Flashpoint of History: 1913 Strike Street Event

5 November, from 11.30am at the Museum of Wellington City & Sea

To mark one hundred years since the Great Strike of 1913 striking workers and Massey’s Cossacks are coming head to head on Wellington streets. At 11.30am on Tuesday 5 November the event will begin, and commemorative parade will commence from Museum of Wellington City & Sea at high noon and proceed along Lambton Quay to Bunny Street. The parade takes the force of the 1913 workers into the Wellington streets to pass by today’s city workers on their lunch break.

The Great Strike of 1913 was one of the largest and most disruptive in New Zealand’s history. From October 1913 to January 1914 a strike wave swept across the country, involving about 14,000 workers, hundreds of police and thousands of special constables, also known as Massey’s Cossacks. These mounted special constables from rural areas confronted militant urban workers and their supporters. Wellington saw street fighting between Massey’s Cossacks’ and the Red Feds, with cavalry charges, revolver fire in the streets and machine guns deployed at the wharves and on Buckle Street. The strike exposed the fault-lines between worker and boss, militant and moderate unionist, socialist and Empire patriot, and between rural and urban New Zealand.

The 1913 Great Strike parade will involve live music by the Brass Razoos, strikers on horseback, street performance, and most significantly a march from Queens Wharf to Bunny St followed by a speech prepared by Mark Derby on the impact of this remarkable event in history.

The theme for this dramatic flashpoint is set by a display of photos in the Museum. This was a significant event in Wellington’s political history and was a formative event in the labour movement in New Zealand. By recreating this event we are taking the Museum and our stories back to the streets” says Brett Mason, Director Museums Wellington.

This 1913 Strike commemorative parade is part of the People’s History 2013, a series of talks every Tuesday at either Museum of Wellington City & Sea or National Library of New Zealand. The display of photos in the Museum of Wellington City & Sea was made possible with the support of Maritime Union of New Zealand.

The 1913 sites of struggle walk to historical key points have been developed by the Labour History Project and departs from the Museum of Wellington City & Sea every Saturday.

For more information on the Peoples’ History 2013 and the 1913 Great Strike see www.museumswellington.org.nz or www.1913greatstrike.org

ENDS

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