The Redskins were some way to the left of their Red Wedge contemporaries in the mid 1980s, writes Keith Flett. But even now they are a firm pub favourite.

Keep on Keepin On
The Redskins (Martin Hewes, Chris Dean, Nick King 1986)

The Redskins were a short lived rock to soul band in the mid-1980s. They were often to be found playing benefit gigs with the likes of Billy Bragg in the Red Wedge period. However as the lyrics of Keep on Keepin On underline, the band’s politics were some way to the left of Bragg.

The song is on their only album, Neither Washington Nor Moscow, which appeared in 1986. The words tell the story of industrial struggles and the need to keep on fighting even when defeats happen. A focus is on the ability of bosses to divide and rule workers and make them pay for crisis. However a line also notes ‘full timers, back sliders to the cry of sell out sell out’, a reference to the role of union officials in failing to prosecute struggles in a way that rank and file workers demand.

The context of the song is of course the defeats of the 1984/5 miners’ strike and the printers at Wapping in 1986. The point of the lyric is that while defeats happen the fightback must and will continue.

As a long time elected union official myself I keep the song constantly in mind as a warning! While the lyrics may seem didactic the vocal of lead singer Chris ‘X’ Moore and the upbeat music means that Keep on Keepin On remains a favourite even now when its played at my North London local.

Keith Flett is a Convenor of the London Socialist Historians Group