The women's pickets at Port Talbot were among the most successful of the strike with it. wales intending to stand this time in the lodge are both from Tower. They were blunter. 'The membership were. sold out,' said Brian. 'The executive lost us the strike a long time ago, when they didn't get up off their arses.
'Around Christmas there were a few • weak lodges where the men wanted to go back The executive gone to their meetings and given them a morale boost. Instead they sat in Pontypridd and let the rank and file get on 'Now they'll close the real militant areas. neit, Scotland, South Wales. We should have stopped out and fought.' There is a real anger in Cynon Valley about the role of the South never well file. It was the middle part that was missing.
done the same amount of work as Arthur Scargill did, I say we could have won this strike. It was in the balance. You don't have to look further than the state of the economy to tell you that. 'But Thatcher hasn't won. The simple fact is that we've still got our comthe munities and our union.
learned a lot in the last 12 months.' from workers in the power stations or steel workers in Llanwern. THIS week Socialist Action continues its assessment of the state of the coalfield after the strike, with a visit to South Wales. CAROL TURNER toured the Cynon Valley to investigate.
'If everyone of those executive had And we've Port Talbot Tower Lodge Tyrone O'Sullivan, secretary of TYRONE O'SULLIVAN, secretary of Tower colliery, has an answer to that question. Tyrone i official with a purpose: rebuilding the fight in the South While he believes that the correct and only way to bring out the membership last year was under 42, next time round there must be a national ballot. The fight closures more urgent than ever, says Tyrone. It has to be rebuilt pit by pit.
For Tyrone and the hundreds of militants like him in the Cynon Valley and elsewhere, the first battle is over, but the war goes on. MINERS won't be prepared to com pit again. They'll say 150,000 odd miners couldn't stop pit closures what can our pit do? But a lot of pits haven't got much time We could see as many as 40 closed this year. However hard it might seem after the last year, we've got to carry on fighting One or two areas might provide the With the right leadership and the situation here in the valleys.