Socialist Party members in Mansfield and North Derbyshire have been saddened by the death of long-standing member, Alan Alberry, aged 76. While few comrades will have met him, Alan played a crucial role in the past, above all during the 1984-85 miners’ strike, despite having already retired from the industry with ill-health.
Trained as an underground fitter, as a young miner he took part in the 1972 and 1974 strikes. With little interest in politics, he enjoyed the time fishing. However, in his early 20s he started developing muscle weakness, eventually diagnosed as multiple sclerosis (MS). This worsened and he became wheelchair- and eventually house-bound, losing the use of all four limbs. No-one expected he’d live another 45 years!
Alan’s drastic change in circumstances, by then married with a young child, made him question the way things were. A friend advised contacting his MP for help – left-wing ex-miner, Dennis Skinner, who cycled over and suggested Alan join the Labour Party.
At Alan’s first meeting a member reporting back from Labour Party conference passed round a paper picked up there – Militant, forerunner of the Socialist. Alan read it and took out a subscription. He became one of the first Militant members in North Derbyshire.
Over the next few years he travelled to conferences in his wheelchair, a Labour Party Young Socialists summer camp and Militant Miner meetings. He said the education from these lasted him decades. He attended Bolsover Constituency Labour Party meetings, carried upstairs in his wheelchair. Most delegates were miners or other trade unionists.
When the 1984-85 miners’ strike broke out, Alan’s house quickly became an unofficial strike HQ. He couldn’t get to picket lines but strikers called in afterwards, discussing the titanic struggle against Margaret Thatcher’s vicious Tory government and the massive police forces sent to break the strike. Weekly ‘Militant Miner’ news-sheets were written and eagerly taken by pickets. Alan was at the centre of all these discussions.
Sue, Alan’s wife, was a key organiser of the local Women’s Action Group. It ran a strike kitchen feeding up to 300 pickets each morning, school holiday children’s dinners, weekly food parcels and more.
In the evenings, Militant meetings filled their home, discussing the strike, wider political issues and lessons from past workers’ struggles. Comrades visited from outside the coalfields supporting this work. Their house was under covert police surveillance and their phone tapped.
The strike’s eventual defeat, as national trade union leaders failed to organise solidarity strike action, was a bitter blow. Every local pit closed over the next eight years. But another big struggle developed.
Poll tax
The battle against Thatcher’s hated poll tax was joined by thousands across North Derbyshire and 18 million nationally. Alan’s refusal to pay, taken through court by Bolsover (Labour) District Council, was reported on TV news.
Alan said he’d had life easy as he had no choice but to live with disability and it was Sue, his carer for 45 years, who had the tough life. He remained fiercely loyal to the Socialist Party, paying subs, joining meetings on Zoom when possible. He stressed the importance of studying Marxist theory to understand today’s struggles and those we will face in the future. His determination greatly inspired others.
Socialist Party members send our condolences and solidarity to Sue – his partner and carer, Darin and Maria.
Mansfield Socialist Party members
I never met Alan in person, only on Zoom but that didn’t seem to matter, when he spoke we all listened and cared what he thought of us as Socialist Party members and when we did something he liked, it mattered, because you wanted him to be proud of you, after all, we were proud to know him. With Alan came examples of true resilience, passion and determination. I remember being very humbled when Alan apologised for not being involved more in branch activities, it never seemed that he wasn’t. Thank you Alan for your stories, correction, humour and passion. Our branch meetings and our development and learning were enriched by you.
You were and will be missed.
Denise Tooley-Okonkwo
