Kirkby Rent Strike

The Kirkby Rent Strike was a 14-month-long rent strike initiated by 3,000 tenants in October 1972 in the town of Kirkby, outside Liverpool, against the Housing Finances Act.^[1] A group of women on the Tower Hill estate formed a discussion and support group to help themselves and their families through the factory closure crisis.^[2] When the Housing Finances Act was passed, causing a £1 rent rise, these women formed an Unfair Rents Action Group along with other Kirkby residents, communists, and socialists and responded by organizing the rent strike.^[2][3][4] If a member was threatened with eviction, they were given a list of people they could call to get help.^[2] On October 1, tenants withheld rent payments in retaliation.^[5]

The strike lasted for 14 months, resulting in the strikers being summoned to court and failing to appear.^[6] Employees at the BirdsEye Factory on Kirkby Endustrial Estate were suspended for participating in strike marches.^[4] 36 of the strikers were then charged with contempt of court and faced the threat of jail. The strike ended in December 1973 when one of the strikers was jailed and a further four were arrested. A vote was held with the majority voting to end the strike.

The strike was the subject of a film, Behind the Rent Strike by documentary film maker, Nick Broomfield.^[7]