Tony Benn pointed out that "when the older generation look at the marchers they see the LPYS and they see the Labour Party they joined in the 1920s and 1930s". The council in preparation for the day had produced 10,000 bulletins and the District Labour Party also distributed 180,000 copies of their paper, Not the Liverpool Echo. Derek Hatton called for a city-wide general strike in support of the Council and Eric Heffer, Labour MP for Walton, called for extra-parliamentary action.

This was taking place while the Tory government was preparing brutal measures to crush the organized power of the working class, and in particular the miners.

This warning was underlined by the decision of Eddie Shah the owner of the Stockport Messenger, produced at his Warrington plant, to smash the National Graphical Association (NGA). Under the Tories' 1982 Employment Act the union faced sequestration for defying a court judgment of a £50,000 fine against the NGA.

The mass picketing and the brutal attacks of the police angered workers who poured in from all parts of the country to support the printers. Regular clashes unfolded between the massed ranks of workers and the beefed up police who were defending Shah, a friend of Thatcher. In a special issue Militant declared:

The gloves are off. The ruling class are out to destroy the print union, the National Graphical Association. £175,000 of the union's funds has been seized... it has been grabbed on the orders of a well heeled judge... All three print unions: SOGAT 82, NUJ and NGA have legal threats against them... The Tories have declared war. The working class must be the victors. (2)

However, Militant's call for a 24-hour general strike to be organized by the TUC went unheeded. Arthur Scargill, virtually alone among leading trade union figures, called for decisive action:

To stormy applause (at a meeting in Birmingham of 500 miners, rail and steel workers), (he) called on the TUC and Labour Party to show the same dedication and commitment to the NGA and our class as the Tories show to their class, including the organization of the most massive picket ever seen. (3)

He also echoed Militant's demand for a 24-hour general strike to defend the NGA.

Militant had argued for an all-out printers' strike in the teeth of such attacks. The majority of print bosses were afraid of such action, as was shown by the secret approaches of Robert Maxwell to Shah during the dispute. When the possibility of an all-out strike loomed Maxwell, the owner of The Mirror, could only comment: "God help us all". While criticizing the right-wing of the general council, Militant also called for the Left to take effective action:

the TUC general council, with its inbuilt right-wing majority, does not reflect the true balance of industrial power within the movement. The left leaders of the TUC, therefore, those who supported the NGA, must now be prepared to organize outside the framework of the TUC. (5)

Even a BBC disc jockey commented:

"One of the reasons why Frankie Goes To Hollywood was so successful is the fact that they banned it; rather like the Militant Tendency - you ban it and it gets more popular." (8)

Militant supporters were found in the most surprising quarters and came in all ages:

Neil Kinnock may be just a little embarrassed this morning when he learns the identity of the innocent-looking seven-year-old to whom he recently presented second prize in a competition organized by Labour for children's drawings on the Health Service.

The £30 prize went to one Daniel Walsh for his study of children waiting to be X-rayed. But it now turns out that he is the son of Lynn Walsh, who was expelled from the Labour Party at last year's Blackpool conference for his activities as deputy editor of the Trotskyist weekly, Militant.

Asked what he would like from the prize, Daniel told his mother - though not, thankfully, Mr. Kinnock - "A Big Track, a Spirograph and my dad back in the Labour Party." (9)

Even top Tory Virginia Bottomley's brother-in-law Henry Bottomley expressed a passing sympathy: "Some people might regard me as a bit to the right. But in fact even though Militant Tendency has some strange ideas I agree with a number of them - at least it would be nice if it were possible." (10)

But one of the surest indications that Militant had 'arrived' was shown by a question in a GCE A Level from June 1984: "Consider the role, policies and significance of the following:" amongst the subjects listed was "the Militant Tendency" (11)

Also, during a miners' lobby of Parliament during the strike the following exchange took place in the Commons:

Mr. John Stokes (Halesowen and Stourbridge): On a point of order, Mr. Deputy Speaker. Are you aware that striking miners are on the Terrace of the Houses of Parliament and are selling a newspaper that I believe is called Militant Tendency? Is that in order?

Mr. Deputy Speaker (Mr. Harold Walker): That is a matter that will be looked into by the appropriate authorities.

Mr. Kaufman: Perhaps the hon. Gentleman should hurry down to the Terrace, as he might learn something that would broaden his point of view. (12)

Such were the numbers and the enthusiasm that two overflow meetings had to be arranged. Nearly 500 people who turned up hoping for last minute tickets had to be turned away; there was just no room. A section of the conference, mostly drawn from ultra-left groups, declared that the ranks of the movement were "demoralized" and that the working class had swung to the right.

Some even argued that this therefore meant that it was wrong to build a Broad Left movement in such a period. This was answered by many Militant supporters, such as Alistair Tice from NUPE, who explained that certainly trade union membership had fallen, but this was mainly through mass unemployment, unlike in the 1930s when union membership fell by a half through the widespread demoralization of ordinary workers.

The conference had a powerful effect with workers represented from all areas of the country and from most unions.