Wilsher, Peter, Donald Macintyre, and Michael CE Jones, eds. After looking at the evidence, I believe that the Marxist view is more valid than the Mainstream media view in the fact that it is clear that Thatcher and her government went above and beyond in order to bring down Scargill and the miners. Yet Arthur Scargill clearly sees class struggle as just British workers versus British bosses. Therefore, this portrays the feelings of the majority of the miners who were on strike as they realised that this lack of support could determine the outcome of the strike. In March 2014, ex-miner John Cunningham attended the memorial meeting for the two Yorkshire miners killed in the strike, Davy Jones and Joe Green. He regularly attended Workers' Educational Association (WEA) classes and Co-operative Party educational programmes, and in 1962, undertook a three-year, part-time course at the University of Leeds, where he studied economics, industrial relations and social history. His major innovation was organising "flying pickets" involving hundreds or thousands of committed strikers who could be bussed to critical strike points to shut down a target. On any measure, Scargill was a failure who brought hardship down on those who followed him, now a pitiful figure. It turned into a confrontation with the Conservative government of Margaret Thatcher in which the miners' union was defeated. There was some controversy in February 1985 when Times journalist Paul Routledge engaged the Queen in discussion on the strike, and the Queen said that the strike was "all about one man", which Routledge objected to. The appointment of Ian McGregor as head of the NCB can also be argued as a factor in the failure of the strike as he was known to be notoriously formidable had no pity for the poor miners, and was determined to keep them working and living in conditions that no human being should be made to endure[24]. In fact, other factors such as the governments intense preparations came into play. The Myth of Workers' Control (booklet) Person/Body (Historic): Scargill, Arthur. Former Scargill loyalist Jimmy Kelly, a miner at the Edlington Main pit near Doncaster in the 1980s, said he was astonished to learn of the attempt to buy the flat. Scargill, once the hero of the miners, now cuts a rather sad, isolated figure and this is a complex post-1985 story. London: Verso, 2014. Scargill, Arthur, (1978) CONTESTING THE MARKET: PAY EQUITY AND THE POLITICS OF ECONOMIC . London: Fontana, 1992. The Miners Strike Day by Day: The Illustrated 1984-85 Diary of Yorkshire Miner Arthur Wakefield. Although he never worked at Barrow Colliery in his home village, he was involved in the politics of the branch, where the membership was much more left-wing than in the conservative Woolley Colliery. Arthur Scargill (born 11 January 1938)[1] is a British trade unionist who was President of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) from 1982 to 2002. On the other hand, the Marxist/Left Wing view suggests that the strike was part of Thatchers wider attack on political consensus and suggest that the miners could have won the strike had it not been for the concerted, illegal government campaign to smash the miners union, something they had been planning for some time. It was a defining moment in British industrial relations, and its defeat significantly weakened the trade union movement. Accessed October 10, 2018. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3815426/. RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f (1980), Scargill, Arthur, "Analysing the British miners' strike of 19845.". Seumas Milne argues that the miners had sued the police for assault, wrongful arrest, malicious persecution and false imprisonment and then went on to describe the battle of Orgreaves as an 8,000 riot police staged medieval-style mounted charges of unprecedented ferocity[33]. Like the onset of some cold glaucoma dimming away the world . If being ignored is the ultimate retribution forscargill, then he is a lucky man, for if he had espoused his views in some of the countrieswith which he wanted to align us, his best outcome would have been breaking rocks but more likely he would have disappeared never to be heard of again. of the other candidates claimed that they were given very little time to prepare. A History of Modern Britain. 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. Paul Hampton and Martin Thomas respond to Eric Lee on Clara Zetkin. "Goodbye to all that? He was the President of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) from 1981 to 2002 and has served as leader of the Socialist Labour Party, a political party he founded, since 1996. There are those on the would-be left who will willingly attempt to defend people accused of rape, individuals who beat their partners, those who think there is vast Jewish conspiracy against Corbyn, and elements that think trans people are mentally ill. Scargill seems to have almost no one to advocate for him. Thats why he can write one third of the worlds workers those who live in the Stalinist states out of the class struggle, allotting them no role but to support their socialist rulers. In this example the file must be in public_html/example/Example/. The strike ended on 3 March 1985 following an NUM vote to return to work. A former Labour Party member, Scargill is now leader of the Socialist Labour Party (SLP), founded by him in 1996. We've received widespread press coverage since 2003, Your UKEssays purchase is secure and we're rated 4.4/5 on reviews.co.uk. Do you have a 2:1 degree or higher? Therefore, Milnes interpretation is supported by Ridleys in the fact that government preparations led to the downfall of the miners. "Goodbye to all that? This will reset the permalinks and fix the issue in many cases. To export a reference to this article please select a referencing stye below: If you are the original writer of this essay and no longer wish to have your work published on UKEssays.com then please: Our academic writing and marking services can help you! The Myth of Control: Created by Mikail Chowdhury, Sana Soni. Staff members suddenly taken ill, or with long-standing medical appointments, require his personal consent to be absent from the office. The staff at headquarters issued a press statement in January 1983 to deny this and to list twelve grievances against Scargill's treatment of his staff. [43] In February 2012, Scargill won 13,000 in a court action against the NUM, primarily for car expenses, and for the earlier temporary denial of membership. [49], After stepping down from leadership of the NUM, Scargill became active in the UK's Stalin Society[50] saying that the "ideas of Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin explain the real world". On the appointment of Ian MacGregor as head of the NCB in 1983, Scargill stated, "The policies of this government are clear to destroy the coal industry and the NUM". London: Verso, 2014. As for the EEC/EU, his anti- stance was in keeping with Labour Party Policy. 404 means the file is not found. Page 70. Scargill subsequently decided to move to Sheffield, and said that he had spoken to each member of staff to ask them to move to Sheffield. [47], In 1996, Scargill founded the Socialist Labour Party after the Labour Party abandoned the original wording of Clause IV advocating the public democratic ownership[48] of key industries and utilities from their constitution. The two men had been convicted of the murder of David Wilkie, a taxi driver, by throwing a block of concrete from a bridge onto his car. My Style of Government: The Thatcher Years. Tony Benn opposes Evans view by saying the extent of the support in the NUM as a whole was evidenced by the overwhelming majority of miners who remained on strike until it ended in 1985[14]. Page 317. Margaret Thatcher: From Grocers Daughter to Iron Lady. By not calling a National Ballot the strike rapidly gained support. ",viewBookBag: "View clipboard",addBookBag: "Add to clipboard",removeBookBag: "Remove from clipboard",itemsAddBag: "item(s) added to your clipboard",itemsInBag: "item(s) are either already in your clipboard or could not be added",bookbagMax: "100",bookbagFull: "Your clipboard is Full",bookbagStatusFull: "Full",no_tags: "No Tags"}; The myth of workers' control: We are fighting for the survival of our culture: Selected Co-authors Countries and Regions of . Read online at https://workersliberty.org/node/34498, Submitted by AWL on 18 September, 2019 - 11:48, Letters: Hands off Clara Zetkin and Rosa Luxemburg, Holodomor: the Ukrainian famine of 1932-33, Tubeworker (London Underground) (bulletin), Off the Rails (national rail workers) (bulletin), Off the Rails (national rail workers) (blog), Notts Off the Rails (Nottingham rail workers) (bulletin), On Guard (Sheffield rail workers) (bulletin). "It's so hypocritical it's unreal," he said. However, we have to question Lawsons motives behind this, as he may have naturally blamed Scargill for the failure of the strike to protect his political reputation as it legitimises his role in opposing the strike. [33] Milne, Seumas. The most notable of these being the Women Against Pit Closures (WAPC) mainly made up of miners wives or women that grew up in mining communities. Atvery lease Mr Scargill was a leader of man and lead them unlike our current prime minister who couldn't lead a pack of sheep out of a field even though he resemble one. However, they have conflicting views on to what extent these preparations were made in order to bring down the unions. This was seen as violent and was deemed illegal. Therefore, we must conclude that whilst Arthur Scargills leadership was an important factor in the failure of the strike, it would be wrong to assume that this was the main reason as without the lack of support, especially from the Nottinghamshire miners, as well as the governments preparations, such as the stockpiling of coal, the miners strike might not have failed. 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]. [9] This performance strengthened his popularity with the Yorkshire miners. //--> In pictures: Arthur Scargill's legacy Mr Scargill's election as NUM president in 1981 had an electrifying effect on the union movement. National Archives: Margaret Thatcher Wanted to Crush Power of Trade Unions.. The View from No. RewriteRule . . These days he only gets to speak at the crankiest of Stalinist events. His father, Harold, was a miner and a member of the Communist Party of Great Britain. [16] Wakefield, Arthur, and Brian Elliot. He had a powerful speaking capability which garnered much passionate support from those who watched or saw his speeches. Because of Scargills actions, the strike was illegal, poorly supported and doomed to failure given the level of government preparations. : A Review of Literature on the 1984/5 Miners' Strike. These preparations included the Ridley Plan, stockpiling coal, the appointment of Ian McGregor as head of NCB, the involvement of MI5 and MI6 and the introduction of the new trade union laws. Amgueddfa Cymru - Museum Wales. 100 0 _ a Arthur Scargill c British trade unionist (born 1938) 100 1 _ a Scargill, Arthur d (1938- ). The Truth of Nacods Shameful Sell-out. The Guardian. [41], In 1993, Scargill tried to use Thatcher's flagship Right to Buy scheme to buy a flat on the Barbican estate in central London. The strike became a symbolic struggle, as the NUM was one of the strongest unions in the country, viewed by many, including Conservatives in power, as having brought down the Heath government in the union's 1974 strike. Page 340. Page 70. This event is held every year at the Barnsley Headquarters of the NUM and acquired particular poignancy that year as it coincided with the 30th anniversary of the strike. However, Kenneth OMorgan may be overemphasising the amount of support that the miners had as we know that Thatcher continuously demonised the miners in the media calling them the enemy within and this reduced a lot of public support for the strike. Page 342. [60][61], London Assembly elections (entire London city). Thereafter Scargill led the NUM through the 19841985 miners' strike. This strengthens Milnes argument that the police brutality, authorised by Thatcher, was unjustified. The judge Sir Sydney Templeman held that it was unlawful that union members were disciplined by the NUM disciplinary panel, which Scargill chaired, for appearing as witnesses testifying against Scargill in a libel case. Downing Street Years. He led an unofficial strike in 1969, and played a key organising role during strikes of 1972 and 1974, the latter of which played a part in the downfall of Edward Heath's Conservative government. Arguably, one of the most important factors in the failure of the Miner's Strike in 1984 was the leadership of the head of NUM, Arthur Scargill. London: Corgi Books, 1993. [32] Benn, Tony. Soup kitchens were set up to save miners and their families from starvation in nearly every small village[18]. And doomed to failure given the level of government preparations Hampton and Martin Thomas respond Eric. A confrontation with the Conservative government of Margaret Thatcher Wanted to Crush Power trade. 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