In fact that date is misleading because the strike actually began on 1st March at Cortonwood Colliery, South Yorkshire. It was here that at the quarterly coal review meetings involving local management and the mining unions, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), the National Association of Colliery Overseers, Deputies and Shotfirers (NACODS) and the administration white collar unions, affiliated to the NUM.
It was at this meeting that National Coal Board (NCB) Area Director, George Hayes dropped the bombshell which would catapult the industry into the longest and most bitter dispute in British trade union history. The quarterly meeting took place next to Manvers Pit and it was usual to go through the pits in alphabetical order. However, that morning George Hayes:
indicated he wished to leave Cortonwood until last because there were special problems at the pit which required more attention and time (Striking Similarities Kevin Morley P.164).
They went through the other collieries as was the norm at these review meetings and any exhausted pits. it was agreed by all concerned. would close - miners cannot mine clay! This, however was different, the pit in question was not exhausted, far from it, the pithead showers and other facilities were being refurbished to accommodate miners redeployed from exhausted areas.
George Hayes had been instructed by the NCB in London to take out 400,000 tons of coal from production, and this was to be done by the end of the financial year March 31st. As part of their preparations for a showdown with the NUM, the Coal Board followed instructions from the Thatcher Government to deliver this message, knowing it would provoke a backlash” (Morley 165).
The arguments Hayes put forward, manufactured or otherwise for this closure, was one of economics. The pit in question was uneconomical, which it must be pointed out - it was not the purpose of nationalised industries to be profitable or economical within reason. Nationalised industries, including coal, were never supposed to be profitable, the P word here did not stand for profit, but provision. It was this announcement, on behalf of the para-fascist Prime Minister, Thatcher, which sparked off the year-long coal strike which resulted in deaths of six people including three teenagers and misery for thousands along with countless false arrests.
The strike had its historical background in 1974, a decade earlier, when the NUM brought down the government of Edward Heath. Margaret Thatcher was a member of Heath's cabinet, Education Secretary, and she saw this defeat at the hands of primarily the miners as an insult to herself. She swore revenge and had the name Arthur Scargill etched on her mind ever since. Although back then the National President of the union was Joe Gormley it was the Yorkshire Area President, Arthur Scargill, who organised the ‘flying pickets’ to other industries helping bring about the downfall of Heath. On the back of the strike Heath went to the electorate on the question; ‘who runs the country?’ The country decided not him and returned by a slender margin Harold Wilsons Labour Party to government. Wilson settled the dispute on the miners' terms, granting them the pay increase they had demanded and, indeed, deserved having fallen behind in recent years to other groups of workers.
A bitter and hate filled Margaret Thatcher waited for her chance, even if she had to lie through her teeth which she did ten years later. She succeeded Heath as leader of the Conservative Party after the 1974 election defeat. In 1979 Thatcher became Prime Minister and still had revenge for 1974 firmly in her sights irrespective of the damage she would cause.
‘Flying pickets’ began fanning out from Yorkshire after the Cortonwood bombshell, closing down Britain’s coal fields. On 6th March the strike was declared official by the NUM leadership which is why this date is misleadingly used as the starting date. There were demands from some areas for a national ballot, Nottinghamshire leading the charge for this. Let us be clear on this here and now, the strike was called by Thatcher who had calculated, correctly, that by closing a healthy pit like Cortonwood it would force the NUM to fight. No miner in their right mind would call a strike in the springtime for obvious reasons and Thatcher knew this, therefore she called it for them.
‘Flying pickets’ began fanning out from Yorkshire after the Cortonwood bombshell, closing down Britain’s coal fields. On 6th March the strike was declared official by the NUM leadership which is why this date is misleadingly used as the starting date. There were demands from some areas for a national ballot, Nottinghamshire leading the charge for this. Let us be clear on this here and now, the strike was called by Thatcher who had calculated, correctly, that by closing a healthy pit like Cortonwood it would force the NUM to fight. No miner in their right mind would call a strike in the springtime for obvious reasons and Thatcher knew this, therefore she called it for them.
The media dutifully and once again wrongly accused Scargill of calling the strike to deliberately undermine the government. This was a lie. The NUM leadership of Arthur Scargill, National President, Peter Heathfield, National Secretary, and Mick McGahey, leader of the Scottish miners and NUM Area President in Scotland, called a special delegates meeting of the National Executive Committee (NEC) for 19th April to discuss strategy and the possibility of a national strike ballot. Both Scargill and Heathfield did not get a vote here as they were not delegates, McGahey got a vote as a delegate for the Scottish miners. In the words of Arthur Scargill:
our special conference was held on 19th April. McGahey, Heathfield and I were aware from the feedback that a slight majority of the areas favoured the demand for a national ballot; therefore we were expecting and had prepared for that course of action with posters, ballot papers and leaflets. A major campaign was ready for a ‘yes’ vote in a national strike ballot.
This dispels the myth propagated by Thatcher and the media that Scargill had banned or “forebode” a “national ballot”. The leadership were prepared for such a ballot having got the machinery at the ready and were surprised by the NEC vote against a national ballot in favour of Rule 41.
At these special delegate meetings delegates from all over Britain’s coalfields all areas received a vote on whether to hold a national ballot or endorse Rule 41 of the NUM rule book. Rule 41 allows for an area-by-area strike without the need for a national ballot. It is the duty of any member of any trade union to abide by the union rule book and the NUM was no exception. It is also the duty of every delegate to put forward their area’s views, in this case a national ballot, forcefully and democratically. The Nottinghamshire delegates, Henry Richardson and Ray Chadburn, did their duty by the Nottinghamshire Miners by supporting the call for a ballot, which the majority of the Notts coalfield wanted. The vote of the NEC from Scotland to Kent voted to endorse Rule 41 and therefore no national ballot would be held. Richardson and Chadburn had done right by their members. They now, having lost the vote, had a duty to get behind the strike under Rule 41 which, in all fairness, they did. This vote by the democratically elected NEC legitimised the strike under NUM rules. The Nottinghamshire rank and file, with the exception of about 3,000 who went out on strike and stayed out for the duration, worked on despite this democratic decision by the NEC. North Derbyshire, another area which favoured a ballot but lost out democratically at the NEC at rank-and-file level took the national union to court because they had held a ballot in their area and voted against a strike and because the NUM had not had a national ballot, Rule 41 which had majority support nullified both arguments. The court of Lord Justice Nichols, not unexpectedly, ruled the strike was “illegal” because a ballot had not been held. This decision was, of course, bollocks because the NEC had legitimised the strike under NUM rules. It is at times such as these that a trade union has to say; fuck the law, we write the union rule book not the government or their courts. Once the day comes when a trade union allows the employer, in this case the British Government, to write their rule book then that is the day they should shut up shop. In the words of the late Sam McCluskey (National Union of Seamen, now part of the RMT):
At these special delegate meetings delegates from all over Britain’s coalfields all areas received a vote on whether to hold a national ballot or endorse Rule 41 of the NUM rule book. Rule 41 allows for an area-by-area strike without the need for a national ballot. It is the duty of any member of any trade union to abide by the union rule book and the NUM was no exception. It is also the duty of every delegate to put forward their area’s views, in this case a national ballot, forcefully and democratically. The Nottinghamshire delegates, Henry Richardson and Ray Chadburn, did their duty by the Nottinghamshire Miners by supporting the call for a ballot, which the majority of the Notts coalfield wanted. The vote of the NEC from Scotland to Kent voted to endorse Rule 41 and therefore no national ballot would be held. Richardson and Chadburn had done right by their members. They now, having lost the vote, had a duty to get behind the strike under Rule 41 which, in all fairness, they did. This vote by the democratically elected NEC legitimised the strike under NUM rules. The Nottinghamshire rank and file, with the exception of about 3,000 who went out on strike and stayed out for the duration, worked on despite this democratic decision by the NEC. North Derbyshire, another area which favoured a ballot but lost out democratically at the NEC at rank-and-file level took the national union to court because they had held a ballot in their area and voted against a strike and because the NUM had not had a national ballot, Rule 41 which had majority support nullified both arguments. The court of Lord Justice Nichols, not unexpectedly, ruled the strike was “illegal” because a ballot had not been held. This decision was, of course, bollocks because the NEC had legitimised the strike under NUM rules. It is at times such as these that a trade union has to say; fuck the law, we write the union rule book not the government or their courts. Once the day comes when a trade union allows the employer, in this case the British Government, to write their rule book then that is the day they should shut up shop. In the words of the late Sam McCluskey (National Union of Seamen, now part of the RMT):
I am sick to death of hearing about the law, the law is there to crush us, therefore times arise when such laws must be ignored.
The question of a national ballot due to press and media in general misinformation still goes on to this day. It was, and is, a fair question which deserves a fair answer which is given above, a democratic debate took place and a ballot voted down - it’s as simple as that. Even if Arthur Scargill had wanted to hold a ballot, he was powerless to call one as the governing body were the elected delegates of the NEC who voted for Rule 41. This decision to not hold a national strike ballot came as a surprise to the NUM leadership who, had it gone the other way in favour of a ballot, were prepared and had the machinery in motion for such an eventuality. Nothing dictatorial about it, as Mrs Thatcher claimed backed up by the liars in the press and on the news. No sinister terrorist tactics by the NUM, no cloak and dagger strategy just a plain old-fashioned vote. In fact the only dictator involved with the 1984/85 Miners Strike was Thatcher and her fascist styled police! Unlike Thatcher the NUM were a democratic union and abided by its rules as written by the union. Mrs Thatcher moved the goalposts when things did not go her way and the Miner’s Strike of 1984/85 for those of us around in those days showed the lengths the British state, particularly with a dictatorial Prime Minister like Thatcher, would go to crush working-class resistance. In this case opposition to pit closures and the destruction of jobs and communities. The leadership of the parliamentary Labour Party at the time, headed by Neil Kinnock showed at best tepid support for the NUM. There were exceptions like Tony Benn, Denis Skinner, Eric Heffer and Stan Orme but the shadow cabinet in general left a lot to be desired.
Next week I hope to look at the situation in Nottinghamshire during the strike and the alleged use of infiltrators and MI5 in that area. The case of the NACODS ballot will be looked at.
For further reading about the 1984/85 Miners Strike read Striking Similarities by Kevin Morley published by the Book Guild 2017 and The Enemy Within by Seumas Milne published by Verso 1994.
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| Caoimhin O’Muraile is Independent Socialist Republican and Marxist. |
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