Qne of the striking features of the present Labour Government is its total ineffectiveness of action and future plans for dealing with the old basic industries of Wales; coal and slate are in rapid decline, Total employment has dropped in them from 124,000 in 1959 to less than 100,000 today. Manpower in the South Wales coalfield is now 70,000 (lower than it was a century ago) and is still dropping by some 6,000 per year. It is the younger and more vigorous men who are leaving. Increasingly pits are being worked with a preponderance of men over 50 years of age. Pits are now closed because not enough men are available to work them safely or economically.
Every pit closed is a step into deeper crisis, a blow to what confidence in the future of the industry Ps mains. The NUM have called on both Tory and Labour governments to take He astic measures necessary to halt the decline, the call has been in vain. The Cambrian pit disaster drew once again the tribute of the national press to the heroism of the miners and of the burden of danger, disease and discomfort every time they go down to work, Within a few weeks the NCB under pressure from the Government's incomes policy refused a modest 25/= wage claim and offered the miners a derisory 10/= to 15/- rise, This to day wage men who after stoppages, take home less than £10 per week.
Small wonder that reports since the Cambrian explosion speak of a further rise in the number of men leaving the industry, ‘Small wonder also that the frustration of the miners bursts out in a day long bitter debate over methods of resisting pit closures at the South Wales miners! annual conference in May this year. Much of the heated argument lost its way in the blind alley wrangle over whether strike action was the way to resist closures or note But the deep feeling on the issue was shown when unanimous support was given to a resolution from Coedely Lodges
"This conference condemns the disastrous running down of the mining industry, the lack of any comprehensive fuel policy and the blatant disregard for the security, wages, and conditions of miners, all of which is the result of the policies pursued by the previous Tory Government. We call for the full power of the union in South Wales to be used in a public campaign to compel:
(1) a halt to all closures, except those caused by exhaustion of reserves;
(2) a Government guarantee of an expansion target for coal commencing from an annual target of 200 million tons; and
(3) an immediate and substantial improvement in wages, hours, and conditions, sufficient to attract and maintain more miners in the industry."
This resolution expressed the growing understanding among South Wales miners that the decline is not an inevitable natural process, but something which is created and hastened by the ruthless inefficiency and planlessness of capitalism. Many of the problems facing the industry are only capable of solution by political decisions. The miners of Rhigos underlined this lesson last December, Their one day strike and demonstration sparked off the move-= ment leading to the South Wales lobby of Parliament against closures. They did not succeed in forcing the Coal Board to keep their pit open, but they showed that the fight was not to be won by each individual pit, but by mass political pressure to win new policies from the Government. Editorial notes We hope to carry regular reports of the struggle of the South Wales miners = a struggle which has been virtually ignored in the English presse