For an international solidarity campaign for sacked miners and prisoners in drumming up international support. Sacked by the Coal Board, like so many others, he is still ready to take up the fight. Sacked miners and their wives can be invited to do speaking tours and resolutions of support should be put through labour movement bodies internationally.
NOMPAS can be contacted at 5 Caledonian Road, Kings Cross, London N1.
The miners' strike is over but the struggle of the British miners against sackings and imprisonment goes on.
been established and at its last meeting, the United
Secretariat of the Fourth International put out a call for an internationa.
campaign against victimisation and for a general amnesty for the miners.
There are currently between and a hundred miners in prison following the strike and thousands more cases still have to be heard.
miner's wife and a founding member of the National Organisation for
Miners in Prisonand Supporters (NOMPAS)
stated, "these are political prisoners ... VICtims of the Tories' drive to smash the unions.'
Miners have not just been condemned to prison for fighting for
At present 720 with a posstheir class.
iblity of more in the future have been condemned to life on the dole (unemployment benefit). The aim of NOMPAS is to demand an amnesty for all those not just in prison.
sacked, pressing for committees to be set up in every area of Britain and plan to hold a national demonstration.
Despite the failure of the National
Union of Mineworkers (NUM) as a whole to vote for a 50p levy to support the sacked miners immediately strike, collections have now in fact begun at many pits and campaigns have been launched for those sacked. As The Miner national newspaper of the NUM)
(the points out, the ballot for the levy was not lost because miners voted against the
A national campaign for a general sacked men. It was because many saw the levy as a soft option which would discourage the union from fighting hard for reinstatement of those sacked.
During the miners' strike workers of many countries expressed their solidarity struggle by sending money, establishing support committees campaigning The struggle of the miners is not over yet and it is vital that the campaign of international solidarity continues in support of those miners who have been victim-
In West Germany for example, teachers" union activists in Wuppertal are organising a nationally coordinated campaign based on local networks to support sacked and imprisoned miners and their families. Lists of individuals are being sent round for supporters in most of the major towns to 'adopt' by sending money and messages of support. This could be done in
Supporters of Roter Maulwurf (a revolutionary youth organisation) and its sister organisation, the GIM (International Marxist Group), the German section of the Fourth International, are running a special campaign for Dennis Pennington, of Bold (in Lanc-
In its last issue International Viewpoint launched a special fund to finance the sending of the magazine to activists who cannot pay because of capitalist victimisation. IV played an important role for many during the miners' strike giving out news and information about international solidarity and analysis of the strike for readers around the world
We hope that readers will support the special fund so that we can meet the growing demand of class war prisoners and others for complementary subscriptions.
If you can help, please send your cheque or money order to International Viewpoint, 2 rue Richard Lenoir, Montreuil 93108, accompanied by a note indicating that it is for the IV fighters fund. Cheques should be made out to International Viewpoint.
Statement of the Fourth International
There is now a need for an international campaign of
After a year of heroic strike action the British miners
Their strike, the longest mass solidarity to demand an amnesty from the British governwere forced back to work.
ment for the sacked and imprisoned miners and to raise of any imperialist country inspired strike in the history working people around the world with its determined in-
The enormous solidarity that the strike received intertransigence against capitalist policies of unemployment and nationally marked the identification of millions of workers austerity.
But the cost to the miners and their families was high.
with the miners' struggle.
Two miners killed on were the courts have been automatically the pretext that they are still on strike.
Demands for an
Now the same energy must go into
Victory against this wave
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BRITAIN