THE MINERS' STRIKE
In the first week of March 1984, the struggle between the National Union of Mineworkers and the Tory Government came to a head. It had been obvious since the Tory victory at the polls in 1979, that an attack on the National Union of Mineworkers was being planned. It was understood by leading members of the NUM and their supporters that the Conservative Party, under Margaret Thatcher, had given Nicholas Ridley the job of working out a plan that would destroy the NUM. Ridley's plan was put into effect soon after the 1979 election victory.
At a meeting of the Bury branch of the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) soon after the start of the miners' strike it was agreed that I should join the support group that had been set up in Bury. I was keen to become involved as the political activity of the Party branch was non-existent. We met, we talked, we went home. It was, to say the least, frustrating. Here was an opportunity to once again do something positive in the struggle.
As a member of the Bury Miners Support Committee I was involved in most of the activity during the monumental struggle that took place. But I recall most of all my first attempt at collecting food for the miners. We set up a collecting point at the entrance to the Meat and Fish Hall in the shopping precinct. It was of course a very busy spot with shoppers going in and out all the time so it was the ideal spot for us to collect the food parcels that the people of Bury donated.
Six members of the BMSC including myself set up at about 10am that Saturday morning. After about half an hour a Police Constable appeared and stood watching us for a short time before reporting by radio what was taking place. Shortly after wards a Police Sergeant arrived on the scene and after a few words with the Constable he came over to our group. "Who's in charge here ?" he said, "Nobody," we replied."Well who's your spokesman?" As everybody seemed to be looking at me I said, "Can I help?" "Have you got permission to be here?""We don't need permission to collect food." "Well, carry on as long as there are no complaints." With that they both left and we carried on with the job in hand. As this was the first time we had tried collecting food it was slow coming in. People had not come prepared to make donations but a lot of sympathy was aroused and many promises were made to come back with goods after doing the shopping. Unfortunately we were not to be allowed to collect the promised goods as within an hour the police were back. This time they had obviously been instructed to stop the collection as their attitude was totally different.
"All right, pack up" from the Sergeant. "Why, we were told we could stay?" "I said pack up and go, and I want all your names and addresses." I then said, "What are you charging us with?" "I'm not making any charges but I want your names and addresses in case the authorities want to take any action." "My understanding is that I don't have to give you my name if you are not making any charge. What would you do if I refuse?" He did not give a direct answer but made it obvious that he was prepared to take much stronger action if we did not comply with his demand. So, after some discussion amongst ourselves we agreed to give him the information he had asked for and we packed up. I then contacted Laurie Bullas, who was the Leader of the Labour Group on Bury Council.
The following is from the report by Councillor Bullas on the incident. "On the day the police ordered the support group collectors out of Bury shopping precinct I received telephone calls from members concerned because they considered they were within the law and because the police had taken the names of several people. I telephoned the police and was eventually able to speak to an officer--an inspector or sergeant, I think--who had been involved in the decision. He insisted that the group had been collecting money and that, in any case, any kind of collection without permission was out of order. I challenged this but he said the police would pass on the information to the local authority and it would be up to that authority to decide whether or not to take action in court. He also assured me that the police would not be making any use of the names and addresses other than to pass them on to the Council. When the support group again got in touch with me they agreed that it would be best to accept the situation for that day and pursue it through Council channels...." Subsequently, the Labour Group on the Council was involved in efforts to get the issue of food collections solved. It was learned that the Conservative Chairman of the Public Services Committee, Councillor Frank Brooks had had complaints that money was being collected in the street without permission. With hindsight it is difficult to see how any member of the public would be aware of the fact that we had not been given a permit to collect cash. Nevertheless, under pressure from the controlling Tory Group on the Council he had us moved. He later agreed that food only collections should not be challenged in Bury precinct.
The question of whether or not we needed a permit to collect food led to a lengthy correspondence between the Support Group and the Council, during which we continued our collections every Saturday.
On June 2nd 1984, the Support Group organised a Rally in Bury. None of the speakers were National figures, but those who spoke; Councillor Derek Boden, Lorraine Johnson, a miner's wife, Ken Captick and Mal Gregory from the NUM and other local trade unionists, were all given a brilliant response by the audience of some 200 people.
The Bury Times reported (June 5th), "Two hundred people declared their support for the striking miners at a mass rally in Bury on Saturday. Sympathisers donated about 20 shopping bags of food and about 500 cash to the strike fund."
On 6th June '84, the Tory council through its chairman of Public Services (Councillor Frank Brooks), banned all future collections. Thus denying the people of Bury the right to support a cause with which they agreed. The miners, who were having to suffer appalling hardships were being refused the right to seek support. The following quotation from a letter to the Support Group from Brian Abbot, (Director of Administration) shows the attitude adopted by the Tory Councillors, "I have been advised by Councillor Brooks (Chairman, Public Services) and Councillor Kay, that hardship is not considered to be a reason for the authorisation of an emergency collection. We have therefore decided that your application will not be granted..."
We, of course, were not to be put off by this and continued with the campaign to get permits for the collection of food and cash. We made applications to legally collect money and eventually were granted permission to collect money in four of the six Boroughs that make up the Metropolitan Borough of Bury, they were Prestwich, Whitefield, Radcliffe and Ramsbottom, on August 28th '84. The Labour group on the Council had a "notice of motion" on the table to get the matter discussed. On hearing that the permits had been granted, they withdrew the motion. Immediately, the Tories realising they were no longer under pressure from the Labour Group, cancelled the permits. This game of cat and mouse continued whilst all the time our collections of food went from strength to strength.
Over the whole period of the strike, Bury Miners Support Committee raised between £40,000 and £50,000 in cash and food. The generosity of the people of Bury amazed us. Pensioners, single parents, people living on benefit and the unemployed all made their contribution to the appeal.
Christmas 1984 is one I shall always remember. The North West Vietnam Association organised a Christmas party for the miners and their families in the Banqueting Suite of Manchester Town Hall. About 300 adults and children sat down to a traditional Christmas dinner served by the members of the Vietnam Association and to say a good time was had by all is an understatement. The money to pay for the food, drink and presents was collected by the NWVA, approximately £3,000 was raised.
Another high spot in the campaign was the night that a Folk Group from the German Democratic Republic put on a show for us. Dressed in traditional costumes and playing a kind of horn peculiar to the area of Germany they came from, they entertained a large group of supporters helping us to raise over £200. It was a great night of music, friendship and international solidarity. During the evening it was announced that an offer had been made to take a party of 50 children from the area for a holiday in the GDR. The travel arrangements were to be in the hands of the North West TUC. Unfortunately, these arrangements were never made and the children were deprived of their holiday.
This account of our activities would not be complete without mention of an incident that I and two other supporters were involved in.
The three of us, Roy Lawson, Cris Fiorini and myself were collecting food outside Sainsburys Supermarket in Prestwich one evening. It was a filthy night, raining and blowing, the sort of night you would rather be home by the fire. Whilst we were standing collecting food parcels from the customers coming out of the store, a middle-aged man came up and asked if we could give him an address to send money to. Naturally we said yes but could he be more specific. "Well, I am a member of the Post Office Engineering Union, our last branch meeting agreed to donate £300 to the miner's strike fund to be spent on food, but I can't find where to send it." Of course arrangements were made to meet the branch secretary and I and another member of the Committee, Mike Shnyder took him to a local Cash and Carry Wholesaler where we had a great time spending £300 on food and supplies.
For me, the expressions of support from the people of Bury when we went out to get food, money, toys for the kids at Christmas, in fact whatever we asked for, made up for the few who walked past muttering, "get lost" or some other stupid comment. We tried not to get involved in arguments on the collections on the understanding that we were there to collect as much as possible and not get into a situation that could be used to close down what developed into a very valuable, in terms of the material collected, exercise. Points stand out of particular incidents, like the guy who every week came to the Bury collecting point pushing a wheelbarrow with a 55lb bag of potatoes and a sack of carrots, or the old age pensioners who, every week brought their contribution, no matter how small, showing their solidarity with fellow workers, and their expression of support proving that they understood the need to back the miners till the end.
It must be said that the people involved in the Support Group represented a wide cross-section of the Labour Movement in Bury. Members came from the Labour Party, the Communist Party, the Trade Unions, groups like the International Marxist Group, Socialist Workers Party, the Militant Tendency, etc. It became obvious that when the need for unity in defence of fellow workers in struggle was the main item on the agenda of the movement, we could lay our differences on one side and work together for the common cause. In the discussions that took place on how to tackle the problems of the campaign we were able to arrive at a consensus of opinion.