by Neville Simpkins

In the early 1980’s the conservative government of Margaret Thatcher was determined to curtail the powers of the trade unions. The government brought in new legislation, which made it virtually impossible for unions to mount an effective strike action.

Thatcher was also determined to run down the mining industry and bring in cheap imported coal which British deep mined coal could not compete with. In 1983 the miners had threatened strike action over the issue of pit closures, Thatcher backed down. The miners thought they had won, but they could not have been more wrong. Over the next year the government took the opportunity to build up coal stocks at the pithead and power stations.

In March 1984 the closure issue arose again and the miners lead by Arthur Scargill went on strike.

This Strike was bitter and prolonged with miner pitched against the government and miner pitched against miner. In particular the Nottingham miners who mostly, but not totally refused to strike using the fact that they had not been given a vote as the reason for not striking.

Mrs Thatcher had brought in an American hatchet man by the name of Ian McGregor as chairman of the NCB or British Coal. It is my opinion that he was only ever given one mandate, to oversee the destruction of the British Coal Industry and the N.U.M.

As the strike stretched into the summer and autumn of 1984 the strike became more and more bitter with striking miners picketing collieries and coke works, which were still working. A major confrontation took place at Orgreave where thousands of striking miners dressed in jeans and t-shirts clashed with thousands of police. It is thought that the government may have also used soldiers dressed in police uniform armed with batons and riot gear and mounted on horseback. There was no contest.

Thatcher was determined to use everything at her disposal to break the miners, but ultimately it was none of her bullying tactics that defeated the miners. During the winter of 1984-1985 families suffered the hardships of struggling to feed their children and find fuel to keep them warm. Debt began to build up, miners owed thousands of pounds in mortgage payments etc and eventually the hardships began to take their toll.

The miners began to drift back to work. The result of this drift can still be felt today with former friends still not speaking to each other and families still divided. In March 1985 with the pace of the return to work quickening the miners decided enough was enough and returned to work, defeated but far from broken.

In hindsight several mistakes were made by the miners. The timing of the strike was wrong; coming into the summer with massive coal stocks was a massive mistake. Also Arthur Scargill, although morally right in his stance against pit closures, should have called a ballot before strike action. It is still doubtful whether the Nott’s miners would have come out on strike, the chances of them doing so would certainly have been much greater. Also the rest of the trade union movement stood by and watched the NUM die rather than becoming involved to save not only the mines and miners but the whole of the movement and thousands of jobs thinking that they would not come under Thatcher’s axe. Subsequent events have proven how wrong they were.