On 3rd March 1985, Arthur Scargill, leader of the National Union of Minerworkers, announced the end of the Great Miners’ Strike, which began almost exactly one year earlier. Miners returned to work two days later on 5th March 1985. John Dunn from the Justice for Mineworkers campaign looks back at the legacy of the Great Miners’ Strike of 1984-85.
On 3rd March 1985, Arthur Scargill, leader of the National Union of Minerworkers, announced the end of the Great Miners’ Strike, which began almost exactly one year earlier. Miners returned to work two days later on 5th March 1985. John Dunn from the Justice for Mineworkers campaign looks back at the legacy of the Great Miners’ Strike of 1984-85.
It’s hard to believe that it’s thirty years since the Great Miners Strike ended. The years might have flown by; but for those of us who fought and gave everything for a whole year, it seems like yesterday.
Every day we live with the aftermath of that strike: destroyed communities, dole and despair, and an industry butchered. All around us are the boarded shop windows, the closed miners’ welfares and the sadness in people’s eyes.
The last year has been a little different. Our communities have celebrated that noble struggle with a reclaimed dignity and pride. The release of the Thatcher cabinet papers has vindicated us entirely. Irrevocable and undeniable proof that a prime minister lied to parliament and to the country when denying the existence of a mass pit closure programme; proof that she had a long conceived plan to starve miners back to work, to use troops against strikers, to frame them in the courts and to turn the police into a paramilitary force.
You might think that would be enough to bring about some sort of apology. Think again! When Labour forced a debate in parliament Cameron again reiterated the lies of the past 30 years: “violence; it was all Scargill’s fault; blah de blah.” Thirty years on and nothing has changed – no truth and no justice.
The fight continues
But just as thirty years ago, on the 5th of March 1985, we marched back to work with our heads held high, and even now we still fight on.
We may have lost our industry but the meetings and events that have taken place throughout the coalfield have shown the same determination, pride and solidarity that carried us through that momentous year.
I have had the honour of speaking at numerous meetings this last year, meeting up once again with battle hardened comrades of 30 years ago. Not just nostalgia, but a real coming together of true class fighters. We may be older, walk with a stick or stoop a little; some of us may be gone; but the fire still burns, the sense of ongoing injustice drives us on.
Looking back on that day, thirty years ago, when we marched back to work, it is impossible not to ponder how different things could have been. The Thatcher papers themselves prove how close we came on several occasions to victory. The sell out by the TUC leaders and Kinnock cost us dearly. Kinnock himself has been amply rewarded but he will carry the stain of betrayal to his grave.
My union, the NUM, faced the most brutal onslaught in history. Our funds were sequestrated, our members and their communities attacked and brutalised by the paramilitary police, but we took it all and never flinched, marching back to work unbowed.
Solidarity and determination
How did we do it? Undoubtedly the support of our communities and the determination to fight sustained us, but the rank and file of the movement, in the absence of their leaders, came to our aid. Support groups throughout the land raised funds, food conveys ensured we did not starve and the working class showed solidarity at its finest.
So, what now? Well for a start, the Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign fights to expose the truth of what happened, not just on that bloody violent day but throughout the whole 12 months of the strike. The police lies and perjury, the cover ups, plus the violence inflicted on ordinary working class people just fighting for the right to work, must face a full public enquiry and those who perpetrated them must be brought to justice.
As we enter the 31st anniversary, the fight will go on. We have been invigorated, the truth has been told to thousands upon thousands of a younger generation who have flocked to our meetings eager to learn the lessons of our strike. They will continue to carry the flame.
So a year of great memories; but they must not end with the bittersweet recollection of 5th March 1985, as there is still the battle to be won.
Wounds that will not heal
On a personal note, one incident this year stands out. After speaking at a meeting, I met one of the victims of the Orgreave police riot. I will not mention his name in order to protect his anonymity and privacy. On that bright summer day of 18th June 1984 he was beaten and bludgeoned beyond recognition. The NUM’s solicitor found him lying, barely alive, on the floor of a cell amongst dozens of fellow pickets. After protesting, she got him medical assistance after which he was charged with riot, which carried a potential life sentence, and was held in Armley prison amongst the country’s most violent offenders for three weeks before obtaining bail.
When the trial was finally held in May 1985, almost a year later, the prosecution case collapsed after 48 days of anguish for him and his fellow defendants, 95 in total, when it was proven that police had colluded in writing almost identical statements, dictated to them, about each arrest.
After near death, imprisonment and a year of hell during which he did not know when he would see daylight again, he walked free. But he will never be a free man for his eyes tell the real story. Hardly able to speak about that terrible day, his physical scars may have healed but the mental ones haunt him to this day. There is much he would like to forget but cannot.
So to all those politicians who say “it’s in the past” or “you should move on”, I say we cannot move on as we were brutalised and criminalised and some of us will die without justice if we do not fight on.
Yes, we will mark the end of the Great Strike with a magnificent rally in Wakefield, but having dusted off the memories we will fight on, just as proud with our banners held high.
