On this day, 25 October 1983, the Hayes Cottage Hospital in England was occupied by its staff and run under workers’ control in protest at its proposed closure the following week.
A leaflet about the occupation issued at the time stated: “This action was taken after a lot of thought but it was clearly the only way to stop the closure after other avenues had been exhausted.
“The reaction of the people of Hayes has been really magnificent. We have had visitors coming round with food, supplies and money…
"G.P’s connected with the hospital are to start admitting patients again so we will be running just as before. Certainly, the patients in the Cottage Hospital are solidly behind the "work-in. Fifteen of them have signed a petition demanding the retention of the hospital and one patient has insisted that if any attempt is made to move her she intends to die in the ambulance”.
The workers self-managed the hospital until December, when the health authority caved in and agreed to keep it open. The hospital remained open until the 1990s, when it was turned into a nursing home.
You can read about other hospital occupations around this time in our book, Working Class History: Everyday Acts of Resistance & Rebellion. You can get copies for yourself or as a gift at https://shop.workingclasshistory.com/products/working-class-history-everyday-acts-resistance-rebellion-bookhttps://www.facebook.com/workingclasshistory/photos/a.296224173896073/2118114085040397/?type=3
It’s going to be so much worse than that, this time. They’re sending an army of off duty cops, of militia nuts, of Q freaks, especially to city poling places to intimidate anyone who doesn’t look like their kind of voter… 😞
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