I agree the same pits can't be mined forever, I agree that production needed to be scaled back, BUT some of the pits selected for closure were profitable and had years of reserves; the whole reason for choosing them was to provoke a dispute. It's not my interpretation; it's in the documents. Read the Ridley report. The Tories wanted to smash the unions, they assessed their power and had a list of the powerful ones and how they may be drawn into a conflict which the Government would make sure it won. This is not to claim every decision A.S. took was correct but the behaviour of the Gov't and the Police was, and I believe will prove to be ever more so, as further documents come to light, incompatible with a truly democratic state.
Orgreave Rally
- Thread starter ncbnik
- Start date
alanw
Well-known member
The best film to watch would be Brassed Off
"Still the Enemy Within" because it is documentary not drama.
If I'm quick!!
www.ncm.org.uk
Still the Enemy Within: Film Screening - National Coal Mining Museum
Still the Enemy Within is an award-winning documentary that gives a unique insight into one of history's most dramatic events: the 1984-85 Miners' Strike.
www.ncm.org.uk
Chocolate fireguard
Active member
I never see much mention of the reason why these events were practically inevitable - the behaviour of the trades unions in the previous decades.
Perhaps it's because the old people who really suffered by their actions are now all gone.
By the 80s it was obvious that something had to be done, and when Scargill offered his union up as an easy target Thatcher wasn't the sort of person to turn him down.
Perhaps it's because the old people who really suffered by their actions are now all gone.
By the 80s it was obvious that something had to be done, and when Scargill offered his union up as an easy target Thatcher wasn't the sort of person to turn him down.
Chocolate fireguard
Active member
I don't understand much at that time in the morning either.
Yeah, the behaviour of the Bolshy riff raff of the working class - not wanting to work all hours for next to nothing and then having the nerve to expect their children to be educated for nothing.
Respectfully, could I suggest you look into the accident reports from factory accidents, mining accidents, the industrial diseases of those in the Gas and chemical industries etc. Then, see who campaigned for legislation to improve the workers' lot - NOT the owners or industrialists I think you'll find. Finally read George Orwell's 'Road to Wigan Pier' or 'Memoires of the Unemployed' by Beales & Lambert if you want to read about 'suffering' and it WASN'T suffering caused by Trades Union action.
A late reply, I've just arrived from Adit Now!
Two decent paperbacks:
Strike, 358 days that shook the nation. A Sunday Times Insight book.
The Miners' Strike, Loss Without Limit. Martin Adeney and John Lloyd.
Both give full accounts from all sides, including the industrial and political back-story. You should find them for about £3 each through the usual on-line sources.
Chocolate fireguard
Active member
Sorry I have only just seen this.
I lived through the decades prior to the miners strike, starting work in the Sheffield steel industry in 1963 - around the time when the behaviour I referred to started.
But if I wanted to learn (more) about those times why would I read books that were published before WW2?
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