WHEN I read the Linton Kwesi Johnson interview (SC 29 April), I gave thanks for him pure dread. Not only can he write good poetry, he also understands the relevance of his chosen art form in society - poetry plays a role in the struggle for ideological terrain.
Whilst Socialist Challenge has occasionally reviewed radical white music there has been little or no reviews of the vital force of reggae and dub music. (The notable excepnion was toe exceren aru. cle by Paul Gilroy at the Bob Marley's death.)
Linton has said rebel music is 'the groundbeat of survival itself. It is a music that Is al once violent and awesome, agthe struggle on the unbearable weight of the present .
Even pure dub music (no lyrics) is experiential, conveying things too dread words The lanizuake Rastafarian., these forms al li The of Rastafari can no longer be passed off by the white revolutionary marxists promoting political passivily.
The historical experience of black people is of the most acute human suffering, desolaand their union'.
The NUM was largely responsible for getting women out of the coal processing jobs they the surface of Lancashire nits right up to the mid fli There is no getting away trom that and there is no getting away from the fact that was a reac tionary policy.
Jack Lavin can smugly the Lancashire area as being right wing . But this had nothing to alca. actuall Nottingham) had got rid of women process workers Lancashire had, and it was the union in those areas, as in Lancashire, which led the campaign against the women.
He can just as smugly point to the actions Yorkshire and tinghamshire miners fighting to better the pay and conditions pit cleaners and canteen workers, but this misses the point alt ether.
the type of job done by women which is central debate. Cleaning and traditional women's work and (with some rare exceptions) ine miners union has always. argued that women in the JACK LAVIN must need his eyes testing (SC 6 May) if he reads Eileen Murphy's article on women in the mines as 'an attack on miners pits should be restricted to those areas. Having inere. no one is disputing that the NUM will then de. fend their pay and conditions What Eileen was sayyet it any seceion or ine section of • a11)
NUM fighting to restore women's right to work in Ine now exclusively male processing jobs on the surless strenuous than the! were when the Lancashire pit brow women did them uncle should never be seen by socialists Bou. beyond any criticism There dispute that the history of women in the mines is full of complications and contradictions, DUI NUM's record throughout It is not a proud one. Ina has to be recognised Jack Lavin should read Angela John's excellent book on the subject; he'd find the involvement the NUM extends much further than Joe Gormiey 'and his right wing colleagues.
Secretary of Bolton Trades Council and member of Pit Prop Theatre AS A member of the Amazon Faction (British