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Miners Strike 1984

Quitelife

Gripping part 2 of Miners Strike 1984 just over on channel 4 showing lots of police brutality against striking miners in England from 40 years ago , it seems Margaret Thatcher was determined to smash the English working class which never recovered from what happened in that strike , meanwhile Thatcher and her Tory backers got very rich from privatisation, cheap foreign labour etc .

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Birneybau

It's on here and in general, it's a fantastic totally free streaming service (with a few ads)

https://www.channel4.com/

A2LUE42

It was a very turbulent time. The killing of David Wilkie always stands out in my mind. No idea why that one in particular.

scudzilla

it was a mad time, i grew up on North Wales, at the time South Wales was destroyed, whole villages were affected overnight as nearly all the inhabitants were employed directly by the mine, others relied on the miners spending, and when they didn't have money obviously couldn't spend.

My dad used to watch the news every night and every night you'd see footage of police beating up miners, they'd get a few scabs go in to work and they'd protect them, strikers were trying to stop scabs getting in but were destroyed by Thatchers private army (police).

Its well documented that a lot of the police, who came in from as far away as London to the welsh and Yorkshire mines, were able to afford to buy houses with the overtime they earned from this.

This was one of the main reasons why Thatchers death was celebrated in Yorkshire and The Valleys

Gloomtastic!

And then you had Arthur Scargill.

Like all heads of trade unions he started off with a small house and a big trade union and ended up with a big house (paid for by stealing donations from Libya and Russia to the striking miners) and a small trade union.

Never, ever trust a socialist.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Scargill

Str8outtaWuhan

Unions infiltrated by USSR thatcher did the right thing.

scudzilla

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121709234#Comment_121709234

No she didn't, she destroyed towns, communities and families, what she did was horrendous.

Quitelife

Thatcher was a nasty lady, not content with attacking the Nationalists of Northern Ireland she destroyed so many working class towns and villages of England & Wales , she was only ever concerned with London & her wealthy Tory buddies .

z80CPU

Thatchers right hand man was norman Tebbit

His solution to self improvement was to "Get on your bike", well, because that's what Tebbit's dad did!

Pr|ck

[Deleted User]

It just shows how society has moved on, the police beating the head of someone would be an outrage today, the police occupy a much more contested place in UK society than they do in Ireland.

Fallout2022

She had a years reserve of coal to fuel the nation built up before she took them on. So the strikes were never going to work anyway. Would never lead to shortages. The workers and unions would eventually run out of money. It was a very deliberate, surgical and ruthless take-down.

scottser

It's a pity the IRA never got her at Brighton.

I.R.Y.E.D

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121712980#Comment_121712980

There are a good few British people who agree.

ancapailldorcha

It's a classic case of the cure being worse than the disease. Heavy industry like mining was never going to be sustainable in a globalised world. Thatcher of course was a staunch market liberal and believed in letting the market take over, ie letting these places rot. There's a reason that most of Northern Europe's poorest areas are in the UK.

cheese sandwich

Very good series. Thatcher was a vicious woman who carried out class warfare on the miners. But the NUM was terribly led by Scargill who was more interested in fighting a political battle with the Conservatives than in working for his members

L.Ball

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121709232#Comment_121709232

He wasn't a real socialist, real socialism has never been tried.

Duke of Schomberg

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121712980#Comment_121712980

Wasn't exactly a surgical strike was it? - a typical cowardly IRA action that put the lives of many innocents at risk.

The miners' strike wasn't just about jobs it was about whole communities that were built around the pits - the pits provided the jobs (and the jobs supported the shops and pubs), and the National Coal Board provided the houses. Visit these communities now - once proud (but rough) places, they are desolate.

Arthur Scargill knew what was coming, but why he played his hand the way he did - when he would have had a lot of support - is beyond me. West Yorkshire/South Yorkshire/Derbyshire/Nottinghamshire/Leicestershire/Lancashire constabularies (in whose force areas the strikes took place) would have had many officers who were sympathetic to the miners, which is why officers were bussed in from areas outside mining communities (such as the Metropolitan Police, which unlike other constabularies was not then under local control but under the control of the Home Office).

gmisk

Watched all three episodes really well done documentary, only really knew the basics so found it really interesting. Coincidentally re-watched the excellent Pride recently which has some cross over.

[Deleted User]

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121710047#Comment_121710047

The IRA bombed the Grand Hotel in Brighton, October 1984. Morrissey subsequently praised the bombers.

Also worth a listen - https://www.rte.ie/culture/2023/0818/1399362-how-the-smiths-irish-tour-turned-incendiary-documentary-on-one/

Hamsterchops

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058334296/miners-strike-1984

You say "it seems Margaret Thatcher was determined to smash the English working class" but as I remember it Mrs T was out to smash the grip of the Trade Unions, and in particular the NUM (National Union of Mineworkers) headed by Arthur Scargill, who detested Mrs Thatch, herself being the daughter of a shopkeeper as far as I recall. Not sure she was anti working class though, as she wanted people in council houses to have the opportunity to actually purchase them from the council. Admittedly she was very heavy handed when it came to battling with the NUM, and in particular Mr Scargill.

I remember the police horses charging.....

Slightly Kwackers

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121709263#Comment_121709263

She was right to a point, but went too far.

I don't think miners were treated that badly, they were well paid in comparisin to myseld anyway. Friends that left school in the seventies were on five times what I was paid for full time work.

The miners were seen as a threat when Heath went to the country. There was a three day week because of the energy crisis and the miners saw their opportunity so along came the three day working week and Heath went to the country rather than submit to blackmail from the miners unions.

The great British public don't like discomfort and didn't like the cut in pay either, so they ousted Heath and put in Laboutr who paid up and ended the strike.

That was the worst move the voters would make until Brexit.

Some unions misused their power and Maggie waded in. Her remedy was well over the top, she hated unions and what the miners did.

The UK is still paying a heavy price for Maggies approach.

Atlantic Dawn

Very well done, without the video evidence the accused miners would likely have been jailed for rioting.

beachhead

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121713239#Comment_121713239

Including a lot of pensioners

donaghs

If Thatcher hadn’t taken on the Miners Union, how much longer would coal mining have persisted in the UK?

Coal miners mining was increasingly unprofitable and reliant on government subsidies. Coal usage was in decline, and there were cheaper imports undercutting Uk coal. The environmental issue was looming too - both from the immediate health affects to long-term climate change, it’s clear that coal had to go. Perhaps a more humane way to deal with the issue was a more gradual shutdown of the industry, and providing alternative sources of employment. But has anyone ever really solved that thorny question of replacing obselete industries?

For all the hand-wringing about the miners strike etc, when the first new coal mine was announced for the Uk (2022), the Labour Party and “progressive” people of all stripes were horrified by the impact on the climate etc.

https://amp.theguardian.com/environment/2022/dec/07/uk-first-new-coalmine-for-30-years-gets-go-ahead-in-cumbria

hoodie6029

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121722767#Comment_121722767

She and her government used the money from council house purchases to fund tax cuts for the wealthy. The money wasn’t reinvested in more housing or social programs.

North Sea oil money was squandered in the same way. In Norway, a sovereign wealth fund was created to manage their oil money for the future generations. Norway was as poor as Ireland until the 60’s and look at it now.

She was no hero. The state purposely stockpiled coal for years after the previous strike when Ted Heath had to relent to the miners of face bankrupting the Country.

They knew Scargill would never give in either. It was always going to be a brutal battle.

Hamsterchops

Three shredded wheat Vs The Thatch

You'd have to be of a certain age to get that

end of the road

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121713355#Comment_121713355

fighting a political battle was the only way he could fight for the workers.

he was up against a woman who would have gone to no lengths to put down the workers.

cheese sandwich

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121791076#Comment_121791076

He alienated many of his members by his undemocratic behaviours, allowing Thatcher to divide and rule. She was blessed with having Scargill as her opponent because it split the miners and allowed her to portray the strike as a battle for the rule of law rather than working class communities trying to protect their jobs and way of life.

[Deleted User]

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121712768#Comment_121712768

Keeping coal mines open today would also be an outrage when imported coal would be cheaper and less pollutant to the Uk countryside.

[Deleted User]

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121791331#Comment_121791331

Bit of a u unusual response, 40 years later is there any movement to reopen coal mines in tbe UK?

donaghs

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121791580#Comment_121791580

Read the thread :)

when the conservatives announced a new coal mine, all those Labour people mourning the pit closures then were outraged about the impact on climate change.

https://amp.theguardian.com/environment/2022/dec/07/uk-first-new-coalmine-for-30-years-gets-go-ahead-in-cumbria