Badge, lapel badge

This badge was sold to a member of the Museum of London's staff at the closing rally of the 1981 People's March for Jobs. The march was initiated by the Merseyside County Association of Trades Councils but eventually involved trade unionists from across the country. 280 marchers left Liverpool on May Day and were joined by contingents from Yorkshire and South Wales.

The protest against unemployment was intended to echo the hunger marches of the 1930s and climaxed on 31 May in Hyde Park where 150,000 people joined the rally. Marchers slept in County Hall, the headquarters of the Greater London Council and presented a petition signed by 250,000 people calling on Margaret Thatcher's government to tackle unemployment.