A pivotal point in worker's rights. If you sell your labour for money and not living off tax havens, you are a worker. You are a miner. This is your struggle and it continues.
What struggle continues? They're all shut now and most people in the country do sell their labour and don't have overseas accounts. How many do you know that have? You can't stand in the way of progress. Nobody wants polluting coal fires and power stations and to argue for coal mines remaining open is the mindset of a Luddite.
I was a 11 years old french boy and I remember that french CGT union sent a truck with clothes blanklets and Xmas gifts for Kids to Uk and a beautiful speaking from the leader. "Their struggle is our, too" Sorry for my bad english....
In the 1926 miners strike,, churchill, said let the miners eat grass,, kiddies died aswell,,, starved to death,,, on the back of a english £5,00 note it says,,,,, churchill, ,,, I have nothing to offer but blood,,, toil,,, tears,,, and sweat,,, he never did a.days work in its life,,, and.it had.the.cheek to go to church,,,, wow,, what a. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
@@MarkHarrison733Hitler had his sights on Alsace-Lorraine which was lost to France at Versailles. He also wanted to avenge the 1918 defeat. A France-German alliance wouldn't happen. Britain was allied with France at the time so also wouldn't make an alliance
I can respect how hard they worked, but they were poorly led. The miners brought down the Heath government in the 1970s. Thatcher learned the lesson and started stockpiling coal as soon as she became PM. Scargill didn't allow a secret ballot. But the bottom line is that British mines couldn't compete. They fought, they lost, but their grandchildren will live better and longer lives.
@@davidkeenan5642Gormley had a overtime ban and ran coal deposits down before the strike in 74, he also had a national ballot, in 84, with coal stocks at record high, without a national ballot and in the summer, Scargill calls a strike, make you wonder who he was working for.
Scargill called a strike without a vote required by NUM rules. He did more damage than any Government. I worked on the coal face but left the industry in 1972. Policemen bought new cars with all the 'overtime' pay and called them "Scargill's wheels".
But that's like saying Norfolk folks are still paying the price for the mechanisation & modernisation of farming practices.... Industries DO change & are FOREVER market driven, but 40 years on & to still think that miners & their communties should have been cotton wool protected & allowed to carry on over-producing an expensive product with a limited demand in such vast amounts that would have required stockpiling for years & years is the stuff of uneconomic dreams...
This whole 'Thatcher did it' mindset is really ridiculous. She did no more than any other leader, left or right had been doing for decades. The mining industry was in steady decline from the mid 1920's and It was an pretty even split between labour and conservatives on mine closures. Between 1947 and 1994 around 950 pits were closed. Attlee (Labour) closed 101 pits from 1947-1951 Macmillan (Conservative) closed 246 pits from 1957-1963 Wilson (Labour) closed 253 pits from 1964-1977 Heath (Conservative) closed 26 pits from 1970-1974 Thatcher (Conservative) closed 115 pits from 1979-1990. To blame Thatcher is disingenuous in the extreme. She put the final nail in the coffin, but it was dead and closed long before she came to power. Coal was increasingly not needed, expensive and dirty. Pit closures were a fact of life in an era of modernisation, and though it was painful to lose those jobs, it was also inevitable. Especially given how militant the miners had become in the '70's. They accelerated their own demise by mistakenly believing they were still a vitally important element to British industry and still had the same power they enjoyed when screwing Callaghan over. Their actions were what brought Thatcher to power in a landslide victory. Their efforts were futile and self defeating against her. The public was not on their side. History was not on their side. Economics was not on their side and the miners were never going to win a war that lopsided.
@JCBAirmaster73 : "Her plan was a complete destruction of the industry"...Nonsense, only loss making pits were closed. Why not read up before you post?
@JCBAirmaster73 : "The TUC let the miners down, as did the smaller unions who would not join the fight"...And for very good and sensible reasons. The taxpayer was not in favour of subsidising loss making coal mines. Why should they? Some Unions already had a reputation for being greedy bloodsuckers who were prepared to sacrifice the jobs of working class people in the hope that they could bring down the Thatcher government.
@JCBAirmaster73 : "much of the public did support the miners"...Not where I live in the North of England. They thought the violent miners were scum especially when they attempted to stop coal getting to power stations. If they had succeeded many old people would probably have died from lack of warmth.
@JCBAirmaster73 : "Because if you are in something, you are in it together"...So by your imbicilic "logic" if a group of people are behaving idiotically, you would join in because you're all members of a Union. Can you not see how dumb you make yourself look with stupid opinions like that?
I am an ex-miner in the Nottinghamshire coalfield, I did not strike and worked every day 1984-85, as I believed and still do that it is totally unacceptable to be dictated to by Arthur Scargill. I joined the breakaway union in 1985 the UDM because decisions made must be done in a way that is democratic, vote, act on it and respect that a majority vote should be adhered to. Maybe Arthur Scargill was correct in the sense that coal mines were on the list for closure, and quite right to if they were making a loss, no mine should be subsidised by the rest, he just reacted in the wrong way and did nothing right and made it a whole lot worse. You also cannot try to bring a Government down and get away with it, after that Margret Thatcher dug her heels in and did everything to get rid of the trouble NUM, if anything the strikers accelerated the closures. I am very proud to have been a coal miner, but things change, it was inevitable that we were going to move away from coal. It saddens me that today after a third of a Century the Industry destroyer (strikers, mainly from Yorkshire) can’t move on and still try to cause trouble. I am a member of a coal mining memories Facebook page and get so much abuse from them, I find it quite funny how childish they can be, you would have thought they would have grown up a little.
I am an ex miner from the South Wales coalfield who stayed 'out' for the duration of the 1984 - 85 strike. I believed that to counter the threat of the loss of 20 000 - 30 000 jobs in the coalmining industry by Thatcher's industrial hitman, Ian Mcgregor, was only achievable by the last resort use of industrial action by the NUM. You joined the breakaway UDM {scab} union in order to preserve your democratic rights and to adhere to the acceptance of the democratic result....your words and fair enough !...but how do you explain the actions of the Notts area in the 1975 democratic vote on the implication of the NCB plan for a productivity bonus scheme when the majority of miners in the British coalfields voted 'against' acceptance. The Notts area refused to accept the democratic national vote and did a separate deal with the NCB to introduce the deal into their own area. A stab in the back for democracy if ever I have seen one, …..and you wonder why Scargill did not call for a national ballot with such undemocratic area's such as Notts involved.....Mick, you must be having a laugh
@@alunhughes2632 Surely, if you wanted the strike to be effective, it should have been called in the Autumn/ Winter, when coal consumption was at its highest, not Spring? Scargill mismanaged the strike, and used a good cause---preserving the pits--- for his own ends, i.e. trying to bring down an elected government. The strike speeded up the decline of the industry.
David On 1st March Thatchers hitman Macgregor announced that Cortonwood Colliery was to close plus further closures that would result in the loss of around 20,000 jobs. On March 5th we came out on strike, how else could we react to such a blatant threat to the industry. As for Scargill. everyone has an opinion, but we would have come out to fight this butchery of the industry with Scargill at the head of the NUM or not.
@@alunhughes2632 Thanks for this. Perhaps their timing was deliberate...perhaps they wanted that reaction at THAT time, ie. for the Miners to go on strike in Spring. Maybe the government and NCB wrong-footed the miners from the start. Personally I think that the NUM were asking too much of their members to stay on strike for so long. If you don't mind me asking, do you think that there has been any reconcilliation between Miners on different sides of the dispute? Does time heal all? I was interested in the strike because I lived in East Kent which had a coal field.
David The timing of the NCBs announcement of the colliery closure plan with the loss of 20,000 jobs was spot on {for them}. With Spring and Summer approaching this was the worst possible time for us to come out, but given the horrific nature of the threat, what choice did we have.. It has been 35 years since that bitter strike took place and I am sure that in some places time has eased the hatred that existed between miners on different sides and that some reconciliation may have taken place. As for me, a scab will always be a scab, and will go to their grave as nothing more than a scab. I wish no harm upon anyone but what they did I cannot forgive or forget.
me too. i was 6 at the time, my dad was a pit deputy at silver hill one of the Notts pits that didnt strike. i remember all the police picking us up from outside school . the food parcels for those kids whos parents were on strike. very worrying times but despite this i look back on it with fondness
@@shakyinc671My father was a Community Beat Officer and responsible for helping to police the strike along with his colleagues. Arthur Scargill I remember on TV very well!
2022: Hows your energy security now UK? Thatcher wanted the UK to shift from working to financial services in London. A US senator has just stated that any city, globally, that has pinned itself on financial service will no longer be viable.
It was indeed the best year of my life in heavy industry too. The freinds and sence of union in the coal industry will never be seen again. Better to have tried and failed than never to have tried at all.
tried to do what? Keep your well paid jobs ? (best wages in the Country) but it couldn't last. If they stopped your free coal in those days and started charging you astronomical prices for it ('cos that what it was costing to produce!) you would soon alter your tune.
Beautifully shot piece. But as far as content this really missed the mark. The focus should have been on the people and what happened to them. You had several people that said they won because they came together and had lots of pride. But what happened to the people? This "story" told very little.
The communities are still there 35 years later (probably in healthier jobs but not earning astronomical wages like the miners were earning). Just one of the reasons the UK couldn't compete with the sale of coal.
Channel 4,ask Scargill where the missing money went??, proper journalism please, Scargill pocketed millions from the plight of the miners,and you know that!
These days we are constantly being told that people should stop using coal and other fossil fuels for environmental reasons, But as the Miners’ strike 35 years ago showed, it will be very difficult, if not impossible to do that, without destroying jobs, Lives and communities in the process. That is why, certainly for the foreseeable, future, most of energy production will Come from fossil fuels, and all this talk of cutting emissions will remain just that - talk.
The victory was the fight, we had no choice but to make a stand, because we all knew what thatcher had in mind for us. I would do it again tomorrow, my pit Darfield Main had 6 NUM Scabs by the end, and i wouldnt even waste piss on them. What could we do ? We had to fight our way of life was under threat, and we knew what was coming if we did nothing. Shame on the Scab Traitors for helping Thatcher destroy our industry. No more Deep Mines in The UK thats why we fought so hard 30 years ago. Im Proud of what we did, I'm proud we stood up and fought the way we did. Respect to all Loyal NUM members who stood firm for 12 months in 84/85 let us all never forget that the cause was just, and that we've all been proved right. NUM 1984/85 Darfield Main Colliery, Barnsley Area
I raised money for you in the states I know Arthur always says the victory was the struggle maybe but the consequences have been catastrophic; but make no mistake, I think the great miners strike was the greatest struggle of the western working class in the 2nd half of the 20th century
If the Union had met with the board before striking, they could have negotiated telephone numbers for payouts. Increased pension enhancements and other benefits, in exchange for a painless, managed contraction of the industry.
@@stephenmcwilliams5842Their way of life was obsolete, they were just too ignorant to accept it. Going by your logic, should we be forced to subsidize the candle making industry going even though we got light bulbs because candle making was a way of life. It's called progress, some people are just too ignorant and stupid to accept it.
The thing that baffles me about the striking miners is that they still vote for a Labour Party who's woke, green zero carbon agenda would have had the same result anyway. When Thatcher left office we had a smaller but modern, profitable, coal industry. The reason it became extinct under Labour and the coalition was because of carbon taxes and regulations which meant imported coal from places like Australia was cheaper, with a view to eventually going for wind. They'd have been better accepting the inevitable and lobbying like crazy for retraining the lads made redundant and investment in new jobs, rather than a futile strike. Maybe a few could've been preserved as working museums as well and kept at least some of the miners and engineers employed as guides.
@@alunhughes2632their jobs were obsolete and they were simply too ignorant to accept it. They were simply a going against progress. This is the equivalent of candle makers going on strike because the light bulb puts them out of a job.
@@millzy030if they were decent, then they would have accepted that their jobs were obsolete. This is the equivalent of candle makers going on strike because light bulbs are replacing them.
Police have a FEDERATION. If they can't reach an agreement they agree on an independent arbitrator to do an enquiry. Decision is final (and usually fair!)
The union went about it the wrong way The union should of recommended strike action and give us a National ballot If the union had got the right result in a ballot for strike we all would have came out Every pit in every area would have been out I don’t know if it would of stopped solid for a full year though
Mark Harrison I think the union would have had a good chance of getting a result for a strike It would have been better if the strike had been fully supported in all areas
isaac Even if a National ballot had been called for and won, it would not guarantee the Notts miners adhering to the result and coming out with the rest.
What we Notts miners didn't like was being told to come out without a ballot, that is the reason for us joining the UDM..democracy is what we wanted. at the end of the day nothing was right or wrong we are All out of a job with no deep mines left, they were going no matter what.
Mick Barrella A lot of miners in a lot of areas disagreed with been called out without a ballot Our pit in Durham voted at the union meeting not to support the strike , at a meeting a week later we were told the Durham area was going to push to get us a national ballot, so we voted to come out for the time been pending a result of a national ballot that the area union said they were Going push to get , a ballot that the num rules demanded for national strike a ballot we would never going to get
At that time plenty of overtime for the police but not the miners. Some policemen paid off their mortgage and had extra money to pay for extra holidays abroad.
And waved their overtime fivers in the faces of the hungry men on the picket-lines. Shameful but not surprising from the little men Maggie made feel big.
@@stephenmcwilliams5842 I don't support the Tories, I simply look at things the way they are. What exactly were those miners striking for exactly? It was a hopeless cause, they were just too ignorant to see it. Their jobs were obsolete, if the policemen didn't finish them off, the competition from much more efficient and competitively priced foreign coal mining or alternative source of fuel would have done so anyways. This is about as idiotic as horse coach operators striking that cars took their jobs or candle makers striking that light bulbs took their jobs.
@@yuanfangqian7756 "What exactly were those miners striking for exactly?": that speaks volumes, as you clearly don't know the background and why the strike took place. When you're better informed, then your comments will bear more credibility. Look at non-Tory or non-Establishment sources when doing your research. OAO
Scots don,t wish to see the police in 2019 made politically -biased under a Thatcher style fascist state like between1979-90 as Scots will see most of the 12 Tory mp,s gone by 2022 -and so say all of us !
@@nigelbarrett4091 : The sooner the Scots leave the UK, the better for the rest of us. They'd better be nice to us though as the UK is by far Scotlands biggest customer for exports.
@@angelhalo1451 : Then let's have more evil if it stops striking thugs from preventing ordinary members of the public from going to work. Heaps more would be nice.If she was in charge we would have had Brexit by now, for sure.
If this happened today the working class would be too obsessed with right wing identity politics and would have called the miners 'woke' or 'snowflakes'
While the left marched behind Greta Thunberg demanding the end of carbon emissions and heavy industry. What's the difference if the result is the same?
Get a grip you live in dark ages who in there right mind would want to work in a pit ..Miners were uneducated people thank god I went to university got a job for life that earns me lots of money 😎
Guess Who, I thought a university education would have taught you to use full stops and comma's where needed. I noticed that the ex miner answering your comment used them without a problem. How can you call the miners 'uneducated' when it is clearly you that is the fool. Idiot. {with a capital I}
People who think that Scargill was a man of the people were completely fucking deluded. It's been proven that he's used vast amounts of union members money to pay for his +million pound flat in London. Thatcher was a socialpathic monster and don't get me wrong I was delighted when she died. But Scargill was out to line his own pockets and popularity at the same time.
Bigger shame on a government that made this awful situation where men had to be forced to choose,and made to fight amongst themselves like a cockfight.
I wonder if anyone would do a comparrasing video to the miner strikes in 1984 to the country voting Brexit in 2016 to present. If they did then people who actually know what they had done. Though I don't think they do since they like to vote tories.
@MarkHarrison733 And I'm a tory who pays tax and doesn't want to get brexit done. The people ike you are totally stupid since you TRUSS everything a TORY says. Don't complain when you are forced to help Russia invade Ukraine since they are stopping a country from entering the EU.
@@LIJXFVKINBVY Labour areas like Sunderland voted most strongly to leave the right-wing Thatcherite EU. See why Corbyn deliberately sabotaged Remain. The EU and NATO orchestrated an illegal coup in Ukraine in 2013-14.
Yes, these communities are so good now,with massive unemployment and less job opportunities.... To phase out an industry,you make a transition plan for at least 10 years, make investments to reemploy the people on simmilar industries with the same or better wages etc... You don't go like "we close it now" because you ruin the lives of these people that work there.
A pivotal point in worker's rights. If you sell your labour for money and not living off tax havens, you are a worker. You are a miner. This is your struggle and it continues.
What struggle continues? They're all shut now and most people in the country do sell their labour and don't have overseas accounts. How many do you know that have? You can't stand in the way of progress. Nobody wants polluting coal fires and power stations and to argue for coal mines remaining open is the mindset of a Luddite.
Randomly watching this video and then my great grandfather(Alan)appears on screen 🤯
I was a 11 years old french boy and I remember that french CGT union sent a truck with clothes blanklets and Xmas gifts for Kids to Uk and a beautiful speaking from the leader.
"Their struggle is our, too"
Sorry for my bad english....
In the 1926 miners strike,, churchill, said let the miners eat grass,, kiddies died aswell,,, starved to death,,, on the back of a english £5,00 note it says,,,,, churchill, ,,, I have nothing to offer but blood,,, toil,,, tears,,, and sweat,,, he never did a.days work in its life,,, and.it had.the.cheek to go to church,,,, wow,, what a. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
I am therefore three years older than you as I was fourteen at the time!
Thank you so very much sweetheart that means so much to me @David Logat.❤❤
Merci de votre réponse, David.
@@MarkHarrison733Hitler had his sights on Alsace-Lorraine which was lost to France at Versailles. He also wanted to avenge the 1918 defeat. A France-German alliance wouldn't happen. Britain was allied with France at the time so also wouldn't make an alliance
You ladies from the south of wales are my absolute heroes you are the best of the best.
Feel so sorry for all coal miners they are the ones who made this country what it is today then treated so badly, respect to all the coal miners 👍
They were paid very well - more than any other worker I know.
I can respect how hard they worked, but they were poorly led. The miners brought down the Heath government in the 1970s. Thatcher learned the lesson and started stockpiling coal as soon as she became PM. Scargill didn't allow a secret ballot. But the bottom line is that British mines couldn't compete.
They fought, they lost, but their grandchildren will live better and longer lives.
My Dad striked until the very end @Graham Boston.
@@davidkeenan5642Gormley had a overtime ban and ran coal deposits down before the strike in 74, he also had a national ballot, in 84, with coal stocks at record high, without a national ballot and in the summer, Scargill calls a strike, make you wonder who he was working for.
@@davidkeenan5642 we live in poverty due to thatcher
Scargill called a strike without a vote required by NUM rules. He did more damage than any Government. I worked on the coal face but left the industry in 1972. Policemen bought new cars with all the 'overtime' pay and called them "Scargill's wheels".
The communities suffered the most. Villages and towns completely obliterated thanks to the destruction of the coal and steel industries
We are still paying the price today, poverty,deprivation, lack of opportunities. Many coal mining communities are still back on there feet.
What would they have done when the coal run out?
But that's like saying Norfolk folks are still paying the price for the mechanisation & modernisation of farming practices....
Industries DO change & are FOREVER market driven, but 40 years on & to still think that miners & their communties should have been cotton wool protected & allowed to carry on over-producing an expensive product with a limited demand in such vast amounts that would have required stockpiling for years & years is the stuff of uneconomic dreams...
This whole 'Thatcher did it' mindset is really ridiculous. She did no more than any other leader, left or right had been doing for decades. The mining industry was in steady decline from the mid 1920's and It was an pretty even split between labour and conservatives on mine closures.
Between 1947 and 1994 around 950 pits were closed.
Attlee (Labour) closed 101 pits from 1947-1951
Macmillan (Conservative) closed 246 pits from 1957-1963
Wilson (Labour) closed 253 pits from 1964-1977
Heath (Conservative) closed 26 pits from 1970-1974
Thatcher (Conservative) closed 115 pits from 1979-1990.
To blame Thatcher is disingenuous in the extreme. She put the final nail in the coffin, but it was dead and closed long before she came to power.
Coal was increasingly not needed, expensive and dirty. Pit closures were a fact of life in an era of modernisation, and though it was painful to lose those jobs, it was also inevitable. Especially given how militant the miners had become in the '70's. They accelerated their own demise by mistakenly believing they were still a vitally important element to British industry and still had the same power they enjoyed when screwing Callaghan over. Their actions were what brought Thatcher to power in a landslide victory. Their efforts were futile and self defeating against her. The public was not on their side. History was not on their side. Economics was not on their side and the miners were never going to win a war that lopsided.
Great post.
@JCBAirmaster73 : "Her plan was a complete destruction of the industry"...Nonsense, only loss making pits were closed. Why not read up before you post?
@JCBAirmaster73 : "The TUC let the miners down, as did the smaller unions who would not join the fight"...And for very good and sensible reasons. The taxpayer was not in favour of subsidising loss making coal mines. Why should they? Some Unions already had a reputation for being greedy bloodsuckers who were prepared to sacrifice the jobs of working class people in the hope that they could bring down the Thatcher government.
@JCBAirmaster73 : "much of the public did support the miners"...Not where I live in the North of England. They thought the violent miners were scum especially when they attempted to stop coal getting to power stations. If they had succeeded many old people would probably have died from lack of warmth.
@JCBAirmaster73 : "Because if you are in something, you are in it together"...So by your imbicilic "logic" if a group of people are behaving idiotically, you would join in because you're all members of a Union. Can you not see how dumb you make yourself look with stupid opinions like that?
I am an ex-miner in the Nottinghamshire coalfield, I did not strike and worked every day 1984-85, as I believed and still do that it is totally unacceptable to be dictated to by Arthur Scargill.
I joined the breakaway union in 1985 the UDM because decisions made must be done in a way that is democratic, vote, act on it and respect that a majority vote should be adhered to.
Maybe Arthur Scargill was correct in the sense that coal mines were on the list for closure, and quite right to if they were making a loss, no mine should be subsidised by the rest, he just reacted in the wrong way and did nothing right and made it a whole lot worse.
You also cannot try to bring a Government down and get away with it, after that Margret Thatcher dug her heels in and did everything to get rid of the trouble NUM, if anything the strikers accelerated the closures.
I am very proud to have been a coal miner, but things change, it was inevitable that we were going to move away from coal.
It saddens me that today after a third of a Century the Industry destroyer (strikers, mainly from Yorkshire) can’t move on and still try to cause trouble.
I am a member of a coal mining memories Facebook page and get so much abuse from them, I find it quite funny how childish they can be, you would have thought they would have grown up a little.
I am an ex miner from the South Wales coalfield who stayed 'out' for the duration of the 1984 - 85 strike. I believed that to counter the threat of the loss of 20 000 - 30 000 jobs in the coalmining industry by Thatcher's industrial hitman, Ian Mcgregor, was only achievable by the last resort use of industrial action by the NUM. You joined the breakaway UDM {scab} union in order to preserve your democratic rights and to adhere to the acceptance of the democratic result....your words and fair enough !...but how do you explain the actions of the Notts area in the 1975 democratic vote on the implication of the NCB plan for a productivity bonus scheme when the majority of miners in the British coalfields voted 'against' acceptance. The Notts area refused to accept the democratic national vote and did a separate deal with the NCB to introduce the deal into their own area. A stab in the back for democracy if ever I have seen one, …..and you wonder why Scargill did not call for a national ballot with such undemocratic area's such as Notts involved.....Mick, you must be having a laugh
@@alunhughes2632 Surely, if you wanted the strike to be effective, it should have been called in the Autumn/ Winter, when coal consumption was at its highest, not Spring? Scargill mismanaged the strike, and used a good cause---preserving the pits--- for his own ends, i.e. trying to bring down an elected government. The strike speeded up the decline of the industry.
David On 1st March Thatchers hitman Macgregor announced that Cortonwood Colliery was to close plus further closures that would result in the loss of around 20,000 jobs. On March 5th we came out on strike, how else could we react to such a blatant threat to the industry. As for Scargill. everyone has an opinion, but we would have come out to fight this butchery of the industry with Scargill at the head of the NUM or not.
@@alunhughes2632 Thanks for this. Perhaps their timing was deliberate...perhaps they wanted that reaction at THAT time, ie. for the Miners to go on strike in Spring. Maybe the government and NCB wrong-footed the miners from the start.
Personally I think that the NUM were asking too much of their members to stay on strike for so long.
If you don't mind me asking, do you think that there has been any reconcilliation between Miners on different sides of the dispute? Does time heal all?
I was interested in the strike because I lived in East Kent which had a coal field.
David The timing of the NCBs announcement of the colliery closure plan with the loss of 20,000 jobs was spot on {for them}. With Spring and Summer approaching this was the worst possible time for us to come out, but given the horrific nature of the threat, what choice did we have..
It has been 35 years since that bitter strike took place and I am sure that in some places time has eased the hatred that existed between miners on different sides and that some reconciliation may have taken place. As for me, a scab will always be a scab, and will go to their grave as nothing more than a scab. I wish no harm upon anyone but what they did I cannot forgive or forget.
It was the south wales people why my dad joined the strike and my god how they suffered 😢😢it completely breaks my heart.
Not enough.
Coal mining should have been phased out during the 1960s.
"phased" is the correct word
@@hieroglyph321 Sadly the trades unions resisted the inevitable.
Lord Kinnock confirmed in 1993 that Scargill was to blame for the closure of the coal mines.
For the women of the working class✊🏻
I well remember the Miners Strike of 1984 as a fourteen year old schoolgirl. Takes me back to adolescence.
me too. i was 6 at the time, my dad was a pit deputy at silver hill one of the Notts pits that didnt strike. i remember all the police picking us up from outside school . the food parcels for those kids whos parents were on strike. very worrying times but despite this i look back on it with fondness
@@shakyinc671My father was a Community Beat Officer and responsible for helping to police the strike along with his colleagues. Arthur Scargill I remember on TV very well!
2022: Hows your energy security now UK? Thatcher wanted the UK to shift from working to financial services in London. A US senator has just stated that any city, globally, that has pinned itself on financial service will no longer be viable.
And this is why the Tories are despised anywhere in the UK away from London.
& having see the state of American politics & some of the idiot governors & senators voted into power...you'd be a fool to listen to any of them...
It was indeed the best year of my life in heavy industry too. The freinds and sence of union in the coal industry will never be seen again. Better to have tried and failed than never to have tried at all.
You didn't fail , you were stabbed in the back .
@@fancifulrat : You failed because you were greedy.
tried to do what? Keep your well paid jobs ? (best wages in the Country) but it couldn't last. If they stopped your free coal in those days and started charging you astronomical prices for it ('cos that what it was costing to produce!) you would soon alter your tune.
@@shibuya3185 is ti greedy to want to keep your job to give food to your families
@@courtneycharlie Stephen you don't need that many spaces after a sentance
Beautifully shot piece. But as far as content this really missed the mark. The focus should have been on the people and what happened to them. You had several people that said they won because they came together and had lots of pride. But what happened to the people? This "story" told very little.
The communities are still there 35 years later (probably in healthier jobs but not earning astronomical wages like the miners were earning). Just one of the reasons the UK couldn't compete with the sale of coal.
Absolute salt of the earth each and every one of them God bless 🙏
Channel 4,ask Scargill where the missing money went??, proper journalism please, Scargill pocketed millions from the plight of the miners,and you know that!
🇬🇧 Thatcher forever 🇬🇧
She's Rotting in Peace
I remember her crying when she got sacked !!!! The irony 😂
These days we are constantly being told that people should stop using coal and other fossil fuels for environmental reasons,
But as the Miners’ strike 35 years ago showed, it will be very difficult, if not impossible to do that, without destroying jobs,
Lives and communities in the process. That is why, certainly for the foreseeable, future, most of energy production will
Come from fossil fuels, and all this talk of cutting emissions will remain just that - talk.
The victory was the fight, we had no choice but to make a stand, because we all knew what thatcher had in mind for us. I would do it again tomorrow, my pit Darfield Main had 6 NUM Scabs by the end, and i wouldnt even waste piss on them.
What could we do ?
We had to fight our way of life was under threat, and we knew what was coming if we did nothing. Shame on the Scab Traitors for helping Thatcher destroy our industry.
No more Deep Mines in The UK thats why we fought so hard 30 years ago. Im Proud of what we did, I'm proud we stood up and fought the way we did.
Respect to all Loyal NUM members who stood firm for 12 months in 84/85 let us all never forget that the cause was just, and that we've all been proved right.
NUM 1984/85 Darfield Main Colliery, Barnsley Area
I raised money for you in the states I know Arthur always says the victory was the struggle maybe but the consequences have been catastrophic; but make no mistake, I think the great miners strike was the greatest struggle of the western working class in the 2nd half of the 20th century
Respect to you
Sad. I wonder if you've changed your opinion now that you are a little older?
If the Union had met with the board before striking, they could have negotiated telephone numbers for payouts. Increased pension enhancements and other benefits, in exchange for a painless, managed contraction of the industry.
The NCB did not want to talk,
What planet are you on? Negotiation with the body whose *duty* it is to destroy your job, pit, community and way of life?
@@stephenmcwilliams5842Their way of life was obsolete, they were just too ignorant to accept it. Going by your logic, should we be forced to subsidize the candle making industry going even though we got light bulbs because candle making was a way of life. It's called progress, some people are just too ignorant and stupid to accept it.
@@alunhughes2632 No. The executive controlled by Scargill were unwilling to compromise.
Is there any coal industry left in Britain today?
Scargill destroyed the NUM by starting a fight he could not win.
The thing that baffles me about the striking miners is that they still vote for a Labour Party who's woke, green zero carbon agenda would have had the same result anyway. When Thatcher left office we had a smaller but modern, profitable, coal industry. The reason it became extinct under Labour and the coalition was because of carbon taxes and regulations which meant imported coal from places like Australia was cheaper, with a view to eventually going for wind. They'd have been better accepting the inevitable and lobbying like crazy for retraining the lads made redundant and investment in new jobs, rather than a futile strike. Maybe a few could've been preserved as working museums as well and kept at least some of the miners and engineers employed as guides.
tories doing a good job in 2022 like they never have ever greedy bastards
I pray the iron maidens limbs withered may she rust in peace
No pit crisis. Miners overreached - and normal, decent people said no to them holding us to ransom any more. Their defeat still makes me feel good.
Fighting for jobs is holding you to ransom, you haven't got a clue.
the miners were the normal, decent people. pls get some class conciousness
@@millzy030Thatcher did nothing wrong.
@@alunhughes2632their jobs were obsolete and they were simply too ignorant to accept it. They were simply a going against progress.
This is the equivalent of candle makers going on strike because the light bulb puts them out of a job.
@@millzy030if they were decent, then they would have accepted that their jobs were obsolete. This is the equivalent of candle makers going on strike because light bulbs are replacing them.
unions get rid of them
+Philip Eaton ...Unions were once the voice of the working man, now, sadly, they are only a whisper.
ban them would be good just keep that vile labour party out
P. Eaton your a knob.read up on what the unions have gained for the working class
Police have a FEDERATION. If they can't reach an agreement they agree on an independent arbitrator to do an enquiry. Decision is final (and usually fair!)
@@lazylad9064 p.eaton more like a knob head never had anything but mummy and daddy
The union went about it the wrong way
The union should of recommended strike action and give us a National ballot
If the union had got the right result in a ballot for strike we all would have came out
Every pit in every area would have been out
I don’t know if it would of stopped solid for a full year though
Scargill would have lost the ballot.
Mark Harrison I think the union would have had a good chance of getting a result for a strike
It would have been better if the strike had been fully supported in all areas
isaac Even if a National ballot had been called for and won, it would not guarantee the Notts miners adhering to the result and coming out with the rest.
What we Notts miners didn't like was being told to come out without a ballot, that is the reason for us joining the UDM..democracy is what we wanted. at the end of the day nothing was right or wrong we are All out of a job with no deep mines left, they were going no matter what.
Mick Barrella
A lot of miners in a lot of areas disagreed with been called out without a ballot
Our pit in Durham voted at the union meeting not to support the strike , at a meeting a week later we were told the Durham area was going to push to get us a national ballot, so we voted to come out for the time been pending a result of a national ballot that the area union said they were
Going push to get , a ballot that the num rules demanded for national strike a ballot we would never going to get
At that time plenty of overtime for the police but not the miners. Some policemen paid off their mortgage and had extra money to pay for extra holidays abroad.
And waved their overtime fivers in the faces of the hungry men on the picket-lines. Shameful but not surprising from the little men Maggie made feel big.
@@stephenmcwilliams5842those men would have been hungry one way or the other. Their jobs were obsolete, they were simply too ignorant to accept it.
@@yuanfangqian7756 Oh, you benighted Tory boy
@@stephenmcwilliams5842 I don't support the Tories, I simply look at things the way they are.
What exactly were those miners striking for exactly? It was a hopeless cause, they were just too ignorant to see it. Their jobs were obsolete, if the policemen didn't finish them off, the competition from much more efficient and competitively priced foreign coal mining or alternative source of fuel would have done so anyways.
This is about as idiotic as horse coach operators striking that cars took their jobs or candle makers striking that light bulbs took their jobs.
@@yuanfangqian7756 "What exactly were those miners striking for exactly?": that speaks volumes, as you clearly don't know the background and why the strike took place. When you're better informed, then your comments will bear more credibility. Look at non-Tory or non-Establishment sources when doing your research. OAO
I wish Thatcher was back in charge of the country today...
Scots don,t wish to see the police in 2019 made politically -biased under a Thatcher style fascist state like between1979-90 as Scots will see most of the 12 Tory mp,s gone by 2022 -and so say all of us !
@@nigelbarrett4091 The SNP is just an EU mass immigration movement like Labour.
@@nigelbarrett4091 : The sooner the Scots leave the UK, the better for the rest of us. They'd better be nice to us though as the UK is by far Scotlands biggest customer for exports.
Thatcher was evil
@@angelhalo1451 : Then let's have more evil if it stops striking thugs from preventing ordinary members of the public from going to work. Heaps more would be nice.If she was in charge we would have had Brexit by now, for sure.
As thy say fighting a loseing battle
If this happened today the working class would be too obsessed with right wing identity politics and would have called the miners 'woke' or 'snowflakes'
While the left marched behind Greta Thunberg demanding the end of carbon emissions and heavy industry. What's the difference if the result is the same?
hahaha both very true, were fucked.
Maggie didn’t think this over all mines closed now power cuts 2022
Don't vote for any politician.
Feur
I know it was terrible!, fancy shutting a pit that was not making any money because the workers were paid more money than they were worth
JCBAirmaster73 been there ,lived through it, listened to the thick twats in the pub at nights , believe your lies if you want
Get your facts straight , the were profitable at the time . They will come for your job someday .
worth more than you
Go ask the bankers, plenty of money to bail them out. How much does a banker get paid compared to a miner?
If the pit lady’s turned there backs on us we would have starved thank you lady’s
Was to young
I. Was five
I'm a scab and proud! I earned a fortune!
Get a grip you live in dark ages who in there right mind would want to work in a pit ..Miners were uneducated people thank god I went to university got a job for life that earns me lots of money 😎
Guess Who, I thought a university education would have taught you to use full stops and comma's where needed. I noticed that the ex miner answering your comment used them without a problem. How can you call the miners 'uneducated' when it is clearly you that is the fool. Idiot. {with a capital I}
People who think that Scargill was a man of the people were completely fucking deluded. It's been proven that he's used vast amounts of union members money to pay for his +million pound flat in London. Thatcher was a socialpathic monster and don't get me wrong I was delighted when she died. But Scargill was out to line his own pockets and popularity at the same time.
Scab so your proud 😕
scab trash
Shame on every scab that fell into thatchers hands
Bigger shame on a government that made this awful situation where men had to be forced to choose,and made to fight amongst themselves like a cockfight.
Good point and both the Tory and working class are to this day still at it
@@jcbairmaster73 There was only one choice , stick together like men .
@@fancifulrat : There was another choice....stop whining, get off your arse's and find another job,
EVERYONE HERE SHUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUSH
enjoy migrants work
strikebreakers
ill send man straught to jehovah when i send shots like m sharapovah
bars but what
You know nothing Jon Snow!
I wonder if anyone would do a comparrasing video to the miner strikes in 1984 to the country voting Brexit in 2016 to present. If they did then people who actually know what they had done. Though I don't think they do since they like to vote tories.
Labour caused Brexit.
@MarkHarrison733 And I'm a tory who pays tax and doesn't want to get brexit done. The people ike you are totally stupid since you TRUSS everything a TORY says. Don't complain when you are forced to help Russia invade Ukraine since they are stopping a country from entering the EU.
@@LIJXFVKINBVY The EU and NATO caused this war in Ukraine.
@MarkHarrison733 If tory Brexitland didn't leave the EU, there would be no war in Ukraine.
@@LIJXFVKINBVY Labour areas like Sunderland voted most strongly to leave the right-wing Thatcherite EU.
See why Corbyn deliberately sabotaged Remain.
The EU and NATO orchestrated an illegal coup in Ukraine in 2013-14.
So glad the coal mines are gone forever.
Mark Harrison
Why?
It was not appropriate for young men to be doing that kind of dangerous work at the end of the last century.
@@markharrison2544 But its ok to send them off to war to die . And for what ? Oil.
Yes, these communities are so good now,with massive unemployment and less job opportunities....
To phase out an industry,you make a transition plan for at least 10 years, make investments to reemploy the people on simmilar industries with the same or better wages etc...
You don't go like "we close it now" because you ruin the lives of these people that work there.
@@γιουργια this argument might have some weight if we didnt have millions of immigrants coming to the UK for work.
hahahahaha rip