16.05.1996

Stand by the miners!

From Workers Bulletin, illegally issued by the Communist Party of Great Britain, May 13 1926

The General Council’s decision to call off the General Strike is the greatest crime that has ever been permitted, not only against the miners, but against the working class of Great Britain and the whole world. The British workers had aroused the astonishment and admiration of the world by the enthusiasm with which they entered upon the fight for the miners’ standard of living. But, instead of responding to this magnificent lead by a call to every section of organised labour to join the fight against the capitalists, the General Council has miserably thrown itself and the miners on the tender mercies of the workers’ worst enemies - the Tory government.

But the working class is bigger than any leader. If the old leaders turn traitor or coward, the workers are capable of taking charge themselves ... Therefore the Communist Party calls upon all its members, upon those who have realised by experience that the communists were right and the reformists were wrong in their estimation, months ago, of the bosses’ intentions and upon every class conscious worker, to press for immediate emergency meetings of all strike committees, and councils of action, with a view to continuing the struggle and forcing the leaders to do so. It heartily supports the Minority Movement’s campaign for a simultaneous move forward, not only to defend the miners, but also to advance the claims already put forward in a number of the chief industries.