conferences adopted at the previous claiming that they had not been endorsed by the NUM. The secretary reported that they had in fact met Peter Heathfield and they had been cleared by him. Alan Meale insisted that this was not enough, that they had not been agreed by the NUM National Executive, and that they should be reterred back. This was accepted by the Chair.
An attempt was made by one delgate to move that a letter be sent to Neil Kinnock urging him to stand by statements that he had made Scotland to the effect that victimised miners would be reinstated by a future Labour Government. This was bitterly challenged by Eric Clark and George Bolton who said that it was about time we stopped demands on Neil Kinnock and started to build some unity with him. The mover withdrew the resolution.
On the controversial issue of
Regional Mineworkers Campaigns the lid was put on just as tightly. They would no autonomous. that this NUM. In reply to a question asking se- how a campaian be got off the ground in Yorkshire, Billy Etherington said: "Ring Sammy Thompson and ask him arose tee in the near future we were told. Suggestions made would be taken in- existing to account. in the Wembly Conference centre in early autumn summer. to the meeting steering paign potential was being realised. future activities. be given active support. Co-ordinating Committee The co-ordinating Miners' putting shortly. Socialist Viewpoint No. 12 May 1986 p9
YORKS HIRE NUM. THE ONLY WAY TOEN THIS STRUGGLE IS BY WINNING NO National Justice for but controlled representative directly by the area offices of the
NUM
No decision were taken on future campaigns. These would be decided at a meeting of the steering commit-
There were proposals for At Regional Heroes Concerts. A concert
Tand a national labour force. demonstration in Nottingham in the
At the end of the meeting Billy Yorkshire, Etherington relented to some extent on future meetings, saying that the profitable
committee will decide if future open meetings will take place. If the tenor of that meeting is to be a guide, however, It looks as if the cam-
Tis going to be stifled and demobilised just at a time when its
Affiliated bodies should try to ensure that this negative development is reversed. The Campaign is very imporant and well placed to make a major contribution to the campagin tor the victimised miners. Proposals for
particularly the demonstration in Nottingham, should
remains committee of Support Groups is callng a conference in Sheffield on May 31. The final details are to be announced
The purpose of the conference will be to boost the work of the support
Groups and map out activity for the rest of this year. Speakers are being invited from the NUM, WAPC.
Cof the victimised miners from each area wil be invited to give a report on the latest situation. Inside the pits the NCB is continuing to pile on the pressure They are trying to force a wage settlement on the NUM by announcing this week that if the claim is not settled by April 30, miners will lose their entitlement to back pay to November 1.
Othe same time production targets haave been increased by one third nationally with a shrinking
There have been disputes over these levels of speed up in some of the areas, particularly
Abut many of the lodges and branches now see making the pit
Tas a way of avoiding closure. The NCB is getting what it wanted in the first place — a competition for productivity between the pits.
Kinsley Drift in Yorkshire, which is less than 10 years old — is still on the closure list after losing in the national review procedure. It now goes to "independent review"
Thurcroft, in Yorkshire, has struck for a week refusing to work with a scab from the strike. The scab has now been moved to Nottingham.
There is militancy amonst the rank and file miners despite the defeat they have had and the succes of the NCB since the strike. The problem
Tone of shaping that willingness to continue the fight into a co-ordinated rank and file movement in the NUM which can develop it on a national level. It is that rank and file struggle which represents the spirit of the 1984/5 strike, not Regional full time officials, many of whom had a very poor record in it.
WHATEVER inter-governmental conferences of British and Irish ministers might agree, politics in the six counties are still fought out on the streets. Within months the Hillsborough Agreement has foundered against this reality.
Its objective of stabilising partition by projecting the Dublin government and the SDLP as custodians of the Nationalist interest and increased Free State collaboration in security in order to Republican Movement, thwarted by Loyalist intransigence, the inherent sectarianism of the six county state and the military effectiveness of the IRA. Loyalist Referendum The by-elections of January 23 held few surprises. Fifteen candidates standing on a platform of "Ulster says No" to the agreement polled 428,230 votes between them, a Loss of Newry/Armagh to the SDLP which was tarnished by the
Here Sinn Fein's vote fell by 3,319 and in the other 3 seats contested by 7.62%, 2.6% and 2.2% on a reduced poll some Republican stayed at home. Others transferred votes to the SDLP either for tactical reasons or in the belief that Agreement should be given a chance.
In this respect SF's claim that the agreement did indeed contain some concessions wrung from the British by the success of the Republican Movement may have backfired on them. Also the proposed electoral pact with the SDLP (intended
expose tha latter's greater desire to
Jefeat SF and uphold the Agreement rather than join united opposition to the Unionists) confused voters.
A call for abstention against what was, after all, merely a Unionist tactic to legitimise their resistance to the agreement would have expressed Republican electoral support in a
more unequivocal, albeit negative,
way. Nevertheless, although the SF vote was down 18,231 and the SDLP
picked up 11,371 votes (not all of
them Republican) this hardly
represents a massive endorsement of
either the Agreement or the SDLP by
the Nationalist population.