01.02.1996

“Everything ready”

From 'The Workers’ Weekly', paper of the Communist Party of Great Britain, January 29 1926

WHILE THE capitalist press and certain sections of the labour movement have “deplored” the wild talks of the “left wings of both camps”, the government has been making elaborate plans for crushing the resistance of the workers.

 All the scab organisations have been roped in to assist in the dirty work to be carried out when the struggle commences.

One thing we laid down definitely, and which we have repeatedly kept before the workers: namely, that the Coal Commission was set up in order to give the employers a breathing space in which to prepare machinery for a future attack on the working class. Despite the fact that there are still some months to go before the subsidy ends, we are in a position to prove the accuracy of our contention.

Last week the press published some of the details of plans which have already been executed for dealing with the situation which might arise next May ...

“It is said that never has such effective organisation, or one more detailed, been applied in this or any other country ... It is not meant for the year 1926 alone. It is an instrument for all governments in the national interest.”

The Evening Standard, January 18, stated ... “The miles which intervene between collieries and the railway depots are blocked with coal ... The yards are full.” This is a danger that can only be met by workers in other industries refusing to touch the stored up coal.