Major government undermined
November 9, 1992 •
BRITAIN'S Conservative administration has been forced to delay plans to shut down two thirds of the coal mining industry, after an upsurge of protest which has pushed the country into its biggest political crisis for many years. DAVE OSLER - October 28, 1992
T HE pit closures programme has
become the single symbolic issue focussing the anger felt by many after 13 years of rightwing rule. Meanwhile the ruling party is deeply split over the Maastricht Treaty on European union; the government cannot count on the support of its own parliamentarians in a crucial vote on Maastricht on November 4.
The mines question dominates everyday conversation in factories and offices. Even the far left has been taken aback by these developments. The British labour movement now has an opportunity to regain much of the ground lost in the Thatcher years.
A demonstration in London on Sunday October 25 sponsored by Britain's single trade union confederation, the TUC, attracted at least 200,000. This was by far the largest march in Britain since the mass mobilizations against nuclear weapons in the early 1980s, bigger even than the anti-poll tax demonstration that ended in a riot in the centre of London in 1990.
Earlier in the week, on Wednesday October 21, 70,000 people — predominantly blue-collar workers had demonstrated on a march called by the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) - the largest weekday march for 20 years.
Local government employees and workers at some power stations took solidarity strike action — illegal under Britain's anti-union laws (the toughest in Europe) while many firefighters provided emergency
If Britain had a real political opposition able to capitalize on these events the fall of the government - by the normal processes of parliamentary democracy such as a vote of confidence — would be guaranteed.
Unfortunately no such opposition exists. The Labour Party now has the most rightwing leadership in its history and has trai led far behind public opinion, sticking to mild condemnations of the closures as a
This is partly due to the considerable rift that has opened up between the Labour leadership and the NUM, historically one of the pillars of the party, largely due to the militancy of the union's president Arthur Scargill. While Scargill's political outlook has been heavily influenced by Stalinism, he is undoubtedly the most leftwing union leader in Britain, as he showed in practice during the year-long miners' strike of 1984-85. The bourgeoisie has demonized him as the very incarnation of working class revolt - what Thatcher openly referred to as "the enemy within".
### Currency crisis
The current crisis started on October 13, when self-important industry minister Michael Heseltine - who has revived the disused title "President of the Board of Trade" to apply to himself — announced plans to close 31 of the country's 50 remaining coal mines by March 1993. The news had been anticipated; liberal newspapers had been leaking government documents well in advance of the announcement.
Some 30,000 jobs in mining were to go, generating over 60,000 more redundancies in related sectors like transport, mining equipment manufacture and shops in mining towns.
Energy experts argue that the closures are madness in anything but the short term.
What a pit! It MAJOR not to exploit it! seems a chame
BRITAIN British Coal made a profit of f170m ($250m) this year and is by far the most efficient producer of deep-mined coal in Europe. Meanwhile massive subsidies go into nuclear power.
The energy market in Britain has been utterly distorted by privatization. When this took place in 1990, the nationalized electricity monopoly was broken up into 19 ostensibly competing companies, including both generators and suppliers.
The companies that supply electricity to households and industries are seeking to break their dependence on the generators by building their own gas-fired power stations. No matter that gas is more expensive than coal; the suppliers are regional monopolies and can simply pass on the cost to the consumer.
### Capitalist rationality
If the present round of closures goes ahead, more than £1,000m will have to be spent on redundancy payments; perhaps a further £2,000m will be added to Britain's chronic balance of payments deficit; and 90,000 more unemployment cheques will have to be paid out every week, while direct and indirect taxation revenue will be lost. So much for capitalist rationality.
Coal was the foundation of Britain's industrial revolution. After nationalization in 1947, British Coal owned 1,400 pits. Even before the 1984-85 strike there were still 170, employing 180,000 miners. Now there are just 45,000 miners in 50 mines; many of those who have lost their jobs haven't worked since.
Now the government wants to sell the remnants of the industry back to the private sector. For anyone ready to abolish national wage bargaining, introduce 12 hour shifts and generalize the six-day week, Britain's coal mines could prove gold mines; British Coal has exploitation rights for the 45,000 million tonnes of recoverable reserves.
And I have friends who would love to do it! 3 # 238 International Viewpoint
November 9, 1992
BRITAIN
For the industry's workforce the Tory tomorrow is not so auspicious. As a confidential 1991 report from the government's privatization advisers, merchant bankers N. M. Rothschild put it: "In all market-based scenarios, a substantial further pit closure programme is required". On Rothschild's worst case projection, numbers could down to just 10,000 in 12 pits by 1995.
With unemployment in Britain now at 2.84 million, even according to official statistics which greatly underestimate the true figure, almost every worker lives in fear of being forced into joining the jobless or even the homeless. For many people, including those who voted Conservative in last April's general election, Heseltine's latest move was simply unacceptable.
Opposition from small business owners, many ruined after two years of economic recession, has also been loud. Even hoteliers in the Conservative stronghold of Cheltenham, miles from any coalfield, have organized protests.
### Partial retreat
The sheer scale of the reaction forced the government to undertake a partial retreat within days of maintaining that the case for closing the pits was "unanswerable".
Now ten mines are to be closed after 90 days of "consultation" with the workforce — a legal obligation that had previously simply been ignored. Even Britain's reactionary High Court was likely to uphold union claims on this score. The remaining 21 pits are to be reconsidered by a parlia-
The political damage to prime minister John Major is immense. Newspapers that are normally little more than Conservative propaganda organs are speculating on whether his government can survive.
That government is already in deep trouble. Former prime minister Margaret Thatcher is taking every opportunity to undermine her successor over Maastricht, which Major negotiated and which she opposes. The recent Conservative conference, normally an orderly affair, degenerated into open warfare on this issue.
The dramatic collapse of the British pound last month, forcing a humiliating withdrawal from the European Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM) has totally destroyed the government's economic policy. It now speaks simultaneously of cutting back on public spending while stimulating the economy by encouraging private sector investment. Not even the employers' association, the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) take such claims seriously.
Nevertheless, the pits backdown represents a clever tactic from the Conservatives. A delay is not, of course, a reprieve. 4 not in fact guaranteing that a single job But by appearing to give ground - while International Viewpoint # 238 • | will be saved - it hopes to diffuse the public outcry.
More immediately it successfully fended off a revolt by Thatcherite members of parliament, who had threatened to vote against the party line on the issue even if it brought down the government.
Despite posing for the occasion as "friends of labour" these politicians are actually motivated by factional grievances against Heseltine, who was instrumental in the ouster of Thatcher, and above all a readiness to scupper Maastricht at all costs. In the event, only six had the courage to see their rebellion through and vote against the government on the pits issue.
### Regaining confidence
The real gain for the working class is the return of confidence. Until recent weeks, the British labour movement was still living with the consequences of the bitter defeat of the 1984-85 strike which saw a split in the miners' forces with the formation of a rightwing breakaway, the so-called Union of Democratic Miners (UDM). The successive rounds of anti-union laws immensely strengthened the so-called "new realists" in the labour movement who argued that militancy was now not only undesirable but illegal too. By the early months of 1992, the level of industrial action in Britain had hit the lowest level since records began a hundred years ago.
Now the mood is slowly starting to change. With a pay freeze likely in the public sector thanks to the government's deep financial difficulties, widespread hostility to the planned privatization of the rail netparts of the post office, major cutbacks in London's hospitals (which could cost another 20,000 jobs) and public transport (another 5,000 jobs gone) and widespread layoffs in local government, there is a real possibility of widespread
The main obstacle to this will be the trade union bureaucracy. Sunday's march technically marked the public launch of a TUC initiative under the title "Campaign for Jobs and Recovery".
With the demonstration safely behind them, this "campaign" consists of little more than lobbying and petitioning. Requests for a meeting with Major have been turned down flat. Typically, the TUC politely wrote back to ask him again.
A number of regional rallies based around dominant local industries are currently under consideration - something that would have happened anyway under the auspices of local activists
Grassroots initiatives are springirg up everywhere. Meetings called at short notice in towns and cities throughout Britain are attracting sizeable working class audiences; 250 in Liverpool and 500 in
Manchester.
### Support network formed
In an effort to provide some form of coordination, a National Miners' Support Network has been initiated by the Socialist Campaign Group of left wing Labour MPs, with official approval from the NUM and the Women Against Pit Closures movement which grew to prominence in the 1984-85 strike.
The network hopes to act as a resource centre for a delegate-based labour movement organization able to attract mainstream support. A national conterence is to be arranged shortly. Radical journalists are planning a regular mass circulation bulletin in the network's name. Sympathizers in the music business are examining the possibilities for a major fundraising concert featuring top rock groups.
None of this in itself will be enough Ultimately the labour movement will have to ready itself for major class battles. Within days of the initial announcement, a special NUM conference had authorized the leadership to hold a ballot on industrial action.
If Scargill had gone straight ahead, the result would have been a "no" vote, as even revolutionary militants in the NUM admitted at the time. Rank-and-file miners were utterly demoralized and the government had organized sufficient coal stocks to last for 12 months
Even people who had played a leading role in the 1984-85 strike were ready to take redundancy pay-offs worth a year of two's wages at most.
Sensing the popular mood, Scargill took the correct tactical decision to hold back until the outcome of the political pressure was apparent. Events of the last few days have transformed the picture.
Miners now realize that other groups of workers would probably act on their own grievances if one section took the lead. Even UDM members may be about to ditch their moderation.
The crucial question is: What next? The far left's demand for a one-day general strike is gaining ground. But if the NUM decides to await the outcome of the review, which is unlikely to make any real concessions, there is a danger that momentum will be lost.
Meanwhile, the Maastricht vote is set for next week (November 4). Labour has suddenly reversed its previous position and is ready to vote against the government. Major has reportedly threatened to call a general election in a bid to bring rebel parliamentarians with slim majorities back into line.
Britain is suddenly a politically exciting place to be.*