18.07.1996

Scargill gagged

Dennis McDonald is the North East regional organiser of the Socialist Labour Party. Peter Manson of the Weekly Worker asked him about the SLP’s participation at last weekend’s Durham Miners’ Gala

How would you rate the success of the Gala this year?

In terms of the numbers attending, the support was just as good as it’s always been. Not quite up to the heights of the 60s, but with people very much concerned about the destruction of the coalfield - the ‘rationalisation’ of jobs - they flocked along in their hundreds.

How were the speakers received?

The main platform speakers were ‘clause four socialists’. My own feeling was that it was all empty rhetoric. For example, Rodney Bicker-staffe spoke of the need for a minimum wage of £4.26, implying that the Labour Party would deliver it. But there is no way they will come up with that and he knows it. We will be lucky to get £2 an hour - if we get a minimum wage at all.

Also I detected a feeling of despondency. For the first time in my life I got fed up listening to Tony Benn who I have always admired. It had the air of platitudes.

Do you think that Benn has changed his position?

No, but he cannot see that there is no hope of winning the Labour Party for socialism. Personally, I always had hope in the Labour Party and I was a member for 20 years. But it will never be the same again. It has changed within two years from being a party with at least socialist pretensions to what is now a Christian Democrat party. It’s time Blair came clean and stated the LP no longer believes in socialism.

People often told me I should have stayed and fought. I did, but in the end the writing was on the wall and only a fool couldn’t see it. What is the point in electing New Labour? Power for the sake of power is corrupt. If people like Benn cannot see this, then he is no longer viable as an alternative.

We heckled the platform speakers, as did many others - not only the SLP contingent.

Why was Arthur Scargill excluded from the platform?

It was extraordinary, because the NUM president has always spoken at the Durham Gala. But the excuse given was that, as the union is affiliated to the Labour Party and Arthur Scargill is no longer a member, there could be no place on the platform for him.

Of course this is nonsense. No Labour leader has addressed the Gala since the days of Michael Foot. But many non-Labour people have done so, including Nelson Mandela. In 1960 I remember the US ambassador appearing on the platform!

It appears that the Gala’s backers, including those with business connections, wanted it to be a New Labour rally. There are also internal NUM matters which affected the decision, it seems.

But Arthur was there, in a private capacity. I was talking with him for half an hour and the response he got was fantastic. Everyone expressed warmth towards him and dismay that he was not on the platform. They may ban him from the platform, but they will never diminish the esteem in which he is held.

How successful was the occasion for the SLP?

Very successful. We had 30 people on our contingent, and I can honestly say that our banner got the best reception of all. We distributed our leaflet explaining why there was a need for Socialist Labour, but we made no real effort to recruit. Yet despite that we recruited 10 new members.

People saw that we were speaking the truth, fighting for what people want, what we need. We just stood behind our stall and the recruits came to us.