The Communication Workers Union’s Trish Lavelle looks ahead to Levellers’ Day

Each year in May people gather in West Oxfordshire from all over the country to celebrate and commemorate the legacy and the ideas of the Levellers. This is all because on May 17, 1649, three soldiers were executed on Oliver Cromwell’s orders in Burford churchyard, Oxfordshire.

They belonged to a movement popularly known as the Levellers, with beliefs in civil rights and religious tolerance. During the Civil War, the Levellers fought on Parliament’s side. They had at first seen Cromwell as a liberator, but now saw him as an oppressor. They were prepared to fight against him for their ideals and he was determined to crush them.

More than 300 of them were captured by Cromwell’s troops and locked up in Burford’s church. Three were led out into the churchyard to be shot as ringleaders.

The ideas of the Levellers were extremely influential in the development of democracy, equality and civil rights and are every bit as relevant today as they were then.

They were certainly seen as a threat to the rich and the powerful of that era, which explains why they were so brutally suppressed. But, as they say, you can’t kill an idea, and their radical and progressive ideals on social justice are very much alive today in campaigns for tax justice, jobs and public services and the fight against cuts.

Levellers’ Day takes place this year on Saturday, May 18, in Warwick Hall, Burford. The event has grown in stature over the years and attracts interest from historians, politicians, campaigners, students, academics and activists alike as well as the many tourists who visit Burford.

I am co-ordinating the event for the first time this year, so it’s been a bit of a steep learning curve. Fortunately, I have been working with a fantastic group of committed volunteers and partner organisations such as the South East Region TUC, the Workers Education Association, local trade unions and Ruskin College.

This year, our theme is ‘learning the lessons of history’ and we are lucky to have secured a fantastic panel of speakers for the day. As well as the panel discussion, we will have a packed schedule of workshops, Oxfordshire-based choir the Sea Green Singers, local morris side Cry Havoc and craft sessions for younger visitors provided by Gloucester Woodcraft Folk.

But for many the highlight of the day is the colourful procession around Burford and the poignant commemoration ceremony that starts the day off at 10.30am in Burford churchyard. I’ve lived and worked in West Oxfordshire for six years and in that time have been really impressed and pleasantly surprised by the richness of its history in terms of social and political protest.

Until I lived here I really had no idea how many inspirational stories came from the area, because it’s a history that is often well hidden and rarely taught at school.

We wanted to raise awareness of this hidden history so this year we are also taking time to celebrate two other significant historical events from the area.

We will be celebrating the centenary of the Bliss Tweed Mill Strike, which involved textile workers in Chipping Norton, and also the 130th anniversary of the Ascott Martyrs, a group of women agricultural workers from Ascott-under-Wychwood whose imprisonment for attempting to protect the livelihoods of their families sparked riots in Chipping Norton, and who were ultimately pardoned.

I think that what Levellers’ Day means to me most of all is that history is made not by kings and queens, by the wealthy, or by admirals and generals but by ordinary men and women, working people, doing extraordinary, courageous things, making an enormous difference through coming together and agitating for a better and fairer world.

So I think for me Levellers’ Day is about learning our real history, taking inspiration and developing ideas for how we can all be Levellers in our own time and helping to achieve, in the words of the Levellers, “human rights for all, votes for all, justice for all and equality”.

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