British miners march against pit closures

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marched on the Jessica McClintock Inc. co State College on Oct. 15, sponsored paign to focus attention on the marketable skills and face extreme lanLONDON-British politics have experienced a remarkable change. From a depressing situation of relative acquiescence and passivity by the working class in the face of mass unemployment and the deepening recession, and with strikes at a 100-year low, we have seen a sudden tide of popular protest over the government's coal mine closure program.

Demonstrations of 200,000 people and more have been organized in solidarity with the miners and the tens of thousands of other workers who will be laid off in related industries.

The demonstrations and rallies wère the largest of their kind for more than a decade, with hundreds of banners representing unions and local Labour Party units. It was a resounding answer to those who thought the labor movement was nearly dead.

The degree of popular support was unprecedented in recent years. And it was fully reflected in the capitalist media, which for once publicized and even encouraged the developing outcry against the callous closure policy.

Very broad torces, trom the organized working class, professional layers—and even small-business people crushed by the recession and high interest rates-joined local demonstrations. Even sectors of the ruling class hostile to government policy spoke out against the pit closures.

The government decision to close 31 pits (half the industry) had acted as a catalyst for the growing anger of the population at the effects of a catastrophic recession. The issue now is whether the Tory government will survive, for the threat to close the pits has acted as a catalyst against all the social ills that have plagued Britain for over a decade: Mass unemployment, a deepening economic slump, a draconian hospital closure program in London, and growing opposition to the Maastricht Treaty on European unification.

It could result in a defeat in parliament, and force a general election. But even if the government manages to survive this crisis, which would be the result of a pathetic response to the crisis by the Labour Party and the trade-union leaders, the marches and rallies of the miners and the support campaign that is now being constructed could well prove to be an important watershed.

So far, the labor movement mobilizations against the Tory government have been limited to mass protest actions. The strategy of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), led by Arthur Scargill, has concentrated on building on the groundswell of popular support. But this clearly has limitations.

Already many of the Tory MPs, who originally supported the miners, have defected back to the government. This began after the government was forced to make a partial retreat and instituted a moritorium on closing 21 of the pits. The government also promised to initiate a "far-reaching" review of the coal industry and the nation's energy requirements.

So, while the issue of the miners has deepened the crisis of the Tories, and is creating a new mood that is regenerating confidence among the masses, the key contrast with the 1970s workers' upsurge is the lack of significant industrial strike action.

The erosion of rank-and-file organization, the consolidation of the so-called "new realist" right wing of the Labour movement, and the Tory anti-union laws, have made strike action much more difficult. However, mass industrial action, including from the miners themselves, is necessary in order to roll back the closure policy and defeat the government.

The NUM leadership will need to escalate the campaign, call a national day of solidarity action-including solidarity strike actions—to take the potential of the movement forward and not dissipate the anger. For example, some workers in construction, health, teaching, and the power industry did take strike action in support of the first demonstrations of 100,000 in Hyde Park, London.

The possibilities are clearly there, if a lead is given.