the myth of workers' control arthur scargill

[9] At the subsequent enquiry, he used notebooks of underground working from the 19th century, retrieved from the Institute of Geological Sciences in Leeds, to argue that the National Coal Board could have prevented the disaster had they acted on the information available. His mother, Alice (ne Pickering), was a professional cook. The union is known for leading the longest as well as the most violent miners` strike in the history of British history. [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. Harpercollins Publishers, 2012. [37] Scargill reached an agreement to repay money to the NUM shortly after this. In pictures: Arthur Scargill's legacy Mr Scargill's election as NUM president in 1981 had an electrifying effect on the union movement. [33] Milne, Seumas. In the event, it turned out to be the exact blueprint that the government followed[21]. The Anatomy of Thatcherism. EconBiz.Logger.logPageView(); The End of an Era Diaries 1980-90. Many of us started in the 1950s in the Young Communist League. Strike: When Britain Went to War. In Defence of Marxism. He is best known for leading the UK miners' strike (1984-85), a major event in the history of the British labour movement. [52], The Guardian in February 2014 said that Scargill had become a recluse. Accessed October 11, 2018. https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2000/jan/07/guardianletters4. London: Constable, 2009. He lost on both occasions, winning 2.4% of the vote in Hartlepool at the 2001 general election. Another controversial action that Thatcher took was giving the police ultimate power during the strike. The secretary at this time was a very good friend of mine called Jimmy Reid, and we're still close friends. However, we have to be careful when taking Nicholas Ridleys account at face value as he was a known Thatcherite and also came up with the Ridley Plan that outlined how to deal and prepare for a potential strike; Perhaps my confidential annexe had been worthwhile after all. Page 51, [9] Lawson, Nigel. The appointment of Ian McGregor as head of the NCB can also be argued as a factor in the failure of the strike as he was known to be notoriously formidable had no pity for the poor miners, and was determined to keep them working and living in conditions that no human being should be made to endure[24]. Accessed October 10, 2018. https://socialistworker.co.uk/art/37592/How the Miners Strike could have won. On March 6, 1984, the National Coal Board announced its plan to cut the nation's coal output by 4 million tons, in an effort to stem a $340 million annual loss. [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. [53] Following Margaret Thatcher's death in April 2013, ITN made Scargill several offers for a five-minute interview, with the final offer reaching 16,000, but Scargill refused all the offers and did not speak to any media organisation. "[28] This was in the Prime Minister's rejection of Labour calls for an apology for government actions during the 19841985 miners' strike. The miners also failed to gain the support of the dock workers in strike effort. However, Margaret Thatchers intentions in this source have to be questioned as this book was published in 1993 after Thatcher resigned as Prime Minister in 1990, therefore she may have been trying to justify her actions and downplay the use of police in the miners strike. [54] He gave a rare television interview to ITV News at that time. She makes some bold accusations about when Scargill and his cohorts were accused of serious irregularities in the handling of union funds but this is unconvincing as it has never been proven true. [21] Ridley, Nicholas. March 07, 2009. Carrying the Fire in The Road T he dystopian world of Cormac McCarthy's The Road is best summarized by the following lines from the novella: "Nights dark beyond darkness and the days more gray each one than what had gone before. Many people argue that government preparations led to the failure of the strike. "It's so hypocritical it's unreal," he said. Harpercollins Publishers, 2012. Page 164. [51] Scargill criticised Poland's Solidarity calling it an "anti-socialist organisation which desires the overthrow of a socialist state", which Scargill saw as deformed but reformable. It is reported that the police were getting between 600 and 1000 a week and many people believed that there just arent that many police available to move about. The issue of Scargills leadership is argued as the main reason that the miners strike failed. Scargill never balloted NUM members for a strike; this was seen as an erosion of democracy within the union, but the role of ballots in decision-making had been made very unclear after previous leader, Joe Gormley, had ignored two ballots over wage reforms, and his decisions had been upheld after appeals to court were made. The NUM is not your personal bank account and never will be again. This article, far from being full of lies, hit the nail, well and truly, on the head. We also know that lots of support groups popped up to encourage the miners on in their fight. We always have to be aware of the enemy within, which is much more difficult to fight and more dangerous to liberty[28]. 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 strike ended on 3 March 1985 following an NUM vote to return to work. RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f April 23, 2022 the myth of workers' control arthur scargill . A miner at the age of 18, he was a member (1955-62) of the Young Communist League before joining the Labour Party.In 1981, Scargill became president of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM).His attempt to confront Margaret Thatcher's programme of pit closures and anti-union legislation led to a miner's strike (1984-85). These days he only gets to speak at the crankiest of Stalinist events. Edit the file on your computer and upload it to the server via FTP. This Mainstream media view holds that the strike failed because of Scargills extreme beliefs and bad decisions. Accessed October 12, 2018. This is because had the NUM come out nationally in favour of the strike, Nottinghamshire area would have won permission for its own ballot and remained at work. Harpercollins Publishers, 2012. The myth of workers' control; More details; The myth of workers' control . Scargill, along with veteran left-wing Labour MP Tony Benn, campaigned to free strikers Russell Shankland and Dean Hancock from prison. The End of an Era Diaries 1980-90. [34] Wakefield, Arthur, and Brian Elliot. In March 2014, ex-miner John Cunningham attended the memorial meeting for the two Yorkshire miners killed in the strike, Davy Jones and Joe Green. [60][61], London Assembly elections (entire London city). March 10, 2004. His father, Harold, was a miner and a member of the Communist Party of Great Britain. In a 1975 interview with New Left Review Scargill said: I was in the Young Communist League for about six or seven years and I became a member of its National Executive Committee responsible for industrial work. Person/Body (Historic): A. Taylor & Sons Ltd. The End of an Era Diaries 1980-90. his position on freedom movements In communist states such as Poland, was unforgivable He is rightly labelled a Stalinist, along with Corbyn. 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. The Miners Strike Day by Day: The Illustrated 1984-85 Diary of Yorkshire Miner Arthur Wakefield. Like the onset of some cold glaucoma dimming away the world . The two men had been convicted of the murder of David Wilkie, a taxi driver, by throwing a block of concrete from a bridge onto his car. A5 format. [39], During the media controversy, the antiperspirant Mitchum used Scargill's image, without his consent, under the slogan "Mitchum, for when you're really sweating! "Scargill" redirects here. Brexit: Labour movement debate, not talk with Tories! ", Old Labour party constiturion, Clause 4 part IV, Yorkshire Area of the National Union of Mineworkers, "Arthur Scargill joins Battle of Saltley Gate 40th anniversary celebration", "The Nottinghamshire Miners, The Union of Democratic Mineworkers and the 198485 Miners' Strike: Scabs or Scapegoats? [47], In 1996, Scargill founded the Socialist Labour Party after the Labour Party abandoned the original wording of Clause IV advocating the public democratic ownership[48] of key industries and utilities from their constitution. (1998), The third way : the promise of industrial democracy, Lawrence, Dennis, 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. Disclaimer: This is an example of a student written essay.Click here for sample essays written by our professional writers. 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. [24] Letwin, Shirley Robin. 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. Another important factor in the failure of the miners strike was Thatcher and her governments actions during the strike such as using the police force. It can be argued that both Marxist and Mainstream Media view give credit to the fact that government preparations were a factor in the failure of the miners strike but they have opposing views on to what extent. [11] Benn, Tony. However, Kenneth OMorgan may be overemphasising the amount of support that the miners had as we know that Thatcher continuously demonised the miners in the media calling them the enemy within and this reduced a lot of public support for the strike. For more information, see The National Review (June 15, 1984 and April 5 . Arthur Scargill is a British trade unionist who was the president of the National Union of Mineworkers. Was this national or local? This led to McGregor and the NCB negotiating a settlement with NACODS in order for them to call off the strike which could have seriously affected the outcome of the miners strike. Scargill, Arthur (1938- ) English trade union leader. If your blog is showing the wrong domain name in links, redirecting to another site, or is missing images and style, these are all usually related to the same problem: you have the wrong domain name configured in your WordPress blog. 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'. The Essay Writing ExpertsUK Essay Experts. That is what we need to remember these days when we think of Scargill. Milne, Seumas. " The strike gained momentum quickly and calling a ballot may have broken down this early support. How the Miners Strike Could Have Won. Socialist Worker (Britain). However, the people that argue this are clear Thatcherites such as Shirley Letwin, John Campbell and even Thatcher herself who blamed Scargill for the violence at the picket line mass pickets led by Arthur Scargill forced the closure of the Saltley Coke Depot in Birmingham[44] contradicting this, Seumas Milne who takes a clear Marxist view that the standard fairy tale, still routinely recycled by media and politicians alike, has it that Scargill called the action in spring in a classic example of his poor generalship and tactical sense[45]. He has contested two parliamentary elections. It is possible that you may need to edit the .htaccess file at some point, for various reasons.This section covers how to edit the file in cPanel, but not what may need to be changed. Nevertheless, this shows that the strike didnt fail from the lack of support in general, but rather the lack of support from key figures such as the Neil Kinnock from the Labour Party, as well as the Nottinghamshire miners who, if they had supported the miners, would have guaranteed a different outcome for the strike. Therefore, the fact that Scargill didnt call a National Ballot was irrelevant[11] as Tony Benn says, but the fact that Scargill authorised violent tactics that reduced public sympathy and misjudged situations may have been a factor in the failure of the miners strike. In 1961, Scargill was elected a member of the Woolley NUM Branch Committee. At the risk of paraphrasing, Karl Marx once wrote that the great figures of history appear first as tragedy and then as farce. "Leadership in the Miners Union-Scargill, Arthur Rise to Power. His comments followed a question in the Commons from Labour MP Lisa Nandy, who said the miners and their families deserved an apology for the mine closures. Redirects and rewriting URLs are two very common directives found in a .htaccess file, and many scripts such as WordPress, Drupal, Joomla and Magento add directives to the .htaccess so those scripts can function. These days he only gets to speak at the crankiest of Stalinist events. See also V. L. Allen, The Militancy of the British Miners (1981); N. Hagger, Scargill the Stalinist (1984); and "What Drives Arthur Scargill?"The Sunday Times of London (July 15, 1984).. [22] Milne, Seumas. /index.php [L] Andrew Marrs view on why the Miners strike failed is much more convincing as it gives credit to Scargills leadership skills while also saying not even he would be able to persuade every part of the industry to strike showing that Marr believes that Scargill was the best man for the job. According to the Morning Star Scargill said that every single MP who wants us to go back into Europe should be opposed. That would be the majority of Labour MPs, then, Arthur? If you need assistance with writing your essay, our professional essay writing service is here to help! Campbell, Adrian, and Malcolm Warner. It's easy to mock Arthur Scargill. [45], For years the NUM had been paying 34,000 annual rent for the flat on Scargill's instructions, without the knowledge of NUM members or many senior officials; Scargill claimed the NUM should continue funding his flat for the rest of his life, and thereafter for any widow who survived him. "[40] Scargill complained to the Advertising Standards Authority who criticised the advertisement as "highly distasteful". Page 473. In 1973, Scargill was elected to the full-time post of compensation agent in the Yorkshire NUM. Person/Body (Historic): Kahn, Peggy. Therefore government preparations was definitely a factor in the failure of the miners strike but to what extent, can be argued. London: Verso, 2014. It was alleged that, of the money donated from Libya, Scargill took 29,000 for his own bridging loan and 25,000 for his home in Yorkshire, but gave only 10,000 to the striking Nottinghamshire miners. January 07, 2000. 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. This only reinforces the idea that it was Scargills decision not to call a ballot that lost him valuable support. Milne explains how the strike was a last-ditch fight to defend jobs, mining communities and the NUM itself against a government prepared to bring into play unlimited resources and its entire panoply of coercive powers as and where necessary to break the union and its backbone of support[22]. References to this book. "Goodbye to all that? The best work on Scargill was Michael Crick, Scargill and the Miners (1985). [38] Thatcher, Margaret. Beyond Service: State Workers, Public Policy, and the Prospects for Tous les rsultats Google Recherche de Livres». If being ignored is the ultimate retribution forscargill, then he is a lucky man, for if he had espoused his views in some of the countrieswith which he wanted to align us, his best outcome would have been breaking rocks but more likely he would have disappeared never to be heard of again. Page 342. Accessed October 12, 2018. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Benn. //--> Accessed January 06, 2019. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/3503545.stm. If not, correct the error or revert back to the previous version until your site works again. "Our communities are now just about dead on their feet." The strike started in Yorkshire in March . However, many people argue that there was a lot of support for the strike so therefore it couldnt have been such an important factor in its failure in 1985. "It was Thatcher's legislation, actually giving council tenants the right to buy their own houses. Arthur Scargill was in attendance but it was noteworthy (and significant) that he remained a peripheral figure being greeted by only a few of those attending. 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. Barnsley: Wharncliffe, 2002. [14], Scargill was a very vocal opponent of Thatcher's Conservative government, frequently appearing on television to attack it. Therefore, we must conclude that whilst Arthur Scargills leadership was an important factor in the failure of the strike, it would be wrong to assume that this was the main reason as without the lack of support, especially from the Nottinghamshire miners, as well as the governments preparations, such as the stockpiling of coal, the miners strike might not have failed. Therefore, the overwhelming support for the strike could not be denied. [31] In addition, it was alleged that he had taken 1,000,000 of cash donated by the Soviet Union for the Welsh miners and placed it in a Dublin bank account for the "International Miners' Organisation", where it stayed until a year after the strike had finished. The End of an Era Diaries 1980-90. Downing Street Years. The strike of 1984 was covered in detail by the press. The 84/5 miners strike brought great hardship, but achieved nothing. Page 345. Study for free with our range of university lectures! After the Miners were beaten into submission in 1984and the rest of uscheated and swindled by that government and successive government afterwards. Back in 1983 (even before the great miners strike) the forunner of Solidarity (Socialist Organiser) condemned Scargills attacks on the independent Polish union movement Solidarnosc, but also identified the root cause of Scargills tragic error (nationalism) and denounced the hypocrisy of many of his critics within the labour movement: Its no news that Scargill has a scandalous attitude to Solidarnosc. 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?] [21] Many politicians, including the then Labour leader Neil Kinnock, believed Scargill had made a huge mistake in calling the strike in the summer rather than in the winter. When you get a 404 error be sure to check the URL that you are attempting to use in your browser.This tells the server what resource it should attempt to request. If this doesn't work, you may need to edit your .htaccess file directly. RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d Seumas Milne argues that the miners had sued the police for assault, wrongful arrest, malicious persecution and false imprisonment and then went on to describe the battle of Orgreaves as an 8,000 riot police staged medieval-style mounted charges of unprecedented ferocity[33]. Arthur Scargill: We Could Surrender or Stand and Fight. The Guardian. Woods, Alan. 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. [45] Milne, Seumas. You may need to scroll to find it. (1978), CONTESTING THE MARKET: PAY EQUITY AND THE POLITICS OF ECONOMIC RESTRUCTURING, Eigart, Deborah M., The View from No. No plagiarism, guaranteed! This page was last edited on 5 February 2023, at 23:36. I was for the EU then, and was critical of this stance, but I I then came to the out view, albeit for different reasons.l, and was fully behind Brexit. 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. This is unfair as after the NCB accidently announced pit closures, the strike gained momentum very quickly forcing Scargill to just go along with it. Both the Marxist view and the mainstream media view gives credit to government preparations showing this was definitely an important factor in the failure of the strike. My Style of Government: The Thatcher Years. [58][59] Scargill's appearance on the picket line was alluded to by Prime Minister Boris Johnson the next day at Prime Minister's Questions, accusing the Labour Party of "literally holding hands with Arthur Scargill". 11: Memoirs of a Tory Radical. ",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"}; National Archives: Margaret Thatcher Wanted to Crush Power of Trade Unions. The Guardian. Logger.logCoid("61c4e44a-8d58-45d2-8bc5-5fc2bd749aae"); Accessed January 06, 2019. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/3503545.stm. [39] Benn, Tony. RewriteBase / When working with WordPress, 404 Page Not Found errors can often occur when a new theme has been activated or when the rewrite rules in the .htaccess file have been altered. September 09, 2018. The party was established in 1996 and is led by Arthur Scargill, a former Labour Party member and the former leader of the National Union of Mineworkers. He claimed that the government had a long-term strategy to destroy the industry by closing unprofitable pits, and that it listed pits it wanted to close each year. Parcourez la librairie en ligne la plus vaste au monde et commencez ds aujourd'hui votre lecture sur le Web, votre tablette, votre tlphone ou un lecteur d'e-books. Scargill's first mistake was refusing to call a National Ballot . The miners had already built up a fearsome reputation as the shock troops for organised labour and during his time as leader of the Yorkshire coalfield, Mr Scargill had rarely been out of the news. We may criticise some of the tactics he used in the 1984-5 miners strike, but we cannot dispute that he gave real leadership and was serious about wanting to defeat the Tories. National Archives: Margaret Thatcher Wanted to Crush Power of Trade Unions.. RewriteEngine On Regardless, we have to be careful when using Arthur Wakefield as a source as his diary entries will reflect his heightened emotions after a day of striking that may not truly reflect the real situation. [26], There is a prevailing view that Arthur Scargill, the NUM National President, called the strike. of the other candidates claimed that they were given very little time to prepare. T he council chamber at the Barnsley HQ of the National Union of Mineworkers is a jaw-dropping sight: a huge, oak-panelled room, draped with banners that were once kept at collieries across. Downing Street Years. They were released from prison in November 1989. The myth of workers' control The myth of workers' control by Arthur Scargill, Peggy- Kahn Filter Results Shipping Eligible for Free Shipping Expedited Shipping Available Item Condition Seller Rating Other Options Change Currency + Add to Wishlist All All Copies ( 0 ) Currently there are no copies available. [56], In July 2021 he spoke at the Rebel Town Festival in Jarrow. These preparations included the Ridley Plan, stockpiling coal, the appointment of Ian McGregor as head of NCB, the involvement of MI5 and MI6 and the introduction of the new trade union laws. # End WordPress. "[46] Kitchen says that Scargill "has had 30 years of decent living out of the union, and he's got a pension that's second to none. Arthur Scargill. However, Evans fails to mention how campaigning in Nottinghamshire was successful and how the pickets won over many workers until the police eventually intervened. On any measure, Scargill was a failure who brought hardship down on those who followed him, now a pitiful figure. Authors: Scargill, Arthur; Kahn, Peggy: Publisher: Leeds [u.a.] Sadly, all these new political halfwits who think it is smart to ignorethe pieces of history that doesnt suit them, bangingon about the way theysee the future ignoring the fact it should be the way we all would like to see it, should remember the silent majority is just that, ignore it of forget it at your peril. Year of publication: 1980. Arrow, 1994. Arthur Scargill and Peggy Kahn. 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". Downing Street Years. Page 317. However, it can be argued that government preparations werent sufficient enough in order to bring down the miners. This article about a political figure is a stub. [17] Still the Enemy Within (2014). IMDb. [4] UK | Politics | Head to Head: The Miners Strike. BBC News. [37] The prosecution brought by the Certification Officer was rejected in July 1991 on the grounds that it would be inappropriate to use the material provided in confidence to Lightman's enquiry. 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. Accessed October 11, 2018. jQuery(function() { ",confirmEmpty: "Are you sure you want to empty your clipboard? [35] The Truth of Nacods Shameful Sell-out. The Guardian. 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]. A secret record is kept of the time at which all workers arrive and leave each day. In fact, other factors such as the governments intense preparations came into play. Would JD care to say why he writes in such a vindictive and aggressive style? Page 151. Ian White talks exclusively to Arthur Scargill, 84, on 50th anniversary of the Battle of Saltley Gate in Birmingham 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. Without their support, victory for the miners looked uncertain as they were the best paid, with better conditions promised by Thatcher[13]. We also remember his relatively principled role within the UK labour movement of the 1970s and 80s. [8], Scargill was a leader of the unofficial strike in 1969, which began in Yorkshire and spread across the country. How to find the correct spelling and folder, 404 Errors After Clicking WordPress Links, From the left-hand navigation menu in WordPress, click. That's what I believe". July 31, 2013. Which makes his present-day role (such as it is) in politics all the more tragic. [19] The NUM had previously held three ballots on a national strike, all of which rejected the proposal: 55% voted against in January 1982, and 61% voted against in both October 1982 and March 1983.[20]. [41], In 1993, Scargill tried to use Thatcher's flagship Right to Buy scheme to buy a flat on the Barbican estate in central London. So that was my initial introduction into socialism and into political militancy. Page 70. Page 18. //