Author: ourbulgarianlife

Text of the speech Arthur Scargill gave today in Jarrow at the ‘Rebel Town Festival’, an annual event which commemorates events in Jarrow in the 1830s, with of course heavy reference also to the Jarrow March of 1936. Speakers included Kate Osborne, Labour MP for Jarrow and David Douglass, former NUM Branch Official, author and historian; David Douglass is the central organiser of this event.

Nell Myers sets the context – Lots of music; banners; people who’ve come through hard times – and the hard times are very evident in the town – with a strong sense of the need for struggle. There were groups of former miners there from Nottinghamshire and South Yorkshire, but there was an atmosphere I can only describe as the spirit, somehow, of Jarrow – even in a large block of flats constructed in institutionalised concrete bearing the name ‘Wilkinson Court’, like wearing a banner. Folk of Jarrow – Rebel Town Festival, Jarrow Saturday, 28 August 2021 Arthur Scargill We meet today to commemorate not only the seven men of Jarrow deported in 1832, the cruel State murder of William Jobling, who was hung and gibbeted in 1832 for a crime he did not commit, and the Jarrow March in 1936, but to honour all the heroes, campaigns and struggles of our class, not only in Durham but throughout the United Kingdom. For example: it’s right that every year we honour the Tolpuddle Martyrs who were transported to Australia in 1834, but we should also remember that in 1795 – 39 years earlier – two working women of Barnsley in South Yorkshire were attacked by the State because they led a march of angry protesters and seized grain for selling at a fair price. For this, the local Magistrate ordered that the two women be flogged through town as a warning to workers they must not protest against the exorbitant price of grain. In 1820, 13 working men of Barnsley in South Yorkshire suffered the fate of transportation because they marched with hundreds of others for the right to combine with fellow-workers. As members of the Barnsley Union Club, they’d sworn a secret oath and this, it seems, made them particularly dangerous. Contrast that with the position of the Freemasons, who have been swearing on secret oaths for centuries! The same year, 1820, saw a “Scottish General Strike” take place in the West of Scotland. Again workers were arrested – as at Peterloo the year before – for challenging the capitalist system. This historical era of protest goes on to include the Newport Rising of 1839, involving 4,000 Chartists who were seeking to free jailed comrades. They were confronted by soldiers of the 45th Regiment of Foot who, under orders, opened fire, killing 20 demonstrators and injuring 50 more. The leaders of the Rising were convicted of treason and sentenced to be hanged, drawn and quartered – later commuted to transportation. Throughout the 19th Century, miners took strike action in all the UK coalfields. Like other workers, they devised strategies to evade the punitive legislation of the time. In this they worked with and were often organised by Chartists such as Bronterre O’Brien, the Irish Chartist leader. The 1893 Featherstone Massacre In 1993 – nearly 30 years ago – I spoke at the Centenary of the Featherstone Massacre in West Yorkshire in 1893. The Staffordshire Regiment shot and killed three miners and injured dozens more who were picketing outside their pit – the last time British workers were shot and killed by British troops on British soil – apart from the thousands killed by British troops on Irish soil. Another workers’ hero is William Muckle: a North East miner who during the miners’ strike and lockout of 1926 went to prison for de-railing the Flying Scotsman – an incident which, by the way, only happened because, in line with his Union’s instructions, he was determined to stop scab coal travelling by rail. Greenham Common 40 years ago in 1981, a history-changing event took place in South-Eastern England, at the US Cruise Missile base at Greenham Common. A group of women said “NO” to nuclear weapons on British soil and began a protest which came to involve thousands and lasted from 1981 to 2000, when the Greenham women finally closed the base. Today, they are celebrating that great victory and we send a message to our sisters who suffered, harassment, arrest and imprisonment as they fought to stop the slaughter that takes place all over the world through weapons of mass destruction – including weapons sold by the UK Government. But here today, at this Rebel Festival, I also want to join in the tributes to giants such as Tommy Hepburn. I confess that like many other young activists of my generation I had only known of Tommy Hepburn by reading the mining historian Robin Page Arnot. It was not until 1977 when I met a Durham miner who was to become a close friend that I really understood what Hepburn meant to the miners of the NorthEast and his central role in establishing the United Colliers of Northumberland and Durham Association in 1824. It was Davison Brenen who first invited me, as a Yorkshire NUM activist and Area Official in 1978, to meet “like-minded” miners who were mobilizing in Durham to challenge a Right-wing Area leadership. Such was the political climate that meetings were held in secret and, typically, Davison organised our meeting at a disused railway station, which was fine – apart from the fact that mainline trains passed through on a regular basis! It was in this way that I met Billy Stobbs from Easington and David Hopper from Wearmouth Colliery, and a young miner from the same pit, Alan Mardghum. Over time, these activists and others such as David Guy from Dawdon and young Paul Price from Vane Tempest worked hard to bring about a fundamental political and industrial change in the Durham coalfield. We must learn The more we know of the struggles that went before us, the more we can learn the lessons they teach us. Miners were involved in strike action from the 1600s; more recently, there were famous strikes in 1911 and 1926 (when the miners were betrayed by the TUC and the leaderships of other unions), the “unofficial” strike of 1969 and the strikes of 1972 and 1974 . Miners’ Strike 1984/85 The Miners’ Dispute commenced on 1 November 1983 at the start of winter, and became the longest, greatest national strike in history. Because that struggle was such a threat to the British State – and since I’m here – it’s important to recall some facts and dispel some of the lies. It’s a fact that during the course of the 12 months’ strike, we had over 13,000 miners arrested, over 11,000 injured, and 11 people died – two of them on the picket line: David Jones and Joe Green. I had known that the National Coal Board and Tory Government had a hit list of 70 pits earmarked for closure. The NUM had been operating a highly effective overtime ban from 1 November 1983 in protest. On 5th March 1984, two NUM Areas asked the Union’s National Executive Committee permission in accordance with NUM Rules to take Area strike action to stop pit closures. We knew that the following day, 6th March, the NCB would announce its plan to “take out capacity”, meaning the closure of at least 20 pits. Permission to take Area action was given on 8th March. On 19 April, some six weeks after the strikes had begun, a special national Union conference was called in Sheffield to decide whether or not to hold a ballot on strike action. This conference endorsed the actions taken by the Union’s NEC on 8th and 12th March 1984 and called for all Areas to join the 80% of NUM members already on strike. Historians should remember that our national overtime ban which had started in November 1983 was still in place and had dramatically reduced NCB production. That ban remained in place throughout the entire dispute, from 1st November 1983 until 2nd April 1985. During the strike, I myself was criticized, indeed attacked – even by my own colleagues – for arguing that the NUM’s prime picketing targets should be steelworks, coking plants, power stations, ports and cement works. My view that the Orgreave coking plant in South Yorkshire should be a primary target is controversial to this day – but the mass picketing at Orgreave on 18 June 1984 forced British Steel Chairman Robert Haslam to send a telex closing the plant on that day. (I was given a copy of Haslam’s telex) I had been injured by the police during the afternoon and taken to hospital, and was shocked to learn the following day that instead of intensifying the pickets as NUM Secretary Peter Heathfield and I had called for, NUM Area leaders had called them off instead. Ironically, my view that the weakest link was steel plants is confirmed in Thatcher’s autobiography. She admits that on 12th March 1984 – at the start of the strike – the steel plants at Redcar, Scunthorpe, Port Talbot, Ravenscraig and Llanwern had only three-to-five weeks’ supply of coke, and once the strike started were being crippled by the solidarity action of the NUR and ASLEF rail unions and the National Union of Seamen, led by Jim Slater. In any war, including class war, it is essential to know ones own strengths and weaknesses, and those of the opposition. Thatcher did, because of information reported to her by the security services – But so did I, because I’d been supplied with information about the weakness of the steel plants, as I had been in 1974 when the Yorkshire miners blockaded the Scunthorpe steel plant and closed the Thorpe Marsh power station. The outcome of the 1984/85 strike was determined by the failure – with honourable exceptions – of the Trade Union and Labour Movement leaderships to mobilise solidarity action. This was a betrayal, exactly like that of the TUC and trade union leaders in 1926. The most profound betrayal was by the leaders of the pit deputies’ union, NACODS, in October 1984. NACODS members had voted in favour of strike action by 82%, and its officials had reached agreement with the NUM National Officials that the strike would only be settled on our terms – when inexplicably the NACODS officials suddenly, two days after reaching that agreement, called their strike off. To this day no-one knows why. A former Tory Minister, Alan Clark, told me in 1992, in the presence of television presenters Tracey McCloud and Michael Gove that Thatcher had told the Government’s Emergency Committee that NACODS joining the NUM meant that the Government would have to settle on the NUM’s terms. Yet, two days later, she told the Committee that the NACODS national officials had called off their strike and that as a consequence the Government no longer needed to settle the strike in October 1984. The greatest victory in the 1984/85 miners’ strike was the struggle itself. And that is what we should be thinking about and acting on today. We’re gathered here to honour the past – but this event only has real meaning if we are determined to translate the lessons of the past struggles into the struggles we face today. I’m referring not just to the fight for workers’ rights, but to the struggles against racism, sexism, xenophobia and all the intolerances that can lead to fascism. These evils are the product of a rotten, corrupt capitalist system that still oppresses people of colour, women or people of Muslim, Jewish or any other religious faith. How the NUM fought back Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, the National Union of Mineworkers acted on the lessons of the past. Our Union involved itself in action after action – on behalf of nurses, health service workers and in 1977 supporting the Asian workers at Grunwick in London and the steelworkers in 1980. Our members confronted racism and anti-semitism, as working-class people did in the 1930s, in the Battle of Cable Street in London against Oswald Moseley’s Black-Shirts. The NUM and its members stood side-by-side with others of our class against exploitation and oppression. Our solidarity was richly returned in our strike of 1984/85, with the wonderful support that came to the NUM from so many diverse communities throughout the UK. Today, we must learn from the lessons of our past: · Defend the NHS · Defend all workers who are being exploited · Fight for full employment – once upon a time that was TUC policy · Demand that all people who are unable to gain employment or who have to look after families are paid the average national wage · Oppose the privatisation of occupational pension schemes What we need today is solidarity action as advocated by the great Irish trade union leader Jim Larkin – it’s a shameful fact that its importance has been buried over the past 30-odd years, by unforgivable compromises on the part of politicians and, sadly, trade union leaders. But the feeling is still there. It’s time to organise again.

The collapse of the so-called “red wall” which contributed to Boris Johnson’s huge majority in the 2019 General Election was totally unnecessary Chancer Johnson seems to be the only one with presence of of mind in the political jungle to understand that voters in the referendum meant what they said. They wanted Britain to leave the European Union. Perversely Labour wanted confirmation that people meant what they said in 2016. They didn’t need a second referendum because the 2017 election and some other local elections confirmed this. Voters in the vote leave constituencies included mining communities and generations who wouldn’t vote Tory in a million years. Clearly the Labour Party presumed this to be the case and ostentatiously ignored their voters. So again the result of the 2019 general election gave an unmistakably clear message that the expectation was – as promised by Cameron, Corbyn and everyone else you can think of – that the result of the 2016 would be honoured. It seems the message still isn’t clear enough and instead of addressing this the current Labour Leadership is intend on bringing back some “has been” discredited former leaders to hammer home socialism will destroy the party. That view was not shown in the 2017 election result and arguably if Corbyn had stood by his former principles, long held widely in the Labour movement, seeing the European Union as a bastion of neoliberalism. Tony Benn had pointed out that it had a Capitalist mindset and countered any Socialist advances wherever and whenever it could. The advance of Socialism in any E.U. country would depend on them regaining independence as a nation. Now that the U.K. has succeeded in becoming independent (that is as far as the deal made allows – even Norway, not part of the E.U. is subject to E.U. law which is capable of overruling domestic law relating to labour rights and so on ) it has the opportunity of moving to a just and equal Socialist future. With Boris Johnson’s statement about Margaret Thatcher’s closure of coal mines bringing on a greener and brighter future those former mining and industrial communities whose employment opportunities vanished, a repeat of a strong vote for the Tories would seem remote. However it seems that Starmer and his crew have other ideas and are now treating the Blair era as a golden age. Since they left power they are characterised by their attraction to wealth and privilege, indistinguishable from the Tories. John Tyrrell 8/08/2021

Totally discredited ex Tory Prime Minister Thatcher was reported to have said that her greatest legacy was Tony Blair. This was because he was, in effect, pursuing pretty much the same political agenda as her, being, perhaps, even more vehemently right wing. Since Starmer has said that Labour Party supporters should be proud of Blair’s legacy, logically, he is paving the way for a Thatcherite future for the Party. What is the legacy that Blair left behind? To Socialists, it reads like the menu of the Devil’s disciple :- Firstly, there was the legacy of the War in Iraq. Britain was dragged into an illegal war under a barrage of lies including ‘weapons of mass destruction’ and the threat of missiles from Iraq arriving in 45 minutes. Masses of the British population took to the streets to protest, all to no avail. The World and the Middle East is still suffering from this disgraceful war. Blair was an enthusiast for abolishing any hinderances on the ability of Big Business and the Banks to make huge exploitative tax avoiding profits at the expense of the overwhelming majority of the population. The mantra was that Labour’s leadership were completely ‘comfortable’ with people becoming ‘obscenely wealthy’ (with no restrictions on how this wealth should be accrued). We can, today, see the awful outcomes on inequality in society and also the horrific effects both on people and the environment from such beliefs. Anti trade union legislation continued to be stepped up in Parliament and British workers’ rights to protest were further eroded. Another legacy of Blair’s regime was the continued and accelerated privatisation of the NHS and the introduction of PFI contracts. As a result, the big City financiers are still to this day raking in huge incomes from exorbitant rates of interest charged for building often substandard and decrepit hospital buildings and other second class so-called facilities (often obsolete before they were completed). It wasn’t only the NHS where such PFI schemes were used to fleece the British public (e.g with building in the sphere of education). There was also the ‘cosying up’ to America in foreign policy and the further deep political integration into the undemocratic EU that formed the basis of much of Blair’s horrible legacy. Blair, of course, relied upon a political ’spin machine’ that Goebbels would have been proud of in order to cover up his mischief. He was successful, however, in amassing great personal wealth for his family and his ‘toadying up’ to American interests has been extremely well rewarded over the years. With the mainstream British media loving every ultra capitalist move that he made, he was given a very ‘fair wind’ by them during his time in office. Indeed, he still manages to obtain extremely widespread coverage of his smarmy, discreditable utterances. If the dwindling Labour Party supporters want even more of this carnage to their lives and to the planet, then they should indeed support a Starmer led Labour Party with pictures of Thatcher adorning their political meetings. To us in the Socialist Labour Party, Blair is but one in a long line of Labour Party leaders that have been the enemy of the British working class. Rob J. Hawkins 6/08/2021

An issue that receives little attention during council elections is that of education. This despite it being the single largest service and arguably the most important within the council remit. There are some facts associated with schools that are not generally known. Here’s a couple: 1. The last time schools had an above inflation increase in basic per capita funding – ie the amount of money schools receive per child per year to spend on essentials – was 1995! And that increase back then was only because it was the last year of Strathclyde Regional Council. Since then increases were at best in line with inflation but over the last 15 or so years the cuts have got ever deeper. Other “targeted” funding such as the “pupil equity fund” in no way meets that deficit. 2. The staffing ratio of teachers to pupils has been negatively amended two or three times over the last decade or so meaning fewer teachers and bigger class sizes. In Scotland we have statutory maximum class sizes but in the past that’s what they were – maximum. Seldom were class sizes in most school at “maximum”. Nowadays the norm is to have class sizes at maximum number. This despite repeated SNP Scottish government promises to REDUCE class sizes in Scottish schools (and that goes for governments prior to the current one too).
These cuts and retrograde moves are a consequence of cut after cut in funding to councils from central government at both Westminster and Holyrood levels. This is a key issue, council cuts need to be opposed and not just in words but in deeds. There needs to be a campaign to pressure both Westminster and Holyrood to refund councils lost monies and to INCREASE funding rather than reduce it. With proper council funding our children would receive a much better education in smaller classes. Jim McDaid, SLP Candidate Dalry And West Kilbride Ward 4/08/2021 More on Austerity and Cuts Austerity politics can be summed up in one word – cuts. Cuts in wages, cuts in living standards, cuts in public services. The COVID crisis has demolished the incomes of many over the past year. BUT HERE’s A FACT… To cite just one example, Jeff Bezos, of Amazon fame, INCREASED his wealth by £88 billions this year alone! Imagine if billionaires like him were made to stump up the relative tax level that people like you and me pay? Imagine what that sort of cash could be used for to improve life chances and public services. Wealth concentration in the hands of a few is one of the causes of austerity and cuts and the reason schools are not properly funded, class sizes are big and potholes in the road don’t get fixed. Arthur Scargill President NUM – 1982-2002. Leader Socialist Labour Party.

Jim McDaid is standing as a candidate for Dalry and West Kilbride Ward I have put myself forward in the forthcoming council by election to give voters an alternative to the failed politics of both Westminster and Holyrood. A local election it may be but the impact of austerity politics emanating from, in the first place, the tories in Westminster but ramped up by the SNP at Holyrood. This has had a devastating effect on North Ayrshire including the Dalry & West Kilbride ward where we live. I believe people are beginning to see the sham constitutional wrangling of both these parties for what it is – a distraction from the cuts, failures and neglect in government of both.
I have lived for over twenty years in this ward, I have been active as chairperson of Meadowfoot Tenants’ & Residents’ Association for much of that time with a record of community activism and positive outcome for the area. I am also chairperson of North Ayrshire’s Trades Union Council and have been so for many years. I retired prior to the COVID-19 pandemic but volunteered my services to assist during the current crisis and have worked the past year in a local North Ayrshire school.
If elected I will commit 100% to representing the people of Dalry & West Kilbride ward and I will campaign to improve the life chances of young and old. To do so will require that North Ayrshire Council get the resources necessary to maintain, improve and develop public services in education, housing, roads, amenities, social services and everything else that are so essential to a thriving and happy community – that will be my prime concern.
A start has to begin somewhere at sometime – make it now.
VOTE JAMES MCDAID – SOCIALIST LABOUR PARTY No. 1 on August 12th. James McDaid 2/08/2021

On 23rd June this year it was widely reported that a British war ship, HMS Defender was patrolling in the Black Sea. The first question that sprang to mind was why? As Vladimir Putin dryly remarked when asked whether World War III was about to break out, the British ship was over 2,000 miles from home. The Russian fleet in contrast was on home territory. While Russia viewed an outbreak of hostilities very seriously it was clear who were within their rights to defend their territory (Russia Today 24/6/2021). Back in the UK the British Government made a similarly laid back response stating that there were no bombs dropped or aircraft firing close to HMS Defender. The apparent nonchalance hides some more serious facts. Defender was bristling with state-of-the-art armaments, with a helicopter on board and a number of journalists. There is no doubt their intention was to be noticed. There are international agreements concerning the use of the Black Sea by shipping and that is that the waters give priority to those countries bordering it. Visiting ships have 21 days and this is accompanied by a view that they have a peaceful purpose, not for one of provocation. The Defender has been in Ukrainian port of Odesa a few days before where the UK and Ukraine had signed an agreement to jointly create two naval bases along with war ships. It seems as if the purpose of the visit was anything but peaceful, but highly provocative for peace in the region with UK, presumably working within the highly belligerent NATO, siding with the Ukrainian government. Another factor that is not emerging from reports about the confrontation between Russia and UK is the link between the UK and the Ukrainian Government, backed by the U.S. and NATO. For many years governments took note of the delicate nature of acts taking place in the back yards of nations which would be likely to inflame hostility. The outstanding example is when the USSR under Khrushev sent missiles to Cuba leaving the world feeling it was under the threat of nuclear holocaust. The current Government in the Ukraine is seen as corrupt and fascism has been a major problem since World War II when collaboration between the Ukraine and the Third Reich took place complete with associated atrocities. Today the involvement of fascists and rise of the far right continues to be a serious issue to be resolved. That the British Government are collaborating with a right wing government to create bases and develop armaments is more than a threat to Russia, it’s a threat to world peace. John Tyrrell 26/08/2021

In 1959, Cuba overthrew the corruption and domination of capitalism and the mainly United States-based companies which had long oppressed the Cuban people. For more than 60 years, Cuba has been a beacon of inspiration to Socialists around the world with its health and social care system and its provision of education, while its government worked to transform the standard of life of all its people. Throughout that time, Cuba has been under attack from the United States: successive US administrations have levied measure after measure over the decades to destroy the Cuban economy and demoralise the Cuban people, seeking to impede at every turn the further development of the Cuban Revolution. Today, Cuba is facing fresh, intensified US-imposed sanctions – at a time when in common with the rest of the world, it is dealing with the COVID pandemic. As a result, it is desperately in need of international aid. For 30 years, the Communist Soviet Union provided Cuba with the help it needed as a result of US sanctions in building its Revolution. The Socialist Labour Party calls on Communist China to give the same level of support that the Soviet Union gave to Cuba for 30 years and that the United States is giving to countries which surround both China and the People’s Republic of Korea. The United States provides aid to those countries which support its system and accept US domination. The Socialist Labour Party calls on the government of China to provide the same levels of support and aid to Cuba and its people who not only need but deserve that support. DEFEND CUBA! Arthur Scargill Leader, Socialist Labour Party President, National Union of Mineworkers, 1982-2002 19 July 2021

Globe & Mail, Canada. First Nation to release report on unmarked graves at Kamloops. Canada gets a good press generally as a matter of course. Over the years stories emerge showing that the whole story is withheld and the domination of the demands of Capitalism are upheld over and above the well being of its citizens. The term “First Nation” was brought into use in the 1980s to refer to part of the indigenous population which consists of many groups apart from Inuit inhabiting Artic region of Canada and intercultural groups, or Metis. Recently unmarked graves have been found near to two residential schools where first nation children were sent, removing them from families and culture and imposing on them an eduction designed to integrate them into the dominant language and culture of the country. The are 139 such schools across Canada. Amazon Front lines have sent a message of solidarity with the indigenous people of North America, the Amazon and other places where residential schools exist. As for land ownership treaties were drawn up in the past but they appear to be partial and many have never made one. Major schemes often encroach on First Nation land with the huge oil pipeline intended to take tar sands oil to the United States or ports near Vancouver needing to cross. Mineral wealth has led to massive excavation resulting in the release of toxins affecting drinking water used by indigenous people and food grown. Colonial power continues unabated. After talking about what’s happening to Africa’s wealth I read in the Washington Post (5/3/2007) about a booming diamond industry in northern Canada, once the scene of a gold rush. The article claims it could be the answer to “blood diamonds” resulting from conflict zones. However on reading the article you might see that there are more than superficial similarities. You see land there is owned by Inuit – the earlier settlers on land which they saw taken out of their hands before. Now there is a surge in interest in education. The report goes on to say there are not too many Indians on the boards of the mining companies which form an industry larger than South Africa’s

Canada’s MiningWatch comments on the diamond industry and makes the point “there are no clean diamonds”.
“There are no clean diamonds. Exploring for them, digging them out of the ground and selling them requires sacrifices from the natural environment, from the wildlife and fish that live on it, and from the Aboriginal people who depend on it.
We want to ensure that the public understand that Canada’s Aboriginal communities are engaged in a daily power struggle to ensure that the mines benefit their people, and to ensure that these mines do not irreversibly damage the intricate web of life on which we all depend.
We want to ensure that the DiCaprio film and its response strengthen the ability of Canadian Aboriginal communities and indigenous communities elsewhere in the world to protect their interests.” John Tyrrell 18/7/2021

Morning Star 7.2021 In view of the Government’s stated intention to delay a review of the Covid crisis, the campaign group Keep Our NHS Public set up the Peoples’ Covid Enquiry led by the distinguished human rights barrister Michael Mansfield. They have just issued an interim report which needs to be read as a matter of urgency, particularly given the complacency which is setting in with the belief that the vaccine role out is the complete answer to the problem. The enquiry took place with 9 sessions chaired by Michael Mansfield where each week experts and lay people gave evidence to a panel of senior health professionals. We were already talking about 100,000 deaths across the UK and now we have been told to expect more given the advent of a new (“Indian”) variant that arrived in a period of lax border controls, particularly with people travelling to and from India where it was well known the situation had become out of control. JT 8.7.21

Rob J. Hawkins 10.07.2021