dance.
The activists from the solidarity movement made the conference spectacular SUCCESS main reasons. They came to hear the key leaders of left wing Benn, Arthur Scargill ana Ken LIVingstone speaking about Ine dispute. But they also came because the solidaritv movement over the last eight months has grown locally regionally but has so far national forum where it could discuss how increase the effeciveness of its work in the dispute.
The concicule was built on the success Labour Party conference. Here the NUM intervened io win total support for its struggles. The left stood firm and the centre and right were defeated on the issue extra-parliamentary struggles.
Sunday's conference marked a step forward in the willingness of left wing begin to put pressure on the LeadersHo take those policies serious y That's why the potentially most the important statement endorsed by the was the last conereic sentence which called for a *massive national demonstration in support of the , to be organised at a date to be agreed with the NUM'.
Battle The atmosphere of the was overwhelmingly positive. Tony Benn set the tone for the day with a speech explaining how the British labour was being reconstructed in the battles against the Thatcher government. The shop report backs later in reflected the development of the movement and Solutely the way that many groups, previously outside the "mainstream' British labour movement politics, were coming politically to the fore of the dispute.
Hazel Ash Soments Mountain Ash told the support group.
wonten were more determined not to give up what they had discovered in this strike.
Natasha Sivananden from the black workshop explained how black people had suffered the kind of treatment the miners welc receivulg the pit communities for evening. it was clear that decades.
A report from the lesbian and gay workshop outlined how this was the first time In a major ldustrial dispute lesbians publicly to express their support for another group of workers.
But the core of winning the dispute remains dustrial support. Two printworker aelegales ex plained how they were stopping the lie-machine the Tories the "The best popular press. front page of the Sun we've had was blank one' said an NGA member Sun. Deputy father of the chapel at the same paper explained how of the Fleet 80.000 copies Street workers' 'Miner's Special' which allowed the unfortunately, refusal of the South East Region of the TUC to give endorsement was retecnon or gie euvoca attitude of the Communist Party to une event.
Rut marked an important event in the miners' strike preactly sin the sildar precisely because it movement, rank and Ken file members of the NUM, the Women Against Pit Closures movement, the left leaders the chance to organise together to put pressure on union and labour leaders implement movement policy of support or lne minels, It was one of the most significant taken the left for some vcals. by this the DESS in through order to try and starve the miners families back to work.
When Salticals
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Camden conference centre would not hold all the delegates who wanted to attend the Mineworkers Defence Committee conference in London last Sun- day. On the day there were at least 1,200 delegates in the main conference. The overspill meeting in the University of London Union had over 500 in atten-