The Wars of Rosie by Rose Dean-Davis

Author:Rose Dean-Davis
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pennant Books
Published: 2017-03-15T00:00:00+00:00

GEORGE

I think Peter became a little bit political, but Rose and I were certainly not. I’m not even sure we ever voted. We weren’t anarchists in any shape or form, we weren’t upset about the government. We were upset about the police.

When Peter and Colin were away up in Leeds, Gerry Healy got in touch, the really militant leader of the Workers Revolutionary Party. 2 We got a phone call one day, me and Shirley, to say that he would like to see us. He sent this beautiful great big black Daimler round to take us over to south London.

It was really cloak-and-dagger. Me and her kept looking at one another. We went into this builder’s yard, pulled up in the car, got out and went into this factory. We were taken into this room where he was sitting at the desk.

“Sit down, ladies. This room is padded, no one can hear us.” It was scary.

He banged his fist on the desk. “What you ladies have done is wonderful! I want you to get your husbands to join …”

We went, “Oh yeah, we will.” When we got out of there, I said, “Fucking lunatic!” We weren’t going for any of that.

And yet politics is very interesting, when you start looking into things. You lead your life, you go to work, you come home, you’re in your own little world. When these sorts of things happen, it broadens your horizons.

I got a phone call about the campaign: “Is it political?” I said, “It’s got nothing to do with politics!” He must have thought, “You stupid woman.” I didn’t even look at it that way, but it became very political in the end.

And I never dreamt in a million years that I would ever get involved with people like Peter Hain. He jumped on our bandwagon after he got accused of robbing a building society in Putney. He was one of the Young Liberals then, but of course he’s part of the Labour government now.

He got in touch with Peter, I think. He was waiting to go to court and I suppose he thought he’d find out how we got our campaign going. He obviously didn’t do the robbery. His family came out of South Africa and they had to flee. When you heard some of the stories that his parents told us around the dinner table, about how they visited friends the day before they were executed, it made you think, does this really go on in the world? But obviously it did. What a terrible way to live.

His mum and dad were lovely people, they made us very welcome. His dad kept saying to me, “Don’t call me Mr Hain, call me Walter.” After a glass of wine – I wasn’t a drinker – it was, “Good night Wally!” (‘Walter’ is ‘Wally’ in the East End.)

After that I did become very interested in politics, in what was happening in the community. When I hear people say, “I don’t vote, it’s a waste of time,” I get angry.

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