Catalogue Number
NMLH.2023.70
Object Name
Poster
Title
Grunwick Strike Benefit
People
Jayaben Desai, Ewan McColl, Peggy Seeger, Leon Rosselson
Events
Grunwick Strike
Date
1972-1982
Description
The Poster Collective was a collective formed in 1971 at the Slade School of Art,  a group formed to initially produce posters in response to the miners strike and on the wars in both Vietnam and Ireland. It was formed on the basis of developing a coherent visual style, which addressed the political issues of the time. This included the armed struggles against colonialism in Africa, the struggle of women for equal rights and the continuing struggle against racism. The collective was active in the 70's and 80's, producing posters on a wide range of issues, including for educational purposes. The group was not-for-profit and used a variety of hand-printing techniques to create their posters.
This is a black poster with red text reading "GRUNWICK STRIKE BENEFIT" in large text across the middle. A photograph of the picket line at Grunwick is behind the text, featuring police officers on horses facing down a crowd of raised fists. White text on the poster reads "thurs 17th nov, 7.p.m., school of oriental and african studies, malet street, w.c.1. A concert of working class songs and music by Ewan McColl, Pegg Seeger, Leon Rosselson and others. +Slide show and film footage from the picket line (6p.m.) TICKETS £1 (75p claimants from collet's record shop)." At the bottom of the poster are words from Woody Guthrie: "We sing about the hard times we're having; we sing about the hard times everybody likes us having. / We just take a step further and point the finger at the boss, who's to blame. We take another step and blame his class, and his system. / We make up songs about our heroes and our leaders, and our martyrs. And we also make up songsabout the bosses, the murderers, and the ones who don't care if we starve to death. / We're singing of the fight we're making, and the strikes, the accidents, the trials, that stand up like big sign posts pointing the way. We sing of how we're sticking together, and of the people that's helping us, and we're singing of the time when
our fight's gonna be won."
**ON DISPLAY**
