25 Years Ago
I was only a child during the Miner’s Strike of 1984-85, but I remember it. My parents were left-wing and politically active, so even though we weren’t directly affected by the strike, I was very aware of it, and what was going on. It’s also reasonably to say that we were indirectly affected, in terms of them being politically active, there was obviously a lot going on…
In the cold light of history, the miner’s strike was a victory for Margaret Thatcher and the coal industry. After a year, the strike came to an end, and the remaining strikers went back to work; the Government and Coal industry got what they had been after. But what has remained with me was not so much the outcome of the strike, but the way the machinery of the state and big business swept into action against the miners.
The “winners” were big business. The losers were miners, miners’ families, and all of the other families torn apart by the strike. In some respects however, miners’ families, and in particular the women, were also winners. The miners’ wives and partners became active initially in setting up soup kitchens and the like, but also taking a more political role, a more active role, and whereas previously the miners had tended to be socially very small-c conservative in terms of women, a lot of the women took on greater responsibility and more actively embraced equality. But that was a grassroots, longer term shift in attitude. The strike itself was won by big business, thanks to the big business machinery they rolled into action.
The day to day reporting from the media was misleading, never really allowing the arguments of the strikers to be given equal value (or anything approaching it) with that of the Coal Board. The police were used as a weapon of the state against the miners (police being told to look to target Arthur Scargill, the miners leader, and find reasons to prosecute him), with one of the worst examples of the machinery of the state being used against the miners being from the generally quite trustworthy BBC.
In relation to what was dubbed ‘The Battle of Orgreave’, the BBC showed footage of striking miners throwing hails of stones at the police, eventually provoking a police baton charge to try and quell the stone-throwing. However, this footage had actually been reversed by the BBC, and the stone-throwing by the miners was actually a response to being repeatedly baton charged by the police. It took until 1991 for the BBC to apologise, although they still claimed that the footage had been ‘inadvertently reversed’ (but if this was the case, why didn’t they admit it at the time?). Also in 1991, South Yorkshire Police were paid out £425,000 (and a further £100,000 in costs) to miners arrested at the time who claimed unlawful arrest.
Police brutality at the time was quite horrific: strikers and supporters were indiscriminately beaten including people just stood with cameras.
And more than anything else, that is what stayed with me. As a child, I had thought that things like the police and the media were independent and didn’t take sides. I thought the police just went for the “baddies” (and sure, there were some amongst the miners who were violent and deserved arrest), but I was shocked that the police were entirely indiscriminate about who they beat and brutalised. I had thought the police were supposed to be better than that. I do understand that it wasn’t necessarily easy: that they were scared too, but that’s precisely why policing ought to be such an important job and ought to be above political concerns.
Now I’m not claiming the behaviour of the striking miners was exemplary either: it wasn’t comfortable or even safe to be a strike-breaker. A taxi driver was killed simply for taking a miner to work. I can understand tensions running high: when I have taken part in a one-day strike before, I have been very annoyed at people who choose not to take part, earning money that I have given up to fight for a pay rise that they will also benefit from. That ‘strikes’ me as somewhat unfair, and I can understand tensions running high… but that wouldn’t mean it’s right to attack those people.
But while it opened my 9-year old eyes to the ‘real world’ to a great degree, what I also remember, and what I think is the great tragedy was the damage done to families. I remember seeing families split up: some family members who were effectively starved back to work, while other members of the family continued striking. I remember the resentment, the hate and the bitterness you’d see expressed on television. The faces of parents looking through piles of toys which had been donated to try and find something they could give to their children for Christmas.
I remember these people suffering; the families forced out of their homes; families split up; resentments, bitterness and the continuing human cost. And that for me is the tragedy: the real human suffering not only because many families had no money at all coming in for a year — no help with school meals for their children, nothing — but also the inevitable hatred and bitterness splitting up families as many people were starved back to work.
For many people, on both sides of the divide, the Miner’s Strike will have left memories, even scars, that will be carried forever. But it’s the suffering I remember, and that’s why I view it mostly with sadness.
I don’t necessarily think it’s right that when I think of certain individuals, now very aged and suffering from dementia, I think it’s appropriate that they are suffering. Or at least, until I remember the callous indifference and contempt with which the suffering families of the striking miners were treated — that she saw that level of human suffering as necessary to defeat the unions — and then I remember the line about why I wouldn’t piss on her grave.
‘Cos I hate queuing.
25 years on from the miners strike, then, there’s two things it brings back to me. Firstly, is the sadness at the suffering caused; the people with no money whatsoever coming in, continuing to struggle on because they were fighting for what they believed was right. Secondly, and more personally, the Miners’ Strike represents a loss of innocence: this was when I stopped believing that life was going to be inherently fair.
Andy Mabbett says:
March 5th, 2009 at 12:11 am
“the stone-throwing by the miners was actually a response to being repeatedly baton charged by the BBC.” Damn those baton-wielding media luvvies!
JackP says:
March 5th, 2009 at 12:19 am
Whoops. Corrected to ‘the police’. I admit I was saying the BBC showed bias, but they weren’t actually baton-charging the strikers, so far as I recall.
Matt says:
March 5th, 2009 at 12:43 am
Depends on what you believe is fair mate, I come from a mining area, although not a mining family, and my old man to this day hates scargill as he tried to take the government of the day to the point when it was far cheaper to buy in than to produce.
Take that up a level would you as a consumer pay £100 for your shopping at xyz when you could pay £50 at abc, the only reality is free market, any person will get what they need for as little as they can, and would be stupid not to (certain ethical standards aside)
Personally I have little issue with her, I do not agree with much of what she did, but afer the 3 day week and cap in hand to the IMF of Callaghan I think it was a necessary evil. Personally I feel the current govermnent which has generated 30k of debt for ever man woman and chid in the country, taken us to ilegal wars and made most of criminals through passing badly thought out laws and legislation deserves my 30% proof urine splached on their graves at least as much.
We have a similar situation now, certain issues are presented by the media with a massive slant upon them, and this current government has probably passed more laws, against democracy then all previous. We now cannot protest in parliment square, take pictures of police, and have out own tax money used to lecture us on what we can eat and drink based on pure conjecture.
On a personal level “fair” has changed meaning, it means I pay x to use a certain facility wheras someone else pays x – y (of which I pay a proportion of y) is that fair? Again it all depends on slant and ideology.
If this scans badly I know you posted this on a time delay, and I replyed after one ot two sherberts.
paul canning says:
March 5th, 2009 at 12:37 pm
I recall it as revenge by the Tories for how the miners had helped bring down the Heath government. I also remember different police forces had different reps – the Met’s was the worst. It was class war but it did have a couple of unintended, unpredicted good side effects.
One was reducing C02 emissions, another was the Labour Party in 85 adopting a comprehensive gay rights policy, against Kinnock’s opposition.
This was because of the lesbian and gay solidarity and work for the miners, the unions payed back at the following year’s party conference.
It was an amazing time. I can still remember well when we visited the Dulais Valley in South Wales (which we ‘twinned’ with and raised money for). There was a community van with a pink triangle on the side left as a legacy! After the strike they brought their lodge banner on the Pride march and loads of miners and their families came down.
mark says:
March 5th, 2009 at 1:42 pm
why do you think they tried to get rid of all the unions?
i personally don’t side with unions in this light – if i don’t like the working conditions i signed up for i’ll look for another job.
you’ll probably find that a large proportion of those miners paid their union subs for years without ever thinking they’d be forced to walk out on the jobs they were quite happy in. then when they did eventually go back to work the industry was knackered.
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