24. “The Enemy Within”¶
Core Argument¶
The 1984-85 miners’ strike stands as the most bitter class war on British soil since the General Strike of 1926. The Thatcher government mobilised the full apparatus of the capitalist state — paramilitary police operating through the National Reporting Centre, manipulated welfare systems, organised scab labour, billions spent on coal stockpiles, court sequestration of union funds, and a hostile press — with the explicit aim of crushing the National Union of Mineworkers. The Tories sought not merely to defeat the miners, who epitomised working-class militancy, but to cow the entire class and permanently alter the balance of forces across British industry, driving down wages and imposing market “rigours.”
The strike began on 1 March 1984 when the NCB announced the closure of Cortonwood colliery. Spontaneous walkouts spread; flying pickets brought 171 pits to a standstill. The NUM executive’s refusal to call a national ballot proved a tactical blunder, despite a MORI poll showing 62 per cent of miners would strike. The failure to secure Nottinghamshire was decisive: police sealed off the county, preventing pickets from communicating with working miners. Over 10,000 strikers were arrested; two were killed on picket duty. At the “Battle of Orgreave” on 18 June, 5,000 pickets met baton charges and mounted police; 137 riot charges were later dropped for lack of evidence. Despite the onslaught, miners’ resolve hardened, and many drew revolutionary conclusions about the nature of the capitalist state.
The strike inspired widespread solidarity, but the Labour and union leadership failed to translate this into effective action. Two national dock strikes in summer 1984 collapsed when the TGWU leadership avoided demanding extension of the Dock Labour Scheme. In August, the NACODS safety union balloted 82.5 per cent in favour of striking, which would have closed all pits including Nottinghamshire; the government panicked, but NACODS leaders accepted a fudged deal within 24 hours. At the September TUC Congress, a resolution backing the miners contained no concrete action. Thatcher’s “enemy within” speech equated the miners to the Falklands enemy and terrorism. In October, the High Court sequestrated NUM funds. Arthur Scargill called for a general strike; Neil Kinnock ruled it out, accusing NUM leaders of seeking “glorious defeat.” The decisive factor in the miners’ defeat was the failure of the TUC and Labour leaders to organise national action, paralysed by fear of breaking Tory laws. The strike ended in March 1985, with a 98-91 vote to return without agreement. Over 100 pits were subsequently closed and 100,000 miners made redundant.
The defeat accelerated the rightward shift among Labour and union leaders, entrenching “New Realism” in the union bureaucracy. Mining employment collapsed from 181,000 at the time of the strike to around 5,000 today. The destruction of the pits coincides with the depletion of North Sea gas and oil; by 2012, 70 per cent of UK electricity would come from gas, 90 per cent of it imported from unstable states, risking serious power cuts. The short-sightedness of the British bourgeoisie has become endemic. The NUM’s courageous stand is vindicated, while the defeat damns the craven stance of Labour and union leaders. The miners’ fighting spirit lives on as a tradition for future struggles.