Miners Strike 1984

The Battle for Britain tonight 9pm, Channel 4

Tom Barrow directs this gripping three-part series exploring the lasting psychological and sociopolitical impact of the horrifically divisive miners’ strike. The opener centres on Shirebrook, a Derbyshire pit village that was so bitterly divided that it was dubbed “the Belfast of England”. There are first-hand testimonials from former striking miners and those who chose to work, eliciting previously untold accounts from that tumultuous year

I saw all that 'division' in Pemberton during the 1984 strike when I worked in a shop there, close communities became enemies, I remember striking miners refusing the come into the shop, when there was a working miner in there (a scab) I mainly spoke to the wives of the miners, and there was one, and she was a bit nowt, and when they were about to go on strike, we were having a natter about it and she said "I don't know why they are going on strike" to which I said "it's about the pit closures" to which she said "well if they are going to close them, they are going to close, going on strike isn't going to stop it, and he says well what will I do if they close them, and I said well you will have to get another job" that lady was a straight talker.

Thanks Firstmate,I will give it a watch.

Whups went on strike in 1984 and 40 years later he's still on strike!

Posted by: retep1949 (1164)
Thanks Firstmate,I will give it a watch.

Replied: 25th Jan 2024 at 11:16

Its also on channel 15, 4+1 at 10pm in case you miss it at 9pm

same as you flipperhead & at least i worked unlike you .

Summut about it int' paper

Unfortunately it's behind a paywall. You can find the article, bowt paywall on MSN, but I cannot link MSN.

I'll watch this on ' catch up' because I remember those times so well, Bad days for every working man, The Miners were a BIG community and when they had no money, the community suffered too, Thatcher planned it and a war took place which left the working class with no where to earn, from that came, high crime rates and high social security benefit claims,

yes & dont forget the steel & manufacturing decimated by thatcher .

Whups

Anything to do with us educating people in other countries on how to start and run a business with a cheaper wage bill of a workforce?

Sorry .I was on T'other side (Maggie's boot boys) we were called ..I saw it from both sides as her indoors family all worked in't put at that time. To be honest I never had any issues with striking miners . Didn't arrest any of them ..Enjoyed the Pey soup at Golborne Colliery though. It was a sad end to an industry .

Billinge Biker

Bet you never got any of the perks like a free foreign holiday like the storm troopers of the Metropolitan Police did in the Yokrshire and Nottinghamshire Coalfields.

Even the local police were appalled by their actions!

I was shocked at the level of violence used by that striking miners towards those wanting to work. Right at the very end of the programme a miner said, " I respected the right of the miners to strike, it's a pity they didn't offer me the same"

It was good to see the miners views and what happened.Communities were really split.

OC...never joined forces with any of the Met Police...Nothing surprises me...."Best Police Force that Money can BUY"

Billinge Biker

Were you at Orgreave ?

The Krays described the 'MET' as the biggest organised crime firm in the country.

'Operation Countryman' appeared to confirm their view.

so you wer,nt shocked at the level of violence used by thatchers private army then 1st mate ? .and that guy who said that lost everything because of it & why , because he lost his respect of his family & friends & in the end we were proved right & he was wrong.

Whupsy

Yoo were used as political pawns by Scargill to bring down the government, you were his troops, his canon fodder, and YES you were right about the hit list of pit closures, in 1984 I believed the list existed and so did everyone I spoke too about it, but that wasn't the reason for the strike, the Tories had, had ten years to prepare for the next confrontation with the miners, and the damage was done in 1972 when during that miners strike the power stations were picketed by flying pickets, which in effect meant that the power would stop to be generated in a matter of days, and then there was the mass flying picket at Saltley LINK

That was what 'forced' the heath government to conceded to the miners, and it was to easy for the miners, so they did it all again two years later in 1974 and they brought down a democratically elected government, and the Labour government just gave the miners what they wanted for the rest of the 1970s, but then after 1974, every bugger and his dog went on strike, the country was broke, they had to go cap in hand to the IMF in 1976 for a loan.

Whupsy, you are always making snidey comments to me about 'Thatcher' yoo accuse me of being a supporter of hers, but Whupsy, in life you should get to know your opponents, and get to know what you are up against, Scargill should have realised that Thatcher would never back down, and would do whatever it took to win, and a shrewd man would have realised that it may have been preferable to have waited until Thatcher had gone, before launching an attack, but Scargill was too thick to think that way ......

read her book 1stroke & you,ll see the truth . she wanted to take the miners on from day 1 & was talked out of it by willie whitelaw . we ALL knew that strike was coming & nothing to do with scargill or any other num offical . ask yourself this why the closure of pits was deliberately started in yorkshire ? ,and as for snide remarks you take the cream for that with snide remarks of scargill & the strike in general which we saw you deliberately put a thatcher pic on the miners blog . it,s people like you a "man mind thy self" attitude who are blinded for your love of all things thatcher & totally ignorant to the facts & besides us there,s the steel industry along with manufacturing she destroyed . get your facts right idiot . i bet you jump for joy when your gas or eleccy bill comes floating thru the door dont you , that,s another thatcher policy we are all lumbered with .

Ask workshy why he gladly accepts the Tory pension handouts It's all very well taking a stand but there's noway I would take money off people I hate!!! Over to you workshy let's see what bollocks you spout!

Posted by: eggbeater
"Tory pension handouts"

Can you please explain that
As far as I'm aware the state pension is not a "hand out" you have to work to earn it.

That's my point Cheshire whups never worked to earn it!! I agree hand out was the wrong phrase Cheshire whups is forever calling to tories yet rushes to collect their money the man's a hypocrite

T. T.S. No...only local...Golborne..Kirkless..Plank Lane.

Posted by: eggbeater
"Cheshire whups is forever calling to tories yet rushes to collect their money the man's a hypocrite"

Its not the tories money!
In all honesty do you seriously think and expect a non tory supporter to refuse to draw their pension because they are in power? Or if Labour, Lib Dems, Green party, Screaming Lord Looney party etc were in power, would you expect their non supporters to refuse to draw their pensions which they have worked for

Cheshirre Puss

"Screaming Lord Looney party etc"

Vote Looney


Yoo know it makes sense .....

That yellow hat doesn't do you any favours

I have watched all three episodes tonight online.

cheshire cat that bone idle fool eggflipper has,nt worked for more than 20yrs & doesnt know the meaning of the word work . the pension handouts he,s on about it seems he,s totally not informed about it as the government take half of the mineworkers pension before they get it leaving them with a pittance . as far as any claims they were entitled to the miners got around a quarter of any payments the other nationalised industries got the tory government saw to that . as for me i worked in the "far end" of the pit around 10yds from the coal face & dragged steel & timber or any other materials for the face & the tunnellers . that gobshite would,nt have lasted 10 minutes as he could,nt handle getting up in the morning .

Cheshire like I said I would not take money off people I hated as much as workshy hates the Tories! I call that hypocritical what would you call it? Some of us have morals workshy obviously does not!

Hard work haulage Whups

In 1937 Orwell wrote: “In the metabolism of the western world the coalminer … is a sort of grimy caryatid upon whose shoulders nearly everything … is supported.”

A caryatid is Greek for column.

Eggflips, What ever pension and severance the pit men got does not go anywhere near the amount they deserve, Illness and disablements from years sucking coal dust, working in dangerous caves miles underground and never seeing light, Many never knew there were seasons in a year, One of the miners in the program said, " if you need to use the toilet, you just do it where you can and bury it " There are thousands down the pit and they ALL need a toilet at least once in a 8 hour shift, So imagine the amount of raw sewage in any pit, they are effectively working in a live sewage every day,

your wasting your time there tom . all this fatboy does is swan around marsh green on a ducati motorbike all day which has been paid for by the benefits he claims & nothing else . he has,nt done a tap for over 20yrs then comes on here & slags those off who have . a sad & vindictive loser who has no respect for others on here .

I 've no idea who he is Brian but he comes across as a right boring get with a chip on his shoulders

yes he has colin a bigger chip than the rock of gibralter . hasnt done a tap in over 20yrs & scrounges as much in benefits as he can so he can carry on riding his italian bike paid for by benefits he claims . he lives in marsh green .

I have just watched the second episode of this. And it opened my eyes with what went on.

As well as admiring the miners you have to give the miners wives total credit for showing such loyalty and devotion to the cause by supporting their husbands / partners during such a difficult time.

The miners didn't deserve to be treated like that by the people that were supposed to be keeping the peace.
On a lighter note, I had a chuckle to myself about an ice cream van being there!

some on here wont agree with your comments cheshire cat even if the king said it was true .

So the last episode was last Thursday, and I learned a lot from that episode about how the strike was ended, which I did not know before, I knew bits and pieces, like a jigsaw with a lot of the pieces missing, but that third episode replaced the missing pieces and put the jigsaw together to form a complete picture of what happened in 1984.

In view of that I have a question, and that is this

In 1984 not only was the NUM has a force of Trade Union power decimated, but the power and force of the Trade Union movement has whole was decimated, "so WHO destroyed the unions in 1984, was it Margaret Thatcher OR was it Arthur Scargill or was it them both " ????

One aspect rarely mentioned was unity being shattered prior to the miners' strike.

Power workers and steelworkers had miners supporting their actions and withholding coal supplies. I do recall the bad feelings when both the latter refused in turn to support the miners' actions. Also the press and print unions losing jobs to 'electricians' created a much broader domain across which battle lines were drawn.

The High Court ruled the strike unlawful because a ballot of the members hadn't taken place. For refusing to hold a ballot the NUM were in contempt of court with their financial assets sequestrated.

Assets

The biased Tory judges ,strike action was agreed at national conference in line with union rules more Tory lies

that,s right handsome & we had a vote & gave our delegates the right to call a strike if necessary . but the torys on here wont agree with that & was it scargill or thatcher i think that question has been answered by how many pits are left in the country . ena the power union led by eric hammond was the main cause of the lack of unity in the unions but that,s no surprise as hammond was always a patsy for the tory government . just as a side issue gaffer the high court gave out sentences that were false & fabricated so-called "evidence" that was clearly shown by michael mansfield in court . looks like the judiciary was thatchers patsys to along with thatchers private army , the police.

From the New Statesman.

Full piece here.

Strike

Same pit, same seam, same club, same shop, same school, same family, same street – whichever side you were on, there was no alternative but to keep with it, nowhere to travel but in the direction of your own self-respect. Eight months into the strike and with winter coming on, benefits being cut and state planners targeting striking families to break their will, the cracks began to appear. The NUM was subjected to huge fines for contempt of court: Scargill had kept calling the strike “official” and “national” when everybody could see it wasn’t. Nacods (National Association of Colliery Overmen, Deputies and Shotfirers), which kept the pits safe, and open, withdrew support after yet more internecine wrangling. Then two young Merthyr miners were convicted of the murder of a Cardiff taxi driver ferrying a man to work. They had dropped a concrete block on his car from a bridge. They hadn’t meant to kill him but the moral damage was done. The strike began to crumble in January and by the end of March it was all over – although civil wars never end all at once. Strikers who were taken back were put on unpopular shifts in pointless parts of the pit. One of my former students wrote his dissertation by the light of his Davy lamp.

{{{ Intimidation }}}

In the 1980s a family friend who was a miner, was talking about the 1972 and 74 strikes, and he was talking about the new union legislation of the time forcing unions to hold secret ballots instead of having a show of hands, and he said that the problem was and not just in the mining industry, but in all industries, was that the union men and the militant rank and file knew which people did not want to go on strike, and so at a meeting they would place bully boys behind these people who did not want to go on strike, and when a show of hands was called for they would threaten workers by giving them a dig in their back and saying "put your hand up or we'll do you"

funny gaffer you never put on that the very 1st miner killed was a striking miner from yorkshire joe green ? . and 1stroke you shud stick to ripping off customers that you took regularly then ripped them off at christmas , now that,s wot i call intimidation & bully .

Whupsy

You are being very 'intimidating'

This isn't a show of hands

i,m sure there was one when they found out wot they had to pay .

Whups

The first miner to be killed was David Jones who was hit by a brick at Ollerton. Three months later Joe Green was crushed by a lorry at Ferrybridge. A very sad state of affairs for both families and the wider community.

!ore rubbish TTS

and you left that out did,nt you gaffer . i wonder why ? .

Whups

I posted a piece from the New Statesman. I had no need to add to it, it was about the outcome of Arthur Scargill playing fast and loose with the NUM rule book.

yes but why highlight the death of a WORKING MINER ? .

Them Tories find it very easy to lie ,from top to bottom

Whups

I didn’t highlight anything. I posted the paragraph that covered the beginning of the end of the strike and Arthur Scargill’s contribution to it. It was the author’s decision to include the death of the taxi driver.
If you’d broken the habit of years of rewriting history and accepted that the strike was unlawful according to the NUM rule book I wouldn’t have posted the New Statesman piece.

Whups

I didn’t highlight anything. I posted the paragraph that covered the beginning of the end of the strike and Arthur Scargill’s contribution to it. It was the author’s decision to include the death of the taxi driver.
If you’d broken the habit of years of rewriting history and accepted that the strike was unlawful according to the NUM rule book I wouldn’t have posted the New Statesman piece.

More rubbish gaffer

There is a documentary on BBC 2 next Sunday night at 9.00pm "Miners' Strike: A Frontline Story" LINK

so why did you put it in your reply in the 1st place ? .