Stalin, the East Ender
QUESTION
Did Stalin, Trotsky and Lenin once attend a meeting in Jubilee Street, East London? In early 20th-century russia, the Tsarist police ruthlessly hunted down democrats and revolutionaries, jailing them or sending them into Siberian exile. So to meet up, russian socialists were forced to go abroad.
Having been banned from staging their congress in both Oslo and Copenhagen, the Marxists eventually chose london, and the fifth Congress of the russian Social Democratic labour Party took place between May 13 and June 1, 1907.
The delegates were from various factions of the movement, principally the hardline Bolshevik Party, with 105 delegates, supported by 44 Polish Social Democrats (SDKPil) and 29 latvian Social Democrats. The moderate Menshevik party had 97 delegates, and there were also 59 Bundists (a secular Jewish party of the russian empire). The venue was rev. Swann’s Brotherhood Church on the corner of Southgate road and Balmes road, Hackney (not Jubilee Street).
rev. Swann’s congregation consisted of pacifists and socialists who welcomed persecuted minorities from eastern europe. Its services were overtly political, taking the form of a Bible reading, readings from socialist books, songs from the labour Songbook and a guest speaker, who included women’s rights activists annie Besant and Sylvia Pankhurst, trade unionist Tom Mann and labour figureheads Keir Hardie and George lansbury.
Jubilee Street, Stepney, housed several of the delegates including Joseph Dzhugashvili, later better known as Joseph Stalin, who took up lodgings at 77 Jubilee Street having moved there from Tower House, Fieldgate Street, Whitechapel (then a notorious dosshouse).
Stalin was only a minor delegate. The Marxist movement’s leaders at the time, lenin, Georgi Plekhanov and yuli Martov, opted to stay in bourgeois Bloomsbury.
It’s not known where Trotsky stayed, but he played a pivotal role in the clashes between the Bolshevik/Polish/latvian and the Menshevik/Bundist sides. He acted as chief intermediary (attending as a non-voting delegate).
after 35 fiery sessions, the Bolsheviks voted down the moderates.
Stalin wrote: ‘The Party will henceforth pursue the strictly class policy of the socialist proletariat. The red flag of the proletariat will no longer be hauled down before the spell-binders of liberalism. a mortal blow has been struck at the vacillation characteristic of intellectuals, which is unbecoming to the proletariat.’
Andrew Simm, London e17.
QUESTION
Did the original inventor of the sewing machine refuse to patent it because he thought it would lead to unemployment? WalTer HunT was born in rural Martinsburg, new york, on July 29, 1796, into a family of which several members worked at the textile mill at nearby lowville. He demonstrated a flair for mechanical problem-solving and invention, and worked with mill owner Willis Hoskins, inventing and patenting improvements to the flax spinner in 1826.
From 1829 to 1853, his inventions and patents included a knife sharpener, a rope making machine, a heating stove, a wood saw, a flexible spring, several machines for making nails, inkwells, a fountain pen, a bottle stopper, firearms and a safety pin.
In 1833, Hunt invented a sewing machine but didn’t patent it. It wasn’t the first sewing machine, but it was pioneering in that it used lockstitch. This consisted of two threads, one passing through a loop in the other and then both interlocking — the first time a sewing machine inventor hadn’t mimicked a hand stitch.
unfortunately, Hunt’s humble beginnings and constant impoverishment — he lost money speculating on property — meant that every time an invention succeeded, he sold it to pay off debts or simply for food and shelter for his family. He would spend all his efforts on inventing a new product, then sell it to the highest bidder.
This invent-and-sell attitude had serious consequences on his wealth. He patented the safety pin on april 10, 1849 (u.S. Patent no. 6,281) and willingly sold rights to it for just $400. Sales of the invention would later earn a number of opportunistic businessmen substantial fortunes. This appears to be the case with his sewing machine, though legend has it that his daughter Frances persuaded him not to file a patent because his invention would put many seamstresses out of business.
Hunt later regretted his omission and engaged in an intellectual property struggle over the sewing machine after elias Howe patented a similar machine in 1846.
In the 1850s, when Isaac Merritt Singer began mass-marketing eye-pointed-needle sewing machines, he brought a suit against Howe, who wished to be paid royalties for the machine.
Singer tried to fight Howe’s patent by showing that the technology was decades old, and it was revealed that Hunt had been the original creator of the type of system to which Howe laid claim.
However, as Hunt had abandoned the concept without patenting it, Howe’s patent was upheld in 1854 and he benefited substantially from Singer’s success.
Jane Campbell, edinburgh.
QUESTION
What is the origin of the name Cleveland? ClevelanD is simply derived from the ‘cliffland’ or hilly district, the word cliff in its old sense referring to rolling hills rather than steep faced cliffs.
The name is often thought to be a modern invention, but although the County of Cleveland, abolished in april 1996, was not created until 1974, the real Cleveland is much older.
Historically Cleveland was a district of northern yorkshire situated to the south of the river Tees. The earliest record of the name was in viking times when Harald Hardrada is said to have landed in the part of yorkshire called Cliffland.
R.t. Olie, Newbiggin-on-Lune, Cumbria.
QUESTION
Could a Thirties/Forties London Transport double deck tramcar run under power on the Croydon Tramlink system? FurTHer to the earlier answer, another reason why old tramcars couldn’t run on the Croydon system is the dimensional profile of the wheels.
all modern uK tramcars are designed as ‘light railways’ — with wheel flanges much bigger than those of their ancestors. This enables them to run on railway-style tracks as used in non-roadway sections of the system: mainly disused or obsolete railways. Old tramcars would have trouble negotiating modern pointwork and crossings.
Pete Williams, Hayes, middx.
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