Yesterday marked the 80th anniversary of the mass trespass on Kinder Scout led by Manchester communist Benny Rothman. The mass trespass anniversary provides not so much a lesson in the right to roam, but a lesson in the right of the working classes to say no to the powerful elite, who continue to snatch a disproportionate volume of wealth and resources for their own ends.http://kindertrespass.com/index.asp?ID=26
The mass trespass continues to have a far reaching impact, helping walkers in Spain establish similar rights and here it led to the establishment of national parks and rights over common land and countryside.
Rothman continued his campaigning, and lost his job after getting into trouble with the law whilst selling copies of the Daily Worker predecessor to the Morning Star. On the 80th anniversary of the Kinder Trespass we should remember and learn from the brave trespassers who simply said no to the elite.
Anna Rose