18 AUGUST 1939, Page 6

I am glad the fiftieth anniversary of the beginning of

the strike that won the " dockers' tanner " in 1889 has not gone unnoticed. It is astonishing how long-lived the leaders in that struggle are. Of the four most conspicuous—Cardinal Manning, John Burns, Ben Tillett and Tom Mann—all but Manning are still alive. And Mr. Burns still preserves among his most treasured possessions the old straw hat he wore when he was fighting the dockers' battle. Since then. of course, Mr. Burns has " gone bourgeois " in the eyes of his old associates, and it is characteristic that in Mr. Tillett's article on the strike in last Tuesday's Daily Herald three names—Mann, Manning and Tillett—find a place, not four.

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