The Cause of the Working Class is the Hope of the World

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The Cause of the Working Class is the Hope of the World

The Durham Miners’ Gala and Big Meeting

The Gala and a Coal Industry for a Modern Society

Memories of the Big Meeting

Reflections on the 123rd Durham Miners’ Gala, Saturday, July 14, 2007

Workers’ Weekly Editorial

It is difficult to exaggerate the strong impression of the identity and growing coherence of the working class that is to be had from attending the Durham Miners’ Gala. It is a world away from the anti-social atmosphere and offensive that is prevalent in society as a whole which is in need of a transformation from its roots.

This year’s Gala reflected that the working class movement in the North East, with the miners at its centre, has refused to submit to the anti-social offensive. Not only has the movement kept its identity despite the closure of every single pit, the fact that it centres itself round the values of the working class has ensured that it does not regard itself as a victim and become a devastated collection of individuals.

This sentiment was also reflected in the best of the speeches at the Big Meeting, which drew attention to the affirmative and enduring nature of the values of the working class. This is especially significant because of the promotion by New Labour of the values of "Britishness" and neo-liberalism as so-called universal values, and demand not only that these "universal values" become a yardstick for citizenship, but that the whole world adopt them before being allowed to become part of the "international community". The values embodied in the Gala and its traditions give the lie to this ideological and cultural aggression.

Neither is this is regional or a narrow issue. As a slogan of one of the countless banners proudly carried at the Gala proclaimed: "The cause of labour is the hope of the world."

It is noticeable that the dignitaries participating in the Big Meeting have to pay attention to and come under the discipline of these values. The dignity of labour is such a natural theme of these traditions that it hardly needs emphasising. The watchwords of the working class, such as "All for One and One for All!", are everywhere evident.

The numbers taking part in this festival of the working class were the biggest in recent years, comparable with the increase in attendance at last year’s Miners’ Gala. Why are so many working people attending, packing the Racecourse ground, listening carefully to the speeches, pursuing their collective enjoyment and being inspired by the magnificence of the brass bands, and the pipe bands, and ensuring that Durham is under the control of the workers for this day? It looks as if the working class is affirming its identity, their right to be. The workers, with the miners at the forefront, together with the youth and others, have fought their battles, some very physical, with the state that has striven to wipe out their identity, destroy their livelihoods, demanded that competing in the global market place is the be-all and end-all, and devil take the hindmost. The powers-that-be have always chorused that the workers should hand over the initiative and their concern for the future to parties and other forces over which they have no control and in which they cannot set the agenda. With the exposure of New Labour as a party leading the working class and people down the road of aggressive war and domestic dictate, it looks as if the communities of the North East have sensed that now is the time when taking control of their own destiny is on the agenda as a problem taken up for solution.

The debate is certainly joined as to how to take control of the future, how to advance to socialism in modern, proletarian colours, where the monopolies are deprived of their "right" to dictate to the people and to sow division and devastation.

The issue of confronting the crisis of climate change is one where the workers are putting forward solutions not just to problems which affect their own interests, but to society’s problems. This was a feature of the Gala, where modern coal technology was discussed. It reflected the growing awakening of workers and their trade unions taking up the general interests of society, and in particular the question of the fate of society regarding the human and natural environment, the economy and the necessity for a pro-worker, pro-social and anti-war agenda.

What is posed by this Gala of the miners and the workers as a whole is how to move forward so that the workers are able to set their stamp on the whole country, to achieve that power to enable them to take hold of what belongs to them and to ensure that decision-making power is a prerogative not of a few but of the people as a whole. The best of the trade union leaders can be said to be responding to this challenge, and looking to take up an agenda which takes up responsibility for the fate of society.

There is thus an urgency present in the discussions which are taking place over the future direction of society with the demise of Tony Blair. The workers, particularly the miners, are reminding themselves that the role of the working class in Britain in modern times was set with the defeat of the Heath government in 1974 when, in confrontation with the miners, he went to the country with the question, "Who Rules Britain?" It was a question posed again in 1984/85 without being brought fully to the fore. The direction of society and who is in control of this direction is again an urgent issue.

The workers are taking up this problem as a contingent of the international proletariat, strengthening their unity and defining the aim of the working class movement as the cause of socialism and communism. Again, for example, there were Cuban representatives on the platform of the Big Meeting. The spirit is that each contingent on a world scale is settling scores with its own bourgeoisie or engaged in building a system which the people themselves have chosen and made sacrifices in their millions to achieve.

In summary, the essence of this year’s Durham Miners’ Gala and Big Meeting was that of taking up responsibility for the fate of society, as well as defending the interests of society’s collectives, and affirming the right of all by virtue of being human.

The Durham Miners’ Gala was established in 1884 as a means to bring together and organise the mining communities of the Durham coalfield. After 123 years and the repeated attempt at the destruction of these communities, today the Gala, though not as big, is as vibrant and militant as ever.

The main thing that is noticeable, walking through the city of Durham as you attend the Gala, is that the working people of Durham and the North East come out in force. They come to celebrate their heritage, affirm their culture and to put forward their present-day concerns. The way this affirmation is shown has developed over 200 plus years since the industrial revolution. The rich culture of the mining communities takes the form of brass bands, banners and marching culminating in "The Big Meeting". Each mining community is led through the city by a brass band, a banner, and a contingent of people from the community marching proudly behind. Colliery bands came into existence in the early 19th century, and were one of the first mediums to provide musical and social opportunities to the working person. Still today colliery bands provide a focus round which people can unite and express themselves musically and socially. The bands march through Durham city centre to the Racecourse where the Gala is held, stopping outside the County Hotel where they play for the invited speakers and guests on the balcony. The sound of the brass bands is awesome and fills your body with pure sound and tone, while the musicians and the people marching in celebration behind emanate pride and dignity. What is also striking is the discipline of these bands, moving into formation for different tunes where everyone knows exactly what they are doing, whilst harmonising with each other. The bands and community contingents enter the Racecourse loudly and buoyantly, and have a mass of people to greet them. This wonderful spectacle seems to both entertain and inspire.

Waiting for the thousands that attend the Gala is a strip of stalls, pertaining to politics, mining culture, literature, art and crafts, as well as fairground rides and attractions. Stalls attending this year varied from Stop the War, Palestinian solidarity and RCPB(ML). These stalls reflect the very political nature of the Gala. Also organised is a music stage where bands from all over the world come to play, as well as local folk musicians. There are also tents set up for art exhibitions by local artists. There is much to invigorate the senses, intrigue the mind, and the main thing you feel is fraternity that everyone is there no matter what their background, faith or what political organisation they represent; people come together to exchange discussion, literature and celebrations.

For many, these exchanges are the main part of the day, but there is also the "Big Meeting" which gathers speakers from across the trade union movement to address the Gala. Speakers have ranged from Arthur Scargill, to Tony Benn, to Cuban health care workers. This is where the main concerns of the people are brought to the fore. This year there was a focus on the war, climate change, and working class and people’s values.

The Gala is a space for affirmation of working class and people’s identity, and a gathering of those who want to see progress, justice and peace, for their communities and the wider world. It is very much owned by the people of the Durham mining communities and extends this ownership to all who attend. This tradition always moves with the times while never leaving its character behind. Long live the Durham Miners’ Gala!

Ian Lavery, addressing the Big Meeting, said that as President of the National Union of Mineworkers he stressed the need to for the continuing and expanding of the deep coal industry. He said that every other nation in this world with coal levels, resources and reserves are expanding their industries other than the UK. He put forward that coal is the answer to the energy crisis and not the problem; coal is the future of energy in Britain and not the problem.

Arthur Scargill had said 20 years ago when Britain was importing somewhere in the region of 6 million tons per year that it would have a dramatic impact on the pit closure programme, which it did. He also explained eloquently what sort of impact it had in terms of the balance of payments. Ian Lavery said that we are now importing 50 million tons of coal into Britain. Last year we burnt 68 million tons of coal and we generated 37% of all electricity in Britain. More than 50% at peak times. Who said coal was dead? He said that coal is flexible, it can be stockpiled, it can be used to cover peak periods, it is cheap and abundant, it is beneath our feet and beneath and our shorelines and most importantly it can be burnt cleanly.

Last year, he said, 40% (5 billion tons of coal) of the electrically generated in the world was generated by coal. By 2030, this will be 7 billion tons.

Introducing Ian Lavery, Durham miners’ President Dave Guy said that he, alongside Steve Kemp the National Secretary, during the last two years have been the producers of a strong document with compelling arguments to the government on the introduction of clean coal technology.

Writing in the souvenir programme, Dave Guy mentioned the recent announcement by the utility company Centrica of a proposal to build the first coal-fired power station employing carbon capture techniques. They propose to site the station on Teesside and store the harmful emissions under the North Sea. This exciting project, Dave Guy writes, could provide a blueprint for the production of low carbon electricity.

By Tony Benn, Souvenir programme, 123rd Durham Miners’ Gala

When I was ten years old, I distributed literature through the letterbox for the Labour candidate in the 1935 General Election campaign, including one that had been issued by the Miners’ Federation of Great Britain, the forerunner of the NUM, called The Price of Coal. It recorded that in the eight years after the 1926 strike, 7,839 miners were killed and 1,20,042 were injured in the pits including 199,612 boys under the age of 20 – it made a deep impression on me.

I have kept it in my archives ever since, used it during the 1984-5 strike as a reminder of the bad old days and what gave me my first understanding of the dangers miners faced.

The first Gala I attended was in 1962 – forty-five years ago – and the invitation came from Sam Watson who told me that the Lodges had decided to send it out of solidarity.

I had just been expelled from the House of Commons following the death of my Dad, on the absurd grounds that I had inherited his title and was ineligible to continue as an MP for Bristol which I had represented for ten years. In inviting me to the Gala, the Durham coalfield wanted to indicate their support.

It was a typically generous thing to do and my wife, Caroline, and I came to see what was, and still is, the greatest event in the calendar of the Labour Movement.

Hugh Gaitskell was then the Labour Leader and like all Labour Leaders – until recently – always attended and spoke on the racecourse to the huge crowd of miners and their families.

I shall never forget the excitement of standing on the balcony of the County Hotel and seeing well over 100 Lodges go by with their bands and banners on which are inscribed the basic messages of trade unionism and socialism that are still so relevant today.

Labour was then still in opposition and it was two years later, in 1964, that Harold Wilson told me at that year’s Gala that if he won the general election he wanted me to become Postmaster General.

But it was not until later when I was appointed Minister of Power and later Secretary of State for Energy that I began to work closely with the NUM to develop the mining industry so that the nation could rely upon the supplies of coal essential for our economic development.

The political and personal friendships that have flowed from that association have since then inspired me in a way that has no parallel in my own life.

Each year the Big Meeting reflected the victories and defeats that the NUM experienced and I recall the excitement of 1974 when the miners had played the central role in beating the Tories under Ted Heath, who had imposed the three-day week in the hope that the public would blame the miners.

Later, under Thatcher, the miners came under another vicious attack during the 1984/85 strike which had been engineered by her government to break the NUM and the whole trade union movement.

By then, as MP for Chesterfield, a mining town, the battle came closer to home for me and the solidarity shown by the miners, the women’s support groups and others including delegations from abroad made that year an unforgettable experience for us all.

Later, in 1992, came the last batch of pit closures carried out by Heseltine after a completely bogus review had been carried out and the situation became so serious that the last pit in Durham was closed, which imposed the most horrific suffering on the brave communities which lived and worked in the coalfield.

But even though collieries can be closed, miners and their families cannot be crushed and miraculously the Durham Gala under its present leadership of Dave Guy and Dave Hopper has not only survived but grown stronger by extending its invitation to the other coalfields, other unions and other organisations that uphold the same principles.

The speeches delivered form the platform have been memorable and historic including such great orators as Nye Bevan, Michael Foot, Dennis Skinner and a succession of NUM leaders such as Arthur Scargill, Mick McGahey and the leaders of Durham NUM itself.

I have come to think of these bold statements as constituting an annual Durham Manifesto setting out the principles for which the miners have always stood, which are as relevant today here and world wide for all those who are struggling for peace, justice, democracy and human rights.

But it is the atmosphere of the Big Meeting that makes it unique for the whole community is there – the old miners, some in wheelchairs, the miners’ wives and families and children dancing with such joy in their hearts, not to mention the wonderful colliery bands playing their famous pieces, not least Gresford which commemorates the victims of one of many pit disasters.

This year the Gala will have a special significance because with the end of New Labour, a big debate about the future is opening up and it will have far-reaching consequences. As we look beyond the Iraq war, privatisation and the widening gap between rich and poor, we can see a consensus building up in the Labour movement for the very policies that the NUM has always stood for.

And with many hundreds of years of coal under our territories, the madness of closing pits and then fighting wars for energy has become apparent to almost everyone and soon pits will be opened up again.

I am deeply proud of my long association with the NUM, of which I have been made an honorary member (number 001) and of the fact that the Blackhall Lodge has chosen to put me on their banner alongside A J Cook and Nye, which means a great deal more to me than the nonsensical peerage which led to my first invitation.

So on July 14 I shall be there, sitting proudly on the platform at the Racecourse as a full member of the greatest family in the world – the family of miners.