For an international solidarity campaign for sacked miners and prisoners The miners' strike is over but the struggle of the British miners against sackings and imprisonment goes on. A national campaign for a general amnesty has now been established and at its last meeting, the United Secretariat of the Fourth International put out a call for an international campaign against victimisation and for a general amnesty for the miners.
ashire) colliery. Dennis has just been released after three months in prison. He is well known to many supporters of the Fourth International for the work he did in drumming up international support. Sacked by the Coal Board, like so many others, he is still ready to take up the fight. Sacked miners and their wives can be invited to do speaking tours and resolutions of support should be put through labour movement bodies internationally.
NOMPAS can be contacted at 5 Caledonian Road, Kings Cross, London N1.
There are currently between eighty and a hundred miners in prison following the strike and thousands more whose cases still have to be heard. As Doreen Humber, miner's wife and a founding member of the National Organisation for Miners in Prisonand Supporters (NOMPAS) stated, 'these are political prisoners ... victims of the Tories' drive to smash the unions.' Miners have not just been condemned to prison for fighting for their class. At present 720 with a possiblity of more in the future have been condemned to life on the dole (unemployment benefit). The aim of NOMPAS is to demand an amnesty for all those sacked, not just in prison. They are pressing for committees to be set up in every area of Britain and plan to hold a national demonstration.
Despite the failure of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) as a whole to vote for a 50p levy to support the sacked miners immediately after the strike, collections have now in fact begun at many pits and campaigns have been launched for those sacked. As The Miner (the national newspaper of the NUM) points out, the ballot for the levy was not lost because miners voted against the sacked men. It was because many saw the levy as a soft option which would discourage the union from fighting hard for reinstatement of those sacked.
During the miners' strike workers of many countries expressed their solidarity with the miners' struggle by sending money, establishing support committees campaigning for coal embargoes. The struggle of the miners is not over yet and it is vital that the campaign of international solidarity continues in support of those miners who have been victimised.
In West Germany for example, teachers' union activists in Wuppertal are organising a nationally coordinated campaign based on local networks to support sacked and imprisoned miners and their families. Lists of individuals are being sent round for supporters in most of the major towns to 'adopt' by sending money and messages of support. This could be done in every country. Supporters of Roter Maulwurf (a revolutionary youth organisation) and its sister organisation, the GIM (International Marxist Group), the German section of the Fourth International, are running a special campaign for Dennis Pennington, of Bold (in Lanc-
In its last issue International Viewpoint launched a special fund to finance the sending of the magazine to activists who cannot pay because of capitalist victimisation. IV played an important role for many during the miners strike giving out news and information about international solidarity and analysis of the strike for readers around the world.
We hope that readers will support the special fund so that we can meet the growing demand of class war prisoners and others for complementary subscriptions.
If you can help, please send your cheque or money order to International Viewpoint, 2 rue Richard Lenoir, Montreuil 93108, accompanied by a note indicating that it is for the IV fighters fund. Cheques should be made out to International Viewpoint.
Statement of the Fourth International
After a year of heroic strike action the British miners were forced back to work. Their strike, the longest mass strike in the history of any imperialist country inspired working people around the world with its determined intransigence against capitalist policies of unemployment and austerity.
But the cost to the miners and their families was high. Two miners were killed on the picket lines; 11,000 were arrested by the police; over 700 miners have been sacked as a result of their participation in the strike and nearly one hundred miners are serving prison sentences. Hundreds of other miners will appear before the courts in the next months. Already severe jail sentences of up to five years have been inflicted such as that of Terry French of the Kent miners. Even harsher punishment awaits some strikers.
However, those found guilty face not only jail sentences but also a life time of unemployment. Those sentenced in the courts have been automatically sacked by the coal industry employers. They are also denied state benefits on the pretext that they are still on strike. Demands for an amnesty have been rejected and instead, the sackings are being made part of a campaign to weaken the organisation of the union.
There is now a need for an international campaign of solidarity to demand an amnesty from the British government for the sacked and imprisoned miners and to raise funds for their families.
The enormous solidarity that the strike received internationally marked the identification of millions of workers with the miners' struggle. Now the same energy must go into the urgent defence of the victims of that struggle.
The goal of the British state and the coal employers is not solely to victimise militant miners. If this campaign of vengeance is not prevented the political result will be intimidation of workers in Britain and internationally from fighting in a determined way to save their jobs. Victory against this wave of vietimisation would help in a significant way to roll back management's attacks against the National Union of Mineworkers.
The miners' strike was a strike for the whole international working class. The defence of those victimised is a fight to defend all workers, including those millions who will, in the years to come, emulate the British miners' courage, combativity and determination.
No victimisation!
Amnesty!