Treatment for Li'l Arthur

The Communist general secretary of Britain's non-Communist coal miners' union is a twittery little Welshman named Arthur Horner. At 12 he was a wobbler (the boy who lathers customers' faces in barbershops); in his teens, he was a Baptist preacher, calling on the coalowners to repent of their "anti-working-class sins" before it was too late. In & out of jail, "Li'l Arthur" Horner worked wonders for the miners, and they loved him for it. Most of them thought he was simply daft when he announced, in 1947, that "if there were a possibility of war with Russia, the [British] coal fields would stop."

Of late, Arthur Horner has been overworked and ill. His doctor, a die-hard Tory, ordered absolute rest; the coal miners' union generously offered to pay for a long spring vacation, his first in 15 years. Last week Li'l Arthur announced that he'd get well in a nice quiet rest home in the Soviet Union. This would "demonstrate my faith in Soviet medicine."

"It was my own idea," says Arthur, glowing with pride. "I was in Russia nine times before the war, and I know their . . . rehabilitation centers. They're wonderful." He hopes to be sent to the sunny Black Sea coast--perhaps to the very spot where his friend, French Communist Boss Maurice Thorez, spent two years demonstrating his faith in Soviet medicine before returning to Paris, an aging invalid (TIME, April 20). "They'll probably give me electrical treatment and sulphur bath . . . I'll just put myself in the hands of their doctors. I'll go on the bill of the Russian miners, I suppose," Li'l Arthur said. "I'll see you [in five weeks] . . . and you won't know me . . ."

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