Arthur Scargill is a British trade unionist who was the president of the National Union of Mineworkers. RewriteBase / If anyone of them has any cause for complaint they are simply showing the door because they have no unions to speak for to stand up for the rights of any working man or woman in this country. [21] Ridley, Nicholas. London: Constable, 2009. Accessed October 11, 2018. https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2000/jan/07/guardianletters4. September 09, 2018. Put the custom structure back if you had one. [41] Campbell, John. This Mainstream media view holds that the strike failed because of Scargills extreme beliefs and bad decisions. For more information, see The National Review (June 15, 1984 and April 5 . Page 342. ", R.R. His one man mission to bring down the elected government, for a second time, and destroy Thatcherism was not only not accomplished ,it only served to strengthen the Conservative Government and Thatchers dominance of the political landscape for over a decade. Robert Taylor depicts Scargill as an 'industrial Napoleon' who called a strike 'at the wrong time' on the 'wrong issue', and adopted strategies and tactics that were 'impossibilist', with 'an inflexible list of extravagant non-negotiable demands' that amounted to 'reckless adventurism' that was 'a dangerous, self-defeating delusion'. //-->, Unions on the board : an experiment in industrial democracy, Batstone, Eric, He used the NUM for his own advancement, and ended up thinking he was bigger than the Union and everything else. The names of all incoming telephone callers are recorded on a central log. My mother was strictly non-political. The properties will tell you the path and file name that cannot be found. 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. By not calling a National Ballot the strike rapidly gained support. [24] Letwin, Shirley Robin. Accessed October 10, 2018. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3815426/. That violence strengthened the stature of the Coal Board and the Thatcher government. 11: Britains Longest-serving Cabinet Member Recalls the Triumphs and Disappointments of the Thatcher Era. Scargill also cleverly manipulated the NUM rule book creating a serious constitutional debate. He is looking for socialism in one country, and since that is impossible he ends up with a recipe of capitalism in one country. Page 341. 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. London: Vintage Books, 2008. Accessed October 11, 2018. This is given credence by the fact that Scargill authorised these violent tactics, which decreased public sympathy for the Miners which was actually their greatest asset[10]. Read online at https://workersliberty.org/node/34498, Submitted by AWL on 18 September, 2019 - 11:48, Letters: Hands off Clara Zetkin and Rosa Luxemburg, Holodomor: the Ukrainian famine of 1932-33, Tubeworker (London Underground) (bulletin), Off the Rails (national rail workers) (bulletin), Off the Rails (national rail workers) (blog), Notts Off the Rails (Nottingham rail workers) (bulletin), On Guard (Sheffield rail workers) (bulletin). Somerset: Routledge, 2018. If your specific country is not listed, please select the UK version of the site, as this is best suited to international visitors. However, another reason that many people blame Scargill for the downfall of the miners is due to the fact that Scargill authorised the flying picket strategy in order to stop miners going to work. Thatcher deliberately chose to make the miners who continued to work look like heroes and make the striking miners look like the public enemy. This confirms the fact that Thatcher and Ian McGregor often didnt see eye-to-eye, an example of this is the issue with the NACODs strike. [8] Beckett, Francis, and David Hencke. Thereafter Scargill led the NUM through the 19841985 miners' strike. Therefore, this portrays the feelings of the majority of the miners who were on strike as they realised that this lack of support could determine the outcome of the strike. 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. This varies by browser, if you do not see a box on your page with a red X try right clicking on the page, then select View Page Info, and goto the Media Tab. Page 473. The staff at headquarters issued a press statement in January 1983 to deny this and to list twelve grievances against Scargill's treatment of his staff. However, Letwin also blames Scargill for the timing of the strike; Scargill, for his part, had timed his attack poorly, attacking in the spring when the demand for coal was decreasing. [56], In July 2021 he spoke at the Rebel Town Festival in Jarrow. 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. The .htaccess file contains directives (instructions) that tell the server how to behave in certain scenarios and directly affect how your website functions. This article, far from being full of lies, hit the nail, well and truly, on the head. [43] In February 2012, Scargill won 13,000 in a court action against the NUM, primarily for car expenses, and for the earlier temporary denial of membership. (You may need to consult other articles and resources for that information.). Accessed October 10, 2018. https://socialistworker.co.uk/art/37592/How the Miners Strike could have won. He had been a Communist and retained strong Marxist views and a penchant for denouncing anyone who disagreed with him as a traitor Scargill had indeed been elected by a vast margin and he set about turning the NUM's once moderate executive into a reliably militant group By adopting a position that no pits should be closed on economic grounds, even if the coal was exhausted more investment would always find more coal, and from his point of view, the losses were irrelevant he made sure confrontation would not be avoided. The myth of workers' control by Arthur Scargill 0 Ratings 0 Want to read 0 Currently reading 0 Have read Overview View 2 Editions Details Reviews Lists Related Books Publish Date 1980 Publisher University of Leeds, University of Nottingham Language English Pages 22 This edition doesn't have a description yet. Study for free with our range of university lectures! He was succeeded by Ian Lavery. No plagiarism, guaranteed! He also stated regarding Brexit that "we should just invoke the first clause of Article 50 and that means we could leave the EU tomorrow". The strike started in Yorkshire, and he was not present at the delegate Council meeting in Barnsley. There are those on the would-be left who will willingly attempt to defend people accused of rape, individuals who beat their partners, those who think there is vast Jewish conspiracy against Corbyn, and elements that think trans people are mentally ill. Scargill seems to have almost no one to advocate for him. 11: Memoirs of a Tory Radical. London: Verso, 2014. Margaret Thatcher. [34] Scargill accepted Lightman's statement that many of his actions suffered from a lack of professional advice, which he was unwilling to be bound by. He was the President of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) from 1981 to 2002 and has served as leader of the Socialist Labour Party, a political party he founded, since 1996. I think people would be astounded if they knew that."[42]. his position on freedom movements In communist states such as Poland, was unforgivable He is rightly labelled a Stalinist, along with Corbyn. Dont forget that Labours manifesto at Kinnocks last election included a policy of leaving the bloc, and who knows what t was under Corbyn. Test your website to make sure your changes were successfully saved. He has contested two parliamentary elections. At the risk of paraphrasing, Karl Marx once wrote that the great figures of history appear first as tragedy and then as farce. Downing Street Years. Scargill was involved in a High Court case in 1978 that set a precedent in UK labour law, known as Roebuck v NUM (Yorkshire Area) No 2. Accessed October 11, 2018. A5 format. In the event, it turned out to be the exact blueprint that the government followed[21]. You may need to scroll to find it. The secretary at this time was a very good friend of mine called Jimmy Reid, and we're still close friends. EconBiz.Logger.enable_Autocompletion_tracking(); Travis, Alan. vufindString = {bulk_email_success: "Your item(s) were e-mailed",bulk_save_success: "Your item(s) were saved successfully",close: "close",loading: "Loading",sms_success: "Message sent. [35] The Truth of Nacods Shameful Sell-out. The Guardian. Downing Street Years. On the other hand, the Marxist/Left Wing view suggests that the strike was part of Thatchers wider attack on political consensus and suggest that the miners could have won the strike had it not been for the concerted, illegal government campaign to smash the miners union, something they had been planning for some time. Accessed January 06, 2019. https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2009/mar/07/arthur-scargill-miners-strike. Which makes his present-day role (such as it is) in politics all the more tragic. After the miners' strike, Scargill was elected to lifetime presidency of the NUM by an overwhelming national majority, in a controversial election in which some[who?] At the time, Britain had 170 working. The strike became a symbolic struggle, as the NUM was one of the strongest unions in the country, viewed by many, including Conservatives in power, as having brought down the Heath government in the union's 1974 strike. Another controversial action that Thatcher took was giving the police ultimate power during the strike. . London: Vintage, 2008. The appointment of Ian McGregor as head of the NCB can be seen as a failure on Thatchers behalf showing that the governments preparations were insufficient to cause the strike to fail. To export a reference to this article please select a referencing stye below: If you are the original writer of this essay and no longer wish to have your work published on UKEssays.com then please: Our academic writing and marking services can help you! A former Labour Party member, Scargill is now leader of the Socialist Labour Party (SLP), founded by him in 1996. *You can also browse our support articles here >. [17], The government announced on 6 March 1984 its intention to close 20 coal mines, revealing as well the plan in the long-term to close over 70 pits. March 07, 2009. The End of an Era Diaries 1980-90. Somerset: Routledge, 2018. In conclusion to my little rant, unions were formed for the betterment of its members, not to be used as a personal vehicle for selfish political dogma. Accessed October 12, 2018. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Benn. Thatcher disregarded how much of an impact the WAPC would have on the strike as many of the striking ladies figured out that if they went out picketing then they would less likely be targeted by police. He cannot resist pointing out parallels in all times and places. [23] BATTLE FOR BRITAIN; on the 25th Anniversary of the Miners Strike, NORMAN TEBBIT Reveals Why He Believes Defeat Would Have Been the Death of Democracy. Daily Mail (London), March 6, 2009. [9][11], A few months later, the president of the Yorkshire NUM died unexpectedly, and Scargill won the election for his replacement; the two posts were then combined and he held them until 1981. National Archives: Margaret Thatcher Wanted to Crush Power of Trade Unions.. [29], In 1998, Scargill and his wife, Anne, separated.[30]. The Enemy Within: M15, Maxwell and the Scargill Affair. BATTLE FOR BRITAIN; on the 25th Anniversary of the Miners Strike, NORMAN TEBBIT, Reveals Why He Believes Defeat Would Have Been the Death of Democracy.. London: Verso, 2014. [53] He was not attending any of the events to commemorate the thirtieth anniversary of the 1984 strike at the NUM. We always have to be aware of the enemy within, which is much more difficult to fight and more dangerous to liberty[28]. Arthur Scargill and Peggy Kahn. [8], Scargill was a leader of the unofficial strike in 1969, which began in Yorkshire and spread across the country. Page 343-344. McIlroy, J. The Guardian. By 1984 however the police were ready and neutralized the tactic with superior force. "Our communities are now just about dead on their feet." The strike started in Yorkshire in March . However, it can be argued that the government limited its role in upholding law and order in a dispute between the NUM and the NCB. "It was Thatcher's legislation, actually giving council tenants the right to buy their own houses. National Archives: Margaret Thatcher Wanted to Crush Power of Trade Unions. The Guardian. 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. Was this national or local? March 07, 2009. [31] There was much criticism of Scargill within the NUM from the Welsh and Scottish areas, who briefly considered splitting from the NUM. 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the myth of workers' control arthur scargill