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This article was published over 2 years ago

Capitalism Kills

Tragedy at the Siberian Coalmine Listvyazhnaya Leaves 52 Dead

At 9 in the morning 25 November there was an explosion and large amounts of smoke 250 metres underground at the Listvyazhnaya coalmine at Kemerovo, at the centre of the Siberian coalfield. It is now known that 46 miners and 6 rescuers who went to save them have now perished

Friday, 26 November 2021 09:59 (UTC)
Statement by Sotsialisticheskaya Alternativa
ISA in Russia
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At 9 in the morning 25 November there was an explosion and large amounts of smoke 250 metres underground at the Listvyazhnaya coalmine at Kemerovo, at the centre of the Siberian coalfield. It is now known that 46 miners and 6 rescuers who went to save them have now perished. Two hundred and forty other workers who were underground at the time managed to escape although some are still in a serious condition.

The Listvyazhnaya coalmine at Kemerovo

Eye-witnesses reported that as soon as the explosion took place, other miners rushed in to rescue those they could. At least ten lives were saved in this way. There was though fear that another explosion could take place. Indeed, there was another explosion later that day.

Miners report that the methane explosion was caused by multiple breaches of safety regulations. It has now been revealed that the Mine Director, his deputy, and the head of the face have been arrested for breaching safety regulations. The Safety inspectorate have revealed that there have been 914 safety rules broken at the mine in 2021 alone. Work has had to be suspended 9 times.

The miners though have had to work in these dangerous conditions otherwise the management would simply deprive them of their livelihoods.

Although the immediate management have been arrested, the real responsibility for this horrific disaster lies with the owners who demand profits, and therefore intensive work without the proper investment in safety. They are the Russian billionaires Mikhail Fedyaev and Vladimir Gridin, who own the mine as part of their Holding Company “SDS -Ugol”. They are closely tied to the Putin regime. Gridin was himself a deputy from the President’s “United Russia” party, while Fedyaev’s son currently sits in the State Duma as an ER representative.

We have no confidence in the official investigation that is to be conducted. There is no doubt it will be pressurised by the billionaires and in the interests of the political links that the pit-owners have. As has already happened in many other cases, the tragedy will be written off as due to “human error” and the blame put on to some individual.

The miners need to be organised. Only workers’ control at the mine can avoid future tragedies. Any decisions about whether it is safe to work should be taken by democratically elected miners’ committees, who should be responsible for mine safety. Any time miners have to be idle due to the need to conduct safety work should be paid for at full rates, no more piece work. The mines should be taken back into public ownership under democratic workers’ control.

The life of the miners is more important than the profits of the billionaires.

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Tragedy at the Siberian Coalmine Listvyazhnaya Leaves 52 Dead (26 Nov 2021)

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