Scotland solid

Scan page 2

Hours to sell. To accept MacGregor's bribe is to sell your children's future, not just your own job. It's a matter of basic trade unionism"

Why haven't the Midlands been ready to fight?

John: "A lot of them have been bought off by the bonus scheme and by the Board's promises of security. They think: we're safe, we've got the Vale of Belvoir: sod that lot in Yorkshire and Kent"

Bernard: "I think the local leaders have got a lot to answer for, particularly people like Jack Jones in Leicester, with all his bleating about a ballot - that's just a way of letting himself off the hook, and giving people an excuse to scab."

What about a ballot?

Pete: "I read that the National Opinion Polis reckoned that we would have had a 62% majority for a strike in a national ballot. But it's easy to be wise after the event.

"I think the tactics that the 50p single copy, 40p per copy for 5 or more, and 30p per London SE15. Please add an amount for postage. SUPPORT for the national miners strike in Scotland at the start of its second week was even more solid than it had been the previous week.

At Bilston Glen, for example, where there had been some sharp clashes the previous week, only one miner turned up for work.

Surrounded by a phalanx of police he managed to get into the colliery. In the entire Scottish coalfield, only 15 miners turned up for work on Monday, but there was no production at all.

Over the weekend, Barony pit NUM branch passed a resolution calling on the union to hold national ballot, the only Scottish pit to do so to date.

Socialist Organiser spoke to Alex Hogg about the strike.

50p Nupte by Satvinder Singh and Tony Purtill Speaking in a personal capacity, he is NUM delegate for the Cardowan colliery, where salvaging operations have been in progress, after its closure last year) he told us:

"We've had pickets on the Longannet power station and a couple of other power stations in Fife. But there are still coal movements going on, as you sce the lorries on the roads. They must be from open cast sites, so we need to move in and shut them down as well.

"It's hard to assess what other support we are getting. The dockers are giving us support, and have refused to unload coal supplies. On the railways, both the NUR and ASLEF have assured us that no coal will be moving by "The NCB is clearly using private contractors to shift the coal by road. We would hope that any TGWU members involved will refuse to eross picket lines.

"The national ballot is a difficult question. But the normal custom and practice in mining for conturies means that - rule 1, you assist neighbours if they are in trouble and ask you to; and, rule 2, you don't cross picket lines.

"These unwritten rules supercede the parliamentarians' laws, which arc solely designed to break the unity of the men.

"The Polmaise men who were already on strike against the closure of their pit were down in London last week, but I don't know what the outcome was.

"The Polmaise question is now part of the national strike. The same applies to Bogside, where the miners are contesting the NCB decision to close the pil THOUSANDS of pickets this morning lined the entrance to pits in Yorkshire, earmarked for closure by the National Coal Board.

The massive picket operation was mounted to ensure that miners who wanted to continue

----- pull-quotes -----

copy for 20 or more, from SUPA, 83 Peck- ham High Street,

Diary of a People's

Marcher "How politics were kept out