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1984: how the miners saved Christmas from Thatcher

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/1984-how-miners-saved-christmas-thatcher

Picketers decorate a Christmas tree outside Rossington Colliery, while police transit vans line the roadway, December 11, 1984

CHRISTMAS 1984 was potentially a desperate time for the families of miners who had been on strike against pit closures for nine months. It turned out to be the opposite for many striking mining communities.

France’s communist-led union group CGT sent a convoy of 30 lorries, driven by volunteers and packed with food and toys, across the Channel. The union had mounted a “toy drive” among its members, and thousands had flooded in.

The convoy arrived at Dover, and the lorries journeyed to struggling mining communities in Wales and northern England.

Hundreds of miners’ support groups across the country redoubled their solidarity efforts — and the public responded generously.

The result for many striking miners and their families was the best Christmas they had ever had. And the solidarity is remembered today across the former coalfields.

In the north-east, Ian Lavery, now Labour MP for Blyth and Ashington, was a 20-year-old miner at Ellington Colliery in Northumberland. He lived with his parents and siblings. His father was a striking miner, as were two of his three brothers.

He told the Morning Star: “It was one of the best times of my life.

“At Christmas time 1984, none of us had a ha’penny — no money at all. But one thing about miners and working-class people is that they will do anything to make sure the kids have a good Christmas. Whatever the situation — on strike for seven or eight months — we would not let the kids down.

“It was fabulous to see the juggernauts arriving from France. They provided every striking miner’s kid with a toy at Christmas. Honestly, there was juggernaut after juggernaut come all the way from France. Absolutely amazing. Then there were the chickens and the turkeys. They were on the Christmas table of every striking miner. It was just fabulous.

“There were Christmas parties in every village and community.

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Welsh Communists chart a path through crisis

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SPECIAL GUEST: Former Labour MP Beth Winter

DIC PENDERYN reports on the Communist Party’s Wales congress, where delegates debated plans for a radical manifesto and broad alliance to challenge Reform UK at the polls and make a clear break with Starmer and Westminster

LAURA PICAND, in her chairwoman’s address to the Communist Party’s Wales congress, acknowledged the hardships suffered in Pontypridd after the town flooded during Storm Bert a week ago.

“This is a perfect example of why utilities should be owned by us with public ownership and accountability.

“The Welsh government is failing the Welsh working class, and yes, we know that the Tories in Westminster woefully underfunded Wales.

“But the Welsh government need to fight and campaign for better resources, and a different, socialist approach.

“They need to remember they are the government of Wales, not apologists for Westminster. We need to see clear red water between Wales and Starmer’s Labour,” Picand said.

The congress debated the key congress resolution, Wales for the People Not the Profiteers, which was introduced by Welsh executive committee member David Nicholson.

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