He claimed that the government had a long-term strategy to destroy the industry by closing unprofitable pits, and that it listed pits it wanted to close each year. Without their support, victory for the miners looked uncertain as they were the best paid, with better conditions promised by Thatcher[13]. [38] Thatcher, Margaret. In the 1981 election for NUM president, Scargill secured around 70% of the vote. Page 39. Accessed October 12, 2018. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Benn. RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f Nigel Lawson describes how the government were able to persuade the working miners to cross the violent picket lines; Those who continued to work were portrayed as heroes (and behind the scenes a considerable amount of private money was raised to help them resist the Scargillite intimidation)[30]. Lawson takes an objective view of the events as his book was published in 1993 after a very public dispute with Thatcher where he eventually resigned. The Institute for Workers' Control was formed in 1968, building on a series of conferences over several years, to act as a research and educational body, to encourage discussion and communication between workers' control groups and trade unions, and to publish important materials on industrial democracy and workers' control. Nevertheless, this shows that the strike didnt fail from the lack of support in general, but rather the lack of support from key figures such as the Neil Kinnock from the Labour Party, as well as the Nottinghamshire miners who, if they had supported the miners, would have guaranteed a different outcome for the strike. Scargill was often accompanied by his then wife Anne Harper to speak at picket lines and to media appearances; Harper was simultaneously involved in founding and leading the National Women Against Pit Closures movement. I suggest to this Conference that we have coal mines with us but they did something about this problem: they closed them down. Travis, Alan. In 1965 he was elected Branch Delegate from Woolley to the Yorkshire NUM Area Council, and in 1969 was elected a member of the Yorkshire NUM Area Executive Committee. John Campbell argues that It was the job of the police to protect the freedom to work, and the job of the government to support the police[37]. [6] In 1970, he was elected a member of the regional committee of the Co-operative Retail Services in Barnsley and a delegate to its national conference. [32] Benn, Tony. [51] Scargill criticised Poland's Solidarity calling it an "anti-socialist organisation which desires the overthrow of a socialist state", which Scargill saw as deformed but reformable. The Truth of Nacods Shameful Sell-out. The Guardian. [53] He was not attending any of the events to commemorate the thirtieth anniversary of the 1984 strike at the NUM. [17] Still the Enemy Within (2014). IMDb. The View from No. Having read the above (barely, dont like reading lies) I felt the immediate need to respond, if anything to comfort myself. Another important factor in the failure of the miners strike was Thatcher and her governments actions during the strike such as using the police force. [33] Milne, Seumas. Love him or hate him a lot that Mr Scargill and the Minors stood against in the1970/80s has now come to fruition, the uprise ofThatcherism,greed is good, stand on your neighbour to get a head! [43] Marr, Andrew. The secretary at this time was a very good friend of mine called Jimmy Reid, and we're still close friends. var Logger = new EconBiz.Logger(); Because of Scargills actions, the strike was illegal, poorly supported and doomed to failure given the level of government preparations. [36] Thatcher, Margaret. Having examined a range of factors which led to the failure of the miners strike in 1984, it has become clear that it was easy to just blame the leadership of Arthur Scargill as the ultimate factor that led to the strikes failure. Looking for a flexible role? Dont forget that Labours manifesto at Kinnocks last election included a policy of leaving the bloc, and who knows what t was under Corbyn. Soup kitchens were set up to save miners and their families from starvation in nearly every small village[18]. Page 341. One of the main planks of his platform was to give more power to union conferences than to executive meetings, on the grounds that the former were more democratic. Essay Writing Service. I could write a million words and not be able to adequately describe the misery,hardship and dispare these leaders bought upon the people of this nation. If it wasnt for Thatchers continued support for the Nottinghamshire miners, the strike would have had their support which may have been vital in the success of the strike. London: Vintage Books, 2008. Scargill never balloted NUM members for a strike; this was seen as an erosion of democracy within the union, but the role of ballots in decision-making had been made very unclear after previous leader, Joe Gormley, had ignored two ballots over wage reforms, and his decisions had been upheld after appeals to court were made. His post-1985 decision to try and build a political organisation the so-called Socialist Labour Party turned out to be a disaster and created nothing more than a pathetic, personal bandwagon which spluttered briefly before the wheels fell off. How to find the correct spelling and folder, 404 Errors After Clicking WordPress Links, From the left-hand navigation menu in WordPress, click. A History of Modern Britain. [18], Miners were split between those who supported the strike and those who opposed it (see Union of Democratic Mineworkers). Scargill joined the Labour Party in 1962. The union is known for leading the longest as well as the most violent miners` strike in the history of British history. Scargill, Arthur. Not even many of the Stalinists he hangs round with. My Style of Government: The Thatcher Years. If your blog is showing the wrong domain name in links, redirecting to another site, or is missing images and style, these are all usually related to the same problem: you have the wrong domain name configured in your WordPress blog. Therefore, the argument that Scargills leadership could have been one of the reasons that the miners strike failed is partly true as we know that due to Scargills decision to not call a national ballot he ended up losing key supporters such as the Labour party and many members of the public who couldnt support the strike as it was unofficial and didnt favour Scargills violent tactics. January 26. [54] He gave a rare television interview to ITV News at that time. Page 161. [44] Thatcher, Margaret. "The strike wasn't just about Arthur Scargill or Margaret Thatcher, it was about a way of life. In the event, it turned out to be the exact blueprint that the government followed[21]. //
the myth of workers' control arthur scargill