miners strike 1984-lessons to be learnt.

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Twenty years on - the lessons of the 1984-85 miners' strike: Part One
By Phil Mitchinison
Friday, 05 March 2004
Twenty years ago on March 5, 1984 the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) embarked upon the most important class struggle in Britain since the general strike of 1926. Over the following twelve months of ferocious battles billions of pounds were spent by the ruling class to crush the miners' militancy. More than ten thousand miners were arrested; two were killed on the picket lines and countless others injured. Decades of so-called consensus were obliterated and the real and ugly face of British capitalism was exposed for all to see. The masks of Democracy and the Law, behind which the ruling class try to conceal the rule of capital, were shattered as the veil of so-called independence of the courts, the police and the media was lifted to show the real role of the state in capitalist society.

The courage and determination of the miners and their families, struggling to defend their communities from an unparalleled assault by the ruling class, should serve as an inspiration to a new generation. The strike is rich in lessons, and we would be doing that heroic struggle no favours if we did not also try to understand the mistakes which played an important role in the dispute as well as drawing inspiration from the colossal resolve and sacrifice of the miners' struggle.

The consequences of the strike - and its eventual defeat - for the miners, the coal mining industry, the labour movement and the working class as a whole make it our duty to study its many lessons. The miners were defeated, but contrary to the twenty years of propaganda which has followed declaring the class struggle to be finished, two decades have passed quietly only on the surface. Beneath, wounds have been healed, a new generation has grown up, new experience has been gained, and capitalism has squeezed and pressed the working class to the limits of its patience. Far from the miners' strike representing the end of class struggle, it provides us with a wealth of lessons to prepare for the new battles which have already begun. Twenty years after the miners' strike of 1984-85 new class battles are today being prepared in Britain.

Bosses "invest" in defeating the miners
When Thatcher's Tory Party came to office in 1979 they were still smarting from their humiliation at the hands of the miners' strikes of 1972 and 1974. Ted Heath's government was brought down by the militant action of the miners and the Tories were determined to prevent such a humiliation ever happening again. This fact coloured many aspects of the dispute. Revenge, however, was not the principle cause of this orchestrated attack on the miners and their communities. For the ruling class confronting and defeating the miners, widely seen as the vanguard of militant trade unionism, was the vital prerequisite for an all out assault on the working class as a whole. There was no longer any room for consensus, compromise and concessions. Reforms aimed at placating the working class could no longer be afforded. The answer of the ruling class to the decline of British capital was to restore profitability at the expense of the working class, just as they had done in 1926.

This was never solely an economic question, however. For decades billions had been squandered on nuclear power and on oil demonstrating the anxiety felt by the ruling class at the dependence of the British economy on coal, and the power this bestowed upon militant miners.

In 1926 the miners' struggle had led to the general strike and nine days that shook the very foundations of society. In the 1970s their action brought down a Tory government. The militancy of the miners represented a serious threat to the capitalist system. No strike on its own, not even a general strike can overthrow capitalism. That requires political organisation and action as well as industrial muscle. Nevertheless, throughout their history, every national miners' strike has marked a fundamental turning point in the situation in Britain.

Between 1926 and 1972 there was not one official national miners' strike. Where was the miners' renowned militancy during this period? The lack of such national action provided many academics, , with 'proof' that the miners had been 'bought off'. Nationalisation, job guarantees, and higher wages, these ladies and gentlemen argued, would ensure that the miners would never fight again. This most assertion demonstrates the danger of being seduced by the surface of events, failing to see the molecular process burrowing away beneath.

In reality, it had taken from 1926 until the second world war for the miners to recover from the mortal blow of the 1926 lock-out. In the period roughly from the end of the war to 1970, following the nationalisation of the pits, all serious disputes were resolved through negotiation at national level. Against the background of the world upswing of capitalism, and the introduction of new technology, mechanisation etc, living standards generally improved. Hundreds of pits were closed but there were no compulsory job losses.

Initially, the nationalisation of the pits by the Labour government in 1947 was greeted with jubilation. Many miners felt the pits now belonged to them. They were soon to discover, however, that the old, hated coalowners had been replaced by boards whose task was to manage coal mining as a 'milch cow' for capitalism, by supplying a cheap source of energy to industry.

Throughout this period there was a consensus approach between the union and the National Coal Board (NCB). Disputes were settled through negotiation and therefore there was no need for national strikes. As a result, the union at the top was in the grip of the right wing, although, given the miners' traditions, there was always a left presence, including one or two Communist Party members, in the leadership.

This consensus, however, was only on the surface. In coal mining especially it is necessary to know what is going on underground. Whilst there were no national strikes, disputes in individual pits and areas between 1947 and 1957 constituted 70 percent of all the industrial action in the country. In these struggles a new generation of militant leaders was born and schooled. Some of these struggles saw more miners on strike than in 1984. This was the case in 1955 and again in 1961.

1970s – miners bring down Tories
In 1969 and 1970 these disputes escalated into serious strikes over hours and wages. In 1956 miners had earned 122 percent of average manufacturing workers' wages, but by 1970 this had fallen to 89 percent. Thus falling living standards and the continuing closure programme combined with a new generation of militant activists to prepare the strikes of 1972 and 1974.

The Tory government of Ted Heath had imposed an incomes policy to limit workers' pay increases, but mounting inflation was eating away at the miners' already low wages. Nearly 60 percent of the NUM voted to strike for a 47 percent pay rise.

The tactic of flying pickets and mass picketing played a decisive role in these disputes, most notably the mass picket at Saltley Gate. Pickets were not needed at the pitheads in 1972 because the strike was rock solid, so the mass pickets concentrated on the power stations. Solidarity action was spreading with other sections of workers taking sympathy action. The Tories, running scared, declared a state of emergency. A major confrontation was prepared at the coke depot of the Saltley gasworks in Birmingham. Engineering workers across the region went on strike to support the miners, and 10,000 of them marched on Saltley Gate to join the 2,000 miners already picketing. With only 1000 police officers in attendance, the authorities had no alternative but to close the gates. The miners, with widespread support, and a solid strike, using the militant tactic of flying pickets, scored a tremendous victory. The 21 percent pay rise they secured was only a part of that victory. So too was the growing confidence of the working class.

Two years later in 1974, the threat of a new miners' strike, forced Heath and the Tories to call a general election – which they lost. The miners had secured an historic industrial and political victory. The ruling class were visibly shaken. Something would need to be done to prevent this ever happening again.

Tories plan revenge
In 1978 future Tory cabinet minister Nicholas Ridley prepared his now infamous report for a confrontation with the miners. Ridley's plans included building up coal stocks and increasing coal imports; recruiting non-union lorry firms for coal transport; transforming power stations to enable them to burn oil; cutting the state benefits available to striking workers; and the creation of a national, almost paramilitary, police force.

In the early Thatcher years, between 1979 and 82, there had already been important disputes at British Leyland, British Steel, in the health service, and on the railways. In fact, the Tories almost provoked the miners prematurely in 1981 when they announced their intention to close 50 pits. The South Wales miners walked out and sent flying pickets to other coalfields. Within days the Energy Secretary David Howell was forced to withdraw the plan. They had done exactly the same thing in 1925, delaying, retreating to fight only when they were ready. As Howell explained "Neither the government nor I think society as a whole was in a position to get locked into a coal strike… The stocks weren't so high. I don't think the country was prepared, and the whole NUM and the trade union movement tended to be united all on one side."

An internal Coal Board report published in June 1983 claimed that 141 out of the 198 pits were 'uneconomical', 100,000 jobs would have to go in the space of five years. For years pit closures had proceeded through agreement with the union on the basis of the exhaustion of mineable supplies. Now they wanted to close them for economic reasons. That is, to recognise that the mines existed not to extract coal but to make money. The miners' case was really unanswerable in relation to the needs of industry and the long term supply of energy. Logic and the facts, however, would not be allowed to interfere with the needs of the ruling class in securing their profits and defeating the trade union movement.

Thatcher brought in Ian MacGregor – an American union-buster who had already served his apprenticeship as the butcher of the steel industry – as the new head of the NCB, and moved Peter Walker to the post of Energy Secretary, informing him on his appointment, "we are going to have a coal strike." This statement betrayed not just Thatcher's desire to provoke such a battle, but also a recognition of a process which was already underway.

1981: NUM shifts left
In 1981 the shift to the left at the top of the NUM was confirmed by the election of Arthur Scargill, one of the militant leaders of the 1972 strike, as President of the NUM. At the end of 1982 The Coal Board announced the closure of Kineil colliery in Scotland. The miners occupied their pit over Christmas but no strike was called.

At the beginning of 1983 the closure of Lewis Merthyr colliery in South Wales was announced. The response of the miners was again to occupy the pit and this time their strike spread to other collieries with 3000 miners walking out. The South Wales Area of the union endorsed the strike, and the Yorkshire and Scotland areas both voted for strike action. At the union's National Executive Scargill argued for a Rule 41 strike, but lost. This rule of the union allowed the Areas (South Wales, Yorkshire etc.) to call their members out separately without calling a national ballot. The use of this tactic was soon to have profound consequences in the 1984-85 strike.

On this occasion a national ballot was held, with 61 percent voting against national strike action. A campaign was clearly needed throughout the coalfields explaining the threat to tens of thousands of jobs and the attacks that were being prepared on all sections of the working class. Such a campaign of propaganda and agitation would have played a vital role in preparing the ground in Nottinghamshire, in particular, and in those other pits that had voted against action. This fight was not going to go away.

MacGregor made provocative statements about the need to close 20 pits and destroy 20,000 jobs. The ruling class had been preparing and were now clearly ready for the confrontation. The miners' preparations began in earnest in November 1983 when a national overtime ban was organised to try to run down coal stocks.

The Coal Board announced another pit closure at Polmaise in Scotland. They proceeded to flood neighbouring Bogside colliery, claiming that the overtime ban was to blame, offering a glimpse of the unparalleled black propaganda campaign that was to follow. During the course of the strike, miners and their local and national leaders were subjected to the most appalling campaign of smears, slanders and abuse in the press.

The final provocation
On March 1, 1984, the final provocation came with the announcement of the closure of Cortonwood colliery in Yorkshire. Flying pickets were dispatched around the country, immediately bringing Scotland and Wales out. This time however the ruling class had prepared its stocks of coal, its transportation systems, and had created a national police force – all the plans outlined in Ridley's 1978 report - to confront the pickets and place mining communities across the country under a state of siege. The battle lines were drawn. This was to be class war.

Within days 171 pits were at a standstill. Yorkshire, Wales, Kent and Durham were solid and flying pickets were sent into Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire and North Derbyshire to spread the dispute.

On this occasion, however, there was to be no national ballot. This decision resulted in a storm of protest in the media, echoed by the right wing Labour and trade union leaders. These 'democrats' are only keen on democracy when it suits them. Back in 1977 a national ballot rejected a new incentives scheme by 55.75 percent. Right wing NUM leader Gormley declared the result of the ballot to be irrelevant. When the matter was taken to the high court, the judges agreed with Gormley, and the democratic decision of a ballot was overturned.

To pose democracy as an abstract question is false and misleading. Those at the top of the labour movement demanding a ballot never offered their own members the same courtesy of democracy by organising a ballot for action in support of the miners. Their demand was not based on 'democracy' but an excuse for not spreading the struggle. For that reason holding a ballot would have completely undermined them.

For the labour movement the vital question is what tactic can secure and maintain the maximum possible unity of the workers in their struggle. In 1984 NUM vice-president Mick McGahey argued – against the need for a ballot - that the miners would not be 'constitutionalised out of their jobs'. This was quite right – in principle. The trade unions should decide upon how they conduct their affairs themselves without the interference of the state. However, this principle far from exhausted the question.

Ballot or no ballot?
Scargill had already lost several national votes over pay, and over closures. This must have been a factor in the decision not to call a new ballot, betraying a certain lack of confidence in the rank and file. Once the vast majority of miners were on strike, and certainly by May when the national demonstration took place in Mansfield, there can be no doubt that a ballot would have been overwhelmingly endorsed.

With the strike underway, and the majority of miners having voted with their feet, the need to build and strengthen unity became clearer than ever. A majority of miners in the Nottinghamshire area continued to work. The continued failure to win them over through picketing illustrated the need for a ballot.

Why should there have been a ballot? The unity of the strike was decisive. A ballot would have assisted the strikers in Nottinghamshire to make their case amongst those miners still working. Could a ballot have created the necessary unity nationally, and isolated those determined to organise scabbing? We will never know for sure, but it would have helped. A majority in a national ballot could have brought the majority of Notts' miners out, and this in turn would have transformed the situation. Above all, it would have completely cut the ground from beneath the leaders of the TUC and the Labour Party who consistently cowered behind the question of the ballot to prevent solidarity action.

In any strike or dispute tactics are vital. In a titanic struggle such as this, with the might of the state lined up against them, the tactics adopted by the miners' leadership were decisive. Not holding a ballot once the dispute was underway proved to be a serious mistake. Not because the Tories or the press said so, but because of the need to build unity and to break the stick that was being used to beat them.

March 5, 2004

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apologises for the length of this piece and not really RM related but i have always found this episode of our history fascinating. without doubt this was Class War and it showed the extent to which the State was prepared to go to beat a section of the working class. i would be interested to read any stories etc from people who experienced this time in our history. i have read Scargill was a great speaker who could whip up the crowd , anyone ever been to one of his speeches for instance ? obviously many people will think he was a t---er, but where would we be now if the miners had won ?

[norbert]

apologises for the length of this piece and not really RM related but i have always found this episode of our history fascinating. without doubt this was Class War and it showed the extent to which the State was prepared to go to beat a section of the working class. i would be interested to read any stories etc from people who experienced this time in our history. i have read Scargill was a great speaker who could whip up the crowd , anyone ever been to one of his speeches for instance ? obviously many people will think he was a t---er, but where would we be now if the miners had won ?

don't worry about it , there was RM Senior Managers stuck in a 1980's timewarp & sounding like Colonel Blimp saying " We've had the Miners , Longridge and now this , this will be a tipping point and it'll be for the benefit of RM in the future ; it'll be bloody " ; etc , etc .

Then " straight talking " :lfo - " We don't BS you " - he and his subordinates couldn't lie straight in bed , they're stuck in a 80's / 90's spiv era too .

I'm not a fan of Scargill , bit of a Great War General , Gormley knew how to keep him in check though he did tell the truth about job losses . She took them all on & they were spoiling for a fight , one by one . We'd have been better off with Barbara Castle's - " In Place of Strife " in the late 60's .

I do sympathize with the people who were dragged into it , she wanted to eliminate Socialism , she lost her effectiveness when she started running out of enemies to confront , the Poll Tax was a disaster , then her own sort did a coup on her , just karma

The Union did defeat Hesseltine over RM privatization which meant there would be a lot of sore and bitter people ? .

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here is a few stories from the guardian.

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The miner

Adrian Simpson, a fitter at Hatfield Main colliery

I was on strike but I had never been on a picket line. One day in August 1984, I stopped by the colliery to talk to a couple of senior staff. I saw all these riot police coming. There were hundreds of them. As I left to go back to my car, all hell broke lose. I saw a police officer with a fire extinguisher in his hand, bashing a lad in the back. I tried to get closer to note down the officer's number but they were wearing black boilersuits with no numbers. The next thing I knew, a police officer struck me from behind. I was coming in and out of consciousness as I was dragged across the road into an alleyway. They blocked off the alley and beat another lad and me with sticks until I was unconscious. I was driven to Doncaster police station in a riot van. I'll never forget, there was a big desk sergeant where they book you in. He said: "What the f***ing hell have they done to you?"

I was put in a cell but after a doctor saw me, I was taken to hospital. Sent home again because there wasn't room at the hospital, I had a convulsion and my heart stopped beating. I was in a right state: I looked like the Elephant Man and, finally in hospital, I was unconscious for two days. When I came home, I didn't go outside for a year, I was traumatised for five years and I've been on medication ever since.

The police said I'd thrown a brick at them and the charges against me got steadily worse. It was farcical in court. I was found guilty of assaulting a police officer and sentenced to three months in prison. After I came out, the BBC covered my case and put me in touch with Michael Mansfield, who agreed to represent me. South Yorkshire police eventually settled out of court, paying compensation for beating me up in custody.

I was given my job back in my colliery but I had a number of medicals and they couldn't take me back, even on the surface. I couldn't work – for two years I didn't know what day of the week it was. It was just crap to be honest. It definitely ruined my life. I can't think straight like I used to. I forget a lot and it's frustrating – I can't say what I want to say. It's horrible.

There was a lot of bad on both sides during the miners' strike but the police were doing it legally. They could do what they want. I'm a different character now to what I was and I'm still angry.

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The miner's wife

Brenda Procter, chair of National Women Against Pit Closures and the North Staffs Miners Action Group

In North Staffs we were already on an overtime ban. Then my husband, Ken, came home from the pit and said the South Wales miners had come down to North Staffs and picketed them out. We brought a few of them back to the house and let them eat and wash. Someone suggested we should form a women's group to help people from the pit, and it went from there.

Every Friday we set up a room in the welfare club next to the pit and made up a food parcel – bread and potatoes and sugar, the basics – so everyone on strike could take food home. But that's not the only thing the women did. We went on strike and had women's pickets. At my colliery, Florence colliery, there would be quite a bit of shoving and pushing when the strike breakers used to go in. To be honest, we could do more than the men because they could be sacked if they were found trespassing on the picket line.

My two kids, Ryan and Melanie, were 10 and eight. We lived on £9-something a week because the social services determined that we had strike pay so they didn't give us any benefits. We survived by raising money. We had a pot that all the money raised went into and then we handed it out.

We were all in the same boat so there was a great community spirit but, in North Staffs, we were very much like Nottingham – there were more strike breakers than strikers, so we were the minority. There are people we classed as friends who we still don't speak to any more – there's an embittered feeling that has never gone away. It was father against son and brother against brother.

We were on strike for the full year. There were so few of us left at the end. The men found it really difficult when they went back to work. They had to face the wrath of the coal board. My husband was an electrician but he was given menial jobs like sweeping the path. Miners used to look after each other underground but then they had to go back to work with people they had been shouting at on the picket line.

We always said as women we lost nothing in the strike because we gained such a lot. We learned so much from it in terms of confidence and inspiration. Lots of women thought, "if I can get up and talk to thousands of people at public meetings I can go on to other things", and went on to join councils or political groups. We learned politically from the disputes and went on to other strikes, like Wapping. We are still active and campaigning. It gave me confidence to go to college and then to university, where I took a degree in industrial relations, which wouldn't have happened if I hadn't been for the strike.

I look back on it as the time of my life. I am proud to have been involved. It wasn't about money or hours or pay, it was about communities and jobs and the future of our children for generations to come. All the pits in Staffordshire are closed now. It was never about economics; it was political. I truly believe one day the pits will reopen. They'll have to.

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The politician

Geoffrey Lofthouse, now Baron Lofthouse of Pontefract and still active in the House of Lords aged 83, was Labour MP for Pontefract and Castleford

I went down the pit the day after I turned 14, just before the second world war. Conditions were very bad in those days. It was slavery. If a man got killed they carted him off to the mortuary, let his family know, and that was it. If a pony was killed, the driver was hauled before management and fined. It was always heavy, dangerous and dirty work but I saw a vast improvement take place in the pits after nationalisation.

It was a mining constituency and miner followed miner as the MP. During the strike, I supported the miners locally and went to the picket lines. I questioned the cause of the strike in the House of Commons and challenged Margaret Thatcher to put an end to it and stop this dogma, this clash between two strong personalities. The miners and their communities were suffering.

I was never a disciple of Arthur Scargill but when he warned that there was a plan to dismantle the coal industry, he was proved right. Thatcher brought in Ian MacGregor because she wanted an action man to run down the coal industry. I asked questions about plans to run down the industry and these were categorically denied in the House of Commons by the then industry secretary, Peter Walker.

When I was in London during the strike, I got a call from my late wife. She said: "Geoff, you better come home because they are putting some of our lads in prison." I went to Armley prison and I saw miners who had never put a foot wrong with the law in that lousy prison. It really hit home – the class struggle. One day I visited Kellingley colliery – which is still open – and saw the striking miners at the gates. I heard a marching of boots coming down the road. It was a squad of police. As a van brought men into the colliery, the miners outside surged to try and stop it. What I saw appalled me. The police got stuck into the miners with their truncheons. I saw miners being kicked on the floor and these men were later charged with obstructing the police.

The miners stuck loyally with their trade union. I believe the mistake made in the strike was when the NUM didn't go to a national ballot. If the result of a national ballot had been to strike then Nottingham would not have continued to work. If that had been the case, I don't think Margaret Thatcher would have won.

[k979aaa]

All i will say on this as i was a young kid at the time is when i am old and all the oil has run out and someone says we should have kept the mines open because their is 3000 years of coal reserves under our feet!. But the mines have been flooded and are now even more dangerous too extract all that Coal now and we will have to rely on our friends the Russians or the chinese for our supplies and every winter we will pay a high price keep those DUFFEL COATS handy we will need them!.

[norbert]

All i will say on this as i was a young kid at the time is when i am old and all the oil has run out and someone says we should have kept the mines open because their is 3000 years of coal reserves under our feet!. But the mines have been flooded and are now even more dangerous too extract all that Coal now and we will have to rely on our friends the Russians or the chinese for our supplies and every winter we will pay a high price keep those DUFFEL COATS handy we will need them!.

I did know someone from a mining village near Pontefract , Yorks , he was a supporter of Scargill , his mate was beaten up by the Police and he later died from his injuries , naturally he'd a nervous breakdown and went schizophrenic , when that guy had too much drink , " Bobby ( his mate ) would come out to play " .

That guy had also been to Prison , his father was beating his mother up so he hit his dad with a shovel to stop him . I'd imagine there would have been a lot of marriage breakdowns , people falling out etc - the Tories cry crocodile tears about that sort of thing , they knew exactly what they were doing ?

The only " happy ending " was that with the help of the Workers Educational Association , I believe he went to Ruskin College , Oxford and got in at Sheffield University , as he was far from thick and a good old school Political Historian . Needless to say he was very bitter about the TUC . Thatcher used those Nottingham Miners and their Democratic Union ?

I've seen Police being interviewed and their view it was " Payback time " for all those deliberate pay rises , Harry Enfield's " Loads of Money " was a telling satire of that era . I remember going to a Tottenham football match , and a Spurs fan set fire to a £5 note in front of me , I just p***ed myself laughing !- so childish , at Arsenal ( are you watching Tommo ? ) the Gooners were waving £10 notes at us . I believe Met Coppers used to wave their overtime money at the miners .

" There is no such thing as society , only the individual " - Thatcher was going into some very dangerous areas with radical right wing policies with New Authoratarism , however she had a landslide majority with Labour being split with the SDP , Foot rather than Healey as Leader , the Falklands War wild card coming up trumps and no constitution in Parliament , like or loathe her , she played the game for real .

There is an element of that Essex 80's / 90 's Man type with Royal Mail Senior Management and the Area managers doing their bidding with all that boardroom bravado i.e . " We've had the Miners , now this " and certain union strongholds being deliberately targeted like Burslem , Bristol , Liverpool etc , but perverse " moral " crusades " being put in to make things look "respectable" with their corrupt dodgy fit ups targeted at reps and activists .

A bit more subtle than those absolutely disgraceful police frame ups with the miners but the same insidious mentality . Fortunately RM's arrogance & instuitionalized stupidity usually turns out to be RM's Achilles Heel .

[Yahoorsur]

miners strike 1984-lessons to be learnt.


1)DONT GO ON STRIKE IN THE SPRING WHEN THEY HAVE MASSIVE STOCKPILES OF COAL

2)A SECRET BALLOT WOULD HAVE HELD THE UNION TOGETHER( and yes I know there were difficulties in getting this through the executive)

3)Pick your fights,dont let the bosses pick them for you.

And I bow to no one in support of the miners in 84,father,friends all out for a year,theres lads in my office who still wont talk to that scab from Low Valleyfield,but we lost and the former mining areas all over the UK are still living with the cost of that defeat.
I dont think we will ever see anything like it again in my lifetime.Well at least untill we have our peaceful revolution

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thanks guys.

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miners strike 1984-lessons to be learnt.


1)DONT GO ON STRIKE IN THE SPRING WHEN THEY HAVE MASSIVE STOCKPILES OF COAL

2)A SECRET BALLOT WOULD HAVE HELD THE UNION TOGETHER( and yes I know there were difficulties in getting this through the executive)

3)Pick your fights,dont let the bosses pick them for you.

And I bow to no one in support of the miners in 84,father,friends all out for a year,theres lads in my office who still wont talk to that Strike Breaker from Low Valleyfield,but we lost and the former mining areas all over the UK are still living with the cost of that defeat.
I dont think we will ever see anything like it again in my lifetime.Well at least untill we have our peaceful revolution

this is from Scargill himself------------------"A question that has been raised time and time again over the past 25 years is: why did the union not hold a national strike ballot? Those who attack our struggle by vilifying me usually say: "Scargill rejected calls for a ballot."

The real reason that NUM areas such as Nottinghamshire, South Derbyshire and Leicestershire wanted a national strike ballot was that they wanted the strike called off, believing naively that their pits were safe.

Three years earlier, in 1981, there had been no ballot when miners' unofficial strike action - involving Notts miners - had caused Thatcher to retreat from mass closures (nor in 1972 when more than a million workers went on strike in support of the Pentonville Five dockers who had been jailed for defying government anti-union legislation).

McGahey argued that the union should not be "constitutionalised" out of taking action, while the South Wales area president, Emlyn Williams, told the NEC on 12 April 1984: "To hide behind a ballot is an act of cowardice. I tell you this now ... decide what you like about a ballot but our coalfield will be on strike and stay on strike."

However, NUM areas had a right to ask the NEC to convene a special national delegate conference (as we had when calling the overtime ban) to determine whether delegates mandated by their areas should vote for a national individual ballot or reaffirm the decision of the NEC to permit areas such as Scotland, Yorkshire, South Wales and Kent to take strike action in accordance with Rule 41.

Our special conference was held on 19 April. McGahey, Heathfield and I were aware from feedback that a slight majority of areas favoured the demand for a national strike ballot; therefore, we were expecting and had prepared for that course of action with posters, ballot papers and leaflets. A major campaign was ready to go for a "Yes" vote in a national strike ballot.

At the conference, Heathfield told delegates in his opening address: "I hope that we are sincere and honest enough to recognise that a ballot should not be used and exercised as a veto to prevent people in other areas defending their jobs." His succinct reminder of the situation we were in opened up an emotional debate to which speaker after speaker made passionate and fiercely argued contributions.

Replying to that debate, I said: "This battle is certainly about more than the miners' union. It is for the right to work. It is for the right to preserve our pits. It is for the right to preserve this industry ... We can all make speeches, but at the end of the day we have got to stand up and be counted ... We have got to come out and say not only what we feel should be done, but do it because if we don't do that, then we fail."

McGahey, Heathfield and I had done the arithmetic beforehand, and were truly surprised that when the vote was taken, delegates rejected calls for a national strike ballot and decided instead to call on all miners to refuse to cross picket lines - and join the 140,000 already on strike. We later learned that members of one area delegation had been so moved by the arguments put forward in the debate that they'd held an impromptu meeting and switched their vote in support of the area strikes in accordance with Rule 41."

[k979aaa]

miners strike 1984-lessons to be learnt.


1)DONT GO ON STRIKE IN THE SPRING WHEN THEY HAVE MASSIVE STOCKPILES OF COAL

2)A SECRET BALLOT WOULD HAVE HELD THE UNION TOGETHER( and yes I know there were difficulties in getting this through the executive)

3)Pick your fights,dont let the bosses pick them for you.

And I bow to no one in support of the miners in 84,father,friends all out for a year,theres lads in my office who still wont talk to that Strike Breaker from Low Valleyfield,but we lost and the former mining areas all over the UK are still living with the cost of that defeat.
I dont think we will ever see anything like it again in my lifetime.Well at least untill we have our peaceful revolution

this is from Scargill himself------------------"A question that has been raised time and time again over the past 25 years is: why did the union not hold a national strike ballot? Those who attack our struggle by vilifying me usually say: "Scargill rejected calls for a ballot."

The real reason that NUM areas such as Nottinghamshire, South Derbyshire and Leicestershire wanted a national strike ballot was that they wanted the strike called off, believing naively that their pits were safe.

Three years earlier, in 1981, there had been no ballot when miners' unofficial strike action - involving Notts miners - had caused Thatcher to retreat from mass closures (nor in 1972 when more than a million workers went on strike in support of the Pentonville Five dockers who had been jailed for defying government anti-union legislation).

McGahey argued that the union should not be "constitutionalised" out of taking action, while the South Wales area president, Emlyn Williams, told the NEC on 12 April 1984: "To hide behind a ballot is an act of cowardice. I tell you this now ... decide what you like about a ballot but our coalfield will be on strike and stay on strike."

However, NUM areas had a right to ask the NEC to convene a special national delegate conference (as we had when calling the overtime ban) to determine whether delegates mandated by their areas should vote for a national individual ballot or reaffirm the decision of the NEC to permit areas such as Scotland, Yorkshire, South Wales and Kent to take strike action in accordance with Rule 41.

Our special conference was held on 19 April. McGahey, Heathfield and I were aware from feedback that a slight majority of areas favoured the demand for a national strike ballot; therefore, we were expecting and had prepared for that course of action with posters, ballot papers and leaflets. A major campaign was ready to go for a "Yes" vote in a national strike ballot.

At the conference, Heathfield told delegates in his opening address: "I hope that we are sincere and honest enough to recognise that a ballot should not be used and exercised as a veto to prevent people in other areas defending their jobs." His succinct reminder of the situation we were in opened up an emotional debate to which speaker after speaker made passionate and fiercely argued contributions.

Replying to that debate, I said: "This battle is certainly about more than the miners' union. It is for the right to work. It is for the right to preserve our pits. It is for the right to preserve this industry ... We can all make speeches, but at the end of the day we have got to stand up and be counted ... We have got to come out and say not only what we feel should be done, but do it because if we don't do that, then we fail."

McGahey, Heathfield and I had done the arithmetic beforehand, and were truly surprised that when the vote was taken, delegates rejected calls for a national strike ballot and decided instead to call on all miners to refuse to cross picket lines - and join the 140,000 already on strike. We later learned that members of one area delegation had been so moved by the arguments put forward in the debate that they'd held an impromptu meeting and switched their vote in support of the area strikes in accordance with Rule 41."

The lessons that can be learned from this is we do live in a democracy and everyone must have their say come what may we should abide by the decision of the many not the few!. But if anyone thinks their office be it mail center or delivery office or even head office is safe they are wrong we all have the right too free speech on here thanks too postman and his admin team!. The miners of the time did not have the power of communication we now have we can have the power too convince and too respect one another and long may this continue on here.

[Lounge Lizard]

Lesson to be learnt from the 1984 miners strike ;
DON'T vote Conservative.

[fedupSK]

hear,hear ive always voted labour but after attending the cwu demo outside the party conference in manchester i am still singing are you tories in disguise! :mfo its heartwarming to hear strike breakers(far too nice a word for them) are being treated with the contempt they deserve! :cfo