[Kent miner's daughter on May 1 march in…]

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Kent miner's daughter on May 1 march in solidarity with the strikers. Of course, he hasn't gotten them all out, but 80 percent are out.

And through press campaigns the government has tried to defeat Scargill. But despite the big press campaign there is no serious movement to return to work today. In Yorkshire there is only one worker out of 55,000 who's working. He's a national "hero."

His picture is in all the papers.

The second miscalculation is that the government thought it could use the courts against the strikers. In about the 22nd week of the strike, it moved against the South Wales National Union of Mineworkers, taking the assets of the The general state of the strike is very simple. The bourgeoisie cannot get through the winter without power cuts. Everyone is agreed on this. The government claims otherwise, but nobody believes it. They must therefore do one of two things. The first is to smash the strike before winter. This is why they have now started to take court action.

Second, there is enough coal at the pitheads to keep the power stations running throughout the winter. But this would mean breaking the miners' pickets, not merely at the power stations, but actually at the place of work. The coal stocks at the power stations are already being used because the power workers' union is one of the most right-wing unions in the entire country.

The government is preparing to move the coal from the pitheads. It is building special new roads. In 1972 and 1974 the government didn't attempt to do this because it was scared of the reaction it would provoke. Now government officials are making up their minds as to whether to try to do it or not. They would prefer to break the strike first.

The other crucial question is the Trade Union Congress this coming September. The solidarity for the miners has varied from union to union, although most unions have shown very good solidarity. Some of the public sector unions have not shown a great desire le Miner to get involved, but they have done a great deal from the point of view of collecting money. It is estimated that around five million pounds have been collected.

The situation with the lorry drivers is very bad, however. Large quantities of coal are being transported by road around the country. And the situation with the power workers and the steel workers is utterly disastrous. The leaderships of these unions are encouraging breaking the strike. They are for using coal at the steel and power plants.

S.A.: How about the dock workers?

Ross: The dock workers are solid. The British Steel Corporation attempted to import coal and this provoked national dock strike.

Within the Trade Union Congress, therefore, there will be a very sharp fight over the question of solidarity. The fight will center around a proposal to levy all trade union members to support the strike and around a call for the boycott of all coal.

A straightforward resolution was put forward by the steel workers and the power workers, which basically proposed not supporting the miners. The power workers union's position was that it would handle any coal brought into the power stations.

It should also be understood that the police repression is incredible. In the mining villages like Nottinghamshire and Yorkshire, there are police roadblocks every hundred yards. Using surveillance, they stop the pickets 250 miles away. Pickets coming from the Kent coalfields are stopped 250 miles away from the places they are going to be picketing!

S.A.: What is the role of the Labour Party in the strike?

Ross: The position of the leadership of the Labour Party is to support the strike in words and to oppose it in practice. An example of this is the question of the strike ballot. The position of the bourgeoisie is to demand an individual ballot before the strike continues, SOCIALIST ACTION dously as a result of the strike, and the position of Benn has obviously been advanced and strengthened.

S.A.: What have the supporters of Socialist Action newspaper been doing to help the strikers?

Ross: We at Socialist Action are totally involved in supporting the strike. In the last 15 issues, the strike has been on the front page 14 times. We are mainly participating in the many solidarity committees in various towns. These have the job of practical support and raising money.

To give some examples: In Bristol, the miners' support committee raised 40,000 pounds for the miners. In Oxford, the support committee raised 20,000 pounds. There are also food collections at supermarkets, street collections of money, and levies in certain factories. There have also been regional demonstrations and work stoppages in solidarity with the miners.

We have campaigned for three siogans. First, there is the demand that the Labour Party should call national demonstrations in support of the miners. These could be very big. It would break through what the bourgeoisie is trying to do-politically isolate the miners. And of course it would throw the labor movement solidly behind the miners.

Second, we demand a national day of action, that is, a 24-hour general strike in solidarity with the miners. This has been taking place area by area, but it has been spread out over a six-week period. We think that these actions should be unified in a 24-hour day of action.

The third thing we demand-if the government either seizes the assets of the union or attempts to move coal from the pitheads—is a call to a general strike and a country-wide work stoppage.

If the miners' strike is successful, the backbone of the Thatcher government is smashed. I don't think it would fall immediately, but it would be a helpless instrument. But if the miners are defeated, it would not be just a conjunctural setback. The entire British working class has acted on the assumption since the 1970s that the National Union of Mineworkers cannot be defeated. Obviously the stakes in this strike are very high.

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