United We Stand
The Naval Collieries Lodge banner was made in 1898. It was made by the Tutill Banner makers in London and was a copy of the Staffordshire based Hanley Lodge banner. Displaying its militant slogan ‘Labour is the source of all wealth’, it appeared at a Railwaymen’s Church Parade in 1913. The banner disappeared in 1957 when the colliery closed.
The 1926 Miners’ Lockout did not bring an abundance of banners. One of the few made includes a humorous banner for a Pontypridd jazz band, the Graig Miners Perfect Musicians.
D.L.Davies, the Maerdy Lodge Secretary, brought back a banner from the Soviet Union in 1926. Dedicated to the British miners and their wives from the working women of Krasnaya Presna, Moscow, the banner was only used on special occasions, and draped the coffins of Communist funerals.
The stream of Hunger Marches which left South Wales between 1927 and 1936 to protest against worsening conditions in the coal industry, produced a number of banners. So concerned were the police with the marchers, that the slogans on the banners were often reported.