68.Friday July 6th – Monday July 9th, 1984.

Keith Smoult, Gary Marshall and myself travelled down to London to attend ‘Marxism 84′ at the University of London.

Keith and myself, along with Yunus Bakhsh were allocated lodgings with a lovely Irish woman called Anne in Holloway (not the prison!) She made us feel very welcome and didn’t complain if we came back late, which we mostly did. Also, we were usually pissed because comrades kept buying us beer. It was a really welcome break from the boredom of Woodside, and I for one learnt a lot.

We attended as many meetings as we could, eager to meet new people and learn loads of things we knew nothing about. The highlights for me were Paul Foot on, ‘From Wilson to Kinnock, The Tragedy and the Farce’, Chris Bambery on ‘Ireland’, Duncan Hallas on ‘The French Revolution’, Ian Birchall on ‘Emile Zola’ (brilliant!), and Tony Cliff on everything!!

Socially it was excellent and it was great to meet up with Ian Mitchell and Steve Hammill again. We had a miner’s fringe meeting where we discussed our fears of a sell out of the strike because of the ‘constructive talks’ taking place between MacGregor and the NUM, and he vapid outpourings of Heathfield, Taylor, McGahey and co. Steve Hammill has drawn up a leaflet that outlines what constitutes a sell out, and what a victory should be, including the divisive Incentive Scheme being scrapped and the average integrated into our basic rate of pay, a minimum 15% pay rise, reinstatement of all sacked miners, retirement at 55, a 4 day week, and no pit closures without consultation. It was just heartening to talk with lads in the same situation as ourselves about positive things instead of the apathy we have to face on a daily basis. We should get together more often!

Keith and me were so broke over the weekend that we had to walk back to Holloway after meetings, and on Sunday had to share a plate of chips between us for dinner. Sheila McGregor noticed, bless her, and gave us £5 each. We celebrated with a takeaway meal and caught the tube back to Holloway instead of walking.

We had to come back on Monday, partly because I am up in court on Wednesda, but also to appease our wives. That’s one thing the three of us do share in common, and iy isn’t getting any better as the strike drags on!

67. Saturday June 30th, 1984.

This morning saw the ‘Coal Not Dole’ march and rally organised by our Lodge officials. It was a very disappointing turn out, only a few thousand people, but it could have been so much better if they’d told us about it and allowed us, the rank and file, to have some part in the organisation. All the Durham lodges were represented, plus a couple from Yorkshire and Kent, but when you consider the coal mining traditions of South Shields, which once boasted 3 pits, with even more in the close vicinity, then it was disappointing. I suppose that because the town has lost most of its industries and has a high level of unemployment, apathy is part of life. It’ll be a hell of a lot worse if Westoe ever closes!

We marched from the Armstrong Hall to the Bents Park on the seafront, and if anything, the rally was more of a disappointment than the march. The speakers were abysmal. Our Lodge Secretary introduced Jack Taylor of Yorkshire Area NUM as; ‘A future legend of the trade union movement’. Leg end is more like it! It was him who signed the deal to allow coal into Scunthorpe steelworks allowing them to break productivity records! He was full of empty rhetoric and received only lukewarm applause. Jim Slater was applauded only because of the seaman’s support, and because he’s from Shields, as his speech was boring, and only Jack Collins of Kent NUM came out with any credibility.

It’s typical of the total lack of organisation at Westoe that we couldn’t even hold a decent rally. Pathetic!

 

54. Sunday June 10th, 1984.

We travelled down to Doncaster for a meeting of miners who are either in the SWP or close to it. There were 5 of us from Westoe, Gary Marshall, Keith Smoult, me, and two younger lads, Ian Richardson and John Rumney who we have been picketing with and selling the paper to. They are keen on politics but confused on issues such as nuclear weapons and parliamentary democracy.

We arrived late due to a flat tyre but didn’t miss too much. There were miners present from every coalfield except Wales, which is dominated by the Communist Party, and I was pleased to meet up with Ian Mitchell and Steve Hamill again. It was interesting to hear that I’m not the only one having problems with union bureaucracy, and also that other areas are having problems with raising the level of picketing. Steve Hamill spoke about the need to picket at Orgreave and also said that in his opinion Jack Taylor, President of the Yorkshire Area, is deliberately preventing a mass picket by sending men into Notts where the policing is so high it is a complete waste of manpower. Another lad agreed and said we should picket NUM National HQ in Sheffield to draw attention to this. Steve said we shouldn’t waste our time with union officials but organise picketing ourselves at rank and file level. The most important target now is to picket steelworks such as Ravenscraig, Scunthorpe, Redcar and Llanwern. We need to go back to our pits and start arguing for this case because its the only way we can win. We really need to start fighting back against the Tories because people seem to be getting complacent. It was an excellent meeting and if it did nothing else it made us feel we aren’t on our own.

On the way home we talked about the meeting to Ian and John and Gary was particularly convincing because he’s now joined the party. Ian also told me that one of the committee men is spreading rumours that the only reason I opted for jail the other day was so the forgery case against me would be dropped. Christ, those bastards just seem out to get me and I’m wondering why I bloody bother!

Keith also told me that the reason I was chucked out of prison was because I was charged with Obstruction of the Highway, which isn’t a prisonable offence. They were all charged with Obstruction of the Police, which is, and anyway they were all freed the next day after appealing to a judge in chambers, whatever that means.