25.07.1996

Not a jot less

From the Workers’ Weekly, paper of the Communist Party of Great Britain, July 23 1926

“Not a cent. Not a second. No district agreements” - the slogan, the whole slogan, and nothing but the slogan!

That, after 12 weeks’ indescribably heroic struggle, is the renewed, resounding mandate every coalfield sends their leaders, as our worker correspondents reveal.

Cook, Smith and the Miners Federation of Great Britain executive are the trusted leaders of a million miners. The miners want no compromise.

A dangerous path has been entered on in accepting the churches’ ‘mediation’.

In an exclusive interview with the Workers’ Weekly, AJ Cook has made an unequivocal declaration on this point. He said:

“The point which the MFGB has insisted upon throughout the whole stoppage has been ‘No reduction of wages, no lengthening of hours and no district agreements’. We have explained this clearly to the church leaders who have intervened in this dispute, and if they can do anything along these lines with the government and the mineworkers, they are welcome to try. But if they propose any plan which involves wage reductions or the lengthening of hours, either immediately or eventually, we have committed the MFGB in no way to accept their mediation.

“Meanwhile we still appeal to our fellow workers on the railways and docks to stop blackleg coal, for the miners are still as determined as ever to continue their opposition to any reduction in the standard of living.”