Research

The UK miners' strike was a major industrial action affecting the British coal industry. It was a defining moment in British industrial relations, and its defeat significantly weakened the British trade union movement. The strike became a symbolic struggle, since the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) was one of the strongest unions in the country, viewed by many, including Conservatives in power, as having brought down the Heath government in the union's 1974 strike. The later strike ended with the miners' defeat and the Thatcher government able to consolidate its fiscally conservative programme. The political power of the NUM was broken permanently. The dispute exposed deep divisions in British society and caused considerable bitterness, especially in Northern England and in Wales. Ten deaths resulted from events around the strike: six picketers, three teenagers searching for coal, and a taxi driver taking a non-striking miner to work.

A miner's strike picket taking place in South Yorkshire, circa 1984–1985

Notes

1. ̂ Coal production 2. ̂ Benyon, Huw (1985). "Introduction". In Benyon, Huw. Digging Deeper:

Issues in the Miners' Strike. London: Verso. pp. 1–25. ISBN 0-86091-820-3.

3. ̂ In October 1984, The Economist published big advertisements in which it proudly recalled that six years earlier, it had told its readers everything about the Conservative preparations for the miners' strike.

4. ̂ "On This Day, 18 February – 1981: Thatcher gives in to miners". BBC News. 18 February 1981. http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/18/newsid_2550000/2550991.stm. Retrieved 2009-03-06.

5. ̂ Slavin, Barbara; Freudenheim, Milt; Rhoden, William C. (24 January 1982). "The World; British Miners Settle for Less". The New York Times: p. 3. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?sec=health&res=9E01E1DB1E38F937A15752C0A964948260. Retrieved 2009-03-06.

6. ̂ LYALL, SARAH (April 15, 1998). "Sir Ian MacGregor, 85, Bane Of Mine Workers in Britain". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/1998/04/15/business/sir-ian-macgregor-85-bane-of-mine-workers-in-britain.html.

7. ̂ Campbell, John (2003). Margaret Thatcher: The Iron Lady. Jonathan Cape. pp. 99–100. ISBN 978-0-224-06156-8.

8. ̂ Coal Not Dole, memories of the 1984/85 Miners' Strike by Guthrie Hutton ISBN 978-1-84033-329-9

9. ̂ [1]

10. ̂ "The Coal Strike 1984 - 1985". BBC News. March 2004. http://www.bbc.co.uk/bradford/sense_of_place/miners/miners_strike.shtml. Retrieved 2009-03-06.

11. ^ a b "Miners' dispute divided the nation". Bolton Evening News (Newsquest). 22 March 2004. http://archive.thisislancashire.co.uk/2004/3/22/501033.html. Retrieved 2009-03-06.

12. ̂ "Our Police Cases - Critchlow and others v South Yorkshire Police". Bhatt Murphy Solicitors. http://www.bhattmurphy.co.uk/bhatt-murphy-56.html. Retrieved 2009-03-06.

13. ̂ "On this Day, 21 September – 1984: Maltby picket sparks violence". BBC News. 21 September 1984. http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/21/newsid_2527000/2527559.stm. Retrieved 2009-03-06.

14. ̂ Wardill, Joanna (29 January 2009). "We want your striking memories". http://www.pontefractandcastlefordexpress.co.uk/news/We-want-your-striking-memories.4922977.jp. Retrieved 2009-03-22.

15. ^ a b Tim Jones, "Two miners charged with murder of taxi driver", The Times, 1 December 1984.

16. ̂ "On this Day, 3 March – 1985: Miners call off year-long strike". BBC News. 3 March 1985. http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/3/newsid_2515000/2515019.stm. Retrieved 2009-03-06.

17. ̂ Douglass, Dave (31 October 2002). "Scargillism and the miners". Weekly Worker (Communist Party of Great Britain) (454). http://www.cpgb.org.uk/worker/454/scargillism.html. Retrieved 2009-03-06.[dead link]

18. ̂ "Remarks on Orgreave picketing ("attempt to substitute the rule of the mob for the rule of law")". Margaret Thatcher Foundation. http://www.margaretthatcher.org/speeches/displaydocument.asp?docid=105691. Retrieved 2009-03-06.

19. ̂ "On This Day, 29 May – 1984: Miners and police clash at Orgreave". BBC News. 29 May 1984.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/29/newsid_2494000/2494793.stm. Retrieved 2009-03-06.

20. ̂ Campbell, p. 366.

21. ̂ Thatcher, Margaret (1993). The Downing Street Years. HarperCollins. pp. 374. ISBN 978-0-00-638321-5.

22. ̂ MacGregor, Ian (2 Oct 1986). The Enemies Within: The Story of the Miners' Strike 1984-5. William Collins Sons & Co Ltd. pp. 384. ISBN 978-0-00-217706-1.

23. ̂ Evans, Rob; Hencke, David (16 May 2005). "Mole betrayed striking miners". Guardian.co.uk (London). http://politics.guardian.co.uk/foi/story/0,,1484704,00.html. Retrieved 2009-03-06.

24. ̂ "What is a scab?". BBC News. 4 March 2004. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3437083.stm. Retrieved 2009-03-06.

25. ̂ "On this day, 9 April – 1984: Dozens arrested in picket line violence". BBC News. 9 April 1984. http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/april/9/newsid_2903000/2903651.stm. Retrieved 2009-03-06.

26. ^ a b Richardson, Ron. "Remember The Miners Strike". The Villager.co.uk. Doncaster Village Publications. http://www.the-villager.co.uk/Archives.asp?FILE=19950503002. Retrieved 2009-03-06.

27. ̂ Jones, Chris; Novak, Tony (1985). "Welfare Against the Workers". In Benyon, Huw. Digging Deeper: Issues in the Miners' Strike. London: Verso. pp. 87–100. ISBN 0-86091-820-3.

28. ̂ Loach, Loretta (1985). "We'll be right here to the end...and after: Women in the Miners' Strike". In Benyon, Huw. Digging Deeper: Issues in the Miners' Strike. London: Verso. pp. 169–179. ISBN 0-86091-820-3.

29. ̂ Norton-Taylor, Richard (8 September 2001). "Former MI5 chief blasts secrets act". guardian.co.uk (London). http://www.guardian.co.uk/freedom/Story/0,2763,548675,00.html. Retrieved 2009-03-06.

30. ^ a b c (ed.) King, Anthony (April 2001). British Political Opinion 1937-2000: The Gallup Polls. Compiled by Robert J. Wybrow. Politico's Publishing. p. 337. ISBN 1-902301-88-9.

31. ̂ Duncan, Mick (13 August 2004). "The miners' strike 1984-5: lies, damned lies and the press". Solidarity. Alliance for Workers' Liberty. http://www.workersliberty.org/node/2366. Retrieved 2009-03-06.

32. ̂ Palfrey, Sammy. "Writing and the Miners' Strike 1984-5". Working Class Movement Library. Archived from the original on 2007-10-09. http://web.archive.org/web/20071009182408/http://www.wcml.org.uk/culture/miners.htm. Retrieved 2009-03-06.

33. ̂ ""Mr. Smith" Goes to Paris". Time. 12 November 1984. http://www.time.com/time/archive/preview/0,10987,926945,00.html. Retrieved 2009-03-06.

34. ̂ "Kinnock leads condemnation of NUM's Libyan links". Glasgow Herald: p. 1. 29 October 1984. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=e8FAAAAAIBAJ&pg=5939,6427434.

35. ̂ Greenslade, Roy (27 May 2002). "Sorry, Arthur". guardian.co.uk (London). http://politics.guardian.co.uk/media/story/0,12123,942541,00.html. Retrieved 2009-03-06.

36. ̂ Milne, Seumas (2004) [1994]. "The Secret War Against the Miners". In Pilger, John. Tell me no Lies: Investigative Journalism and its triumphs. London: Jonathan Cape. pp. 284–382. ISBN 0-224-06288-3.

37. ̂ Thatcher, p. 369.

38. ̂ Jones, Nicholas (1 August 2002). "Scargill's legacy". BBC News. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/2164688.stm. Retrieved 2009-03-06.

39. ̂ Rimington, Stella (2001). Open Secret: The Autobiography of the Former Director-General of MI5. Hutchinson. p. 374. ISBN 0-09-179360-2.

40. ̂ Pittam, Rob (12 March 2004). "Memories of the miners' strike". BBC News. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/working_lunch/3505036.stm. Retrieved 2009-03-06.

41. ̂ "David Jones/Joe Green Memorial Lecture Report". National Union of Mineworkers. http://www.num.org.uk/?p=news&c=num&id=333. Retrieved 2009-03-06.

42. ̂ "On the Record – Interview with Michael Heseltine". BBC Online. 18 October 1992. http://www.bbc.co.uk/otr/intext92-93/Heseltine18.10.92.html. Retrieved 2009-03-06.

43. ̂ Richards, Andrew J. (1996). Miners on Strike: Class Solidarity and Division in Britain. Berg. ISBN 978-1-85973-172-7.

44. ̂ Hudson, Ray (November 2001). "The Changing Geography of the British Coal Industry: Nationalisation, Privatisation and the Political Economy of Energy Supply, 1947-1997". University of Sunderland. Archived from the original on 2005-12-03. http://web.archive.org/web/20051203043628/http://www.sunderland.ac.uk/~os0hva/hud.htm. Retrieved 2009-03-06.

45. ̂ "An Overview of the Coal Industry in the UK". Department of Trade and Industry. 3 May 2005. Archived from the original on 2005-10-03. http://web.archive.org/web/20051003203939/http://www.dti.gov.uk/energy/coal/uk_industry/index.shtml. Retrieved 2009-03-06.

46. ̂ "Timeline to the miners' strike". Tuesday, 10 March 2009, 11:00. http://www.thisisnottingham.co.uk/news/Timeline-miners-strike/article-756882-detail/article.html. Retrieved 2009-03-22.

47. ̂ "Share you memories of the Miners' Strike". http://www.eastwoodadvertiser.co.uk/news/Share-you-memories-of-the.4952485.jp. Retrieved 2009-03-21.

48. ̂ Milmo, Cahal (8 July 2008). "Grimethorpe Colliery Band left brassed off by music festival snub". The Independent (London). http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/grimethorpe-colliery-band-left-brassed-off-by-music-festival-snub-862061.html. Retrieved 2009-03-21.

49. ̂ Wakefield Metropolitan District Council. "PART ll VOLUME 2 Policy Reasoned Justification". http://www.wakefield.gov.uk/udp/text/p2_v2_05_i.htm. Retrieved 2009-03-21.

50. ̂ "About the Trust". Coalfields Regeneration Trust. http://www.coalfields-regen.org.uk. Retrieved 2009-03-06.

51. ̂ "The UK’s Productivity Gap: What research tells us and what we need to find out". Economic and Social Research Council. http://cep.lse.ac.uk/pubs/download/special/uk_productivity.pdf. Retrieved 2006-03-06.

52. ̂ "On this Day, 13 October – 1992: Thousands of miners to lose their jobs". BBC News. 13 October 1992. http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/13/newsid_2532000/2532765.stm. Retrieved 2009-03-06.

53. ̂ "The Comic Strip Presents (an Episode Guide)". 14 May 2005. http://epguides.com/ComicStripPresents/guide.shtml. Retrieved 2007-12-13.

54. ̂ This Andrew Taylor is a different person from Andrew Taylor, the famous crime story writer.

55. ̂ Scanlon, Annie Marie (2 November 2008). "Darker Domain shows McDermid has form". Independent (Ireland). http://www.independent.ie/entertainment/books/darker-domain-shows-mcdermid-has-form-1517322.html. Retrieved 24 February 2011.

56. ̂ Sweetman, Kim (13 October 2008). "Val McDermid jumps through time in A Darker Domain". The Courier-Mail. http://www.couriermail.com.au/entertainment/books/a-darker-domain/story-e6freqkx-1111117749009. Retrieved 22 October 2010.

57. ̂ Stasio, Marilyn (19 February 2009). "Death of a Cadet". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/22/books/review/Crime-t.html. Retrieved 22 October 2010.

58. ̂ "The Battle of Orgreave". Artangel Media. http://www.artangel.org.uk/projects/2001/the_battle_of_orgreave. Retrieved 2011-01-19.

59. ̂ "Miners' Strike Glass Memorial Unveiled". Sunderland Echo. http://www.sunderlandecho.com/news/Miners39-Strike-glass-memorial-unveiled.6126991.jp. Retrieved 2010-07-05.

Popular music

The strike has been the subject of songs by many music groups. Of the more well known are the Manic Street Preachers' "A Design for Life", and "1985", from the album Lifeblood; Pulp's "Last day of the miners' strike"; Funeral for a Friend's "History", and Ewan MacColl's "Daddy, What did you do in the strike?". Newcastle native 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 version of "Which Side Are You On?", neatly encapsulated the strikers' feeling of betrayal by the perceived indifference of wider elements within British society. Also in 1985, English punk group The Mekons portrayed the miners' situation in the song "Abernant 1984/5" on the album Fear and Whiskey.

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 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 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, which referenced the continued distrust of the police by those in mining areas after the strike. They also recorded an a cappella song entitled "Coal Not Dole", a popular slogan used by the miners throughout the strike.

Chris Cutler, Tim Hodgkinson and Lindsay Cooper from Henry Cow, along with Robert Wyatt and poet Adrian Mitchell recorded The Last Nightingale in October 1984 to raise money for the striking coal miners and their families.

Dire Straits' "Iron Hand", from their 1991 album On Every Street, refers to the Battle of Orgreave. Folk singer John Tams' "Harry Stone-Hearts of Coal" which featured on his 2001 album Unity and which won "Best Original Song" at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards is set against the backdrop of the Battle of Orgreave.

Banner Theatre recorded two cassettes - "Here We Go" in 1985 and "Saltley Gate" in 1993, with many songs from the pen of Dave Rogers. The best known are "Saltley Gate" about the mass Birmingham picket, "Maerdy, the Last Pit in the Rhondda" and "Busking for the Miners" which celebrates how Birmingham people supported the miners' struggle. "Monday Morning Rain" was written for Banner's 1989 show "In the Reign of Pig's Pudding" and is a poignant song about the effects of unemployment after pit closures - it is included in the album "Elixir of Life". Rogers also wrote songs for the New Vic Theatre production "Nice Girls", relating to the protest camps set up outside threatened pits by women from all over Britain in 1993. Banner toured these camps and created the song "Women on the Line" - this was later included in their video ballad "Burning Issues" which marked the twentieth anniversary of the 1984/5 Miners Strike and was developed with former mining communities in Yorkshire, Lancashire, the Midlands and South Wales.

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". Welsh punk rockers Foreign Legion's song "Another Day" is about the strike.

Paul Weller of the Style Council was a big supporter of the miners and wrote a song called "Stone's Throw Away" which can be heard on the number one album "Our Favorite Shop" from 1985.

British pop trio Soho gave mention to the miners' strike in their 1990 hit song "Hippychick".[60]

Bradford-based rock band New Model Army wrote and released two songs about the strike: "1984", from their "The Price" EP of that year, and "The Charge", from their eponymously titled EP of 1987. "1984" was a graphic portrayal of villages under siege, phone-tapping and the strikers’ growing sense of bitterness and frustration. "The Charge" dealt with the aftermath of the strike, feelings of betrayal and the way of life that was lost with the miners’ defeat.

The miners' strike

Last updated: 15 August 2008

With coal a nationalised industry, and some British mines unprofitable, coal mining was ripe for repositioning - and even privatisation - by Margaret Thatcher's right wing Conservative government of the 1980s.

In the early 1980s, the National Union of Miners (NUM) was very strong, with high membership and strong links to the Labour Party. It was also defiantly left wing and militant, with no compunction against threatening industrial action.

In 1981, there was the threat of strike when pit closures were mooted, and the government backed down, not feeling its position was strong enough.

In 1983, Thatcher appointed Ian MacGregor head of the National Coal Board, which oversaw the industry. He had a reputation for swingeing cutbacks and closures from his previous role at British Steel.

The coal industry was ripe for further confrontation between the NUM and the government, and resolutions were passed by various NUM regions to strike if pits were closed for reasons other than geological or resource exhaustion.

By the end of 1983, with the Falklands War won and a mandate from that year's general election, Thatcher felt far more secure in her position and was willing to tackle the unions. The struggle over the mining industry would largely come to define her premiership.

The strike begins

In 1984, the announcement came that 20 pits were to close, with 20,000 jobs to go. It was later disclosed that the government, in preparation for the much-anticipated industrial action, had been stockpiling coal to take Britain through the winter.

Initial locally-organised strikes across the UK became a national NUM strike in March 1984. But NUM leader Arthur Scargill decreed that NUM regions could decide whether or not to strike on an independent basis.

Margaret Thatcher ratcheted up the pressure by referring to striking miners as "the enemy within". She continually referred to the action as "the rule of the mob".

Scargill, in turn, compared the government's techniques in crowd control to those of a "Latin American state". The dispute had little chance of ending amicably or quickly.

As the strike continued, strains and stresses began to be felt. The workers earned no money and were ineligible for benefits as the strike was deemed illegal; they had to rely on scrimping, saving and handouts.

Personal relationships strained and sometimes broke as some decided to work through the strike, becoming 'scabs' in the lexicon of industrial relations.

On the picket lines, buses carrying 'scabs' were attacked, and other disturbances took place. Miners clashed with massed ranks of police repeatedly and fiercely all over the country.

Some industrial unions supported the miners and some disagreed, to the extent that the government gathered information from them.

Observance of the strike within Wales differed from north to south. In the north, only 35% of the 1,000 men employed went on strike, and this had dwindled to 10% by the strike's end in 1985.

By contrast, the south Wales coalfield contained the staunchest supporters of industrial action. At the start of the strike, 99.6% of the 21,500 workers joined the action. This reduced to 93% by the end. No other area retained such a level.

With so many men not working in an area which was almost single-industry, South Wales suffered hugely with deprivation and community breakdown. Some areas broke down irretrievably, with the effects visible for years afterwards in ghost villages in the Valleys.

Protesters

The end of the strike

One incident in south Wales accelerated the ending the strike and turned some otherwise sympathetic members of the public against the miners. The killing of David Wilkie, a taxi driver, was a tragedy and a public relations disaster for the NUM.

Wilkie was driving David Williams, a working miner, to the Merthyr Vale mine with a police escort on 30 November 1984. Two striking miners dropped a 21kg concrete block from a bridge onto the car, killing Wilkie instantly.

This coincided with a gradual slide in public and media support for the action, amid scandals and accusations. Families found it increasingly difficult to sustain themselves and the NUM funds were running too low to pay for pickets' transport.

The official end of the strike came on 3 March 1985, when a vote was passed to return to work even without a new agreement with management. The pits closed rapidly over the next few years, and in 1994 the industry was finally privatised.

In 1995 miners famously bought the Tower Colliery in the Cynon Valley, which opened in 1805, to keep it as a going concern. It became Wales' only working coal mine, and the oldest

continuously worked deep-coal mine in the UK. That too, is closing due to dwindling coal seams, bringing to an end an industry which once employed almost 200,000 men.

Strike-breaking and journalism

The refusal of some miners to support the strike was seen as a betrayal by those who did strike. The opposite positions of miners in the adjacent coal fields of Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire, where the former were striking and the latter strike-breaking, led to many bitter confrontations in the region. 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.[24] The Sun newspaper took a very anti-strike position, as did the Daily Mail, and even the Daily Mirror and The Guardian became hostile as the strike went on. The Morning Star was the only national daily newspaper that consistently supported the striking miners and the NUM.

Government action

The government mobilised the police (including Metropolitan Police squads from London) from around Britain to uphold the law by attempting to stop the pickets preventing the strikebreakers working. Many picketers were subject to intimidation and often violence from the police - and vice versa. Police attempted to stop pickets travelling between Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire, an action which led to many protests.[25] The government claimed these actions were to uphold the laws of the land and to safeguard individual civil rights. Many miners have seen this as 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 in police uniform were also used on the picket lines, to avoid publicising the necessity of bringing in the military (this was never proved and is highly unlikely). In many former mining areas antipathy towards the police remains strong to this day because of the violence meted out. The government was criticised[26] 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 Labour MPs for Doncaster North and Castleford and Pontefract both raised concerns in Parliament over suggestions that the police had asked miners held in custody about their political allegiances.[26]

This strike was also the first in which the provision of welfare benefits were restricted in a way that miners saw as being used as a weapon against strikers. Welfare benefits had never been available to workers on strike but their dependents (i.e. spouses and children) had been entitled to make claims in previous disputes. However, Clause 6 of the 1980 Social Security Act banned the dependents of strikers from receiving "urgent needs" payments and also applied a compulsory deduction from the strikers' dependents' benefits. The government viewed this legislation as not concerned with saving public funds but instead "to restore a fairer bargaining balance between employers and trade unions" by increasing the necessity to return to work.[27] The majority of miners and their families had to survive the strike on handouts, donations from the European Economic Community's "food mountain" and from charities. Poverty and hunger became rife in the mining heartlands. A wide network of several hundred miners' support groups were set up, often led by miners' "wives and girlfriends groups", such as Women Against Pit Closures. These support groups organised

thousands of collections outside supermarkets, communal kitchens, benefit concerts and other activities. The strike marked an important development in the traditional mining heartlands, where feminist ideas had not previously been strong.[

Public opinion and the media

Public opinion during the strike was divided and varied greatly in different regions. 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 during 5–10 December 1984, 51% had most sympathy for the employers; 26% for the miners; 18% for neither and 5% did not know.[30] 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 during 5–10 December 1984, 7% approved; 88% disapproved and 5% did not know.[30] 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.[30]

Socialist groups 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".[31][32] It was however argued[by whom?]that none of the facts presented were untrue and should by the same token be presented.[citation needed]

As the strike went on, a series of media reports sought to cast doubt on the integrity of senior NUM officials. In November 1984, there were allegations that Scargill had met Libyan agents in Paris,[33] and other senior officials travelled to Libya.[34] Links to the Libyan government were particularly damaging coming seven months after the murder of policewoman Yvonne Fletcher outside the Libyan embassy in London by Libyan agents. This did not, however, prevent the Thatcher Government buying Libyan oil to help the effort to defeat the strike.[citation needed] In 1990, the Daily Mirror and TV programme The Cook Report claimed that Scargill and the NUM had received money from the Libyan government. These allegations were based on allegations by Roger Windsor, who was the NUM official who had spoken to Libyan officials. Roy Greenslade, the Mirror's editor at the time, said much later he believes his paper's allegations were false.[35] This was long after an investigation by Seumas Milne described the allegations as wholly without substance and a "classic smear campaign".[36]

It was also claimed[by whom?]that Arthur Scargill diverted money donated by Russian miners during the strike. The NUM received payments from the trade unions of Afghanistan (which was Soviet-occupied at the time). Soviet miners who sent money to the NUM would not have been able to obtain convertible currency without the support of the Government of the Soviet Union and Thatcher claimed to have seen documentary evidence that suggests that Soviet-leader Mikhail Gorbachev authorised these payments. The diaries of Anatoly Chernyaev, a senior party official in the Soviet Union at the time, also lends credence to the interpretation that the funding was provided at the behest of the Soviet government.[37]

The hint of a link tarnished Scargill and yet trust of him amongst striking miners remained firm. Scargill was perceived as a militant hero by the unions,[38] and as a Marxist thug by most of the mainstream press. Scargill always denied these accusations and accused the government of fueling a smear campaign. However, the ex-head of MI5 Dame Stella Rimington claimed in her autobiography, "We in MI5 limited our investigations to those who were using the strike for subversive purposes."[39]

Consequences

English counties with deep-excavation coal mines in 1984 (grey), counties with deep-excavation coal mines in 2010 (red).

Six picketers died during the strike, and three teenagers (Darren Holmes aged 15 and Paul Holmes and Paul Womersley aged 14) died picking coal from a colliery waste heap in the winter. The deaths of pickets David Jones and Joe Green continue to be viewed with suspicion. Jones was killed in Ollerton, Nottinghamshire, by a flying brick during fighting between police, pickets, and non-striking miners,[40] while Green was hit by a truck while picketing at Ferrybridge power station in Yorkshire.[11] The NUM names its memorial lectures after the two.[41] A taxi driver, David Wilkie, was killed on 30 November 1984. He had been taking a non-striking miner to work in the Merthyr Vale Colliery, 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.

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 electrical generation industry under the Central Electricity Generating Board. 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 strategy turned out to be incredibly successful during the miner's strike as the power stations were able to maintain

power supplies even through the winter of 1984. It also meant that the striking miners themselves, unable to pay their energy bills without wages, were the only ones who lost out.

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 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, America and Colombia more cheaply than it could be extracted from beneath Britain.[42] The strike subsequently emboldened the NCB to accelerate the closure of many pits on economic grounds.

Variation in observing the strike

Levels of Solidarity in the 1984-85 strike by area[43]

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.

Mining and mining communities 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 1990s. There were 15 former British Coal deep mines left in production at the time of privatisation,[44] however, by March 2005, there were only eight major deep mines left.[45] Since then, the last pit in Northumberland, Ellington Colliery at Ellington, has closed whilst pits at Rossington and Harworth have been mothballed. In 1983, Britain had 174 working mines; by 2009, this number had decreased to six.[46] 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.[citation needed]

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.[citation needed]

The effect of the strike has been long and bitter for many areas that depended on coal. Many miners were forced into debt as the union did not make strike payments to its members, only paying money to strikers on picket. The problem was compounded as the union's failure to hold an official ballot meant that the strike was illegal and social security rules prevented benefits being paid to participants of illegal strikes. Further, the rules meant that any benefits paid to partners or dependents of striking miners were calculated as if strike pay was being received.[citation needed]

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 following decade. Migration out of old mining areas left many villages full of derelict houses and earning the reputation as ghost towns. The tensions between those who had supported the strike and those who had not, lasted for many years afterwards (and sometimes continues today, having been passed down to the next generation), eroding the strong sense of unity that had previously existed in such communities. 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 continued tensions.[47]

The 1994 European Union inquiry into poverty classified Grimethorpe in South Yorkshire as the poorest settlement in the country and one of the poorest in the EU.[48] The county of South Yorkshire was made into an Objective 1 development zone and every single ward in the City of Wakefield district of West Yorkshire was classified as in need of special assistance.[49] In Merseyside, the Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley, had contained the "Cronton" pit and the neighbouring Metropolitan Borough of St Helens contained Sutton Manor, Bold and Parkside collieries.

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. 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, an indoor ski-slope, forms part of an entertainments centre and outlet shopping complex built on the former site of Castleford's Glasshoughton colliery.

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 coalfields. The Coalfields Regeneration Trust is an organisation that makes grants to aid the redevelopment of former mining areas.[50]

Although mining is now only a very small industry in Britain, as of 2003 it was reportedly more productive in terms of output per worker than the coal industries in France, Germany and the United States[51][52][clarification needed]

Andrew J. Richards' 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 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.