1985: the miners fight on
The miners' strike is now entering its tenth month and the miners are still determined to continue. International Viewpoint spoke to Alan continue.
Sutcliffe, a Kent miner and Tricia, his wife, a member of the Aylesham miners' wives support group, shortly after the Christmas and New Year festivities had subsided, about the prospects for the strike.
picket lines with us. They have really lifted our spirits up.
We had about 300 pickets at Snowdown [the nearest pit to Aylesham] this morning and about 50 of those were women. This is very good and shows that people are still determined.
Q. What do you think is going to happen now?
TS. I don't know what the future holds now. I used to know exactly what my life would be like and now everything is uncertain. But I can't see anyone going back to work until we get what we want. I think they will have to bring the army in. This village already seems as if it's occupied. There are constant police patrols morning, noon and night. I dread it but 1 woulan t give in. dread it but I wouldn't give in.
Q. How do you think the strike can be won?
Alan Sutcliffe. The most important thing is the power cuts. If we had power cuts, the government would be discredited.
Some people are calling for a general strike. But you can't just switch on and say we're going to have a general strike. We should be trying to develop a general strike. We're appealing to, and educating, the rest of the trade-union movement every week when we go round the workplaces. But we're not calling a general strike. We're building up to it.
Whenever I go and speak I always make a strong appeal for people to come and help us on the picket lines. Giving money and presents is great but it's not enough. We have to build up the pickets at the pits and the power stations.
Neil Kinnock [leader of the Labour Party] and Norman Willis [TUC general secretary ] - their positions are a myth. It is us, through this strike who can make the trade-union movement into an effective instrument. They will have to step aside.
We've been to every country in the world to get support for this strike, and then Kinnock goes to Russia and says there is no hardship among miners. He complains about violence on the picket lines, but it is the likes of him and what they have done in the last ten years that make this fight so hard for us and have made violence a part of the struggle.
If this strike crumbles, it won't be because of the miners' leadership. The other alternative to all this is a revolution - when we could sweep the whole lot away. I would like that to happen, but I can't think that far ahead.
Q. What has the international support been like?
AS. Fantastic. Because we're in Kent we've received a lot of the international supporters. The CGT in France came over with a convoy. We've had meetings here with Turkish, Nicaraguan, Zimbabwean and other European visitors. It appears that in Belgium they're stopping the shipment of coal. That's the sort of action we need.
Question. What has the support been like over Christmas?
Tricia Sutcliffe. The support has been tremendous and has given a real boost to the strike.
SOGAT [the printworkers' union] sent 200 turkeys to Kent so every family had a turkey. They also sent all 13 to 16 year olds a £10 gift voucher. The children all got presents named and wrapped from the local support committee.
Food came from various places like Holland, France, Belgium and Germany. There was a constant flow in the weeks leading up to Christmas. Most of these visitors have been staying with us.
A member of the German delegation was telling me that the mineworkers and other unions in Germany don't support the strike because they are more aligned with the TUC and the right wing, but some are still giving money on humanitarian grounds.
The Coal Board tried to offer us a Christmas bribe. A letter went out on December 31 offering holiday money and tax concessions. But only one person has gone back since Christmas. We're still solid here.
Over the holiday period there has been a Dutch band here - about twenty of them - and they've been down on the
Picture from the French CT's Christmas appeal to support the miners (DR)
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