Pit Closures: Twenty Questions and Answers

(1) Why is there a crisis in the coal industry?

The crisis is part of the crisis of capitalism, the system of private ownership of the means of production.

Under nationalization the miners have been used to provide cheap coal for capitalist-owned heavy industry. No one knows how much per ton the big capitalists pay for their coal.

Without the miners the employers could never have recovered their markets and profits after the last war.

In getting increased production out of the miners. the capitalist class had the help of the Labour and trade union leaders, who preached that capitalism had changed and that never again would the miners have to worry about the dole queue.

All the glib promises made by these people—who never dug any coal themselves. of course—have been broken.

Capitalism has not changed. The reins of power are still in the hands of the big employers. And as their system cracks they try to solve their problems at the expense of working men.

The National Coal Board is deliberately taking the opportunity, while coal stocks are rising, of creating a pool of unemployed miners in order to beat down those in work.

To reopen two of the pits which are being shut will cost £20 million, the same as the cost of giving four wecks’ holiday with pay to the whole industry. And the colliery stocks at present held come to four weeks’ supply.

Vv (2) Is there no future for coal now, with the turn to oil burning in the power stations?

The NCB itself states that for 100 years coal will still be the main source of power for industry.

The only reason for cutting coal production now is that the employers are restricting production in steel and other basic commodities.

.They are doing this now because it is more profitable for the employer to keep goods scarce and prices high. Profits will always come first.

(3) Will the next Labour government solve the problem by adopting a national coal policy and expanding production.

No, Labour's present programme cannot expand production, unless the other industries that coal depends on are nationalized, the arms programme cut and compensation payments stopped.

Tv (4) Has nationalization failed?

No. The idea of abolishing private ownership of the means of production is still a valid one. What happened under the Labour government was that nationalization was carried out in the interests of the capitalist class rather than in the interests of the working class.

The ex-owners received outrageous sums of compensation for broken-down mines. And the employing class kept its grip on the mines through jobs on the NCB.

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(5) Is cutting opencast mining the answer?

No. The Coal Board has already agreed to cut some opencast mining, yet underground men are to be sacked. And even i* all opencast mining were stopped, more and more underground miners would be sacked as the capitalist crisis continued.

(6) Will the Coal Board take advantage of the sackings to cut piece-work prices and speed up generally?

Yes. This is already happening in a number of places. If the NCB gets away with these sackings it will soon have the miners back to pre-war conditions.

(7) Is the Coal Board going broke?

No. Its profits last year were over £32 million.

(8) Why then is the NCB showing a loss?

There are three reasons for this.

First, the enormous burden of compensation that has been paid to parasites who sweated the miners for years before nationalization. Interest payments last year amounted to £26 million.

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Secondly. the miners are subsidizing cheap coal to industry. That is why the prices charged to individual industrial consumers are kept secret from the miners.

Thirdly, coal which was imported at a heavy loss was subsidized by the NCB to the tune of £11 million in 1957.

(9) What changes should the miners demand in order to put the coal industry on secure foundations?

It is impossible to plan coal production in a way that will benefit both the miners and the working class as a whole Eg