If you want to understand the labour
movement in Britain, go to Durham Miner's Gala. At Durham you
see our movement it all its pomp and all its poverty, its great
strengths and
its many weaknesses. This was my first Gala, and I have to take peoples
word for it that it was bigger then it had been in recent years. Local
newspapers reported up to a 100,000 people came to Durham for the event.
It is a family day out for many people in the north east, especially
from the old pit villages who follow the Brass Bands and the old NUM
branch Banners from their community. More people probably go for the
Brass bands then come for a the Trade union rally aspect. This is not
necessarily a bad thing, as It shows how the unions have genuine deep
roots in working class culture.
The fist Gala happened a few years after the Paris Commune and 30 odd
years before the birth of the Labour Party. That it has survived is a
great testament to the enduring organisations that the working class
have built. With the historical defeat of the great miners strike of
1984/85 and the politically motivated destruction of the mining industry
the Miners Gala's days looked number. In the days when the NUM had
hundreds of thousands of members they forced often reluctant Labour
Party leaders to come to Durham. As a sympton of the miners decline the
last Labour leader to address the Gala was in 1989 and the last big
figure was John Prescott in 1997. However by bringing in other unions
and making it a more general show of Trade union stregnth the event has
re-built itself. Surely it is these unions that pressued Ed Miliband
into attending this year
The calibre of speaker from the platform was much higher then even big
Trade Union marches. There was no TUC regional general secretary giving a
obvious speech on why the tories are bad. Also the organisors made no
effort to modify the platform to cater for Miliband. So an awkward
looking Ed had to listen to and applaude to prominant trade union lawyer
John Hendy making a closely reasoned argument for the repleal of the
Anti Trade Union laws and Mark Serwotka leder of the PCS union rebuking
him for criticising workers striking over pensions and for accepting the
tories wage freeze for public sector workers. Then he had to join in
the Standing ovation for two Spanish miners who spoke about their strike
against the Rajoy government in which the most militiant tactics have
been employed.Milibands speech was brief, bland and uninspiring, but
some Gala veterans were moved to tears I think more because this was a
culmination of years of patient work to rebuild the event then anything
Miliband said.
Whilst it is very easy to get swept up in the moment there are things
that all the most inspiring banners and the most moving brass bands in
the world cannot hide. The whole event like much of our labour movement
is very backward looking. Amonst all of the speakers apart from John
Hendy, there was a complacency about the state of our unions and the
failure so far to organise the mass of casualised workers in the service
and retail sectors. There was no accounting for the union leaders
capitulation over pensions and all in all a bit too much reverence
accorded to the often rotten leaders of our movement. This made it hard
for revolutionary socialists to intervene.
All in all the resurgence of the miners Gala is a very postive thing and
it is significant that the Labour leader felt obliged to come this
year. Our movement with its banners flying and bands playing is an
inspring sight and I have every intention of being their next year.
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