Author: ourbulgarianlife

Six candidates are contesting seats in three wards in Gloucester City Council on May 2nd. There is an opportunity fo vote for a party which calls fo a permanent ceasefire in Gaza and in the Ukraine. These coflicts were totally unnecessary and have cost countless lives and money which should be spent on improving lives of people in countries which have wasted taxpayers money on weapons contributing to genocide. Those responsible need to be held to account in the International Courts of Justice.

The Miners’ Strike, 1984/85 KEN CAPSTICK Vice President, National Union of Mineworkers, Yorkshire Area 1990-1994 Ken Capstick speaks at Wombwell WM, Saturday, 23 March 2024 THE MINERS’ STRIKE OF 1984/85 WAS AN HISTORICAL EVENT THAT WILL BE DISCUSSED AND ANALYSED FOR MANY YEARS TO COME. IT HAD ITS ORIGINS DECADES EARLIER WITH THE NATIONALISATION OF THE COAL INDUSTRY IN 1947 AND TODAY I WANT TO PUT IT IN ITS HISTORICAL CONTEXT FOLLOWING NATIONALISATION MANY MINERS’ LEADERS AT THE TIME BELIEVED THE UNION HAD ACHIEVED A LONG DESIRED OBJECTIVE AND AT LAST THE INDUSTRY BELONGED TO THE MINERS DURING THE YEARS FOLLOWING NATIONALISAT5ION MINERS’ LEADERS BECAME VERY COMPLIANT AND ACCEPTED LOW WAGE INCREASES BECAUSE OUR LEADERS, AT THE TIME, FELT THEY HAD TO MAKE NATIONALISATION WORK AFTER MANY YEARS OF FIGHTING FOR IT THEY BELIEVED THEY HAD MADE A GREAT STRIDE IN THE MINERS LONG HELD DESIRE FOR SOCIALISM AND COMMON OWNERSHIP OF THE MEANS OF PRODUCTION, DISTRIBUTION AND EXCHANGE WHAT MINERS HISTORICALLY HAD ALWAYS WANTED WAS TO OWN THE INDUSTRY ITSELF – THEY WANTED THE FULL FRUITS OF THEIR LABOUR BY HAND OR BY BRAIN. WHILST IT WAS A STEP FORWARD IN REMOVING THE OLD COAL-OWNERS AND THE PRIVATISED NATURE OF THE INDUSTRY IT FELL SHORT OF THE HISTORICAL AIMS OF MINERS SO IT WAS A SMALL STEP FOR A MAN BUT IT FELL FAR SHORT OF WHAT MINERS HAD ALWAYS WANTED THIS COMPLIANCE LED TO MINERS’ LIVING STANDARDS GRADUALLY OVERTIME DETERIORATING AND BY 1972 MINERS WERE 17thIN THE INDUSTRIAL WAGES LEAGUE AND THE 1972 MINERS’ STRIKE BEGAN. LED BY A YOUNG MILITANT MINERS’ LEADER ARTHUR SCARGILL MINERS AND THOUSANDS OF TRADE UNIONISTS DESCENDED ON A COKING PLANT AT SALTLEY GATE IN BIRMINGHAM. THE COKING PLANT WAS  CLOSED BY MASS PICKETING WHICH WON THE STRIKE AND VICTORY TO THE MINERS  — WINNING A MASSIVE WAGE INCREASE AND THE EVENTUAL END OF TED HEATH’S PREMIERSHIP. IT WOULD BE WRONG, HOWEVER TO SAY THAT NO GAINS WERE MADE ONE GREAT STRIDE FORWARD, WAS THE NATIONAL POWER LOADING AGREEMENT OF 1966 BUT FOR THE NCB IT BECAME A NIGHTMARE CONTRACTS AND INCENTIVES WERE, AT LAST, ABANDONED IN FAVOUR OF A BASIC WAGE A MINER IN KENT WAS ON THE SAME WAGES AS A MINER IN YORKSHIRE FOR DOING THE SAME JOB MINERS IN SCOTLAND, ENGLAND OR WALES WERE ON THE SAME WAGE FOR DOING THE SAME JOB A FACE WORKER IN SCOTLAND WAS ON THE SAME WAGE AS A FACEWORKER IN WALES A LOCO DRIVER IN ENGLAND WAS ON THE SAME WAGE AS A LOCO DRIVER IN ANY OTHER PART OF THE COUNTRY ·      WAGES HOWEVER REMAINED LOW AND ONE MINER SAID TO ME – HE TOOK HIS WAGE PACKET HOME, THREW IT ON THE TABLE, AND IT TOOK HALF-AN-HOUR FOR IT TO FLOAT DOWN AND LAND THIS SITUATION LED TO UNITY AMONG MINERS RIGHT ACROSS THE BRITISH COALFIELD AND THE FIGHT FOR IMPROVED WAGES BEGAN WITH THE THREE HISTORIC STRIKES AND THE VICTORIES OF 1969, 1972 AND 1974. IN 1974 LABOUR WAS RETURNED TO POWER AND TRIED TO REINTRODUCE AN INCENTIVE SCHEME DESIGNED TO BREAK MINERS’ UNITY AND WERE SUPPORTED BY THE UNION’S RIGHT WING WHO WERE RAPIDLY LOSING THEIR POWER AND INFLUENCE TO THE EMERGING LEFT LED BY – ARTHUR SCARGILL IN YORKSHIRE MICHAEL McGAHEY  IN SCOTLAND EMLYN WILLIAMS IN SOUTH WALES JOE WHELAN IN NOTTS JACK COLLINS IN KENT THE BALLOT RESULT WAS A MASSIVE REJECTION OF A RETURN TO THE RETURN AN INCENTIVE SCHEME THE GOVERNMENT AND THE NUM’s RIGHT WING, LED BY JOE GORMLEY, AGAIN IN 1977, LOST A FURTHER BALLOT ON THE INTRODUCTION OF AN INCENTIVE SCHEME BUT THE NOTTS AREA BROKE RANKS AND SIGNED UP TO INCENTIVE AGREEMENTS GRADUALLY LEADING TO DISUNITY IN THE COALFIELDS AND THE EVENTUAL INTRODUCTION OF AN INCENTIVE SCHEME ACROSS THE INDUSTRY.  MASSIVELY DAMAGING THE STRENGTH IN UNITY WE HAD GAINED AND WHICH HAD WON THE DISPUTES OF 1969, 1972 AND 1974. THE DAMAGE THE INCENTIVE SCHEME DID TO MINERS’ UNITY BECAME A GIFT TO MARGARET THATCHER AND THE TORIES IN THEIR QUEST TO DECIMATE AND DESTROY THE BRITISH MINING INDUSTRY IN 1979 WE WERE BEING CONFRONTED BY A THATCHER GOVERNMENT ABSOLUTELY DETERMINED TO SMASH UP OUR INDUSTRY AND NOT JUST THE MINING INDUSTRY – THE MINERS, THE DOCKERS, THE STEEL WORKERS, THE CAR PLANTS, THE ENGINEERING INDUSTRY – WERE ALL UNDER ATTACK THATCHER WAS ABSOLUTELY DETERMINED TO SMASH – NOT JUST THE MINING INDUSTRY AND THE NATIONAL UNION OF UNION OF MINEWORKERS – BUT THE WHOLE OF TRADE UNIONISM IN BRITAIN IT IS NOW A FACT – REVEALED WITH THE RELEASE OF CABINET PAPERS IN 2014 – UNDER THE 30 YEARS RULE – THAT THE TORIES HAD A SECRET PLAN FROM WHEN THEY WERE IN OPPOSITION – CALLED THE RIDLEY PLAN – TO DESTROY THE BRITISH MINING INDUSTRY, THE NATIONAL UNION OF MINEWORKERS, MINING COMMUNITIES AND MINERS’ JOBS. THE TORIES WERE ENCOURAGED BY THE INTRODUCTION OF THE INCENTIVE SCHEME AND THE DIVISIONS IT CREATED. ARTHUR TOLD US THEN –  HAS NATIONAL PRESIDENT – THAT THE TORIES HAD A SECRET PLAN TO CLOSE MORE THAN 70 PITS ALONG WITH AT LEAST 70,000 MINERS’ JOBS. WE WERE TOLD HE WAS CRAZY AND THAT IT WAS A LIE THE LIE WAS THATCHER’S LIE AND THE RELEASE OF THE CABINET PAPERS IN 2014 –  UNDER THE 30 YEAR RULE  — DEMONSTRATED WHO TOLD THE TRUTH AND WHO TOLD THE LIES WHEN IT WAS REVEALED THAT THE TORIES DID HAVE A PLAN TO DECIMATE THE BRITISH MINING INDUSTRY AND THEY HAD APPOINTED THE BUTCHER McGREGOR TO DO THE JOB.  NOTHING COULD BE CLEARER AS TO THE GOVERNMENT’S INTENTIONS. IN MARCH 1984 – CORTONWOOD BECAME THE CRUX CORTONWOOD – A YORKSHIRE COLLIERY – HAD AMPLE RESERVES OF COAL AND THE ANNOUNCEMENT OF ITS CLOSURE HAD THROWN DOWN THE GAUNTLET TO THE NUM WE HAD A STARK CHOICE IF WE DIDN’T FIGHT FOR COTTONWOOD WE HAD LOST THE FIGHT FOR THE INDUSTRY ITSELF– WITHOUT A FIGHT WE HAD TO FIGHT OR THE BRITISH COAL INDUSTRY WOULD BE DECIMATED AND WE KNOW NOW THAT THAT WAS THE PLAN – THE RIDLEY PLAN – CONCEIVED IN THE LATE 1970s  – WOULD BE IMPLEMENTED ONCE THE TORIES REGAINED OFFICE.  – WHICH THEY DID IN 1979. IN 1984 I WAS A DELEGATE TO THE NUM YORKSHIRE AREA COUNCIL, IN BARNSLEY, AND THE DECISION WAS TAKEN TO IMPLEMENT THE BALLOT RESULT OF 1981 TO TAKE STRIKE ACTION IF A YORKSHIRE PIT WAS THREATENED WITH CLOSURE OTHER THAN WHERE THERE WAS PROVEN SEAM EXHAUSTION AND FROM THERE THE YORKSHIRE MINERS TOOK STRIKE ACTION ON THE 5thOF MARCH 1984 I OFTEN REFER TO THE CHOICE FACED BY A YOUNG LAD AT SCHOOL. HE KNOWS THE SCHOOL BULLY WILL BE WAITING FOR HIM WHEN HE LEAVES SCHOOL TO GO HOME THE BULLY IS OLDER AND BIGGER THAN HE IS AND SURELY ENOUGH THE BULLY IS WAITING FOR HIM OUTSIDE THE SCHOOL GATES HE HAS A CHOICE HE CAN COWER DOWN AND TAKE HIS BEATING OR HE CAN STAND AND FIGHT IF HE FIGHTS HE MIGHT WIN,  BUT HE STILL MIGHT LOSE AFTER LANDING A FEW PUNCHES OF HIS OWN IF HE DOESN’T FIGHT HE WILL DEFINITELY LOSE IF HE FIGHTS – WIN OR LOSE – HIS VICTORY IS IN THE FACT THAT HE DID FIGHT OR AS ARTHUR OFTEN PUTS IT ABOUT OUR STRUGGLE IN 1984.  THE VICTORY WAS IN THE STRUGGLE ITSELF. WE FOUGHT FOR 12 MONTHS.  MINERS PICKETED THROUGHOUT BRITAIN AND IN SOME CASES ABROAD. MINERS AND THEIR FAMILIES FOUGHT AT THE BATTLE OF ORGREAVE LIKE WORKING CLASS LIONS, HEROES AND HEROINES. ————————————————————————————————- I WANT TO PAY TRIBUTE TO THE MAGNIFICENT WOMEN AGAINST PIT CLOSURES THEY COLLECTED MONEY IN EVERY WAY THEY COULD.  THEY WENT ON VIOLENT PICKET LINES, ATTACKED BY THATCHER’S THUGS IN BLUE AND ATTENDED RALLIES.  THEY COLLECTED AND MADE THE FOOD PARCELS THAT SUSTAINED US FOR 12 MONTHS THEY STOOD AT FACTORY GATES COLLECTING DONATIONS FOR FOOD PARCELS THEY FOUND THE COURAGE TO STAND ON PLATFORMS AND ADDRESS LARGE CROWDS OF HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE – THE WOMEN WERE NOT, STANDING BEHIND THEIR MEN, THEY WERE STANDING SHOULDER TO SHOULDER WITH THEIR MEN THEY WERE MAGNIFICENT JUST AS THE MINERS THEMSELVES WERE WHO TOOK DAILY BATTERINGS FROM THE POLICE OFTEN ON HORSE BACK WIELDING TRUNCHEONS IN 1992 THE TORY VINDICTIVENESS CARRIED ON WHEN MICHAEL HESELTINE ANNOUNCED 31 PIT CLOSURES IN A SINGLE DAY AND THERE WAS A MASSIVE PUBLIC OUTCRY THAT FORCED A TEMPORARY RETREAT BUT THE CLOSURE PROGRAMME WENT AHEAD FURTHER DECIMATING THE MINING INDUSTRY WE MUST NEVER FORGET THOSE UNIONS WHO STOOD WITH US THROUGHOUT THAT STRIKE I WAS ON A RADIO PROGRAMME SOMETIME IN THE EARLY PART OF THIS CENTURY DEBATING WITH GODFREY BLUM – RIGHT WING SUPPORTER OF NIGEL FARAGE.   BLUM SAID, WE DON’T WANT TO GO BACK TO THE 1970’S I SAID, I DO – PEOPLE HAD JOBS FOR LIFE WE HAD A VIBRANT INDUSTRIAL BASE IN THE 1970s  — WE HAD STRONG TRADE UNIONS.  AND WE HAD DECENT WAGES BY COMPARISON WITH TODAY. I WOULD GO BACK TO THE 1970s ANY DAY WE DIDN’T HAVE FOOD BANKS WE DIDN’T HAVE ZERO HOURS CONTRACTS I LOOKED IT UP IN THE 1950s, 1960s, 1970s AND 1980s. HOMELESSNESS WAS ABSOLUTELY NEGLIGIBLE IN BRITAIN UNTIL THATCHER’S SELL-OFF OF COUNCIL HOUSES CAUSED A HOUSING PROBLEM ALL OVER BRITAIN STARTING IN THE 1990s. HOMELESSNESS IN THE UK STANDS AT AROUND 309,000 AND RESEARCH BY SHELTER (THE HOMELESS CHARITY) AS THE FIGURE FOR ENGLAND AT 271,000 WITH 123,000 BEING HOMELESS CHILDREN. THAT’S THE DISGRACE OF THE HOMELESS CRISIS WE NOW HAVE IN BRITAIN BUT WE CAN AFFORD BILLIONS AND BILLIONS OF POUNDS FOR FOREIGN FRUITLESS WARS IT IS A SCANDAL CREATED BY THATCHER’S SALE OF COUNCIL HOUSES. BEFORE THE SALE OF COUNCIL HOUSES HOMELESSNESS IN BRITAIN WAS VIRTUALLY NEGLIGIBLE – UNHEARD OF. RECENTLY – I BUMPED INTO AN OLD FRIEND OF MINE I HAD WORKED WITH OVER MANY YEARS. JOKINGLY, I SAID TO HIM,  I SEE THATCHER IS STILL DEAD KEN – DON’T TRUST HER – DON’T TRUST HER. I DON’T KNOW ABOUT YOU BUT I CAN’T VOTE FOR A LABOUR LEADER WHO SAYS THAT THATCHER WAS A GREAT PRIME MINISTER DOESN’T HE KNOW – OR DOESN’T HE CARE – WHAT THATCHER DID TO MINERS, THEIR FAMILIES AND THEIR COMMUNITIES.  I WOULD RATHER NOT VOTE AT ALL THAN VOTE FOR STARMER – HE’S AN OUT AND OUT TORY A LABOUR LEADER WHO FAILS TO CONDEMN ISRAEL’S SLAUGHTER OF MORE THAT 13,000 PALESTINIAN CHILDREN IN GAZA – NO WONDER HE PRAISES THATCHER ———————————————————————————— I NOW WANT TO TURN TO THE SCANDAL OF THE MINEWORKERS’ PENSION SCHEME – THE VIEWS I EXPRESS MAY, OR MAY NOT, BE THE VIEWS OF ALL THE TRUSTEES BUT THEY ARE MY VIEWS THE MPS WAS FIRST INTRODUCED IN 1952. WITH MEMBERS PAYING NO MORE THAN 20P A WEEK. BENEFITS BEFORE APRIL 1975 WERE ABYSMALLY SMALL, AFFORDING NO POSSIBILITY FOR MINERS TO RETIRE WITH DIGNITY BUILDING ON MINERS NEW FOUND STRENGTH, ARTHUR SCARGILL WAS INSTRUMENTAL IN GAINING A MASSIVE IMPROVEMENT TO THE MPS IN 1975 WHEN IT BECAME A CONTRIBUTIONS BASED SCHEME MASSIVELY ENHANCING THE MINERS’ PENSIONS ON RETIREMENT 1N 1994 THE MINEWORKERS’ PENSION SCHEME WAS CLOSED AND THE GOVERNMENTS – BOTH TORY AND LABOUR – HAVE STOLEN HALF OF YOUR MPS PENSION SURPLUSES EVER SINCE AMOUNTING TO A MASSIVE £4.5 BILLION WHICH SHOULD HAVE BEEN USED TO ENHANCE MINERS’ PENSIONS. THE MPS HAS NOT HAD ONE PENNY INCOME SINCE THE SCHEME WAS CLOSED IN 1994 – NEITHER FROM MEMBERS NOR FROM THE GOVERNMENT. THE MPS ONLY HAS INCOME MADE FROM IT’S INVESTMENTS YET THE GOVERNMENT TAKES HALF OF EVERY PENNY OUR INVESTMENTS MAKE FOR US –  WHILE MINERS AND WIDOWS STRUGGLE ON LOW PENSIONS THIS THEFT OF MINERS’ PENSIONS MUST BE STOPPED AND MINERS AND WIDOWS MUST SEE THEIR PENSIONS MASSIVELY INCREASED IN 2021 WE MANAGED TO GET A PARLIAMENTARY SELECT COMMITTEE OFF THE GROUND TO LOOK INTO MINERS’ PENSIONS.  I WANT TO THANK THOSE WHO GAVE EVIDENCE AND THE SELECT COMMITTEE WHICH CALLED FOR ALL SURPLUSES AND A FURTHER £1.2 BILLION – IN WHAT IS CALLED THE INVESTMENT RESERVE – TO BELONG TO MINERS TO FURTHER ENHANCE PENSIONS FOR MINERS AND WIDOWS. THE GOVERNMENT REJECTED THE SELECT COMMITTEE’S UNANIMOUS DECISION.  BUT MINERS EVERYWHERE EXPECT THAT ANY FUTURE LABOUR GOVERNMENT WILL ADOPT THE FINDINGS OF THE SELECT COMMITTEE HEARING AND STOP THE THEFT OF MINERS’ HARD EARNED PENSIONS. IN THIS YEAR, AS WE LOOK BACK AT THE MINERS’ STRIKE OF 1984/85 WE BELIEVE IT IS TIME FOR THE VINDICTIVENESS AGAINST MINERS AND THEIR FAMILIES TO COME TO AN END. IT IS VICTIMISATION BECAUSE WE HAD THE TEMERITY TO FIGHT FOR OUR INDUSTRY I SAY TO THE GOVERNMENT – GIVE US OUR MONEY BACK – ITS NOT YOUR MONEY – IT BELONGS TO MINERS AND MINERS’ WIDOWS. IF THERE IS A LABOUR GOVERNMENT AFTER THE NEXT GENERAL ELECTION WE EXPECT THAT GOVERNMENT TO RE-VISIT THE MPS AND HONOUR ITS PROMISE TO DELIVERY PENSIONS JUSTICE FOR MINERS AND THEIR FAMILIES. *** I WAS ONCE TOLD THAT A MINER MUST TAKE HIS COAT OF TWICE TO GET HIS MONEY —- ONCE TO WORK FOR IT AND ONCE TO FIGHT FOR IT – THE FIGHT FOR PENSIONS’ JUSTICE MUST GO ON UNTIL THAT JUSTICE IS ACHIEVED. LAST, BUT DEFINITELY NOT LEAST, I WANT TO ADDRESS THE CRISIS IN OUR NATIONAL HEALTH SERVICE. ON THE 5thJULY 1948 THE NATIONAL HEALTH SERVICE CAME INTO BEING. IT IS A SOCIALIST CONCEPT AND TORIES HATE IT FOR THAT REASON ALONE BUT THERE ARE THOSE IN THE LABOUR PARTY WHO ARE NO BETTER AND ARE CALLING FOR ITS PRIVATISATION ANEURIN BEVAN SAID WHEN THE NHS WAS CREATED UNDER HIS LEADERSHIP AS HEALTH MINISTER IN 1948 “IT WILL ONLY LAST WHILE FOLKS HAVE THE FAITH TO FIGHT FOR IT”.  HE WAS SO RIGHT. THE HEALTH SERVICE, WE ALL HAVE TREASURED, IS BEING DESTROYED BY STEALTH AS SERVICES ARE TRANSFERRED FROM THE NHS TO PRIVATE HEALTH THEY DARE NOT DISMANTLE THE HEATH SERVICE IN ONE GO SO THE PLAN IS TO DO IT LITTLE BY LITTLE MOVING DIFFERENT NATIONAL HEALTH SERVICE PROVISION TO PRIVATE HEALTH HOPING NO ONE NOTICES. IF WE DON’T HAVE THE FAITH TO FIGHT FOR IT AND SUPPORT THE HEALTH WORKERS WHO ARE IN STRUGGLE  – THEN ONE DAY WE WILL WAKE UP AND THE HEALTH SERVICE WILL BE GONE. I SAY TO THE TORIES WHO STAND ON THE STEPS OF DOWNING STREET APPLAUDING OUR FANTASTIC HEALTH WORKERS THEY DO NOT NEED YOUR APPLAUSE – THEY WANT TO FEED THEIR FAMILIES AND THEIR CHILDREN – THEY WANT A DECENT LIVING WAGE STOP SPENDING BILLIONS AND BILLIONS ON ENDLESS WARS AND GIVE OUR HEALTH WORKERS THE JUSTIFIED WAGE INCREASE THEY ARE DEMANDING. ONE LAST PIECE OF ADVICE I WAS GIVEN BY MY FATHER WHEN I WAS ABOUT FOURTEEN YEARS OF AGE – HE WAS A LANC, BORN IN BURNLEY –  HE WAS A MINER. HE SAID THE BEST WAY TO MAKE SURE YOU VOTE THE RIGHT WAY IN ANY ELECTION IS SIMPLE – IT’S EASY. HE SAID, WHEN ALL NEWSPAPERS, THE MIRROR, THE DAILY EXPRESS, THE DAILY MAIL – TELEVISION AND RADIO ARE URGING YOU TO VOTE FOR HIM – MAKE SURE YOU VOTE FOR T’OTHER BUGGER. I WANT TO SAY THANK YOU FOR INVITING ME TO SPEAK AT THIS MEETING TODAY IT HAS BEEN AN ENORMOUS PRIVILEGE FOR ME THANK YOU VERY MUCH INDEED.

The Miner’s Strike 1984/5 Arthur Scargill, President of the National Union of Mineworkers 1982-2002 Wombwell WMC, Saturday, 23rd March, 2024 I am privileged to be at this commemorative event today for a number of reasons.  First, it’s being held in Wombwell where members of my family lived and in the area near to Wombwell Main Colliery where my father worked until the day he retired – and in an area adjacent to Cortonwood, which has become legendary all over the world. Today, I’m here to honour miners and their families who in 1984/5 fought the greatest workers’ fight since the days of the Chartists and the Tolpuddle Martyrs:   to save pits, jobs and our communities. I especially want to pay tribute to the young miners in 1984-1985 who were in every sense fighting for the future – and the magnificent Women Against Pit Closures who were at the forefront of our struggle. Who can forget that amazing day, 12 May 1984, when more than 12,000 women from mining communities around the British Coalfields came together in Barnsley to stage a historic march and rally in support of the NUM’s fight against pit closures?  What a march and what a rally. They were supporting our Union’s right to take strike action, which  was and is governed by United Nations and International Labour Organisation Conventions No. 87 and 98. The miners’ strike of 1984/85 brought our Union unprecedented support from workers in countries around the world – including France, Spain, Italy, Hungary, East Germany, Ireland and South Africa. I for one never forget the French CGT miners led by my comrade Alain Simon coming across the Channel and into the coalfields at Christmas 1984 driving lorry-loads full of food, provisions and gifts for our families, especially our children and provisions for our communities. Like hundreds of thousands in Britain’s trade union and Labour movement, they provided support for us throughout the dispute. Their reason for doing so was simple: Forty years ago, the Tory Government led by Margaret Thatcher declared war on the National Union of Mineworkers. The Tories had been preparing for a showdown with the NUM since before the 1979 General Election.  They could not forget the victorious miners’ strikes of 1969, 1972 and 1974. In the Spring of 1982, I was handed a copy of a secret Government plan prepared by NCB chiefs earmarking 95 pits for closure, with the loss of 100,000 miners’ jobs. It became clear in the following period that the Union would have to take action that would win maximum support and have a unifying effect. A special conference was held on 21 October, 1983, and delegates from all NUM Areas were given a detailed report so that they could vote on what action – if any – should be taken. Conference voted unanimously in accordance with Rule for a national full overtime ban which over the next four months, had an extraordinary impact.  Government statistics confirm that it succeeded in reducing coal output by 30 percent, or 12 million tonnes. By February 1984, the overtime ban had cut national coal stocks to  the same level as they had been during the successful miners’ unofficial strike in 1981. On 1 March, 1984, NCB Directors in four Areas announced the immediate closure of five pits: Cortonwood and Bullcliffe Wood in Yorkshire, Herrington in Durham, Snowdown in Kent and  Polmaise in Scotland. On Tuesday, 6 March, Coal Board Chairman Ian MacGregor confirmed that a further 20 would be closed during the coming year, with the loss of over 20,000 jobs. It was obvious that the Union had to respond and at a National Executive Committee  meeting on 8 March, two days later, Scotland and Yorkshire sought endorsement from the NEC for strike action in their Areas.   They were given authorization in accordance with National Rule 41, and the NEC  confirmed that any Area could if they wished adopt the same policy. On 12 March 1984, Area strikes began and 180,000 miners were on strike. I’m fed up of reading or listening to critics saying we “picked the wrong time of year” for a strike. The industrial action started with the overtime ban in November 1983:  an appropriate time for miners to start industrial action. At a Special National Delegate Conference on 19 April, 1984, delegates rejected a call for a national strike ballot and voted to support and strengthen the 180,000, or 80% of Britain’s miners who were already on strike on an Area basis in accordance with National Rule 41. PICKETING TARGETS From the start, I was convinced that the steel industry should be the Areas’ main picketing target – far more than power stations or, indeed, the pits in the few Areas that had rejected strike action. It was obvious to me that the NUM needed to fight Government and Coal Board plans for pit closures at targets which were their weakest link.  On the basis of information I had, I argued that the most vulnerable target was steel:   the steel plants at Scunthorpe in Yorkshire,  Ravenscraig in Scotland and Port Talbot in South Wales, and the coking plants which supplied them. In 1984, the Government had only three weeks’ supply of coke for the steel works in stock – a fact confirmed in the later memoirs of Margaret Thatcher and  her Energy Secretary Peter Walker. Scunthorpe was supplied by Orgreave Coking Plant in South Yorkshire and I believed it was a crucial target for mass picketing.  Its coke supplies could be cut off as had been the case in shutting the Saltley coke depot in Birmingham during the 1972 miners’ strike. My argument was originally rejected by Area leaders who believed that the main targets should be power stations, docks – and those Areas which had not joined the Strike. Following the decision of the Special Conference on 19 April, a National Strike Co-ordinating Committee advised and/or instructed Areas that picketing should be undertaken on an Area basis in accordance with National Rule 41.  NUM Areas also set up Co-ordinating Committees whose task was to select picketing targets, provided they were in accordance with the Conference decision and Rule 41. It was not until May that my view on Orgreave was accepted. The Yorkshire NUM had reached an agreement with the British Steel Corporation to allow provision of enough coke to protect Scunthorpe’s ovens – not enough to produce steel.  Weeks passed before the Yorkshire NUM and Scotland and South Wales discovered that British Steel was breaching agreements and smuggling in enough coke for producing steel! Bill Sirs, General Secretary of the steel-workers’ union ISTC, agreed with British Steel and refused to help the NUM by instructing his members not to cross picket lines to work – an action which in itself would in my opinion have virtually settled the dispute. British Steel’s duplicity led Yorkshire and other Areas to accepting my arguments about Orgreave. Picketing started at there on 22/23 May, a fact later confirmed by South Yorkshire Assistant Chief Constable Anthony Clement, and by the 27th thousands  had responded to the call for mass picketing at this plant which supplied the coke essential for Scunthorpe steelworks. Of course police numbers grew accordingly.  By 30 May, the growing number of pickets had led to a substantial number of us being arrested, including me. Orgreave, 18 June 1984 I am fed up listening to historians, the media and unfortunately even some of our own members saying that on 18 June at Orgreave the police “welcomed in the pickets” and directed them to the plant. This State propaganda only feeds the lie that on 18 June 1984 we were helpless victims, who were herded by the police like cattle to the slaughter – nothing could be further from the truth Media accounts of the Battle of Orgreave are misleading and untruthful.  Today I want to put the record straight. The Union knew exactly where we were going and picket organisers knew what we were doing. Pickets had been at Orgreave for several weeks, and we had made it public that we wanted a mass picket on the 18th of June. The NUM had called on the wider trade union and Labour movement to join us on that day.   It was no secret – and of course once the State knew, the police were turned out in great numbers – 8,500 of them, to be exact, including members of the army dressed in police uniforms. From the time we arrived, the police – far from welcoming us in – began their attack.  By mid-morning, dozens of miners had been injured and were being taken to Rotherham Hospital – including me. I have unexpected support in the evidence given by Assistant Chief Constable Clement at the trial of our members who were beaten and arrested on 18 June and then charged with riot – for which they could have been imprisoned for life. At their trial nearly a year later, Mr. Clement, reading from his notebook, told the Court that by 6:50 a.m. on 18 June 1984 there were about seven hundred demonstrators on the road which was topside of the police cordon and the Orgreave plant.  He stated that he decided to deploy “long-shield” men shortly after 8:00 a.m. and that at about 8:10 a.m. there was a “dramatic increase in violence” as the first convoy of  empty lorries arrived at the plant, at which point as many as 2,000 pickets charged the police lines. As a result, Clement decided that the safest and most effective way to deal with the pickets was to use mounted police, so he ordered the ranks to open and the horses, 14 in two ranks, to advance. But this manoeuvre was only partly successful because while some 6,000 pickets were facing the police attack on the top side, possibly half that number were further down the road, on the other side of the plant. Clement stated that it was when lorries filled with coke were ready to leave the plant at 9:25 a.m., a second charge from pickets took place down Highfield Lane and the police had to prepare for a further push. He said it had not been his intention to drive the pickets over the bridge above the road but he had to do so because most of the by-now 8,000 pickets had regrouped at the junction of Orgreave Lane. Clement stated in Court that he now had to put into operation  his plan to clear the entire topside area.  Mounted police went in with short-shield men following behind to “mop up” demonstrators who found their way round the horses. One of the most famous images from the Battle of Orgreave is a mounted policeman, truncheon raised, bearing down on photographer Lesley Boulton, camera round her neck, who was bending protectively over a wounded picket on the ground.  This was an example of Mr. Clement’s “mopping up” instruction. What was a paramilitary force  inflicted injuries on trade unionists not seen since the massacre at Merthyr in South Wales in 1831 when 24 men were killed  and hundreds injured– and at Featherstone in Yorkshire in 1893 when two strikers were shot dead and hundreds badly injured by the South Staffordshire Regiment. I’d like to add a bit of personal information that emerged during the “riot” trial of our colleagues in 1985. Michael Mansfield, the principal defence barrister, having examined Mr. Clement’s notebook asked whether he’d had any other notebook apart frim that produced in Court. Mr. Clement initially said no, but pressed by Mr. Mansfield admitted he’d forgotten that he did have another notebook which was duly produced despite an objection from Mr. Clement’s barrister. He was asked by Mr. Mansfield were there any other notations that had been entered on 18 June 1984 about which Mr. Clement hadn’t told the jury?  Clement admitted, yes, just one, not actually connected with this “riot” trial, but with Arthur Scargill’s  injuries on the day Clement had referred to Scargill as “provocative”.  “My knowledge of Scargill goes back a long time”, he said referring to the 1980 steel strike when Scargill made a nuisance of himself by mobilizing the NUM Yorkshire Area to support striking steelworkers and closing British Steel’s Hadfield plant in Sheffield. Forced to examine his second notebook by Michael Mansfield, Mr Clement identified me as standing with fellow-picket Dave Moore at the other side of the bridge at 11:30 a.m. but denied that either of us had been knocked to the ground.  He said that I could not possibly have been hit and knocked unconscious by a shield-carrying officer on the bank as those officers stayed on the road. At this point, he was shown a photograph taken by Arthur Wakefield, an NUM picket and photographer, which clearly showed Arthur Scargill on the ground surrounded by shield-carrying policemen, and an ambulance worker. ON 18 JUNE, ORGREAVE COKING PLANT WAS CLOSED What is virtually never reported is that before the end of the day on 18 June 1984, because of our mass picket, British Steel had to close the plant.  BBC Labour Correspondent Nicholas Jones gave me the telex from British Steel Chairman Rober Haslam ordering the closure.  Denis Doody, a former miner, later a full-time Official and Executive member of UCATT, who was at Orgreave on 18 June, confirmed he heard it on the radio in the midst of a cheering crowd – and Dave Douglass, a member of the NUM Yorkshire Area Executive, who was also there on the day records in his book “Ghost Dancers” that the plant was closed. I have no doubt that Orgreave would have remained closed had the picketing returned in greater strength the following day, thus emulating what the working class of Birmingham accomplished in 1972 at Saltley Gate. The tragedy at Orgreave was that instead of stepping up our action, the pickets were withdrawn the next day, despite my desperate urging that picketing should be stepped up.  From my hospital bed, I contacted NUM Area leaders and urged that the picketing should be increased, as it had been at Saltley in 1972. Had Orgreave stayed closed, the Scunthorpe steelworks would have faced immediate closure.  The impact of that and the effect elsewhere would have forced the Government to settle the strike. “REFUSAL TO NEGOTIATE” For 40 years, I have been accused of refusing to negotiate a settlement with the National Coal Board, and of ‘snatching defeat from the jaws of victory’.  This was and is another lie, by the Coal Board and by the State. The NUM settled the strike with the NCB on five separate occasions in 1984: on 8 June, 8 July, 18 July, 10 September, and 12 October – only to have the NCB renege on these settlements due to what we now know was Government instruction. THE SELL-OUT The most important ‘settlement terms’ were agreed between the leaders of the pit deputies’ union NACODS and the NUM on 12 October 1984.  NACODS had just conducted an individual ballot and obtained an 82% vote for strike action. Following the NACODS result, the conciliation service ACAS invited the NCB, NUM and NACODS in to see if there could be a negotiated settlement. After futile discussions with the NCB, the NUM and NACODS held a joint meeting in which on behalf of the NUM I personally drafted the following proposal: “That the NCB withdraw its pit closure plan, give an undertaking that the five collieries earmarked for immediate closure would be kept open, and guarantee that no pit would be closed unless by joint agreement it was deemed to be exhausted or unsafe.” This proposal was accepted by NACODS and acceptable to the conciliation service ACAS.  It was then submitted to the NCB.  It was emphasized that if the NCB did not accept this joint proposal, the NACODS strike would go ahead. On the eve of reconvened discussions at ACAS, I learned that the NACODS leadership had inexplicably reneged on its agreement with the NUM and had instead reached an agreement with the NCB for an amended colliery review procedure. No explanation has ever been given by NACODS for this U-Turn, or sell-out, which had terrible historical consequences, leading as it did to the destruction of Britain’s deep coal mining industry. Over the years, I have repeatedly said:  We didn’t “come close” to total victory in October, 1984 – we had it, and at the very point of victory we were betrayed. On 21 February 1985, we held a Special Delegate Conference at which the NEC called upon the trade union movement not to leave the NUM isolated.  The NEC called upon all our members to stand firm and those not yet involved to support our Union against the Government’s attempt to destroy us.  This was carried unanimously. Inexplicably, by 28 February 1985, one week later, five Areas wrote  to the NUM Secretary asking for a recall Conference to agree an immediate return to work without a settlement. That Conference took place on 3 March 1985.  The NEC’s position was for continuation of the strike, as instructed by the Conference on 21 February. The resolution to call off the strike and return to work was proposed by the South Wales Area and seconded by Durham.  The vote to return to work was carried by 98 votes to 91. The three National Officials, Mick McGahey, Peter Heathfield and Arthur Scargill advocated the continuation of the strike – as did the Yorkshire Delegation.   I am convinced that if the women who played such a central role had voted on 3 March 1985, they would have voted to continue the Strike until victory was ours. The Miners’ Strike of 1984/85 remains not only an inspiration for workers but a reminder to today’s trade union leaders of their responsibility to their members, and the need to come together in direct action to challenge Government and employers against all forms of injustice, inequality and exploitation. It is my privilege to be here today to pay tribute and to honour the courageous miners and their families, and the magnificent women’s support groups who for one year and four months withstood everything the State could throw at them. You have already marched into history, and entered the pantheon of working class heroes and heroines. Arthur Scargill Wombwell Working Men’s Club Saturday, 23 March 2024

Arthur Scargill and Ken Capstick will be speaking on the 40th Anniversary of the Miners’ Strike 1984/85 to miners and their families from Cortonwood and adjacent collieries, including Wombwell Main, Darfield, Elsecar, Houghton Main, Mitchell Main. Wombwell WMC 25 Station Road Wombwell S73 0AY Noon-6:00 p.m. Arthur Scargill acknowledges the packed hall audience a week earlier at Hemsworth Colliery. This was after two similar capacity meetings on 40th Anniversary of the Miners’ strike 1984/5. Videos of meetings at Hatfield and Dodsworth Collieries can be seen on this site below.

Arthur Scargill has been embarking on a series of invitations from collieries involved Speaking to a packed audience at the Miners’ Club at Hatfield Main Colliery in Yorkshire the Arthur Scargill’s speech at Hatfield Main Colliery, 9th March, 2024 The Miners’ Strike, 1984/85 Today, I’m here to honour miners and their families who in 1984/5 fought the greatest workers’ fight since the days of the Chartists and the Tolpuddle Martyrs: to save pits, jobs and our communities. I especially want to pay tribute to the young miners in 1984-1985 who were in every sense fighting for the future – and the magnificent Women Against Pit Closures who were at the forefront of our struggle. Who can forget that amazing day, 12 May 1984, when more than 12,000 women from mining communities around the British Coalfields came together in Barnsley to stage a historic march and rally in support of the NUM’s fight against pit closures? What a march and what a rally. They were supporting our Union’s right to take strike action, which was and is governed by United Nations and International Labour Organisation Conventions No. 87 and 98. The miners’ strike of 1984/85 brought our Union unprecedented support from workers in countries around the world – including France, Spain, Italy, Hungary, East Germany, Ireland and South Africa. I for one never forget the French CGT miners led by my comrade Alain Simon coming across the Channel and into the coalfields at Christmas 1984 driving lorry-loads full of food, provisions and gifts for our families, especially our children and provisions for our communities. Like hundreds of thousands in Britain’s trade union and Labour movement, they provided support for us throughout the dispute. Their reason for doing so was simple: Forty years ago, the Tory Government led by Margaret Thatcher declared war on the National Union of Mineworkers. The Tories had been preparing for a showdown with the NUM since before the 1979 General Election. They could not forget the victorious miners’ strikes of 1969, 1972 and 1974. In the Spring of 1982, I was handed a copy of a secret Government plan prepared by NCB chiefs earmarking 95 pits for closure, with the loss of 100,000 miners’ jobs. It became clear in the following period that the Union would have to take action that would win maximum support and have a unifying effect. A special conference was held on 21 October, 1983, and delegates from all NUM Areas were given a detailed report so that they could vote on what action – if any – should be taken. Conference voted unanimously for a national full overtime ban which over the next four months, had an extraordinary impact. Government statistics confirm that it succeeded in reducing coal output by 30 percent, or 12 million tonnes. It cut national coal stocks to about the same level as they had been during the successful miners’ unofficial strike in 1981. On 1 March, 1984, NCB Directors in four Areas announced the immediate closure of five pits: Cortonwood and Bullcliffe Wood in Yorkshire, Herrington in Durham, Snowdown in Kent and Polmaise in Scotland. On Tuesday, 6 March, Coal Board Chairman Ian MacGregor confirmed that a further 20 would be closed during the coming year, with the loss of over 20,000 jobs. At a National Executive Committee meeting on 8 March, two days later, Scotland and Yorkshire sought endorsement from the NEC for strike action in their Areas. They were given authorization in accordance with National Rule 41, and the NEC confirmed that any Area could if they wished adopt the same policy. On 12 March 1984, Area strikes began. I’m fed up of reading or listening to critics saying we “picked the wrong time of year” for a strike. The industrial action started in November 1983: an appropriate time for miners to start industrial action. At a Special National Delegate Conference on 19 April, 1984, delegates rejected a call for a national strike ballot and voted to support and strengthen the 180,000, or 80% of Britain’s miners who were already on strike on an Area basis in accordance with National Rule 41. PICKETING TARGETS From the start, I was convinced that the steel industry should be the Areas’ main picketing target – far more than power stations or, indeed, the pits in the few Areas that had rejected strike action. It was obvious to me that the NUM needed to fight Government and Coal Board plans for pit closures at targets which were their weakest link. On the basis of information I had, I argued that the obvious targets were the steel plants at Scunthorpe in Yorkshire, Ravenscraig in Scotland and Port Talbot in South Wales, and the coking plants which supplied them. In 1984, the Government had only three weeks’ supply of coke for the steel works in stock – a fact confirmed in the later memoirs of Margaret Thatcher and her Energy Secretary Peter Walker. Scunthorpe was supplied by Orgreave Coking Plant in South Yorkshire which is why I believed it was a crucial target for mass picketing. Its coke supplies could be cut off as had been the case in shutting the Saltley coke depot in Birmingham during the 1972 miners’ strike. My argument was originally rejected by Area leaders who believed that the main targets should be power stations, docks – and those Areas which had not joined the Strike. Following the decision of the Special Conference on 19 April, a National Strike Co-ordinating Committee advised and/or instructed Areas that picketing should be undertaken on an Area basis in accordance with National Rule 41. NUM Areas also set up Co-ordinating Committees whose task was to select picketing targets, provided they were in accordance with the Conference decision and Rule 41. It was not until May that my view on Orgreave was accepted. The Yorkshire NUM had reached an agreement with the British Steel Corporation to allow provision of enough coke to protect Scunthorpe’s ovens – not enough to produce steel. Weeks passed before the Yorkshire NUM discovered that British Steel was breaching that agreement and smuggling in enough coke for producing steel! British Steel’s duplicity led Yorkshire and other Areas to accepting my arguments about Orgreave. The scene was set for that what has become history – often distorted history. I’m fed up with reading and listening to historians and media experts saying that miners “walked into a police trap” at Orgreave on 18 June 1984 – it’s untrue. Picketing started at the Orgreave coking plant on 23 May, and by the 27th thousands of pickets had responded to the call for mass picketing at this plant which supplied the coke essential for Scunthorpe steelworks. Of course police numbers grew accordingly. By 30 May, the growing number of pickets had led to a substantial number of us being arrested, including me. The plan for a mass picket on 18 June, larger than ever, was widely known and publicized. Accordingly, of course the police were turned out in larger numbers. On 18 June, some 10,000 pickets were there – and we knew the police would descend in greater numbers – 8,500 of them. We were there for a reason and with a strategy. We did not “walk into a trap”, nor did the police “wave us in”. To co-ordinate our actions, I had purchased – from a little shop in Sheffield – six walkie-talkies for communication amongst picket leaders, including Dave Douglass and NUM Yorkshire Vice-President Sammy Thompson. It has long been admitted that the police brutality on that day was a deliberate tactic used by the State to wage war against the National Union of Mineworkers. 123 people were injured; a number had to be hospitalized, including me. 95 – including some of the worst injured – were arrested and charged with riot, unlawful assembly and violent disorder. These charges were, of course, discredited and dropped with the acquittal of the first group who were tried. Those facts are often repeated in media accounts of the Battle of Orgreave. What is virtually never reported is that before the end of the day (as Dave Douglass records in his book “Ghost Dancers”) the police were forced to close the plant, a decision confirmed in a telex from British Steel’s Chairman, handed to me by the BBC’s Labour Correspondent, Nicholas Jones. The tragedy was that instead of then stepping up our action, the pickets were withdrawn the next day, despite my desperate urging that picketing should be stepped up. From my hospital bed, I contacted NUM Area leaders and urged that the picketing should be increased, as it had been at Saltley. Had that happened, I have no doubt that Orgreave would have stayed closed and Scunthorpe would have faced immediate closure. The impact of that and the effect elsewhere would have forced the Government to settle the strike. “REFUSAL TO NEGOTIATE” For 40 years, I have been accused of refusing to negotiate a settlement with the NCB, and of ‘snatching defeat from the jaws of victory’. This was and is a lie. The NUM settled the strike with the NCB on five separate occasions in 1984: on 8 June, 8 July, 18 July, 10 September, and 12 October – only to have the NCB renege on these settlements due to what we now know was Government instruction. The most important ‘settlement terms’ were agreed between the leaders of the pit deputies’ union NACODS and the NUM on 12 October 1984. NACODS had just conducted an individual ballot and obtained an 82% vote for strike action. Following the NACODS result, the conciliation service ACAS invited the NCB, NUM and NACODS in to see if there could be a negotiated settlement. After futile discussions with the NCB, the NUM and NACODS held a joint meeting in which on behalf of the NUM I drafted the following proposal: “That the NCB withdraw its pit closure plan, give an undertaking that the five collieries earmarked for immediate closure would be kept open, and guarantee that no pit would be closed unless by joint agreement it was deemed to be exhausted or unsafe.” This proposal was accepted by NACODS and acceptable to the conciliation service ACAS. It was then submitted to the NCB. It was emphasized that if the NCB did not accept this joint proposal, the NACODS strike would go ahead. On the eve of reconvened discussions at ACAS, I learned that the NACODS leadership had inexplicably reneged on its agreement with the NUM and had instead reached an agreement with the NCB for an amended colliery review procedure. No explanation has ever been given by NACODS for this U-Turn, or sell-out, which had terrible historical consequences, leading as it did to the destruction of Britain’s deep coal mining industry. Over the years, I have repeatedly said: We didn’t “come close” to total victory in October, 1984 – we had it, and at the very point of victory we were betrayed. On 21 February 1985, we held a Special Delegate Conference at which the NEC called upon the trade union movement not to leave the NUM isolated. The NEC called upon all our members to stand firm and those not yet involved to support our Union against the Government’s attempt to destroy us. This was carried unanimously. Inexplicably, by 28 February, one week later, five Areas had written to the NUM Secretary asking for a recall Conference to agree an immediate return to work without a settlement. That Conference took place on 3 March 1985. The NEC’s position was for continuation of the strike, as instructed by Conference on 21 February. The resolution to call off the strike and return to work was proposed by the South Wales Area and seconded by Durham. The vote to return to work was carried by 98 votes to 91. The three National Officials, Mick McGahey, Peter Heathfield and Arthur Scargill advocated the continuation of the strike – as did the Yorkshire Delegation. The Miners’ Strike of 1984/85 remains not only an inspiration for workers but a reminder to today’s trade union leaders of their responsibility to their members, and the need to come together in direct action to challenge Government and employers against all forms of injustice, inequality and exploitation. It is a privilege to be here today with all of you who took strike action in 1984 and you who supported our strike – you marched into history, and entered the pantheon of working class heroes and heroines. Arthur Scargill 9 March 2024 Watch the day’s events here from Consortium News: https://consortiumnews.com/2024/03/12/watch-cn-live-miners-march-40-yrs-after-strike/ George Galloway, Arthur Scargill and Ken Capstick, Miners’ 40th Anniversary at Hatfield Coliery

Meeting for the 40th anniversary of the Miners’ Strike, Doncaster Coal Field. Main speaker, Arthur Scargill

Watch the vidoe on YouTube here! https://youtu.be/eiLDymwSkd0?si=9koLfAvFm76nxTTf

STATEMENT PREFACING SPEECH (A. SCARGILL) – preface to text of the speech made at Dodworth Miners’ Welfare, Yorkshire, 2/3/2024 Israel – Slaughter of the Innocent The slaughter of 30,000 innocent people including children and the unborn in Gaza is nothing less than genocide.  The perpetrators should be arrested and jailed for life. It is terrible that the fascist state of Israel has continuously bombed and shelled Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem for nearly five months. These territories are the land of Palestine which Israel has unlawfully occupied since 1967, and unless Israel withdraws, the United States should force it back. If the United States and United Kingdom can unlawfully invade Grenada, Iraq and Libya then they should drive Israel from the occupied territories of Palestine. Arthur Scargill 2 March 2024 The Miners’ Strike, 1984/85 Today, I’m here to honour miners and their families who in 1984/5 fought the greatest worker’ fight since the days of the Chartists and the Tolpuddle Martyrs: to save pits, jobs and our  communities. That includes our young miners who were in every sense fighting for the future – and the magnificent Women Against Pit Closures who were at the forefront of our struggle. I refer in particular to women in Barnsley who played a leading role in helping establish a  national organisation:   Ann Hunter, Anne Scargill, Jean McCrindle, Maureen Exley,  Betty Cook, Marsha Marshall, Ann Musgrave and Pat Charlton (wife of Jackie), to name only a  few. Who can forget that amazing day, 12 May 1984, when more than 12,000 women from mining  communities around the British Coalfields came to Barnsley to stage a historic march and rallyin support of the NUM’s fight against pit closures? Remember that our right to take strike action was and is governed by United Nations and  International Labour Organisation Conventions No. 87 and 98. The miners’ strike of 1984/85 brought our Union unprecedented support from workers around the world. I for one never forget the French CGT miners led by my comrade Alain Simon coming across  the Channel and into the coalfields at Christmas 1984 driving lorry-loads full of food, provisions and gifts for our families, especially our children and provisions  for our communities.  Their reason for doing so was simple: Forty years ago, the Tory Government led by Margaret Thatcher declared war on the National Union of Mineworkers. The Tories had been preparing for a showdown with the NUM since before the 1979 General Election.  They could not forget the victorious miners’ strikes of 1969, 1972 and 1974. In the Spring of 1982, I was handed a copy of a secret Government plan prepared by NCB  chiefs earmarking 95 pits for closure, with the loss of 100,000 miners’ jobs. It became clear in the following period that the Union would have to take action that would  win maximum support and have a unifying effect. A special conference was held on 21 October, 1983, and delegates from all NUM Areas were given a detailed report so that they could vote on what action – if any – should be taken. Conference voted unanimously for a national full overtime ban which over the next four  months, had an extraordinary impact.  Government statistics confirm that it succeeded in  reducing coal output by 30 percent, or 12 million tonnes. It cut national coal stocks to about the same level as they had been during the miners’  unofficial strike in 1981. On 1 March, 1984, NCB Directors in four Areas announced the immediate closure of five pits:  Cortonwood and Bullcliffe Wood in Yorkshire, Herrington in Durham, Snowdown in Kent and  Polmaise in Scotland. On Tuesday, 6 March, Coal Board Chairman Ian MacGregor announced that a further 20  would be closed during the coming year, with the loss of over 20,000 jobs. At a National Executive Committee  meeting on 8 March, two days later, Scotland and  Yorkshire sought endorsement from the NEC for strike action in their Areas.   They were given authorization in accordance with National Rule 41, and the NEC  confirmed that any Area could if they wished adopt the same policy. I’m fed up of reading or listening to critics saying we “picked the wrong time of year” for a  strike. The industrial action started in November 1983:  an appropriate time for miners to start  industrial action. On 12 March 1984,  Area strikes began. At a Special National Delegate Conference on 19 April, 1984, delegates rejected a call for a  national strike ballot and voted to support and strengthen the 180,000, or 80% of Britain’s  miners who were already on strike on an Area basis in accordance with National Rule 41. I was convinced that the steel industry should be the Areas’ main picketing target –in particular, Scunthorpe, Ravenscraig in Scotland and Port Talbot in South Wales but it was  not until May that my view was accepted. In 1984, steel plants were the Government’s weakest point, with only three weeks’ supply of  coke in stock -a fact confirmed in the later memoirs of Margaret Thatcher and  her Energy Secretary Peter  Walker. The scene was set for the battle of Orgreave. Orgreave Coking Plant in South Yorkshire was a crucial target for mass picketing.  Its coke  supplies could be cut off as had been the case in shutting the Saltley coke depot in  Birmingham during the 1972 miners’ strike. Picketing started on 26 May 1984, and by 30 May police tactics had turned vicious with  substantial attacks and arrests of pickets (including me).  It was a signal that the Union’s  members and the trade union movement had to meet this illegal State force with mass  picketing, as they had in Birmingham at Saltley in February 1972 and in London at the mass  picket in July 1972 which freed the Pentonville Five. On 18 June 10,000 pickets faced 8,500 riot police in a scene reminiscent of a battle in  England’s 17th Century Civil War.  That day, over a hundred were arrested and beaten, 95 of whom were charged with riot, unlawful assembly and violent disorder, and dozens were  hospitalized (including me). Police brutality, deliberate provocation and lies were later exposed in Sheffield Crown Court, and the charges were dismissed, with some compensation eventually paid to the victims. What is ignored, or forgotten is that on 18 June, at the end of the day, British Steel’s Chairman sent a telex closing down Orgreave – on a temporary basis because our presence had been so effective -exactly like the first closure of Saltley Coke Depot 12 years before. The fundamental difference between Saltley in 1972 and Orgreave in 1984 was that following the first closure at Saltley, picketing  was increased the following day. At Orgreave, the pickets were withdrawn the next day by NUM Area leaders, despite my  desperate urging that picketing should be stepped up. From my hospital bed on 18 June, I contacted NUM Area leaders and urged that the picketing should be increased, as it had been at Saltley. Had picketing at Orgreave been increased on 19 June 1984, I have no doubt that Orgreave – and then Scunthorpe – would have faced immediate closure, forcing the Government to settle the strike. For 40 years, I have been accused of refusing to negotiate a settlement with the NCB, and of ‘snatching defeat from the jaws of victory’.  This was and is a lie. The NUM settled the strike with the NCB on five separate occasions in 1984: on 8 June,  8 July, 18 July, 10 September, and 12 October –only to have the NCB renege on these settlements due to what we now know was  Government instruction. The most important ‘settlement terms’ were agreed between the leaders of the pit deputies’  union NACODS and the NUM on 12 October 1984. NACODS had just conducted an individual ballot and obtained an 82% vote for strike action. Following the NACODS result, the conciliation service ACAS invited the NCB, NUM and  NACODS in to see if there could be a negotiated settlement. After futile discussions with the NCB, the NUM and NACODS held a joint meeting in which on behalf of the NUM I drafted the following proposal: “That the NCB withdraw its pit closure plan, give an undertaking that the five collieries  earmarked for immediate closure would be kept open, and guarantee that no pit would be closed unless by joint agreement it was deemed to be exhausted or unsafe.” This proposal was accepted by NACODS and acceptable to the conciliation service ACAS.  It was then submitted to the NCB.  It was emphasized that if the NCB did not accept this joint proposal, the NACODS strike would go  ahead. On the eve of reconvened discussions at ACAS, I learned that the NACODS leadership had inexplicably reneged on its agreement with the NUM and had instead reached an agreement  with the NCB for an amended colliery review procedure. No explanation has ever been given by NACODS for this u-turn, or sell-out, which had terrible historical consequences, leading as it did to the destruction of Britain’s deep coal mining industry. Over the years, I have repeatedly said:  We didn’t “come close” to total victory in October,  1984 – we had it, and at the very point of victory we were betrayed. On 21 February 1985, we held a Special Delegate Conference at which the NEC called upon  the trade union movement not to leave the NUM isolated. The NEC called upon all our members to stand firm and those not yet involved to support our Union against the Government’s attempt to destroy us.  This was carried unanimously. Inexplicably, by 28 February, one week later, five Areas had asked for a recall Conference to agree an immediate return to work without a settlement. That Conference took place on 3 March 1985.  The NEC’s position was for continuation of the strike, as instructed by Conference on 21 February. The resolution to call off the strike and return to work was proposed by the South Wales Area and seconded by Durham.  The vote to return to work was carried by 98 votes to 91. The three National Officials, Mick McGahey, Peter Heathfield and myself, advocated and  supported continuation of the strike – as did the Yorkshire Delegation. The Miners’ Strike of 1984/85 remains not only an inspiration for workers but a reminder to  today’s trade union leaders of their responsibility to their members, and the need to come  together in direct action to challenge Government and employers against all forms of  injustice, inequality and exploitation. It is a privilege to be here today with  all of you who took strike action in 1984 and you who supported our strike: You marched into history, and entered the pantheon of working class heroes and heroines. Arthur Scargill March 2024 Arthur Scargill speech at Dodworth Miners’ Welfare, 40th Anniversary of Miners’ Strike – 02.03.2024 STOP PRESS: Watch the full meeting here: https://youtu.be/eiLDymwSkd0?si=9koLfAvFm76nxTTf

Paul Liversuch, SLP member in the East Midlands, has been concerned about the site of a former colliery which young people can gain access. It contains disused mone shafts and other potential dangers. He received the following message from South Derbyshire District Council. Socialist Labour Party, East Midlands, 29/2/2024