Miners march against Wales pit closures

Legislationmost important issue PETER JEFFRIES, Central Committee member of the Socialist ... Labour League, opening a public meeting organised jointly by the League and the Young Socialists in Nottingham last Sunday, said that the present crisis in Britain was just one part of the crisis of imperialism. The position in Rhodesia was one aspect of the weakness of the Labour government.

At the same time the role of the Labour government, Jeffries said, had been to confuse and spiit workers in Africa and Britain.

Wilson's support for South Africa, which he showed when he supplied Verwoerd with Buccaneer aircraft soon after coming to power, meant that the use of British troops in Rhodesia must be opposed, since these troops would be used against African workers and peasants.

Legislation against the trade unions is the most important political issue in Britain today said SLL Central Committee member CT T a named la na Jack Gale.

Although such law had been mentioned in the Queen's Speech to parliament, Wilson had not explained what it meant for the working class.

EXAMPLE

Would strikers in the future be fined or imprisoned? he asked. Was it likely that workers could hope to get anywhere through unofficial action, considering that in the mines, for example, there had not been one official strike since nationalization?

'What is to be the position of workers if the experience of ing anything (e.g., oil, arms)

to South Africa or Rhc ›desia;

refusing to load ships carrying exports to South Africa or Rhodesia; and refusing to offload ships bringing anything from South Africa, especially gold and uranium.

South Africa is Britain's second largest trading partner, so this can really hurt British imperialism.

The industrial workers, dockers and also commercial and bank employees of Britain have a major role to play in the struggle against Verwoerd and Smith, by using their class struggle as a direct anti-imperialist and anti-apartheid weapon.

ADVICE

After carefully considering the role of the party in both the imperialist country and the colonies, Lenin gave this very topical advice: that those in the colony should guard against nationalism (e.g., anti-Whiteism, encouraged both by Wilson's anti-African speeches in Salisbury and the Blackpool vote on Immigration and by African nationalism); while those in the imperialist states should guard against chauvinism (e.g., paternalism, by thinking their workers can or should lead the colonial workers; patriotic lack of solidarity with the anti-imperialist struggle, etc.).

This means for the British working class in relation to Rhodesia: THis Saturday, South wales miners are to South wales miners are to march through Cardiff in a protest demonstration the government's pit closure policy, which is speeded up over the next two years. The South Wales coalfield will be one of the hardest MEETING-NOTTINGHAM Bevercotes Colliery is repeated. There, production targets have been reached with 1,000 fewer men than was thought necessary.' How would legislation affect the London docker who drew only £12 8s. for a 50-hour week on piecework?

SPEED-UP

Gale stated that the employers wanted to speed up and discipline the working class, who had had to fight tooth and nail for any decent wages and conditions.

In fact, trade unionists had formed the Labour Party to further this fight.. Now, Wilson was attempting to put the clock back 50 years.

It was extremely important to welcome and support the lobby of parliament called by the Lambeth Trades Council, particularly since people like AEU president, Sir William Carron, were making statements saying that legislation was all right if it included provisions for closed shops.

Discussion followed the speakers in which young people present asked a number of important questions which hinged on the necessity to fight for the January 26 lobby of parliament.

1. The measures 'sanctions. 2. Full support for every action against British property in the independent states, including its uncompensated expropriation. 3. Full support for diplomatic sanctions against Britain over the Wilson government's policy on South Africa and Rhodesia. 4. Full support for anti-British imperialist demonstrations by the colonial workers, peasants and students. 5. Meeting requests for arms and supplies for an African rebellion in Rhodesia. 6. Showing solidarity by fighting the colour bar Immigration Act. 7. Fighting for the abolition of the Colonial Office, the Ministry of Overseas Development and the Commonwealth. 8. Introducing an anti-imperialist content into its nationalization programme by demanding that the overseas interests of all industries nationalized in Britain be handed over without compensation to the governments of the independent states (e.g., Zambia) which have a historic right to this loot.

These form the content of internationalist anti-imperialism in Britain itself.

Our stand is: 'A plague on the houses of both Wilson and Smith!' For the immediate and total ousting of British imperialism from Africa! For a UDI by the African people of Rhodesia! Correspondent march against to be hit, as returns are higher in such areas as the East Midlands and Yorkshire.

Before the recently announced reduction in the annual coal production target, the South Wales area of the National Coal Board announced that some 25 pits, or over a quarter of this coalfield, were on the list of probable closures in the next 18 months.

It is reported now that 33 are threatened with closure.

Robens has declared Rhondda valley 'doomed in long run'.

It is estimated that over 20,000 of South Wales' 50,000 miners will be affected by this policy.

Towns in the Neath valley are likely to have 33 per cent jobless.

Under these conditions, the construction of a socialist leadership of the working class is urgent. But there is no sign of this coming from the Stalinist-led South Wales area executive of the National Union of Mineworkers No fight Since nationalizatio in, nearly 150 pits have closed •down in South Wales, and the : executive have not fought on one single case.

Last autumn and winter a strong rank-and-file movement against pit closures developed, and called for a strike against the closure of the Rhigos and Glyncastle pits. The energies of the executive were concentrated on destroying this movement.

The strike was attacked, talks and 'lobbies' held, and meetings organised on the eve of the strike to split and confuse the strikers. As a result, only two pits came out for two days.

For this defeat, the Stalinists of the Communist Party must take the main responsibility. It was the Stalinists who defeated the strike and within a few weeks co-operated with the NCB to close the pits.

Now they are attempting to confuse their members and maintain their positions in the NUM by this display of fake militancy.

But miners must examine carefully the policies of the Stalinists on this demonstration. A leaflet published by the NUM area executive complains that pit closures have neither 'stemmed the drift of men away from the pits' nor 'solved the problems of heavy absenteeism or low productivity'!

Lend support

Whose interests do these Stalinists serve? The miners, or the NCB and the capitalists?

These remarks lend support to all Lord Robens' attacks on the pit workers, and weaken the miners' struggle Their answers to closures are 'a substantial slowing down of pit closures' and a vigorous programme... providing alternative industry.

In other words, the old chestnut 'direction of industry', a policy which is perfectly agreeable to the employers, who want to take advantage of unemployment, is pulled out of the Stalinist fire.

The NUM leadership attempt to offer the miners a capitalist solution: but the only capitalist policies for the crisis will be to increase exploitation of the workers. The miners are amongst the first hit by these attacks.

Miners must reject the class collaboration policies of Stalinism and put 'forward genuine socialist alternatives—no pit closures except under workers' control, extend nationalization to the coal distribution, mining machinery and allied industries, and suspend interest and compensation payments.

Registered at the G.P.O. as a newspaper Published by The Newsletter, 86A Clapham High Street, London, S.W.4 Printed by Plough Press Ltd. (TU), T.O. 80 Clapham High Street, London, S.W.4