't think I remember one." "MAN 2:" "If you are the strike leader, then to get the respect of the men, you've got to be a good worker." "You've got to do the hard graft because you'll only gain the respect of the men around you by showing that you're good at your job and then they'll listen to you." "And the press come out with a lightning strike and a wildcat strike." "But you trace the history of every dispute and you'll find that for perhaps weeks or even months before which we reached that flashpoint, the men have done everything they can to settle the thing peacefully." "The strike is the last resort and anybody who says you can fetch workers out at the drop of a hat doesn't know what they're talking about." "MAN 3:" "When the last strike was out, the bus conductors were letting the fellas on the bus for free, all the way down to the pierhead 'cause they couldn't afford it." "See you then." "See you at lunch." "See ya, bud." "We can't go on any more, they haven't budged an inch." "What's the use of going back?" "You can't go back now." "Tell me..." "Name me one strike where the fellows have gone back, the unions said go back and we'll negotiate and they've gone back and have got what they wanted?" "Tell me, name one strike." "JOEY:" "I know." "I said..." "The union..." "The union, Joey, are the employers protective association." "I know." "MAN 1:" "If you're not active on the strike committees, if you're not involved in winning the strike, then you just attend strike meetings, you drift back to the house, you sit down, you look at the wall, you read a book, you read a paper." "You kick your heels, you wonder when it's gonna end." "You count your coppers, you wonder how long you're gonna carry on..." "And you just drift, you just spin like a top." "WOMAN:" "You worry where the next meal is coming from, that's the main thing, isn't it?" "You wonder what you can pawn next." "You've pawned what things you've got, like your wedding ring and his watch." "If he's lucky enough to have a watch, right, you know." "The main worry is finding something for the kids to eat and make it go a long way." "BOY:" "Mummy!" "MAN 2:" "Every time I go home, she's got six rolls of wallpaper there and a brush shoved into my hand to paint the doors and that." "You're better off at work than that lark." "(MEN CLAMOURING)" "They might be fighting for our children, our grandchildren, but who's gonna keep my kids?" "I know." "And the next generation." "That's the main point." "It's all right, this crowd, going on like this." "I can't afford to stay out of work, it's just ridiculous." "You still got the support of your class, Andy." "Aye." "What are we supporting them for?" "We're supporting them to do better for our children and our grandchildren." "REPORTER:" "Mr Logan, any chance of a comment?" "We'll have to wait and see, won't we?" "Have you anything at all you can offer?" "No, no." "No comment." "(MEN CLAMOURING)" "Let's have a word with two of you here." "Can we have a word with you?" "Yeah." "You've been out for six weeks now." "Just how long are you prepared to stick it out?" "Till the conditions are right." "Now what conditions do you want?" "Well, we want a guarantee that we're gonna be in work." "And how long are you prepared to wait for this guarantee?" "Well, it all depends on what happens here today, doesn't it?" "Is this the BBC?" "Yeah." "You're anti-working class, you people." "You've been out six weeks." "Just gone six weeks." "When do you want to go back to work?" "I want to go back when they get the right conditions, a higher rate of pay..." "And full employment." "...and full employment." "That's the main thing." "How long are you prepared to wait for a guarantee like this?" "Forever, for my money." "9000 men can't be wrong." "Can you afford to stick it out forever, as you put it." "It's a case of having to stick it out, isn't it?" "MAN:" "We're gonna be out of work anyway." "In the long run." "We're gonna be out of work in the long run." "The employers in your own union say, in fact, you'll be guaranteed employment under the Devlin recommendation." "This Devlin..." "Will they give it to us in writing?" "That's the point." "We've asked for it in writing, they won't give it to us in writing." "That's the point." "MAN:" "Promises, that's all." "This is all you get." "Talk, talk, talk." "Just how bad is it you being led by the nose by the unofficial strike leader?" "We're not being led by the nose by anybody." "If I want to go back to there, I'd go back to work." "If he wants to go back, he'd go." "We're all as one, one body." "We say we're going to stay till we get what we want." "Thank you." "Well, there we are, week six of the dock strike." "And although the militants are still sticking out for the demands made by the unofficial strike committee, there does seem to be an element amongst the striking dockers, which would like to go back to work as soon as possible." "(ALL JEERING)" "What's the time, Steve?" "2:30, now, Larry." "Two sodding hours." "MAN:" "Long day?" "It would be good to just go in there." "You can't." "You've reached a stage now where the Chairman and the officials are in." "We've just got to wait and see." "We've been out six weeks now." "Another two hours, three hours, makes no difference." "I want to get what we want and what we put in for." "I reckon we'll get it." "Well, we've got 10,000 lads out and their families for six weeks now." "They're relying on us." "What are we gonna do if this lot come back with a "no" again this afternoon?" "What are we gonna do when we get down there and stand on that stand?" "Week after week, we've been saying the same thing." "We united, provided a solid front." "We haven't come up with a solution to the problem yet, have we?" "No, I don't think so, but look, don't panic, Danny." "After all, we're only just a substitute committee." "The first team got seen off by the bosses and the union." "The likes of the lads McShane, Regan..." "Featherbed and the stately gents, I mean, they've gone." "But now it's up to us." "It's up to us to come up with something for these lads." "DANNY:" "Regan's still around, though, isn't he?" "Oh, he's still knocking about, sure, yeah." "As a matter of fact, I think it would be a bloody good idea if we went down and have a bit of a chat with him because he can understand the situation at this stage here." "Why not, Danny?" "As you know, Jack Regan, he was always the brains behind these strikes." "And he's always raring to have a go at these port employers." "Wouldn't half cause a stink, though, wouldn't it?" "Sacked by the bosses, expelled from the union, hounded by the press." "Yeah." "I'll tell you what, there wouldn't be no stink from the men against Regan." "Being thrown out of the union, it's not a bad thing, is it?" "It's a good thing against that lot." "As a matter of fact, he's never walked out of a battle in his life." "So you think it'd be a good idea to have a chat with him?" "Definitely." "JOE:" "Definitely, Danny." "No doubt about it." "DANNY:" "Well, this is it, lads." "MAN:" "All right, Steve." "Sorry to keep you waiting, lads." "I've got a statement here by the chairman of the port employers." "It reads, "Whilst the port employers are prepared to review with the union" ""the system of incentive payments and take into full consideration" ""all points raised by the strike committee," ""the Federation believes it will be committing a breach" ""of all established procedure if it were to open negotiations under duress." ""Under no circumstances can any discussion take place" ""until the men have returned to work."" "MAN:" "Wipe your backside on that." "You can make it up yourself." "If you take my advice, you'll take it." "As soon as we get the men back to work, we can get down to talking with them." "Well, it's up to you fellows to decide, but as far as I'm concerned, we got nothing out of this meeting this afternoon." "Look, we've been over this ground so often," "I don't think we need to have any more discussion." "I'm just going to take a straight vote." "LOGAN:" "Look, boys, I just want to make one more point." "I think I detect some sort of weakening in the employers." "I just want to make the point to you that all your demands are negotiable." "They all saw it." "You want us back to work first." "(ALL AGREEING)" "All right, lads, all in favour of continuing this strike until our legitimate demands are met, raise your hand." "Well, that's it then." "LOGAN:" "Yes, that's it." "We did our best, lad." "Little trick." "Mmm-hmm." "You watching?" "I haven't seen the cards, it's a new box of them." "Remember these, deuce of hearts," "Jack of diamonds, nine of hearts, seven of diamonds." "First card." "Deuce of hearts." "Correct, next one." "Jack of diamonds." "Jack of diamonds." "Nine of hearts and seven of diamonds." "You should be on the stage, Peter." "Cost you couple of bobs there, now." "What time did Alec tell us to meet him here?" "1:00." "Where's Joe?" "Oh, Joe, the last I've seen of him he was starting down to the..." "Said he was going to prognosticate at the house of plenty." "He said he's been eating nothing but snowballs since the strike was on." "Hey listen, get two more halves, would you, Pete?" "It's my last half dollar." "Right." "I think I'll tap him for the beer on the slate." "Wally's not a bad fella." "If you can, get us 10 fags, would you?" "PETER:" "Hi, Wally." "Hello, Peter." "WALLY:" "Ten Woodbines?" "While you're at the money box there, what about lending him half a bar, please, Wall?" "Lend him..." "Half a bar." "You're joking." "We've not taken half a bar since the strike were on." "(REGISTER DINGS)" "Okay, when it's all over, we just move a resolution making all the lads come here and all of the booze will be done here, then." "And where are they all drinking at the moment?" "Where are they drinking?" "We wouldn't be drinking, only you're obliging us." "There's your cigarettes, anyway, and don't forget the diver." "Well, look, give us two halves out of that, please." "Two halves." "I'm much obliged, by the way, Wally." "WALLY:" "Hi, Jack." "Hi, Peter." "Wally." "Hello, Jack." "WALLY:" "What, do you want another one?" "PETER:" "Make another one." "Yes." "Hello, Danny." "How goes, Jack?" "How's the kids and Liz, eh?" "Oh fine, things have been bit tight, but she doesn't complain." "Good." "The Highland crab told me that you wanted to talk to us." "Yeah, well, we would've come round to where you work, but, you know, we didn't know score, like, as far as your boss is concerned." "Our faces are bad news at the moment." "Well, that's no odds." "My pedigree's known." "What'd you want?" "Did Alec tell you how the meeting went?" "I heard it in the news." "You got the knock back." "Aye." "Return to work pending negotiations." "That sort of deal is always tied up in black and white cotton." "All strings and ifs and buts." "Here, lads." "Ta." "How's the war, Jack?" "Oh, not so back, Peter." "Hey, you're getting a gut on ya." "You know the old saying, "You don't get bay windows on closets."" "Cost a couple of bob that, too." "Well, what do you reckon, Jack?" "Well, you're not doing so bad so far." "Longest I kept them out was six and half weeks." "PETER:" "Aye." "But these fellas are razor bloody sharp here." "With the humour they're in now, they could be out till Pancake Tuesday" "Oh, you're kidding yourself, Peter." "Debts pile up and wives nag." "Press hammers away, men get tired of waiting." "DANNY:" "What do you think?" "We got the cold shoulder down in London." "Think we should try again?" "It's not on, Danny." "You're wasting your time." "You see in the old days, the London docker had leaders like Halewood and Constable." "Then it was different." "Yeah." "PETER:" "Genuine fellas." "But now all they got is the pearly docker, and he's not fit to lick their boots." "Look, supposing you was on the committee, like, sort of co-opted in, and you had the big shout, what would you do?" "Now look, Danny." "I'm no Johnny-come-lately, right?" "I've been 32 years on this dock and I've been involved in 48 strikes." "You've had a go." "Yeah." "But no matter how hard we tried, we always piled up on the rocks." "And now I know why." "It was because like you fellows, when we had the ball at our feet, we didn't know what to do with it." "At the same time, Jack, you gained plenty of wages and good conditions for the men before they caught up with you and sacked you." "Maybe, Peter, maybe, but you're still fighting the battle, aren't you?" "Look, Peter, we got crabs, a penny here, a penny there, wash basins, new lavatory seats." "Our demands were economic." "We were fighting for cash, for democracy and the union." "But there wasn't one of us that knew more than what was beyond that dock gate." "See, we never tumbled to the fact that a strike's political." "What do you mean?" "I mean that your wage packet is made up of politics." "So all this economic horse stealing is all for nothing." "All right, so you make a few shillings more, but then they raise the price of the bread and you're back where you started from." "It's always been like that, it's never been any different, not as far as I can remember, anyway." "JACK:" "But it doesn't have to be from now on." "I'm the fella who woke up late in the day as far as politics is concerned." "When them early-morning risers were spouting socialism," "I was too busy down in the ship fighting for peanuts, but not any more." "Now I want to see the big flame, Danny." "I want to see one big solid mass of us that will point the finger at those raiders and say," ""You failed in your management of society," ""so pack your traps, think yourself lucky and go."" "Things are not just ripe for change, they're rotten ripe, and all we got to do is to shake the tree and the rotten fruit will fall to the ground." "Markets are divided, mergers planned, takeovers arranged, profits fixed." "They make decisions that effect communities, yet they're responsible to no one." "And in this enlightened and prosperous land of ours today, there's a half and million kids on the bread line." "While every year, experts predict how many Old Age pensioners will freeze to death next winter because they haven't got the price of a bag of coal." "(SCOFFS)" "And yet you know, it needn't be like that, Danny." "The good life is within the reach of everybody today." "Society could be like a groaning board with enough for all and plenty to go round and no need for anyone to hog it." "Then there'd be no need for all this lying and scheming and conniving" "in order to live." "Yeah, Jack, I know about that." "But the thing is..." "Before we reach this particular bridge, there's a lot of demolition work to be done first." "Yeah, Jack, I agree with everything you've said." "Maybe life should be like that, but it isn't." "Now let's get back to what it is." "There's 10,000 dockers out of work." "I know the bosses are setting up for us." "Devlin is just the tip of the iceberg." "And what's going to happen is speed-ups, slashing the manning scales, cutting down on gangs, which is gonna lead to unemployment." "So, in all this chat about capitalism, there's got to be something practical we can do about the situation now." "Well, there's one answer to that, Danny." "You've got to shift it from the industrial to the political." "What we've got to find, the fact remains, is how are we gonna win this strike?" "You're not gonna win it, Danny." "What do you mean, "You're not gonna win it", Jack?" "Jesus wept, what's all this talk you're giving us?" "That's more like Logan, not Regan." "The fact remains is you can't win it unless you change course, and even then there's no guarantee." "What do you mean change course?" "Well, it's obvious." "Either you carry on with this hit-and-run policy or the dockers take over the ports." "The dockers take over the ports?" "Yeah." "Us?" "Are you serious?" "Well, you asked for my advice." "It's about time we started separating the men from the boys, Danny." "I think you've been supping a bit too much down the plonk shop, Jack." "Why not?" "I mean, docking is a simple business, really." "It's only made complicated by all those hands reaching out for a piece of the cake." "I mean, the loading, the unloading is done by the dockers and the checkers and the riggers, etc." "And alongside are the steam men, the tugboat men and the crane workers." "The entire operation is carried out by the men who do the graft." "So why shouldn't they take over the dock?" "Let's have a workers' control now." "After all, even the paperwork is done by a shipping clerk, who is a registered dockworker." "Now what's the problem?" "The problem is, Jack, talking about it is one thing, doing it is another." "Yeah, but you know what?" "I've been think there, Danny." "Now I had the misfortune to be drafted into a stevedores' battalion during the war." "I was seven years at it." "And it was fellas like us performed every operation of port transport." "Berthed the ships, we discharged, we loaded them." "We used the ship's gear and cranes." "We even laid the transports on." "And a fella, checker, same as us, he would write the manifest down." "Give it to the ship's officer." "We had no bosses there, although we did have a major." "But he was a drunken sod." "Spent most of his time getting down on the rum ration and the gin." "But he wasn't a bloody boss." "Now at this moment, Danny, you're on wheels." "You're in motion." "Now, either you go forward or you go back." "But there's no marking time." "Otherwise, the fellas go as cold as beer on you." "Of course, it's not easy to take in the idea when you hear it at first." "It's like wearing a hat going into church, you know." "But when you think about it for a while like I did," "I mean, it becomes so obvious." "You don't know why you didn't figure it out beforehand." "DANNY:" "Hmm." "Oh well, I better be going." "If the thought penetrates, you know where to get in touch with us." "DANNY:" "Hang on a minute, Jack." "Hang on a minute." "I mean, Rome wasn't burnt in a day." "Put your arse to anchor." "Let's talk some more about this." "Look, I'm all for it." "I say balls to them." "Let's have a go." "I mean, after all, even it falls through, Walton Gaol's central heated now." "So we alter the basis of the strike" "and we go for workers' control, right?" "That's it." "But better than that, we prove that it's possible." "Hang on a minute, though." "If I get the lads back on to the dock and then put this to them, well, the coppers are gonna knock us off, aren't they?" "And ride in a Black Maria, too." "Not if you play your cards right." "Now look, the first thing to do is getting the committee behind you." "Put them in the picture." "Then, you draw up a resolution for the meeting tomorrow" "on the pierhead..." "Mmm-hmm." "...advising the men to go back to work pending negotiations on Devlin." "Yeah, I've got you." "Then comes the crunch." "When you get them back on the dock estate, you put it to them straight." "Don't pull your punches." "Be honest with them." "Drop it on their toes." "If they jib, that's it." "Forget it." "Suppose..." "Look, look, hang on, Peter." "Hang on." "I want you to get this straight, Danny." "No matter what happens, even if we succeed and we get hold of the dock, there's going to be no revolution or something." "That's not gonna happen because the employers are gonna throw everything at us." "The government, police, troops, everything, including the kitchen sink." "But if we can hold out for a few days, that'll be fine, because the Merseyside docker would have lit a bonfire, that'll be seen by the workers around for miles." "PETER:" "Yeah, but after all that and all we've been through, if the fellas give the knock back," "what then, supposing..." "JACK:" "Listen." "Listen." "They've been through more strikes than Soft Mick." "Each time something is rubbed off on them in the line of experience." "Remember, they're political animals, Peter." "...the resolution from the strike committee to the speakers at this moment, placing before similar meetings up and down the docks, reads," ""But the Merseyside docker, while rejecting Devlin," ""also recognises the root cause of our problem" ""lies in that capitalist system of private ownership," ""and calls for the nationalisation of the dock" ""and the shipping industry under the workers' control," ""And its integration with the inland transport," ""road haulage, railways and waterways." ""As an immediate step forward of implementing these demands," ""this meeting also agrees that from today," ""a system of workers' control shall operate throughout the port."" "Brothers, six and a half weeks ago, we came out on strike against Devlin, which we said would lead to unemployment." "Well, that's now all behind us." "We intend to take the bull by the horns and decasualise the employers." "For the first time in your lives, you've been offered a taste of true democracy." "You fellas, the packhorses, are gonna run these docks." "Now if you accept the strike committee's proposals, what we intend to do is this:" "to set up a port workers' council, with representatives from all sections of labour employed on the docks, plus delegates from the seamen, who have come in with us." "In the future, you will elect the lads who will be shift leaders or port council delegates." "You will elect them by your majority decision, having regard for the knowledge and durability to do the job." "But by the same rule, once you've elected these men because of these particular qualifications," "you should carry out their instructions." "We have made agreements with foreign ship owners to discharge their vessels." "In return, they have pledged to us that they will deposit such monies as will be due to us into a bank of our naming till such time as we can draw it." "The committee will be responsible for work schedules, pickets, sanitation, discipline, sleeping arrangements and food and welfare of the men." "Plus everything else appertaining to the smooth and efficient running of these docks." "Now brothers, one thing we must guard against is anarchy and indiscipline." "For this purpose, it's necessary to have pickets." "Not police, not security, but pickets." "And these will be older men, possibly a little infirm for the job, and they will go on their rounds, seeing things are run normally." "If there's any abuse of such authority or leadership by these lads in charge, then there's provisions for you to make a complaint to the Dock Port Workers' Council, with the same provision for the Rank and File" "to make his complaint against the leadership." "Now, one last point before we vote." "Some of you may consider that what we're asking is too big a step." "Maybe you think that it's more than you can take in, the idea of us actually running the docks." "Well, all I say is let's give it a try." "If we fail, okay." "Let's go back to the stables." "But, at least, let's make the attempt." "Let's try and get out of this straightjacket." "Let's use these docks as a laboratory for the working class to try out the gear and draw the lessons." "Now everyone in favour of the resolution, please show." "(DRUM MARCH BEATING)" "MAN 1:" "In the place of the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board will be a workers' council." "We would have to have a central committee to dovetail in with the other industrial sectors and consumer interests in the port." "MAN 2:" "It's a far cry from shouting slogans on the pierhead to actually making the thing work." "As far as the process of production's concerned, the best men will still be doing the job." "The best men, capable and qualified and respected and elected by the men." "They're the men who will see that the cargo goes into a hatch and that it comes out, that the ship's in running order, that you get a quick turnaround, the new sheds and so forth and so forth." "MAN 3:" "People talk about apathy." "There's no apathy in the men." "You can call a meeting, you can get 10,000 men." "To an unofficial meeting." "MAN 4:" "What does it mean, docking, anyway?" "The ship comes in, it unloads and it goes out and the cargo goes to its destination." "It's a simple process made complicated, by duplication." "It doesn't need a genius to organise the Liverpool docks." "It needs experience, it needs technical know-how, all of which we've got." "MAN 5:" "It doesn't need no boss." "MAN 6:" "There's 12 lines go up one little creek in South America and pick up 100 tonnes, 200 tonnes of cargo." "But we know that one ship could go there, collect all the stuff..." "One single shipload of merchandise could be brought back from La Paz." "MAN 7:" "The interesting thing that I see in the discussions is that we'll stop just talking about the docks, but we're now talking about industry and the country as a whole." "Because we know that the docks can't exist like a bloody oasis in the deserts, at every pit and every factory, and every building site and every docks, the work people involved will elect their own delegates," "the best men on the job, the most responsible men." "They in turn will elect delegates to the congress or the parliaments." "The congress, for the first time in history, will be composed of people directly representing the work people in the factory, on the job, at the point of production." "They'll be subject to the right of immediate recall." "They'll have to explain every decision they make." "This is the basis of..." "This is the workers' day as we're now talking about it." "And this is what we want to see done throughout the country." "(REPORTERS CLAMOURING)" "LOGAN:" "All right, all right!" "One at a time." "One..." "One..." "One at a time." "All right, boys." "All right." "Please..." "Now that's better, that's better." "Can I just put one question?" "Now look, I happen to know, brother, what newspaper you represent, and I know you're very anxious to print the truth." "But if you'll be patient a little bit, you can ask your questions." "As you know, the union, although it rejected the recommendations put forward by the strike committee, did hope, nevertheless, that if we could get these lads back on the dock and split into nine separate controls, we could handle them." "Now that this did not happen is entirely due to an organised conspiracy, which was fostered by the strike committee." "(REPORTERS CLAMOURING)" "Yes." "Leaders of some textile unions and manufacturers, whose existence has been threatened by the strike, they have sharply criticised the shipping employers, and they say that they are prepared to meet the union and to discuss with them ways and means of moving essential goods and cargo" "that's been building up since the strike started." "LOGAN:" "Mmm-hmm." "Now, how do you feel about this?" "Well, of course, I sympathise with the problems facing these small firms in particular." "However, I feel that it would be highly dangerous, gentlemen, if anywhere action were taken to protect the sectional interests of a small minority, and which would in effect mean accepting the authority of this illegal strike committee." "And I would like to add one thing." "The Confederation of British Industries and the TUC, have issued a joint statement condemning all this." "Can I..." "Can I just..." "Can I ask Mr Fowler a question?" "STEVE:" "Yes, just a minute, gentlemen." "Alfred Pettit." "STEVE:" "Yes." "Mr Fowler, I believe your brother is one of the ringleaders." "Would you mind telling me if he's a communist?" "Well, Danny, always has been a Labour man, if that's what you mean." "PETTIT:" "A member of the Labour Party?" "Well, he was till he opted out." "Regan is an ex-member of the Communist Party, who now describes himself as a Trotskyist." "Would you say that your brother shares his ideas?" "Well, why don't you go along and ask him, like?" "Yes, and don't, please, bring any more red herrings." "MILITARY OFFICER:" "Right, left." "Left, right, left." "Right, left, right, left." "REPORTER:" "All day long, convoys of troops have been arriving and additional police reinforcements drafted in from neighbouring towns, as this takeover by 10,000 Merseyside dockers enters its second day." "On the streets, students and unionists carry banners in support of the dockers, and one wonders whether or not the situation could become more serious." "Here with me is Captain Fraser, who has just arrived with his company." "Sir, what are you here for?" "Well, we're here to assist the police in maintaining law and order." "It is conceivable that you may be called upon to use force against the dockers." "As a British officer, how do you feel about this?" "Well, uh..." "I feel that the reason we're here is to see that there isn't any violence and I'm quite confident it probably won't be necessary to use any force anyway." "Have you had any similar experience of dealing with trouble of this nature?" "Oh, yes, certainly I've, um..." "Several incidents similar to this in Aden." "Of course there, the chaps were coloured and here they're not." "How can you make a piece of bacon taste like steak?" "It's not for him, is it, 'cause, you know, bacon makes them sexy." "They do them all week." "Ooh, it's that fellow again." "Oh." "Look what the winds blew." "What are you doing up here?" "Uh, nothing." "Hey, Freddie!" "Freddie, are you sick or something?" "I feel like an old barge drifting down the river, looking for somewhere to land." "(WHISTLE BLOWING)" "More soldiers, eh?" "Yeah, the place is crawling with them." "There's the heavy mob now." "Do you think there's a place for me down there?" "I'm no barracuda without the bite." "Sure there is, love." "I mean..." "But I don't think you'll make it." "Do you think they'll have us back?" "I mean, I'll get in." "Because I know more places on that dock than they've even heard of." "Come and have a cup of tea." "No." "Are you sure?" "Ta-ta, I'll see you." "Now, Freddie..." "Don't be a bloody fool." "Freddie!" "When I see Danny, I'll give him your love, eh?" "Yeah." "Yeah." "(BARKING)" "Hey!" "Go on, get out of here!" "OFFICER 1:" "Police!" "Police!" "OFFICER 2:" "Come on you, get out of there." "Come on." "Come on." "Jump." "(BARKING)" "Get that bloody dog out the way!" "All right, all right." "Come on." "Come on." "Hey, that's me best Sunday coat." "Leave it alone, will ya?" "Get in there." "Get in." "Right, boys, here he is." "All right, Danny." "Hang on, lads." "Hang on." "Hang on, hang on, hang on." "What's the trouble?" "The skipper here is preventing us from working the ship." "Won't show us the manifest." "My orders are this cargo isn't to be touched." "Where'd you get your orders from?" "From the owners, who do you think?" "(ALL CLAMOURING)" "Taking the employers side all the while." "What are you carrying?" "Silicon in drums and raw cotton." "Look, you wanna quick turn round for the ship, don't ya?" "You're wasting your time on him, mate." "Left to him, the ship wouldn't have docked here in the first place." "Are you one of the crew?" "No, but a donkeyman told us that the owners radioed while they were still at sea trying to divert the ship" "to another port." "MAN:" "What?" "The lads heard about it and threatened to stop the engines." "They'll pay for that." "Oh, yeah?" "They can be jailed for mutiny at sea." "(ALL GROAN DISMISSIVELY)" "Well, as far as I'm concerned," "British ships should be loaded and discharged, whether the owners like it or not." "Right?" "(ALL AGREEING)" "And if the cranes aren't available, then let the crews do the work." "(ALL CLAMOURING)" "We can't do a tap of work." "There's hundreds of bales of raw cotton down there, all marked out in different lots." "And we don't know who they're going to or where they're going to without the bloody manifest!" "It'll be chaos!" "Look, skipper, if I told you that the workers in the factories are depending on this raw cotton, would it make any difference?" "My first responsibility is to the ship owners." "MAN:" "Oh, you're always thinking of the employer." "Now look, I hope you fellas are letting all this sink in." "Now there's 95 ships tied up on this dock." "Thirty-two are British." "And without exception and in each case, we've offered to unload these ships to be given a knock back." "Now it's very strange to me that 32 officers, all taking the same line, all pals with one another, that they've got their orders not to let us unload." "Now who gave them these orders, eh?" "MAN:" "That's right." "DANNY:" "Not us, or the guys depending on the cotton in the factories." "No." "It's a conspiracy, it seems to me, obviously, between the employers and the government." "What narks me is, we're trying to get back at the bosses, so why can't we get our hands on the loot?" "Look, I'll tell you the looting is something we can't afford to tolerate." "Not because of any notions about honesty." "As we all know, that's a word which you can bend according to circumstances." "Now, you might think like in the old days, that you're entitled to pinch anything you can lay your hands on to supplement your wages." "But them days is over." "We chased the bandits off this dock and laid a claim to running it ourselves." "We've proved that the old ideas are gone." "Now we didn't go to all this trouble just to let Joey fill his belly there with free booze." "All right, then what are you gonna do?" "MAN:" "Well, I say we should bounce him off the dock estate, meself." "But there might come a copper on us." "The minute I set me foot out the gate, they'd have me." "I'd get murdered." "Well look, Brother Chairman, I know Joey." "I've known him for a few years and he's always been a good lad." "So, I vote that this time we go easy on him." "PETER:" "Well, wait a minute, lads." "Look." "The inquisitor and taker have been complaining and narking about doing the toilets 'cause there's too many using them." "Now I would suggest that our member here be mandated to go down and he should be the fella that should do out the toilets, the shooting galleries." "Make him the WC mechanic." "You should make him in charge of closets." "MAN 1:" "Yeah." "MAN 2:" "I'll second that." "JACK:" "All agreed?" "MAN:" "Yeah." "JACK:" "Right." "The next time you get itchy fingers, it'll be straight off the dock." "MAN:" "Yes." "JACK:" "Okay, take him out." "ALEC:" "Come on." "And behave yourself from now on." "Do me a favour." "Keep off the draught Bass." "All right, the next item on the agenda is Peter's report on the grubstakes and the sleeping accommodation." "All right, Peter." "Well, Mr Chairman, brothers, we've had numbers one, three, four and five in." "That's all sectors with the exception of number two." "And there's no reason to believe that should be any different." "Although, I'm glad to say that in the earliest that we have got the reports from, that we've been able to cope with the sleeping accommodation on the ships with the men working there, and we've also commandeered the canteens, heating laid on." "There's been no need for anybody to go into the top shed." "There's a bit of a problem here." "The Dock Port's switched the juice off and the ship's gear won't work." "JACK:" "Oh, that's up your street, Jerry." "Uh, yeah, we have quite a number of these mobile cranes that we can use." "I think we'll be able to do that ship." "We've plenty of diesel oil." "And I'll contact the lad right away, who's in charge of the cranes, to get the transport down there with the boys." "What, berth is it, Charlie?" "The 02 Canada." "What about bail?" "OFFICER:" "Fellas who deal with the demon don't get bail." "Oh." "All right?" "Big fella." "Got a smoke on ya?" "No." "Not my day, is it?" "What..." "What they got you in here for, then?" "Was trying to get on the dock." "Oh, yeah." "Hoisting, were you?" "No, no, no." "I was trying to join Regan and the lads." "Is that what they blagged you for?" "I heard that fella mention Regan, like." "Tell our sort a mile off, can't ya?" "O'Neill." "Tommy O'Neill." "Freddie Grierson." "Pleased to meet you." "Glad you could come." "I'll come to the point, Inspector." "I hope you're not thinking of keeping Grierson here, are you?" "I mean, he's been under a lot of pressure." "No, we're not, Mr Weldon." "As a matter of fact, you shouldn't be here anyway." "In that case, then I presume I can go and collect him." "Oh, that's just what the Inspector wanted to see you about, Mr Weldon." "INSPECTOR:" "I take it that they are just as anxious as we are to put a stop to this business." "WELDON:" "Naturally, anything I can do to help." "Well, at long last Mr Weldon, the government have decided that they want to put a stop to it." "Now, we're bringing in reinforcements of police and troops." "And tomorrow morning, we'll move into the dock and restore order." "These are warrants for the arrest of" "Jack Regan, Daniel Fowler, Peter Conner and Joe Ryan." "These are the men we want." "And Bruno has a plan that may help us flush them out." "Now if it works, it will save us a lot of trouble." "(SIGHS) Well, how can I help?" "If we let Freddie out of here, if you take him home, so to speak..." "Yes." "...you've got to go past the docks, haven't you?" "How did you manage to get clear?" "They've got flatties lines up like bleeding penguins all around that dock." "Uh, easy." "I'll grab me a boat, I sat in it," "I waited till the tide came in and hit that wall." "Oh, yeah." "And all you gotta do is drift down the coast." "That's right, yeah." "Christ." "Why didn't I think of that?" "I'm sorry I did, as it happens." "I don't know." "You might get away with a fine." "Not bothered about that." "It's this appointment Regan's got and he doesn't know about it." "Eh?" "All I had to do was give him the wire." "I go and get boozed up and banjo a copper, didn't I?" "I don't follow you." "What do you mean, give him a wire?" "When I landed at Thornby, about 15 miles up the coast..." "Yeah." "...I got straight on the booze, didn't I?" "Then I heard about these fellas that are meeting at a pub called The Hare and Hounds." "Yeah, I know." "I've been there." "The free house." "That's right, yeah." "So, I think, well, I better get along there, see what's going on, have a shufty." "And there's these fellas there from the unions." "They've come from all over the country." "Met up, see." "They wanna see Regan." "Jack, what the lads are asking is do you really think we'll make it?" "Do you think you'll get there, anyway?" "Me personally?" "Yeah." "No." "Well, tell us." "That's not to say that it's impossible or anything like that." "I mean, some smart alec will tell you that real communism is utopianism, that man is born with his hand in somebody else's pocket, that human nature is basically corrupt and all that sort of crap." "Well, I don't believe that." "To my way of thinking, man's never had a chance to show how good he could be because society makes him what he is." "I mean, ideas and ethics and all that, they're just reflections of what life is." "Mmm-hmm." "That's to say that if you want to change man, you've got to change society first." "It's clear, that." "That'll need a pretty sharp axe." "As a matter of fact, what I believe is utopian is that this madhouse can continue going on the way it is." "You're right, there." "You see, Danny, the world as it is, is bent." "And man is just..." "He's just furniture in society." "And that's what you got to change first." "Otherwise, you might as well shut shop and call it a day." "FREDDIE:" "All the papers are full of it." "Sit-down strikes, the miners, the railwaymen, the dockers, even the pearly dockers is having a go." "And the league of frightened men in parliament are running round in circles." "Going potty, they are." "(ALL CLAMOURING)" "There goes the Bible." "The what?" "The Bible?" "What Bible?" "Look, Freddie." "What?" "What exactly did this O'Neill fella say?" "Oh, well, only that there were delegates." "That there were six of them representing this one big industrial committee." "Now according to this O'Neill, they're raring to have a go." "It's a fella I met in the jug." "They're raring to have a go to extend what we're trying to do here." "But the point is, they want to see Jack or someone to clear the decks, and get things mapped out kind of style, like." "Did you get their names?" "No, there wasn't much time for talking." "But according to this Tommy O'Neill, these fellas are the real McCoy." "There's no stumers among them." "Where are they from?" "All over." "There conveners, shop stewards, and they represent about 100,000 workers." "MAN 1:" "You met them, have you?" "MAN 2:" "Look, this..." "I haven't met them." "MAN:" "This pub, what's its name?" "The Hare and the Hounds." "The free house." "MAN:" "Hare and Hounds?" "That's great!" "How are we gonna get there?" "That's all right." "Dead easy." "All you do is you get a boat and you drift down with the tide." "Well, if the committee agrees, me and brother Regan are going to meet these fellas." "LARRY:" "I don't know, Danny, it smells fishy to me." "I don't exactly warm to the idea meself, Larry." "But we've got no option, have we?" "It's us that's leading the parade." "PETER:" "Look, I agree with Danny here." "It's feasible that these lads from the other industries will want to see us, boys, and I believe that this is an opportunity, that we can't afford to miss out on." "What's puzzling me is how Freddie's changed his tune all of a sudden." "How come he's chucked out the MRA?" "MAN:" "That's what exactly what I'm thinking, Jacky." "Could be walking into something there." "DANNY:" "I bet you one thing, that Freddie's not mixed up in it." "I've known him too long." "What about this, O'Neill fellow, huh?" "I've made inquiries in his old pen and he's only a day-old chick." "If he's done 12 months, he's probably still on probation." "He's the fellow who was gonna throttle that skipper the other day." "The one that refused to let us unload that cargo." "JACK:" "Oh, is it that fella?" "I thought he was gonna throw him over the side." "(ALL LAUGHING)" "Yeah, but his credentials appear to be all right." "Although he's only been down a short while, he's took part in a couple of strikes." "And he's not afraid to open his mouth." "That proves nothing, Peter." "He could still be with the Cossacks." "MAN:" "Definitely." "Still and all, as Danny says, we got no choice, so we better take a vote." "Then we can have a meeting with these fellas and get out of here before it becomes light." "All in favour?" "Anyone against?" "MAN:" "Hang on." "You're putting your head in a noose here." "Look, the vote's carried." "All goes well, we'll be back before morning." "If you do make it there, Jacky, get a few pints for us, will you, mate?" "JACK:" "You give us the money for it." "Oh!" "# I dreamed I saw Joe Hill last night" "#Alive as you and I" "# Says I, "But,Joe, you're 10 years dead"" "# Says Joe, "I didn't die"" "# Says Joe, "I didn't die"" "#And standing there as big as life" "#And smiling in his eyes" "# Says Joe, "What they can never kill" "# "Goes on to organise" "# From San Diego up to Maine in every mine and mill" "(MEN LAUGHING)" "(CHATTERING)" "# It's there you'll find Joe Hill #" "I reckon that Jack and Danny should be getting off the craft now." "Eh, Alec?" "Yeah, but you know what Regan's like." "Probably reading the riot act by now." "Quite possibly." "You know what he's like." "Yeah." "Hey, listen here." "Oh, the old guitar." "Yeah, it's one of them Yankee seamen off the cowboy boat." "His old man used to be a Wobbly, you know, and that's one of the songs he's singing there." "I don't know how..." "Bad bunch of men, them Wobblies." "But a group of American soldiers from years ago used to bum around in the States, organising strikes." "Take Joe Hill for instance." "That's the fella they're singing about now." "He was like the poet laureate of the Wobblies." "He used to write all the music until the police framed him and collared him." "And just before they hung him, he got a message out to a mate." "He said, "Get me over the state line" ""because I wouldn't be found dead in Utah."" "Then "PS." ""Don't mourn." "Organise."" "# I dreamed I saw Joe Hill last night" "#Alive as you and I" "# Says I, "But,Joe, you're 10 years dead"" "# Says Joe, "I didn't die"" "OFFICER ON LOUDSPEAKER:" "This is the police!" "You are both under arrest." "There's no pointing in resisting." "You can't get away." "Be sensible and stay where you are." "ALEC:" "How come you haven't got your head down, Freddie?" "I couldn't sleep." "Too busy thinking about things, like." "How come you haven't told us what happened to the Weldon character?" "I told him to sling his hook." "Not before time." "I didn't really believe all that malarkey, you know what I mean?" "I was just using him, like." "I told him straight." "I didn't mind standing outside the gate, shooting a load of crap about wages, but when the chips are down and the lads are having a go," "I'm right in with them." "I used to be somebody down here, you know that." "I remember." "Like the Stately Gents want them to be." "It was the..." "Never forget it." "The strike, 1949." "PETER: '49." "Yeah." "He said, "A man's duty is always there, looking over his shoulder" ""and asking him the question, 'Have you betrayed us?" ""'Have you sold us out?" "'" ""Providing you can look youth right in the eye without ducking the issue," ""you're in the clear."" "And tonight for the first time for ages, I've been able to do that." "And boy, it feels good." "Hey, Peter!" "Danny..." "The police have stormed the dock gate!" "There's soldiers and police and everyone!" "PETER:" "What is it, Tommy?" "They're inside the gates, the police and the army!" "They're all inside the gates!" "MAN:" "Come on, boys!" "Get down over here!" "Get the boys up from down below." "Bring the hooks and the gear with them right away." "Get 'em up right away." "And you too, Freddie, you go up." "Right." "Tell them to get all the gear." "What's up, Pete?" "The boys are there." "Go along and help Alec quick, right away." "Bring all the gear!" "Come on, quick!" "Come on!" "Come on!" "Come on out!" "What's going on?" "Come on!" "Come on!" "What gate are they going in?" "What gate are they going in?" "(BARKING ORDERS)" "(MILITARY OFFICER BARKING ORDERS)" "(LOUDSPEAKER BEEPS)" "Hello." "What you want to do is get stuck into this crowd." "That'll liven them up a bit." "(SHOES CLATTERING ON STAIRS)" "Okay..." "All right, settle down, you chaps." "Now look, if you've got any sense, you'll throw away those sticks, put your hooks away and walk out of here." "Now I promise you if there's no trouble, you'll be allowed to return to your homes." "(MAN SHOUTING)" "Now don't be stupid." "There's enough men here to arrest every one of you." "MAN:" "Let 'em try!" "Now, it's the ringleaders we're after." "Jacky Regan, Danny Fowler are both under arrest." "(ALL SHOUTING ANGRILY)" "PETER:" "Don't." "Leave it." "FREDDIE:" "It's got nothing to do with me." "About your five minutes, Mr Miller." "I'll have to see the boys." "Now look, lads." "We've been through this." "We've had the five days..." "MAN:" "There's gonna be no sell out." "(ALL DISAGREEING)" "Well listen, I believe..." "Listen!" "Will you listen for a minute?" "MAN:" "Sell out!" "I believe now that if Regan was here, and Danny, that they would call it a day!" "MAN 1:" "Yes." "MAN 2:" "No, don't throw your hat in." "Listen!" "There's no sense in us getting our heads kicked in!" "All right?" "All right, Miller, it's a deal." "But call your musclemen off first." "When we go out, we go out under our own steam." "Organised." "The same way as we come in." "All right, you have my word for it." "I'm not with ya!" "I'll take any of you big bastards on right now!" "I'll show you who's the renegade!" "I'm straight as a die!" "I never came copper on anyone!" "O'Neill!" "There's the bastard!" "(ALL SHOUTING ANGRILY)" "(MAN YELLING)" "(MEN SHOUTING)" "MAN:" "Right!" "Get him, mate!" "MILITARY OFFICER:" "Get him in there!" "BAILIFF:" "Silence, please." "Stand up." "Daniel Patrick Fowler." "Joseph Ryan." "John Charles Regan and Peter James Conner." "You have been found guilty of a conspiracy to effect a public mischief." "And it is for me to sentence you as determined by law." "Neither I, nor the court, are concerned with your personal political beliefs." "And the doctrine of Marxism is not on trial here." "Indeed, I know very well this philosophy is favourably received in a number of our better universities." "And in so far as it helps sharpen the wit of the intellect of students and helps rid them of this sort of distemper that seems to afflict the impressionable young today, well, it has its advantages." "But when placed in the hands of determined working men, this theory of social revolution becomes as dangerous as a loaded pistol in the hands of a criminal." "It is the use, the practice, rather than the theoretical speculation, that we here are concerned with." "Now, have any of the prisoners in the dock anything to say before I pass sentence?" "Have a go, Jacky." "Well, first of all... (MEN APPLAUDING)" "(GAVEL BANGING)" "First of all..." "JUDGE:" "Just a moment, please." "This not a trades union meeting at the pierhead." "If there's any more of this, the court will be cleared." "First of all, I'm glad you brought out about them intellectuals, who do nothing but talk and take in their own washing." "Fellas that we call folk-singing church socialists, who carry swords too heavy for themselves and let off pistols loaded with blanks." "These skimmers will hop on a plane to Cuba and preach revolution in Havana and stay silent in their own backyard." "We embrace them as allies because they got the education and the talent that we need." "But they nearly always betray us with half-truths, which is worse than lies." "So I'm thankful that you saw fit to separate us from them." "Me, I'm a Marxist." "And I'm also a wrecker." "And that makes a difference." "So you better put that down in your book." "Jack Regan, wrecker and revolutionist." "We're all only too well aware of the kind of man you are, Mr Regan." "But I must ask you, please, to confine yourself to the charges, and to refrain from trying to use the court as a political platform." "Now, what are these charges?" "What terrible crimes have we committed?" "One man was killed on us, a score more have been injured." "Arms and legs broken." "At least one skull fractured." "And half a dozen of the lads are lying there in Sefton General Hospital." "And they're only the worst cases." "There are lots of others who wouldn't go for medical attention because they're afraid of the police questioning them." "Now, all this we suffered." "And for why?" "For five days we ran the docks and shifted more cargo than ever before, in spite of the employers trying to put their spoke in, without any need of gaffers breathing down their necks." "The lads pitched in and they worked hard because they wanted to prove something to themselves." "And to others." "And this they did." "And for that reason, things will never be the same again." "Now I've been working on this dock for over 30 years." "And I can tell you, I've never seen harmony like that before." "There was a mood that I find it hard to describe to the court." "Fellas I'd been working alongside for years, they suddenly sprouted, opening up, like, and saying things that were worth listening to." "I watched the lads whip off the hatch covers and go down inside the ship, and move cargo faster than the checkers could keep pace with." "And if there was any problem, the lads turned to and solved it for themselves." "Not like before, when they were ignored." "But as nobody bothered to ask why 10,000 dockers should isolate themselves from their families for five days, sleeping head to tail, no booze, no women, just hard grafting all the time and not even sure they're getting wages out of it," "making their own rules, their own decisions, keeping their own discipline, electing their own leaders and committees, and finally having to be dragged away by force and violence, and not one single solitary docker walked off them dock gates." "And he could have done it any time he liked." "Now, I reckon that's something worth listening to." "That's a picture worth remembering." "Well, them are the charges." "That's what we've done and we have no regrets." "We plead guilty to the fact that for nearly a week, we worked those docks without any middlemen or any gaffers." "I mean, for years they've been strutting the waterfront like Napoleons, and skulking in boardrooms and sending out orders and telling us how necessary they are." "Well, we've just gone and made them redundant." "And it won't wash any more!" "Now what we've done was only the preliminaries." "We're neither the first nor the last, but behind us, there's an ocean that not even King Canute himself can hold back!" "(GAVEL BANGING) -(MEN CHEERING)" "JUDGE:" "Officer, arrest those two men." "Arrest them." "(BOTH SHOUTING INDISTINCTLY)" "Bloody justice you call it!" "(SHOUTING)" "Get them out." "And if any more of Mr Regan's friends feel disposed to treat the court like some rowdy dockside public house," "I'll have them arrested as well." "Advocating the violent downfall of government is something that no democratic society dare tolerate." "And I cannot ignore the fact that this sort of thing could create a dangerous precedent, which other misguided working men might be tempted to follow." "The sentence of the court is that you all four go to prison for three years." "Remove the prisoners from the dock." "Thank you, Brother Chairman." "(CHATTERING)" "Mr Logan." "It was a sad business, hmm?" "Yes, I'm sorry it had to happen this way." "It were on the cards, though, wasn't it?" "Yes." "Still, it's a very sad day for everybody, isn't it?" "Uh, Dad." "Sorry about that." "Very vicious that, that sentence." "There was nothing else you could do about it." "Maybe they'll get an appeal, though." "Appeal?" "Appeal who to?" "Don't you ever learn anything?" "Come on, I tried me best, you know as well as I do." "The night I pupped you," "I pupped a bloody sheep in sheep's clothing." "You won't be seeing your dad for a while." "WOMAN:" "Don't you worry." "I'm gonna have to talk to him?" "Talk to him." "Talk to him." "Your dad's gonna be away for a while, son." "You'll have to be boss of the house." "I'll tell you when we get home, eh?" "Where's me dad?" "Come on." "Sit down." "Don't be worried, son." "He's gone to jail." "All right?" "Don't cry." "Don't cry." "Are you satisfied?" "Are you satisfied?" "Now, now..." "All right, all right." "Yes." "Well." "REPORTER:" "Car workers at four factories in the Midlands staged a sit-down strike this morning in sympathy with Liverpool dockers, who were today sentenced to three years' imprisonment for their part in the recent disturbances when 8,000 dockers took over the port." "As reported in our earlier news bulletin, dockworkers in other major ports are also out." "Commenting on the situation, the minister said it was scandalous that a minority of politically-motivated people have disrupted the economy..." "LARRY:" "That we've got to think and we've got to act for ourselves." "Tonight, at 8:00, we're meeting in St George's Hall to elect a committee." "And if that committee's arrested, we elect another committee and another." "ALL:" "Yeah." "There won't be jails big enough to house the lads who'll follow in the footsteps of Regan, Ryan," "Danny Fowler and Pete Conner." "(DRUM MARCH BEATING)"