Strike! The miners strike remembered 22 years on

This Sunday at the Commonplace social centre in Leeds, we will remember the miners strike with films, talks, photo exhibitions and cheap grub. Come along to 23-25 Wharf Street in the City Centre
www.thecommonplace.org.uk

On 12 March, 1984, some 100,000 miners laid down their tools in what became one of the longest and bloodiest industrial disputes in British history. Thatcher's government had ripped up a longstanding agreement and announced 20 pit closures with the loss of 20,000 jobs. Supported by an incredible solidarity movement led by the women of the community, the strike lasted a year but was ultimately doomed to failure. The government had stockpiled coal reserves and as growing poverty, personal hardship and a tough Christmas hit home, the strike collapsed by 3 March 1985. We will mark this heroic working class struggle by hearing from ex-miners and showing a number of films, including The Battle of Orgreave, the bloody June '84 assault on picketing miners by police and army.

2pm The miners campaign tapes

3.30pm Talk by Dave Douglas ex miner and author of ‘Geordies Wa Mental’

4pm Photo exhibition of the miners strike by Martin Shakeshaft

5pm The Battle of Orgreave
The climactic clash of the 1984 miners' strike at Orgreave, near Rotherham, South Yorkshire was recreated on 17th June 2001.

6pm Food and social

Entry by donation. Membership is £2

commoner
Homepage: http://www.thecommonplace.org.uk

Additions

Army involvement - Benns diaries

30.03.2006 13:02

Tony Benn states in his diaries that while on the train to Chesterfied a man introducing himself as an ex soldier told him that the Royal Green Jackets and the SAS were involved in the strike.

Look at the footage, see the shaven headed police marching in perfect formation, many police uniforms had no numbers.

I read an account of a miner stating he recognised a cop as being a friends son who was serving in the Rhine army.

David Hart the millionaire unofficial Thatcher adviser stated in the True Spies series on BBC2 in 2002 that he paid ex SAS men to protect scabs.

Daniel Neville
mail e-mail: dneville2001@yahoo.co.uk

Comments

Hide the following 13 comments

Clean coal, dirty politicians

07.03.2006 00:59

"Very little UK coal (steam or anthracite) is exported, usually much less than 1 million tonnes per year. Imports in 2004 rose to 36.2 million tonnes despite higher international prices."

http://www.dti.gov.uk/energy/coal/uk_industry/index.shtml

What an evil lying bitch Thatcher was. To strike at a national resource for her own political gain.

And what an evil lying bitch Blair is. To promote nuclear for his own personal gain.

http://www.newnuclearpowernothanks.org

Danny

A Small point

07.03.2006 09:27

The Army wasn't at Orgreave, many soldiers symapathised with the miners as they were recruited from that area.

Paul

army lads wore old police uniforms

07.03.2006 12:43

i wasn't at orgreave but i've read different accounts from that time where miners saw men in the police lines wearing antiquated uniforms. Seems obvious that the army where used to swell the ranks which included coachloads of metropolitan police officers along with other constabularies from around the country.
whether an urban myth or something, but some miners swore they saw their mates army sons in ill-fitting police outfits. In the miners strikes of the early 20th century the government always ended up sending in the army, so it fits that in the media age they would be used in a clandestine way so as not to cause public uproar.

80's kid

fao Paul

07.03.2006 17:18

why not deploy soldiers recruited from other areas? I'm not saying the army was there or not - just that your assumption doesn't stand up.

bobby

assumption?

08.03.2006 06:12

I'm not assuming anything, I was a lad during the 80's and rememeber the strike well. The police at orgreave behaved disgracefully, but there was no army involvement at all. They had their hands full with N.Ireland etc. More importantly if they WERE actually there, given the wealth of documentaries etc that have commemorated the strike it would have come out before now. There are few secrets left uncovered from back then look at Belgrano etc. Plus soldiers were recruited from thoose communities affected by the stike and many like some of the local coppers (not the met!) did sympathise with the miners.

paul

coal

08.03.2006 16:05

plenty of coal still there too, especially under kent

freddie

Runners

12.03.2006 00:00

There were teams of squaddies they used that we used to call The Runners. They used them at night against the Hit Squads attacking NCB targets. They came out of nowhere and were young and fit, the bastards would chase you all night long. If they caught anyone they didn't make arrests, just absolutely beat the shit out of you. You mean well lad, but you're talking about something you didn't experience first-hand.

Fitzwilliam Hit Squad

The Met

12.03.2006 00:03

As for the coppers, I picketed all over the country, a lot was written about the Met, but in my experience the very worst pigs were the ones from South Yorkshire. Since when did coppers show any allegiance to the working-class?

FHS

Hands full

12.03.2006 00:17

"They had their hands full with N.Ireland etc."

Sorry Paul, but with respect, that's bollocks. They 'had their hands full with N.Ireland' 2 years earlier as well, didn't stop them sending a massive force to the South Atlantic to rescue some sheep from the Argentinians did it?

Bob

We must agree to disagree

12.03.2006 16:05

I respect your comments and am not being anti-miners or even pro Thatcher. But all I'm saying is that squaddies were not involved in policing the miners strikes. I've heard of the 'runners' before but always felt they were simply young coppers. I'm willing to believe you but unless you could point me in the direction of testimony from ex squaddies etc, I would put that down to an urban myth. The truth would have come out before now and there is a wealth of literature and documentaries from that time and afterwards that rightly so are critical of the police. I personally remember the strike well as I was a young lad from North Staffs at the time.

Paul

Truth will out

12.03.2006 22:43

But it might take a while! We haven't had the truth about Bloody Sunday yet!

Obelisk

Soldiers as cops

13.03.2006 10:04

I don't think anyone is suggesting that you are pro-Thatcher or anti-miner Paul.

I was very much involved in the strike, both as a picket and as a member of the Hit Squads. The Runners were notorious among those of us who used to go out at night, but fortunately I never got chased by them personally. Friends of mine certainly did though, and reckoned they were squaddies, based on their fitness, attitude, language, etc. Of course, they could have been mistaken. I've seen personally coppers in old ill-fitting uniforms, but that doesn't necessarily mean they were soldiers. I've also heard the tales about how a mate of a mate saw his (squaddie) brother there, etc. Nothing conclusive that I've seen with my own eyes, and it's true that there were no shortage of cops anyway. That said, I don't think you can dismiss this story simply on the basis that if it were true it 'would have come out by now', that isn't necessarily the case at all, and after all for most people this is a very minor detail of history.

Tom

May Day

14.03.2006 14:25

Anne Scargill, who was active throughout the miners' strike alongside her husband Arthur, will be speaking during a weekend of May Day celebrations at the Trades Club at Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire, at 4 pm on Saturday, April 29. The weekend kicks off with a FreeTibet benefit gig Friday night, Anne Saturday afternoon, singer Roy Bailey Saturday night, series of films Sunday afternoon and evening - about the Diggers, Yorkshire Luddites, Pol Tax riot and Liverpool Dockers. Monday afternoon is songs of struggle and informal talk by two local people born in East Germany, one a former border guard with the proud record of being the worst shot in the GDR army.
Pete.

Peter Lazenby
mail e-mail: peter.lazenby@ypn.co.uk