Bernie Grant - People's Champion

In the 1970's the debate on race relations intensified. Far right political parties, such as the National Front began to campaign quite openly against the presence of black people in Britain, and attracted considerable support in local and national elections. In 1978, then as Opposition Leader, Margaret Thatcher said that British (white) people were afraid of being swamped by people of an alien culture". Immigration rules were tightened.

As economic conditions worsened, so did the situation of black communities, and an increasingly confident black community, many of them now born in the UK, became more and more vocal. Under severe pressures, Black communities began to organize to defend themselves.

At the same time he briefly joined the far left Socialist Labour League, but joined the Labour Party in Tottenham in 1975.

This link opens in a new window - Socialist Labour Pamphlet

In 1975 joined the Tottenham Labour Party, and quickly became involved in a number of local campaigns, not least against the National Front, which began holding marches and fielding candidates in Parliamentary Elections. Bernie was at the forefront when the National Front tried to march in Wood Green in 1977, and later in Lewisham.

Bernie himself left University in 1969 in protest at discrimination against black students, and gained work as an international telephonist in London, and soon became a activist for the Union of Post Office workers. There he became a popular and vocal union leader, presiding over a 41 day protest of post office employees, and negotiating better conditions with management. During this period, his second marriage led to the birth of his three sons.

In his own words:
"We had a row with the University over South Africa in 1969. They were sending student engineers out to South Africa and Zambia for work experience during the summer vacation. But they were sending white students only; black students weren't allowed. South Africa certainly wouldn't permit black students in any kind of managerial position. I argued that if black students couldn't go, then nor should whites. This caused a row and I dropped out. I didn't go to classes and I didn't sit my exams. I came back to London for the holidays though I still intended to go back in the October, to finish my course and go back to Guyana. That summer I took a holiday job as an international operator for the Post Office. While there I helped organise a strike and when I was about to go back to Edinburgh to continue my work, a delegation from the union asked me to stay and continue the struggle. I said 'What? I'm going back to my career, but they pleaded and eventually I said, 'OK' so I stayed and spent the next ten years organizing the union. I had joined the Socialist Labour League in 1971 and stayed until 1974."

This link opens in a new window - NUPE Card

In 1978, Bernie became an Area Officer for the National Union of Public Employees

This link opens in a new window - Bernie Grant's handwritten notes

His notes show growing concern about racism within the Union

He was an effective advocate for health and local government worker, but soon became disillusioned with the racism he experienced within the Union. This led him to set up, from his home in Tottenham the Black Trades Union Solidarity Movement.

In 1978 Bernie became a councilor in Haringey, and began to take up the issues which were affecting his community at the time.

This link opens in a new window - Tottenham Anti-Nazi League flier

In his own words:
"Until 1978, when I became a councillor, my relation to politics was primarily as a union official rather than a black activist. This had begun to change in 1977 when we formed the Anti-Nazi League to fight the National Front, who had won a few local elections. I was heavily involved in that. We forced the Fascists off the streets. Once we'd defeated them, because they started losing their electoral support, we had to do something else. I started holding meetings and talking to the black activists in Tottenham, the area where I lived. We wanted to carry on using the impetus that had been gained during the anti-racist campaign. The aim was to take things one step further - from attacking overt racism to dealing with institutionalized racism in the councils and amongst policy-makers. People told me, 'you should become a councillor', so that was what I did. My speciality was tackling institutionalized racism. I got involved in housing, education, dealing with the whole gamut of policies as they affected individual black people. I took up cases, started fighting for equal opportunities policies, started a head count, so we could know exactly what councillors had done for black people."