the miners strike

I remember Arthur Scargill fomenting this strike to make a stand against the then Government. Of course he dressed it up as the miners ‘fighting’ against forced redundancy and pit closures ec and made the usual impossible ‘demands’.

There was also an enormous scandal over a large amount of ‘missing’ money. Apparently the Russian ‘mineworkers’ had donated some millions to help and assist the striking UK miners (they didn’t get strike pay as the strike wasn’t “official”). This money never made it to the strikers but somehow – allegedly – became …..er …..diverted en route. nobody was able to pin the loss on any particular individual – but there were a helluva lot of fingers being pointed.

@forumhostpb wrote:

I remember Arthur Scargill fomenting this strike to make a stand against the then Government. Of course he dressed it up as the miners ‘fighting’ against forced redundancy and pit closures ec and made the usual impossible ‘demands’.

I recall that he refused to allow the ordinary members of the NUM (as it was then) to have a vote, or indeed any say at all in the calling of the strike, – but instead he and his inner circle decided to hold it and made it “official”.

There was an almighty row about this but Arthur stood his ground and flatly refused to put it to the NUM membership.

There was also an enormous scandal over a large amount of ‘missing’ money. Apparently the Russian ‘mineworkers’ had donated some millions to help and assist the striking UK miners (they didn’t get strike pay as the strike wasn’t “official”). This money never made it to the strikers but somehow – allegedly – became …..er …..diverted en route. nobody was able to pin the loss on any particular individual – but there were a helluva lot of fingers being pointed.

You’re sources or your recollection are utterly wrong. Scargill didnt want the strike at that time, he knew we’d lose. The strike was called on a show of hands (non of ya secret ballot shyte) by miners. How do I know that ? I voted no is how, though i and others were outvoted. As for strike pay it was £14 a week. Mondays Wednesdays and Fridays there were free meals at the local Labour Club for miners and their families. Once a month groceries were delivered to the door (not much but every little helped) and as i remember xmas we got a £25 meat voucher.
Much as disliked Arthur Scargills politics every word he said was true, Maggie forced the strike, she’d planned for it for months, maybe years. After a year she won, unions lost any power and whole communuties were decimated. The rest is history.
By the way i also voted not to go back

@rubyred wrote:

they dumped the majority of waste in Scotland..

And it grew, and it grew, and then eventually, they gave it a name! .. Glasgow!

You seem to entirely forget, as many including the BBC, do, that this was first and foremost a political strike.

The Soviet Union in all its glory was alive and fomenting trouble in the West. Scargill and co took their politics from Marxism, Trotskyism and all the other ‘isms’ of socialist revolutionaries. Ludicrous though it now sounds the editor of ‘The Miner’ ran off to East Germany as a political refugee!

It may be that the miners, or at least some of them, were lions, but they were led by Marxist donkeys. Socialist revolutionaries plan civil mayhem in order to take over governments – that’s how they work. It was no different in the UK. It was in effect a low key civil war for the political heart of the country.

There is the other side of the argument.

Bottom line is that Scargill “lost” and the NUM was finished as an effective trade union.

Scargill was militant yes, he wasnt stupid. He didnt want the strike at that time. The miners did vote to strike and all trade unions were finished forever as good as when we lost