Scargill to blame arg TO

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irticle on the South to support the developing which had been carrica MY article on the South Wales miners' strike and the NUM national strike ballot which was carried on the front page of last week's Socialist Organiser, ended up significantly altered in the editorial process.

Two paragraphs (11 and 13) were inserted, which altered my assessment of Arthur Scargill's role in the dramațic decision of the Executive of the NUM the rescind the strike decisions taken in the Yorkshire, Scottish and Kent coalfields and to call a national ballot.

The inserted , paragraphs put the onus on the right wing, by suggesting that Scargill probably only supported the move for a national ballot because he knew he would be outvoted by the right wing majority on the Executive.

If this were true it would imply that there was never really a chance of a national miners strike developing area by area in support of South Wales and against closures since it would be aborted as soon as the Executive met and that the policy of the South Wales NUM to try and spread the strike area by area was wrong.

My argument was that such a strike was viable and probable, given the way things were developing up to the point where the executive was convened. It is not at all clear what happened at the Executive meeting itself. But only 24 hours before the meeting Arthur Scargill announced publicly that he had taken the initiative to call the EC together in order now.

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For creche ring Neil 818541 or Arthur 84170.

And Lol Duffy on setting up workplace Labour Party branches with a speaker from Merseysidé Labour Briefing on Briefing Groups. • YORKSHIRE AND NORTH-DASI Durham. Meets every Tuesday, 6.30pm, Students Union bar, Durham university. SO is sold at the Community Co-op, New Elvet.

is sold at Coney St on SaturLay mornings, at the community Bookshop, outside the dule office most mornto. support the developing strike movement.

He opposed a national ballot, quoting rule 42 of the NUM Rule Book as the constitutional authority for a strike called area by area.

He said he expected a unanimous vote on the executive for that policy. As far as I know, at that point no-one was predicting even the possibility of a vote for a national ballot on the EC.

Straight after the EC meeting, Scargill went on television to claim that he had personally supported the motion for a national ballot which had been unanimously.

Afterwards he told the Morning Star: "We did not pick Lewis Merthyr. But the unofficial action to save it was a fact of life. Accepting the strike had taken place, the only sensible thing to do was to go for a national ballot."

All this convinces me that there was more to it than just pressure from the right and that the key factor was precisely Scargill's avoidance of the sharp fight with the right wing.

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