In preparation for government, Conservative Nicholas Ridley prepared a report on the publicly owned industries, which suggested ways in which a showdown . Scargill used this as an opportunity to call a nationwide strike against the planned pit closures. British mines were largely shaft based deep mines, which are totally uncompetitive with open cast mining. Twice a week we compile our most fascinating features and deliver them straight to you. The use of troops to move essential goods was seriously considered, as was the declaration of a state of emergency and changing the law to enable this. And the trade unions believed the government had a long-term strategy to close more than 70 pits. There was no settlement, and Thatchers government hadnt made a single concession. News. As leader of the Yorkshire miners during the national strike in 1974, he helped pioneer more radical labor organization tactics (such as sending picketers to specific plants to halt transportation of coal) that made that strike such a success. Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning, Confrontation between riot police and miners at the Orgreave coke works in South Yorkshire, June 1984. On the other side of the looming battle over coal was Arthur Scargill, who became president of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) in 1981. T hirty years ago, Margaret Thatcher branded striking miners "the enemy within". Neil Kinnock makes a speech with Arthur Scargill in the background Neil Kinnock has revealed that during the Miners' Strike 30 years ago he felt more "helpless" than at any time in his life.. The final mine, Kellingley in North Yorkshire, closed for good in 2015. That would have seriously escalated the conflict. It was only as a result of the IRA bomb attack on her Brighton hotel that she was prevailed upon to drop the line as too divisive. Two words made Margaret Thatcher provoke that strike; one was Arthur, the other was Scargill - and it was coal industry boss Ian MacGregor's job to bring the miners down at any cost. For other inquiries, Contact Us. Mining had provided generations with a steady income, homes for life and a strong sense of belonging. And their coal seams were relativel. They reveal Mrs Thatcher engaged in battle micro-management worthy of a Monty or Wellington. How Thatcher broke the miners' strike but at what cost? 55,000 walk out in protest at closure. As they prepared to march back to work on that frosty morning in March 1985, the men of Grimethorpe Colliery had no idea of the destruction to come. We'll have another and we'll win." The British Miners' Strike of 1984-85 was a result of that intention. HISTORY reviews and updates its content regularly to ensure it is complete and accurate. His use of so-called flying pickets striking miners sent to specific plants, usually to prevent the transportation of coal had been a notable success in the strike of 1974, and his forceful personality had brought him to national attention. Deep mining for coal was already on its death bed by 1984 as cheaper exports from abroad combined with a reluctance on the part of government to continue with subsidies, a changing energy culture and a rising environmental movement all conspired against the industry. As the strike dragged on, Thatchers government held firm. Two weeks later, the Soviet news agency, TASS, reported that the Russian miners had given 500,000 to the NUM strike fund. However, as funds ran dry and families found it harder and harder to put food on the table, destitute miners started to trickle back to work through picket lines where they were branded scabs and sometimes physically assaulted. Coal stocks would last only six weeks, after which Britain would shut down and people would demand concessions. These will bring together those former miners and their support groups who fought for their jobs in the late 1970s and early eighties, culminating in the Great Miners' Strike of 1984/85. As Mr Redwood put it: you cant offer a fudged ending by negotiations and at the same time pursue a strategy of defeating the miners through a war of attrition. Paul Symonds, a miner at Frickley Colliery during the strike, says: One lesson is this: they were much better organised than we were. . Margaret Thatcher 'planned miners battle as soon as she became prime minister' . There was little point in delaying the inevitable. I asked Mr Redwood whether this language was justified in secret, official advice from the Downing Street policy unit. The. ", Les Lee/Daily Express/Hulton Archive/Getty Images). The miners' strike of 1984-1985 was a major industrial action within the British coal industry in an attempt to prevent colliery closures. The pit closures the miners had fought so hard to prevent began in earnest. This turnaround in steels fortunes made it possible for Thatcher to privatise the industry something she also had in mind for coal. - Thatcher hadn't provoked miners in 81 - paid them off and gave into demands - thought with the miners out, fuel would run drive and economy would grind to a halt so Thatcher would be forced to choose between 3 day week or submission to miners demands Gov/Thatcher at fault - prepared for a showdown for a long time The forces of the state were mobilised against the shock troops of organised labour. The miners' strike was a public and political battle whose symbolic importance was well understood at the time. An orgy of police violence was followed by a failed attempt to prosecute 95 miners for riot on the basis of false evidence. Photograph: Photofusion/Rex, Thatcher was to call Labour and miners enemy within in abandoned speech, Thatcher papers reveal attack on Kinnock toned down after IRA bomb, Margaret Thatcher and the 1984 conference speech that never was in pictures, Hilary Mantel reveals she fantasised about killing Margaret Thatcher, Move to name Madrid square after Thatcher criticised as 'disrespectful', 40k Margaret Thatcher portrait sparks Tory party donation query, the Tory prime minister intended to extend the charge of seditious insurrection, police and security services to infiltrate and undermine the miners union, the book I wrote about that secret war against the miners The Enemy Within, most infamously at the Orgreave coking plant, the miners strike was more than a defence of jobs and communities. So, was it a good thing that the miners lost? Thatcher was told by the then cabinet secretary, Sir Robert Armstrong, there was nothing he could do about it. Toggle search. The Redwood memo frames the dispute in a whole new way: he says the extreme left is mounting an extra-parliamentary challenge, with a revolutionary strategy. As they mulled what to do the cabinet was shown an opinion poll, which had been done in secret. As the months went by, life for the miners and their families got progressively harder. By 1992, Grimethorpe Colliery had ceased operating and the miners had all been made redundant. The chilling catchphrase embodied her governments scorched earth onslaught on Britains mining communities and gave the green light for the entire state to treat the miners union as outlaws. 82 votes, 15 comments. All were enemies of democracy, she planned to tell the Tory conference, the publication of her private papers now reveals. In the great miners' strikes of 1972 and 1974, miners had picketed coke depots and power stations. Subscribe to Iconic: http://bit.ly/zVEuIYMargaret Thatcher speaking about what she calls the recalcitrant minority of the miners union. They thought, as Conservative policy chief John Redwood put it, the National Coal Board (NCB) was crumbling. Margaret Thatcher 1925-2013: How she bashed miners and the unions but backed yuppies After Baroness Thatcher's death at 87 , we look back at the strikes, riots and yuppie boom Image: John Harris)
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