IN TWO weeks crowds will throng the streets of Durham in Britain and Europe’s biggest celebration of working-class culture — the Miners’ Gala.

For Alan Mardghum, general secretary of the Durham Miners Association (DMA), this year is special — it marks the 40th anniversary of the miners’ strike, and will likely take place in the first weeks of a new, Labour government.

“I’m certainly hoping for a change of government, and to kick the Tories into oblivion,” he tells the Morning Star. 

“I think Labour will be the next government, but then we need to hold it to account, and start to right the wrongs not just of the last 14 years but of the last 30 to 40 years.”

This year’s theme, Solidarity Forever, echoes a famed song of the 1984-85 strike, while the platform will be dominated by trade unionists from unions that showed solidarity with the miners 40 years ago or their successor organisations.

“The message of the Gala will be the importance of solidarity, it’s a commemoration of that strike and of the working-class solidarity that went to sustain it for 12 months. The amazing solidarity from women, from communities, from trade unions and from across the world. That’s the thread that will run through the whole of the Gala this year.”

It’s amazing the Gala is still going — it’s 31 years since the last deep mine in the Durham coalfield, Mardghum’s own pit at Wearmouth, closed in December 1993. Attendance dwindled through the 1990s, with numbers down to about 30,000 at one point before “we realised if we want to keep the Gala we need to open it up to the whole movement rather than just mineworkers. That’s what happened, and that was led by Dave Hopper and Dave Guy.

“Later funding became a massive issue.” This led to the founding of the Marras, the friends of the Gala who contribute regularly to help keep it going. Members can be organisations like the major trade unions, down to individuals who pay just a couple of quid a month.

Other miners’ galas are gone, but the Big Meeting at Durham has grown and grown, routinely attracting over 200,000 people in recent years.

The banners of the old pits — more restored each year — accompanying the silver bands are now joined by banners of every union in what is not just a celebration of the miners but a politically charged event.

“Trade unionism is as relevant now as it’s ever been,” Mardghum says. “When you look at the draconian contracts workers are forced to sign, the zero-hours contracts, practices like fire-and-rehire, it’s going to radicalise workers, so I think the militancy [of the 2022-23 strike wave] is still there.

“We cannot allow employers, or governments — of whichever nature — to blame working-class people for the ills of society. We’ve had a massive cost-of-living crisis in the past few years and we see that blamed on wage rises when at the same time companies are making billions and billions of pounds in profit and we’re seeing CEOs and shareholders getting massive returns.

“That’s what needs taxing. So I think it is incumbent on all of us as trade unionists and socialists to show solidarity with workers demanding a fair slice of the cake.”

With those demands in mind, is he impressed with the election campaign so far?

“I’m not impressed with any of the campaigns. This has been probably the dullest campaign I’ve ever witnessed. Some of these live TV debates have been absolutely mind-numbing.

“I want a change of government. I want a Labour government that works on behalf of working people to the same extent that the Tories work on behalf of their class.

“I despise Thatcher and everything she stands for, but she worked hard for her class. All I ask is that the next Labour government works as hard for our class. Once they’re elected we need to hold them to account on issues like the inquiry into events at Orgreave, which they’ve promised, fixing the mineworkers’ pension scheme, where about £5.5 billion has been siphoned off over the last 30-odd years, which they say they will address. 

“They’ve made some commitments and we need to hold them to account.”

Does he believe the polls indicating an unprecedented collapse in the Tory vote?

“I think it’s a ploy by the ruling class to lull potential voters into thinking it’s a waste of time voting. It’s important that every voter who wants a change of government gets out there and votes for somebody different to the Tories.”

The media don’t treat all these alternatives equally, though: Mardghum says he disagrees with many things George Galloway stands for, but wonders why Nigel Farage gets so much more airtime, when unlike Galloway he isn’t even an MP. Including more voices in more debates would be good for democracy, he believes.

“One of the disappointing things about the Labour campaign is the constant ‘we’ve changed the party, we’ve got rid of Corbyn’ [refrain].

“They’re getting rid of good left-wing activists and socialists and imposing people on seats throughout the country, that’s not democracy and they should be held to account for it.”

One of those imposed candidates in Mardghum’s neck of the woods is Luke Akehurst, the longstanding right-wing factionalist standing in Durham North despite living in Oxford.

He’s scathing about Akehurst, while stressing that he speaks for himself, not for the DMA. “When I look at the actions and beliefs of Luke Akehurst, in my personal view, he has no place in any kind of party that even pretends to be socialist. He supports the Israeli genocide in Gaza, he suports Israeli action without any question. The man’s absolutely reprehensible.”

Party politics will take a back-burner at the Gala, with just one MP on the platform, Labour’s Ian Lavery, and that owing as much to his being a miner (“not a former miner — once a miner, always a miner”) and former president of the National Union of Mineworkers as his parliamentary position. “Ian’s one of us.”

Instead the focus will be on the unions and campaigners that stood with the miners in 1984-85, including Heather Wood of Women Against Pit Closures, and on their struggles today: not just in Britain but internationally. Adriana Pella of Argentina’s national trade union federation the CGT will speak, as Argentinian workers engage in a titanic battle with the hard-right government of Javier Milei.

And everyone is welcome. “Come to Durham on Saturday July 13, you’ll be welcomed with open arms. Soak up the atmosphere, listen to the wonderful bands, see the wonderful banners.

“See socialism in action as the mining communities come together across the generations. They destroyed our industry but they haven’t destroyed our spirit.”

You can become a Marra at www.friendsofdurhamminersgala.org/marras