WITH the news media over the past year dominated by doom and gloom, one recent glimmer of light has been the news that the conviction of the Shrewsbury building workers in 1972 was a miscarriage of justice.

To mark this belated victory, the film Justice for The Shrewsbury Pickets by Platform Films is a timely re-examination of those political events. It was made as part of the campaign to clear the names of those courageous workers put on trial and convicted for doing nothing more than defending the rights of their fellow workers.
The documentary includes film material from the original campaign to free Des Warren and Ricky Tomlinson (star of TV’s The Royle Family), jailed at the behest of the state.

The first national building workers’ strike was one of a number of industrial disputes in 1972, including the victorious miners’ strike and the release of the Pentonville Five imprisoned dockers, events demonstrating the strength of united working-class struggle. It had to be taught a lesson.