Taking place on July 9, the 136th Durham Miners Gala, returning to the streets of Durham after a two-year hiatus caused by the Covid pandemic, was a vast affirmation of the strength and unity of the working class, and its central role in society's development.

The numbers appeared to confirm the organisers' estimate of the anticipated 200,000. Certainly the more than 50 brass bands and the spectacular arrays of more than 60 miners' lodge banners, as well as those of union branches, and others from the working class movement, surpassed any since before the 1984-85 miners' strike. The Gala, together with its Big Meeting, confirmed its importance as an event of historical and cultural importance in the life of the country as a whole, and even further afield. It is of contemporary significance, and, drawing on the traditions, history and values of the miners and their communities, also points to the future.

Hosted by the Durham Miners Association (DMA), the Gala was established in 1871 and this year's event was dedicated to key workers. As the DMA Chair Stephen Guy said: "We are proud to dedicate the 2022 Gala to our key workers and give our platform to them and their trade union leaders. As the pandemic showed so starkly, it is the key workers of this country that we truly need. They deserve much improved pay and conditions, but it is our key workers who are often bearing the brunt of the cost of living crisis."

A disciplined sea of contingents, so many led by their bands, with their participants young and old, and the ability of these brass players to transform their material into something magical, marched through Durham, past the County Hotel on Old Elvet. Here many stopped to perform for the keynote speakers and trade union leaders gathered on the County balcony, as is the tradition, always eliciting enthusiastic applause from the crowds stacked many deep along the route to the Old Racecourse by the River Wear.

As is traditional, the Big Meeting itself began with the moving playing of "Gresford" to remember all the miners who gave their lives in the hewing of coal. It reminds us also, as was once said, that the working class must also be the hewers of society. "Gresford" was written in 1936 by Robert Saint, a musician and former mine-worker from Hebburn, South Tyneside, to commemorate the 266 men who were killed at the Gresford Colliery, north Wales, on September 22, 1934, in an explosion and underground fire.

DMA chairman Stephen Guy oversaw proceedings on the Racecourse, and set the refreshing and unapologetic tone in defence of the rights and interests of the working class in introducing the speakers at the Big Meeting. In keeping with this theme, no MPs had this year been invited to appear on the platform and address the meeting. The thread running through all the speeches was that of the need for working class solidarity and organisation.

Accordingly, two key workers who worked through the pandemic - Holly Johnston, a nurse and member of the GMB union, and Rohan Kon, a postal worker and member of the CWU - joined RMT general secretary Mick Lynch and other speakers Sharon Graham of Unite, Patrick Roach of the teaching union NASUWT, Jo Grady of the further and higher education union UCU, and Clare Williams, Unison Northern's Regional Secretary, in addressing the meeting. Yvette Williams, a co-founder of the Justice4Grenfell movement, also spoke, highlighting the issue of trade unions and community organisations working together.

In a powerful speech, Mick Lynch declared: "We're back. The working class is back. We refuse to be meek, we refuse to be humble and we refuse to be poor any more." Labelling the Tory party as a party of billionaires and a public school elite, he continued: "We cannot tolerate any more their ruthless pursuit of profit. We have to be ruthless in our pursuit of social justice."

These words complemented some of the profound slogans which have been painted over the years on the miners' banners. For example, the Murton Lodge banner has the slogan emblazoned: "The Future Is In Your Hands". The working class, as a class with its own aim and political programme, consciousness and organisation, cannot be negated and refuses to be eliminated. Human productive powers demand to be brought under the control of the working class and people themselves. In this way, the Durham Miners Gala points the way to the future of the whole of society.

The 137th Durham Miners Gala will take place on Saturday, July 8, 2023.

The website of the "Marras", the Friends of Durham Miners Gala, points out: "For more than a century, the Gala was funded by the county's working miners through their subscriptions to their trade union, the Durham Miners Association (DMA). Following the closure of the collieries, the DMA founded the Friends of Durham Miners Gala (FODMG). Today, the Gala is funded by the donation and subscription through FODMG. Those who contribute are known as 'Marras' - a Durham miners' term for a trusted friend who can be relied on in times of need."

To join the Marras and contribute to the funding of the Gala, click here.

A selection of photos from the Gala and Big Meeting

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