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George Bolton (born 1934) is a Scottish former trade unionist and communist activist. The son of Guy Bolton and nephew of John Bolton, both prominent Scottish communist miners, George joined the Communist Party of Great Britain at the age of sixteen, and was active in the 1959 strike against the closure of the Devon Colliery.〔John McIlroy et al, ''The Struggle for Dignity'', p.186〕 He later found work mining in Clackmannan in Scotland, although for a time he was based in Stoke-on-Trent.〔Ed. Arthur McIvor and Ronald Johnston, ''Miners' Lung: A History of Dust Disease in British Coal Mining'', p.207〕 He was the delegate from the Bogside Mine to the Scottish Area of the National Union of Mineworkers until 1978, when he was elected Vice-President of the area, and became a full-time official as Agent in 1980.〔''Labour History Review'', No.44-50, p.57〕 He held both these posts during the UK miners' strike,〔Ed. Keith Laybourn, Christine F. Collette, ''Modern Britain Since 1979: A Reader'', p.190〕 then succeeded Mick McGahey as President in 1987. He became an increasingly vocal critic of Arthur Scargill, opposing Scargill's attempts to sue Robert Maxwell for libel, and later becoming convinced that Scargill had misdirected some funds from the Soviet Union, intended to support the miners during the strike.〔Seumas Milne, ''The Enemy Within: The Secret War Against the Miners'', pp.70, 269〕 Bolton was also a prominent Eurocommunist in the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB).〔Geoffrey Goodman, ''The Miners' Strike'', p.199〕 First elected to the party's executive in 1978,〔''The Weekly Review'', 11 January 1978, p.15〕 he became the party's chairman, serving until 1990,〔 by when he was regarded as the leading trade unionist in the party.〔Charles Hobday and Roger East, ''Communist and Marxist parties of the world'', p.89〕 In 1984, during infighting in the CPGB, he was one of only two official CPGB candidates elected to the board of the party's former newspaper, the ''Morning Star''.〔 When the party dissolved, he remained active in its successor, Democratic Left.〔''New Statesman'', No.234-250, p.6〕 In 1992, Bolton led a march of Scottish miners from Glasgow to London, in protest at proposals to close more mines in the nation.〔Michael Fathers, "(The long walk is over, so the miners take to a bus )", ''The Independent'', 20 December 1992〕 He retired in about 1996, and his post as President was not filled.〔Rob Robertson, "(Rob Robertson meets the union leader working at the coal face in the fight to save Monktonhall Digging deep for survival )", ''The Herald'', 16 May 1997〕 ==References== 〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「George Bolton (trade unionist)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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