We're here to answer any questions you have about our services. Dont forget that Labours manifesto at Kinnocks last election included a policy of leaving the bloc, and who knows what t was under Corbyn. Scargill, Arthur. Articles like the above, years later are actually a compliment to Arthur. A household name in the seventies and eighties, it was easy to imagine the strike as a personal conflict between Scargill and his nemesis, Margaret Thatcher. var Logger = new EconBiz.Logger(); The Essay Writing ExpertsUK Essay Experts. This is given credence by the fact that Scargill authorised these violent tactics, which decreased public sympathy for the Miners which was actually their greatest asset[10]. [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. Many people blame him for the failure of Miners Strike due to his poor leadership skills and bad judgement. He had a powerful speaking capability which garnered much passionate support from those who watched or saw his speeches. [37] Scargill reached an agreement to repay money to the NUM shortly after this. [16] One branch of the NUM, at Annesley in Nottinghamshire, put forward a vote of no confidence in Scargill in autumn 1983 following his comments on these matters, but Scargill defeated this at a December meeting and won a vote of confidence instead. The students, lesbian and gay rights movements also supported the miners as they could relate to their struggle. In pictures: Arthur Scargill's legacy Mr Scargill's election as NUM president in 1981 had an electrifying effect on the union movement. Edit the file on your computer and upload it to the server via FTP. RewriteRule . Tony Benn. Wikipedia. Would JD care to say why he writes in such a vindictive and aggressive style? I've always said that if Arthur can no longer control the NUM, he'll try and destroy it. However, they have conflicting views on to what extent these preparations were made in order to bring down the unions. ",email_success: "Message Sent",bulk_noitems_advice: "No items were selected. Many of us started in the 1950s in the Young Communist League. Beyond Service: State Workers, Public Policy, and the Prospects for Tous les rsultats Google Recherche de Livres». A former Labour Party member, Scargill is now leader of the Socialist Labour Party (SLP), founded by him in 1996. Arrow, 1994. However, we have to be careful when taking Nicholas Ridleys account at face value as he was a known Thatcherite and also came up with the Ridley Plan that outlined how to deal and prepare for a potential strike; Perhaps my confidential annexe had been worthwhile after all. But Rule 43 said that a national strike can only be called if there was a ballot. [56], In July 2021 he spoke at the Rebel Town Festival in Jarrow. Nicholas Ridley conveys the mainstream media view that the failure of the strike was due to sufficient preparations for the strike by the government and out rightly says He might have won at Orgreave if it hadnt been for the preparations that the Government had made. The authorities must be using the army[32]. London: Verso, 2014. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001. Chris Kitchen said: "I would say it's time to walk away, Mr Scargill. Page 158. Brexit: Labour movement debate, not talk with Tories! Margaret Thatcher even described McGregor as lacking in guile as he was used to dealing with financial difficulties and hard bargaining and had no experience with dealing with trade union leaders[25]. Margaret Thatcher. Accessed January 06, 2019. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/3503545.stm. Put the custom structure back if you had one. 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. Authors: Scargill, Arthur; Kahn, Peggy: Publisher: Leeds [u.a.] He was not addressed or greeted from the platform, though as Honorary Life President of the NUM it might be expected, as a courtesy if nothing else, that his presence would be acknowledged. His nationalist backwardness on Brexit (and immigration, to judge by a letter published in the Guardian on 29 August 2017) cannot be forgiven. March 10, 2004. [27] Thatcher, Margaret. Another controversial action that Thatcher took was giving the police ultimate power during the strike. Somerset: Routledge, 2018. A motion from the Kent area was passed by the NUM conference to move the head office to a coalfield. This view is supported to some extent by Labour minister Tony Benn, one of Thatchers fiercest critics, and historian, Seumas Milne who argued that the governments extensive preparations and actions during the strike led to its failure in 1984. [17], The government announced on 6 March 1984 its intention to close 20 coal mines, revealing as well the plan in the long-term to close over 70 pits. Which makes his present-day role (such as it is) in politics all the more tragic. On any measure, Scargill was a failure who brought hardship down on those who followed him, now a pitiful figure. Harpercollins Publishers, 2012. My father was a Communist. The Socialist Labour Party ( SLP) is a socialist political party in the United Kingdom. This included Norman Tebbits radical reforms[39] as put by Tony Benn, who was newly elected to the mining seat and a clear supporter of the 1984-85 Miners strike[40]. Arthur Scargill emerged from semi-retirement from politics to speak at a meeting of the Communist Party of Britains wretched little pro-Brexit front organisation Leave Fight Transform (LeFT) in Brighton on 11 September, alongside Eddie Dempsey (the man who said Tommy Robinson supporters were right to hate the liberal left) and other assorted xenophobes, nationalists and social conservatives. Redirects and rewriting URLs are two very common directives found in a .htaccess file, and many scripts such as WordPress, Drupal, Joomla and Magento add directives to the .htaccess so those scripts can function. Regardless, we have to be careful when using Arthur Wakefield as a source as his diary entries will reflect his heightened emotions after a day of striking that may not truly reflect the real situation. September 09, 2018. Accessed October 12, 2018. [38], Film director Ken Loach subsequently made "The Arthur Legend" as part of Channel 4's Dispatches series. The Museum at Work; Health, Wellbeing and Amgueddfa Cymru ; Collections Online. The appointment of Ian McGregor as head of the NCB can be seen as a failure on Thatchers behalf showing that the governments preparations were insufficient to cause the strike to fail. 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. He also stated regarding Brexit that "we should just invoke the first clause of Article 50 and that means we could leave the EU tomorrow". "Goodbye to all that? ", Gildart, Keith. [15] How the Miners Strike Could Have Won. Socialist Worker (Britain). You may need to scroll to find it. Disclaimer: This is an example of a student written essay.Click here for sample essays written by our professional writers. Accessed January 06, 2019. https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2009/mar/07/arthur-scargill-miners-strike. "[28] This was in the Prime Minister's rejection of Labour calls for an apology for government actions during the 19841985 miners' strike. The strike of 1984 was covered in detail by the press. My Style of Government: The Thatcher Years. Les avis ne sont pas valids, mais Google recherche et supprime les faux contenus lorsqu'ils sont identifis, Industrial Democracy in Italy: Workers' Co-ops and the Self-management Debate. "Analysing the British miners' strike of 19845.". Page 317. He did not take the Eleven-Plus exam and went to Worsbrough Dale School (now called the Elmhirst School). [39], During the media controversy, the antiperspirant Mitchum used Scargill's image, without his consent, under the slogan "Mitchum, for when you're really sweating! He was a destructive force, in the Labour Party, and in the NUM. In a 1975 interview with New Left Review Scargill said: I was in the Young Communist League for about six or seven years and I became a member of its National Executive Committee responsible for industrial work. Accessed October 11, 2018. 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. 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. Downing Street Years. RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f [5] Benn, Tony. [33] Milne, Seumas. [55], In 2017, Scargill spoke at an event in Cardiff setting out how British manufacturing could be rebuilt after Britain had left the European Union. Vast majority of people work retail or asBarristersselling fancycoffee to people on the way to work in offices, most of them on single hour contracts working in retail parks or business parks built on the ground of old mine, steelworks and potteries that used to employ tens of thousands of men and now employ the best part of 100. If you go to your temporary url (http://ip/~username/) and get this error, there maybe a problem with the rule set stored in an .htaccess file. Amazingly the electorate resent being told they're either racist or stupid or both, if the remain campaign had been more mature in it's approach, almost certainly a different decision would have been reached. (1983), Restructuring the employment relationship, Gallie, Duncan, [26], There is a prevailing view that Arthur Scargill, the NUM National President, called the strike. : A Review of Literature on the 1984/5 Miners' Strike. [11] Benn, Tony. 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. (1988), Trade unions and politics : thatchers assault on the unions ; the unions response, Kahn, Peggy, He played an important role in the miners' strike of 1972 and was involved in the mass picket at Saltley Gate in Birmingham. Marching to the Fault Line: The 1984 Miners Strike and the Battle for Industrial Britain. Looking for a flexible role? [31] Campbell, John. [6] In 1970, he was elected a member of the regional committee of the Co-operative Retail Services in Barnsley and a delegate to its national conference. The myth of workers' control: We are fighting for the survival of our culture: Selected Co-authors Countries and Regions of . However, if it had gone the other way the Yorkshire area would have come out and other areas would have to decide whether to give support. Page 340. He called for the cotton mills, steel plants and mines to be re-opened and that under EU rules, the government had not been able to subsidise the coal mines. [7] Scargill, Arthur. Downing Street Years. Harpercollins Publishers, 2012. 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. [53], Scargill still occasionally gives interviews and makes appearances. vufindString = {bulk_email_success: "Your item(s) were e-mailed",bulk_save_success: "Your item(s) were saved successfully",close: "close",loading: "Loading",sms_success: "Message sent. 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 1990, Scargill was accused in a series of Daily Mirror articles of mishandling money donated for the striking miners during the 19841985 strike, with many of the sources being those who had previously worked with him in the NUM such as Kim Howells, Jim Parker and Roger Windsor. 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. I could write a million words and not be able to adequately describe the misery,hardship and dispare these leaders bought upon the people of this nation. This Mainstream media view holds that the strike failed because of Scargills extreme beliefs and bad decisions. Nevertheless, Government intervention such as the use of police and the actions of Ian McGregor was not the most important factor in the failure of the strike as many people openly criticised McGregor, including Thatcher herself. However, Lawson then goes on to say The violent tactics used by the NUM pickets reopened the issue of Who governs Britain?. Scargill admitted there was 'bad blood' between him and the NUM general secretary Chris Kitchen, who said, "I honestly do believe that Arthur, in his own world, believes that the NUM is here to afford him the lifestyle that he's become accustomed to. If anyone of them has any cause for complaint they are simply showing the door because they have no unions to speak for to stand up for the rights of any working man or woman in this country. 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. [44] Thatcher, Margaret. Sadly, all these new political halfwits who think it is smart to ignorethe pieces of history that doesnt suit them, bangingon about the way theysee the future ignoring the fact it should be the way we all would like to see it, should remember the silent majority is just that, ignore it of forget it at your peril. Scargill has so burnt his bridges with the NUM and the broad left of the labour movement that his name is never mentioned at Durham miners gala or at other miners strike commemorations. Therefore, Tony Benns argument is more convincing than Eric Evans as he takes into account the failures of the miners as well as giving credit to the amount of support the strike had as well. 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. I then thought of things rather differently. The Miners Strike Day by Day: The Illustrated 1984-85 Diary of Yorkshire Miner Arthur Wakefield. If you have already uploaded the file then the name may be misspelled or it is in a different folder. A5 format. Page 341. In conclusion to my little rant, unions were formed for the betterment of its members, not to be used as a personal vehicle for selfish political dogma. Page 51, [9] Lawson, Nigel. July 31, 2013. (The Yorkshire Left had already decided to stand him as their candidate even before the strike.) Seumas Milne portrays the Marxist view that the government went over the top with the preparations in order to see the miners strike fail and bring down the unions altogether. [45], For years the NUM had been paying 34,000 annual rent for the flat on Scargill's instructions, without the knowledge of NUM members or many senior officials; Scargill claimed the NUM should continue funding his flat for the rest of his life, and thereafter for any widow who survived him. When working with WordPress, 404 Page Not Found errors can often occur when a new theme has been activated or when the rewrite rules in the .htaccess file have been altered. Joining the NUM at the age of 19 in 1957, Scargill was one of its leading activists by the late 1960s. . This only reinforces the idea that it was Scargills decision not to call a ballot that lost him valuable support. Margaret Thatcher. The Enemy Within: The Secret War against the Miners. 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. We also remember his relatively principled role within the UK labour movement of the 1970s and 80s. Arthur Scargill, with his odd and sometimes monomaniacal-seeming habit of referring to himself in the third person, was in some ways a throwback to turn-of-the-century radicalism, a syndicalist . [30] Lawson, Nigel. A debate on workers' control. London: Vintage Books, 2008. His father, Harold, was a miner and a member of the Communist Party of Great Britain. [28] Travis, Alan. This page was last edited on 5 February 2023, at 23:36. Here you can choose which regional hub you wish to view, providing you with the most relevant information we have for your specific region. Unlike the strikes in the 1970s, the later strike ended with the miners' defeat and the Thatcher government was able to consolidate its fiscally conservative programme. On 25 August 2010, it was reported that Scargill had been told that he no longer qualified for full membership of the NUM under union rules that he had helped draw up, but was only eligible for "life", "retired" or "honorary" membership, none of which carried voting rights. [9] At the subsequent enquiry, he used notebooks of underground working from the 19th century, retrieved from the Institute of Geological Sciences in Leeds, to argue that the National Coal Board could have prevented the disaster had they acted on the information available. He also represented the Barnsley Co-op at Cooperative congresses. Accessed October 12, 2018. With Fay Hauser, Olivia Haller, Doris Morgado, Chrystee Pharris. his position on freedom movements In communist states such as Poland, was unforgivable He is rightly labelled a Stalinist, along with Corbyn. [10] Still the Enemy Within (2014). IMDb. https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2000/jan/07/guardianletters4, https://www.marxist.com/britain-when-britain-went-to. It was a defining moment in British industrial relations, and its defeat significantly weakened the trade union movement. Love him or hate him a lot that Mr Scargill and the Minors stood against in the1970/80s has now come to fruition, the uprise ofThatcherism,greed is good, stand on your neighbour to get a head! First shown: 06/. The Myth of Control: Created by Mikail Chowdhury, Sana Soni. When you have a missing image on your site you may see a box on your page with with a red X where the image is missing. Scargill, once the hero of the miners, now cuts a rather sad, isolated figure and this is a complex post-1985 story. This was to begin the argument of whether the actions of Thatcher and the state during the strike led to its failure. Yet Arthur Scargill clearly sees class struggle as just British workers versus British bosses. [37] Campbell, John. [21] Many politicians, including the then Labour leader Neil Kinnock, believed Scargill had made a huge mistake in calling the strike in the summer rather than in the winter. For more information, see The National Review (June 15, 1984 and April 5 . (You may need to consult other articles and resources for that information.). //