Can you smell 1979?

Well in 1979, a newly-elected Tory Government inundated us with propaganda about how young people, particularly young miners, had become disinterested and apolitical. Within two years the young miners responded with the miners' strike of 1981 and then the 1984 strike.

This time we are told that only older people are interested in politics and that half of voters under 25 didn't even vote in the last general election. They too are 'apolitical'.

Well young people (like everyone else) are interested in their own future. They've seen only too clearly whose interests Cameron and Clegg and their ilk represent.

The press deluge us with lies and propaganda. Gordon Brown has eliminated 'boom and bust', the Irish Government has promoted the boom of the 'Celtic Tiger'. Where are these prophecies now? In the dustbin with Magaret Thatcher's 'I will bring unity where there is disunity' of 1979.

The majority of young people at University and in Colleges are the sons and daughters of ordinary people, but they too are now being told that they have to pay for what the bankers have done.

All trade union branches should be inviting students to a branch meeting and trade union activists should visit University demonstrations and 'sit-ins'. We should show mutual support.

Now, more than ever, the "right of recall" should be at the top of our agenda.

If Phil Woolas can be removed from his MP's position by an unelected judge, why can't Nick Clegg be removed by the electorate he lied to? If Nick Clegg wants to remain in Parliament after the next election he will have to either join the Tory Party and get a safe Tory seat or go into the House of Lords. There will be no hiding place for him in his current seat. What started with the expenses scandal has moved onto MP's lying in their election pledges and onto students discussing the nature of democracy. It doesn't take long.

We who are socialists and trade unionists should be at the forefront of the democracy debate. At the centre of this debate should be the accountability of elected officials and how money is spent. Sons of the millionaire bankers, like Cameron and Clegg, won't want that debate but we need to ensure that the lights shine brightly on the skeletons in the cupboards of those who purport to represent us. The students have shown us what every ordinary persons' response should be to the lying politicians who represent the interests of the rich.

'It did not take me long, after arriving in England, to find out that people were paid in inverse proportion to their usefulness!' Oscar Wilde.

BBC Strike

The BBC strike over pensions provoked much interest. How interesting to see some of Britain's well-paid television millionaires, who earn this living from ordinary people, sticking 'two-fingers' up at the ordinary workers who help provide them with their wealth. Terry Wogan, Graham Norton, Chris Evans, Zoe Ball, Chris Moyles - 'the voices of the people'. Meanwhile 97% of NUJ (the National Union of Journalist)members adhered to the strike following a resounding Yes vote.Thousands of NUJ members supported their union, including the majority of top names on television - Jeremy Paxman, Kirsty Wark, Fiona Bruce, Huw Edwards, Alan Davis etc.

As the attacks on working people open up, the question of who is your friend, and who isn't, will come to the fore. Your friends are those who support you when you're under attack. Those who, like Terry Wogan, mouth platitudes about helping people, whilst adding to their own millions of pounds and crossing picket lines, seek to laugh at working people when they find themselves under attack. All workers need to understand the basic concept - never cross a picket line.

A miner's tale

Luis Urzua, one of the rescued Chilean miners, was asked what his experience had been like and how the miners had survived. He said 'Keeping the men unified was due to majority decision making. You have to believe in democracy. Every single decision taken in the mine was voted on. There were 33 men, so 16 plus one was the majority. That was how we made every decision.' For the working classes democracy is always the answer. No secret decisions, no autocracy and no dictatorships. Free discussion of everything, a democratic decision and then carry it out.

The miners united will never be defeated

What an inspirational event the rescue was. How the media must have hated showing ordinary working people in their true light. This was a living example of how people organise for the common good.

Next week's Comprehensive Spending Review will be an example of the exact opposite, as the Toffs and millionaires set about attacking working people in defence of their rich frienda. Ably assisted by their fellow public school boy and bankers' friend, Nick Clegg.

Whether you're in a mine in Chile, an old people's home in Suffolk or on a picket line in France, the working classes are your only friend. So let's celebrate the rescued miners of Chile (and Bolivia!) but remember the 2,600 miners who died in China last year. This system cares little for our people. We have to look after ourselves. Inspiration is no substitute for organisation. We face the future with confidence because we know that together we are unbeatable.

Thank you

GENERAL SECRETARY ELECTION

We live in interesting times. Can I begin by thanking all those who campaigned for me in the election? It was both an honour and a privilege to have the support of such fine people.

I won't name individuals because I don't think that would be egalitarian or in the spirit of a collective campaign. But those who did campaign for me were people I am proud to be associated with.

I also thank those who voted for me. The turnout was 14%. That was the problem. To win we had to increase the turnout. It was too near the general election. Things will change enormously over the forthcoming period and the union will need to be transformed to face the challenge.

It will be interesting to see how many ''leaders'' leave the movement over the next 12 months and how they are replaced by those who want to fight.

We have no choice but to fight and re-learn the lessons of old.

The Tories haven't changed and neither has the struggle. Some comfortable Labour MP's and trade union officials may think that the class struggle is over but those reared on the playing fields of Eton are returning to try and put us in our place.


I have thoroughly enjoyed the election campaign. It was uplifting to meet so many committed activists, who are a credit to the union. I have been invigorated by visiting branches who are doing such good work.

My faith and confidence in socialist ideas has been strengthened during the campaign. Our members are the 'lifeblood' of this union. Our aim should be to represent members not control them. The gratitude and warmth of someone you represent is worth ten times as much as material gain or political intrigues.

Once again thanks for your support. To quote the immortal Shelley;

'Rise like Lions after slumber
In unvanquishable number -
Shake your chains to earth like dew
Which in sleep had fallen on you -
Ye are many - they are few.'

Or to quote the Man from North Gawber;

'I learnt my socialism on the end of a shovel'.

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Paul Holmes Leaflet