to make unemployment a major issue in the general election and to mobilise the labour movement against the Tory government. in both of these respects the march was at best only partially successful. To why this was the case REDMOND O'NEILL VALERIE COULTAS asked a group of marchers for their views and experience of the March.
Why do you think the March got so little publicity from the mass media? Ton There has been a press blackout on this March. They tried to ignore it until it was no longer possible to do SO. bul l inink Il is part or a more general policy by the downplay unemployment.
Twelve months ago unemployment figures were released it was front page news. Now they ig nore them. The press accept the Tory claim that unemployment evitable, and what's inevitable, is not Unemployment raises too many questions they can't answer. leaders of the labour movement have havent taken ap the real argument, them that unemployment is a result of the decline of the capitalist system, which now can t even provide millions of people.
Unemnlovment is too hot to han. dle because it calls into question the economic system which creates it. So they ignored the People's March to downn av unemolovment. During a general election the press understood that reporting unemplovment and our March in a big way could only help The Times claimed last Saturday that a small turn out for the 5 June demo would prove that Michael Foot was right to oppose the March in the first place as a diversion from the general election. Do you agree?
Tony Pe He is years old and Preston. years member of the EETPU. senior shop. steward and. then venor, herront Cairo Oldham, until he was victimised and sackea inree monins ago.
Ine biggest intervention unemployed have ever made into a general election campaign. It could have made unemployment number one issue and dealt a real blow the Michael Foot and the TUC opposer the March at first because they were frightened of being accused of undermining parliamentary democracy.
They don't like mass tions because they might lose control of them. Both the March campaign suffered. twenty-odd turned out for 5 June and we only saw Michael Foot and Len Murray at the end of thirty days marching.
But surely the March could have put tremendous pressure on the leaderships of the TUC and Labour Party to pull oul all une stops to against unemployment Tories?
Mick OK. Evervone press to the mcclulles is inBombs.
However The we political slogans were banned.
work for Mick Foley, March in Leeds.
One tormer J00 Kerryur went nowhere near port meetings.
We weren't allowed to leges and workplaces. To For example in Preston whole March he was a conMill on our rouLe In which was telling the for our reception in Bath.
had to have a broad appeal.
Paul mobilisa- At Horwich chanting 'Tories Out!
Only the whole North banners March meeting where Millington. shall. demara"
mobilise the 10L.
We had different experiences. Our leg from Yorkshire and Humberside East Midlands started off • went on tactory and pithead visits drumming up support We re-routed the March three times to give support to workers in dispute rom the start we showed the culprit for mass unemployment was the Tory We held daily March At Huddersfield we voted to start using anti-Tory slogans like Jobs not These got tremendous supwith the main March in Northampton when we joined up were astonished to lina that all up aged 29 joined the He is a member of shon ore ward He was made redundant from his last experience was different. joined in Manchester. They seemed to re-route our leg to keep us as tar possible away from the factories. We Trafford Park which is the biggest industrial estate in I was shocked by the lack of supsmall go out and build that support, in factories, col6,000 workers stopped work to support us — one of the best welcomes on the - but no effort was made to have a meeting with them.
I was on the South West leg of the March. We were told that we couldn't chant anti-Tory slogans because people would then see us as hooligans. They made no priority of getting out to the labour movement on our • leg. 'hev didn't even let us march through Plymouth, one of the biggest towns Bath the marshalls told the police to remove a Labour Party van people about the March, even though they knew that Bath Labour Party had virtually paid Ton we were on the main leg of the March. From the start they said we someone started The marshalls the Whole North West continger In Manchester shouted anti-Tory slogans. We held a the marshalls al guea tor a ban on poncal slogans. Thilington. ine West Midiands mar- minority. Alan There are limits 1o 1==- Lenar 213:7 Tono we continued to chant anti-Tory slogans through Manchester and Stockport. But then on the Saturday in Wythenshawe the marshalls called the police to halt our banner (we were leading the March). They physically stopped us and got the Scottish contingent to take over the lead, though March policy was for region to lead in their part of the country.
The next day, in Altringham, they expelled three Liverpool marchers for chanting anti-Tory slogans. waited till we were outside the Mancnester arca in order lo prevent us going to the trade unions and explaining what they were doing.
Ker They expelled people to intimidate Ine rest or us. Ine stewaras usca so-called March discipline to smash us down and demoralise us People were scared of getting beaten if they didn't do what they were told.
They accused us of being petty and whipped up all kinds of insults ike calling us queers' when some or the few women on the March asked for women only accommodation. Mick March in Nor hampton we couldnt When leg joined the main believe how low down the marchers Were. he stewards were incredibl petty: They even asked to see our identity cards before letting us into the toilets, when we all had yellow shirts on anyway!
Then our leg of the March morale was sky high. But the main leg seemed to be demoralised.
The next day when we marched into Northampton for a rally the marshalls told us we could only use official slogans. On our leg anti-Tory slogans and 'Jobs not Bombs' were official. We'd voted for them.
So that's what we shouted. happened next was Increame 5pm on the Friday afternoon crowded town centre a North marshall and a o try to pull down the East Midlands banner (they were leading the March) and shove them off the March I hardly believenheir eyes. There could hardly believe their eyes. was nearly a physical fight. They were prepared to discredit the March to force it to stay 'non-political'. Ian Denison is 23 years old leaving Bristol Polytechnic a year ago he got a summer job as a driver. Since then he has not worked.
The Communist Party stewards banned trade union and Labour Party banners from coming anywhere nea: the marchers. In Milton Keynes her called chro Tred yards Derina. cycl the They been on the dole for 12 months.
ranti's on the assembly line. that she was on try to on the dole smacked. The Yorkshire March was near to entire castern Leg people refused to march.
and trouble Nobody moved shouted trom the we rejoin the March.
everything possible to meeting taking place.
What shouted for us:
At 'unt we have a maren meeling in a West heard the slogans, Merry Marchers', disgust.
Things only day, when Roy Rix the chief marshall of our leg assured us there would be a full inquiry into the whole way the March has been Photo: SOCIALIST ACTION disgusted as the rest of us.
March in this way!
have okayed After chief They tried to use the Scottish by creating a sort of elitism They were the 'real marchers the rest from Leeds. Liverpa?!
-= CP = 7== they ridiculous McLennan's Margaret hour week.
organisations them from Kerry Wade is 18 years old. She has Her last job was a temporary one at FerBefore YOPS working for £23.50p per week. She gets f25 a week movement to By this time I was completely gobleg of the mutiny. On the Monday leaving Milton Keynes, the of the Marct together with others, a total of 140 The main marshall told us 'I can see all the trots makers at the front the marchers back 'We're all solid'. Only when the marshalls promised a mass meeting that night did To"That evening in Luton they did prevent We were kept waiting around for hours. Marchers were sent off on various pretexts. their Feelings started to run high, especially when word got round that a steward had broken a young woman's foot the day before. A woman jumped up and 'We're not moving Later Jack Dromey a South East TUC official opened the meeting. He said there would be no discussion just a vote on twelve slogans the marshalls were proposing. When the marchers like 'We are the , the entire Eastern leg and many others walked out in As a result Dromey won his vote.
calmed down the next now? run. He was as Who was responsible for running the To"Well, of course the TUC must everything.
Communist Party was in control of the March. They organised it to make sure they controlled the transport baggage and generally the logistics o the March. For example Lenahan was marshall, but he chaired most of the March meetings support us hold tingent against the rest of the March ostracise Mar_CaC = We 00E atte :: 20 Peace because they said that would i They had to change that in Lon don where it was impossible to impos their line any longer. They kept March as far away from the Labou Party as possible.
Now you can see the result of thei approach Labour Party leaders off the hool and they did nothing to mobilis Labour for 5 June. They isolated th March from the mass CND move ment so that only five or six CNI banners turned out on 5 June - - whet we've seen that CND can mobilis hundreds of thousands.
Ton What did they get in return? No one SDP banner, not one "Tory we banner turned up on 5 June. By tak ing the class struggle out of the Marcl weakened weakene Labour's election campaign and go lengths Gordo pathetic appeal Thatcher in the Mornin Star asking her to meet the March.
They say it does not matter wh the government is all they want is government that 'makes unemplo: ment its first priority? It's obviou the Tories would create jobs if the could get away paying £30 for a sixty They're using unemployment to try to smash up une working clas that preventing drastically cutting wage and increasing hours.
I never argued for political slogans for their own sake. The purpose was to open out the March to involve the marchers in going out into the labour build a tremendous mobilisation against unemployment and the government whose policie are designed to create it.
It was part of that fight. The lack of democracy, the bullying, the use oi the police, were all necessary becaus inere was no olner way the Com munist Party could force the Mar There has been a conspiracy silence surrounding this March The press ignored it because it embarrasec Tories on their weakest sid unemployment. The Labour leaders ignored it because they are frightened of any mass movement that mign escape theioconunis Communist Party both by keeping the march away from politics and the Labou Party as possible, in order to promote OWl grand Akin cy vens one comes tro He worked as a printe until two months ago.
What do you think should be dow Mi There should be a full investiga tion by the labour movement into thi March. Future marches must be buil unions and the Labour Party To"This March was paid for by work ing class organisations. It is a disgrac that a March directed by the Labou movement should be prevented by th CP from coming out against the Tor government and building support fo Labour in a general election period The organisations that worked along the route shout full enquiry into the organisations responsible March mus go ec unempioyed io ite 23