Minnie Lansbury — A different sort of Labour councillor — intro speeches

"Minnie Lansbury - a different sort of Labour councillor", intro speeches with Janine Booth, author of 'Minnie Lansbury: suffragette, socialist and rebel councillor', and Selina Gellert, the great niece of Minnie Lansbury — from a meeting by the same name. Upcoming meetings at: https://workersliberty.org/meetings Video version: https://youtu.be/Cer7PeO0Nb4 Janine's books: https://fiveleaves.co.uk/product/minnie-lansbury-suffragette-socialist-rebel-councillor/ and https://www.janinebooth.com/writing/guilty-and-proud-it-poplars-rebel-councillors-and-guardians-1919-25 Two videos by Janine Booth: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fr8zC24zVOk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8IFbUlmCDA Janine Booth will speak about this inspiring working-class woman. The daughter of Jewish immigrants to London's east end, Minnie was one of the Poplar Labour councillors who carried out extensive reforms in the interests of the borough’s working class and, when the council began to struggle financially, led a mass campaign for poor boroughs to receive more funding. Defying the Tory-Liberal coalition government, she went to prison as a result, along with 29 other councillors. They won! She was a member of both the Labour Party and the Communist Party inspired by the Russian Revolution. Before that she was a suffragette, a campaigner for the rights of war widows, orphans and disabled ex-servicemen. The Poplar council which took on the government in 1921 was very different from Labour councils today and Minnie Lansbury was very different from virtually all our Labour councillors. We can draw great inspiration from her story – what lessons can we learn for our struggles now?