S.l. However, if it had gone the other way the Yorkshire area would have come out and other areas would have to decide whether to give support. He had a powerful speaking capability which garnered much passionate support from those who watched or saw his speeches. Still the Enemy Within (2014). IMDb. "The strike wasn't just about Arthur Scargill or Margaret Thatcher, it was about a way of life. I really do not care what you think of Mr Scargill today, where elseis a man supposed to go after he was betrayed by the system and vilified by the media to agullible population, a media that was run by the government of the day. Scargill, once the hero of the miners, now cuts a rather sad, isolated figure and this is a complex post-1985 story. [41] Campbell, John. The media characterised the strike as "Scargill's strike" and his critics accused him of looking for an excuse for industrial action since becoming union president. Amazingly the electorate resent being told they're either racist or stupid or both, if the remain campaign had been more mature in it's approach, almost certainly a different decision would have been reached. [9] He had challenged Sam Bullough, the President of the Yorkshire area NUM, to act on the working hours of surface workers, given that the union's conference had passed a resolution that their hours be shortened the previous year. I think people would be astounded if they knew that."[42]. However, we have to question Lawsons motives behind this, as he may have naturally blamed Scargill for the failure of the strike to protect his political reputation as it legitimises his role in opposing the strike. Shirley Letwin takes the mainstream media view that Arthur Scargills incompetence as a leader caused the miners strike to fail. "Goodbye to all that? March 07, 2009. Arthur Scargill (born January 11, 1938) is a British trade unionist. However, Wakefield also mentions the betrayal he felt by the Nottinghamshire miners who continued to work by saying The lads are in good spirits even if the majority of scabs are working. Page 13. It is rather ironic that his view on the EEC was shared by Tjatcher, deep down, and it is a Tory Govt that has taken us out. London: Corgi Books, 1993. He gained fame for using the tactic to win the Battle of Saltley Gate in 1972, and made it his main tactical device in the 1984 strike. Therefore, Tony Benns argument is more convincing than Eric Evans as he takes into account the failures of the miners as well as giving credit to the amount of support the strike had as well. Downing Street Years. He is best known for leading the UK miners' strike (198485), a major event in the history of the British labour movement. Scargill said himself that the real reason that the NUM areas such as Nottinghamshire, South Derbyshire and Leicestershire wanted a national strike ballot was that they wanted the strike called off, believing naively that their pits were safe[7]. This included Norman Tebbits radical reforms[39] as put by Tony Benn, who was newly elected to the mining seat and a clear supporter of the 1984-85 Miners strike[40]. [22] Milne, Seumas. Put the custom structure back if you had one. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001. Page 345. The coal stocks at power stations held out[20]. The most notable of these being the Women Against Pit Closures (WAPC) mainly made up of miners wives or women that grew up in mining communities. The Myth of Workers' Control Arthur Scargill Snippet view - 1980. Arthur Scargill and Peggy Kahn. London: Pan Books, an Imprint of Pan Macmillan, 2017. During this time, he earned the esteem of significant sections of the left and the British working class, who saw him as honest, hard-working and genuinely concerned with their welfare,[12] and he was also respected for improving the administration of the compensation agent's post. Arthur Wakefield, a striking miner, presents the Marxist view that the failure of the strike couldnt have been down to the lack of support and instead must have been due to other factors. The End of an Era Diaries 1980-90. . In his diary he documents the battle at Orgreave on Monday 18th of June, 1984; Ive never seen so many of our lads altogether, it brought tears to my eyes[16]. With Fay Hauser, Olivia Haller, Doris Morgado, Chrystee Pharris. The Essay Writing ExpertsUK Essay Experts. [60][61], London Assembly elections (entire London city). Copyright 2003 - 2023 - UKEssays is a trading name of Business Bliss Consultants FZE, a company registered in United Arab Emirates. 11: Britains Longest-serving Cabinet Member Recalls the Triumphs and Disappointments of the Thatcher Era. Scargill was born in Worsbrough Dale near Barnsley, West Riding of Yorkshire. ", Gildart, Keith. If you go to your temporary url (http://ip/~username/) and get this error, there maybe a problem with the rule set stored in an .htaccess file. He called for the cotton mills, steel plants and mines to be re-opened and that under EU rules, the government had not been able to subsidise the coal mines. His major innovation was organising "flying pickets" involving hundreds or thousands of committed strikers who could be bussed to critical strike points to shut down a target. Arthur Scargill (born 11 January 1938) [1] is a British trade unionist who was President of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) from 1982 to 2002. The Myth of Control: Created by Mikail Chowdhury, Sana Soni. You may get a 404 error for images because you have Hot Link Protection turned on and the domain is not on the list of authorized domains. ",viewBookBag: "View clipboard",addBookBag: "Add to clipboard",removeBookBag: "Remove from clipboard",itemsAddBag: "item(s) added to your clipboard",itemsInBag: "item(s) are either already in your clipboard or could not be added",bookbagMax: "100",bookbagFull: "Your clipboard is Full",bookbagStatusFull: "Full",no_tags: "No Tags"}; July 31, 2013. [9] This performance strengthened his popularity with the Yorkshire miners. Eric Evans described him as aggressive and charismatic, but vain and politically limited[42], therefore showing his limitations as the head of NCB. [36] Thatcher, Margaret. Atvery lease Mr Scargill was a leader of man and lead them unlike our current prime minister who couldn't lead a pack of sheep out of a field even though he resemble one. The striking miners didnt have the support of the Nottinghamshire miners, dock workers or even the Labour Party, including Neil Kinnock, and many historians believe that the strikes failure was down to the fact that it was so poorly supported; such as Eric Evans who takes the mainstream media view and believed the appearance of a much more conciliatory breakaway union representing the profitable East Midlands mining arealed to collapse of the strike[12] This we know to be true as the Nottinghamshire miners alone produced 25% of the Nations coal. The Labour Party was opposed to membership of the EU to begin with wasn't it, so what happened, are its current membership more enlightened. Written authorization is required for the purchase of tea and coffee. [16] One branch of the NUM, at Annesley in Nottinghamshire, put forward a vote of no confidence in Scargill in autumn 1983 following his comments on these matters, but Scargill defeated this at a December meeting and won a vote of confidence instead. "[40] Scargill complained to the Advertising Standards Authority who criticised the advertisement as "highly distasteful". We always have to be aware of the enemy within, which is much more difficult to fight and more dangerous to liberty[28]. Without their support, victory for the miners looked uncertain as they were the best paid, with better conditions promised by Thatcher[13]. After looking at the evidence, I believe that the Marxist view is more valid than the Mainstream media view in the fact that it is clear that Thatcher and her government went above and beyond in order to bring down Scargill and the miners. [14], Scargill was a very vocal opponent of Thatcher's Conservative government, frequently appearing on television to attack it. In the 2001 general election, he ran against Peter Mandelson in Hartlepool. However, he does give credit to the harsh tactics taken by the miners that may have cut out any support for the Nottinghamshire miners; The only legitimate question that may be raised about the tactics of the NUM nationally was whether the Yorkshire miners, by picketing Nottinghamshire so early and so vigorously, alienated those they were seeking to influence. The Alliance for Workers' Liberty is an organisation fighting as part of the labour movement for a socialist alternative to both capitalism and Stalinism, based on common ownership and democracy. Seumas Milne portrays the Marxist view that the government went over the top with the preparations in order to see the miners strike fail and bring down the unions altogether. Another factor in the failure of the miners strike, in 1984, is government involvement. [53] He was not attending any of the events to commemorate the thirtieth anniversary of the 1984 strike at the NUM. Marching to the Fault Line: The 1984 Miners Strike and the Battle for Industrial Britain. Somerset: Routledge, 2018. Arthur Scargill: We Could Surrender or Stand and Fight. The Guardian. Accessed January 06, 2019. https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2009/mar/07/arthur-scargill-miners-strike. The motto, An injury to one is an injury to all, applies world-wide. This was denied by the government at the time, although papers released in 2014 under the thirty-year rule suggest that Scargill was right. Page 317. //