TUC backs miners' call:
Scargill gets
it right!
ARTHUR Scargill got it right this year. His decision to reject pre-TUC overtures and present Tu Congress resoluten to the
Congress over the plight oi the NUM and the sacked imprisoned miners resulted in a major victory for the left.
Although the resolution didn't call for amnesty miners it was a comprehensive list of
• A complete review of all cases of miners jailed
• The reinstatement of miners sacked as a result of the dispute.
• The reimbursement of the NUM and all other unions with all monies confiscated as a result of fines, sequestration and receivership.
• The ending of all pit closures other than by exhaustion.
adoption of the resolution overturned the recommendation of the General Council 16-24 majority - that it should be
It creates a dramatically new situation in the campaign to defend the sacked and victimised miners and demonstrates once again the impact the strike had on the trade union and authority the NUM still carries as a result of it 6 months after the end of
The influence of the NUM resulted in conflict within many of the delegaions, where the right wing were op posing the speech evoked memories of strike, which are still strong in the working class. The ASTMS delegaminute switch in favour of the resoludespite the opposition of Clive
The way this resolution was carried shows again that last year's decision by the NUM leaders to compromise on their demands General Council at the height of the strike was a serious mistake. Much more could have been won if the NUM had gone in and fought it out.
Arthur Scargill's attutide this year is what it should have been then: will either win or see clearly where everyone stands!" He put it this way in the Morning Star on the first day of
"When the TUC makes its decision,
By ALAN THORNETT the world will be watching, the wider labour movement will be watching, the public at large will be watching, and, perhaps most importantly of all, 632 men and their wives and children will be watching to see whether the labour movement stands modern day equals of the Tolpuddle
The TUC decision, reached on a card vote of 4,649,000 to 4,585,000, a majority of 64,000 in favour, focuses all attention on the
Party Conference
Despite the fact that Neil Kinnock has said he would not carry out such resolution there would be that mer major boost to the campaign. The campaign to torce Kinnock to put it in manifesto and to carry it out would come later. As we go to press it seems likely that the NUM can win such a motion at Bournemouth.
The TUC decision puts major new the support movement and the labour movement as a whole.
y the NUM. A weakness of the TUC he campaign must be stepped t intervention was that it was not accompanied by an adequate campaign on the resolution prior to the Conress, and there was no lobby of the TUC outside the doors of the Congress while the issue was being debated. A massive lobby of miners and suporters would have increased support for the reslution and advanc. ed the campaign.
Nothing should be left to chance with the Labour Conference. must be a massive lobby organised nationally by the NUM.
This is another very good reason the support groups and the women's support groups must be kept have been wound down.
The recent Sheffield conference of Women Against Pit Closures, for all its problems of establishing a functioning democratic structure, showed that the movement is still there and can be mobilised on the issues facing the movement.
The response to the Conference of support groups called by a number of groups for October 12 also shows that the support groups are still there if can establish a means of coordinating the campaign.
Scargill spelled out the Socialist Viewpoint, No. 7. September 1985. Page 17
Fighting
For The
Minin
Communit
ТІЛІ
importance of the Support Groups very well in the Morning Star when talking about the campaigning to defend the victimised miners.
"The organisations to carry that message forward are already in country abroad) women's organisations.
If the TUC decision is to boost the campaign tor the victimised and imprisoned miners this must mean a new attitude to the two cases which are by far the most important in this
Dean Hancock and Russell Shankland. They were convicted of murder following the death of a taxi driver in South Wales and are now serving life sentences.
No date has been published yet for the special conference of the NUM called to discuss the campaign to defend the victimised miners. It is understood to be early October. That Conference has a responsibility to build on the TUC decisions, and begin to take some direct action on the issue.
There should be a one day NUM strike on that day. And there must be a full scale official mobilisation by the NUM and support groups for a mass picket of the court on the day of appeals by Shankland and Hancock.