From: nyt%nyxfer%igc.apc.org@MIZZOU1.missouri.edu (NY Transfer News)
Subject: English Miners, Supporters Rally/ww
Followup-To: alt.activism.d
Originator: daemon@pencil.cs.missouri.edu
Organization: The NY Transfer News Service
Resent-From: "Rich Winkel" <MATHRICH@MIZZOU1.missouri.edu>
Date: Fri, 6 Nov 1992 22:28:28 GMT


Via The NY Transfer News Service * All the News that Doesn't Fit

BRITISH MINERS AND SUPPORTERS RALLY

By John-Peter Daly

London

October 25--Over 150,000 miners, supports and other trade
unionists marched to London's Hyde Park against coal pit
closures, which affect nearly half of Britain's coal mines and
dozens of communities across the country. Thirty thousand miners
and 200,000 workers in related areas of power, rail and road
industries could lose their jobs.

The callous and dismissive attitude of the government in
announcing the closures has generated massive support among the
general public. The conservative wing of the Labor Party and of
the trades unions have been forced to attack the government for
the closures.

According to the New Worker newspaper, the British government
"has been forced into retreat and has had to grant most of the
demands of the Labor opposition before [the Oct. 21] debate on
the closures."

The government's apparent retreat is in fact a cynical act of
manipulation intended to neutralize the mass public opposition to
the closures. They have promised a stay of execution to the pits
while independent review is conducted on the future of Britain's
coal industry. There seems to be no real commitment to saving the
industry, merely a concern to massage public opinion due to the
great unpopularity of the government.

MINERS' STRUGGLE SIGNIFICANT HISTORICALLY

The miners' struggle in 1974 won significant victories. Their
strike brought the country to the brink of an energy crisis. This
contributed to the fall of the conservative government and the
election victory of the Labor Party, which governed until 1979.

In 1979 the ultra-right wing Margaret Thatcher came to power. The
new regime was intent on bludgeoning all progressive influences
on British society. The unions in general and the mines in
particular became the specific target. There is evidence that
they prepared for some time as to how to defeat the miners,
including the massive stockpiling of coal and energy reserves in
order to withstand a prolonged strike.

Not unlike the air traffic controllers strike that was crushed by
Reagan in 1982, the miners had a struggle of similar political
significance in 1984. It was more than a labor dispute; it was a
government signal of an all out attack on the unions with the aim
of a wholesale economic and social restructuring.

This was evident when Margaret Thatcher coined the phrase "the
enemy within" to describe striking miners and to justify
repression against them. This phrase showed the hatred of the
working class and was soon applied to lesbians and gay men, the
Irish, single mothers, hippies, young people and inner city
dwellers (a coded reference to Black and Asian peoples).

Thatcher went so far as to say that there was "no such thing as
society, only families and individuals," as she systematically
destroyed social institutions in a manner identical to the
current "family values" campaign in the U.S.

This understanding led to the forging of remarkable coalitions
during the 1984 strike, like the "Lesbians and Gay Men Support
the Miners." This initiative involved lesbians and gay men from
the mining communities and raising significant funds from the gay
community. This coalition was not forgotten and in the 1985
Lesbian and Gay March, miners participated in solidarity with the
lesbian and gay struggle.

Thatcher's economic restructuring goals were for short term
profits and coal production was to be sacrificed in these
interests. Coal reserves will last for at another 300 years.

The struggle was forced to an end in a series of some of the most
brutal confrontations between police and unions seen in post-war
Britain. The judiciary was clearly seen to be an arm of the
executive in ruthlessly applying newly passed anti-union
legislation. This involved outlawing secondary boycotts and legal
mechanisms to sequester union funds.

The miners' union movement was further split by the creation of
an anti-strike, so-called "Democratic Union of Mineworkers." This
scab outfit did everything that the government asked and yet now
faces unemployment along with all the rest.

The struggle is far from over. The extraordinary strength of
public opposition to the government's plans, with 2 million
people turning off their lights in public outcry against the
government, shows that the miners represent a deeply felt part of
British working society that years of Thatcherite/Reaganite
policies cannot erase. This expression of solidarity, with more
than 150,000 marching, is an important sign of resistance and
demonstrates a bedrock support for forging a broad based labor
movement.

                          -30-

(Copyright Workers World Service: Permission to reprint granted
if source is cited. For more info contact Workers World, 46 W. 21
St., New York, NY 10010; "workers" on PeaceNet; on Internet:
"workers@mcimail.com".)


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