The editor of the Daily Mirror at the time, Roy Greenslade, wrote an article in The Guardian in May 2002 to apologise to Scargill for the false claims about paying off the mortgage and for putting too much trust in Roger Windsor, who at the time had still not repaid the 29,500 that he had taken from the Miners' Welfare Fund and that the Lightman Report had asked that he repay. Yet he was a trade union leader who helped lead a strike that brought down a Tory government (1974) and correctly understood that Thatcher was out to smash the unions and that they needed to fight back. [51] Scargill criticised Poland's Solidarity calling it an "anti-socialist organisation which desires the overthrow of a socialist state", which Scargill saw as deformed but reformable. 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. The End of an Era Diaries 1980-90. [27] Thatcher, Margaret. The easiest way to edit a .htaccess file for most people is through the File Manager in cPanel. [18] Still the Enemy Within (2014). IMDb. [52], The Guardian in February 2014 said that Scargill had become a recluse. The media characterised the strike as "Scargill's strike" and his critics accused him of looking for an excuse for industrial action since becoming union president. [36] In September 1990, the Certification Officer brought criminal charges against Scargill and Heathfield for wilfully neglecting to perform the union's duty to keep proper accounting records. : S.n., 1996. Some scholars have concluded that Scargill's decisive tactical error was to substitute his famous flying picket for the holding of a national strike ballot. "[28] This was in the Prime Minister's rejection of Labour calls for an apology for government actions during the 19841985 miners' strike. Copyright 2003 - 2023 - UKEssays is a trading name of Business Bliss Consultants FZE, a company registered in United Arab Emirates. This source is reliable as Kim Howells was a member of the NUM at the time of the strike but still discredits Scargills tactics. This was to begin the argument of whether the actions of Thatcher and the state during the strike led to its failure. Accessed October 10, 2018. https://socialistworker.co.uk/art/37592/How the Miners Strike could have won. However, Thatcher, herself, has discredited this view saying He (Arthur Scargill) was making wild claims that the CEGB had only eight weeks of coal stocks. 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. Many people also argue that the police werent as brutal as some other accounts made them out to be and that they were just doing their jobs in maintaining law and order. Milne explains how the strike was a last-ditch fight to defend jobs, mining communities and the NUM itself against a government prepared to bring into play unlimited resources and its entire panoply of coercive powers as and where necessary to break the union and its backbone of support[22]. The miners had already built up a fearsome reputation as the shock troops for organised labour and during his time as leader of the Yorkshire coalfield, Mr Scargill had rarely been out of the news. A History of Modern Britain. [31] There was much criticism of Scargill within the NUM from the Welsh and Scottish areas, who briefly considered splitting from the NUM. Because of Scargills actions, the strike was illegal, poorly supported and doomed to failure given the level of government preparations. [he fails to see that] the working class is a world class. The striking miners didnt have the support of the Nottinghamshire miners, dock workers or even the Labour Party, including Neil Kinnock, and many historians believe that the strikes failure was down to the fact that it was so poorly supported; such as Eric Evans who takes the mainstream media view and believed the appearance of a much more conciliatory breakaway union representing the profitable East Midlands mining arealed to collapse of the strike[12] This we know to be true as the Nottinghamshire miners alone produced 25% of the Nations coal. Scargill said himself that the real reason that the NUM areas such as Nottinghamshire, South Derbyshire and Leicestershire wanted a national strike ballot was that they wanted the strike called off, believing naively that their pits were safe[7]. A miner at the age of 18, he was a member (1955-62) of the Young Communist League before joining the Labour Party.In 1981, Scargill became president of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM).His attempt to confront Margaret Thatcher's programme of pit closures and anti-union legislation led to a miner's strike (1984-85). Darlington, "There is no alternative: Exploring the options in the 1984-5 miners' strike. Many of us started in the 1950s in the Young Communist League. The Enemy Within: The Secret War against the Miners. 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. Amgueddfa Cymru - Museum Wales. It was a major political victory for Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and the Conservative Party. Many people blame him for the failure of Miners Strike due to his poor leadership skills and bad judgement. In 1958, he attended the World Federation of Trade Unions youth congress in Prague. [31] Campbell, John. It was not , and will not ever be the liberator of the working Class, but their oppressors. 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. Strike: When Britain Went to War. In Defence of Marxism. At the time, Britain had 170 working. In January 2014, the Prime Minister, David Cameron stated, "I think if anyone needs to make an apology for their role in the miners' strike it should be Arthur Scargill for the appalling way that he led the union. In the 1981 election for NUM president, Scargill secured around 70% of the vote. of Leeds [u.a.] [9] He had challenged Sam Bullough, the President of the Yorkshire area NUM, to act on the working hours of surface workers, given that the union's conference had passed a resolution that their hours be shortened the previous year. He mentions how the strikers overtime ban was biting deep into power-station coal stocks and goes on to say If it was allowed to continue until the autumn, managers warned, a twelve-week strike would be enough to put the countrys lights out[26]. No plagiarism, guaranteed! However, Wakefield also mentions the betrayal he felt by the Nottinghamshire miners who continued to work by saying The lads are in good spirits even if the majority of scabs are working. Therefore, without support from key groups such as the Nottinghamshire miners and the dock workers, the striking miners were isolated which may have led to the failure of the strike itself. Before you do anything, it is suggested that you backup your website so that you can revert back to a previous version if something goes wrong. The authorities must be using the army[32]. The Truth of Nacods Shameful Sell-out. The Guardian. The End of an Era Diaries 1980-90. Look for the .htaccess file in the list of files. [15] However, Scargill's statements in the years after becoming NUM president divided left-wing opinion with his support of the Soviet Union, most notably when he refused to support the TUC's positions on the Solidarity union in Poland or on the Soviet shooting down of the Korean Air Lines Flight 007. Page 151. [35] The Truth of Nacods Shameful Sell-out. The Guardian. Neil Kinnock even compared Scargill with a general who wanted another Gallipoli[3]. September 09, 2018. Back in 1983 (even before the great miners strike) the forunner of Solidarity (Socialist Organiser) condemned Scargills attacks on the independent Polish union movement Solidarnosc, but also identified the root cause of Scargills tragic error (nationalism) and denounced the hypocrisy of many of his critics within the labour movement: Its no news that Scargill has a scandalous attitude to Solidarnosc. Page 57. [4] He joined the Young Communist League in 1955, becoming its Yorkshire District Chair in 1956 and shortly after a member of its National Executive Committee. In fact, stocks were much higher[27]. . The strike was called under Rule 41 of the NUM rule book, which said that local strikes can be made official by the National Executive without a ballot. 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. Harpercollins Publishers, 2012. Therefore government preparations was definitely a factor in the failure of the miners strike but to what extent, can be argued. On platforms that enforce case-sensitivity PNG and png are not the same locations. Yet Arthur Scargill clearly sees class struggle as just British workers versus British bosses. It was a defining moment in British industrial relations, and its defeat significantly weakened the trade union movement. Somerset: Routledge, 2018. A motion from the Kent area was passed by the NUM conference to move the head office to a coalfield. Still the Enemy Within (2014). IMDb. His policy alienated most of the Nottinghamshire miners, undermined his position with the leaders of the trade union movement, hurt the union's reputation in British public opinion, and led to violence along the picket line. If your blog is showing the wrong domain name in links, redirecting to another site, or is missing images and style, these are all usually related to the same problem: you have the wrong domain name configured in your WordPress blog. Thatcher disregarded how much of an impact the WAPC would have on the strike as many of the striking ladies figured out that if they went out picketing then they would less likely be targeted by police. He was a destructive force, in the Labour Party, and in the NUM. That violence strengthened the stature of the Coal Board and the Thatcher government. He played an important role in the miners' strike of 1972 and was involved in the mass picket at Saltley Gate in Birmingham. [53] Following Margaret Thatcher's death in April 2013, ITN made Scargill several offers for a five-minute interview, with the final offer reaching 16,000, but Scargill refused all the offers and did not speak to any media organisation. Staff members suddenly taken ill, or with long-standing medical appointments, require his personal consent to be absent from the office. The Myth of Control: Created by Mikail Chowdhury, Sana Soni. He left school in 1953 at fifteen years old to work as a coal miner at Woolley Colliery, where he worked for nineteen years.[2][3]. ", Old Labour party constiturion, Clause 4 part IV, Yorkshire Area of the National Union of Mineworkers, "Arthur Scargill joins Battle of Saltley Gate 40th anniversary celebration", "The Nottinghamshire Miners, The Union of Democratic Mineworkers and the 198485 Miners' Strike: Scabs or Scapegoats? They were released from prison in November 1989. A debate on workers' control. Downing Street Years. "[44] However, in December 2012, Scargill lost a similar case concerning rent on his flat in the Barbican, London. This was seen as violent and was deemed illegal. Thatcher, herself, advances this view in her memoirs The Downing Street Years and echoed by many other Thatcherites such as Nigel Lawson, Shirley Letwin and historians such as John Campbell. Notice that the CaSe is important in this example. Which makes his present-day role (such as it is) in politics all the more tragic. By 1984 however the police were ready and neutralized the tactic with superior force. He had no means of calling a strike in Yorkshire.[27]. London: Fontana, 1992. [15] How the Miners Strike Could Have Won. Socialist Worker (Britain). Uncategorized > the myth of workers' control arthur scargill. The issue of Scargills leadership is argued as the main reason that the miners strike failed. [11] Benn, Tony. This is true as we know that Thatchers government backed down from a confrontation with the trade unions in its first parliament in 1979-83 as the government felt like it needed more time in order to stock pile coal in preparation for the next inevitable strike. 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