The miners’ strike of 1984-85 was a showdown between British workers and the ruling class. On one side stood 165,000 miners, their families and supporters, fighting to defend their jobs and communities.
On the other, stood Tory prime minister Margaret Thatcher and the whole of the ruling class. They were determined to crush the most powerful group of workers in the country and unleash free market policies on the whole of society.
The might of the state and the media were used to batter the miners. Almost 10,000 were arrested during the strike.
Yet strikers defied the attacks for almost a year and, at crucial moments, came close to winning. They were defeated not because of any lack of courage but because they were betrayed by the leaders of the trade union movement and Labour Party which left them to fight alone.
This talk marks the 40th anniversary of the great miners’ strike and argues the case for socialist organisation in the trade union movement to give our side a chance of winning these crucial battles.
Speaker:
Tom Bramble was a member of the Socialist Workers Party in London at the time of the British miners’ strike and was involved in solidarity work in support of the miners. He is now a member of Socialist Alternative and author of many books, including “Introducing Marxism: A theory of revolutionary change”.