UK miners' strike (1984–1985)
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/* Orgreave and other confrontations */ why is anyone supposed to care what a very minor political sect thought?
<!-- Deleted image removed: [[Image:MINOR STRIKE SEPT29.jpg|thumb|right|A poster for a concert in support of the strike.]] -->
The '''miners' strike of 1984 – 1985''' was a major [[industrial action]] affecting the [[United Kingdom|British]] [[Coal mining|coal industry]]. It was a defining moment in British [[industrial relations]], and its defeat significantly weakened the British [[trade union|trades union]] movement.
[[Coal]] was a [[Public ownership|nationalised industry]] and, as in most of [[Europe]], was heavily subsidised. A number of mines in the United Kingdom were profitable and remained open after the [[Strike action|strike]], including some operating as of 2007<ref>[http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/41029000/gif/_41029082_coal_production416.gif Coal production]</ref>, but there were also a number of mines that were unprofitable and the government wanted to close. In addition, many mines required efficiency improvements in order to attain or increase their profitability, which was to be done by means of increased mechanisation. Many unions resisted this as it would necessarily result in job cuts.
The strike became a symbolic struggle, since the [[Mining|miners']] union was one of the strongest in the country. The strike ended with the defeat of the [[National Union of Mineworkers]] (NUM) by the [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]] government, which then proceeded to consolidate its [[free market]] programme. The political power of the NUM was broken permanently, and some years later the [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]] moved away from its traditional [[Socialism|socialist]] agenda. The dispute exposed deep divisions in British society and caused considerable bitterness, especially in [[Northern England]] and in [[South Wales]] where several mining communities were destroyed. Ten deaths resulted from events around the strike, which is exceptional in the history of British industrial relations.
==History==
A strike nearly occurred in 1981, when the government had a similar plan to close twenty-three pits, though the threat of a strike was then enough to force the government to back down.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/18/newsid_2550000/2550991.stm 1981: Thatcher gives in to miners]</ref> It was widely believed that a confrontation had only been averted in the short-run and the [[Yorkshire]] miners passed a resolution that a strike should take place if any pit was threatened with closure for reasons other than exhaustion or geological difficulties. In 1982 the members accepted a Government offer of a 9.3 percent raise, rejecting their leaders' call for a strike authorization. <ref>{{cite news | url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E01E1DB1E38F937A15752C0A964948260&sec=health&spon=&pagewanted=print |title=The World; British Miners Settle for Less | publisher= New York Times | date= January 24, 1982}}</ref> In 1983, the Conservative [[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom|Prime Minister]] [[Margaret Thatcher]] appointed [[Ian MacGregor]] as head of the [[National Coal Board]] (the UK [[statutory corporation]] that controlled coal mining). He had previously been head of the [[British Steel]] Corporation, which, according to one of Thatcher's biographers, he had turned from one of the least efficient steel-makers in Europe to one of the most efficient, nearly bringing the company into profit.<ref name="Campbell">
{{cite book
| last=Campbell
| first=John
| authorlink=
| year=2003
| title=Margaret Thatcher: The Iron Lady
| publisher=[[Jonathan Cape]]
| id=ISBN 978-0224061568
| pages =pp. 99-100}}</ref> However, this was achieved at the expense of a halving of the workforce in the space of two years. This reputation raised the expectation that jobs would be cut on a similar scale in mining, and confrontations between MacGregor and the leader of the miners, [[Arthur Scargill]], seemed inevitable.
===Pit closures announced===
In 1984, the National Coal Board announced that an agreement reached after the [[1974]] miners' strike had become obsolete, and that in order to rationalise government subsidisation of industry they intended to close 20 coal mines. Twenty thousand jobs would be lost, and many communities in the north of [[England]] and in [[Wales]] would lose their primary source of employment. Although not widely known at the time, the Thatcher government had prepared against a repeat of the effective '74 industrial action by stock-piling coal.
===Action begins===
Sensitive to the impact of the proposed closures in their own areas, miners in various coal fields began strike action. In the [[South Yorkshire Coalfield|Yorkshire coal field]] strike action began when workers at the [[Manvers Main Colliery|Manvers]] complex walked out over the lack of consultation. Over 6,000 miners were already on strike when a local ballot led to strike action from [[5 March]] at [[Cortonwood]] Colliery at [[Brampton Bierlow]], and at Bullcliffe Wood colliery, near [[Ossett]]. What had prompted the [[5 March]] action was the further announcement by the Coal Board that five pits were to be subject to "accelerated closure" within just five weeks; the other three were at [[Herrington]] in [[County Durham]], [[Snowdown]] in [[Kent]] and Polmaise in [[Scotland]]. On the next day pickets from the Yorkshire area appeared at pits in the [[Nottinghamshire]] coal field (one of those least threatened by pit closures). On [[12 March]] [[1984]] Arthur Scargill, president of the NUM, declared that the strikes in the various coal fields were to be a national strike and called for strike action from NUM members in all coal fields.
===The question of a pre-strike ballot===
The issue of whether a [[ballot]] was needed for a national strike was very complicated after the actions of previous NUM leader [[Joe Gormley]]. When wage reforms were rejected by two national ballots, Gormley declared that each region could decide on these reforms on their own accord; his decisions had been upheld by courts on appeal. Scargill did not call a ballot for national strike action, perhaps due to uncertainty over the outcome. Instead, he attempted to start the strike through allowing each region to call its own strikes, imitating Gormley's strategy over wage reforms; it was argued that 'safe' regions should not be allowed to ballot other regions out of jobs. This decision was upheld by another vote five weeks into the strike.<ref>[http://www.cpgb.org.uk/worker/454/scargillism.html Scargillism and the miners]</ref> Many miners, especially at the threatened pits, were also opposed to a ballot as they take some time to organise and campaign for, and there was some urgency due to the programme of accelerated closure within five weeks. There was a fear that strike supporters would refuse to take part in a ballot. Critics point out that his policy of letting each region decide seemed inconsistent with the threatened expulsion of the Nottinghamshire branch after 20,000 out of 27,000 miners in the county voted against the strike.
The [[conservatism|Conservative]] government under Margaret Thatcher enforced a recent law that required unions to ballot members on strike action. On [[19 July]], [[1984]], Thatcher said in Parliament that giving in to the miners would be surrendering the rule of [[Parliamentary system|parliamentary democracy]] to the [[Ochlocracy|rule of the mob]]; she referred to the striking miners as "the enemy within" who did not share the values of the British people. "We had to fight the enemy without in the [[Falklands War|Falklands]]. We always have to be aware of the enemy within, which is much more difficult to fight and more dangerous to liberty". On the day after the [[Battle of Orgreave|Orgreave pickets]] of 29 May, which saw 5000 pickets engaged in violent clashes with the police, Thatcher said in a speech:
:"I must tell you that what we have got is an attempt to substitute the rule of the mob for the [[rule of law]], and it must not succeed. It must not succeed. There are those who are using violence and intimidation to impose their will on others who do not want it...The rule of law must prevail over the rule of the mob."<ref>[http://www.margaretthatcher.org/speeches/displaydocument.asp?docid=105691 Remarks on Orgreave picketing ("attempt to substitute the rule of the mob for the rule of law")]</ref>
Arthur Scargill's response to the incident was:
:"We've had riot shields, we've had riot gear, we've had police on horseback charging into our people, we've had people hit with truncheons and people kicked to the ground... The intimidation and the brutality that has been displayed are something reminiscent of a Latin American state."<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/29/newsid_2494000/2494793.stm 1984: Miners and police clash at Orgreave]</ref>
In August, two miners from [[Manton, Nottinghamshire|Manton]] colliery who protested that the strike was not "official" without a ballot took the NUM to court. In September the [[High Court of Justice|High Court]] ruled that the NUM had breached its own constitution by calling a strike without first holding a ballot. Scargill was fined £1,000 (which was paid for him by an anonymous donor) and the NUM was fined £200,000. When the union refused to pay its fine, its assets were ordered to be sequestrated but they had been transferred abroad.<ref> Campbell, p. 366.</ref> By the end of January 1985 around £5 million of NUM assets had been recovered.<ref name="Thatcher">
{{cite book
| last=Thatcher
| first=Margaret
| authorlink=Margaret Thatcher
| year=1993
| title=The Downing Street Years
| publisher=[[HarperCollins]]
| id=ISBN 978-0006383215
| pages =p. 374}}</ref>
As a result of this decision, miners were not entitled to [[Income Support|state benefit]]s, thus forcing the majority of miners and their families to survive the strike on handouts, donations from the European "food mountain" and other charities. Being without benefits had more serious consequences for the miners and their families. Their children were not entitled to free school meals or [[National Insurance|social security]] help with school uniforms. Poverty and hunger became rife in the mining heartlands. This forced many miners into a dilemma: return to work, and be viewed as a "[[Strikebreaker|scab]]"; or maintain support and live primarily on donations, which is what the majority did.
A wide network of several hundred miners' support groups were set up, often led by miners' "wives and girlfriends groups". These support groups organised thousands of collections outside supermarkets, communal kitchens, benefit concerts etc. in an attempt to help the miners to win the strike.
The [[Trades Union Congress]] (TUC) did not support the NUM, seeming to support Thatcher's call for a secret ballot. Solidarity action was taken, however, by [[National Union of Railwaymen|railworkers]] and by [[Stevedore|dockers]], who were both threatened with dismissal if they refused to handle coal. The [[Electrical, Electronic, Telecommunications and Plumbing Union]] (EETPU), an electricians' union, actively opposed the strike; Ian MacGregor's autobiography detailed how its leaders supplied the government with valuable information that allowed the strike to be defeated. Steelworkers' unions did not support the strike, which was widely resented by the miners, after the support that they had given the steel strike in 1980 and after concessions were made by the NUM on deliveries of coke to steel works during the strike. The [[National Association of Colliery Overmen, Deputies and Shotfirers]] (NACODS) nearly went on strike in September; this was one point where the balance seemed to be tipping in favour of the miners, but Scargill's subsequent contempt of court orders caused the union to be fined and lost wider support. MacGregor later admitted that, had NACODS gone ahead with their strike, a compromise would probably have been forced on the Coal Board. Files later made public showed that the Government had an informant inside NACODS, passing them information about the negotiations.<ref>[http://politics.guardian.co.uk/foi/story/0,,1484704,00.html Mole betrayed striking miners]</ref>
===NACODS===
The fact that NACODS did not strike, created an even worse situation in the mines themselves — with NACODS deputies being labelled as "scabs" by union hardliners. On [[23 October]], 1,000 [[Picketing|pickets]] attempted to prevent a sole bath attendant from entering the threatened [[Emley, West Yorkshire|Emley Moor]] colliery.<ref>[http://www.bbc.co.uk/bradford/sense_of_place/miners/miners_strike.shtml The Coal Strike 1984 - 1985]</ref> Some of the engineers felt that going on strike would actually work against the cause, as geological problems could develop that would prevent the pit from reopening and defeat the whole goal of opposing closures; however, hardline strikers were not always sympathetic to this line of argument. The first two pits to close in 1985 were Barrow colliery at [[Worsborough Bridge]] and Acton Hall colliery at [[Featherstone]], and they were both closed not due to being "uneconomic" but due to being unsafe for the miners to return to work.
==="Scabs and blacklegs"===
The refusal of some miners to support the strike was seen as a betrayal by those who did go on strike. As Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire share a boundary, and as the former was generally observing the strike and the latter generally opposing it, the scene was set for many bitter confrontations in the area. Instances of violence directed against working miners by striking miners were reported. In some cases, this extended to attacks on the property, the families and the pets of working miners.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3437083.stm 'What is a scab?']</ref> Many miners were also very hostile to any journalists or reporters who came near pitheads. ''[[The Sun]]'' newspaper took a very anti-strike position during the strike, as did the ''[[Daily Mail]]'', and even the ''[[Daily Mirror]]'' became hostile as the strike went on. Only left-wing newspapers such as the ''[[The Morning Star|Morning Star]]'', ''[[Class War]]'', ''[[Workers' Power (UK)|Workers Power]]'', ''[[Militant tendency|Militant]]'', ''[[Socialist Organiser]]'' and ''[[Socialist Workers Party (Britain)|Socialist Worker]]'' were constantly supportive of the striking miners.
===Government action===
The Government mobilised the [[Law enforcement in the United Kingdom|police]] (including [[Metropolitan Police Service|Metropolitan Police]] squads from [[London]]) to attempt to stop further attempts by the pickets to stop miners who wanted to work (some claim this involved intimidation and violence). Police attempted to stop pickets travelling between Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire, an action which led to many protests.[http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/april/9/newsid_2903000/2903651.stm] The government claimed these were to safeguard individual [[civil rights]], many miners have seen this as [[Class conflict|class warfare]], with the police as the 'special bodies of armed men' that [[Friedrich Engels]] described. During the industrial action 11,291 people were arrested and 8,392 charged with offences such as [[breach of the peace]] and obstructing the highway. Former striking miners have alleged that soldiers were used as police on the picket lines. While no evidence of this has been produced, it remains a point of contention today, and in many former mining areas antipathy towards the police remains strong. The Government was criticised<ref>[http://www.the-villager.co.uk/Archives.asp?FILE=19950503002 Remember The Miners Strike]</ref> for abusing its power when it ruled that local police might be too sympathetic to the miners to take action against the strike, and instead brought in forces from distant counties. The MPs for [[Doncaster North (UK Parliament constituency)|Doncaster North]] and [[Pontefract and Castleford (UK Parliament constituency)|Castleford and Pontefract]] both raised concerns in [[Parliament of England|Parliament]] over suggestions that the police had asked miners held in custody about their political allegiances.
===Observation of the strike===
At the beginning, the strike was almost universally observed in the coalfields of Yorkshire, Scotland, the North-East and Kent. [[Lancashire]] had originally been lukewarm on the strike, but, ignoring the wishes of the working members, its leaders announced on [[22 March]] that the strike was official.<ref name="MD">[http://archive.thisislancashire.co.uk/2004/3/22/501033.html Miners' dispute divided the nation]</ref> South Wales contained many miners resentful over how their previous attempts to launch strikes in support of the steel workers and health workers had been largely unsupported, but there were enough pits in the region under threat of closure to gain momentum for the strike in the area. Support was less strong in the [[Midlands]] and [[North Wales]]. In Nottinghamshire most of the pits had modern equipment and had large coal reserves; most of the Nottinghamshire miners remained at work and the Nottinghamshire NUM disagreed with the decision to launch a national strike without a ballot. The 1977 industry reforms had given Nottinghamshire miners larger salaries than workers in any of the other counties and they were unwilling to give up their daily pay. Many within the NUM condemned them as [[strikebreaker]]s, and the Nottinghamshire branch, heavily aided by the Thatcher government, eventually broke away to form the core of the [[Union of Democratic Mineworkers]]. Since the end of the strike the UDM and the NUM have been involved in numerous court cases concerning financial irregularities.
===Orgreave and other confrontations===
A widely reported clash during the Miners' Strike took place at the [[Orgreave Colliery]] near [[Rotherham]] on [[18 June]] [[1984]]. This confrontation between striking miners and police, dubbed by some 'The [[Battle of Orgreave]]', was the subject of a [[historical reenactment|TV re-enactment]] in 2001, conceived and organised by artist [[Jeremy Deller]] and recorded by [[Mike Figgis]] for [[Channel 4]]. Violence flared after police on [[Mounted police|horse-back]] charged the miners with [[Club (weapon)|truncheons]] drawn and inflicted serious injuries upon several individuals. In 1991, the [[South Yorkshire Police]] were forced to pay out £425,000 to thirty-nine miners who were arrested in the events at the incident.<ref>[http://www.bhattmurphy.co.uk/bhatt-murphy-56.html: Our Police Cases, Bhatt Murphy Solicitors]</ref>
Other less well known, but equally bloody riots also took place, for example, in Maltby, South Yorkshire.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/21/newsid_2527000/2527559.stm 1984: Maltby picket sparks violence]</ref>
These confrontations contained organised police lines including charges by police and police mounted on horseback. In some cases miners organised themselves against this. Others argued that violent acts by the workers would be 'twisted' by the media and used as a reason to revoke workers rights; the BBC did just that as they edited footage of confrontations between police and workers.
===The strike fades===
Events that prompted the end of the strike included a brutal assault on a working miner in [[Castleford]] in November, the [[Killing of David Wilkie|manslaughter of a taxi driver]] escorting a working miner to work in South Wales in December, and the distraction of attention to the famine in [[Ethiopia]]. The strike failed to have the widespread impact of earlier stoppages which had led to [[Power outage|blackouts and power cuts]] in the 1970s; electricity companies were able to maintain supplies throughout the winter, the time of biggest demand.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/3/newsid_2515000/2515019.stm 1985: Miners call off year-long strike]</ref>
As the strike went on, a series of media reports cast doubt on the integrity of senior NUM officials. There were allegations that Scargill had met with [[Libya]]n agents in [[Paris]],<ref>[http://www.time.com/time/archive/preview/0,10987,926945,00.html "Mr. Smith" Goes to Paris]</ref> and the Daily Mirror and TV programme "[[The Cook Report]]" claimed that Scargill and the NUM had received money from the Libyan government; this was particularly damaging coming soon after the murder of policewoman [[Yvonne Fletcher]] outside the Libyan embassy in London. [[Roy Greenslade]], the Mirror's editor at the time, later said he believes his paper's allegations were false even though Scargill never sued over any of the stories.<ref>[http://politics.guardian.co.uk/media/story/0,12123,942541,00.html Sorry, Arthur]</ref>
It was also claimed that Arthur Scargill stole money donated by [[Russia]]n miners during the strike. The NUM received payments from the trade unions of [[Afghanistan]] (which was [[Soviet Union|Soviet]]-occupied at the time). Soviet miners who sent money to the NUM would not have been able to attain convertible currency without the support of the [[Government of the Soviet Union]] and Thatcher claims she has seen documentary evidence that suggests that Soviet-leader [[Mikhail Gorbachev]] authorised these payments.<ref>Thatcher, p. 369.</ref>
The hint of a link obviously tarred Scargill and yet trust in him amongst striking miners never seemed to wane. Scargill was perceived as a militant hero to the unions,<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/2164688.stm Scargill's legacy]</ref> and as a Marxist thug by some of the mainstream press. Scargill always denied these accusations and accused the government of fuelling this smear campaign. However, the ex-head of [[MI5]] Dame [[Stella Rimington]] said in her autobiography, "We in MI5 limited our investigations to those who were using the strike for subversive purposes."<ref name="Rimington">
{{cite book
| last=Rimington
| first=Stella
| authorlink=Stella Rimington
| year=2001
| title=Open Secret: The Autobiography of the Former Director-General of MI5
| publisher=[[Hutchinson (publisher)|Hutchinson]]
| id=ISBN 0-09-179360-2
| pages =p. 374}}</ref>
The union's funds had also run too low to pay for pickets' transportation and many miners had been unable to pay for heating over the winter. Some mining families resorted to scavenging for coal on [[slag heap]]s, a futile task as most of the "[[slag]]" was [[Pyrite|fool's gold]] and mining effluence. Many found themselves arrested for trespass and theft at times.
===The formal end===
The strike ended on [[March 3]] [[1985]], nearly a year after it had begun. Some workers had returned to work of their own accord, a symbolic victory for the Government, although ministers later admitted that the figures of returnees were inflated. In order to save the union, the NUM voted, by a tiny margin, to return to work without a new agreement with management. In the special conference that ended the strike, only Kent voted to carry on. Nottinghamshire, [[Leicestershire]] and [[South Derbyshire]] did not send any delegates to the conference.
The end of the strike was felt as a terrible blow to loyal NUM members, though many understood that the extreme [[poverty]] being suffered after a year without wages was difficult to hold. Indeed, in many areas striking miners made a distinction between those who had returned to work after only a couple of months strike, and those who felt forced to return to work for the sake of their children, many months later.
In several pits, miners' wives groups organised the distribution of [[Dianthus caryophyllus|carnation]]s at the gates on the day the miners went back, the flower that symbolises the hero. Many pits marched back to work heads high behind [[brass band]]s.
===Consequences===
[[Killing of David Wilkie|David Wilkie]] was a British taxi driver killed on [[30 November]] [[1984]]. He had been taking a non-striking miner to work in the [[Merthyr Vale]] Colliery in [[Merthyr Tydfil|Merthyr]], South Wales when two striking miners dropped a concrete post onto his car from a road bridge above. He died at the scene. The two miners served a [[prison]] sentence for [[manslaughter]].
Six pickets died during the strike and three young men, all less than 16, died from picking coal in the winter. The deaths of pickets David Jones and Joe Green continue to this day to be viewed with suspicion. Jones was killed in [[Ollerton]], Nottinghamshire, by a flying brick during fighting between police, pickets, and non-striking miners,<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/working_lunch/3505036.stm Memories of the miners' strike]</ref> while Green was hit by a truck while picketing at [[Ferrybridge power station]] in Yorkshire.<ref name="MD"/> The NUM names its memorial lectures after the two.<ref>[http://www.num.org.uk/?p=news&c=num&id=333 David Jones/Joe Green Memorial Lecture Report]</ref>
The impact of the strike was nowhere near as hard-hitting as previous strikes such as those of the early 1970s. With most homes equipped with oil or gas central heating and the railways long since converted to diesel and electricity, the only remaining significant sector of Britain's national infrastructure that was still reliant upon coal was the [[National Grid]]. The problem of potential power-shortages as a result of a coal strike had been recognised by the Thatcher government which insisted that Britain's coal-fired power stations create their own stockpiles of coal which would keep them running throughout any industrial action. This policy turned out to be incredibly successful during the miner's strike as the power stations were able to keep production going even through the winter of 1984-85. As a result of this it is arguable that the only people who suffered or lost out as a result of the strike were the miners themselves.
During the strike many pits permanently lost their customers. Much of the immediate problem facing the industry was due to the economic recession in the early 1980s. However, there was also extensive competition within the world coal market as well as a concerted move towards [[oil]] and [[Natural gas|gas]] for power production. The Government's own policy, known as the [[Ridley Plan]] was to reduce Britain's reliance on coal; they also claimed that coal could be imported from [[Australia]], [[United States|America]] and [[Colombia]] more cheaply than it could be extracted from beneath Britain.<ref>[http://www.bbc.co.uk/otr/intext92-93/Heseltine18.10.92.html Interview with Michael Heseltine]</ref> The strike subsequently emboldened the NCB to accelerate the closure of many pits on economic grounds.
[[Football hooliganism]], another big social issue of the mid-[[1980s]] in [[England]], saw several vitriolic rivalries between supporters of clubs on either side of the strike. As most [[Nottinghamshire]] miners did not strike, the county's [[Association football|football]] teams often became the bitter enemies of [[Yorkshire]] and [[Derbyshire]] sides; the local derby between [[Chesterfield F.C.|Chesterfield]] and [[Mansfield Town F.C.|Mansfield Town]] often saw running battles between the supporters, with Mansfield nicknamed the 'scabs' by many Chesterfield fans.
===MI5 "counter-subversion"===
Dame [[Stella Rimington]] ([[Director-General of MI5]], 1992 – 1996) published an autobiography in 2001 in which she revealed MI5 'counter-subversion' exercises against the NUM and the striking miners, which included the [[Telephone tapping|tapping]] of union leaders' phones. However, she denied that the agency had [[Informant|informers]] in the NUM, specifically denying that then chief executive [[Roger Windsor]] had been an agent.<ref>[http://www.guardian.co.uk/freedom/Story/0,2763,548675,00.html Former MI5 chief blasts secrets act]</ref>
===Public opinion and the Media===
Public opinion during the strike was divided and varied greatly in different regions. Overall, the government generally had more support than the miners.
When asked in a [[Gallup poll]] in July 1984 whether their sympathies lay mainly with the employers or the miners, 40% said employers; 33% were for the miners; 19% were for neither and 8% did not know. When asked the same question in December 5 – 10 1984, 51% had most sympathy for the employers; 26% for the miners; 18% for neither and 5% did not know.<ref name="King"> {{cite book
| last = (ed.) King
| first = Anthony
| authorlink =
| others = Compiled by Robert J. Wybrow
| title = British Political Opinion 1937-2000: The Gallup Polls
| year = 2001
| month = April
| publisher = Politico's Publishing
| location =
| language =
| isbn = 1902301889
| pages = p. 337
}}</ref> When asked in July 1984 whether they approved or disapproved of the methods used by the miners, 15% approved; 79% disapproved and 6% did not know. When asked the same question in December 5 – 10 1984, 7% approved; 88% disapproved and 5% did not know.<ref name="King"/> In July 1984, when asked whether they thought the miners were using responsible or irresponsible methods, 12% said responsible; 78% said irresponsible and 10% did not know. When asked the same question in August 1984, 9% said responsible; 84% said irresponsible and 7% did not know.<ref name="King"/>
The media at the time however made no serious attempt to cover the NUMs economic arguments until after the strike had ended.<ref name="towersb">Towers, B. Posing larger questions: The British Miners' Strike of 1984-85. ''[http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0019-8692 Industrial Relations Journal]'', (1985) Vol. 16 (2), pp.8-25.</ref> The government's public relations machine and the NCB worked closely with the establishment and had access to effectively unlimited resources which had the effect of suppressing these economic arguments. Towers, writing in the Industrial Relations Journal immediately after the strike in 1985, gives several explanations as to why this occurred. "One explanation ... was the obsessive reporting of the 'violence' of generally relatively unarmed men and some women who, in the end, offered no serious challenge to the truncheons, shields and horses of a well-organised, optimally deployed police force."<ref name="towersb" />
Socialist groups also claimed that the mainstream media deliberately misrepresented the miners' strike, saying of ''The Sun's'' reporting of the strike: "The day-to-day reporting involved more subtle attacks, or a biased selection of facts and a lack of alternative points of view. These things arguably had a far bigger negative effect on the miners' cause".<ref name="media1">[http://www.workersliberty.org/node/2366 The miners' strike 1984-5: lies, damned lies and the press]</ref><ref name="media2">[http://www.wcml.org.uk/culture/miners.htm Writing and the Miners' Strike 1984-5]</ref>
==Variation in observing the strike==
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" align=centre
|+'''Levels of Solidarity in the 1984-85 strike by area''' From ''Miners on Strike'', Andrew J. Richards, 1996.
|-
| ''Area''|| ''Manpower || ''% on strike 19/11/84'' || ''% on strike 14/2/85'' || ''% on strike 1/3/85''
|-
| ''Cokeworks'' || 4,500 || 95.6 || 73 || 65
|-
| Kent || 3,000 || 95.9 || 95 || 93
|-
| Lancashire || 6,500 || 61.5 || 49 || 38
|-
| Leicestershire || 1,900 || 10.5 || 10 || 10
|-
| Midlands|| 19,000 || 32.3 || 15 || 23
|-
| North Derbyshire || 10,500 || 66.7 || 44 || 40
|-
| North-East || 23,000 || 95.5 || 70 || 60
|-
| North Wales || 1,000 || 35 || 10 || 10
|-
| Nottinghamshire || 30,000 || 20 || 14 || 22
|-
| Scotland || 13,100 || 93.9 || 75 || 69
|-
| South Derbyshire || 3,000 || 11 || 11 || 11
|-
| South Wales || 21,500 || 99.6 || 98 || 93
|-
| ''Workshops'' || 9,000 || 55.6 || - || 50
|-
| Yorkshire || 56,000 || 97.3 || 90 || 83
|-
| '''NATIONAL''' || 196,000 || 73.7 || 64 || 60
|-
|}
No figures available for the 1000 N.C.B. staff employees.
==After the strike==
The coal industry was finally privatised in December 1994 to create a firm named "R.J.B. Mining", now known as [[UK Coal]]. Between the end of the strike and privatisation, pit closures continued with a particularly intense group of closures in the early '90s. There were 15 former British Coal deep mines left in production at the time of privatisation,<ref>[http://www.sunderland.ac.uk/~os0hva/hud.htm The Changing Geography of the British Coal Industry: Nationalisation, Privatisation and the Political Economy of Energy Supply, 1947-1997]</ref> however by March 2005 there were only 8 major deep mines left.<ref>[http://www.dti.gov.uk/energy/coal/uk_industry/index.shtml Coal Industry in the UK]</ref> Since then, the last pit in [[Northumberland]], Ellington Colliery at [[Ellington, Northumberland|Ellington]], has closed whilst pits at [[Rossington]] and [[Harworth]] have been mothballed. During the strike, Scargill had constantly claimed that the government had a long-term plan to reduce the industry in this way. The miners' will to resist deteriorated rapidly and there was a very apathetic response to the intensive period of closures in the early 1990s, despite evidence that there was much more sympathy for the miners then than in 1984.{{Fact|date=February 2007}}
Nottinghamshire miners had hoped that their pits were safe, but they too were mostly closed in the 1985-1994 period. This was widely resented as a betrayal of the promises that had been made to working miners in the strike; they had been told that their jobs were safe and their industry had a future. The subsequent behaviour of the Conservative government was seen by most on the left and in the "heavy" industries to confirm fears about how they had been used to divide the miners' union.
The effect of the strike has been long and bitter for many areas that depended on coal. Enduring a year without [[strike pay]] (as the NUM would only provide money to picketing strikers) and their being denied social security benefits as a result of a new law that made such benefits unavailable to illegal strikers (whilst at the same time new laws passed by the Thatcher government in preparation for a confrontation with the NUM assumed that any benefits that were available to strikers' dependents would take into consideration strike payments paid to strikers by the union) forced many miners into debt. The closure of pits also affected engineering, railways, electricity and steel production, which were all interlinked with the coal industry. [[Unemployment]] reached as high as 50% in some villages over the next decade. [[Suicide]]s rose significantly. Migration out of old mining areas left many villages full of derelict houses and earning the reputation as [[ghost town]]s or [[pit village]]s. The tensions between those who had supported the strike and those who had not, lasted for many years afterwards (and sometimes continue today, having been passed down the generations); "scab" was a word passed down generations, eroding the strong sense of unity that had previously existed in such communities.
The 1994 [[European Union]] enquiry into poverty classified [[Grimethorpe]] in South Yorkshire as the poorest settlement in the country and one of the poorest in the E.U. The county of South Yorkshire was made into an [[Regional policy of the European Union|Objective 1 development zone]] and every single [[Wards of the United Kingdom|ward]] in the [[City of Wakefield]] district in [[West Yorkshire]] was classified as in need of special assistance. In, [[Merseyside]], the [[Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley]], which had contained the "[[Cronton]]" pit (although Cronton had been closed just prior to the onset of the strike and was undergoing salvaging operations during the early months of the strike, at the end of which operations Cronton miners, having been transferred to neighbouring collieries, mostly joined the strike), has constantly been named amongst the most deprived areas of both Britain and Europe, as has the neighbouring [[Metropolitan Borough of St Helens]] in which Sutton Manor, Bold and Parkside collieries were situated.
Other areas have recovered and now boast a good standard of living. Recovery was quickest in areas where the economy was more diverse, such as in Kent or the [[West Midlands (region)|West Midlands]]. [[Brodsworth]] boasted the largest mine in the country and is also enjoying relative affluence. Old colliery sites have often been turned into new industrial parks or retail parks. [[Xscape (building)|Xscape]] is built on the former site of [[Castleford]]'s [[Glasshoughton]] colliery. The Miners strike continues to divide former miner communities, resentment and bitterness often running very deep and even across generations. A murder in the former mining town of [[Annesley]], Nottinghamshire in 2004 was a result of an argument between former members of the NUM and the UDM, an indication of how high feelings still run.
While the strike was on, public opinion in the [[Home Counties]] (except Kent) was mixed, whereas in the [[South Wales Valleys|Welsh valleys]], Yorkshire and other areas actually affected by the strike, support was high. It has become a symbol of the perceived indifference that the Tory Party under Thatcher had to problems of unemployment and poverty. The Daily Mirror, which had been hostile towards the strike at the time, began a campaign to raise awareness of the social deprivation in the [[coalfield]]s. The film ''[[Brassed Off]]'' has been much more successful than was expected, having even gained recognition in America. The [[Coalfields Regeneration Trust]]<ref>[http://www.coalfields-regen.org.uk Coalfields Regeneration Trust]</ref> is an organisation that donates money to investment within the old mining areas.
Although mining is now only a very small industry in Britain, it is more productive than in [[France]], [[Germany]] or in the United States<ref>[http://cep.lse.ac.uk/pubs/download/special/uk_productivity.pdf The UK’s Productivity Gap: What research tells us and what we need to find out]</ref><ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/13/newsid_2532000/2532765.stm 1992: Thousands of miners to lose their jobs]</ref>{{Clarifyme|date=March 2008}}
Andrew J. Richard's book, ''Miners on Strike'', dedicated a chapter to how unusual it was in 1984 for a large-scale strike to be launched in protest at job cuts. In Britain, trade unions had traditionally launched strikes for claims on wage rises and rights at work, but strikes in defence of jobs had been very rare. Since the example of the 1984-5 miners' strike, union leaders have been much more likely to call for action in defence of jobs. Coincidentally, 1984 was the year when [[Harvard University|Harvard]] economists [[Richard B. Freeman]] and James Medoff published the book "What do Unions do?", where such a strategy was seen as good for productivity and less of a pressure on inflation.
==The strike in films and books==
The UK miners' strike was the background for the critically acclaimed 2000 film ''[[Billy Elliot]]''. Several scenes depict the chaos at the picket lines, clashes between armies of police and striking miners, and the shame associated with crossing the picket line.
It is also involved in the background to the plot in ''[[Brassed Off]]'', which is set ten years after the strike when all the miners have the lost the will to resist and accept the closure of their pit with resignation. ''Brassed Off'' was set in the fictional "Grimley", a thinly disguised version of the hard-hit ex-mining village of Grimethorpe, where some of it was filmed.
The satirical ''[[The Comic Strip|Comic Strip]] Presents'' episode ''The Strike'' (1988) depicts an idealistic Welsh screenwriter's growing dismay as his hard-hitting and grittily realistic script about the strike is mutilated by a [[Hollywood, Los Angeles, California|Hollywood]] producer into an all-action thriller starring [[Al Pacino]] (played by [[Peter Richardson]]) and [[Meryl Streep]] (played by [[Jennifer Saunders]]). The ''1984'' episode of the 1996 [[BBC television drama]] serial ''[[Our Friends in the North]]'' revolves around the events of the strike, and the scenes of clashes between the police and striking miners were re-created using many of those who had taken part in the actual real-life events on the miners' side. In 2005 [[BBC One]] broadcast the one-off drama ''Faith'', written by [[William Ivory]] and starring [[Jamie Draven]] and [[Maxine Peake]]. It viewed the strike from the perspective of both the police and the miners.
A 2005 book called ''"GB84"'' by [[David Peace]] combines fictional accounts of pickets, union officials and strike-breakers. Graphic details are provided of many of the strike's major events. It also suggests that the British Intelligence services were involved in undermining the strike, including in the alleged suggestion of a link between Scargill and [[Muammar al-Gaddafi|Gaddafi]].
As mentioned above, in 2001, British visual artist Jeremy Deller worked with historical societies, battle re-enactors, and dozens of the people who participated in the violent 1984 clashes of picketers and police to reconstruct and re-enact the Battle of Orgreave. A documentary about the re-enactment was produced by Deller and director Mike Figgis and was broadcast on British television; and Deller also published a book called ''The English Civil War Part II'' documenting both the project and the historical events it investigates (Artangel Press, 2002). Involving the re-enactors, who would normally recreate Viking battles or medieval wars, was a way for Deller to situate the recent and controversial Battle of Orgreave (and labour politics themselves) as part of mainstream history.<ref>[http://www.artangel.org.uk/pages/past/01/01_deller.htm The Battle of Orgreave]</ref>
G. Mckie's poem, ''Ode to Heseltine'', was written after the announcement to close 31 collieries in 1992, which betrayed previous promises to miners who had worked on during the strike.<ref>[http://www.minersadvice.co.uk/yourview5_ode.htm ''Ode to Heseltine'']</ref>
==Popular songs about the strike==
The strike has been the subject of songs by many music groups. Of the more well known; the band [[Pulp (band)|Pulp]] recorded a song "Last day of the miners' strike", [[Funeral for a Friend]] wrote a song called "[[History (Funeral For A Friend song)|History]]", and [[Ewan MacColl]] wrote the song "Daddy, What did you do in the strike?". [[Newcastle upon Tyne|Newcastle]] native [[Sting (musician)|Sting]] recorded a song about the strike called "We Work the Black Seam" for his first solo album, ''[[The Dream of the Blue Turtles]]'', in 1985.[[Billy Bragg]]'s " Which Side Are You On?," neatly encapsulated the strikers' feeling of betrayal by the perceived indifference of wider elements within British society.
The folk song "The Ballad of '84" contains the view that David Jones and Joe Green died as a result of the police's handling of events. [[U2]]'s song "[[Red Hill Mining Town]]" from their ''[[The Joshua Tree|Joshua Tree]]'' album is about the strike, according to lead singer [[Bono]]. On [[7 July]] [[1984]] the anarcho-punk band [[Crass]] played their final show in [[Aberdare]], Wales at a benefit for striking miners.
[[Chumbawamba]] recorded several pieces in support of the miners. These include the cassette only "Common Ground", recorded as a benefit for the miners. They also recorded a song called "Fitzwilliam", which described the Yorkshire village of that name after the strike. [[Fitzwilliam, West Yorkshire|Fitzwilliam]] eventually saw around a third of its housing stock demolished due to the dominance of derelict properties. They also made a song called "Frickley" about the football club [[Frickley Athletic F.C.|Frickley Athletic]], which referenced the continued distrust of the police by those in mining areas after the strike.
The strike also inspired two entire albums. ''Freq'', recorded in 1984 by ex-[[Hawkwind]] singer and lyricist [[Robert Calvert]]. Alternating with songs such as "All the machines are quiet" and "Work song" are five short tracks taken from speeches and demonstrations recorded amongst the miners themselves. The industrial group [[Test Department]] recorded the 1984 album ''Shoulder to Shoulder'', in collaboration with the South Wales Striking Miners Choir. The album combined harsh industrial rhythms with the traditional songs sung by the male choir, and also included poetry and speeches from the strike.
Soul/punk/pop/rockabilly band [[The Redskins]], who were notable for their left-wing views and lyrics, supported the struggle of the miners and the union. Their song "Keep on Keepin' On" was a rallying support for the strike, and the band played benefits in support of the strike. The punk/[[Oi!]] band [[Angelic Upstarts]] recorded a song supportive of the miners called "One More Day".
== Notes ==
{{refs|3}}
==References==
* Lyddon, D. [http://www.unionhistory.info/timeline/1960_2000_Narr_Display_2.php?Where=NarTitle+contains+%27The+1984-85+Miners+Strike%27+ TUC History Online: The 1984-85 Miners' Strike] (Retrieved 2nd December 2004)
* Towers, B. Posing larger questions: The British Miners' Strike of 1984-85. ''[http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0019-8692 Industrial Relations Journal]'', (1985) Vol. 16 (2), pp.8-25.
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3514549.stm Watching the pits disappear]. Map showing location of pits in 1984 and the closures each year since. Note that Leeds is on the wrong place on the map; the area pointed to seems to actually be Grimethorpe.
* [http://www.shu.ac.uk/cresr/downloads/publications/2-New%20coalfield%20article_final%20draft%20Feb%202005.pdf University paper on the slow recovery of ex-mining areas following the shock of the closure programme.]
==Further reading==
* [[Seamus Milne]], ''The Enemy Within - The Secret War Against the Miners'', Verso, London, 1994. See pages 18-19 for details of the 1991 payouts to miners from the Battle of Orgreave.
* [[Alex Callinicos]] and Mike Simons "The great strike, the miners strike of 1984-5 and its lessons/ Alex Callinicos, Mike Simons" ''Socialist Review'' 27/7
* [http://www.nmrs.co.uk Northern Mining Research] for pit closure dates
* [[David Peace]], ''GB 84'', Faber and Faber (3 Mar 2005), a novel.
* ''Red Hill - A Mining Community'',Coronet Books, Tony Parker, ISBN 0-340-42365-X, a compilation of eyewitness accounts of the miners' strike from both sides of the dispute
* ''State of Siege'', Jim Coulter et al, Canary Press, ISBN 0 9509967 0 X, a critique of policing methods in the coalfields during the strike
==See also==
{{organized labour portal}}
* [[Mick McGahey]]
* [[Peter Heathfield]]
* [[Betty Heathfield]]
* [[List of collieries in Yorkshire 1984-present with dates of closure]]
* [[Coal Strike of 1902|U.S. Coal Strike of 1902]]
==External links==
{{sisterlinks|Miners' strike}}
* [http://www.minersadvice.co.uk/ Miner's Advice] - website providing help and information to ex-coal miners
* [http://www.num.org.uk/ The official NUM website]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3524879.stm A look at present day mining]
* [http://www.northern-soft.de/miners/ Women in the miners' strike 1984/85 in the northeast of England]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Miners' strike}}
[[Category:1984 labor disputes and strikes]]
[[Category:1985 labor disputes and strikes]]
[[Category:1984 in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:1985 in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Labour disputes in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Miners' labor disputes]]
[[Category:Mining in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Protests in the United Kingdom]]
[[de:Britischer Bergarbeiterstreik 1984/1985]]
[[fr:Grève des mineurs britanniques de 1984-1985]]
[[no:Den britiske gruvearbeiderstreiken 1984–1985]]