Len McCluskey, general secretary of Unite, said: “The values embodied here of solidarity, community, equality and justice are not museum pieces. They survived the onslaught of Thatcher and the contempt of New Labour and they will survive the attacks of the present pantomime horse coalition because they are rooted in all that is best in our society.”
Dave Anderson, Labour MP for Blaydon and a former miner, led in the new Chopwell Lodge banner, featuring the faces of Marx, Lenin and Keir Hardie, and said Labour leader Ed Miliband, who pulled out at the last minute, had missed a “massive opportunity” to put over his policies to the biggest rally since the Hyde Park protest in March.
Special guests included veteran socialist Dennis Skinner, Labour MP for Bolsover since 1970, and Carlos Bugueno Alfara, one of the 33 Chilean miners who were trapped underground for two months last year.
The first gala was organised by the Durham Miners’ Union at Wharton Park in 1871
