the MOSU transform itself, Centra Western Europe. with the parly of of Canal struggle They are the millions of women finally objective criterion are working four million ocsabona the heart consciousaes. the British reality. 1 nal was book though.
OCSCIvC CICOll millions of pensioners whose rights are systematically abused bv capitalism; key international allies in Ireland, in America, in Eastern The alliances which can tie together ail these forces, and unite the working class in a fight for their common goals. however, cannot be achieved through a clever advertising campaign, or simply through organisational formulas (although some of the latter are vital). That unit! can only be achieved through struggle - through years of massive struggle in which the white male section ot thi working class finds less and less space for the luxury of racism or sexism, in which the oppressed impose that reality on the working class as a whole It is a process of struggle in which women, or blacks, or gays, or the people find out that their onli reliable ally is the working class as a whole and its organisations. It is a time which the Beatrix Campbells and Marxism Todays of this world will abandon the struggle for their sex or for the oppressed because - they are more closely tied to capital than to other groups in societ!
That dynamic of struggle was what was vital, what was thrilling, and what was historic about the miners' strike.
ror around I0 vears now the labout movement has begun to discuss the key changes that would begin to enable it to function as a 'party of labour' in practice and not just in a name. Demands for party democracy. the demands of the Committee, for black sections, and for British withdrawal from Ireland are at _of that developing The miners' strike jerked the process Strike chat aliverye, herl el enta that polenlia alliance for socialism, knitted together Il a common suruggie agalnst capilal — in so doing the whole became far greater than the sum of its parts.
In the 1984 miners' strike a whole series of the key strategic ideas on how to fight for socialism - an alliance for socialism, a party of labour - changed from just words and became realities of struggle. They began connect to an ideology — of socialist democratic : socialism that alone can give them coherence. For the first time for 60 years some classical positions of Marxism took a real grip on why the miners' dispute was far more than a strike. It was, and will continue to be, an carthquake in British politics. One whose impact will deepen not lessen in the coming years.
All the elements needed to understand that reality are in Digging Deeper. But they aren't tied together with the historical perspective and concepts that would give them true cohesion Don't let that stop you reading the It isn't perfect but going to be hard to beat in any 'best book of the strike' contest. For getting it out with such speed, Verso publishers Every Socialist Action reader should buy it For getting it out with such speed Verso publishers deserve credit. Every Socialist Action reader should buy it • Digging Deeper 2 issues in the miners' strike, Verso, 1985, f3.95 paperback
Socialist Action 22 March 1985