Durham Miners Gala

The 129th Durham Miners Gala took place last Saturday 13th July with the usual banner parade through the city.    Guest speakers included the ubiquitous Owen Jones, Bob Crow, Frances O'Grady General Secretaty of the TUC, and Len McCluskey General Secretary of Unite.    The Daily Mirrors Kevin Maguire stole the show with a rousing speech.   He also wrote an excellent article in the Durham Miners Gala Special pamphlet.

The 1st Durham Miners Gala was in August 1871.      The Russian anarchist  Peter Kropotkin addressed the Durham  Miners at their Big Meeting (ie the Gala) in July 1882 speaking out against Czarist oppression and also against coercion in Ireland noting "that in the English dominions people are also imprisoned without being judged".   Newcastle Daily Chronicle 3.7.1882.    It is about time that the anarcho-syndicalist message is widely disseminated again at such events and not confined to the periphery which as a consequence allows the trade union bureaucrats to dominate proceedings and engage in vacuous rhetoric.