Mass rally for miners and jobs

By Frank Noakes

LONDON -- Up to 250,000 people from around Britain marched through central London in appalling weather on Sunday, October 25, to show their anger at continuing job cuts and in particular the planned closure of 31 coal pits, which would throw 31,000 miners onto the dole.

London was jammed with coaches resplendent with “Sack Major not the Miners” posters; others called for a general strike. The rally's organiser, the Trade Union Congress, sported a banner declaring: “Britain can't work without jobs”, as the procession weaved its way through the city to Hyde Park.

The park was a sea of mud upon which a broad cross-section of the public trudged to hear speakers denounce the Tory government. When miners union leader Arthur Scargill spoke, the torrential rain reached a crescendo, the noise of rain on umbrellas almost drowning him out.

Scargill received thunderous applause. He urged people to organise rallies in every town in Britain; if this failed to convince the government to change its course, then the union movement should call a national day of action.

“If people power can change governments in eastern Europe, then it can change government policy here in Britain”, Scargill said. As Scargill finished his speech, thousands more demonstrators, brass and pipe bands amongst them, were still pouring into the park.

A poll for the European newspaper has concluded that John Major is the most unpopular prime minister in British history.

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