The Socialist 27 January 2016

Housing: smash the Tory wrecking bill

Housing: smash the Tory wrecking bill

Davos summit: a broken capitalist system

Google pays pittance for avoiding £2bn tax

Red doors and wristbands scandal

Steelworkers may face benefit cut-off for not seeking bar jobs

Oscars snub black artists: fight racism and austerity in the arts

Labour councillor smears TUSC policy as 'BNP'

Them & Us

Top tweets: #TraditionallySubmissive

Teaching: a perfect storm is brewing

Teachers need national strategy for a national struggle

A day in the life of a teacher and mother

New wave of protests in Tunisia

India: student death exposes caste oppression

Tories 'Prevent' civil liberties

Labour councillor suspended for fighting cuts

Dave Nellist's byelection appeal to Jeremy Corbyn: 'let's discuss how to fight the cuts'

Labour election post-mortem: nothing to report!

The dark arts of Labour's right

Councillors must fight to defend our services

'People's budgets' and local democracy

Lewisham: no backsliding in council cuts fight!

"I have left work many times in tears" - a council worker

Trade union bill will stretch resources and limit action

Birmingham teachers strike to resist academy attack

24-hour tube strike suspended

Care services under threat in Haringey

Workplace news in brief

The end for deep coal mining jobs in Britain

Obituary: Dean Meehan 1962-2016

Letters

Protesting against closure of Huddersfield A&E

Coventry children's services closure protest

New Socialist Party branch fights against St Austell austerity

Socialist Party discusses the fight for socialism

Socialist Students bake-off

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Capitalism ensures the end for deep coal mining in Britain

Kellingley Colliery, photo Chris Sampson (Creative Commons) (Click to enlarge)

Malik J Rofidi, Selby Socialist Party

Kellingley Colliery closure marks the end of deep coal mining jobs in Britain and is a casualty of capitalism.

My thoughts and best wishes for the future go out to the 450 workers who have lost their jobs due to the closure of the pit in December 2015. It was a sad time for them, their community and indeed the country.

This is a sensitive issue. The tendency has been to depoliticise this matter somewhat, those who draw political links have been accused of using it as a "political football". However, the fact is that the politics behind this is inescapable.

Quite simply, within this capitalist system Kellingley's days were numbered.

Ludicrous

As ludicrous as it sounds, it made sense for Drax power station, Kellingley's big client situated a stone's throw away, to import coal from thousands of miles away as it would be cheaper for them than using the coal beneath their feet.

Why is this so? It is ultimately because through years of struggle, workers in this country's coal industry have won better conditions - essential improvements in health and safety and the working environment, and fairer pay.

They are being undercut by coal suppliers who exploit their workers more effectively, such as in Colombia.

We stand in solidarity with those workers overseas who are exploited to a greater degree. Who wins? Not workers whose greater exploitation is justified by their employers. The Kellingley miners certainly don't win.

And let's consider the environmental cost - transporting coal thousands of miles when there is coal right beneath you?

We should make the transition to cleaner, renewable energy but while the technology is being developed and introduced, the coal that we still require would be better coming from the same area, as Drax's does from Kellingley.

Under capitalism, however, importing from Colombia is the right choice for Drax to make the greatest profit and stay competitive. They do not take into account the social and economic cost to the local area.

Profit

Profit should not be the driving force behind production. We need nationalisation under democratic workers' control and management to allow planning of resources to meet society's needs.

We could then both protect jobs and working conditions and plan the phasing out of coal and phasing in of cleaner, renewable energy.

I think these are goals well worth fighting for.

In this issue

Socialist Party news and analysis

Housing: smash the Tory wrecking bill