In March 1984 over150,000 British coalminers went on strike toprotest against plans forwidespread closures inthe industry. The strike,ultimately unsuccessful,lasted a year and was oneof the most significantindustrial disputes inBritish history. Alongsidethe industrial struggleemerged a large anddiverse social movementto help sustain the minersand their communities.

To mark the 30thanniversary of the miners'strike, the followingexhibition has beencompiled predominantlyfrom material in the TUCLibrary Collections atLondon MetropolitanUniversity. The library hasbeen deposited at theUniversity since 1996 andis a unique resource forthe study of the labourmovement and workinglife past, present andfuture.

South Eastern Region TUC march in support of the miners, London, June 1984 © Trades Union Congress Library Collections, London Metropolitan University

Solidarity and the 1984/85 Miners’ Strike

1970s strikesand the RidleyPlan In 1972 and 1974 there werenational miners’ strikes for thefirst time since 1926. Thestrikes, primarily over wages,were successful and partlyresponsible for the end ofEdward Heath’s Conservativegovernment in 1974. They alsobrought Arthur Scargill tonational prominence. Some feelthat the Conservativesprovoked the miners’ strike of1984-5 out of a desire forrevenge for these defeats.Former Cabinet member of theHeath government, MargaretThatcher, was elected in 1979and again in 1983. Inpreparation for government,Conservative Nicholas Ridleyprepared a report on thepublicly owned industries,which suggested ways in whicha showdown with unions –including the miners – could bewon.

A mass picket at Saltley Gate coke plant near Birmingham during the 1972 miners'strike. © Trades Union Congress Library Collections, London Metropolitan University /

Special ballot issue of the NUM’s newspaper The Miner, February 1972, recommendingto members the settlement achieved in negotiations over pay with Ted Heath’sConservative government © National Union of Mineworkers

Industrial contextIn the early 1980sunemployment rosedramatically, with officialfigures over 3 million (nearly12%). The steel workers,traditional allies of the miners,were amongst those hit badlydespite a 13 week strike in1980. Unemployment incoalfield areas could be muchhigher than average: in SouthWales, for example, it wasnearly 25 per cent. TheThatcher governmentintroduced a range oflegislation aimed at decreasingthe power of the trade unionmovement. Trade unions werebanned at GCHQ.

TUC poster produced during the Campaign for Economic and Social Advance,highlighting rising unemployment, 1981. © Trades Union Congress

Labour Party leaflet on risingunemployment, 1984 © Labour Party

The cause of the strikeThe National Union ofMineworkers had already beenon an overtime ban for severalmonths. In Scotland inparticular there were alreadyseveral local disputes. But inMarch 1984, the announcementof the intended closure ofCortonwood, Yorkshire sparkeda walkout in Yorkshire thatspread across the country. Thestrike was over pit closures andArthur Scargill’s claim thatthere was a ‘hit list’ of pits toclose. Much argument revolvedaround the notion of‘uneconomic pits’ and on whatbasis closures should beaccepted.

Poster produced by the Kent Area of the National Union of Mineworkers, 1984. © National Union of Mineworkers

The Economic Case Against Pit Closuresreport prepared for the National Union ofMineworkers by Andrew Glyn, CorpusChristi College, Oxford University, 1984.© National Union of Mineworkers

Cartoon produced by Tony Hall, published in The Sun/News of the World ‘Right of Reply Special’, September 1984 © Libby Hall

Division in thecoalfieldsWhile the strike was strong inmost areas, some – mostimportantly Nottinghamshire(which was the second largestNUM area in 1984-5) – had amajority who refused to strike.Often the reason given was thelack of a national ballot. Forstrikers in these areas, the yearwas particularly tough. Supportgroups often gave particularsupport to the Notts coalfieldfor this reason.

Cartoon produced by Tim Sanders, 1984 © Tim Sanders

CommunityThe classic notion of the ‘pitvillage’ was already slightlydated by 1984. However, theidea of community becamecentral to the strike: ‘Close aPit, Kill a Community’ was aslogan used in South Wales.The idea of ‘community’allowed the strike to take on abroader significance, andencouraged alliances with awide range of groups beyondtrade unions.

Public meeting of Grimethorpe NUM, 1984.© Trades Union Congress Library Collections, London Metropolitan University

Page from The Sun/News of the World ‘Right of Reply Special’, September 1984, showingthe communities and families of striking miners. During a speech in July 1984 MargaretThatcher had described the miners as the “enemy within”, in distinction to the “enemywithout” – Argentinian dictator President Galtieri during the Falklands War.© SOGAT (now Unite)

A mounted policeman attacks a woman during the picket at Orgreave colliery inYorkshire, June 1984 © John Harris, Report Digital

Violence and the State

‘Violence’ often dominatedmedia coverage of the strikeand pickets were frequentlyblamed. For many miners andsupporters, however, it was theviolence of the police thatstood out. The police alsooccupied pit villages in largenumbers, restricted freedom ofmovement, and highly punitivebail conditions were usedagainst pickets. A number ofminers were jailed during thedispute. The Orgreave Truthand Justice Campaign isseeking the truth about themost notorious example ofpolice violence (and mediamisrepresentation) at theOrgreave coking plant,Yorkshire, in June 1984.

Steve Bell 1984

A page from The Miners’ Strike and the Society, a publication produced by civil serviceunion The Society of Civil and Public Servants (now PCS), c.1984© Society of Civil and Public Servants (now PCS)/Sheila Gray

Welfare cutsChanges had been made tobenefit entitlements to reducewhat was being paid to thefamilies of miners on strike.Deductions were made onassumed strike pay which wasnot being paid by the NUM.Single miners received nothing.Protests were held outside theDHSS headquarters in SouthLondon against this policy oftrying to starve the miners backto work.

WomenAgainst PitClosuresSome women worked inancillary positions for the coalboard and were on strike,however the vast majority ofstrikers were men. The strikewas notable however foressential and highly visiblesupport work of women in themining areas: runningcommunal kitchens, joiningpicket lines, speaking acrossthe country and internationally.After the strike, however,Women Against Pit Closureswere refused associatemembership by the NUM.

Leaflet promoting the Women Against Pit Closures Demonstration and Gala,London, August 1984 © Women Against Pit Closures

Poster for the International Women’s DayRally organised by Women Against PitClosures, March 1984 © Women Against Pit Closures

Women’s supportoutside thecoalfields

Elsewhere in the country, theprominence of the coalfieldwomen in particular during thestrike inspired much supportfrom women's organisations.Links were made withGreenham Common, women'strade union organisations anda range of feminist groups.

Flyer promoting benefit concert for women in pit communities, organised by LondonLabour Women, March 1984 © London Labour Women

Flyer promoting rally and social organisedby the Women’s Rights Committee of theSouthern & Eastern Region TUC(SERTUC), June 1984 © Trades UnionCongress

Trade union solidarityTrade unionists throughout thecountry raised food and moneyfor striking miners and theirfamilies. Some went further –train drivers, seafarers andothers attempted to blockstrike breaking coal, coke andother substitute fuels. Printworkers took industrial actionagainst the worst mediacoverage. Elsewhere, however,there was tension betweenunions, particularly with theISTC (steelworkers union) andEETPU (electrical workers),whose leader Eric Hammondrefused to support TUCguidelines to help miners winthe strike.

Teachers and pupils hold banners from the National Union of Teachers outside WilliamPatten Infants’ School, Stoke Newington, London, calling for the release of jailed miners.June 1985 © Trades Union Congress Library Collections, London Metropolitan University

Joint NUM/Southern & Eastern RegionTUC (SERTUC) newspaper, May 1984 ©Southern & Eastern Region TUC(SERTUC)/NUM

TradesCouncils and miners support groupsTrades councils were often atthe heart of the miners supportgroups that were launchedthroughout the country. Thesegroups expanded to include amuch wider group of people.Their activities included streetand door to door collections toraise food and money for theminers; hosting public meetingsto allow miners and theirfamilies to put their case; joiningpicket lines and visiting miningareas (if they weren't alreadybased in one) to give support.

Leaflet issued by the Bentley Miners Support Group, South Yorkshire, 1984 © Bentley Miners Support Group

Leaflet produced by the Islington MinersSupport Committee, 1984 © Islington Trades Council

Transport workersAs well as raising funds,members of a number of unions(ASLEF, TGWU, NUR, NUS)attempted to stop the transportof coal and replacement fuelsby rail, sea and road. JimmyKnapp of the National Union ofRailwaymen told the 1984 TUCCongress: ‘If a cow were tocross a field with “NUM picketline” painted on it, we wouldnot pass it.’ Despite somesuccesses, the use of non-unionhaulage, seafarers and portworkers were used toundermine the strike (asplanned for in the RidleyReport).

Leaflet produced by the NUM, thanking transport workers for their support, c.1984 © National Union of Mineworkers

Locomotive Journal, produced by traindrivers’ union Associated Society ofLocomotive Engineers and Firemen(ASLEF), February 1985 © ASLEF

Print workersPrint workers, particularly thoseon Fleet Street, wereexceptionally active insupporting the miners,including raising over £1.5million for the miners. Alongwith the Campaign for Pressand Broadcasting Freedom(CPBF) the print unions andNational Union of Journaliststried to enforce a ‘right toreply’ for the NUM in themainstream press. In onenotable action, printers refusedto print the front page of oneissue of The Sun whichcompared Arthur Scargill toHitler. Print workers wouldsuffer the next major defeat forthe trade union movement inthe 1986 Wapping dispute, withRupert Murdoch aided by thepolice and Eric Hammond.

Front page of News of the World/The SunRight of Reply Special, September 1984 © SOGAT (now Unite)

SOGAT Journal, July/August 1984, produced by print unionThe Society of Graphical and Allied Trades. © SOGAT (now Unite)

Cultures of solidaritySupport for the miners oftenevoked historical relationshipssometimes going back to 1926.More often it was pointed outthe miners had offered supportto NHS workers, Grunwickstrikers, steel worker andothers in the past. During thestrike, miners continued tosupport other workers – joiningpicket lines at Barking Hospitalfor instance.

Poster produced during the Grunwickstrike, 1977. The image on the posterdepicts union members supporting minersat the Saltley Gate coke plant during the1972 miners’ strike. © Unite

Poster showing miners’ support for NHS workers in the National Union of Public Employees(NUPE) during their dispute over pay, September 1982 © UNISON, the public sector union

Labour PartyThere was some debate overthe role of the Labour Partyleadership in the strike – somefelt Neil Kinnock, the son of aSouth Wales coal miner, sawthe strike as an embarrassmentand damaging to Labour'selectoral prospects. But manygrass roots members of theparty were very active insupporting the NUM which wasaffiliated to the Labour Party.

Leaflet produced by the Labour Party young members section, 1984 © Labour Party Leaflet produced by the Labour Party,1984 © Labour Party

Local authoritiesMany Labour local authoritiesfelt under attack by thegovernment over rate-cappingand the abolition ofmetropolitan authorities.Labour-led councils in coalfieldareas often provided practicalsupport for the miners duringthe year – for instancedeferring council housing rentsand providing free schoolmeals.One popular, if somewhatcontroversial, means of supportwas for a group to ‘twin’ with aparticular pit or area. Somewithin the NUM and officialunion bodies argued that thiscreated an uneven distributionof funds. However, it was apopular practice: a LabourResearch Department survey of300 support groups foundnearly half had twinningarrangements.

Advert appearing in the ‘Concert for Heroes’ programme at the Royal Albert Hall, 2ndMarch 1986, documents Greenwich Council’s twinning with Easington in County Durham© Royal Borough of Greenwich

Message of support from Islington Council,appearing in the programme of the‘Concert for Heroes’ at the Royal AlbertHall, 2nd March 1986 © London Borough of Islington

Lesbians andGays Supportthe MinersLesbians and Gays Support theMiners (LGSM) was formed inLondon in June 1984. Elevenother lesbian and gay supportgroups were formed acrossBritain and Ireland. Thereciprocal support given by theNUM was important in passinglesbian and gay equalitymotions for the first time at TUCand Labour conferences in1985.

Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners, with banner, picketing Neasden power station [1984] © LGSM 2014

Miners show their support on the Lesbian and Gay Pride march, 1985 © LGSM 2014 Poster to promote the ‘Pits and Perverts’benefit gig organised by Lesbians andGays Support the Miners, December1984 © LGSM 2014 (poster design byKevin Franklin)

Black support for the minersBlack miners were amongstthose raising money at theNotting Hill carnival in 1984,making the connectionbetween police oppression ofblack people and the miners.Throughout the country, blackorganisations supported theminers: for example the AsianYouth Movement in Sheffieldjoined picket lines. BlackDelegation to the Miners was agroup of black Londoners,many based in Southall, whichraised funds and food andvisited the Kent coalfield toshow solidarity.

Flyer for rally in support of the miners, with speakers from London’s black people’smovement, January 1985 © George Padmore Institute archive

Hackney Miners Support Committee/George Padmore Institute© George Padmore Institute archive

Black People Support the Miners © unknown

StudentsolidarityStudents were amongst thosewho came out in support ofminers. Notable for supportwere students at thepolytechnics. The Polytechnicof North London (PNL), nowLondon MetropolitanUniversity, was one of the mostradical. Already in legaltrouble for opposing thepresence of National Frontorganiser Patrick Harrington atPNL, student union funds facedbeing seized for donating tothe miners.

Leaflet produced by the Polytechnic ofNorth London Students’ Union, to promotea rally in support of the SU Executive duringtheir trial at the High Court, May 1985.The Students’ Union were on trial for makinga cash donation to a miners’ welfare fund © London Metropolitan University

Front cover of Fuse, Polytechnic of North London Students’ Union magazine [1984] © London Metropolitan University

Sheffield Trades Council meeting to support the miners, October 1984© TUC Library Collections, London Metropolitan University

Internationalsupport for thestrikeMoney was raised throughoutthe world for the miners, oftenthrough trade union or socialistconnections. An internationalmarch of people from variouscountries was held fromLondon to Kent to showsolidarity. Miners showed asense of international solidaritywhen Kent NUM membersdumped coal on the doorstepof South Africa house in protestat apartheid. Internationalsolidarity was strained by coalimports however, in particularthose from ‘socialist’ Poland.

Leaflet published by the DGB - theGerman equivalent of the TUC - callingon German trade unionists to support theBritish miners © Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund

Flyer for public meeting in support of South African and British miners, November 1984© Anti-Apartheid Movement / Miners Support Group, Westminster and the City

Pit dragon

Between Rock Against Racismand Red Wedge, the miners’strike provided a focus forpolitically minded artists,including members of the tradeunion Equity. One mass picketat Taylors Lane Power Station(Brent) was supported by acultural collective called ‘PitDragon’. The NME commented:‘Scab lorries turned back by avariety show? Surely a first inthe annals of industrialstruggle.’

Benefit event organised by the SERTUCMiners Strike Support CommitteeSeptember 1984 © SERTUC MinersStrike Support Committee

Pit Dragon benefit concert poster, February 1985 © Chris Knight (Writersand Artists for a Miners’ Victory)

Benefit evening at Scala Cinema Club,Kings Cross, December 1984© Scala Cinema

ChristmasA special fundraising effortwas made to give miners andtheir families a decentChristmas, to provide turkeysand toys for the children. Somesupport groups and tradeunions paid for and attendedChristmas parties in thecoalfields.

Letter from a Durham miner describing hardship during Christmas 1984, published onthe back page of Fuse, the Polytechnic of North London Students’ Union magazine © London Metropolitan University

Flyer for the Christmas Hamper Appeal, organised by the Women’s National Co-ordinating Committee of the Labour Party, 1984 © Labour Party / Neil Martinson

ChristmasA special fundraising effortwas made to give miners andtheir families a decentChristmas, to provide turkeysand toys for the children. Somesupport groups and tradeunions paid for and attendedChristmas parties in thecoalfields.

© Tim Sanders

“Southern & Eastern Region TUC(SERTUC)/Kent Area NUM publicmeeting, July 1985 © Trades UnionCongress Library Collections, LondonMetropolitan University

Public meeting to support the jailed miners,organised by Southwark Trades Council,June 1985 © Southwark Trades Council

Aftermath ofthe strikeIn March 1985 the NUM endedthe strike with no agreement.Ian MacGregor, head of theNational Coal Board, said in theaftermath of the strike: 'Peopleare now discovering the price ofinsubordination andinsurrection. And boy, are wegoing to make it stick'. A rivalunion, the Union of DemocraticMiners was established.Victimisation increased, andmany of the hundreds of NUMmembers sacked during the year(even those who were notconvicted of any offence) wererefused their jobs back. TheNational Justice forMineworkers Campaign stillcampaigns for those who werevictimised during the dispute.

The coal industry sincethe strikeForty pits out of 170 wereclosed just in 1985–86. A newmajor round of pit closures wasannounced in 1992, anddespite significant publicsupport for the NUM and largenational demonstrations, thesewere carried through. Theindustry was then privatisedand has continued to decline.With the recent closure ofThoresby (Nottinghamshire)and Hatfield (Yorkshire),Yorkshire’s Kellingley Colliery isthe last deep coal mine inBritain, and it is expected toclose late in 2015. Opencastcoal mining continues inBritain, as does the importingof coal.

Poster to promote Switch Off Saturday, acampaign organised by the TUC toencourage the public to switch off all theirlights for 5 minutes at 8pm on December19th 1992 in support of miners fightingcontinued closure of pits © TUC

Britain Needs Its Miners car sticker, produced by the Coalfield Communities Campaign ©Coalfield Communities Campaign

NUPE National Miners’ Support Networkposter © UNISON, the public sectorunion / John Sturrock

Legacy of the strike

The defeat of the miners’ strikeand the subsequent destructionof the deep coal miningindustry in Britain played asignificant role in weakeningtrade union power. The resultwas an increasingly unequalcountry. The proud memory ofresisting this attack, however,is kept alive in the formercoalfields and elsewhere,commemorating andcelebrating the spirit ofsolidarity.

Durham Miners’ Gala, July 2015 © James Thomson /Durham Miners’ Association AcknowledgementsThanks to everyone who helped with thisexhibition Text Diarmaid KelliherPhotos and captionsDiarmaid Kelliher and James GoddardDesign Nick Wright 21centurymanifestoEditor Jeff HowarthThank you to everyone who contributedtheir photos and images.

This exhibition is copyright of the TradesUnion Congress Library Collections, LondonMetropolitan University. For moreinformation on the exhibition and the itemsfeatured, or to arrange an appointment tovisit the library, please contact:

Trades Union Congress Library CollectionsLondon Metropolitan University236-250 Holloway RoadLondon N7 6PPTel: 020 7133 3726Email: tuclib@londonmet.ac.ukWebsite: www.londonmet.ac.uk/tuc