FORCE HEATH TO MAKE UP HIS MIND

talks to Bedwa lodge secretary 'WE'RE in the middle of a slump and the Tories think once they get into the Common Market they can control the whole working class, Bedwas lodge secretary and ex-Communist Party member Ken Jones told me.

'We've got no chance breaking this government on our own. We've got to have support of the big unions.

"The Tories are hell-bent on pushing up unemployment and keeping wages down to get bigger profits.

"This bloody-minded, rightwing government has carried out policies that no one voted for.

"This is the first time any big industrial union has stood up against the Tories, who have threatened all the basic rights of the working class. The miners are in the forefront.

'If the Tories keep digging in their heels I think we would have a General Strike and then a left-wing, Labour government.

'We're standing out for what our boys should have. If they don't give us the money then let them close the pits.

'After what Tory Employment Secretary Carr has said, I think we could be out two months now. We're not prepared to go back and see the lower-paid men earning f14 a week.

SAFETY

FACTOR 'I say let's get everybody out and force Heath to make up his mind whether he wants pits or not.

'My personal opinion is that we should pull out all the safety men-get everybody out.

"There are a lot of pits in this country which would flood in 24 hours destroying millions of pounds worth of machines.

'The miners have got to make a fight. We've already considerable support.

'Obviously we're looking to the power workers for support when they start their overtime 'You can't have socialism in a nationalized industry with a Tory government in power, but if Labour get in there must be some sort of workers' control.

It would not be just a matter of putting suggestions to higher board management, but the lads would have some sort of voting 'I think the TUC and the other big unions are biding their time now watching the progress of the strike, but it would turn to a General Strike against the Toriés.

'Commenting on the import of Polish coal into Britain Mr Jones said: I'm absolutely disgusted that a socialist country like Poland should send coal when it knows it's breaking a miners' strike.

I'm hoping that the Polish miners and other miners in the socialist countries will come out solidly for the British miners.' 1926 PIT STRIKERS SUPPORT RIGHT-TO-WORK MARCHES TWO MINERS who were on strike in the historic General Strike of 1926 are supporting the Right-to-Work marches organized by the Young Socialists.

Harold Beverley was secretary of Hemsworth Colliery NUM branch in Yorkshire from 1951 until the pit closed in 1971.

He started work in the pits in 1921 at the age of 14 and he took part in the General Strike at Darton Colliery, near Barnsley.

Arthur Moore started down the mines in 1924 at the age of 14 and still works on the face at S Kirkby colliery. He can remember the miners' strike of 1921 (atter Black Friday) when his father organized soup kitchens in miners' houses at Liverton colliery at Cleveland, N Yorkshire.

In 1926 Arthur was on strike at Monkton colliery. In recent years he was a member of NUM delegations to conferences TUC and Labour Party until Monkton closed down.

Both Harold Beverley and Arthur Moore support the Rightto-Work marches because they know how the working class has had to fight to gain and defend every right it has ever won.

'In Silkstone churchyard,' says Arthur, 'there's a monument to 30 children, aged between seven and 17, who died when Crowther's colliery was flooded in the 19th century.

'Written on it are the words "And the Lord sent forth his fire and thunder"

'That's what we've come up from and the young people wont go back to it.' Both these men remember 1926 vividly. Arthur Moore described a scab who used to cycle to the pit. 'One day bike round his neck. The lads had stretched a rope across the entrance!' IT'LL TAKE THE WHOLE WORKING CLASS TO DEAL WITHTHETORIES EYTHORNE is the mining village closest to Tilmanstone colliery in Kent; it is small, bleak and frequently windbattered, with panoramic views of the tips. Workers Press spoke to Gordon Roper and his son John, underground electricians in the colliery.

Gordon became a miner in 1946; his rate then was 12s 2d a shift. At nationaliz: ition he, like many miners, didn' t expect the earth-but at least there could have been more regard for safety:

"The minimum roadway diameter on the coalface approach is 10 feet — but you really need 14 or 15 feet, particularly at junctions. But you should see the conditions we work in now! At a number of places, where the roadway bends, the tubs have to be carried round by the miners!

In fact, I think it's a lot of bullshit they're talking about safety at the moment. The mines normally stand for two weeks' stoppage at holiday time. The trouble is that conditions are really retarded as against what we thought they would be after nationalization. They have carried on production with no regard for safety.' Gordon is what he calls a 'dyed-in-the-wool Labour man'; but he's by no means uncritical of the Labour leadership.

Harold Beverley described how, towards the end of the strike, police used to pick up the scabs at their homes and escort them to the pit, then home again after the shift.

'A pal of mine, Jimmy Evans, got three months for throwing stones at the police.' But Harold has more pleasant memories too. 'We used to sit on a wall about 7 o'clock at night and the scabs used to come by with a sack of coal on their 'One day one of our lads knocked a sack off a scab's back and his coat accidentally came of with it. The scab left in a bit of a hurry and forgot to take his wages with him. There was f7 Wasn't £7 a huge wage for 1926? Scab's pa beer for every. 'Anyhow, it was body in Silkstone that night.

"That's how we fought then, and the youngsters today will fight even better.' MINERS STRIKE DIAY 26 "To my mind the Labour Party is not sufficiently left of the line to bring in workers' control, which we need. It never has been. But we could argue for hours about what it has done wrong. Although I don't entirely agree with what you say about the Common Market. It's true that another world military power could raise its ugly head, but I think there could be a great opportunity for uniting the working class.' Asked about the miners' leadership, Gordon was quite unequivocal:

I think miners should heir leaders a good deal losely' more Could the miners strike?

'It's always the same when you come up against these government concerns. If the government of the day doesn't want to concede, then it'll buy up coal overseas, the better to be able to trample us down. I think it'll take the strength of the whole working class to remove this Tory government.

'Otherwise they use one section of workers against another.' John Roper Rohis tane very strongly with his father.

'I used to work at AVO Meters down at Dover. I had my City and …Guilds, and I was doing skilled work on coalwinding machines. But I still only got just on £14 a week. But then they stopped making the winding machines - they've expanded though, but they only take women workers, at even lower rates.

'I was laid off, so I had to come down and work in the mine. But even as an electrician down here I only get £14.40 after tax.

'And it's no soft job; you have to take all the muck off the equipment before you can work on it, and often in very confined spaces.

I'm absolutely behind this strike. We've got to win. I think that with the rest of the working class behind us, we can, too.' MINERS Your thoughts on strike and its relationship with the Tory gov.

ernment are welcome.

Any letters should be sent to: The Editor, 186a Clapham High St, Lo don, SW4 7UG

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