A PHOTO-ESSAYBY JOHN HARRIS

1984/5

TheMINERS’STRIKE

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Striking miner scavenges through a pit waste tip at Kirby, South Yorkshire,for coal to keep his home warm during Britain’s 1984 coal strike.

THE IMMOVABLEOBJECT: ArthurScargill, theMarxist leader of

the National Union ofMineworkers, Britainʼs strongestunion.THE IRRESTIBLE FORCE:

Margaret Thatcher, Tory primeminister – the Iron Lady.THE YEAR: 1984, ten years after

a previous minersʼ strike hadparalysed the country andbrought down BritainʼsConservative government; andtwo years since Thatcherʼsʻfamousʼ victory over Argentina inher south Atlantic war over theFalkland islands, a conflictdescribed by the Argentinianwriter Jorge Luis Borges, as 'liketwo bald men fighting over acomb.'THE FLASHPOINT: Thatcher had

introduced new anti-union laws tolimit labour power, whileinititiating confrontations with thecivil service, health workers,railwaymen and other smallerunions. Emboldened by the lack

“We face notan employer, buta governmentaided and abettedby the judiciary,the policeand you peoplein the media”– ARTHUR SCARGILL

THE STRIKERSA mass picket of strikers attempts to stopcoal and oil being delivered by road to DidcotPower Station in Oxfordshire, after railwayworkers refused to handle new coal stocks.

THE POLICEPolice and pickets face each other at dawn, in the first weeks of the miners’strike against pit closures, Lea Hall colliery, Staffordshire. Thousands of policewere drafted into Yorkshire, scene of the worst violence occurred.

of action by the rest of the labourmovement, she decided toconfront the partyʼs biggestenemy, the National Union ofMineworkers, by announcing aprovocative restructuring of theindustry, after first secretlystockpiling stocks of coal andensuring docks could handlelarge-scale imports to keep powerstations operating.THE HOLD-OUTS: When the first

of 20 proposed mine closures, atCortonwood, Yorkshire, wasannounced at the beginning ofMarch, Arthur Scargill called astrike and pickets soon broughtthe huge Yorkshire coalfields to astandstill, followed by those inKent, Scotland and South Wales,although the majority ofNottinghamshire miners, whosejobs were not threatened, refusedto join the strike.THE BATTLE: When the strike,

which the government expectedto be over in weeks, closed downthe major coalfields, Thatcherordered thousands of riot policeinto the mining areas, leading totwo bloody confrontations in Mayand June at Orgreave cokedepot, just a few miles fromScargillʼs union head office.There, in sweltering weather, thepolice attacked in almost militaryformation, sending baton-swinging cops on horseback torout lightly-dressed strikers.THE MEDIA: The battle of

Orgreave highlighted the bias ofthe media when the BBCre-edited film of the May battlebetween miners and police togive viewers the impression thatthe pickets had launched an

attack on the police when it wasthe police who had initiated theviolence. (Just a few weeksearlier, print workers at Murdochʼstabloid Sun prevented publicationof a front page dominated by aphoto of Scargill with one armraised in what the paper claimedwas a neo-Nazi salute.Theheadline was “Mine Fuhrer”.)THE RETRIBUTION: The financial

hardship of miners and theirfamilies was compounded by thewithdrawal of benefits by thegovernment – an action that wasexacerbated by court seizure ofthe unionʼs assets – familiesrelying on food parcels and soupkitchens, organised by womenʼssupport groups and paid for bydonations from workersthroughout the country.THE END: After a hard, cold,

Christmas, the trickle of menheading back to work turned intoa flood and the strike was finallycalled off on March 3, 1985, justbefore its first anniversary.THE LEGACY: The strike was

lost, Scargill defeated. But thegreatest losers were not just theminers, but the whole labourmovement which soon founditself trampled by the globalrestructuring of business byThatcher and her successors onboth sides of the Atlantic.

Workers in Britain and theworld would soon awoke to thereality of the new Thatcher – andReagan – industrial revolution: ahuge rise in ʻcompensationʼ for afew executives, and guttedworkplaces, leading to low-payingMcJobs for the rest.

Audsley Edwards

THE STRIKE BREAKERSStriking miners and the community show their anger and bitterness aspolice escort a working miner – a scab - through a pit village nearSilverwood colliery South Yorkshire during the year-long miner's strike.More than 20 years later, the bitterness and anger are still exposed.

Police charge picketing miners at Orgreave coke works.

“We had to fight the enemy without in the Falklands. We always have to be aware of the enemy within,which is much more difficult to fight and more dangerous to liberty” – MARGARET THATCHER

Police surround picketing miners at Orgreave as a convoy of coke lorries leaves the plant for Scunthorpe steelworks.

“We’ve got to step up thetempo of the dispute.I want to see every singleminer on the picket line.If that means you getarrested, you’ll haveto accept the consequences.We’re in this to the finish”– ARTHUR SCARGILL

LEFT: Police arrest miners’ leader Arthur Scargill NUM leaderat Orgreave

ABOVE: Police hold back a striking miner as a working minerhurls abuse at Mansfield Colliery in Nottinghamshire

Striking miners pull a line of riot police with long shields to the ground during a mass picket at Kellingley colliery in North Yorkshire.

ABOVE: Police inriot gear andwinged riot vanconfront strikingminers atOrgreave.

RIGHT: Police useriot gear for thefirst time in anindustrial disputeas a convoy ofcoke lorries leavesOrgreavefor Scunthorpesteelworks. Steelworkers whowalked out insolidarity with theminers look on.

FAR RIGHT: Masspicket of strikingminers areconfronted bypolice in riot gearat Thurcroft pit inSouth Yorkshire.

“The British police do not havesophisticated riot equipment to handledemonstrations. The traditionalapproach is to deploy large numbersof officers in ordinary uniformsin the passive containment of a crowd”– GOVERNMENT GREEN PAPER

Police open their wall of riot shields to allow mounted police in riot gear to charge a mass picket of striking miners at Orgreave. Media reports claiming the violence was started by strikers were later discredited.

“We have tomake it clearthat violenceis totallyunacceptablein our society”– MARGARET THATCHER

TOP: Mounted policeman in riot gearwith truncheon at the ready as policelash out at an Orgreave striker.

RIGHT: A miner guarding his car feelsthe fury of a police attack at Orgreave.The attempt to prosecute the miner forrioting later collapsed.

FAR RIGHT: Photographer LesleyBoulton is attacked by a truncheon-wielding policeman at Orgreave. Thepicture was published by only one of17 national newspapers in Britain.

“The intimidation and the brutality that has beendisplayed are something reminiscent of a LatinAmerican state” – ARTHUR SCARGILL

ABOVE: Pickets help a picket hit in the face by a police truncheon at Thoresby Colliery,Nottinghamshire

LEFT: Press photographer helps a picketing miner injured by mounted police at Orgreave.

Ambulance paramedics carry away Darrel Price, a miner injured by a police horsebox driving on the pavement during a mass picket at Rossington Colliery. “The horse box accelerated and swerved towards thepicklets”, a witness said, adding that the police refused to call an ambulance to attend to the injured man.

“Ours is a supremely noble aim:to defend pits, jobs, communitiesand the right to work. The sacrificesand the hardships have forged a uniquecommitment among our members”– ARTHUR SCARGILL

ABOVE: Emergency services rescue a miner buried while riddling for coal amongstthe pit waste for fuel at Silverwood colliery

RIGHT: Miners collect coal from waste slag heap at a pit to help their familieskeep warm during the bitter winter.

Striking miners at Kersley Collliery Coventry eat in a soup kitchen funded by the donations of fellow union members.

THE END: Miners’ support group leads a demonstration of strikers at Rossington pit village before the return to work after the miners had decided to end their year-long strike.

John Harris spent almost a year photographingthe miners’ strike

He is now head of the British picture agency, ReportDigital© John Harris/reportdigital.co.uk

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