The launching of a nutional miners' strike on the basis of last week's massive pit head vote for strike action is only the opening round of what could become a major show of strength For the next few weeks the centre of attention will shift away from NUM headquar ters in London and the to-ing and fro-ing at Downing Street and Whitehall, to the power stations and the miners picket lines across the country.
LEFT IN THE FOREFRONT Last week we looked at two of the most Important trade union lefts of the 1920's, A.I. Cook and Herbert Smith, leaders of the NUM's forerunner, the Miners Federation of Great Britain, We pointed out that, despite their militancy, class consciousness and willingness to lead a hard fight against the employers and the Government, the political weaknesses of Cook and Smith turned out to be fatal flaws when the crunch came. The weaknesses in their leadership allowed the right-wing bureaucrats in the TUC to retain a hold on the mass working class upsurge and to lead it to defeat and disauter.
SAME MOULD
In many ways today's NUM left are in the same mould as Smith and Cook. They are not like the limp lefts" of yesterday or todayJeaders who engage in very left-wing talk, take "hard line stands on paper, and are often willing to give rein to militants to carry on the struggle, but will not themseives give any kind of lead and run from any real fight. In this respect Jack Jones and Hugh Scanion seem like veritable reincamations of their predecessors, Ernest Bevin, founder of the T&G, and A.B.Swales, President of the ABU in the 20's The NUM Lefts have, and will, lead real, hard-fought strupples. The crucial question is will they lead them to victory, and will they seize on the tremendous opportunities that such a determined struggle opens up to strike a fundamental blow at the capitalist system and win permanent gains for the entire working class?
In a recent interview with Red Weekly. South Wales miners President Emilyn Williams made a number of excellent statements. Among those was a criticism of the TUC: 'The TUC, without being mandated by the miners, were prepared to make commitments to a capicalist government that di in act deleat the cruse of the miners, We've come out to defeat Phase 3, and by the TUC acquiescing to the acceptance of Plan 3, they were not assisting the miners but adding fael to the fine as far as the Government were concerned".
Yet last week this same Elyn Williams could be seen on TV urging that the miners' claim be met under the Pay Board's relativities report. But the relativities report, as its text hakes perlectiy clear, is part-and parcel of Phase 3, and a condition of its operation is the active collaboration of the TUC. The effect of Williams' appeal is simply to bolster up the manoeuvres of the TUC right wing and to lacilitate some torm of under-the-table acceptance of Phase 3 by the TUC in exchange for concessions to the miners-exactly what Williams had attacked one week previously.
ELECTION
Another of Williams' excellent statements to Red Weekly concerned the prospect of an We've got a Conservative Goverument now, bota policies as those which were projected by the Labour Government of 1964-70, So there are very Lew alfernaloes for the miners il we mean to settle our claim. I'd vote for a continuation of any positive who the government of the land woul te."
This is a correct and very important position But it does no good floating around in the head of one man, and only limited good being told to the tiny readership of Red Weekly. A general election is a powerful weapoo ut the hands of the Tory Govemment and even if it hackfired and a Labour Government were returned this Government too, Like all its predecessors. could be simply another tool in the hands of the capitalist class. between the Tory Government and the working on what attitude to adopt towards an election, It is not enough to have a correct positión the mass of workers hoth miners and the rest of the working class-must be politically prepared for such an eventuality. If this is not done many will be thrown into confusion by the calling of an election, and the hand of the Tories strengthened.
GENERAL STRIKE
The NUM lefts are clear that their fight is TUC should have been to reconvene a special congress, and at that congress there should be a recommendation for all, Trade Unions to carry out an immediate attack on the government through industrial action.
Admirable sentiments! But how is this general strike movement to be forged? It is necessary to demand that the TUC take this step, but that is also an easy thing to do. What is much more difficult is to take further steps when the TUC refises to act-and that willing to break through these boundaries even when the workers struggle is crying out for forceful leadership.
Thus it is that none of the NUM lefts have been willing to seize the bull by the horns and proclaim themselves in favour of industrial action to drive the Tory Government from office, despite the fuet that this Government i the most immediate and central enemy of every group of workers, and the call for its overthrow the firmest foundation that could be laid for the forging of a general strike movement.
For the NUM Jefts believe their only tesponsibility is getting on with the 'industrial struggle, and the making and breaking of Governments is the concern of the Labour Party. In the woods of Mick MeGahey, Communist Party member and leading NUM lefts, Governments are chaneed by the good did traditional British method of the ballot box'. Of course MeGabey, as a Communist Party member, agrees with the CP theory that the political power of the capitalist class can be broken and the road to socialism opened up through a general election and Parliansentary struggles, This is a view shared by those lefts who are not in the Communist Party.
PARLIAMENT AND POLITICS Such a view sees the importance of mass struggle and industrial action, but only as backing in the real centre of events - Parliament, It is for this reason that the lefts combine a militant industrial stand with an According to McGahey: This is a wages strug gle. It is not politically motivated." Similar comments have been made by almost every NUM left-winger, questions, and it allows the question of Government to be settled by Parliamentary methods in the good old traditional British method"
In fact many trade union lefts - including the Communist Party have been afraid of keeping to even this scheme, and have retruated from confrontations with the Government (over the national engineering claim or tbe saling of the Shrewsbury 3, for example). Only the NUM left seems to be propared to stick to its logic NO PLAN FOR VICTORY But it is not a plan for working cass victory First, by refusing to take up the political implications of their industrial action, the NUM lefts leave important political weapons in the hands of the Tories. The Tories can talk about the national interest, the problems of the pensioners and the low paid, the supposed world energy crisis, the difficulties of the British economy, and spiralling inflation