37. Thursday May 3rd, 1984.

 

Tonto Jackson was arrested this morning for having the misfortune to be standing too close to a lorry which had its windscreen smashed. The pigs just grabbed him because he was the nearest person to the crime. He’s been charged with using ‘foul and abusive language’ because he swore when the pigs roughly grabbed him.

After Tonto’s arrest we tried a new tactic, walking in front of the scab lorries at a snails pace, linking arms so the pigs couldn’t arrest us easily. It worked brilliantly but despite us shouting for more men, not enough of us were prepared to take part. The pigs charged into us and tried to break our ranks, and even though we put up a brave struggle we couldn’t stop them achieving their aim. I was linked in with Arthur Oxley from Vane Tempest Colliery. I know Arthur from Broad Left meetings and you couldn’t pick a better man to be standing next to in a fight because he’s well over six foot tall with a build to match. He was my saviour this morning because he refused to let go of me as I was dragged to the side of the road. The look on the young pigs face when he realised he was on his own with us was a real picture. Arthur said, ‘What are you going to do now son because you can’t arrest us both?’ He took the wise decision to let us go and beat a hasty retreat. The battle was over but the war isn’t won and I’m pretty certain the two of us will have to be on our guard from now on.

The pigs made 10 arrests this morning and the mood of the men seems to be getting more militant, thank god. The Westoe men are getting really wound up by the lads we’ve had arrested. The pies arrived a bit late because of Tonto’s arrest, and this has really done the trick in terms of ending Westoe passivity. You have to laugh.

Kath is very worried I am going to be arrested after I told her about this mornings events. I’ve told her not to worry because even if I am arrested I’ll only get fined. She remains unconvinced that what we are doing is lawful and this has caused even more friction between us. I feel she is allowing herself to be influenced by the media who seem to be engaged in a daily propaganda campaign against the NUM, and Arthur Scargill in particular. I feel she is coming round to our side but at the moment she still needs to be convinced we can win. We can win if we can convince the rest of the trade union movement of the justice of our fight. If only they would black coal and refuse to use imported oil. If only the scabs would see sense and that their jobs are at risk as well. If only NACODS would join us we would be guaranteed victory. It’s been 8 weeks and no sign of an end in sight so Tony Cliff has been proved right so far. This isn’t ’72 and ’74, mores the pity. Anyway, attitudes on the picket line seem to be hardening and Westoe has gained quite a few new pickets but we still need a lot more!

34. Monday April 30th, 1984.

I went picketing at Tow Law and again there were about 200 men present. Unfortunately a lot of them seemed content to warm their arses against the heat coming off the blazing tyres. Even when we had a push against the police to try and close off the gates to the site most of the buggers just stood and watched. Why do they come if they don’t want to fight? A policeman had his arm broken in the push but it was the scab lorry speeding through the gate to blame, not us.

That was the only bit of excitement in a dull morning, apart from the arrival of Ian and Tonto with the pies, which caused a stampede. I sold all 20 badges and got orders for dozens more. At this rate we’ll be able to finance the pies just from the sale of badges!!

31. Wednesday April 25th, 1984.

Our first lot of pies cost £13 and we delivered them to the pickets at Tow Law using ‘Tonto’ Jackson’s  car. The lads really appreciated it, though they still didn’t do anything more than shout a bit when the scab lorries went in and out.

A meeting was held in the Armstrong Hall to discuss the idea of forming a Women’s Support Group, and to my great surprise about 200 women turned up. The meeting was organised by Margaret Reavey, a Militant supporter and one of the few who have spoken to me since I joined the SWP. She invited me to speak about fundraising, which I did.

The outcome of this first meeting is the formation of the Westoe Miners Wives Support Group, with Anne Kendrick elected as Secretary, and Ann Hall as Treasurer. Unfortunately their first task is to find somewhere to work from because the Lodge officials have refused to let them use the Armstrong Hall because, ‘it will be too noisy with a load of kids running around’. Honestly, they are a fuckin’ joke and totally out of touch with reality! Thank god we don’t have to rely on them to win this strike!