Conflict in the Coalfields (ili) Nationalization

THE miners have just lodged a claim for a wage increase for daywage men far in excess of the 32 per cent limit proposed by George Brown.

In the fight for this claim the National Coal Board will certainly raise the cry: 'But the industry can't afford it.' They will be able to produce figures and accounts designed to show that in recent years the industry has barely broken even.

To grant any wage increase they will call for greater effort, more rationalisation and pit closures with a more intensive mechanisation drive.

The aim of this article is to expose these figures as, in fact, a sham which cover up the real financial position of the coal industry in order to try to keep down the wages of miners.

The nationalization of the coal industry was carried through by a right-wing leadership in the Labour Party essentially similar to that of Wilson, Brown, Callaghan, etc.

The nationalization of the mines was in no respect a move towards socialism—it was designed to strengthen monopoly capital in the difficult post-war period. The terms under which the industry was nationalized clearly show this to be true.

COMPENSATION As in Fred Lee's • steel nationalization proposals, massive compensation payments were made to the ex-mine owners for a run-down industry in which many pits had failed to make a profit over a long period of time.

In 1947 £388 million was paid out in compensation, of The last of three articles by JACK GALE and PETER JEFFRIES which only about £50 million has been repaid, leaving over £300 million outstanding on which interest must still be paid, payments which have to be carried on the backs of the miners and the rest of the working class in the form of increased taxation.

Compensation continues

to be paid for those mines which have been closed since 1947.

MASSIVE BORROWINGS The National Coal Board has incurred a massive debt to the money-lenders since 1947. Since that date, the Board has borrowed over £600 million from the government. This, in effect, means borrowing money from the capitalist class who have the money available to put into government stock.

Why have these borrowings taken place? Only because throughout the 1950s the industry deliberately held down its prices well below market rates in order to subsidise private industry.

During this period coal prices in Europe were 25 per cent above those in Britain. In addition, many capitalist firms were able, in the early years of nationalization, to negotiate favourable long-term contracts with the National Coal Board for the supply of coal at cheap rates. As a result of these and other concessions the Board has been paying out £40 million a year in interest in recent years.

DEPRECIATION PAYMENTS Depreciation payments have been manipulated in an arbitrary way by the National Coal Board to hide the real state of the industry. Depreciation provision covers those sums set aside to cover the wear and tear of plant and equipment as it is used and out of which new capital can be purchased.

It is clear that the National Coal Board accountants have set aside massive sums far in excess of the real needs of the industry. This has given the impression that the industry has been near to ruin when in fact it has been in a strong financial position.

In recent years over f80 million a year has been set aside for 'depreciation', but it is openly admitted in the National Coal Board accounts that this figure is designed to cover an industry considerably larger than the present one.

In addition, about f10 million is set aside to guard against rising prices of capital equipment in the future.

To give an example from 1962: the accounts for that year apparently show only a tiny surplus of £1.4 million; in fact the real operating surplus was €125.5 million from which was deducted £80 million for depreciation provision and a further £40 million for interest payments.

The manipulation of the figures in this way allows Alfred. Robens, chairman of the National Coal Board, to tell the miners that there is not enough in the kitty to pay any wage increases ('arguments' which are repeated by Paynter and the other National Union of Mineworkers' bureaucrats).

PIT CLOSURES The National Coal Board accounts are also manipulated to justify pit closures.

In 1953 the Board established a Central Obsolescence Fund which was to cover losses incurred in early unexpected pit closures due to bad planning, bad geological conditions, etc.

The Fund is raised by a levy on each area. At present it contains over f10 million. Although established to cover special losses as a separate Fund, it is clear that from 1962 onwards early pit closures are being charged against normal depreciation provisions.

In other words the Central Obsolescence Fund is being built up as an additional reserve and taken out from the operating surplus.

Thus a declining field, such as Scotland has now to pay money into the Central Obsolescence Fund (perhaps at the rate of £300,000 per year in this case) and at the same time pay for losses incurred in pit closures from normal depreciation payments.

So areas like Scotland appear to be making huge losses as a result of these 'double' payments. This can be then used by the Board to justify even more closures on 'economic grounds which in turn throws an even bigger burden on the remaining pits!

DEMANDS MINERS The figures produced by Robens deliberately obscure the financial position of the coal industry. How are the miners to answer Robens?

Open the books!

Miners at the moment, in a nationalized industry, have to accept figures produced by top National Coal Board officials. These men are, in the main, faithful servants of capitalism, often having close personal and financial links with private industry.

The miners themselves, drawing on expert advice, must examine the books of the industry to determine its real financial state and decide accordingly on pricing policy, closures, etc.

Suspend interest payments!

The miners can no longer accept the yearly burden of millions of pounds in interest payments. These must be suspended while the industry is reorganised by the miners.

For workers' control!

There is no democracy in the mines at the present. The Joint Consultative Machinery is a sham. There must ke workers' control over all questions of closures, grading of labour, the introduction of machinery, safety and the deployment of labour.

Extend nationalization!

The coal industry has for too long been exploited by private capital. Oil, steel, mining machinery, chemicals, etc., must be nationalized under workers' control and integrated into a socialist plan.

For a new socialist leadership!

None of these demands can be met by the present leadership in the National Union of Mineworkers or in the Labour Party.

They can only be met by the building of a new leadership which will be constructed around the policies outlined in this article in a struggle against the existing leaderships.

The building of this new leadership must be based on the gains made in the Young Socialists.

The branches of the Young Socialists must turn towards young miners, fight to establish committees amongst them where these policies and the fight for socialism can be discussed and organised.

ATTEMPTS to streamline the freight service on the British Railways by bringing in Dr. Beeching's 'liner train' service has met with fierce opposition amongst north-west railwaymen.

Leaders of the 20,000 rail workers in the north-west of England, who met in Manchester at. the beginning of the Page