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Banners unfurled, 200 proud men marched into the history books on this day 80 years ago.

Images of the Jarrow Crusade, which set off from the hard-pressed town on October 5, 1936, have come to powerfully define a region and an era.

The “march” has been well documented in the intervening years.

Jarrow was ravaged by unemployment and poverty after the closure of the giant Palmer’s shipyard had thrown 10,000 people out of work in 1934.

The aim of the dignified march to London - as spelled out in a petition of 12,000 signatures - was clear. The folk of Jarrow wanted work and the re-establishment of industry in the town.

Led by the town’s formidable MP, Ellen Wilkinson and kept in step by a “mouth organ band”, the marchers were cheered off from Jarrow as they began their sometimes rain-lashed 291-mile journey.

On the first night they reached Chester-le-Street.

They finally marched into the capital on the last day of October, having received hospitality from many of the towns and cities they stopped off at.

Famously, and disgracefully, the petition fell on the deaf ears of Stanley Baldwin’s Conservative government.

The matter was half-heartedly discussed in the Commons for a couple of minutes, before the Crusade and its objectives were effectively fobbed off.

The marchers returned on the train to Jarrow, and received a heroes’ welcome.

Eighty years on, Dr Matt Perry, Reader in Labour History at Newcastle University and author of a biography of Ellen Wilkinson, looks back at what the Crusade means today.

What did the march achieve?

Dr Perry says: “In the short term, the Crusade did not succeed in its stated goal: To reverse the decision of the government and Bank of England to block loans that would have brought a new steelworks to Jarrow. The response that they received in the House of Commons bitterly disappointed the marchers.

“Their strategy of gaining sympathetic press coverage failed to achieve either concessions from the Government or a hearing from ministers. Ironically the now largely forgotten National Hunger March taking place at the same time as the Crusade secured the postponement of new scales of unemployment relief and access to both the Ministers of Health and Labour.

“In the longer term, the Jarrow Crusade along with the other protests of the unemployed during the interwar years led to a sea change in attitudes.

“During the Second World War, the Churchill-Attlee government promised no return to the 1930s, and after the war a comprehensive welfare state, with an NHS, second education to the age of 16, and national insurance was introduced.

“For three decades, governments saw themselves responsible for preventing unemployment. The Jarrow Crusade helped to bring about the new consensus on welfare.”

What is its legacy 80 years on?

Dr Perry says: “The Jarrow Crusade forms part of the long tradition in this country of progress coming through the struggles for rights to work, to have a voice, to not simply accept injustice and inequality. That tradition remains relevant today.”

And how should the marchers be remembered?

“Yes. We would have a pretty distorted view of history if all we learned about was kings and queens or prime ministers and governments. It is not nostalgia.

“The Crusade raised questions about the North-South divide, about widening inequalities of health and income, about workers’ rights to a job and a decent home. These remain on the agenda today.”

Meanwhile, South Shields filmmaker Gary Wilkinson has created his own tribute on the 80th anniversary of the crusade. He will upload two short films to YouTube today.

Gary said: “My short film - Who Are The Marchers? - contains interviews with relatives of the marchers and highlights their pride, and the importance of the Crusade within the town.“

A second film by Gary, Jarrow Voices, looks closely at two landmark events in the town - the Crusade, and the infamous 1832 gibbeting of William Jobling.

You can watch a clip of ‘Who Are The Marchers?’ on www.chroniclelive.co.uk , and the full versions of both on YouTube.

Meanwhile, check out two exhibitions:

Jarrow Crusade photograph exhibition: Jarrow Library, from Monday, October 3 until the end of the month. Free entry. Organised by Jarrow writer and photographer Paul Perry, with help from Lawrence Cuthbert. You can contact Paul Perry at paulperry64@hotmail.com and 07881747507. Visit his website www.jarrowonline.co.uk

The Jarrow Crusade: Marching into History exhibition: South Shields Museum & Art Gallery. Saturday, October 1, until February 25, 2017. Free entry.