Keith Narey Archive | ETOL Main Page
From Militant, No. 792, 4 April 1986,
p. 14.
Transcribed by Iain Dalton.
Marked up by Einde O’Callaghan for the Encyclopaedia of Trotskyism On-Line (ETOL).
AFTER THREE years on strike, the number of Hindle strikers has dwindled to six. But their spirit and determination remains undimmed.
The ‘Dirty Half Dozen’ still meet every Friday in the AUEW offices to carry on their defiance.
“We’re still fighting, but when is the TUC going to wake up to the fact that this government is trying to knock us off one by one, and that the only response has got to be a united fight ... a general strike to get ‘em out?”
“With all these sackings and new laws it’s impossible to stick to the old ways. They’re saying it’s virtually illegal to go on strike now, that you can have a union so long as management run it!”
“What are the TUC and our union leaders doing about it? Are they fighting? Are they hell, they’re using the Tory laws as an excuse not to fight”.
All the strikers were agreed that the next Labour government must start by scrapping the anti-union laws that the Tories had introduced ... “Then maybe we’d get our jobs back ... Aye that’d sicken Hindle right off ...”
It has been a pleasure and a privilege to have known and worked with all the Hindles’ strikers and their wives, over the past few years, and to know that the fighting spirit that they have shown is present in other layers of our class.
If this spirit and courage were shown by the leaders of our movement then Thatcher wouldn’t have survived her first term. Supporters of Militant can feel proud of the support that we have given to the Hindle pickets, but above all proud of these magnificent fighters for our class.
Keith Narey Archive | ETOL Main Page
Last updated: 24 September 2016