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The comments by Generals in the United States, I have NATO and Britain on TV and in the Media that the Russian involvement in the conflict in Ukraine has come to a standstill demonstrate how stupid they are, they should hang their heads in shame. The Russian Military has been in Ukraine less than three weeks and have surrounded major Cities, Ports and Airfields —- Compare the United States and Britain’s invasions in Korea for three years which they lost and after a ceasefire the USA is technically still at war 72 years later and: The United States invasion of Vietnam in 1954 lasted 21 years, a war which the USA lost in 1975 and: The United States and Britain’s invasion of Afganistan in 2001 lasted 20 years and ended with an ignominious defeat for America and Britain in 2021 yet in spite of these defeats the Generals who led them have the gall to pontificate to Russian Generals who defeated the Fascists at Leningrad, Moscow, Stalingrad, and the Tank Battle at Kursk in the war in 1940 -1945 and in the process liberated Ukraine. It’s time to tell the Ukrainian Government to honour the agreement in 2014 and give an undertaking that it will not join or seek to join NATO or the European Union and will not allow them or the USA to have Bases on Ukrainian soil. Arthur Scargill. President National Union of Mineworkers 1982-2002 and Leader of the Socialist Labour Party 15th March, 2022

The revelation that Ukraine had established a Military Base near the border with Poland and that the Ukraine and NATO had over the past few years conducted joint Military Mmanoeuvres proves that Ukraine has acted in breach of an agreement with Russia that it would not join NATO or the EU. The hysteria in NATO and the EU and the build up of military equipment before Russia acted and the billions of dollars/ pounds and NATO/ EU currencies from Western Countries shows to me that the current conflict between the two Capitalist Countries was started by NATO, and the European Union It’s time that Socialists made clear that we oppose Globalisation, and United States and NATO’s Expansionism is not in our name This Conflict can be ended today provided Ukraine adhere to its ageement in 2014 and state it will not join or seek to join NATO or the European Union and will not permit NATO or the United States to have any Bases on Ukrainian soil. Arthur Scargill, President National Union of Mineworkers 1982-2002 and Leader of the Socialist Labour Party. 14th March, 2022

Have people and the Morning Star forgotten that the elected President of Ukraine was overthrown by a Coup D’etat in 2014 and replaced by an unelected Oligarch as  “President” to the delight of the USA, Britain, the EU and NATO. Has the Morning Star forgotten the unlawful invasion of Grenada which led to the murder of Maurice Bishop or the unlawful invasion of Iraq, Libya and Afghanistan which led to the occupation of these Countries by the United States. In Iraq alone nearly half a million lost their lives, many young men from Britain. Have the Morning  Star and the “left-wing” political leaders forgotten that currently the State of Israel continue to invade and occupy Palestinian and Syrian lands with hardly a whimper from many who call themselves “Left”, and the on-going occupation of part of Cuba on which the U.S. established a hell-hole called Guantanamo Bay. I do not support any Capitalist Country but I understand the difference between nations particularly when both sides claim the right to that land which had been one country for over a hundred years, as in the case of Ukraine and Russia. I am sick and tired of listening to British “left” leaders and peace campaigners protest together with forces who hate Socialism whist forgetting or ignoring that Britain has unlawfully occupied Ireland for over 700 years and continues to occupy part of that country today. The Chinese understand the situation in the dispute involving Russia and Ukraine and refuse to regard Russia’s action as an invasion. They noted that negotiations must involve the guarantee that Ukraine agreed: it would not be part of NATO or the European Union. Both have been sending arms to Ukraine and continue to do so. The Chinese understand the situation in the dispute involving Russia. They know that the United States has threatened that if China takes back Taiwan into China it will face the USA and most probably Britain. The solution to the conflict can be resolved quickly, but only if Ukraine confirm its previous agreement with Russia that Ukraine will not join NATO or the EU or allow any NATO or USA bases to be allowed on Ukrainian soil. Arthur Scargill, President National Union of Mineworkers 1982-2002 and Leader of the Socialist Labour Party. 7th March 2022

Zoom relay of meeting 10.2.2022. Speakers Alex Gordon, President R.M.T. Union; Ricky Tomlinson, leader of Building Workers’ Strike, Shrewsbury, 1972; Ian Hodson, President BFWAU Union; Sheera Johal, President, Indian Workers’ association; Arthur Scargill, President NUM 1982-2022. Chair Len Capstick, former Deputy Leader, Yorkshire NUM.

In Britain, week after week, we are forced to hear our corrupt politicians and mainstream media churn out the same message about how well the economy is doing and how GDP growth is leading to more prosperity. At the same time, food banks are essential requirements for larger numbers of citizens, evictions for people who can’t afford to pay rent or mortgages are gathering pace and inflation of all prices is beginning to take a further toll on the poorest in society. Why is it that there is an ever- widening gap between the rich and the poor? Since the covid pandemic began, for instance, it is estimated that the wealthiest in society have tripled the fortunes that they have amassed, whereas the vast majority of us are struggling to make ends meet. The Capitalist system in Britain has had hundreds of years now in which to consolidate its position. Only in 1647-8 was there a real prospect of going down a more decent path with new ideas being discussed in the New Model Army councils at Putney with Colonel Thomas Rainsborough being the main spokesman on behalf of the ‘Levellers’. Unfortunately, his political assassination a little while later ended any hope of a much more reasonable route for society to take and the ‘Agreement of the people’ documents were abandoned. So it is that Parliament, in general, represents the interests of the wealthiest in society with ‘big money’ and the mainstream media advocating the viewpoint of these people and it is easy for a Conservative M.P. to cross the floor of the House of Commons and immediately join the ranks of the Labour Party. There is hardly any difference in the overall viewpoints of the ‘mainstream parties’. For instance, where is the Labour Party opposition to the constant warmongering of the military industrial complex? Blair is being knighted, amongst other things, for his exceptional contributions to this warmongering and the profits of the arms manufacturers. The capitalist career-minded politicians in Parliament are generally out to line their own pockets and we have seen, consequently, ever increasing wealth disparity in Britain over decades. Mandelson, for example, said, in effect, that he was extremely relaxed about people becoming obscenely wealthy. No mention was made about any exploitation of others in achieving such economic riches. He himself was forced to resign his position on more than one occasion because of reasons including dubious economic activities. When we hear in Parliament about the economic successes of the UK, reference is, of course, being made to the wealthiest in society with their ownerships of ‘Big business’ and vast salaries and shares and other assets such as property portfolios and yachts. Their policy is generally to maintain minimum staff levels and pay workers as little as possible. The housing market and other assets beneficial to these people are artificially maintained using public funds to benefit them. If the Banks get into financial trouble, they are bailed out by public funds. We are the ones who have to fork out to maintain the opulent lifestyles of these parasites. What is the point of growing economies or boasting of rising GNP’s if the ordinary people of Britain feel no benefits from them? Not until we have eradicated the membership of our ruling political, legal, military, policing and financial bodies of Capitalists can we hope to see a truly happy and prosperous future for the vast majority of our people. Nor should our media be influenced by them.

Commemorating the Battle of Saltley Gate Fifty years ago, on 9 January 1972, the National Union of Mineworkers went on strike, the first time Britain’s miners had taken official national action since 1926. Betrayal In 1926, the Miners’ Federation of Great Britain found itself betrayed by the TUC who insisted that they and not the MFGB itself should conduct strike action over miners’ pay and hours. The “General Strike” lasted for nine days during which Britain’s embattled miners and other trade unionists brought the country almost to a complete standstill. On 11 May, the TUC General Council reaffirmed its support for this united strike action – but less than 24 hours later, four General Council members – Arthur Pugh, TUC President; Walter Citrine, TUC General Secretary; Jimmy Thomas, General Secretary of the National Union of Railwaymen and Ernest Bevin, General Secretary of the Transport and General Workers’ Union – held a private meeting with Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin at which they told him that: “this General Strike is to be terminated forthwith”. This betrayal was then endorsed by the TUC General Council and left the miners to fight on alone for a further nine months until they were forced back to work by hardship and isolation. It’s a betrayal that haunted the entire trade union movement for decades and it was against that background that the NUM took its decision to strike in 1972. As the NUM began the 1972 strike, the trade union and Labour movement was by and large supportive – yet, despite declarations of solidarity from individual unions and the TUC, national union leaders in key sectors such as energy and steel wouldn’t call on their members to support the NUM with solidarity industrial action, while in road transport, scab lorry drivers carried on transporting coal and oil to power stations. Faced with this, miners deployed flying pickets to power stations, ports, wharfs and non-union transport companies, confronting self-employed scab drivers. In many cases, this picketing was successful, but the miners were nonetheless battling without sufficient local solidarity action from other unions in all parts of the country. The British State felt fairly confident of the outcome. Right-wing journalist and former MP Woodrow Wyatt wrote in the Daily Mirror: “Rarely have strikers advanced to the barricades with less enthusiasm or hope of success…..the miners have more stacked against them than the Light Brigade in their famous charge”. Saturday, 5 February 1972 It was against this background that a telephone call came into the Barnsley (South Yorkshire) NUM strike headquarters early in the afternoon of Saturday, 5 February. At the time, I was a rank-and-file member of the Yorkshire NUM Executive Committee and picket organiser for the Barnsley Area, who happened to pick up the call, which came from Jim Wheeler, the Research Officer at the NUM’s national headquarters staff in London. It was an urgent request: could Yorkshire send pickets to Birmingham, to help a handful of local Midlands miners outside a coke depot in the centre of Birmingham? Within two hours, we had organised coaches and 400 Yorkshire miners were on their way. Before setting off, I had spoken by phone to my comrade and friend Frank Watters, the Communist Party’s organiser in Birmingham, who assured me that the Yorkshire pickets would be looked after by the local Labour movement. Star Social Club and Labour Party HQ By the time we all arrived, Frank and Moira Symons, Secretary of her Constituency Labour Party, had virtually sorted out accommodation for our pickets with Birmingham families who took us in and looked after us for the next tumultuous five days. Alan Law and Nicky Bridge of the TGWU and Arthur Harper of the AEU were among those providing beds and food for the Yorkshire pickets – and more, because we would be joined over the next couple of days by miners from South Wales, Durham and Scotland Sunday, 6 February Under Birmingham by-laws, Saltley had to close by 4:00 p.m. each day, opening at 7:00 in the morning. Shortly after 6:00 a.m. on the Sunday, the Yorkshire miners joined the handful of local NUM pickets who had been battling in isolation outside the coking plant for several weeks. What isn’t generally known is that, together, we actually closed Saltley for all of that day. We achieved this because the police hadn’t expected the forces that had come down from Yorkshire, and we outnumbered them. Monday, 7 February Not surprisingly, on Monday morning, more than 1,000 police were gathered at the plant’s gate; they were under orders from Sir Derek Capper, Chief Constable of Birmingham and Chief Superintendent Arthur Brannigan, to ensure Saltley was kept open. Battle commenced. The police were ruthless, clearly carrying out orders to thwart the pickets at all costs. Large numbers of miners – and supporters who had joined them – were injured, and arrested. I myself had a close encounter with Chief Superintendent Brannigan who arrested me – only to release me later without charge. Tuesday, 8 February By Monday night, it was clear that we would need far more support than the accommodation and kindness we had been given by Birmingham’s trade union movement: we needed solidarity strike action. With the help of Frank Watters, Moira Symons and the Trades Council, arrangements were made for me to meet with and speak on Tuesday in the evening to local and regional leaders of key trade unions of the day, including the TGWU, AEU, NATFHE, Vehicle Builders, NUR, UCATT, the GMW, the FBU and groups of shop stewards from other unions – about 13 meetings in all. In each discussion and at each meeting, I argued as passionately as I could that what the miners needed wasn’t money or messages of support. I said: “We don’t want your pound notes. Will you go down in history as the working class of Birmingham who stood by while the miners were battered, or will you become immortal? I do not ask you – I demand you come out on strike, and join us on the picket line at Saltley”. We needed solidarity action – and we needed it in less than 48 hours, on Thursday, 10 February. One by one, the various leaders, committees and representatives agreed to give the support the miners were asking for – but I certainly didn’t know – nobody could know – what would actually happen. Thursday, 10 February What happened on 10 February 1972 remains a lasting symbol of what workers united can achieve. On that morning, 30,000 Birmingham women and men came out on strike and 20,000 marched to join the miners on the picket line at Saltley Gate. That day, they marched into history. Chief Constable Capper closed the Gate and instructed that the plant remain closed until the conclusion of the strike – coke would only be moved out for hospitals, schools and welfare care with certificates signed by the NUM. Ironically, on the morning of 10 February, the then Tory Home Secretary Reginald Maudling had declared that the Saltley depot WOULD remain open. Two hours later, word reached Maudling and the Tory Government that Birmingham’s working class together with the NUM pickets had closed Saltley Gate. Their actions secured a turning point in the national strike; the closing of Saltley Gate was central in winning victory for the NUM’s national strike. Our class enemies were shaken to the core; today, 50 years later, they remain terrified of what the working class of Birmingham showed could be achieved by workers uniting in struggle. As Margaret Thatcher writes in her autobiography “The Downing Street Years”: “In February 1972 mass pickets…forced the closure of the Saltley Coke Depot in Birmingham by sheer weight of numbers. It was a frightening demonstration….” That battle and the miners’ strike as a whole marked the beginning of a year of historic trade union struggle. In July 1972, there was the London dockers’ strike and the incarceration of the Pentonville Five, whose release from jail was forced by massive trade union campaigning and action. In October 1972, building workers were involved in a strike against exploitation in the construction industry, organised by men like Des Warren and Ricky Tomlinson. Six months later, a number of pickets were stitched up on a charge of conspiracy, with Des and Ricky receiving lengthy prison sentences. It has taken 50 years – March 2021 – for the Court of Appeal to accept that the Shrewsbury 24 were wrongly accused of conspiracy in their struggle for basic trade union rights. The Shrewsbury 24 never stopped fighting for justice. Lessons to learn We must act on the lessons from these struggles. Today’s tribute will only be useful if trade union leaders look to the lessons of Saltley and understand that they cannot succeed in any dispute without a fight, including a fight against anti-union laws. Current Crisis The terrible economic and social problems facing working-class people, whether in work or unemployed are only going to get worse. What are we going to do? Our National Health Service is in crisis; it needs a minimum funding of £250 billion per year. Our Education System needs a minimum of £100 billion per year. Our dire housing situation needs at least £100 billion per year. State pensions must have the triple lock restored and occupational pension schemes must not be handed over to private insurance companies. As Leader of the Socialist Labour Party, I want to make clear that the vicious policies of the Tory Government cannot ameliorate the austerity caused not just by the COVID pandemic but by the capitalist system cutting public expenditure and imposing further misery on working people. As Socialists, it is up to us to make those responsible pay for the crimes they have committed. How can we collaborate with any government which supports capitalism? We want an end to a system which has caused unemployment zero-hours contracts (better known as modern slavery), homelessness, cuts and privatisation of our health and social care systems, education and pensions. Today, we are a nation relying on food banks. The only way Britain can rid itself of the austerity caused by the capitalist system is for the British people to own and control the means of production, distribution and exchange. Take economic and political control out of the hands of corrupt multi-nationals and place control of our nation’s future in the hands of all its citizens. There are those who would suggest that this is revolutionary and they would be right. Compromise with crooks is no solution. It requires the removal of the small elite who control Britain’s economy, employment, health service, education system, pensions and social care systems. A dangerous world Life for our people is not only threatened by the economic disasters of capitalism. We’re living in a world of danger with armed conflict and the threat of further armed conflict unless we conform to USA and NATO policies. The mad obsession with the production of nuclear and conventional weapons of war, designed to destroy life, should be replaced by a commitment to save and improve the quality of life for people everywhere. Today’s world is wracked by unjust, unlawful wars, racism, xenophobia and the rise, yet again, of organisations and political parties who preach fascist doctrine. The United States and NATO must be stopped from their military madness over Ukraine, and the USA and NATO must be stopped from threatening armed conflict unless China allows the “occupation” of Taiwan which is part of China. The USA and the UK attack nations such as China and Russia on the issue of human rights whilst Julian Assange suffers an appalling violation of his human rights in Belmarsh. If the USA really wanted to support the rights of nations and human beings, it would cease its occupation of Cuba’s Guantanamo Bay and stop interfering in Venezuela, among other nations. The UK should stop supplying Saudi Arabia with the weapons of death and destruction used against the people of Yemen. Above all, the USA should accept the resolutions of the United Nations and not only condemn but take every action necessary to force the apartheid state of Israel to withdraw from all the lands it has seized from the Palestinians, from Syria’s Golan Heights which it has occupied since 1967 and from other near neighbours. Conclusion James Larkin and James Connolly, the legendary Irish Socialists and trade union leaders, warned that independence from an oppressor will fail to free a people if that “independence” is based on replacing one set of international capitalists with home-grown capitalists who continue to believe in the concept of the “free market” and “globalisation”. On 10 February 1972, Birmingham’s trade union movement including the Communist Party, the Labour Party, Trades Council and people of Birmingham placed themselves in the pantheon of international trade union movement history by taking solidarity strike action in support of the National Union of Mineworkers. It is a privilege to be able to express my thanks for that solidarity today. Arthur Scargill President, NUM 1982-2002 10 February 2022

Banner Theatre are planning a production on the Battle of Saltley Gate which can be invited to perform at venues across the country.

Streaming link for the Battle of Saltley Gate 50th Anniversary meeting 10th February, 2022, 11.00am GMT Here is the link for the Zoom for the Battle of Saltley Gate You are invited to a meeting you can attend online or in person. Zoom details are as follows, if you prefer to participate online Topic: Battle of Saltley Gate 50th Anniversary Time: Feb 10, 2022 11:00 AM London Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81092755566?pwd=MVZ5d1BPMG9neE1kWG03eitIZ3duQT09 Meeting ID: 810 9275 5566 Passcode: 746306 One tap mobile +442039017895,,81092755566#,,,,*746306# United Kingdom +442080806591,,81092755566#,,,,*746306# United Kingdom Dial by your location +44 203 901 7895 United Kingdom +44 208 080 6591 United Kingdom +44 208 080 6592 United Kingdom +44 330 088 5830 United Kingdom +44 131 460 1196 United Kingdom +44 203 481 5237 United Kingdom +44 203 481 5240 United Kingdom Meeting ID: 810 9275 5566 Passcode: 746306

0il and Gas Companies are recording billions of profit and at a time when people in the UK and throughout the world are freezing and have no money to purchase the food that they (not the Multinationals) have produced. The Government’s and Social Democratic Politicals Parties response is to “help people by giving to Banks and Companies. In order to reduce the hardship people are enduring there is a need to impose a ” windfall tax” on Companies; measures which will help pay part of of the mortgages and assist the numbers who are having to go to “Food Banks” As a member of the Socialist Labour Party I and our Party would take all these Multinationals and all the Oil and Gas Companies into Public Ownership, and stop the theft of of pension funds which both the Government and Labour Opposition agreed should reduce the Triple Lock which was designed to ensure that on retirement their pension ( which is their deferred Pay) would never reduce their defence against government theft. To their eternal shame the Labour Party supported the Tory “Steal” The latest ” betrayal ” is the Government’s gift to Ukraine of £88 million whist people (particularly children are dying because they have no food or medicines ) as a result of the £billions spent by the USA and the UK over 15 years. Our position is to keep out of Ukraine and stop the hypocrisy of helping countries whose country has been or is being occupied. If that is their policy show by example: The USA get out of Cuba and Quantanamo Bay. Help the people of Palestine by forcing Israel to get out of the lands it has illegally occupied and ensure that all the lands are handed back to the people to who they belong. Stop interfering in Hong Kong and Taiwan which legallly belong to China. and stop spending €billions trying to do to Venezuela that which you did in Chile. Arthur Scargill, Socialist Labour Party 4.2.2022

The Battle of Saltley Gate – a turning point in British history Fifty years ago, on 9 January 1972, the National Union of Mineworkers went on strike, the first time Britain’s miners had taken official national action since 1926. During the Second World War their labour had contributed fundamentally to the fight against fascism, yet over the following decades, despite nationalisation, miners had seen their pay fall steadily down the nation’s wages “league table”; their terms and conditions had dropped likewise, whilst Government policies had resulted in senseless pit closures, destroying vital jobs and devastating mining communities. As the NUM began the 1972 strike, the trade union and Labour movement was by and large supportive – yet, despite declarations of solidarity from individual unions and the TUC, national union leaders in key sectors such as energy and steel wouldn’t call on their members to support – or back them in supporting – the NUM with solidarity industrial action, while in road transport, scab lorry drivers carried on transporting coal and oil to power stations. Faced with this, miners deployed flying pickets to power stations, ports, wharfs and non-union transport companies, confronting self-employed scab drivers. In many cases, this picketing was successful, but the miners were nonetheless battling without sufficient local solidarity action from other unions in all parts of the country. It was against this background that a telephone call came into the Barnsley (South Yorkshire) NUM strike headquarters early in the afternoon of Saturday, 5 February. Arthur Scargill, a rank-and-file member of the Yorkshire NUM Executive Committee and picket organiser for the Barnsley Area, picked up the call, which came from the NUM’s national headquarters staff in London. It was a request for help: could Yorkshire send pickets to Birmingham, where a handful of local Midlands miners were struggling unsuccessfully to close a coke depot in the centre of Britain’s second largest city? Within two hours, the Barnsley strike committee had dispatched 400 Yorkshire miners on their way by coach. On reaching Birmingham, they realised that the term “coke depot” didn’t convey the massive reality of Saltley Coking Plant, its stocks looking as high as Mt. Everest! The pickets from Yorkshire were warmly welcomed by Birmingham’s working people: the Trades Council, local Labour Party, Communist Party and Co-operative Party; dozens and dozens of families came forward to offer accommodation and meals. Alan Law and Nicky Bridge of the TGWU and Arthur Harper of the AEU were among those providing beds and food for Arthur Scargill and his Yorkshire colleagues. Shortly after 6:00 a.m. the following day, Sunday, the handful of local NUM pickets reinforced by the pickets from Yorkshire actually closed the Saltley coke depot for all of that day. They achieved this because the police hadn’t expected the forces that had come down from Yorkshire to outnumber them. Not surprisingly, by the next morning, Monday, more than 1,000 police were gathered at the plant’s gate, under orders to ensure Saltley was kept open. Battle commenced. The police were ruthless, clearly carrying out orders to thwart the pickets at all costs. Large numbers of miners – and supporters who had joined them – were injured, and arrested. By Tuesday, 8 February, it was clear to the miners that in this struggle they would need far more than the accommodation and kindness they’d been given by Birmingham’s trade union movement: they needed solidarity industrial action. With the help of Frank Watters of the Communist Party, Moira Symons of the Labour Party, and Dick Knowles, the Trades Council Secretary, arrangements were made for Arthur Scargill throughout Tuesday evening to meet with and speak to local and regional leaders of key trade unions of the day, including the TGWU, AEU/AUEW, NATFHE, Vehicle Builders, UCATT, the GMW, and the FBU. In each discussion and at each meeting, Scargill argued passionately that it wasn’t money or messages of support the miners needed: it was industrial action, and action in just over 24 hours – which had to be on Thursday, 10 February. One by one, the various leaders, committees and representatives agreed to give the support the miners were asking for – but no-one could know what would actually happen. What did take place on 10 February 1972 remains a lasting symbol of what workers united can achieve. On that morning, 30,000 Birmingham women and men came out on strike and 20,000 marched to join the miners on the picket line at Saltley Gate. That day, they marched not only into the history of the British trade union and Labour movement but into the international pantheon of working class struggle. On the morning of 10 February, the then Tory Home Secretary Reginald Maudling had declared that the Saltley depot would remain open. Two hours later, word reached Maudling and the Tory Government that Birmingham’s working class together with the NUM pickets had closed Saltley Gate. Their actions secured a turning point in the national strike; the closing of Saltley Gate was central in winning victory for the NUM. Our class enemies were shaken to the core; today, 50 years later, they remain terrified of what the working class of Birmingham showed could be achieved by workers uniting in struggle. That battle and the miners’ strike as a whole marked the beginning of a year of historic trade union struggle. In July 1972, there was the London dockers’ strike and the incarceration of the Pentonville Five, whose arrest and release from jail was forced by trade union campaigning. In October 1972, building workers were involved in a strike against exploitation in the construction industry, organised by men like Des Warren and Ricky Tomlinson. Six months later, a number of pickets were stitched up on a charge of conspiracy, with Des and Ricky receiving lengthy prison sentences. It has taken 50 years – March 2021 – for the Court of Appeal to accept that the Shrewsbury 24 were wrongly accused of conspiracy in their struggle for basic trade union rights. The lessons from these struggles should be with us always and never more so than now, as workers and trade unions are under constant attack. This is why on Thursday, 10 February in 2022 we should commemorate and celebrate the historic Battle of Saltley Gate.

In the Amazon review of the Alwyn W. Turner book Crisis? What Crisis? Britain in the 1970’s, the precis includes the following:- The 1970’s. They were the best of times and the worst of times. Wealth inequality was at a record low YET industrial strife was at a record high. As members of the SLP, we have to ask the logic of using the word ‘Yet’. To us, it would seem absolutely logical that BECAUSE industrial strife was at a record high under the rotten, corrupt capitalist system, then the working class were able to defend themselves better and so wealth inequality was lower! One of the major sources of relative working class strength in the 1970’s was to be found in the National Union of Miners. This union had stood almost alone against the Capitalist Establishment in events surrounding the General Strike of 1926 but had periods of being dominated by the ‘right-wing’. The Yorkshire area of the Union had been dominated by its right- wing until the appearance on the scene of a young ‘left-winger’, by the name of Arthur Scargill. He had swiftly won the backing of his colleagues in the area through political astuteness and adroitness and had introduced the idea of support for fellow workers in struggle by the use of, what were termed, ‘flying pickets’. It was the use of these flying pickets, along with the concept of working class unity that were to become the decisive factors in the eventual ‘Battle of Saltley Gate’. The miners felt that their pay was inadequate and called a strike under the national leadership of Joe Gormley. The Tory Government of Edward Heath had been preparing for this action and had been stockpiling large amounts of coal. If the NUM were to succeed in their demands, it was imperative that coal stocks should be minimal, so that disruption of supplies, as at power stations, should be maximised. The winter of 1971-72 brought cold weather on cue to help the miners so demand for coal increased and stocks ran down quickly. One source of heating which hadn’t been adequately dealt with by the actions of the NUM was the vast stockpile at Saltley coke plant in Birmingham. Joe Gormley asked that this source be turned off. It was time for the operation of effective picketing of the depot to prevent lorries distributing the coke. Arthur Scargill has recalled ‘We launched from the coalfield here (in Yorkshire) squads of cars, minibuses and buses, all directed on to predetermined targets, with five, six hundred miners at a time. Of course, the police were going to come, but they couldn’t cover forty points at a time, without bringing the British armed forces in.’ Minor local picketing had been going on at Saltley with a small police presence but this had been insufficient. The arrival of Arthur Scargill and the Yorkshire miners galvanised the situation and having already established close ties to influential Birmingham trade unionists like Frank Watters, an appeal was made for broader trade union support from the area. Despite huge increases in police presence outside the depot gates and the more vicious ‘Special Patrol Group’, the arrival of tens of thousands of Birmingham trade unionists and their allies, including students and members of the public, presented the police with an insurmountable problem. Arthur Scargill, meanwhile orchestrated the operation on behalf of the trade unionists, with megaphone in hand. With the chants of ‘close the gates’, the gates were closed to the lorries under police supervision and a great working class victory was secured. The Tory administration was meanwhile reeling under this pressure. Other industrial action around this time included the dockers dispute and the jailing of the ‘Pentonville 5’, the building workers dispute resulting in the jailing of the ‘Shrewsbury 2- Ricky Tomlinson and Des Warren, and the Grunwick dispute with the emergence of the horrible Rupert Murdoch Group infiltration into Britain. With these militant actions, a break was temporarily put on rampant capitalism in Britain and the Country was soon immersed in the ‘three day week’ and periods of electricity shortage. Heath tried to bribe the working class with 10 per cent across the board pay rises and the like but in February 1974 he called a general election on the question of who runs Britain, the Tory Government or the Trades Unions? The Tories lost the election and Harold Wilson emerged as a Labour Prime minister. But it wasn’t the working class that benefitted. The non-stop attacks upon the working class by Labour and Tory administrations led eventually to the James Callaghan ‘Winter of discontent’ war with the British working class and the emergence of even more rampant capitalism under the Thatcher regime. Tory vengeance over the Heath debacle knew no bounds and eventually, the whole state apparatus was thrown against the working class bulwark of Arthur Scargill and the NUM in the 1984-5 Miners Strike. The British working class needs to rediscover its determined resistance to rampant capitalism as in the above events of the 1970’s Rob J. Hawkins, S.W. Region, 14.1.2022 Note. The 50th anniversary of Saltley Gate wil be on 10th February 2022. A number of events are being planned with a meeting on the day to be addressed by Arthur Scargill, Ricky Tomlinson, Mick Lynch, General Secretary RMT, Ian Hodson, President BFAWU and Sharon Graham, General Secretary of UNITE (tbc). This will be at the Priory Rooms, Quaker Meeting House, 40 Bull Street, Birmingham

America wants Russia to leave Ukraine and not to interfere in Taiwan. When will this war mongering Country get out of of the part of Cuba it has occupied for years and vacate its prison camp in a sovereign country and stop interfering in Taiwan which is legally part of China. Arthur Scargill. Leader Socialist Labour Party

A memorial was erected to miners in Swadlincote, Derbyshire. This was due to the efforts of Socialist labour Party members. Today East Midlands members will be laying a wreath as they do annually. Due to circumstances, inclduing Covid 19 Omicron upsurge members from other regions are not able to join them. We send them a message of Solidarity. Here in an earlier ceremony, Paul Liversuch, National Executive Member for East Midlands region is shown by the Miners’ Memorial is Swadlincote. He will be joined today by Nick Wroughton, also East Midland member and General Secretary Of the Socialist Labour Party.

Download Report / Executive summary Keep Our NHS Public (KONP) published their Peoples’ Enquiry into the Covid Pandemic in the U.K. The Government has talked about setting up an enquiry to learn from responses made to the pandemic, but there are no signs even of any preparation taking place for this. An enquiry was set up under the chairmanship of Michael Mansfield QC which has reported today, 1st December 2021. Posted by John Tyrrell 1/12/2021

Indian Farmers have been on strike fro over a year opposing the Modi Government wish to put control of farmers and farming in the hands of the multinationals. Globalisation has seen the rise and rise of neoliberalism designed to increase the profits of big business while seizing land and exploiting labour on the cheap. Hundreds lost their lives in the ensuing drawn out battle. Birmingam Trades Union Council organised a meeting where those involved tell their story on Sunday, 21st November 2021. Watch it here. Press report: Morning Star; Hindustan Times Posted by John Tyrrell 30/11/2021

50th Anniversary, Battle of Saltley Gate, 10th February 1972 Birmingham Trades Council are planning celebrations to mark the 50th Anniversary of the Battle of Saltley Gate in 1972. It is planned to kick off with the unveiling of a plaque on the Unite Trade Union office in Birmingham which is in the area of Saltley Gate on 10th February 2022. Arthur Scargill will be a key speaker and Banner Theatre will perform songs from current productions on major issues. You will be welcome to attend and bring Union banners and banners relating to key issues affecting us, including the NHS, education funding and inequality, homelessness etc. Further details will be announced shortly. Banner Theatre are creating live and on-line programmes. This will be available for booking around the country. Details here: https://bannertheatre.co.uk/portfolio/banner-theatres-international-may-day-celebration-2021-2/ DONATIONS. We are asking the Labour and Trade Union movement and their supporters for donations towards making taking the 50th anniversary of Saltley Gate of Saltley Gate as a sign that great victories are possible through solidarity and determination. These can be sent to Birmingham Trade union Council. A Message from Arthur Scargill On 9 January 1972, Britain’s miners went on national strike for the first time since 1926. Miners had fallen dramatically down the wages “league table” whilst terms and conditions had reached a point at which they were no longer prepared to accept pennies instead of pounds. The NUM’s Areas commenced picketing at power stations, docks, ports – wherever road transport could deliver or collect coal; the Tory Government, determined that our claims should not succeed, was importing coal together with what was termed “cheap” oil and using nuclear power to keep energy supplies going. The trade union and Labour movement was by and large supportive – yet, despite messages of solidarity from individual unions and the TUC, national trade union leaders in the energy sector weren’t calling on their members to support us, while in road transport, scab drivers were transporting imported coal and oil to power stations. Faced with this, miners deployed flying pickets to the power stations, ports, wharfs and non-union transport companies, confronting self-employed scab drivers. Whilst picketing was in many cases proving successful, miners were still having to battle in all parts of the country. Against this background, I certainly wasn’t expecting what happened in the early afternoon of Saturday, 5 February. As a member of the Yorkshire NUM Executive Committee and picket organiser for the Barnsley Area, I received a phone call requesting help in closing down a coke depot in the centre of Birmingham, Britain’s largest city. Within two hours, 400 Yorkshire miners were on their way by coach, with me and my fellow-Branch Official Alvin Philips following in my car. On reaching Birmingham and we realised that the term “coke depot” didn’t convey the reality of Saltley, with stocks that looked to me as high as Mt. Everest! We were warmly welcomed by Birmingham’s working people; the Trades Council, local Labour Party, Communist Party and Co-operative Party; hundreds of families came forward with accommodation and meals, and looked after us over the coming days. At 6:00 a.m. on Sunday, what had been a handful of local NUM pickets, reinforced by miners from Yorkshire closed down the Saltley depot for the rest of the day. We were able to do that because the pickets were in the majority – however, on the Monday morning we were met by over 1,000 police determined that Saltley would be kept open. Yes, there was violence: it came from the police and resulted in substantial numbers of injured pickets. By Tuesday, 8 February, it was obvious we needed more assistance from the trade union movement. With the help of Frank Watters of the Communist Party, Moira Symons of the Labour Party, Dick Knowles of the Co-op. Party and the Trades Council Secretary, arrangements were made for me to meet with local and regional leaders of key trade unions of the day, including the TGWU, AEU/AUEW, NATFHE, Vehicle Builders, the GMW, the EEPTU and the FBU. All the union leaders and representatives I met listened to my heartfelt argument that what we needed wasn’t money or messages but strike action – and they agreed one by one to organise to ensure that we would get the support I was asking for on Thursday, 10 February. The morning of 10 February1972 realised an event which I believe will symbolise forever what trade unionists united are capable of achieving. On that day, 20,000 women and men marched to join the miners on the picket line at Saltley Gate, and in so doing they marched not only into the history of the British trade union and Labour movement but into the international pantheon of working class struggle. That day is also seared into the collective memory of our class enemies. The Tories in particular remain terrified that the working class of Birmingham proved in 1972 that workers had the power to determine events. I’ve always savoured the memory of then Home Secretary Reginald Maudling’s declaration – on 10 February – that the Saltley depot would remain open; two hours later, word reached Maudling and the Tory Government: Birmingham’s working class had closed Saltley Gate. Arthur Scargill President, National Union of Mineworkers 1982-2002 (4 October 2021) Posted by John Tyrrell, 29/11/2021

These last decades have seen movements with revolutionary potential hit the headlines. Greens began to make some impact, I seem to recall, about fifty years ago, mainly in Germany; the black and women’s liberation movements a bit earlier. So we get the “rainbow alliance” idea, with its [apparent ?] successes, as in South Africa. Still, at least some of these promising aspirations have been less than clearly “progressive” , the Peter Tatchell tendency, for example, being, so far as I know, very much a minority among “gay rights”, and the Tory C-in-C {Clown in Chief} posing as a greemlin [he’d lie down in front of the earth-movers to stop another Heathrow runway, joined by Mr Goldsmith, no doubt !] All the more important, then, for socialists to insist that red is the colour not only of the month but of our present and future. The colour which gives light to all the others [Greens know, in their heart of hearts, that only socialism can save the human and physical environment, and that dallying with the neo-liberals is dangerous and even fatal to this aim] Even infra-red can help us see in the dark of the capitalist murk; we can detect their tricks and avoid being picked off by their snipers. Give me some light !! Let it be Red !! David Marchesi, Southwest Region 11/11/2021

“Demonstration in support of the Indian farmers struggle and protesting Indian PM Modi’s arrival in Scotland in George Square today. Excellent contributions all round. We also met a few of our SLP comrades from south of the border a couple of whom were speakers at the rally.”. James McDaid, SLP Scotland and Bhagwant Singh, SLP West Midlands at COP26 in Glasgow “We are here demonstrating in solidarity with Indian farmers fighting in defence of historical rights, for dignity and for the right to provide food for the people and a decent standard of living for their families and communities against a reactionary government intent in selling out to the highest bidder amongst the band of transnational agribusiness pirates interested only in maximising private profit. We in SLP Scotland are proud to be here to sho support for that struggle. We are in George Square, Glasgow on the eve of COP26. Look around you, George Square is a square of ornate buildings, buildings built on the backs and misery of cheap and slave labour from around the British empire, an empire renowned as one on which the “sun never set”! But also one on which the blood never dried. Look at the statues around the square, Titans of British imperialism, slave owners and murderers of millions. Concurrently with that story is the story of mass working class deprivation and poverty in this same city, deaths again of untold numbers from malnutrition and preventable disease. These things are fact. But there is another story of this place, great anti-imperialists spoke to great demonstrations here in George Square, Paul Robeson, Oliver Tambo, Nelson Mandela and others. This square seen an insurrection in 1919 that then Home Secretary Winston Churchill sent tanks and troops to suppress. We here now are standing in that tradition. The elites worldwide are intent in turning back the clock to the days of empire and colonial exploitation, of the subjugation of working people, of super exploitation and meaningful democracy. The Indian farmers fight is a national struggle to defend rights but it is also an international fight against the transnational corporations intent on maximum exploitation and profit at all our expense. We are proud to stand in solidarity with Indian farmers. Victory to your struggle.”. James McDaid SLP Scotland 1/11/2021

The Budget hailed by the media and by right wing economists as positive will result in local authorities increasing rent and council tax, transport yet again increasing and pensioners will lose £17,78 per week as a result of the government breaching the Triple Lock, added to which workers will suffer a severe decrease in wages which should be at least £15 an hour. All this and yet not a word about the £250 billion being spent on Trident Nuclear Missiles and Defence; spending which over the years has seen over a million men, women and children die in Afghanistan, Libya, and Iraq . The answer is not woolly speeches in the House of Commons but in the Trade Union Movement taking action to force the government and the Labour Party opposition to demand that the multinational companies pay 85% of their profits; organisations such as Amazon, Apple; Google; Facebook; and Microsoft. Arthur Scargill President National Union of Mineworkers 1982- 2002. Leader Socialist Labour Party. 27.10.2021

Free Julian Assange meeting 26/10/21 at St Pancras church, about 100 people present. Main speakers. 1.Former MP Chris Williamson. Said Julian an inspiration to the world.He was betrayed by politicians,journalists and judiciary. Chris was particularly critical of lack of Labour MPS support for Julian Chris says Julian exposed war crimes of Britain and America throughout the world. Also the evil arms trade, and corporate control over governments. 2.Dereck Summerfield. Chair of Psychiatrists at Freedom from Torture Stated that Julian was on trial for exposing war crimes of UK and USA , particularly executing innocent civilians. 3.Andrew Feinstein former South Africa ANC activist and member of South Africa parliament. Stated Julian was an inspiration to the whole world. He said Julians arrest and trial was a travesty of justice. Julian is on trial for exposing Western powers war crimes throughout the world, also for exposing national security state being used against political activists. Russia Today interview with John Pilger warning of implications of action taken against Julian Assange and consequence treatment to not only journalists but any citizen who decides to be a white blower against injustice and criminal acts of those holding power. GETTING JULIAN ASSANGE: THE UNTOLD STORY. John Pilger Kevin O’Connor, London Region 27.10.2021